<p>@LisaK216: Thank you for that wonderful review. I was always curious about Allegheny. We toured OWU a few years ago with D1 and she did not like the campus layout. My son had several friends attend OWU and all of them spent the weekends at either UDayton or Miami of Ohio because there was more to do there. OWU is a college that you really want to like but just falls short. </p>
<p>@sciguru: Great reviews. We toured Elon twice. It shows very well and is a popular choice among our high school. It was on my D’s short list but she ended up choosing Furman. I have heard very mixed things about High Point but one of our neighbors just graduated from there and loved it. Oh, and I would avoid those scholarship books. They are dated.</p>
<p>@heikedog: I just saw your trip summary. Very well done. It was interesting since I am not that familiar with those college. I hear great things about Rhodes. I know 2 kids that transferred from Earlham so not as good. Roanoke send us a lot of literature and it looks beautiful.</p>
<p>Finally was able to get D to consider how to answer the dreaded “How did you overcome adversity in your life?” question that is sure to come up on some of her college applications. No, having a really bad hair day on school picture day doesn’t qualify as adversity… We also talked about how to get admission officers to notice you from a sea of 10,000 applications. Having lived, breathed, and focused on ONE sport for 12 years isn’t unique. So we discussed how she’s grown in her sport and the lessons learned traveling, coaching, teaching, and mentoring young kids. D starts working with her college counselor for the next three weeks writing essays, etc. I’m hoping she’ll dig deep and find some great and inspirational lessons/stories she can fit into 650 words that will help her get into the college she wants to go to. Here we go!</p>
<p>I’m frustrated with these essays too. I understand why they are necessary, but the majority of these teens are not going to have life changing experiences at 17 or 18 years of age.</p>
<p>I am the unofficial college counselor for Spygirl’s bff who has a 3.39 UW GPA. She and DD have been involved in the same sport since they were 5 years old. They have reached the very top of their sport, so that’s something, but the world of these young people is still pretty closed.</p>
<p>Just trying to catch up on all the posts–thanks to everyone who’s kept up with them…</p>
<p>@scsciguru-For scholarship books, BoobyCT is right-don’t buy those. I found “The College Solution” by Lyn O’'Shaughnessy to be the best for real FA information. I think one of the posters here or on classof 2014 mentioned it?? I bought the book on amazon, but here’s her site. [The</a> College Solution | The College Solution](<a href=“http://www.thecollegesolution.com/]The”>http://www.thecollegesolution.com/)</p>
<p>@fogfog-our prayers to you and your family. Sorry so late on this.</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestion of the FA book. I had some credit left from an Amazon GC so I went ahead and purchased it. It looks like it gets good reviews.</p>
<p>My DD goes to a very small private HS and her math teacher told me today that when the school sends the transcripts that it will say all her classes are considered honor level courses. This school’s grading system is harder than our local public; A- 94, B+ 93, B 90 and so forth. For the life of me can not figure out what that means for her as her gpa is 3.36 heading into senior year, also her first ACT was 28 which she is retaking this Sept. We are looking for mostly large public Universities in the Midwest where I always thought her chances are 50/50, do you think her chances might be higher than this?</p>
<p>@newfaith: It depends on which university. Ohio State, Minnesota, Illinois and possibly Indiana might be difficult for OSS. On the other hand, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas and Missouri would be automatics. My D is in the 3.0 and 25 ACT range and she has been accepted to ISU and Kansas and waiting to hear from UIowa. She is also looking at larger public universities in the Midwest.</p>
<p>@Agentninetynine: Iowa and Kansas allow for an early on-line application. You self report your GPA, test scores, your high school courses and class rank. If you meet certain requirements, you are automatically accepted and notified within 48 hours. No essay, no Common App, no activity sheet or recommendations needed. Both states have different requirements but they are not that difficult. University of Iowa is the most difficult. It takes a burden off your shoulders knowing that they have been accepted into a few colleges already.</p>
<p>D is still going to apply the traditional way to a few colleges so she has some work to do in the next few weeks.</p>
<p>Bobby my DD has already applied to U of Iowa as OOS and Minnesota as in-state. She didn’t like Iowa State when she visited with her Dad, they were told she qualified for merit aide that would have put the cost close to in-state of MN. She is currently working on her essay to apply to Wisconsin. I’ve warned her that Wisconsin is a big reach but letting her apply. I’m thinking if we I can find an extra day some time this fall in her busy schedule we should drive down and visit Kansas. She is Hispanic so that helps her chances a little I think.</p>
<p>@newfaith: We are visiting Kansas in 2 weeks. I will let you know our initial observations. KU wasn’t even on our radar screen until we attended the ISU open house and had lunch with a couple that graduated ISU as undergrads and KU for grad school. When my D described what she had hoped to find in a college, a residential campus like ISU but with more non-STEM majors like UIowa, the couple immediately said “you just described KU”. Their daughter confirmed it was her top choice. We will see.</p>
<p>Good luck with Wisconsin. Great college. Is your D a future STEM major?</p>
<p>My D is also looking at four Big Ten schools. FYI–She got an email yesterday from Indiana U. that states they do rolling admissions and if you apply by Nov. 1st they will let you know if you’re in no later than 1/15/14 (and possibly much sooner). We’re headed out in two weeks to visit Indiana, Purdue, and Illinois. Of the three, IU looks to be the very best fit on paper with Ds intended major/minor.</p>
<p>Just received email that our daughter was accepted to University of Iowa, so at least she knows there is at least one place she can attend. This is the only school we haven’t visited so looks like we’ll take a drive down in November and check it out. Although they just recently got voted #1 party school it looks like a good fit, she is not a party kid.</p>
<p>@newfaith: My daughter received her acceptance notice from Iowa today too. Like your daughter, my D is not a party kid either. We did visit (just posted Visit report today) and thought that there was enough other diversions to keep her busy. I don’t know if she will end up committing there but she likes it a whole lot better today than yesterday.</p>
<p>I just returned from our marathon college trip (DD14 is in MA babysitting for our cousin for another week). We visited:
Syracuse U. at big open house
Rochester Institute of Technology for summer overnight program for kids (700 of them! and they had another session in July!) and parents (great program!).
U. of Buffalo
University of Rochester
we almost visited State U. of NY College of Environmental Studies and Forestry (on the Syracuse U. campus), but the form they wanted her to fill out asked for her social security number (???) and the lounge in the student center was filled with taxidermy, not her thing, so we left.
State U. of NY College at Oneonta
Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute.</p>
<p>Very heavy on the Tech schools but at one point she was interested in engineering (after she decided she didn’t want to doctor because she didn’t want to deal with patients). Currently wants to do bio research, maybe specializing in genetics.</p>
<p>She really liked U. of Rochester; also could live with Oneonta, which is our safety school; sorta liked R.I.T. and I loved it–I got to talk to the head of the bio department for almost half an hour, and he gave me opinions on the bio depts. at the other schools we are exploring; liked Syracuse but will definitely need another look–we had to leave before the tour; liked RPI, didn’t like WPI.</p>
<p>We live within the NYC limits so she is not allowed to drive until age 18 but has a learner’s permit she can use elsewhere. She got 1000 miles of driving experience and learned a lot, and I survived without Xanax. She certainly doesn’t need to drive in NYC and I don’t mind driving her when it’s late or too far or whatever, so the subway or bike doesn’t make sense.</p>
<p>Her GPA is not great (86) but she goes to a test-in school in NYC, Brooklyn Tech, where there is absolutely no grade inflation, and more than one admissions officer told me they know about Brooklyn Tech. She started taking 2 APs a year when she was a sophomore. Her first stab at the ACT was a 27 but I am pretty sure her next try will go up in September.</p>
<p>Previously we saw Cornell and Binghamton, both of which she loved, and Lehigh which she didn’t–the lack of diversity was painful, although they said they may invite her to a diversity weekend in the fall. I adopted her from China and she is used to a lot of diversity, living in Brooklyn. Of course Cornell is an extreme reach but if she gets a 30 on the ACT, what the heck.</p>
<p>Done with the visits. K2 has a draft of the one essay…it’s not impressive and needs reworking. Hasn’t touched any supplemental essays.
Sigh
STILL reading the first of 2 summer reading books. Hasn’t done prep for pre-calc.
etec. etc.
School starts a week from Tue. </p>
<p>I am more concerned than K2 who “wants to have fun and enjoy summer”. Yes grasshopper, and you did that with a 4 week camp, 3 overnights at the beach with friends etc etc…Maybe if you got up before 11:30am and went to bed before 1am you’d actually be getting something done!!!</p>
<p>:rolleyes:</p>
<p>I am NOT taking K2 shopping for clothes, shoes etc until the school reading is DONE (including reviewing the study guides which the hs posted in May, the phone call/email to the math teacher and appt is set, and the essay drafts are done.</p>
<p>@fogfog: I can relate. At least your K2 has a draft of his essay. DD hasn’t even picked out her essay question yet. However, she finished her AP prep reading and about half of the written assignment. She also finished her Activity List/Resume. That is a huge achievement that will make the application process a little easier to complete. She also registered for her Common App account.</p>
<p>The game plan is for DD to finish the writing portion of her AP work, her Common App essay and as much of the actual Common App as possible. Ideally she will start her Senior year with all the application process completed and just ready for edit. Like I said, that is the plan. Now time to see if the plan will get executed. Like I have told her while she has been protesting and complaining, she will thank me when school starts that I have kept on her to get this done early. Senior year is not the fun year it used to be when I was a kid. </p>