@MotherOfDragons …you pretty much made me spit out my coffee laughing with your burritos and re-calibrating your social meter! I, too feel much more at home around a nice mix of genuine people. My job takes me literally from the lowest of low socioeconomic homes to the gated country club all in the course of a few hours. I usually feel like a schmuck amidst the richest of the rich but when things are way too casual and crass I feel out of place too.
@MotherOfDragons I’m on the train so gonna be terse.
Your last two days was an interesting contrast in how SES may affect outcomes. Hmm, kinda like HSs and standardized testing.
Related, there are plenty of kids in the Ivies that are not Richy Riches. But I admit to similar feelings. If you can afford it (without pain) then ask yourselves if D will ever regret not applying.
Does anyone ever wonder what happened to @Novimom, who started this thread???
We have a wrinkle in S17’s summer plans. The two academic weeks that look very good for him now both conflict with the only other 2 things going on. The first class, arguably the better one, conflicts with an already booked church camp and is now on a waitlist anyway. I don’t think I could convince S to skip camp so haven’t tried but it still is a bummer. The second class conflicts with the scholarship offered jazz camp. Not on waiting list yet. While it is arguable the class may well be a better use of time, seeing how he likes living on that specific campus and those specific classes as a major area of interest, the idea of a free week on a lake playing jazz was pretty hard to say no to.
Oh well. I saved at least $800. That’s something. I suppose if he loves it when we tour on Sat and the scholarship falls through…we will look at it again. On the flip side, the camp could help him end up with a better audition tape for those no music major scholarship submissions and placements and some visibility to perhaps other scholarship connections in that area. Or may just have fun. Which I am ok with.
@MotherOfDragons those are quite the monday musings!
I can only imagine. And, I can see where that prompted the ivy musings. I have wondered over this past 2 years how some friends of ours are doing there. Twins, at an ivy and a little ivy. While the family is certainly considered wealthy by FAFSA standards, at best they are on the low end of the upper and more likely upper - middle. Not 30K bag wealthy for sure. I have often wondered how the kids do comfort wise in that environment where they are likely at the lower end of things by quite a bit. Super confident kids and recruited athletes so I am sure they are fine but it’s not something they grew up around for sure. And to your point, just because you look like you fit in, doesn’t mean you feel you do and that feeling…is no fun,
S17 was reading up on one school one his list and one of the reviews (probably Niche) had stated it was for “rich white kids”. That gave him some pause. Looking at the aid data the “rich” is debatable but the white is not.
Sorry you got crushed in the second round thought, it would have been more fun to beat the girl with the 1K racket I am sure.
@carachel2 This sounds exactly like something the character Alex would say on Modern Family. 
Interesting musings @motherofDragons. SES is certainly something that can be an issue for students, especially those who are not wealthy. It never occurred to me to consider SES of other students when dd14 was choosing colleges. It turns out she chose a school with a high rate of “trustafarians,” and wealthy internationals. There are also homeless students as well, so it’s a mixed bag but definitely more on the upper middle class to serious wealth scale. There is one student who drives a BMW boxer and uses the wealth of her parents to make friends and try to intimidate others. Freshman year she was unkind to many of the women in DD’s dorm, including dd’s roomie and caused some drama.
Luckily D is one of the most confident people I know (young person or adult) and wealth doesn’t intimidate her. It’s only been an issue once. She is hoping to live off campus with (very wealthy) friends her senior year but she knows that it’s financially impossible, especially since s17 will also be in college that year.
Now ds may be a different story. He’s much more taken with the trappings of wealth and the making of money. We don’t want to spawn another Gordon Grecko. 
@carachel2 - we are just starting the process. Yes, direct entry. We are only looking at 4 year schools that offer a BS in Nursing. We have Nazareth, SUNY Binghamton, Daemon, Russell Sage, St. John Fisher on our list as well to visit this summer.
Sports - my D17 has been a spectator at her brothers’ hockey games for the past 10 years. She is looking forward to watching college hockey. She believes it will provide a connection to home, since she says she “will miss her brothers so much”.
Oh, and Junior prom, yep, that and the Senior Ball this weekend, D17’s boyfriend is a senior, lucky me.
Summer programs: D17 is going to Europe with her French class this summer. Trip of a lifetime, my husband sacrificed a new to him vehicle for 2 years for this…We paid half, she paid half, got a job at McD’s last year. And kept those grades up. 16 days in Europe. I think I went camping between my junior and senior year of high school! 
welcome @mac51996! I’ve no good input for NY nursing programs but am confident many here will!
@srk2017 not, it’s not cheap. I feel like we dodged a bullet this year, S was perhaps going with a Sr. friend and apparently she found a real date not the friend stand in. Which my wallet is thrilled with! And frankly S is relieved. LOL! Of course it’s still weeks away so things could change
My D has ruled out several schools due to “too much sports culture.”
Welcome to the craziness @mac51996! 16 days in France - what a fantastic opportunity for your daughter! 
Spykid did not go to prom this year. He had someone in mind to ask, but then confided in me that she’s a bit “crazy” after getting to know her better. Apparently she told him she likes to make up lies and spread them. He steered clear. Bullet dodged. He was exhausted this morning after the epic testing week, but could not miss because of more testing, assigning projects and quizzes. 
Sorry about all of the conflicts in your son’s schedule @eandesmom. But playing jazz by the lake sounds like a winner to me.
My D15 is at a college (small LAC) that has a lot of “trust fund” kids (as she likes to say). She is not one of them and is there on a scholarship. The academic environment is excellent. She is still assessing the social environment. The school can be/is a big party for some of the kids there. She is a serious student. What is interesting to me is that the majority, but not all, of the friends she made are also on some sort of scholarship to the school. Self selecting regardless of the environment.
School sports - Lots of school spirit and a good D1 football and basketball team are near the top of D’s list of must haves for college. Her high school has a lot of school spirit and the entire town is all about the high school football team. D rarely misses a home football game and travels for the out of town games, wears school spirit gear almost once a week and can’t imagine going to a school where sports are not a big part of the college experience. She roots for her dad’s college team and is looking forward to having a team of her own to root for. She is also looking forward to playing intramurals.
Our HS only has a Senior Prom, so prom wasn’t an issue this year for S. I don’t know whether he’ll want to go next year. His thoughts along those lines (girls) are not something he shares very often.
We know some pretty well-off people, but I think most all of them are “new money.” I don’t know of many “old money” families in our area, despite the large number of 7-digit homes. The new money folks still have jobs or businesses to run, so S hasn’t been exposed to the “trust fund” SES level. I think he’d adapt fine to that sort of thing at a college, because I don’t think we are status conscious enough that our kids would recognize certain handbags, shoes, or clothes as being more expensive than others. I know I wouldn’t; I’m clueless about that stuff. Cars they might recognize, but mainly alternative energy ones like Teslas, and you don’t see too many of those on the road yet.
I went to a low-achieving but somewhat pricey private HS, and know what it feels to be the one with clothes bought at Sears when the other girls have stylish clothes, hairstyles, and makeup. But, that’s probably more of an issue for girls.
Our local UC hasn’t had a football team since the 1990s ("undefeated since …), and football watching isn’t a big thing around here. Soccer gets huuge audiences at the UC.
My D13 is at a small LAC. There are super riches (like the familiar department store as her last name. academy award winning dad, etc.) and super low incomes. My D13 bonded with her house/floor mates regardless or their wealth thanks to the great freshman orientation program. However, it seems like the groups form eventually according to the activities they participate.
Like @Agentninetynine said, if the student is not be intimidated by wealth, things will be OK. My D13 is doing fine at her small LAC (heck she has been dating full pay boarding school kid for two years now) so I think things are easier at large universities like ivies because they are more diverse?
FYI, concordance tables for old and new SAT (and new SAT to ACT) are available at https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/educators/higher-ed/scoring-changes/concordance
There’s a thread on that at http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/1890397-sat-concordance-table.html#latest
@Agentninetynine - fantastic summer for my daughter, 5 days in France, then on to the French Riviera and Monaco, then to Florence and Rome, Italy, then to Athens and a 3 day Greek Island cruise.
When she gets back though, all business…
She also does Field band (marching band). It will be her 6th and final year and I will be so sad at the end! They won states last year in their division, so it will be a fun year this year. Going to Dartmouth, Mass for a band trip in October.
On SES and college - D has never been interested in elite schools (because they aren’t generally football powerhouses). And she recently said to me, “I’m a public school-type of person. I’m not the private school type. I don’t think I’d feel comfortable at a private school.” She’s always had a mix of friends, but no one that is super rich. This is one of the reasons I don’t want her to go to a college that would be a real stretch financially. I want her to be able to go on the spring break and ski trips and do those types of things with her friends that require a bit of money. It can be hard being on the bottom of the SES ladder at a school that is filled with super wealthy kids that are always jetting off and otherwise spending where you can’t afford to participate. I went to school with lots of trust fund kids and never felt comfortable around them. One student was the daughter of a family that is always on the Forbes list of billionaires and liked to talk about flying to Europe to shop. We found it amusing (it was childish of course) to mock her behind her back for it. But then I have a friend (also from humble beginnings) who has had great experiences after college because she made friends with internationals who she had no idea were royalty in their country until after she graduated and they would fly her around in their private jets when she went to visit them on vacation.
Anyway, even at the elite schools, there will always be a mix of students and a kid will generally figure out who is who pretty quickly and make friends with those that they share interests and feel comfortable.
@WhereIsMyKindle Small world indeed. Did they have any insights in the Ole Miss Arabic program? It looks like a good option for D.
@Ynotgo What are most people looking at these concordance tables for? Just curious. I guess I can see how colleges would use them…so is it just to see how kids’ scores on the new test compare to the old? D has not/will not be taking the SAT, so I’m not in the know on this I guess.
@mac51996 My daughter was just accepted at Brockport for her BSRN, but not in the 4 year program, she is graduating with her associates in nursing this weekend. (Unless she failed the final this morning. Fingers crossed!) She is very excited about Brockport, it was her 1st choice for finishing up. I haven’t heard good things about Utica College nursing.