@endesmom OK I stand corrected. Not sure if S17 is interested in that type of Engineering. Honestly he doesn’t know what he wants to go, so if that’s the only place he gets into maybe he might find it interesting. I honestly think he has many good options & hoping that we are targeting his schools well so he’ll have a few options come spring.
I really don’t like ED. They are different children in November than April. I would worry about the lock-in.
@poblob14, I’m glad to hear you may have found a good fit! That school was on D’s list for a time (the reason it fell off is lost to the mists of time). Completely irrelevant, but it falls into the category of schools with really weird redundant names:
Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
University of Maryland University College
It’s a university…and a university! It’s an institute, but also a university! C’mon guys, can’t we tighten things up a bit here?
@“Queen’s Mom”, I’m with you on the ED. One issue is that it favors those who can afford full-pay. But the lock-in may be the biggest drawback. I’m happy with D’s list right now and I’m glad she’ll have some options to choose from come spring. I’d certainly be happy to see more EA schools and less ED.
@snoozn, I think perhaps IUPUI is named that because IPU is probably the only acronym that could possibly be worse than IUPUI . . . :))
And IUP is Indiana University of Pennsylvania, so confusion reigns.
I do love to say “ooie-poohie”
Yeah, I knew it was moving to the top of her list when she started calling it “Ooey Pooey” herself. Personally I’m more amused by the mascot being the Jaguars. Not so much “Jaguars” itself, but everything is “Jag” - the ID is a “Jag Tag,” the visits are “Jag Days,” there’s a “Jagapalooza,” and at the end of the year there’s a fundraiser called the “Jagathon.” If they had had that when I was in college, I would have won . . . . :))
Back from back-to-school night. I’m glad I went. When I got there I talked with the new staff in charge of the career & college center. Found out a) she’s working on the list of schools that will visit now & we will hear soon. There was a change in staff & she only recently took over this task. UC Boulder will defiantly show up but not sure about Colorado State yet. b) They know about the Naviance/SAT glitch, it’s district wide & someone is working on it.
Economics sounds like it’s going to be more generic Social Studies that Econ… oh well. They are going to do a Shark tank project. And English… groan I know why he didn’t want me there. As soon as I heard the teacher say they were daily journaling for easy points, I just knew it wasn’t going as smoothy as he was saying. It does sound like he has worked something out with his teacher, and while he said he’s trying not to use his 504 it’s obviously why the teacher is being accommodating.
But what he also didn’t tell me was they were working on the Common App essay in class & it was just turned in. Told me he did finish a first draft of the Common App essay & he likes what he wrote. That it will still need more editing. Teacher told them they could choose the Common App or the UC prompts. I guess he is farther along on the college process than I thought. 
PS And they handed out the semi-finalists letter today. So DS didn’t make it, I knew that but… I asked when the commended letters would come out & it sounds like she didn’t even know it was a thing. It was the new staff person, I’m guessing she is a bit swamped.
Small steps here.
S asked his 2nd LOR writer. Who agreed but was very clear that S will have to nag him repeatedly, to the point of annoyance, so that he gets them done on time. Ugh. We knew that going on to it but it’s still ugh!
Now that the list is “final” it seems he’s started looking deeper at his schools (finally!) which, at present seems to be impacting his favorites but so far hasn’t asked to take anything off. The order has moved around though to be sure!
Spent a little bit of time at his request yesterday reviewing his to do list this week although in reality all he has done this week is ask the 2nd teacher. Hoping for a productive weekend.
He is really annoyed with his Calc teacher. Apparently they get 9/10 on homework for turning it in. They get the 10th point if they go back and fix any errors and turn in again. Which frankly is how every math teacher I ever had worked. This kid is used to full credit for turning it in and is “refusing” on principle.
Grrrr.
What do you guys know about Wofford College? It looks like a promising safety on paper.
Re Wofford: I have heard positive things about it, I know there are usually a few girls every year at my D’s school who apply. We know a junior there currently, and she is very happy with her choice. I think there are a couple of parents over on the prep school forum who said they visited with their seniors recently…
I have heard nice things about Wofford, and I have heard they are on the generous side with FA and Merit.
waning interest = fee waivers.
that seems to be the email and snail mail trend this week. Pretty interesting!
Hi everyone,
This looks like a friendly group and I wondered if it would be possible for me to join in. My DS17 is a senior this year. He doesn’t meet the gpa guidelines, but on the flip side, I really dislike and avoid competitive threads and braggy threads. I would just like to hang out with some friendly, supportive folks as we guide our kids through the process. Also, we won’t qualify for FA, so our focus will definitely include some MAC schools.
Hope I can join in!
@vandygrad87, I am pleased to inform you that, by the authority vested in me by no one, I hereby grant you admission to this thread. Your $100 deposit to hold your place is due in 30 days. :))
@vandygrad87 welcome! We are pretty darn nice and supportive here. Very glad to have you. We will not qualify for FA either which can be a frustrating college search when your kid would really prefer a small LAC versus his in state affordable options. Lots of us sharing the pain and on the MAC hunt.
@curiositycat333 that sounds like solid essay progress but UGH on the english class. I take every little small win I can!
Aw, thanks for the welcome poblob and eandesmom!
DS(soon to be 18) is my middle kid, so my second time going through the college process. My DD went to St Mary’s College of MD- we looked at a lot of CTCL colleges for her because I knew a small and nurturing environment would be good for her. She very nearly chose Ohio Wesleyan.
I might be wrong, but I think @carolinamom2boys has a S16 who did a visit to Wofford. PM her maybe?
Weekly meeting update!
S17 decided to wait until yesterday to attempt the items on his to do list but he did make progress! Final draft of the essay is done and out for review and input. LOR’s are now officially requested via Naviance (and he actually clicked the buttons, not me, LOL!). We discussed having one “other” LOR. I am not clear on how that would get uploaded to the common app, does anyone know? This would be the performing arts center director, S does both paid and unpaid work for him as well as works with him on all of the schools stage crew productions. While he does work for the school district, he isn’t a teacher. We did actually review the concept of the activities list and I think (hope) he has a better idea of how to structure his. He is going to do a draft on tuesday. We also really discussed $$ and what it means. What list prices look like, where the NPC’s show him coming in, what might come in “extra” in better scenarios and what all of it means in terms of how much skin he would have to have in the game. At the moment his favorites are on the pricier side (ok everything is pricey except for his safety) but I think the conversation really did impress him that he needs to move on the “interest” for some of these schools and the extra mile may make that difference. It may not but it sure can’t hurt. I did find out today that a current top favorite will be at the NACAC college fair which honestly is a huge relief. Ithaca values interest (not interview but interest) as VERY important and being able to see a rep “live” helps SO much. Trusting my kid to communicate much via email well…that’s a scary prospect! One of his other schools that rates interviews as important will be there. And, while he did interact with them at the CTCL event, now at least he can reach out ahead of time and see if there is a way to set one up around the college fair. It can’t hurt to try.
Small movement here on the part of the HS “helping”. Today they are going to show the kids how to request LOR’s in Naviance. Thankfully, hopefully, S17 should be ahead of the curve here. He has asked his teachers and linked them in Naviance last night. I do hope they cover how to do “other” letters but suspect that they will not. S17 didn’t even remember how to log into Naviance and I suspect he’s not alone so it should be an interesting session today. We will see if he even brings it up!
They are also offering review sessions for the personal statements. However I doubt S will go for it. He has had an outside editor looking at it and sent them his final draft last night. Much as I would love for him to get additional input I am sure he will balk at it, saying this guy looking at it is enough.
@eandesmom, maybe he could inquire at the college fair about the best way such a LOR could be sent to the school directly and if that was an option?