D is about to hit submit on the Gonzaga honors app, so one essay down. Let’s just get this over!
@MSU88CHEng, yep my D’s school is the one with the cruddy IB coordinator. I’m sure she’s not typical (certainly hope not!) IB wouldn’t have worked for D anyway. No way she was going to take French or any other “normal” FL. She took ASL instead. Also, doing the four year engineering program at her school combined with IB leaves students with virtually no electives. D has enjoyed most of her electives so it all worked out well.
@eandesmom, all the music/theater scholarship sounds like a quagmire to navigate. Almost make me glad none of my kids have talent in that area. Oldest D had dance auditions, but they were pretty straightforward. Unfortunately she never saw any $$ from them.
Regarding the struggling sons of calc, my S18 hates it too and is ready to be done with math. He’ll take stats next year. He pulled off his A with a 90.04. As far as girls, he really wants a girlfriend. He’s quite the romantic and those girls don’t know what they’re missing out on! His friend group is about half female, so he hangs out with girls pretty often. But that doesn’t seem to make approaching girls for a date any easier.
@RightCoaster, with a 33 ACT math I’m surprised he doesn’t get A’s in honors math, but I guess the difference between GPA and scores is not unusual. I’m relieved D got all A’s first semester since it could affect admittance and merit, but second semester I don’t care.
@rolani88, in at all seven – you should be really proud! Let me know if you have any questions about CU-Boulder or city of Boulder. My oldest D is a senior at CU.
@snoozn regarding son’s math. He can do the math. He just doesn’t read instructions, doesn’t show his work etc.
I’m not sure how he did decently on Sat and ACT math sections. He is a good student overall, but I can say he truly doesn’t love studying. He has no patience for it. He would rather sit in class and listen intently and absorb it all, than go home and try to learn it all and practice, practice, practice. He’s got a weird knack for just remembering things once he learns it, but that doesn’t work as easily in math areas That’s why he’s never moved up to AP math, he probably would struggle to keep up without extra practice and prep… Plus he doesn’t love math.
He literally never studies for any tests, he just takes them. He gets all A/A-'s and a B+ in math every single term, lol. I’m OK with that. There’s worse things right?
But that’s why he fits in more in this thread, than the 2017 kids thread where there are a lot of standout students. If I told him he never had to go to school again he would probably jump up and down with joy and relief. He knows he has to do it though, so he just grinds through it as best he can.
@RightCoaster your son sounds like my older son. He has an uncanny knack for remembering things he’s read or listened to in class. He didn’t learn how to study until college where his engineering major requires it. He was also the kid who asked me in middle school who invented school so he could hate him (sorry Horace Mann but you were the name that came out)
TacoSon, charter member of the Struggling Calc (And Sometimes Girls) Symposium, also got a 33 on math ACT. I was resisting dropping his score into conversation with random strangers while my DH, an MIT grad, was banging his head against the wall over our cipher progeny, with his many strengths, much laziness, and an academic focus that totally shifts from year to year. Presently he says he’s doing fine (??) in calculus but struggling in Spanish. And he spent 3 hours building a new Lego set before starting his homework, so figure that into the whole profile. @rightcoaster , our kids sound similar in a lot of ways.
@snoozn , electives played a role in TacoSon not pursuing full IB. His school is small and Theory of Knowledge would have meant he’d have to quit band, as the class is only held during the elective period. And while he has almost enough IB courses to satisfy the requirements, it would have meant, as others have said, 2 years of IB bio or physics instead of being able to get a taste of the different sciences.
Congrats, @rolani88 ! Great list of schools and a wide range you’ll get to choose from. It must feel great to have so many options!
So… last night I looked at my son’s grades. And yikes… the A- he’s had in English all semester dropped to a C+. What… Seems he didn’t turn in a essay. Writing is mandatory 50% of the grade. Teacher was giving him till today to turn it in though. (Part of his 504.) It’s exactly the type of essay that he can’t even start. Write about himself?? What he needed to do was talk with the teacher, about changing the prompt.
And I’m too busy to really even worry about it. Major work… I’ve been at it since 8am this morning. I’m taking a break while I wait for something long to process, and then I have to write one more email before I go to bed.
@rolani88 Glad to hear you got into all those schools. I think you have a lot of great options. S17 did get into UofO. Good luck there, but honestly it sounds like you have some great & much cheaper options.
@smakl70 My son usually barely studies for tests like finals. Like your son he has a knack for remembering things, and doesn’t see why he would need to review. He will study for his Physics tests, but his social studies & English tests he usually does well on and barely cracks a book. If only he would do better on all the essays and homework.
Acceptance #8 just arrived for TacoSon: Christopher Newport University. Very nice school with a lot of great programs but TacoSon isn’t interested. I think this is one drawback to hitting submit on all of the CommonApp things at the same time; he got acceptances to schools he liked a lot early on so there would have been no need to pursue the ones he was lukewarm about.
The differences between different kids and GPA/testing are certainly wide-ranging. D really likes math and has no problem with AP Calc BC, although she does study a lot. But she got the same 33 ACT math as the math-haters (and 730 SAT math). Jealous! S18 who does not like math got a 29 math on the ACT and a 750 on the PSAT. Kind of weird.
@curiositycat333, I hope your S will be able to work something out with the teacher. An A- going to a C+ must be pretty distressing. I’m glad D is in second semester already so she doesn’t have to stress as much about grades. I’m thrilled that got all A’s first semester including her two DE classes. I really hope that will help in terms of acceptance/merit.
@tacocat333, there can still be advantages to having acceptances you don’t care about anymore. If he gets more merit there than a peer school he likes, you can use that as a bargaining chip. Somebody already posted it, I think in the main 2017 thread, but here’s a handy “peer school” navigator that can help you figure out which schools would be most likely to increase merit based on another offer: http://www.chronicle.com/interactives/peers-network
@snoozn, I love that link! Not only is it fun to play with, but it yields some very interesting information (for the schools on our list, it’s telling that there are very few schools on the “mutual peer” list for any given school.
@snoozn , thanks – peer school navigator is very interesting! In his case, it’s not even useful as a bargaining ship as merit aid is awarded on the basis of interview and, I think, an essay event. We didn’t bother scheduling those when he got early acceptances to schools he preferred, and state schools don’t give much anyway.
In TacoSon’s case, his high ACT really underscores the need to address performance vs. potential.
Goucher College acceptance email tonight, nice end to the week after some serious calc meltdowns. Hopefully the merit will come in where we need it to!
@eandesmom What are you hoping for in merit? D17 got 19K…more would have been nice, but it’s decent. Can’t remember but guessing your S may be higher stats than my D.
D has gotten so enthused about Gonzaga that I think only RIT may be able to beat them out at this point. I know it’s kind of silly to be influenced by dorms, but we both love the set-up of where she would hopefully live. It’s a suite on the engineering floor with a common area and three adjoining bedrooms, so six girls. A nice set-up so that you and your roomie don’t have to constantly be right on top of each other when you’re “home.” And rooming with five other engineering girls seems like great potential for friends and study-mates.
On the peer school navigator I thought it was funny that Harvey Mudd listed three of the schools on D’s list as peers even though Mudd is waaaay more selective.
@eandesmom, I hope you will get big merit. (Ha - I originally typed that as “I hope you will beg merit,” maybe that’s what we’ll all be doing in March!) It was one of oldest D’s few affordable schools.
Am I the only one excited to get FA letters even if you don’t get any FA?
Why? Because it shows the 17-18 tuition rates! Allegheny’s arrived today
@kt1969 good question! They have the lame calculator so if I run it with one kid I get a 19K ish number, with 2 it’s 24,700. But it lumps everything together and is based on 14-15 data so who really knows! He is a tad higher gpa, I think your D has better test scores, he has decent rigor.and EC’s Honestly his only real advantage is he is a boy from the west coast and they are more unbalanced than the rest of his schools lol.
Ideally for me, I would really really like to see it meet the Allegheny offer at a minimum at COA, regardless of what the actual merit award is.
He was pretty cute. VERY happy. Not surprised as we expected him to get in but it is very high on his list.
Followed by
*Did they offer money yet?
How much is it?
How does it compare to the others?
This is going to be hard!
I kind of wish I’d gotten at least one rejection, I was expecting one and prepared for it.*
Which really meant, to me, that it would make choosing easier. I did tell him that really he could consider some as financial rejections once it all comes down to it. He didn’t agree.
Of course, that still could happen. He’s got one match school left to hear from and a LOT of work to do for that school between now and when he hears although in theory that work won’t have bearing on acceptance.
@snoozn I love that she’s so excited about Gonzaga! I don’t think that’s silly at all. And you are right, we may well be begging for merit in march! My biggest concern is it is not nearly as strong as some of the others in his program area. But I also know the kid could totally change his mind on majors and so I need to be flexible, as does he. He needs to be somewhere with options. It’s going to be an interesting tour to say the least.
@snoozn I hope so. He insisted I stayed out of it. We had a rainy day yesterday so he didn’t have his EC after school & therefore had more time to write the essay. It was one how X book relates to you personally types of prompts that he just has no answer to. But I don’t know much more about it. Honestly I’ve had a really stressful week about other things and am not going to disturb my precious me time this evening by even looking. He will likely do well enough on the final to at least bring the grade up to a B. But I really hope he figured something out.
Congrats on Goucher. One of my childhood friends went there, back when it was an all girl school, and loved it. More recently, another friend’s D went there and loved it. She has debt thought, where her brother who attended a SUNY school has none. One of my friends tried to get me to have techson apply there, but the numbers just didn’t work and he didn’t seem like a candidate for big merit. My app strategy was simply not to apply to schools we couldn’t cover. Since techson had no dream schools, that was fairly easy.
Here’s our final count - 5 applications, 5 acceptances, with some limits. I’ll figure out the COA numbers, etc. when I am awake.
Local SUNY CC - has a theater tech program but I have been told that it’s hard to get experience since there are many students in it.
SUNY Purchase - accepted into B.A. Theater and Performance, his second choice. However, he still has to finish the process for the BFA in theater tech, his first choice. The school allows internal transfers but they are not guaranteed and the courses don’t overlap for the most part, so it could take 5 years if he does that, which has to be factored in financially. If he doesn’t finish the tech app, he will probably not go since he has zero interest in actually performing on stage.
SUNY Fredonia - academic acceptance contingent on completing app process for theater tech program with a $2K times 4 scholarship. Terms are live on campus and keep a 2.8 GPA. We will have to visit. I have never been to this part of NY and may try to parlay a trip to Niagara Falls in with it; just have to get techson an enhanced DL to visit Canada since he doesn’t have a passport yet.
Adelphi University - accepted into theater tech production. He received 2 letters telling him he is getting merit money, but that letter hasn’t arrived yet. The people from the department (and the school overall) were really nice and enthusiastic and the facilities are nice as well.
LIU-Post: accepted contingent on portfolio review/interview, which is set for next week. He has been offered $22,500 times 4 as long as he keeps a 3.0 GPA. There is a possibility of more money based on talent after his interview. The Tilles Center, which is a major regional venue, is located on the campus and is part of the program, though I doubt that undergrads work on the professional performances that are held there.
I will figure out the numbers and post them later.
@rolani88 CONGRATS on all those acceptances. That is one big ego boost! Awesome!
@eandesmom Congrats on Goucher! Wanted that one to be on D’s radar but she knocked it off right away and I don’t even really know why.
D was accepted into UNCG. She applied for that one at the last minute and AFTER the deadline for merit aid which stinks. They said she is qualified for the Honors College which requires language proficiency and study abroad - two things which are right up her alley since she wants to study Russian and International Relations. The school is only 30 minutes away and would be $15K with room and board so it is a definite possibility.
D was accepted to Wheaton (the one in MA, not IL) with $28k merit. It’s kind of a moot point since she has already decided she will attend WPI, but it was a nice ego boost to get a substantial award from a nice little LAC. I liked the school… Small, friendly, and a classic charming New England campus. Looked like a movie location to me.
@techmom99 it looks like he has some nice options. Does he have a favorite?
I hear you on covering costs. I am really letting E drive it to an extent. He has a school we can cover. If he wants more than that, that is somewhat on him. We will match him, up to a certain point. It’s not so much a dream school but a dream experience and environment and more than one school can meet that for him. At the end of the day he has the option to be debt free, or not. I personally do not worry about him and debt, at the federal limits for undergrad. He doesn’t plan to go to grad school, at least not right away at all and he’s quite good with money and has demonstrated the ability to save, pay things off or work towards a longer term financial goal. He has also shown the ability to work, and juggle that with school and EC’s. I would prefer he not work year one, or at least semester 1 so that will be factored in. But obviously there is a cap between what he can take in loans, earn summers and during school, extra we might match and then total COA after offers.
@mackatarinasmom it’s funny. I wanted it on his list, he knocked it off (without good reasons) and then we went to a CTCL fair (dragged kicking, screaming, literally) and he fell in love with the school there. His interview cemented all the warm fuzzies. So who knows but anyone who says college fairs and interviews don’t make a difference…is silly. Congrats on UNCG. Commuting is such a nice financial option.
@cameo43 that’s lovely! I should look at that one for S19. I don’t recall it meeting the financial number we needed for S19 so it was never on the list but I should re-look at it as I’ve heard nice things.