Need tips on self tours/drive bys. In the past when we have been in the area, we have checked out some schools just to rule in/out due to various reasons (local town, campus condition, size of campus, etc.). We have eaten at dining hall or near the campus and visited bookstores. Are there any other things that you have found helpful when there isn’t a tour that day or the timing doesn’t work out? We’ll be coming from Dickinson (No. 1 so far) and the plan is to check out Ursinus, St. Jo’s, and possibly another school (we’ve toured Bryn Mawr already).
Check out the library and grab a campus newspaper @TwinMom2023
Very often when the admissions office isn’t open they’ll have a box just outside with flyers and maps. We’ve done tours on Thanksgiving Day (UVA) and Christmas Day (William and Mary) that way. We like to find bulletin boards or places where the kids post flyers and read what happenings are going on around campus. If all the flyers you see are for parties, that tells you one thing. If they’re all for political rallies, that tells you something else.
@carolinamom2boys and @ninakatarina Thanks! I really value the help on this forum. I forget about the wall of flyers!
I am wondering how D19 should be reporting gpa on applications (outside of official transcript). It seems like most folks on cc and a lot of other places report gpa on a 4.0 scale. Some scholarship applications ask for gpa based on 4.0 as well Our district only reports numerical weighted average on transcript. Right now d19 is w96. How does this translate on a 4.0 scale? Is there an official conversion chart? Thanks!
Most schools, you don’t even have to be on campus to get a school paper—they’re online, and that’s where most all of the content is.
When I was an undergrad, my university’s campus paper, as with many large colleges, was published every weekday. Over time that’s been trimmed back to the point that the paper edition comes out only once a week now.
I’ve always thought that the online campus newspapers provide a great insight into campus culture. Let’s face it, when you take a campus tour you’re basing your impression on a very brief interaction and you’re vulnerable to the “What You See Is All Their Is” thinking that’s described in the book Thinking Fast and Slow. Overnights are better but you’re still at risk of being heavily influenced by a small group of people, like the bad tour guide or the bad overnight host. But reading several issues of the campus paper helps round out the picture. In my experience they’re sure to contain articles or opinion pieces that show you what the students are mad or passionate about both on campus and off.
D19 received an e-mail today from College of Charleston with a link to the application that she has already started. Included in the e-mail was the following statement.
“And don’t forget— we’ve waived your fee, so you’ll be able to bypass the payment information entirely.”
Maybe a result of the tour we took recently.
@eenymum We have the same, only reported on 100 scale. I guess you could ask the GC the help you determine what that would be on the 4.0 scale , but that looks to be a 4.1 outright. but the question is, are the grades all A’s or a mix of A’s and B’s with the weight helping. What is her unweighted. ? and then they sometimes will ask for unweighted and bump for AP. This whole system is confusing.
Thank you @sdl0625 ! Her uw is 89 or 90 (not sure if they round up). Mostly As and Bs but they also included middle school accelerated classes into the gpa (not pleased about that) and that really dragged things down. Class of 2019 was first group to take the NY common core regents with out a back up test and scores were horrible (huge failure rate and majority if kids scored in 70s) and most districts in NY count regent exam scores as 20% of final grade for the year…so like an extra semester…ugh. She has stuck with it all and qualified for AP calculus BC but those 8th grade scores really did a number. Wonder if schools will recalculate. But in the end I just want to make sure we are using accurate numbers on scholarship and other non transcript applications.
@EENYMum - I agree Quinnipiac has a large price tag, and D14 knew some people paying full price, which we could never do. Tuition at the time was $56K, and she received $18K in merit. Her SAT was 1960/2400 and her ACT was 29. For us, it ended up being $10K higher than the in-state schools living on campus but the cheapest option of the OOS schools (shockingly) she applied to including UCONN (most expensive), RIT, UDelaware, U Scranton, Messiah, etc. It was a stretch to afford the extra, but somehow we did it. We justified it because the nursing program was so good. It ended up so worth it. She had to take out some loans but manageable, and we made sure she understood those loans were her loans not ours and resulted in choosing a more expensive school.
They do have an amazing PT program though! If you have any specific questions EENYMum, let me know or PM me. I can talk all day ha ha.
@DCNatFan - There is suburban-type stuff around the area like Target, Kohls, IHOP, and misc little stores/eateries in Hamden, but the students go to New Haven a lot for other stuff. D14 went to church in New Haven, saw theater shows, did a clinical there, and students go to the bars there. The QU shuttle takes them to Target/local, and I think they might go to New Haven on weekends? Would have to double check that though.
It will be interesting to see what the new president does. They honored the retired president at D14’s graduation and his wife who was a nurse. It was very sweet.
I will definitely be watching because QU is on the list to visit soon for S19 for biochem/pre-med and for D20 for psychology or comm.
@bjkmom - yikes! I definitely would not be happy about not getting the loans thought of too!
@DCNatFan boo hoo S19 did not receive a waiver and we toured. We have NO luck at all with this stuff. Third kid, and URichmond is the first one.
@cakeisgreat no waiver here yet either.
@cakeisgreat @carolinamom2boys Apparently she started filling out the CoC application but did not finish. Maybe they noticed she didn’t finish and offered the free app as an incentive to finish. Just a guess. We are still waiting on D19 to finish the essay portion.
Surely a sign of the apocalypse. D19 worked at her job for 4 hours. Took a two hour driving class. Cleaned her room (we have already told her she will likely need a single in college). And we have a first draft of an essay - we think. Told us she has sent it to her grandfather (former HS English teacher) for editing and she will let us read after he edits it.
Every now and then she restores my faith in humanity.
@DCNatFan We had progress here too! Now I’m scared LOL. Twin A worked on Elon application and conversed about upcoming trip to PA. I think it dawned on her that time is running out with school starting Aug. 16. Hoping trend continues as Twin B is the over achieving type and that can be daunting.
@dcnatfan definitely going to try that 
!
If you want a waiver, ask. I think they are happy to give them out.
@sdl0625 and @EENYMum I would definitely look into that, 100 point scales translate quite differently in places. Ours looks like this. We do not weight and most colleges seem to ask for UW Gpa on a 4.0 scale, which is what this is.
Bear in mind your GC should send a profile sheet that explains your particular system but I would reach out for your school versus trying to convert it on your own.
A (4.0) 93 - 100
A- (3.7) 90 - 92
B+ (3.3) 87 - 89
B (3.0) 83 - 86
B- (2.7) 80 - 83
C+ (2.3) 76 - 79
C (2.0) 73 - 76
C- (1.7) 70 - 72
D+ (1.3) 67 - 70
D (1.0) 60 - 66
F (0.0)
Thank you so much @eandesmom ! I will def have d19 check with GC, but she did mention they only send weighted average which did seem unique