We would like DD20 to have a car on campus because she will be leaving campus regularly for aerial silks/circus classes. If she goes to school where that’s not possible I guess she’ll just have to use Uber. Our older sons did not have cars as freshmen and didn’t need them.
Our plan is no cars until needed for co-op/internship purposes. All of the schools on the list would not require anything more than a bike if that. But all of the schools we have looked at allow cars for freshman.
My oldest is at Davis where a bike is more important than a car. Public transportation is readily available and free with a student ID. He used to take Uber/Lyft a lot but this year more friends have cars so friends drive to the airport, Costco, Target, etc.
I think the car/no car debate completely depends on the situation and the kid. I have two 2018 kids. One has a car on campus and the other doesn’t.
Agree that it depends on the situation. If commuting home by car is more convenient / cheaper than other options, then being able to park on campus as a freshman becomes more desirable. Most colleges we looked at for our oldest didn’t have parking available for freshmen, and tbh, even at a small school there’s enough going on on campus to keep a kid busy for the first year at least so if you are looking at the car situation in terms of being able to get off campus for entertainment rather than to get home, it’s not that big of a deal the first year. After that at a smaller school/ smaller town they might want to be able to get further off campus though.
(Funny timing on this thread … my daughter just drove herself back to school in Oregon from California today. She’s had a car on campus since sophomore year. )
"Just for reference-
10/10 test date- miss one M, one R, and one W- you end up with a selection index of 225
(Congratulations- you are an NMSF in every state!)
10/24 test date- miss one M, one reading, and one writing- selection index of 211
(Sorry, you likely won’t even get Commended)"
This is unconscionable!
How many of us will be crossing paths on spring break visits, I wonder? We’ll be on the road with S2 mid-March. 
Anyone here have a mid-April spring break doing college visits in NC?
Not to throw grease into a fire but aren’t PSAT questioned waited by difficulty? 1=easy 2=medium 3=hard
UGA and USCarolina, mid March.
Well, for those of you worried about your kid just missing NMSF or Commended on the recent PSAT, there is a positive: Your child will likely do well on the SAT (if they take it), which is actually used for college admissions.
Just our experience, but once D17 had decided what school to attend, looking back on just-missing NMSF was much ado about nothing. It was definitely a less stressful event this past year. Kids are way too stressed these days as it is.
@suzyQ7 that is insane!!!
S20 was no where near NMSF so not feeling like he was cheated. ACT is definitely his test and I feel like he will have plenty of opportunities with the high ACT and GPA. NMSF is great - S19 has found lots of merit options and is pursuing 3 NMF options in addition to his other schools — but lots of merit/opportunities out there for high performing non-NMSF kids. But I do feel like CB has been all over the place with their testing issues.
@chb088 will be visiting Durham week of April 15th.
@socaldad2002 That’s us as well! Not sure what day yet. Is their tour calendar open that far out yet?
@chb088 “That’s us as well! Not sure what day yet. Is their tour calendar open that far out yet?”
Looks like that week is available right now:
I think we’ll put off any more college visits for D20 until after she’s admitted (hopefully!) to the colleges. She’s interested in schools all over the US, and it’s just not financially feasible for us to travel to all of the schools.
The one place that Ds recently shown interest in - the University of Arizona - is having a Wildcat Days event near us soon, so we will attend that. I’m particularly interested in speaking to the reps from there, as the merit $ is good and the new honors complex (housing/dining/classrooms) seems amazing. Does anyone here have experience with the Univ. of Arizona?
@HarrietMWelsch I was wondering about all of our paths crossing over spring break visits as well. Sort of wishing we could have little secret CC pins with our user names on them! :))
@Itisatruth, as it happens, I do have a pin with my avatar’s image. It usually lives on a denim jacket, so we’ll just have to see if it’s warm enough. 
@HarrietMWelsch Great idea! I have a pin with this (or maybe another?) image of my avatar as well, and could stick it on my denim jacket. I’ll go lurk on your other posts to see where we might cross paths! :)>-