@eandesmom can you tell me why Drexel came off the list? It’s on my son’s list, but we won’t be able to visit until April.
Happy to hear everyone’s progress. We had a nor’easter yesterday so it was a good day to stay inside and get college apps done. All 5 apps are now in so he’s done unless he decides to add more schools. The teacher rec is in, but it looks like his GC still hasn’t sent his transcripts or recs. He requested them over a month ago. I guess I’m sending an email Monday to find out what is going on with that. His list: Pitt, UMass Amherst, Temple, Duquesne, and URI.
After much debate S agreed to drop AP Stats and did so early enough so that won’t show up on his transcripts at all. Now he has no APs for senior year but I figure the drop in rigor is better than the potential of getting an F hanging over his head all year. This has eased the pressure on him a lot.
All in all, I’m feeling pretty good about things.
@eandesmom
I am also curious why Drexel went off the list. I know Philly can be rough, is it in a bad neighborhood? I like that they seem to help the students with internships, seems to be business focused and average salaries after graduation are high. Which school is RIT? Did UVM give your son a good scholarship?
What part of Seattle are you in? We live in North Seattle kind of near Ballard HS.
My daughter will probably just barely get the WWU app in on time for EA as she had one question for the counselor before hitting submit. She left early for crew this morning as they row in Portland and come back this evening.
Her interviews went well but she thought USD went better than Occidental.
@me29034
Congrats to your son for knocking out the apps. My daughter is 5 of 10 atm.
By the way, UW Bothell is real underrated. Same degree as UW, smaller classes. I think kids really under value it as it is not difficult admissions wise and it is more commuter oriented. I went to a luncheon where they talked about how the kids interact with CEOs etc.
@me29034 congrats to your son for completing his applications. DS19 will be finishing his last one today. 7 total. Now comes the hard part.
I want to add that Drexel came off my sons list as well, but because he did not like the Urban environment, and just did not see himself there. For me, the quarter system was not my favorite.
Thank you @EENYMum – at least we cannot say this process is boring!
Hi @eh1234 ! Thankfully she has some no-interview/portfolio-review-required schools. So far she has completed four interviews/reviews and she has at least four and possibly two additional to go. We tried to schedule things so she could do the majority of the on-campus reviews this fall. She will be designing for her school theatre’s February show, so she will not have time to be on the road starting around Thanksgiving.
This week’s trip to two schools (UNCSA and WVU) will be about 14 hours in total but over five days. ~O) We have two separate trips in early December – both schools high on her list (JMU @ 2.5 hours and VCU @ 2 hours, depending on I-95 traffic).
She has visited but not interviewed at UMBC and ODU, and Otterbein is still hanging out there but may be dropped. UMBC is easy as it is less than an hour away, but it is a scholarship interview so it is held on a specified January date (challenging for the calendar). ODU (3 hour drive) is easy to schedule and can happen as late as March (after the February show). Otterbein is the complicated one with a pre-screen. It is also a flight + rental car away (or drive 7 hours one way).
We also considered Drexel but S chose not to apply there. He liked Philadelphia and the urban environment of the school. What he didn’t like was that it seemed very career focused and designed for people who knew exactly what they wanted to do. It didn’t seem like the right kind of place for a political science/history kid who isn’t sure of his post college career path. He also didn’t like the quarter system. On the other hand, one of his best friends is majoring in something to do with computers and it is his top choice. I think it depends on the kid’s goals.
I feel your pain, OrangeFish! My twin S19s are BOTH applying to schools that require portfolios and supplements. I’m meditating a lot. Both are applying to Drexel too.
@Orangefish That sounds like a lot to me! My son is doing his close by auditions (GMU and Maryland) early, but I wish he would space them out so we don’t have to slog our way up to NJ and Ithaca in back-to-back weeks. He’s saving his “favorite” schools for the end. Will your D have results from most schools by January?
Oh my, @Britmom5 – I cannot imagine doing this Calendar Madness times 2! 
^:)^ Best wishes to you as you Live in the Moment!
@eh1234 – back to back weeks north? Oh boy! It worked out that way for the more local schools (VCU/JMU) but I am thankful as we are also trying to avoid weather issues. The lottery ticket school is certainly UNCSA, and gauging from the last couple of years results threads, she will not hear back from them until March at the latest. Some heard rejections earlier than that (as soon as January) but I am guessing that varies year to year and major to major. We opted to work the schedule so she would hear from rolling admissions favorites by December, just to make life a little less chaotic. She still has to make the decision between BA and BFA programs, and I know she is not certain of that at all yet.
Tough hearing back late and also having the portfolio madness! My daughter should hear around Xmas for most of her schools but a few will not be until March. I think it helps to hopefully have an admittance or two early in the process.
ITA with you @JBSeattle on having some early acceptances in. D19 and I created a “to be done” list to include getting the rolling admissions applications in on the front end, just to (hopefully) have some little victories early on. So far she has four acceptances, which makes it a little stressful at home.
Four acceptances is great though!
Drexel came of the list for a few different reasons but not at all due to location or safety concerns.
We spent almost 2 days there, had some time on our own, a faculty meeting, the student tour and then dinner with folks we know, two of whom work there. It was interesting as we visited it right after RIT, which is also a co op school and they couldn’t have been more different.
Drexel’s posted slogan all over the place was “ambition can’t wait”. And that’s the personality that came across. Not in a grinding or uber competitive way but just in the sense that the kids were really focused on careers and working. Very nice kids. But we didn’t get a feel for school spirit or social activities outside of class and internships. They are on quarters, which, with the co op system means most summers are spent working on co op or in class. You do 3 co ops, each 6 months long which does seem to make it harder to be connected to other students. We also were not wowed by the faculty meeting, at all. We did really like the residential part of the campus and the overall location but the CS program seemed like far more of an afterthought than we’d expected, in the lower levels of an apartment building, allegedly moving and linking up with another program (maybe game design, I don’t recall) into a new building that was being built. Bottom line was he just liked his other options better wanted a sense of community and school spirit that he didn’t feel there and for me, avoiding the PROFILE was a win.
He did want to keep it on just for the location but really, that is not enough reason for me! I think for the right kid, it’s an amazing choice and they really do a fabulous job on the co op program, very impressive.
@JBSeattle RIT is Rochester Institute of Technology. We are on the north end, just outside the city limits kind of at the tip of Lake Washington, UWBothell is about a 10 minute drive. UWB is, and isn’t, underrated. It gets great national press actually and their outcomes are outstanding, acutally better than UW Seattle. But it’s definitely a commuter school and for most kids I think, the backup plan if they didn’t get into UW Seattle. The school itself really tries to sell you on how much smaller the classes are than at UW Seattle. I’d assumed there was faculty crossover but after sitting in on the panel, it really doesn’t seem like there is. It’s the ultimate super saftey. He’d get a great education there but not the full college and social experience he’d like. You can do any sports and clubs at the main campus but it’s not the same. We do know kids who do it though, mostly marching band but it’s at least something. I’ve been there on a weekday and it’s pretty active with kids (and a pretty campus, but SMALL) but boy, on the weekend it is a ghost town. Granted, lots of things are walkable from there with the trails and Bothell itself has totally reinventied itself but…it was dead.
For cost reasons though…man it’s attractive. 4 years there = 1 year at RIT and thats IF the $ comes in at a semi livable number.
Yes, my S17 did get a nice scholarship at UVM. They also have him an additonal one for his sophomore year (although based on this current semesters grades he may not be offered that extra one again next year). It’s definitely a holistic read as he was offered more than I’d expected based on their NPC and what others on CC were offered with better stats. Being from WA probably didn’t hurt. I’d expeted him to get the trustees and instead they gave him the presidential. Which is good as if he’d only gotten the trustees, it would have been over budget and he’d be at WWU right now lol.
New here. Oh my goodness - I am so happy to find this thread. It seems like the rest of this website is all about the overachievers. I was beginning to think everyone was deciding between Yale and Stanford.
hi @eandesmom and @JBSeattle, we are also from Seattle area, but new to US. MY D19 will apply UW, WSU, Seattle U, ASU, UMD, Penn State and SUNY Albany. Some of her applications are super reach. As she would like to have urban college and major in Criminology, Albany is her top priority. Hope to have someone advice on Albany Criminology. Thanks in advance.
Drexel
We are in the suburbs of Philly. Back in the early 90s, my husband took night classes there. My DS HS 2018 grad looked at Drexel and didn’t apply. The Engineering facilities weren’t as nice as Temple’s recently upgraded facilities. And the lack of green space turned him off.
The co-op program is great.
@ashmomhk , Penn State is far from urban. And out of state tuition is high. Curious as to why it is on the list.