@Darcy123 U Richmond also might be worth a look for your dancer. Offers major and minor in dance and merit for high stats kids. I was going to suggest it for @homerdog as a potential good fit but it’s already on the list!
I feel so far behind, reading this discussion. No colleges on lists, no ideas for majors.
Both kids are taking SAT subject tests tomorrow. Neither has gotten grades, but we know one got their first B in the last semester. They got behind in the reading and then AP tests were given as tests. And, their sport went almost up until finals. It was bound to happen at some point. But, overall, we think they did well. One got commendation letters in 4 subjects(! - this one amazes me, they sure didn’t get this from me!), the other received one (which they were happy with, so it was ok!).
One is signed up for tutoring for the SAT/ACT this summer and one is doing their own studying. The plan is (hopefully) to get testing finished in the fall.
Schedules for next yr: A: summer online CS; advanced multi variable calc, AP Spanish, APUSH, AP physics C, English, musical instrument. B: summer US history; AP bio, AP Spanish, AP CS A, AP calc AB, English, art.
No plans for college visits over summer. One wants to be here for preseason for their sport. But, I wouldn’t know where to visit, given their lack of career ideas. You’d think engineering for the advanced math one, but we toured an engineering fair in our town and they didn’t seem very interested. The other one is the tinkerer, but says they hate math (has a high grade in trig/precal and was recommended for calc BC but went with AB).
With older S, we didn’t visit anywhere until senior year, mainly because he wasn’t engaged in the process (or school), and also had no idea of what to study. His first year didn’t go well (not due to school choice - admin has been great!), but at this point, thank goodness, the younger ones still take academics more seriously.
I took them on a quick trip over a break to see UCLA, USC and a couple Claremonts, just to let them see liberal arts vs large public and large (I thought it was medium) private, due to ease of getting there. One thought Harvey Mudd was beyond ugly. One thought Pitzer too PC even for them. But the LAC consortium idea was attractive to the one who prior to that had announced “I don’t need a LAC!”). One thought USC was too perfect and focused on jobs. Both thought there were too many kids on the sidewalks at UCLA. Beyond that, I’m at a loss! There are too many colleges out there to decide where to visit!
“No colleges on lists, no ideas for majors.”
Same for my D21. Although she might have some ideas and just isn’t telling us. She takes after me and doesn’t like to tip her hand and she’s made a decision. There’s a STEM college fair next weekend we are going to so we’ll see if that gives her some ideas. I don’t know that she will go into STEM, but she has a lot of talent in that area and really likes chemistry.
I’m right there with you @havenoidea My S21 hasn’t a clue on major or school. His sport might actually dictate the decision which is insane to this academically inclined parent.
In NJ for family function, just D21and I. Took the time to do our first college visit, The College of NJ (TCNJ). Pretty campus, cute little campus town attached. Snuck into one of the academic buildings and a dorm. It looks solid to make her top 9 out of what is currently a 16 school list!
TCNJ is a great school! It’s a little close to us, but i’m Hoping D21 will love it!
@havenoidea and @JanieWalker Good luck to your kids on SAT subject tests and to anybody else who has kids taking them today. My kid is taking two of them this morning. So glad because then the school year really will be over! Hopefully, no more future subject tests either! Hoping to knock out SAT/ACT some time by spring of next year.
In our house we have no idea of major and no upcoming college visits. Probably won’t know until next spring if engineering will be a search parameter so I’m OK with waiting. While I loved the summer road trips with D17, I also know that there’s a lot more ROI when classes are in session so I’m hoping a Spring Break 2020 college tour will be possible. Commemorative T shirts coming soon. 
HI everybody! Hope you ate all having a great summer. D21 has been keeping herself super busy which is nice but she is tired! She applied to be a CIT at a local environmental camp and got the job (no pay but lots of volunteer hours.) Then on her own she went and found a job at a new little restaurant that just opened this week. She only has to commit to 2 weeks at the camp, she thought she would do more but after doing both jobs this week she may change her mind. The last two days she has gone to camp from 8-2 then work from 3-10! We leave for a family trip to California tomorrow so she will have a little bit of a rest there.
As far as college we haven;t talked about it at all yet this summer. She has no idea what she wants to major in or where she wants to go yet. No plans for SAT or ACT, we will talk about that soon because she will probably take them in the late summer/early fall like her sister did. Out f the blue she did mention wanting to visit Boulder at some point which I thought was strange because she has always said she wants a mid size school and not in the cold weather. The next week I got a message from my best friend whose D21 is my D’s best friend - they are going to CO next week so they can visit Boulder - guess I know where she got the idea now. 
@momtogkc I’m not sure where you live so I don’t know what your frame of reference is, but the winters in Boulder/Denver are really nice. The snowstorms make the headlines, but the the temperatures are fairly mild overall and there is a lot of sun. It’s not like the Northeast or Midwest with long stretches of gray and dreary and the snow doesn’t melt until spring.
@momtogkc My D21 has been sweeping the college issue under the rug, but some college coaches have been showing up at her team practices lately (probably looking at rising seniors). Anyway, it started a conversation with teammates about college and she realized how much her peers are thinking about it already, so she came home and started a list. Off to the races!
@Johnny523 I think D21 overheard me saying all o the same things about CO to D19last year. I tried to convince her that the cold there was different than other places but she wasn’t having it. We live in FL so these kids love the warm weather. We also go up to see my family in Massachusetts every winter so they think of winter weather as dreary and gray.
@Acersaccharum Good luck with the college list! We will slowly start working on it soon, maybe once she takes a practice ACT and SAT so we have an idea where to start.
D21 had her first campus visit last Thursday at Miami University. Beautiful campus and facilities. The one thing I liked was that they fix the tuition for all four years at the tuition cost of your freshman year. They also are very generous with OOS merit money.
Next week going to Maryland and Delaware.
We dropped off S21 at Rice University today for the Economics For Leaders program/camp. Pilot Husband was planning on flying him down himself…since we’re in a Dallas suburb, it would have been a quick 1.25 hr flight but weather in Houston wasn’t optimal this morning and his student trainee wasn’t comfortable with the flight plan so it was a scramble this morning for a 4 hour family road trip instead lol. Son was nervous (first time away from home for something like this) but excited (a week away from his annoying 14 year old twin brothers and nagging parents and get to stay in a cool college dorm?! Score!) When we go back to pick him up we’re planning on scheduling in a college tour at Univ of Houston and then we’ll hang around the area and take the boys to NASA & Galveston for a short getaway.
The rest of our college tours won’t happen until Spring…he starts his first job in 2 weeks (got hired at Whataburger lol), Marching Band practice starts end of July, School starts Aug 13, registered for the Aug 24th SAT and then the craziness that is fall football/marching band season in Texas will engulf us all until November!!
Colleges we plan on touring are:
UTSA
Trinity University
Southwestern University
UT Austin
Texas State
A&M we’ve already formally toured and have been to several times (my nephew is there)
UTD & SMU are local for us so no real need to do formal tours.
Out of state, so far, Univ of Arkansas is the only place he’s considering but OU & OSU may be worth a tour next summer.
Whew! I can’t believe we’re already at this juncture…this year is going to FLY by!!
@Momof3B I hope he likes the program. Sounds like a great opportunity to learn about that options in the area.
My S21 will do a week at Georgetown for data science in late July, but it’s just across the river for us so just about a 15 min drive from home. Still, he’s staying in the dorm to get the full experience and is a bit nervous about that.
School is still officially in session here with finals ending tomorrow but S21 had final projects rather than exams in all but one class so he’s done. Very proud of him for ending up with nearly all As, just a B+ in his AP Gov class. That gives him a 4.3 for this year, a big improvement over prior years. He’s taking a practice SAT this weekend and after that we’ll decide if he wants to do a class vs. studying on his own, and does he want to aim for August or October test date. Also starting the in-car part of driver’s ed and starts training for his camp counselor job next week. Busy, busy. I agree, the summer will fly by. On top of that we have D23 graduating from 8th grade tomorrow and then she’s off for a sleepaway camp, followed by 3 weeks with the Virginia Youth Conservation Corps, and then right into Marching Band prep. I’m a little worried that she’s going to be burned out before her freshman year even starts!
@JESmom my S23 twins are also following big brother into marching band! We have a tuba/sousaphone, euphonium and French Horn lol. The twins are both taking AP Bio & AP Human Geo as freshman (the max allowed for 9th grade at our school)…S21 didn’t do AP Bio as a freshman so I am a little worried about the pressure on the twins to handle 2 AP classes + marching band right off the bat. They both are a little more studious then older brother so I think it will be ok…they have summer assignments for AP Bio to prepare and their regular summer tutor who is a premed college student is helping them out.
Marching Band, (especially in Texas!) is such a family commitment…everyone knows not to expect me to see me Aug-Nov lol!! But I do love the Friday Night Lights of football season. I’m Communications Director for the Band Booster Club this year (and probably for the next 4 years!) since all 3 are committed to marching…pray for me!! ?
Would love to join in on this thread. I have a D21. She went on her first college visits last week - a trip to South Carolina. She visited UofSC and College of Charleston and UNC Charlotte because they flew into Charlotte. She loved both SC schools, but liked UofSC more (which is the opposite of what I thought would happen).
She insists that she wants to go South for school, which is fine, but I’d like to keep her a (long) one day drive away at most because she has a chronic medical condition (type 1 diabetes) where everything goes great . . . until it doesn’t. If she ever ends up in the hospital (knock wood), my first choice would be to fly there, but worst case I want to be able to get in my car and be there in 14 or so hours.
We are in northern Illinois, so anywhere south of the panhandle of Florida is out and parts of TX, etc. South Carolina would be a great southern state for her (yet close enough for me), so I was very excited she liked UofSC.
More about her: she’s a very good student, plays the clarinet in the band, does marching band, Quiz Bowl, Math Team and has a year round part time job at the local frozen yogurt place. She loves theme parks and seeing bands live in concert!
Can’t wait to experience the next year with all of you and your 21’ers!
My D23 is a euphonium player She’s worried about building up her arm/back muscles to hold it up while marching! I hear you on the family committment – attended the info session last week and got the info on the need for parent volunteers. I’m already signed up to help serve dinners at the home games. I’m a little concerned about her freshman load too. S21 didn’t take any AP classes freshman year and only honors for math and history. D23 is much more academically inclined and taking AP World History + Honors for all other core subjects.
Welcome @3kids2dogs !
@3kids2dogs I may be biased but your D21 should look at Clemson. Closer to you than USC. Good academics, beautiful campus, nice weather and of course the NATTY. Also If she goes to USC she will just be tormented by losing to Clemson every year.
@burghdad Absolutely! Clemson is now on the list. We are big IU fans and have been to road games across the big 10, and D21 has always intimated that those schools were too big. That’s why we were so surprised that she liked UofSC; we took her to SC to see College of Charleston because it seemed to fit - medium sized, good honors college, etc.
We added UofSC just so she could compare a southern school with a traditional campus with a more urban campus. I didn’t want her to see the palm trees at College of Charleston and fall in love with just that part of the situation. I’m so glad we did!
Now that we know a larger school could also be a good fit, Clemson becomes another great choice. We just need to make another trip down there!