Parents of the HS Class of 2017 - 3.0 to 3.4 GPA

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@endesmom How did the event go this evening?

S17 has promised to sit down with me to discuss college stuff as soon as he is back from his music lesson. Trying to set things up on the computer right now. It’s a bit tricky, my DS doesn’t have ADHD but he was diagnosed as 2E (his second E isn’t easy to explain) after freshman year. One issue is he has problems with anxiety. And it’s a bit tricky figuring out how to push gently, without sending his anxiety off the radar. He’s doing way way better, but it’s one reason we had to ramp down the honors/AP classes.

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Did our chat and it went OK. I’m not trying to get him overwhelmed and he has lot of other stuff to do. But it’s been 2 hours and he has already update my google doc, and added UC Davis & UC Santa Barbara onto the list. I think UC Davis is a reach, but that’s OK. It’s fine to have some reaches. All I asked is that he take a look at deadlines and think about EC for some of the schools and look at the essays. I’m pleased.

He wasn’t very impressed by the suggestion of U of Wyoming though.

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Sooo…

Mother DOES know best. Despite a huge fight, unrelated, sigh, this one related to senior pictures and so ridiculously hormonal it almost kills me (but I digress) before going in, S17 visited with 4 schools that made sense to him to explore. Two of those were not on his list before the fair. Both are now and one is not only on, but of high interest.

He declined to visit with one that had been hanging on by a thread (it’s off) as well as a few others that had been off and on.

@curiositycat333 He admitted it was worth going. I did buy him his favorite fried chicken after, both for going but more importantly for being present (to an extent) with the schools he did visit and really engaging at a couple…all on his own. I stepped back at all schools and at one, didn’t chat with them at all myself!

@kt1969 we now have more overlaps lol.

Results from tonight are:

Already on the list and kept their spot
-Allegheny
-Ursinus

Back on the list (S had vetoed the location originally) and it moved back on and way (way) up
-Goucher

Completely new to the list and I have to crunch numbers
-Juniata

S is very East Coast and Mid Atlantic focused now. Passionate about it even. And…in general has opted out of Engineering and is focusing on Environmental Science/Studies/Sustainability Studies with some Energy Science if possible. Financially for him I kind of hate this but…I have to admit it is probably the right path for him. Not that engineering is too hard per-se but more that he is way too out of the box, social justice, craving the need to be involved now, to manage that with the discipline and well, non creative nature of much of the core undergrad for engineering. He’d rather be tagging salamanders in the field. Not that he really wants to do that mind you but comparatively speaking lol.

So…at the moment I think that means we are looking at

Allegheny
Ursinus
Juniata (need to crunch numbers there)
Temple
Rowan (discussed with him but too early to say and I have not crunched numbers)
Ithaca
Alfred University (he needs to look at this one more closely)
Goucher
University of Vermont
Western Washington University (financial and academic safety)

and moved way down, at the moment I am not sure he will apply.
University of Puget Sound. He loves the school. Just wants to live somewhere different so he can come back.
Oregon State. At the moment he is saying no but I would still like him to visit, We will see. It was a fight to get it on, it was solidly on and now…off.

I need to relook at this from a safety/match/target and financial standpoint. There is only ONE known financial safety in this revised list. I don’t like that. Allegheny said we should get a fly in invite/application (by turning in the CTCL form, which he did and I didn’t have to make him!). BUT, thanks to attending he actually has a bit of a feel for all the schools except Rowan and Alfred. I will say that Goucher made the best impression, followed by Allegheny, then Juniata and poor Ursinus coming in dead last.

Oh and…my company was bought out on Monday. New company is based back east so this may be a good thing. Depending on where I land in the scheme of things of course. Sigh.

Likely off the list (okay off lol, not sure who I am kidding)
University of Wyoming
Beloit
Bradley University
Ohio University
Humboldt State

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I am glad to hear the fair was a success @eandesmom. I lobbied hard to get Allegheny and Juniata on our list early on but our boy was simply uninterested. Allegheny in particular I have heard very, very good things about but have not personally visited.

I don’t know if you have been through it before but I was acquired twice in my career, and it really worked out well - in the long run. After both acquisitions there was about 6 months of hellish turmoil. And I really do mean hellish turmoil. But it was exciting, and it does settle down. Good luck!

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@eandesmom @oldbrookie & others considering small / LAC … early in the college research process several LAC were suggested for S17, but hubby/I thought a U w/less than 3K students (HS has 1,500) would be too confining (socially vs academically). I hope we’re not steering S17 in the wrong direction, so I’m curious why you’re focusing on LAC.
@eandesmom … these are several LAC and/or smaller U’s that were recommended, which are located on the East Coast: Not sure if any fit your criteria, but I thought I provide the list:
Coastal Carolina U, SC (public LAC)
Frostburg State, MD (5k students)
Lebanon Valley College, PA (private LAC/Methodist-affiliated)
Otterbein U, OH (private LAC/Methodist-affiliated)
Sacred Heart U, CT (4k students/private-Catholic)
Stevenson U, MD (3K students/private)
Susquehanna U, PA (private LAC/Lutheran-affiliated)
U of Dayton, OH (private-Catholic)

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@endesmom All admit I’ve never heard of either Allegheny and Juanita. Probably because it not something either kid was at all interested. With S17 being so stubborn behind his geographic limit I’m not bothering to looking any further. I know there are some good LAC’s he might love in upper state NY, western MA, & NH & Vermont but he won’t even look.

Today is senior picture day for S17. He’s insisting on going on his own. ;( I have stuff to do, but it is sometimes sad he’s so independent as I would have enjoyed this event. Plus I wanted to do a little recon to see if they were hiring. (For my D).

On the other hand last night he bought himself a belt on the way home from his music lesson just for the picture day. A bit silly because he has a nice button down shirt & tie to wear, and it doesn’t matter what he wears for pants. But he doesn’t want to wear him camp stained pants. Doesn’t want to wear his tux pants. And the nice light dress pants I bought for him two years ago are now a bit too big & needed a belt. When I took D12 a few years back, there were guys in dress shirts & shorts.

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One of my pet peeves regarding college websites. It’s easy to find their websites. But trying to find out exactly where they are located on their websites it’s often difficult. They seem to just assume that if you have heard their name, you would know where they are located. Have to remind myself to just use google maps. :stuck_out_tongue:

Trying to figure out where Allegheny was located. (I assumed from it’s name it was PA) And as usually, had to go to driving directions & it now tells me the town it’s in. But I don’t have a clue where that’s located. (And it’s not like I’ve never been to PA) One of S17 best friends moved to Harrisburg and S17 & I visited a few years back. Plus DD got into a PA State school that we visited in the middle of a major snow storm.

Added: Now that I’ve looked it up… it’s between Pittsburgh and Ediinboro. Edinboro was the lest expensive school on D12’s list, had a great art program (1000/7000 students in the school was art majors) and was the least expensive school by FAR. But D12 found it a bit too remote & visiting in the middle of a storm didn’t help.

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@MomStudent2017, I am admittedly biased because I went to a small LAC [Middlebury, but my D17 is no way no how getting in there, not even applying], but I love small schools and think they will be a good fit for her. Her HS has about 1600 students but not like she knows everyone there, so that’s no issue. She isn’t a big one for advocating for herself and I worry that she would get lost at a big school, like our state flagship UMass would be a disaster. I want her to go to a place where someone will notice if she starts having a hard time or missing class or whatever.

@eandesmom, so funny that Goucher is now high on the list. We haven’t visited yet but I just have this feeling about it, that that is where she is going to end up. It really seems like a great fit for her in so many ways. I want her to see it while school is in session, as it is so hard to really get a feel for the place in the summer, I am finding. Juniata sounds cool and is on the list but it seems like it’s in the middle of nowhere, so not sure she’s going to like that location much. Haven’t visited yet. She really liked UVM and of course taking her to Burlington in the summer, what’s not to like? I did say that if she gets in to UVM she ought to visit in the winter before making a decision so that she knows what she’s getting into. We are from MA and it isn’t really that different weather-wise but she has been hoping for someplace a bit warmer, and VT definitely isn’t it. But the vibe up there is very her.

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@oldbrookie I’ve been on the other side of acquisition before and have seen it go well, and then not so much. I’ve also been through 2 layoffs so I have relatively decent survival skills I think. In this case it has pro’s and cons. Ultimately I do think it will be ok but I will definitely lose a fair amount of autonomy, freedom and immediate impact to effect change. I’ll gain some structure and support in return and signficant resources.

@MomStudent2017 I am not sure I would go so far as to say we are focusing on small LAC’s. However the reality is that there really aren’t “large” LAC’s as a general rule, it’s kind of the nature of the beast. And by that same token most universities either private or state that seem to fit our needs are larger than 15k. Our HS is about 1200. We’d prefer a school in the 2,600-15,000 ish range but some of these are smaller. His list is actually a mix but it is more weighted towards LAC’s. That said, that’s the category I expect to shrink and he may not apply to all. Originally we were not looking at any but he toured UPS and absolutely loved it. What I really really loved about it was the much smaller classes, even freshman year, the more direct connection to teachers and support immediately and the strong feeling is that there is no way my kid would fall through the cracks there. S doesn’t want greek, or a big sports school and it just seems to fit a bit better, most have a lot more flexibility within the majors themselves to double up, create our own, mix and match kind of thing. If he wants engineering (and that’s increasingly becoming more remote) then an LAC will not work but for the other areas of interest it does, quite well.

I’m not remotely worried about the social aspect of a smaller school if it’s the right fit. S17 is super social and if they have jazz, theater and some social justice/sustainability stuff going on…he’ll find his peeps just fine. I did learn part of his issue with his WWU class was that his roommates were super boring. LOL! Nice but boring. Then again, my S probably freaked (or wore them out) them out.

15K+ Temple, OSU (if it stays on)
5k-15k Vermont, Ithaca, WWU
1200k-5k Allegheny, Ursinus, Juniata, Rowan, Alfred University, Goucher, UPS

Clark and McDaniel also seem to fit the bill but for whatever reason, S didn’t want to visit them. We did veto any schools under 1000 and I may have thought they were a bit smaller than they are. There is some reason I dropped both a while back…Clark I am fairly sure for $$ reasons but McDaniel may have been when he vetoed Baltimore. There may have been something else stat wise or other (maybe no jazz I really don’t recall) that made me drop it but I wish we’d visited it last night, in retrospect. Now that has changed I probably need to relook at it. Strong chance I will be headed there in the not too distant future and can possibly bring S along and extend.

I did look at Otterbein…S is very lukewarm on Ohio (off the list in his mind) so didn’t pursue and he’s anti anything with a religious affiliation though that’s been mostly on the Jesuit side. I will look at these simply as I’ve never heard of them!
Frostburg State, MD (5k students)
Lebanon Valley College, PA (private LAC/Methodist-affiliated)
Stevenson U, MD (3K students/private)
Susquehanna U, PA (private LAC/Lutheran-affiliated) I have heard of this one I think but thought it was further south.

@curiositycat333 I expect most people haven’t heard of most of the schools on S’s list. Allegheny is in Meadville, PA which really isn’t super close to anything. It is within 30 min - 2 hours of quite a lot though.

For senior pictures you can do them on your own or use the school photos everyone gets in the fall for your annual picture. S has a close friend, who is in film school at UCLA, home for the summer who will do his. We actually fought about it yesterday as S wants to do it on Sunday and I cannot be there for it. He doesn’t want me there. At all. Which I get to an extent but I’d like to know what I’m getting for my money. He thought I wanted to micromanage it (which I agree would result in far less natural pictures). But much as I adore this kid and am sure he is amazing, I’ve never seen his work and have no clue what I’m getting for the money and so I kind of wanted to just chat with him before they headed out. Once he got what I wanted he calmed down but jeesh! I’ve requested some info via S, we will see what I get and if it even works for his friend to do on Sunday. Heaven only knows what he will wear, he’s demanding a haircut prior and I’ve no clue how to fit even that in!

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I’ll admit my prejudice that I’d feel claustrophobic in a small LAC, but I’d adjust my view (a little) if there was a group other colleges nearby. Goucher is very close to Towson U, so if the student wanted more of a rah rah sports presence, it’s right down the street. They also have some course exchanges available with Hopkins and I think Loyola/St. Mary’s. Towson is not a cute little college town but a regular city.

Those little PA schools? Way too small and too hard to get to for me so I never steered my kids toward them.

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@kt1969 & @eandesmom … S17’s 1st choice U has 5K students, so we’re hoping he’s accepted (it’s a possibility vs safety or reach). After that the #'s range from 15-20K students. It’s been difficult finding U’s in the 5-10K range (that fit our criteria AND we can afford). The original suggestion to us for him to attend a LAC was similar to what each of you said about small student to teacher ratios, intimate connections with faculty & students, etc. Unfortunately S17 is adamant about joining marching band & wants to stay on the eastern half of the US, so that’s limited the choices.

@curiositycat333 & @eandesmom … S17 has an appointment next week to have his senior picture taken at school. He dragged me yesterday with him to get his hair cut.There are several sittings available – tuxedo (or drape for girls), cap n’ gown, casual, or uniform (sports/marching band/etc). You decide which sittings you want, proofs are sent home, then you select packages & pay. We don’t have a large extended family, so I always dislike the expensive packages.

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@twoinanddone I went to a very large school and can understand the desire for something smaller. I agree that there just isn’t a lot in the 5-10k range which to me seems like a very sweet spot but oh well. I can see where that wouldn’t support a marching band though. I do agree that the town is critical. Goucher is close enough to Baltimore that there are zero issues there. S does not want a rah rah presence at all and would be thrilled to have it be non existent. He will live with it if it’s there though. I think it quite likely that Juniata will fall off for the reasons you mentioned. Allegheny as well although there is a lot we really like about that one that may override and warrant a look. Especially if they fly him in!

@curiositycat333 and @MomStudent2017 re: Senior pictures. We can really do whatever we want which is nice. The main school photo is actually free, you do not need to buy it. Most folks get their own with a photographer of choice and usually do a bunch of outside shots, or shots with the kid in their sports uniform, with instrument, or whatever is special to them. Our fabulous film student will give us about 100 native digital files, about 20 of which will be edited by him and then 3-5 in the portrait format that the school wants. We will get all the digital files and can then print whatever we want or do whatever we want with them. I have no clue what S will wear but do know much of it, if not all, will be outside. I told him I wanted one with him in a tree. He LOVES to climb trees. He said maybe. He did say no to one with his trombone.

@kt1969 Goucher was a big hit, I am primarily worried about $$ there. That one is a financial reach.

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@eandesmom, I hear you on the $$ but am hopeful for merit money. We shall see.

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@kt1969 exactly. Their NPC does show some…whether it is enough is another story. What it shows now is not.

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Goucher likes (and needs) boys. I wouldn’t say it is close to Baltimore, just a continuation of Baltimore. Towson is very much a city, not a college town. Over by Towson U, there is a street of shops and bars that is more traditional for college towns. It is not like Amherst with the shops and restaurants right there outside the college building, or my favorite little college town, Winter Park with Rollins College.

Size wise, I agree that 5000-10,000 provides a critical mass to offer more classes, more services, better athletics., better facilities. Obviously, I’m in the minority as there are a ton of schools in the 1000-3000 range and they attract applicants, but i just found they didn’t have enough choices.

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@MomStudent2017 re small lac’s, we are solely focused on them because our boy asked for smaller heading into high school. Up through middle school we were in a large, and very good public system and we were very surprised when he asked for smaller high school. “There’s too many people here, I don’t know anybody.” He knew plenty of people, there were just too many he didn’t know.

He spent high school in a fairly small private, maybe between 500 and 700 kids total? And he loves school. His grades don’t reflect it, but he truly does love it. We have a kid who wants to know and connect with his peers and with his teachers. The smaller schools are really the only option for us. And I’m with @kt1969 in that I am not so confident in his ability to ask for help if he needs it. I am working on beating it into him, but I feel with a smaller school, it will be a little more personal and someone he knows will be there to advise him.

Small is good for our kid. All I ever wanted was to be anonymous and blend into the crowd. He didn’t get that gene. Everyone is different.

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@eandesmom, the NPC at Goucher is lame bc it doesn’t actually ask for hardly any info, so I don’t think the number they give can possibly be accurate at all.

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@eandesmom S17 did his pictures this morning by himself. He looked quite grown up. Unfortunately we are basically locked into a studio. It’s a bit of a bummer. I have professional level photographer in house, so I kind of resent having to pay someone else to do it. Not a lot of experience doing formal portrait’s though. He wanted his shirt ironed, and asked for instructions. So I took the extra time and gave him a lesson this morning & now he knows how to iron a dress shirt. :slight_smile:

I really had to get some work done today, so after posting a bit at lunch I’ve been awol. But I sent something off for others to look at, so I can breath for a day or two.

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OH I figured out what he was doing Monday. It’s one of the DUH moments. He did got out for a walk like I thought, and then bumped into a bunch of friends out playing Pokemon. Last night at dinner he told me in detail how there are zero Pokemon at school. (Good to know Pokemon won’t be a distraction at school.) There are tons in this one city park we haven’t been to in years and according to him an insane amount of people adults & kids hanging around. He’s going again today with this same group. I’m not going to complain if Pokemon makes my kid more social. :wink: He’s going out again today with these teens.

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:stuck_out_tongue: I had meant to post a question if you were already pushing essay writing on this board vs. the regular 2017 board. Oh well… There are good answers there. Just had meant it mostly for this bunch.