Parents of the HS Class of 2017 (Part 1)

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
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@2muchquan – thanks for heads up about UIUC. That is good to know. Really noticed the same at Berkeley last week and was disappointed. I want my son to enjoy a hassle-free and full U/G experience, especially at a cost that can come close to privates with large endowments. Not having to worry about getting a seat in lecture hall or even being able to enroll in required courses.

@mtrosemom – my son has some of the same schools on his list. Trying to figure out how/when to go up to Rochester and down to UMD-CP. As was often quoted on the class of 2014 thread: love thy safety.

@Ynotgo – so sorry about your loss. We will have to compare trip reports upon your return. As I mentioned, disappointed in Berkeley.

Our HS also does not rank, but school profile reports GPA in .25 point increments so one can back into top 5%. After that, each band includes more students so less easy to pinpoint. One year the profile expressed on .125 point increments and that was just a bit too obvious.

Trying to find CS schools that are not ‘lottery’ schools or large state schools. As of now, those are the only ones my son has identified. Need to do a little more research. Additional visits will have to be during the summer which means no ability to sit in on classes, talk to students, observe how they interact, etc.

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@Mom2aphysicsgeek Nice to have someone along for the ride who’s done this before. Thanks for the tips.

@BigPapiofthree I believe Wake Forest did not make our short-list of schools that provide merit, unfortunately. Great school though!

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@payn4ward – you should be fine those dates. Our break is mid-April and I have encountered blocked days at every school we want to visit, resulting in some backtracking in order to try to fit them all in.

I always worry that I will miss something by skipping info session or tour, but I don’t know what it is I think I will miss! Sometimes the opportunity to ask a pointed question, but yes, they are tedious. The info session & tour sometimes repeat same info whereas at some schools, info session doesn’t address campus life and leaves that to tour guide. A bit disconcerting as the tour guides are not all equally qualified.

Some schools offer targeted info sessions for engineering or science. But of course, those are only offered on Thursdays at 3pm or something, when we will be elsewhere. You may want to see if any are available where you will be visiting and forego the general info session.

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We are in the planning stages now. It will depend on S’s EC schedule as to what we can fit in. At best we will have 2 days to play with so want to limit it to contenders but would really like to get some in now while school is in session. I am hoping to have confirmation on his schedule this week so we can schedule visits accordingly.

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Students can always email the dean of a dept and ask for a direct meeting with the dept. My kids generate questions that are not found on their website and questions pertaining specifically to their situation. (These usually need to be done on weekdays, though, unless there are weekend presentations and they are already on campus.)

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Looking forward to everyone’s reports. We are trying to stay within reasonable driving distance for our first college road trip. We will be visiting U of Tulsa, Bama, Hendrix, U of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State. All of the schools will still be in session so DD should get a good idea of the schools. I’m not looking forward to the Bama drive, but DD will help with the drive so it should be ok.

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We are from Illinois and are using the the “capture the Polish vote” holiday, err I mean, Casimir Pulaski holiday to visit Indiana University and Vanderbilt. Lots of schools on D’s list already listed by others too.

I guess many of us are trying to chase the possible merit money…

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We visited Reed and The Evergreen State College during the mid-winter break. We will visit Western Washington University in the spring, then on to East Coast during summer.

D doesn’t know what she wants. Every week it’s different - last week she was starry-eyed for colleges in NYC with all the hip culture and the coolest people, this week she wants to go to a college in the beautiful nature to be spiritually connected to yada yada yada. Sigh.

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@Ynotgo – I am so sorry for the loss of your father. I know how hard that is and feel for you.

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We just visited Rice, UT Austin & GATech - focusing on EE & CS. Really liked much about Rice - campus, program, small classes, get to know professors, great Maker/Design building (ODEK). Of course UT Austin & GATech have great programs but overall size of the schools is so large as are many classes - some new facilities being built at both though. And I am concerned about the gun carry laws that will go into effect at UT Austin and possibly GATech. Next up Carnegie Mellon, RPI & maybe Cornell.

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My condolences also @Ynotgo.

@HiToWaMom, I would be very interested in a visit report from Western WA. S is considering WWA and will like make a visit this summer with his dad.

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@CA1543 – I just learned of Georgia’s pending CC law and will be following that closely as the Texas law is what keeps me from allowing my son to apply to Austin.

PLMK if you have any questions about Cornell.

CMU is not making it easy to visit. They say they want interviews, but do not offer until summer after Jr year, when classes will not be in session. During our April break, they are only offering info sessions two days in the middle of the week. Cornell is worse as they block out eight days, IIRC.

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@mtrosemom, Sure! I will give you a WWU report when we come back! D’s spring break is late - 3rd week of April.

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@itsgettingreal17 When our ds started his college apps,never in a million yrs did I think Bama would ever move to the top of his list. That was before our visit. In 100% contrast to the other dept visit I described, at Bama the UG advisor spent well over an hour with ds talking about different approaches to completing his degree there (ds entered with an abnormal number of in major hours completed) and taking him on a tour of the facilities. At one point he looked at ds and told him that he reminded him of himself when he was in high school (this was in response to ds discussing books he had been reading that his professors had shared with him to read outside of class.) That tour reflects the support he has gotten from that dept.

The campus is beautiful and the dorms are great. No regrets.

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Thanks @CT1417 – No timing yet on a Cornel visit. I understand about Carnegie Mellon - same boat here and they are not really offering any CS visit per se it seems either - but I feel like we gotta get over there!! Can go back over the summer if need be - we are in NY.

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@Ynotgo , sorry for your loss! You are in my thoughts and prayers.

DD toured UChicago and Northwestern when she was in Chicago for a national competition last year. We visited Duke, and U V on our vacation last summer. She doesn’t want to visit more schools – she’d rather get admitted first then visit.

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@HiToWaMom I’d love a report on Reed and Evergreen, both are on S’s list. We may visit one or both over spring break, same thing with WWU. Our break is the same time as yours. I’d prefer to knock out the Portland area ones all at once if his EC and my travel schedule allow (Reed, Lewis & Clark, Willamette, Portland State) but we will see.

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For schools that list ‘Level of Applicant’s Interest’ as Important/Very Important (or even Considered), do you feel like that absolutely means a visit…or can you get by without? I’m kind of with @SincereLove, especially with any school below 20% admit rate. I don’t mind visiting once it’s in the bag. We are going for merit, so that means A LOT of schools. We can’t visit them all.

What’s your strategy if you can’t visit?

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@eandesmom, here we go.

Reed.

We visited their official “Junior Visit Day”. There were about 200~300 attendees (juniors + parent(s)).
There were many Hermione Grangers. In the small themed session, lots of hands shot up asking questions and answering presenter’s questions. Some were vigorously taking notes. We knew coming in that this school attracts intelligent kids, but my D was rather irritated by the overzealous fellow juniors. My daughter is into fashion, music, and wants to look like a chill hipster.

The admission officer who talked in the opening gathering was a Theater graduate from Reed. So she talked a lot about theater. Our tour guide also talked a lot about theater. They have a new performing arts center, so maybe that’s their current emphasis. My D doesn’t like theater kids at her high school because they are cliquey and always laughing with their insider jokes. So the whole theater talk was a turn-off for my D.

The guide also used a lot of puns and said “puns” are big on Reed campus. Again my D was turned off by that. She said she hates puns and said, “I was raised with black humor and sarcasm.” (Please don’t blame me. I’m not sinister. I’m cute. It’s from my husband’s side.)

I liked the campus. The buildings have old charms and the campus felt nice and cozy. There is a bridge over a lake that connects the main campus and the residential area. The natural setting was beautiful. The dorms were nice. Most of the rooms were connected singles.

Had lunch at the campus cafeteria. Their caesar salad dressing was awesome! You should try it. There was no regular drink like Coke or Pepsi. They all seemed like alternative independent company’s natural, XX-free, good-for-your-body and good-for-the-earth kind of drinks.

Campus was filled with super hipster kind of people. All the guys looked like Hozier. All the girls looked like hip activists. This cool Asain guy in all black clothing was smoking very stylishly. I was mesmerized. I wanted to come here and make friends with all these cool people. Fashion and the chill hipster vibe really appealed my D. I tried to emphasize that the overzealous Hermiones we saw were not the current students, they were just looking, so don’t think that they would all be attending Reed.

Portland is a fun cute city to hang out. D loved the city. So overall, the turn-offs are theater talk, pun culture and the fellow visiting students. She loved the city, the current students’ vibe and the reputation of the college.

She might not apply, but we got Reed swags, so it’s OK.

I will report on Evergreen in another post.

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@eandesmom ,

The Evergreen State College

The road leading up to the college was like going into the Twilight Zone. Coming back to this campus at night must be really freaky unless you are a die hard fan of the other “Twilight” hoping to encounter some beautiful vampires.

The campus buildings reminded me of my boxy concrete high school buildings. Not attractive.

Info session was great. The presenter explained how Evergreen’s curriculum was unique and different and she did it with such a pleasant enthusiasm, I believed that it would be great to study there at Evergreen. It’s such an obscure state college, so I thought we were the only people signed up for the info session, but about 25~30 people showed up and the chart indicated that another 25+ people were coming to the afternoon session. Some people came all the way from Illinois and Minnesota.

A few potential future students who attended the session were over my age. The tour guide later said that the avarage age of the student body was 27 or 28. That was a turn-off for my D.

The current students were normal looking people but my D said she saw more goths compared to Reed.

The town of Olympia was rather deserted and looked run down. We were surprised because it’s a capital city. The city didn’t excite D at all. Even though my D wants to look independent, she needs a lot of guidance and holding hands especially in an unfamilier setting. So the very independent nature of Evergreen’s curriculum might not work for her.

At one point, she said she was not going to apply here so we skipped part of the campus tour and went back to the hotel.

I am making her apply University of Washington and one more state school for financial safety. It was either Evergreen or Western. We will visit Western in spring and she has to decide which one to apply along with UW.