That’s a good question, dyiu13, we had better look into that. I know next to nothing about either PE teaching or anthropology, but it seems like job prospects might be iffy either way. I wish that DS had more practical interests. (This coming from a person with a BFA in art… lol)
Delurking and coming from Parents of '15. Someone, BeeDare?, asked about banking options for the college student. I think most parents set up a joint account with the student. Some give a monthly allowance, others do not. Some choose online banks, others the local college bank, others the local home bank and still others, a national bank or credit union.
I didn’t know what I was doing so D opened her own checking account (no savings account) at the local bank in her tiny college town. I put in money she earned looking after her brother last summer. Then DH and I left town. Later, after seeing the costs of books, I sent a check for book money.
While this apparently is working out for us, this is more a “don’t do this” than a recommendation. I haven’t a clue how much money she has or spends. I don’t even know her bank account number so the only way to give her money is to mail a check. (sigh) I’m still figuring things out. The good news is she hasn’t asked for more money. The better news is it’s still okay to make mistakes.
Congratulations to all the kids for their acceptances! It’s nice to see all the good news. D is doing well and likes her LAC (Cornell College) her freshman year. The One Course at a Time suits her very well. This doesn’t mean she suddenly became a straight A student but she’s now more B / B+ / A. So forward progress.
If he wants to be a Physical Education teacher he needs to go to a school that will fulfill all the requirements (and there are many). I’m not sure any of his choices work, they have to have specifically a Physical Education major. He could have a PE major with an Anthropology minor. The other choice would be to not major in PE and take a one or two year program post-graduate and get his Masters in PE. One way or another he needs to take a structured program that graduates him with a Pysical Education teaching degree. Good luck!
To become a teacher of anything, take a look at your home state’s State Education Department site, under Teacher Certification.
You’ll want a program that gets you into schools ASAP, observing classes. And one that will enable you to graduate with certification, making it possible to be qualified for a job upon graduation. And have him strongly consider staying in state, so that certification will be the one he can bring home; otherwise he’ll have to look under “Alternate Certification” to see what steps will be necessary to also become certified in his home state.
It’s always been brutally difficult to find jobs as a pure PE teacher-- most elementary schools have one (or one that floats within several schools in one district.) High schools also have very few. So he’ll want to have dual certification- many PE teachers pair it with Health certification.
Make sure he spends some time in college coaching something. If his resume shows that he’s experienced coaching some sport on some level, it will make him a far stronger candidate than one without that experience. Anything from Little League to CYO to PAL is far better than no experience.
Thanks, amtc and bjkmom, really helpful advice.
Northern Illinois has both majors, but I’d rather he not go there. Carthage has PE, but not anthropology. The rest have anthro, but not PE. Really, I’m hoping he’ll drop the PE idea altogether (he came up with it after he’d selected his schools). If he really wants to do both I’d rather he put in an application to Illinois State, though he didn’t like it much when he visited.
FWIW, we love Carthage!
That wasn’t me that asked, @SlackerMomMD , but that’s good advice about the joint account. It’s what we’re doing now with D’s high school checking account, and I think we’ll continue doing that in college.
I may also see about getting an extra credit card for her, for security reasons, and because we get miles on our credit card and I’m greedy for airline miles, :). (She can use some, too.)
And kudos to your D for being proactive and independent and opening up her own account!
I looked into Cornell for D, after they called and sent us brochures and called us a couple of times - the one class at a time sounds like a good fit for my D - but couldn’t get D interested…
I’m happy your D is doing well there!
@rienrah, my D did not care for IL State, either, but just because she really disliked the dorms - hated that they were high-rise buildings and that there are only 2 or 3 dining halls for the whole campus.
I think was a little too close to home, too, at only two hours away by train.
She also didn’t care for Northern IL but we only just walked around the campus… What do you not like about Northern IL, just curious? A lot of kids from around here go there… and I do understand it’s something of a commuter campus.
I actually like Northern (my brothers and I all graduated there) but they’re on shakier financial footing than UIUC or Illinois State, partially due to the current state budget impasse. Not that I take US News as gospel, but NIU dropped off of their ratings this year, they’re no longer in the top 200 national research universities. 
I’m not certain why, perhaps it’s a money matter.
Interesting re: the rankings, because Northern is such a popular school around here, mainly for financial reasons, I think… it’s close enough to commute to from many Chicago suburbs.
My neighbors both went there and have done very well for themselves.
Yeah, it’s strange, I’m not sure what’s going on there. Maybe US News just messed up on this ranking. Anyway, I loved my time at Northern. I’ve thought about going back and working on a master’s, since it is within commuting distance of where I live now… maybe after I retire.
If my son ends up there I’ll be fine with it, but he’s the type of kid who really thrives in small discussion-style classes. I’d love to see him go to a small LAC.
My son just committed to Temple University in Philly. He is very excited to be attending college in a major city. He is my third and last child, and this has actually been the easiest process yet. My older daughers had the decision process drag on forever, including coming off the waitlist and last minute decisions.
Temple was my son’s first choice, he applied in mid-August, as soon as the application was available, and was accepted October 2nd. I was even able to buy him some Temple gear for Christmas! Good luck to all of those waiting for eagerly waiting for decisions.
I haven’t been here for awhile - it’s great to see everyone’s acceptances!
My D’16 has been accepted at the University of Minnesota, San Diego State, Humboldt State and has pending applications at Cal Poly Pomona, Indiana - Bloomington, Colorado State, and Eckerd College. I think she’s still planning to complete her apps for Temple, Oregon State and Michigan State before the weekend is up. Those Early Action deadlines came and went with no action on her part. Very grateful for the super easy UMN and Cal State apps - she got her Minnesota acceptance (first one) on her 18th birthday in December.
If there were a scholarship for the Virginia HS student with the most random college list, maybe she would qualify. She seems pretty excited about Minnesota, so I guess we’ll be traveling to Minneapolis during Spring Break.
Random? I was figuring there must be a strategy behind this list @eh1234 . Maybe schools strong in her intended major/s? Cool to see how she’s willing to study in various states across the nation!
@BlueHen89 Congratulations on being done! May his years at Temple be joyful.
Looks like it’s Temple for our son as well. He didn’t get one of the top scholarships due to his gpa, but he got 14k. My wife’s parents are helping out, so it’s a go.
Congrats to all those Temple bound students.
That’s great news, mstomper! It looks like both our sons will be at Temple in the fall. What is your son going to study? My son is majoring in computer science. I bought him some great Temple wear for Christmas from the Temple bookstore on line.
@BlueHen89, he’s majoring in film. He’ll probably minor in math. We kind of assumd for a long time that he would major in math since he’s so good at it, but he’s become passionate about movies the last couple of years (watching/analyzing them, not making them). He got my wife to take him for a visit during the Philadelphia Film Festival and went to 8 movies while they were there.
@dyiu13 Not random to her or to us, but random to any local people we talk to. She knows plenty of kids who apply to five VA schools and maybe one or two out of state. People look at me like I have three heads when I mention that she’s not applying to JMU, VA Tech or a couple of others.
@mstomper Did Temple use your school’s GPA or recalculate based on some other formula? My D qualifies for the $14K scholarship based on her school GPA and ACT score, but may only get the $9,000 one if they use another formula. If she even finishes her application that is. My D really liked her Temple tour, but she’s not sure what she would choose as a major if she goes there.
@eh1234 That looks sort of like our list (in the sense of a mix of very different geographic areas and sizes). I am still not totally sure what factors will be most important to him when it comes time to decide, I’m glad he will have a variety. This does not seem to be too out of the ordinary for our high school, certainly haven’t gotten any double-takes. However, mostly it is because of an unusual major found only at certain schools, which isn’t the case for my son. He’s just cast a wide net. I am wondering how easily the decision will come in April (we won’t hear from UC schools until March so it is likely he won’t commit until after that point).
@mstomper So glad things are working out for your son, and that’s an interesting combination of major/minor!