@klinska Congrats to your D!!! I made sure to get permission to open all college mail. I’m impatient. :))
@klinska Congratulations!!!
Now I want to sneak home from work to check the mailbox. My D also applied EA to Wooster.
Just received an email from Ohio State asking students, faculty and staff to contact family/friends to let them know they are okay. And suggesting anyone who hasn’t heard from people on campus to reach out to them via phone/email. If unable to reach them, they gave phone number and email at university to check. Can’t imagine being parent unable to contact kid at school in situation like this. Thankfully I was able to communicate with my son right after I heard about incident.
Thinking of everyone at tOSU and everyone affected. These things are scary; they can happen anywhere. Hugs.
Congrats to folks with big envelopes, completed applications, and other things to celebrate!! <:-P
I’m wondering if I’m being too pushy asking DS to do the USC (Calif) application by Dec. 1 for the scholarship deadline? We didn’t visit, and he’s not really interested in attending. At our school, it has the reputation of being the school where student government kids end up going. He prefers to associate with nerds, who aren’t usually student gov’t kids.
The physics course list at USC is not very extensive. Basically, all the physics majors take all the classes for majors and there don’t look to be many/any electives. For math, he would skip the first 3-4 required courses, and he would have some other classes like chemistry waived by AP tests. So, he will have a number of extra slots. He’d probably want to take CS classes if he can get permission to waive some prerequisites. We don’t know how that works for classes in another College at USC. I suppose he could take graduate physics courses senior year and he’ll do plenty of research, of course. The research there looks reasonably good.
They have a “Why USC” essay, and he’s not really excited about that. It’s only 250 words, so I think he could mainly talk about doing research and having flexibility because he’ll have space in his schedule. He has several versions of “Why do I want to major in physics?” essays at various lengths already.
Mainly USC is on his list because the admission rate is 16%, which is higher than all of the other private colleges on his list (but not higher than several of the UCs on his list). And, because of the NMF 1/2 tuition scholarship, but the UCs are still cheaper.
If it came down to it, he’d likely rather stay in town and go to UCSB than USC. Should I make him apply to USC? He hasn’t balked seriously yet. Currently, he’s just happy to have the UC applications done.
After the USC app he can work on the RD private college applications in his preference order.
tl;dr; Are you making your kids apply to any colleges that they would probably not be willing to attend?
@Ynotgo I wouldn’t waste the money.
I am making D finish her scholarship apps to all the schools that were strong contenders at one point. One that she would never attend over her current #1 choice, she won’t bother with the scholarship competition.
@ynotgo - DS applied to USC to meet the December 1st deadline. It’s not high in our list, but applied purely for scholarship sake.
@Ynotgo – would he go if offered the full tuition? Will USC allow student to take grad courses as U/G while that tuition is being paid?
I do not know the UC schools so cannot advise, but I agree that our top students do not attend USC. At the same time, USC must be practicing some serious yield management, as they have accepted very few of our applicants.
Something fun (but Real Life™, not a JOTD!), to lighten the mood:
During my morning check of portals and such, I saw that my daughter got an email from Kenyon. It told her that all of her application materials had been received, which meant, as it stated in the next sentence,
That’s not how I initially read it, however. When I first read it, I thought it said
And thought that was maybe a little presumptuous of the admissions office, to make such a claim. :))
@Ynotgo Ha! Student government kids go to USCali? Who knew? It reminds me (not sure why) of what I just realized is my ONLY claim to fame. I went to USC in the late 80’s for my graduate degree in CS, paid for by my employer at the time. I’d wanted to go to UCLA, but they required a thesis vs. extra coursework at USC. 
So, I lived near UCLA, and went to USC. I took a couple of courses and did some research with Len Adleman, the ‘A’ in RSA encryption, around the time of the first Internet ‘worm’. Fascinating guy. It’s amazing the things I’ve forgotten since then.
@Ynotgo The only colleges that I made my D apply are the in-state safety schools. If your S is happy with UC schools and they are cheaper than USC, I don’t see the point in making him apply.
@Ynotgo If the Physics department isn’t as good of a fit as others and he’s not interested anyway, I wouldn’t push it at this point. Less competion for my kid too. 
That said, our son wasn’t interested either until we visited the campus this fall. Now it’s one of his top choices (if we decide we can afford it). I thought he really nailed the “Why USC” essay and made a good case for why it might be worth a stretch for us. He’s a different kid than yours though, so what works for one kid won’t necessarily work for another. While quite a few from our school go there, the only one we know is a very bright kid who is doing some research as a 2nd year. The parents have nothing but positives to say about the school.
D is usually the one who wants to apply and says the essays are done anyway. DH always advises her that she can only go to one school!!
@saillakeerie, I am glad that you’re able to reach your son and your son is OK. The building is part of Engineering school, right? Very scary!!
@klinska Woo Woo to Wooster! congrats
@SincererLove Yes Watts Hall is part of engineering campus. Ceramic engineering/material science building.
Can’t put into words how surreal it was to watch the coverage on TV today seeing the buildings of campus I know very well and knowing my son was holed up in one of those buildings (walked past the building he was in when we were on campus Saturday for the Michigan game) and all the other students I know who are there going through the same situation.
@Ynotgo if he has other UC options he is happier with, applying for scholarships he isn’t interested in using simply based on the 16% admissions rate seems not to be the best use of time and money.
The only parent application requirement was one financial safety and a second in state option in case he changed his mind about going out of state. I did not dictate what the second in state option had to be though. I am requiring him to do the scholarship apps for schools he has applied to.
I will say the kids I know at USC are not gov’t student kids (I’m not even sure what that means lol) but they are quite happy there and it’s a diverse group.
@saillakeerie --throat is in stomach here–this is SO real…So glad your son is ok. Hate this part of our current society.
@Ynotgo I made my D apply to UCF. Post 21918 illustrates the reason kids need a financial safety, even if they do not think they need one. At least I know she will be able to go to college even if our financial situation suddenly changes.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20078432/#Comment_20078432
@Ynotgo - My DD has done her USC interview but we encouraged her not to complete the application. Like your son there are other schools she prefers and the Required essays and imputing her courses looked like it would be very time consuming. I advised her that if she could get it done in an hour to go ahead, but that if it would take longer she should spend the time working on an application for a school she prefers. She has so many applications left to complete that she really needs to manage her time. I am in awe of all of you who have kids who are done or have completed 8+ applications. My DD is not even half way done.
D is in a race against the clock to get USC done. It is not an easy app (really might as well have been a separate app altogether) and I’m not really sure why I’m encouraging her to have it done by Dec. 1 as I highly doubt she’d be in consideration for merit. I guess I was secretly hoping that the early deadline was for both merit and “priority” consideration - even though I know that USC doesn’t take level of applicant’s interest into account.
First real Big MAC arrived in the mail today! $13k/yr Presidential Scholarship from Embry-Riddle. Was NOT expecting that one. Makes the school a real contender, especially if S is serious about aerospace engineering.