Thanks so juch @JenJenJenJen - great story! He be very happy in that hacking group - those are his people!
@socalmom007 - Stevens Institute of Technology is accepting apps til Feb 1. I hear it is a strong school. WPI is also accepting apps till Feb 1. Is it up in Worcester MA though.
@itsgettingreal17 Ok, that makes sense about the study abroad. Iām pretty sure we will end up in the same boat! i like the idea of going after grad too.
@Testingearly and @twoforone99 glad to hear the girls are feeling better! Thatās just a sucky surgeryā¦
(really testing avatar, lol!)
iām going to politely disagree about the comparison between temple and njit regarding safely. not.even.close.
both were on our very short list. i had zero qualms about safety at njit. the campus does an excellent job, and surrounding area has come a long way. its really a nice little campus with a lot going for it these days, and is worth a look if he wants small urban.
temple quickly came off the list due to the area/crimeā¦if a local PD cant control a bunch of wildings, thats a huge problem. the whole area is horrendous. under no circumstances would i consider it a viable option for my Dā¦beruit might actually come in above it.
and iām very comfortable in both urban settings so its not personal.
but iām telling you right now, I wouldnt be wandering around that area of philly for all the $$$ in the world.
@kac425, with all due respect, a student was killed on campus at NJIT just last year and then my daughter understood why I did not let her apply there. So I think the comparison is valid. Of course both Temple and NJIT do a great job and they are both well respected colleges, but that doesnāt change the fact that students on those campuses are more at risk due to the surrounding area. My D wants an urban school and applied to many that donāt have nearly those types of issues. Sure, itās a personal decision, but socalmom007, being from CA, wanted the scoop from us locals.
Catching up here! @STEM2017 Sorry about the deferral! I hope it hasnāt been too much of an emotional blow for your child.
@Fishnlines29
totally get it. to each their own. just my opinion as well.
in either case, common sense should always prevail!
Happy Friday Everyone!!
@socalmom007 Iām so sorry for what your Dās BF is going through.
That is tough and unfair after he worked so hard. At least be honest about what is going on so he can deal with it.
My best friend is Indian and many in her family are very old school what the parents say goes period. Maybe he can let the colleges know his financial situation has changed and see if they can bump up his merit/aid?
@CA1543 my son had the same concern about USC, a friend of ours daughter goes there is in a sorority and really into the social scene. She told him that for every person at a party there is someone in the library. With an undergrad student body of 19,000 I think they find their people.
My DS is among those waiting to hear from UMD in the next few days. We live in CA and donāt know much about UMD besides it is beautiful and they have a good CS department which is what he wants to study. Can anyone share any info about UMD? Is it hard to get your classes? Can you finish in 4 years since it is a big public U (in CA its almost impossible)? Is it hard to find housing after the 2 years you have to live on campus? Is it a big party/frat scene? Any info would be greatly appreciated!!
I completely respect every parentās right to veto schools based on safety concerns. Itās ultimately part of our decision process too.
Regarding Temple, campus safety and surrounding areas. I posted this thread months ago and got some interesting and colorful feedback. Take a look, you might find interesting infoā¦
I have a confession to makeā¦ on some college specific forums when students ask people to help them decide between one school or another, Iām tempted to talk them out of the school my DS was deferred from. 
I donāt do itā¦ donāt worry. But I want to. Is that bad?
@socalmom007 - Oh my gosh! You have worked so hard to find schools for both of these kids close together. I marveled in the past about that added search criteria and how difficult that would be. Then, add this bump in the road. Sounds to me like the parents know about the two of them continuing to date. Thatās just speculation, of course. I do hope it all works out for all of you.
Regarding safety - I remember taking my DD to UChicago. I was very concerned about the area surrounding the school. I asked our tour guide who said it wasnāt an issue (ya, right). But, just before nightfall, I noticed security guards setting up post on street corners surrounding the campus. Not sure if thatās a regular occurrence or if there was particular concern at that time. It was very noticeable and not something I had seen at other campuses. (Though we didnāt visit many other urban campuses.)
@kac425 totally understand re: Temple, and it came off our list as well. GA Tech has stayed on, though. Probably because after D18ās dorm floor was robbed, her class (Criminal Minds) got to go hang out at the GT police station and she was amazed at how well run it was. H travels to Philly fairly often and he was not ok with the Temple area once he saw it. Heās not happy that she applied to GT, either, but we did it mostly so when she goes where she wants to go and people say āwhy didnāt you got to tech?ā she can say āI got in but it wasnāt a good fitā (although who knows if sheāll get in!).
@socalmom007 there are so many interracial couples here in Atlanta (and the suburbs) that nobody notices or does a double take. Iāve lived all over the world, and I feel like a lot of times the south gets such a bad rap in the media for stuff like this. My university is a military college in the appalachian foothills, and youād think itād be unlikely to see diversity on my campus, but youād be really wrong. Iāve been nothing but impressed with how youāve got good old boys hanging out with military, hanging out with artsy, hanging out with nerds, of every gender and color. I wish I could get more people to visit the colleges and universities here to see what itās really like.
This morning there was a huge platoon (Iām sorry, I know nothing about the military so my terms may be really wrong) jogging across campus, and they were led by this tiny little woman who was in charge of setting the āI yell the words you repeat them in time to the runā chant, and they were all super into it and it was cool to watch this huge group of military (probably 70% guys 30% women), all running together regardless of color or gender.
My adviser freaked me out this morning by saying that my Empty Nest theme for my senior show was āmaudlin and sentimentalā and that I needed to objectify it to themes rather than have it so personal. Ugh. Yeah like thatās gonna happen ~X( Sheās like, theyāre going to tear you apart up there over the mommy themes, because they donāt respect mommy themes in the art world. Eh, at this point Iām hoping that my technical prowess can compensate for my sappy theme. Iām not going to change it, itās too late. But itās nice to have that extra layer of worry to stress overā¦
@MotherOfDragons --hmm. Any way to not make the theme sappy but part of an overall piece about stages of life and reflections on those?
I canāt thank everyone enough for the input!!! I will definitely look up Stevens, WPI, NJIT, and the other schools mentioned. Iām really grateful for the feedback.
As for safety, thatās definitely a concern. We took schools in Chicago off our list last fall because of safety concerns. Weāre going to give this a lot of thought over the weekend. There are schools in sketchy urban areas that do a very good job at security, one of those is USC. Not an area you would want to wander around at night, at all, but they keep the students pretty safe there. Lots to think about. We visited NYC last year touring schools and I was surprised how safe I felt at most of them. Fordham in the Bronx gave me the most pause, but they had excellent security.
Iām really, really hoping they both get into cal poly slo. At just over 20k a year with tuition, room and board, I think it would be hard for his parents to say no to. Especially if he works during the summers and during the school year, takes out the Stafford loanā¦ it would be super economical.
@MotherOfDragons I know youāre right about the south. Our California kids have grown up in a pretty accepting environment, and with the political climate over the past two years even weāve seen a lot of racism crop up here. It just makes them nervous. With the bfās complexion people donāt always know the difference between Indian, middle eastern etcā¦ he jokes that since he hit 16 he never makes it through a security checkpoint without being separated from his group, patted down and more thoroughly searched. Itās just the times we live in.
Are you in school yourself? I went back to grad school as a mom, not easy to switch hatsā¦ that mommy hats pretty stuck on there!
@carachel2 yep, Iām going to try and incorporate some themes like transition, recycling (I like to re-use material in my mixed media pieces like all those college flyers), items with fleeting temporal value. I get what sheās saying about donāt veer into kitchy, it just makes me more anxious about the entire thing than I already am, and thatās what tends to implode my creativity-when I worry that everything that I put on the canvas sucks, I tend not to put anything there. Stuff comes out much better when I donāt give a star.
The UMD thread is funny today-itās a lot of kids going āare we there yet are we there yet are we there yetā.
I feel I need to chime in on the āsafetyā theme. Stop worrying! It seems like some of you are making decisions on anecdotal evidence. If YOU have done a good job teaching your adults (I wonāt call them kids) to make good decisions, they will be fine. The world is full of sketchy places. You canāt protect them from these places forever. But you can teach them to be smart and use common sense.
If they are looking to you for guidance on choosing, then by all means steer them away from places you are uncomfortable with. But donāt deny them something they want because someone told you a bad story once.
By the way, some of the loveliest schools in the country have the worst crime statistics, with regard to rape and burglary.
Teach them to be smart, then let go.
@CA1543 It made me laugh to see them, they were so into hacking Roombas. 
There was also a lab with two young women in it, working on creating a vaguely human-shaped robot to do simple voice-command tasks. One of them was wearing a Star Trek t-shirt. I really liked the robotics lab area at USC!
@socalmom007 How stressful for your daughterās boyfriend!
@JenJenJenJen You have professor contacts all over USC it seems 
@lbf Here is my experience with UMD. My older son is a sophomore at UMD in Computer Engineering (College of Engineering), not computer science (College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences), but he has to take various classes in computer science (CS) for his major. As CS is not a limited enrollment program, it is a very popular major. As such, the CS classes he takes are more crowded than his engineering classes, but he has always gotten into them with only a few 8am classes. His CS friends say they definitely can finish in 4 years as long as they donāt get into the habit of dropping core classes that are prerequisites for later classes.
About housing after 2 years, son is now going through the junior year housing applications. He didnāt get a high enough lottery number for staying in the residence halls but there are very nice and close university sponsored apartments that the juniors have priority application for. If they get into them, they can stay for their senior year.
Yes, the university is beautiful. I love that it is self-contained so everything is on one campus within walking distance. Also, wonderful diversity on campus. And just a short metrorail ride away from DC.
When reading the UMD threads, pay particular attention to posts from @maryversity and @SoofDad They are amazing resources of information about UMD. I might have learned more about UMD from their posts than having a son at the school.
Good luck.