<p>Newfaith, I’ve had those moments too. Thanks for sharing!</p>
<p>newfaith: Your candid and honest description of your road trip made me laugh. D and I have an 11-day road trip tour planned in late Aug. Because we are flying into Chicago to visit relatives to start our trip, we have to rent a car. And…because D isn’t car rental companies 25-year old driver required age, guess who will be doing ALL of the driving in the compact car??? <em>sigh</em>. I can only imagine how tired and grumpy I’ll be by the time we get to schools 5 and 6 (1200 miles later…) Only saving grace is we end in NYC and Times Sq. where both of us can hopefully have a last fun night on the town and breakfast at Carnegie Deli before flying home on Labor Day.</p>
<p>LisaK216: Which schools in the Pacific NW are you going to visit?</p>
<p>@newfaith: Thank you for providing those reviews, they were very interesting. Ohio University recently came up as a possible visit option for my D so it was nice to read your perspective.</p>
<p>newfaith, thanks for your insights. Our girls sound very similar! One of D’s biggest pet peeves is when her favorite previously unknown indie/folk bands become popular and trendy! She’s also a liberal into reading, music, meeting new people and doing her own thing – does NOT want to go to the LACs popular with all the typical East Coast kids. We may need to take a 2nd look at Beloit…</p>
<p>momofwon, we’re planning to visit Puget Sound, Willamette, Lewis and Clark, and Pacific U so far, probably mid-August. I’d love to go during school but it’s too far, and as a teacher summer vacation is the time 
Sounds like you’re heading east about the same time…where are you planning to visit?</p>
<p>Lisak: your NW school list varied and interesting. The weather and scenery should be spectacular in WA and OR in Aug.! WARNING–you may never want to leave ;-). </p>
<p>We’re visiting Ill, indiana, Purdue, Syracuse, Ithaca College, and the Fashion Institute of Tech in NYC. D has been to Wisconsin twice (4x legacy) and will be applying there even though its a big reach.</p>
<p>I know, I hear the weather is amazing in summer! Good thing since it will basically be our vacation, too!</p>
<p>Our very close friends’ son and daughter both went to Ithaca and loved it. The town is very pretty and a fun spot for college students. D and I really liked the Ithaca rep we met at a college fair. We were also enticed by the new pool! It was on our list but fell off because D wants to possibly minor in music and definitely wants to participate in choral groups. It’s a big theater school with lots of musical talent, so she felt her chances for audition groups weren’t as good.</p>
<p>We know some Syracuse students and alums as well. My colleague’s son will be a senior and he really likes it. One warning she had was dealing with financial aid – $$ her son got as an incoming freshman were not there for subsequent years. Not sure what happened there (I know it wasn’t related to academic performance), but just mentioning it in case!</p>
<p>newfaith, does your D know what she wants to study? Mine is planning to major in Gender/Women’s Studies, possibly with a double major in Psych and a minor in music. We’re looking at a few schools where Gender/Women’s is a minor, but she really wants it as a major.</p>
<p>OMG! DD wants double major Woman’s and Gender studies with Psy. She also hates when one of her “bands” gets popular. She was very pleased this week with Supreme Court. One thing about Ohio is the Honors Program for the Women’s and Gender studies.</p>
<p>SLUMOM: Please share your wisdom about financial aid. I’m sure many in this thread can use the expertise that you have. Thanks.</p>
<p>Tpcrd66: We visited Duquesne in October 2012. It was the last college visit we did with my D, and she did not like it. She likes urban, but felt the school itself was too small, and she got blank looks when she asked about her particular major. She got the impression that there’s a lot of partying, which she’s not into. They also had forced triples for freshmen. I think she had really settled on her top choices by then, and Duquesne just didn’t meet her expectations. However, I know someone else who’s kid adored Duquesne and is going to start his freshman year soon!</p>
<p>@ newfaith…wow, that’s uncanny!! Oh yes, the SCOTUS decision was very popular here, too. D has been sporting the “marriage equality” banner as her FB profile for months The music thing kills me. I added one of her bands’ songs to my Spotify playlist and she went nuts!</p>
<p>Did not know about the Ohio program, will have to look! Although like I said, D has coastal bias and the midwest is a tough sell, but she really needs to look at several different regions to boost her admissions chances.</p>
<p>We’ll definitely have to compare notes more!</p>
<p>I am now an official member of the “Bummer Report Card” club 
Darn math and science!</p>
<p>I worry mostly about the trend. Honors in 9th grade, then she had a scary health issue in the fall of 10th grade. She missed many days and spent the rest of the semester playing catch-up. We were so concerned about her health issue recurring that we didn’t worry about grades much. She has never bounced back academically :(</p>
<p>However, after reading what others have posted, I refuse to get down about it. I will have to break it to my daughter (she wasn’t home to see the mail) and explain that while this hurts, we can only look back to inform our next steps. </p>
<p>She was in tears studying for her Chem final and saying “I wish I could do this year over.” Sadly, my niece has to do just that, so considering her circumstances I won’t complain. We will soldier on…</p>
<p>@ 5Boys re: GPA vs. Test scores for merit aid. </p>
<p>I know at several schools my D’15 is considering, she increased her merit aid substantially going from a 28 to a 31 on the ACT. Per one school’s NPC, D even qualified for a small school grant with the higher test score, which really surprised us as we always thought school grants were based on need.</p>
<p>newfaith, thank you for the “accurate” picture of a college tour; it sounds just like one of mine! Has your daughter checked out Kenyon? I went to college 25 years ago, but wish this had been on my radar then (video is of John Green taking about his alma mater. See also the wonderful movie, Liberal Arts, which was filmed there)</p>
<p>[To:</a> Kenyon College. Love, John Green - YouTube](<a href=“To: Kenyon College. Love, John Green - YouTube”>To: Kenyon College. Love, John Green - YouTube)</p>
<p>No had not taken a look. Will check it out but if she wants to visit Dad will have to go! lol</p>
<p>Hi Thanks for the link re “snap apps”. </p>
<p>As mentioned with K1 - they were tossed.
What has been interesting if that an admissions officer told K2 that one would come and that it would feel good to have one acceptance done early.
That seems pretty strong.</p>
<p>Of the school list- about half have sent K2 and email and said priority apps were coming–I am happy to save the $. </p>
<p>A couple of coaches said they would make sure K2 would get a priority app since they want to recruit K2.</p>
<p>Good luck to those who are sending applications this month. It starts!</p>
<p>I finally tried out the Net Price Calculator - boy that was an “eye opener” …some of the school we are looking at give merit aid along with Need base. However, the merit base is just deducted from the need base. I guess I was really naive …I thought that S would get merit aid in addition to need base… Making the school more attractive to him over another school that only offered need base. Although - I have to remember that merit base doesn’t go away but need $ will change as income changes…</p>
<p>Nooooo…not ready!!! I guess we don’t have a choice though, huh? ;)</p>
<p>After keeping my promise not to say a word about summer schoolwork until July 1, it’s here! I actually think that DS broke out his AP Chem packet yesterday and I think I saw DD with a summer reading book in hand too… hoping I won’t have to turn into a nag! </p>
<p>Told them that summer work must be done by August 1, because on August 1, they need to be ready to start applying. Fortunately, they are signed up for private sessions with their AP English teacher to get help with their essays, starting this month. I decided it was well worth the $$ just to have them be accountable to HER, so I didn’t have to be the bad guy! Lol! Plus, they both loved her in class, so they actually both seem to be looking forward to working with her.</p>