Parents of the HS Class of 2021 (Part 1)

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
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@kartaqueen I know sometimes schools divide up parents and kids for tours but, for the most part, kids go with their parents. Sometimes families split up on purpose so they can get two different tour guides and info and then compare notes. I’m 100 percent sure our D would be more likely to ask a question if I wasn’t with her!

We just visited S19 at Bowdoin. Didn’t tour but D and I spent two and a half days hanging out with him, seeing the inside of every building on campus, meeting his friends, eating at the dining hall. S and D spent some time every day studying. S would find cool places for them to get some work done. She loved it. I don’t think she wants to go to the same school (especially such a small one) as her brother though but we still learned a lot. I thought maybe LACs starting to fall off the list a bit but she really liked the size of Bowdoin, that it had a town adjacent to it with restaurants and coffee shops, that the campus was small, the dorms were amazing, and the food outstanding. She also appreciated the quiet and the natural beauty but not necessarily the cold.

When S19 was narrowing down his final choices, he was between Davidson and Bowdoin and he was telling D that maybe Davidson is the place for her if she liked Bowdoin. She visited when we took him two years ago and it’s on our March trip for this year. I asked her “if I dropped Bowdoin into a warmer climate and added dance, would that seem like a winner?” and she said yes. Yet…Davidson not big on dance. Looks like there’s one audition group but they somehow have teachers who are outside the dance department. She sent an email to find out more.

We also visited BC last weekend. Honestly, I could see D there. They dropped EA and now just use ED and looks like they are taking a ton of kids in the two ED rounds this year. I’m so over ED but I’m feeling a lot of pressure to use it for D. BC would not be her ED school. We both saw a lot of things to like about it - the kids on the student panel were well spoken and gave us a good glimpse into what it would be like to go to school there. Kids on campus looked happy. I thought the campus was pretty but D didn’t love all of the grey stone buildings. We loved all of the traditions. Didn’t love the chance that she’d have to live on the other campus one mile away freshman year (even though every single student we met said it’s no big deal). The cafeteria was uninspiring and D still felt like campus was a little too big, too busy, and didn’t like where it was situated in a neighborhood right outside downtown. Less nature and not so cozy. Really showed me that she’s just not a city kid.

Kids on the panel at BC and our tour guide all got the question about Greek life. There is none here so kids join clubs instead to find their friends. D’s two friends at BC have done that. D’s not sure about that. For example, her one friend joined the running club and now does everything with that group. Those are the parties she’s invited to, etc. D thinks that’s a little limiting and still thinks Greek life would be fun where she could meet people with all kinds of interests and she could also have her dance friends too. I think part of this stems from her not being part of one friend group in high school and being friends with kids in multiple groups. She likes to socialize like that.

Anyway, BC stays on the list. She said she could see herself there and likes that she knows three current freshmen there. She just didn’t feel like it was “the one”. She said that she’s waiting to be wowed. To find a place where she just feels the fit. Part of me gets that because she saw it happen with her brother. The other part of me is like ugh. That doesn’t always happen. I think she’s also feeling the pressure to ED so that really does mean finding a favorite.

So we hit Davidson, Wake, Richmond, and W&L in about a month. I think we will have a lot more clarity after that trip.

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@kartaqueen I have been on college tours where they separate the students and parents into different campus tour groups on the theory that kids will be more candid without their parents present.

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@SammoJ My D18 is not an engineer. She is a BS Economics major. I have heard it can be beneficial to just take the introductory courses even if you have the AP credits. You theoretically start off with good grades in the classes and have an easier time in the Freshman year adjustment. I think it also depends on how strong your sons high schools AP classes were.

My daughter had 5’s in Micro and Macro ecomonics. She elected to not take the intro courses and instead when straight to the intermediate course and got A’s in those so it worked out well for her. By using all her AP credits she is going to graduate a year early.

I am having my D21 consider Alabama prodding her that her D18 would not like that one bit…lol…

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@burghdad wow. D18 is graduating a whole year early? Just curious if she’s excited to do that. She’ll be graduating presumably before her friends do and not getting to take four years of college classes. Is that a thing at Clemson? Is there any downside to that when looking for jobs since maybe the kids who go four years have more experience?

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@burghdad I’m curious also about the graduating a year early.

I was told its better to take less classes each semester than to graduate early, BUT saving money is a huge benefit.

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@homerdog I don’t know if “excited” is the word. There has been no pressure from us for her to do that. I suggested a semester abroad, double major etc. She loves her Clemson football so suggested just going back for the fall semester in 2021. However, on her own she outlined this plan of action to be done in 3 years which included taking 19 credits last spring.

I must admit the money savings from one less year of college will be helpful as she is likely is going to be going to grad school or law school in the fall of 2021.

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@AndreaLynn That’s interesting too. Fewer classes? Maybe for some semesters that makes sense but I think you’d still be paying the same for that semester so the best value is to take a full load of classes. To me, this is it - this is the time to explore and learn about all kinds of subjects. It’s not going to happen again in this type of setting. Unless money is an issue, I think kids should go to college for four years and soak up every bit of it. Those four years go fast!

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@AndreaLynn quite frankly I agree with @homerdog that the kids should soak up every minute of college they can…Heck for reasons I won’t get into here, I ended up spending 6 years in undergraduate and 4 years in law school.

But my daughter god bless her has her own views about things and when she makes up her mind about something there is not much chance of changing it.

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@burghdad Our nephew graduated one semester early at U Minn. So, for senior year, he lived with his friends in a house and just stayed there second semester. That worked well for him. They were all still in school that second semester and he was working. He got to walk in the graduation ceremonies with them in May and still be around for the spring college stuff. Mind you, it was a little “interesting” having to go to work every day and his friends still having their college schedules but he had his own bedroom so was able to keep his more strict sleeping schedule!

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@burghdad , @homerdog I agree, spend 4 years and really have the experience. It was something somebody suggested to me, so they would still be there all 4 years, but like mentioned it would still cost the same, so not doing it for $ savings, just more for making their academic load a little lighter.

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@homerdog I would encourage your daughter to look for dance opportunities in the community as well as on campus. Think for a moment how many tuition dollars you’d be paying per credit hour for a ballet class at a selective private college or university. Compare with your average local ballet studio. There are many dance studios in and around Davidson where your daughter could probably find classes that would be reasonably challenging. Here is one that looked fairly promising:

https://www.davidsondance.com

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Question about interviews for juniors: We are visiting 4 New England LACs in late April. One doesn’t do admissions interviews, and another doesn’t allow them until June after junior year. D is planning to do interviews at the other two, as it’s unlikely that we’ll be back in the area any time soon (though not out of the question, as we have family in MA that we sometimes visit during summer vacations). I’m glad she’ll have the experience but wonder if there are any drawbacks to interviewing so early? Anything she should know going in, since they won’t have her application or transcript? Should she take a resume/transcript with her? TIA.

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I agree in princple, but the student should talk to their college advisor.

As but one example, pre-meds, from what I’ve read here on CC and also in the AMCAS guide, medical schools don’t look too kindly on “repeat” courses. An example, if a statistics course is recommended in college, a premed should not take a lower division stats course, if they’ve already taken AP Stat in HS.

My D18 will likely graduate early as well, maybe not a year, but certainly a semester. I think the plan is try and find an internship or job in or around the university for that time, so she can graduate with her class and friends.

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@mamaedefamilia In most cases, she won’t be taking dance as part of her schedule. The audition dance companies at Wake, Richmond, and Davidson take class outside of the curriculum. Kids are not expected to major or minor in dance. So, she won’t be taking dance classes in lieu of academic ones.

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@burghdad, my neighbor (ENT Doc)'s son graduated from Duke in 3 years in 2019 and now a first year law student at Emory. Their daughter is at UVA (OOS) and planning on graduating in 3 years also with law school plans too. I don’t know if cost was a consideration or not. Both kids are very driven.

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@kartaqueen Your impressions of Duke and GT are interesting. Toured both with S19 2 years ago, liked both, but got the impression that GT was more philosophical and global, Duke more grind it out. But we were looking at business programs at the time.

@kbm770 Definitely take a resume, and take an unofficial current transcript as of 1st semester junior year.

@burghdad Re: AP credits, it probably depends on the individual situation. Our S19 applied all his AP credits (28 credit hours), mostly because they were for general core courses, not business core. However, we discouraged graduating early - I think in part because he chose an instate school (enormously cheaper with the in-state scholarships) - instead, we suggested study abroad and double major instead. If he were OOS or if the APs were for his major, my answer might be different. Just have to see with S21.

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Instead of graduating early, I just took 12 credit semesters instead of 15 - 4 classes instead of 5. Made for a low stress academic and more enjoyable social college experience.

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We visited W&M recently and one of the students on their panel was graduating a year early. She said it’s pretty easy to do that if you don’t double major but most students to double major or major/minor or take a semester for an internship. I liked that flexibility to be able to fit those things in to 4 years. Or maybe get a 4+1 master’s done in just 4.

I posted earlier that S21’s class schedule was set but then he just brought me the form to sign and it changed again LOL. Let’s see if it stays this way. He decided he doesn’t want to do two math classes but replaced Calc BC with an IB science which seems a reasonable trade off. And, his Econ and Geospatial will let him explore other types of data analysis which should be valuable since he’s planning to apply to college as a statistics major. Now it’s…

AP Lit
AP Stats
IB Economics
IB Biology
Geospatial tools & techniques (dual enrolled w/ a nearby 4-yr college)
Public speaking (1 semester) / Film studies (1 semester)

  • free period
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@JESmom How did you and S like W&M? It’s now on our list, but we can’t visit until summer. The flexibility you describe sounds ideal for S21.

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@SammoJ He didn’t have a whole lot to say except it was good and he’ll put it on his apply list (he’s not the most communicative kid LOL). I think the only downside was that every single student we engaged with through admissions was a girl which I think could make it hard to envision himself there.

I thought it was great and I don’t know that it’s the right fit for S21 but I absolutely can see that my D23, who wants to study biology and environmental science and get a PhD, would love it there. She would fit right in with the girls who were telling us all about their research projects and how you don’t even have to make much effort to get involved with research, professors are really pulling you into it and the school makes a lot of money available to fund student research experiences. I’d love for one of my kids to go there. I wanted to go and got accepted but it was too expensive because we were OOS.