<p>eyemamom - unless doing ED, I HIGHLY recommend applying to 2 - 3 college even if she absolutely loves a safety school. There’s no problem at all knowing all along she’s going to her first choice, but come spring - kids LOVE to have choices to talk about. Those who only apply to one place tend to feel a little left out - and almost always tell me they wish they’d considered other places. Chances are, they’d still like their #1, but there’s just something “human” about knowing you got to “choose” it at the end.</p>
<p>I kind of expect my guy to be in the same boat - just a different school. Time will tell though.</p>
<p>Hey all, I pop in and our of here but haven’t posted in a long time. My D and I are going to do a big sweep of schools April vacation week. She is tough. Originally she said she wanted campus based school with a ton of school spirit, now she is saying she wants a city school OY. Help me!! So we planned this trip: Bard, Wesleyan, UCONN, North Eastern, Conn College. School visits are mixed in with meeting the women’s soccer coaches. That is confounding the process as well. She would like to play, but happily (for me) would not be devastated if she did not. She could play, she is good enuf, but does not want her whole year taken up with a sport. So we will just look at D3 programs. But the D3’s around us are all high level small LAC’s. We cancelled looking at Amherst, I just think it is too much of a long shot. Confused!!! Any remarks from people who have visited any of the above schools would be appreciated.</p>
<p>ELKyes–I imagine you know this, but Wes, Conn College and UConn are not in cities. Well, Conn College is in New London but not what one thinks of when you mention city school. Northeastern will give her that city feel but it also has an actual campus. Roads surround and intersect the campus and the T’s green line stops at the school, so it is in the city but has green space. (To contrast with BU, which has buildings up and down Comm Ave.) U Conn is in the middle of nowhere. Wes is in Middletown–suburban, and pretty, but I have really only spent time at the pool.</p>
<p>Am not involved in athletic recruiting but am surrounded by it where we live. The level of play at the NESCACs practically approaches D1 at some schools. There is a wonderfully supportive and informative group of parents over on the Athletic Admissions forum. They will offer advice and a reality check, and several of them have been through the NESCAC recruiting process and lived to tell the tale.</p>
<p>Have fun on the tour. I am dreading our April break schedule.</p>
<p>I think I may have posted this before, but my DS and I have found mytonomy dot com to be a really helpful site. It is basically video testimonials from college students, admissions staff, counselors, high school students, etc. about the whole college process. The videos cover everything from applying as a first generation student, financial aid, how to handle rejection, how to approach getting off a wait list, how to choose a major, what it’s like to study a major at a particular school and much much more.</p>
<p>It is a side project of one of the counselors at DS’s school who is just fantastic (he was the one on the video I posted talking about ED/EA admission rates).</p>
<p>Thanks CT1417! Yes, I do know that they are not in cities. And that is why I am frustrated by her change in heart. If she loves NEU, then soccer will be at club level, and that is fine. She is practical in that way. I will def. check out the athletics admission forum. Over Feb break, we visited, UNC chapel hill (snow ball chance in hell getting in there), Elon, Davidson, High point (drove thru, for fun), UNC Charlotte (drove thru for fun), and College of Charleston, where my son is currently a freshman. I blame him, once she saw that school, in a city setting, she started to change her tune. I LOVED ELON!</p>
<p>Hi everyone, I have a senior son and a junior son. I’m joining this discussion late because I’ve just finished working with my senior and am now starting to focus on my junior (just came home from a trip to Boston/NYC to see S14’s schools). Lordy, will this never end??? </p>
<p>Since I just went though the process and was very involved, feel free to ask me questions and I will do my best to answer them. My son is a smart, but quiet boy who has a black and white outlook on life. Not creative or artsy or musical and didn’t particularly care about saving the world. He wants to study Economics or business and was accepted at Columbia, Penn (Wharton), Georgetown, USC (Marshall), Notre Dame and Villanova. Waitlisted at Stanford, MIT, Northwestern and UChicago. Rejected at Harvard. I share all this because it just goes to show that your child doesn’t need to be super outgoing, introspective, mega-athletic and a creative writing genius (essays) to get into a good school.</p>
<p>@lulumama congrats! You sure don’t have time to rest! Has he decided where he is going? Your S13 sounds like my S14 and the same interests - quiet, also black and white outlook, not creative, not sportsy, looking to get into finance. He has all the same schools on his lists except for those that don’t have a business program. Hates economics (more grey for him) Loves finance (black and white). So probably picking your brain later on :D</p>
<p>Ognopgod, S13 has not decided yet but it’s down to Penn and Columbia. Considering he likes finance, you may wonder why he’s hesitating about Wharton. It’s because he worries that the kids there will be too intense. Meanwhile, his grandparents feel that Columbia is too liberal. This is going to come down to the wire, I can already tell!</p>
<p>What a great decision to have to make lulu. For most decisions in life I always advocate silence. Sit quietly and reflect on the decision and choices and usually there is in there the decision that just hasn’t been verbalizer or acknowledged. Sit with his eyes closed in a quiet room and he could tell you deep down his preference. Away from what anyone else thinks. </p>
<p>Then again there is always the coin toss. The moment that coin goes in the air, he’s going to hope it lands one way or the other. </p>
<p>ELKyes - have you considered DC schools like American or GW? </p>
<p>Creek - after talking with d yesterday - her reach is still her #1, but her safety is #2. I regret even visiting the reach last year. In my defense she did well on the psat’s, but it hasn’t translated to the act or sat, but her grades are well within the range. Unless she really knocks it out of the park next Saturday she’ll be looking at her safety. I still get it sounds like sour grapes, but she has worked hard in high school, strong gpa, lots of ap’s & honors classes, nhs, sailing, tons of volunteering - and yet one test she can’t seem to master will hold her back.</p>
<p>Eye, please, please let her take the SAT again in October. Tell her it simply won’t hurt, no pressure, and leave it at that. Lots of seniors will be there. You may get the numbers. She needs. Also we were told by a couple of schools that they prefer ‘matched’ SAT/ GPA combinations- as in that by looking at one you sort of expect the other- but secondly they prefer a high GPA/ low SAT combo and realize four years of class work says more than a Saturday morning. Hang in there. You and D have a great attitude. I loved my D’s safety too, and I like S14’s as well. I think we are quite fortunate.
S is taking a practice SAT thru his prep class this morning. I hope it goes well for him. He needs some confidence.</p>
<p>Eymamom - We employed that silence for S2 when deciding. He had so much noise…teachers, mentors, peers, with very strong opinions who were voicing them loudly and relentlessly. I told him somehow he needed to block it all out and think about what he wanted. He’d been to both, knew the culture and opportunities at both well, had dug into each program. Where would he be happy (that’s where you’ll thrive)? Not what was the ‘right’ choice? He made the choice clearly right for him, but not the popular or obvious one for his major. He had teachers saying he was throwing away his education. I was appalled. He’s never had a second thought, is doing well academically and growing personally. He has several friends in the same program at the school not chosen and respects it but knows now more then ever academically and personally/socially he absolutely made the right decision. </p>
<p>I think your daughter will do absolutely fine. I know several top notch students who struggled with the SAT/ACT. For some reason it just dogged them. I wouldn’t give up entirely. If your DD is game (only if she’s not going to be too stressed) it may be worth a shot to take one last test in the fall in whichever format appears to be her best. Do light or no review. I have seen a few kids jump 100-200 pts from this alone. I see nothing wrong with still looking at the first school for what it is…a reach. There’s a reason why they’re called that. One (or two) parts of you profile don’t hit the mark, but you’re an exceptionally good candidate in other ways. With holistic admissions you just don’t know how interesting they are going to find that candidate, and does it outweigh a low score? I don’t know the school but many selective schools are relying far more heavily on transcript (rigor, grades, rank,etc) then the scores. What you did over four years is indeed more important then a Saturday morning. The transcript can easier make up for scores, but I’ve never heard anywhere that the scores make up for a lousy transcript. </p>
<p>Meanwhile…
You’ve done your job perfectly! She loves her safety! She’s perfectly happy and content, excited even, to be going there. Score! That is indeed the goal, it’s just rarely ever reached. </p>
<p>So breath. Great job ‘mom’. :)</p>
<p>btw, I don’t remember if I responded before (so frequently interrupted), we’ve been hearing great things about CNU around here for about 4-5yrs. A lot of our kids are really liking it, so not an ‘unknown’ at all. In fact, S3 just got an email from them yesterday (my guess marketing fm the March SAT). He never responds for mail lists, but sometimes I do for him (this is agreed upon). It helps in any school that looks at demonstrated interest, and S3 won’t read an email, but he’ll thumb through snail mail.</p>
<p>Okay, I take FOREVER to write a post (esp on the iPhone) and crossed with 89Wahoo. In sync. Again!! We really are two different people, honest!! With the agreement and occasional lovefest here and on the UVa forum I could see the skepticism, but really…two of us. ;)</p>
<p>I’ll join the crowd saying Love your Safety! If it really has good programs for you, it can be a great choice. My D13’s safety was O l e Mi s s because of their international studies and Chinese programs. Their honors college is outstanding as is their OOS merit aid. What we didn’t know was that they would begin offering S T A M P S scholarships this year - full COA plus enrichment funds and a national network of scholars. D was offered that opportunity and is visiting this week. That safety is rapidly becoming her top choice!</p>
<p>Congrats to your D13, Apollo! Super scholarships!!</p>
<p>And also to your S13, lulumama! What great choices!</p>
<p>I agree with the love they safety! I believe DS has found a very good safety. We are still looking, but good to know he would be happy even if we stopped now.</p>
<p>@ELKyes… I remember you from 2012 parent thread… good to see you back on here with me again:) I take it your S is happy at CoC?? My DS14 has it on his list because it has a lot of his criteria…i.e. sailing, urban… but he will most likely be a theater major, so he will have to investigate it further in regards to that. Elon is on his list too, it has theater, but lacking the other 2 top criteria’s… this is going to be WAY harder his time around. DS12 knew exactly what he wanted… DS14 is all over the place…UGH!!</p>
<p>Apollo - that is awesome. Tell me something because that school has come on and off our list, and on and off. Her GC made an offhand comment about it being an ole boys racist school and that instantly turned d off. It’s such a foreign concept to her (yay for this generation) she was worried about feeling out of place. I think it meets a lot of her criteria - school spirit, sororities, beautiful surroundings, etc. </p>
<p>Thanks all for the testing pep talk. She takes the ACT next Saturday. After we all saw the first round and helped each other up off the floor we did what people despise on this website - we signed her up for private tutoring. It’s actually pretty cool - she does it online, one on one. In fact she has to do another practice test this weekend and one more session. I think it’s gone a long way addressing her test anxiety. She said she went in there, read the questions and freaked out that she didn’t know how to answer anything. In a calmer environment once she started going through it she knew it and was fine. In fact she was so focused on the math, she ended up scoring 100 points higher on the math than critical reading on the sat’s. And she’s a very strong writer/reader - she managed a 10 on the writing on the ACT. So hopefully next weekend she pulls together all the pieces and just does it. </p>
<p>And of course she’s way more blase than us.</p>
<p>DD sneaked out of the house this am while I was meeting with a client. She should be studying for the ACT, AP tests, etc. What I’ve heard is that the SAT subject tests and AP tests are becoming increasingly more important in selective admissions to corroborate grades. There’s way too much grade inflation so an “A” in AP Chem is not as meaningful if the kid scored a 2 on the AP test. Makes sense, I guess.</p>
<p>She spent yesterday evening with a friend so she really can’t afford to be sloughing off right now. I know, I know…it’s her process. Just feel like I have invested so much time and money on tests, counseling visits, east coast visit, etc. She’s got to keep up with her end of the bargain. Grrrrr.</p>
<p>I am feeling behind the curve as she doesn’t have any “I’m in love with my safety” schools. I don’t think we’ll be able to fit in any more college visits until summer so feeling a bit insecure as I know how important they are. Congrats to all who have that under their belts!</p>
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