I will be joining you all on the 2020 thread as well - but just can’t handle trying to navigate 2 at the same time. I have to wait until D17 is situatiate before taking over for S20.
Dang. We need our own thread at this point.
S17 is one and only, so I can’t join 2020 or any other 20XX threads 
So, Pitt seriously emails DS every day about applying in time for their scholarships. Based on what I’ve heard on this board, I can’t believe they would be would looking for more applications. I will be glad when the email madness is over. The snail mail has slowed down to a crawl. Yes, pun intended.
@snoozn Post #22554 cracked me up. Tobias’ license plate is better than his business card. I don’t think I can even type up what his business card says here on this board.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I took the GRE, GRE subject Physics and subject Math tests… umm not when dinosaurs roamed the earth but before the Berlin wall came down. I remember the scores were delivered by a mail person. The score reports that I happened to see at the grad school were carbon copies. The black paper thing that leaves more residues than a typewriter or a printer would.
I am Not joining 2018 nor 2020 threads but already joined 2019 forum. 
I already see several here who are in the same thread.
I already have a large spreadsheet with multiple tabs in a google drive folder named “DS2017”
All the test dates entered for next 2 years. 
@jedwards70 --that’s so weird about Pitt. D was on their list from way back, applied early, etc. and we never received that volume from Pitt! Maybe one a week–but never more than that.
Anyone trying to finish the Rice app before the 10th - to get an interview? Just got US in by the deadline an Rice is rather extensive. There are several supp questions, including this long one:
“The quality of Rice’s academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What personal perspective would you contribute to life at Rice? (500 word limit).”
DS is noodling on ideas.
After this still 4 heavy app to finish - but unlikely to do so before at east 2 EA decisions come in which had been our goal.
No empty nest after DS17 leaves - we have DS18 right behind but totally different college list.
@mtrosemom – I do love your avatar pic – i hope being an empty nester - except for the pets brings some enjoyment & relaxation time!
PSA #2 from my W the CS Professor - tell your DChildren not to go to their Professors after the final and ask if they can do and turn in the lab from week 3.
@Dolemite --wow. That just takes guts!
How long did it take her to compose herself to give a straight up response? Or did she just say “NO.”
Fit vs. prestige: D’17 does not give a rat’s a** about prestige. She’s interested in what the campus feels like, what the other students are like, etc.
When we went through this 2 years ago with D’15, I still had lingering thoughts about prestige. Mostly, I wanted people to know she could have been accepted at XYZ schools because her grades and test scores were just that amazing, but she chose to attend a small LAC because it was the best fit. Anyway, now I think I’m past that. D’17 may end up at a school where she could have been admitted with much lower grades and test scores, simply because she likes the feel of the campus and the student body better. As long as she finds a cohort of friends who think like her and that she can fit in with, I’m okay with that.
I have a son at GT. You can do research as a undergrad for CS and Engineering. He has done some very interesting research with professors and also co-op. I don’t know anything about Physics though could be it’s completely different. However you have to put yourself out there to find the opportunities. DS17 will most likely be at UA. If he were going into anything STEM related I would think that CBH would be a great for research.
Fit is more important. I would not send DS17 to GT even if could get in and was in STEM because that is not the type of college that is best for him.
@Dolemite, @carachel2, my standard response to something like that is to say “Wow, that’d be really nice of me, to do something like that, so no.”
@CA1543 My DD just got emailed an application fee waiver from Rice so now she’s investigating and may apply. We are also waiting on some EA decisions and will finalize her RD apps once we see that outcome. She did not get a finalist call for the CT Nutmeg scholarship so some panic has set in and she is looking at more schools.
Insanity is the word of the day. I have two more after DD, God help me!
Does anyone know if Rice’s fee waiver campaign is new this year? They have been relentless with these emails. First in the ED round and now have moved on to the RD round.
Just curious. Am ignoring, and they are not as relentless as Case.
@dfbdfb and @Dolemite and other professor types in this thread:
I got beat up pretty badly on another thread for saying that academia is a family friendly career - what has been your experience?
@cleoforshort, please tell your daughter not to be discouraged about not making it to Nutmeg finalist. D17 applied, too, and didn’t get the invitation either. My D15 had applied 2 years earlier with amazing stats and never got called, and she ended up at her tippy top school with a great scholarship (and she had many other fantastic acceptances to consider as well). I don’t think one scholarship competition has any predictive value of the success of her other applications.
@chillkitty & @cleoforshort – I just had to google the Nutmeg Scholarship and I live in CT!
Wise words, @chillkitty.
@nw2this: It both is and isn’t. It’s nicely flexible schedulewise (except for those bits where it’s inflexible, when it’s really inflexible, and if you’re lucky you’re at a college where the breaks more or less line up with the local school district’s breaks. That said, academic culture can be pretty harsh on parents who actually prioritize their children; I’ve seen colleagues basically get bullied into accepting teaching schedule assignments that weren’t good for their families, and I myself had it back-channeled to me by someone in the dean’s office at a place I used to work at that I was putting my upcoming tenure case at risk by daring to take a semester of (unpaid!) parental leave to be primary caregiver for my newborn child. (So really, as I see it, it depends greatly on your college’s culture.)
ETA: Part of the problem, really, is that academia is stuck in a job-market model where faculty are men who have stay-at-home wives taking care of all of the stuff at home. Add to that the fact that academics tend to have fewer children/have a higher rate of childlessness than the general population (since getting a PhD takes time, and not many of the real go-getter focused types have kids while they’re in grad school, so any childbearing generally gets delayed), and it’s kept higher ed from moving forward on family-friendliness as quickly as some other sectors.
“@carachel2 Wow-- IDK if any of you follow RBF Purdue acceptance threat but a 35 ACT, 3.8 got a denial from Purdue. Not sure of intended major. I’ve heard of Tufts syndrome. So apparently here is Purdue syndrome also?”
More and more school are playing the yield protection game.
I’m on the Purdue thread too. He didn’t say what major which makes a difference and if he is in state where they know schools well perhaps his GPA is in a lowish percentile for his school. There are a few weird ones like that for every school. His is a case though where he should contact admissions and see if there is anything that can be done in terms of an appeal. I know a few of those for various schools who had deep legacy ties and seemingly high stats my son’s year did talk to admissions. They didn’t really post back so that probably isn’t a good sign but still might be good to have closure and know what went wrong. Engineering and Computer Science for Purdue are extremely competitive.