Wake has 7 writing requirements?! What a joke, but I guess it weeds out those who don’t have it at/near the top of their list.
I’m sure Wake’s application helps weed out the sorta interested - certainly weeded out my D20. She thought the school was interesting - right up until she saw the supplemental writing. She may revisit after she she’s done with some of her other supplements, but I doubt it.
Welcome, @Prep4Uni !
Took our second official college trip this past weekend (first one was last spring). D had a band competitition Saturday night in a city two hours away from home, which put us within one or two more hours driving distance of several schools on our radar that are three to four hours from home. We took advantage of the fact that there was no school Monday at her high school. On Sunday we walked around two of the campuses (obviously no official tours) and had tours/info sessions at two on Monday before driving home for evening band practice. So, a jam-packed weekend, but worth it!
I’m not quite ready to name these schools yet, but three would be reaches, (just how reachy depending on her test scores and how she develops ECs this year) and one a low match/likely. I wouldn’t have taken her to so many reaches early-on but they were near the likely school, and I’m really wanting her to identify likely schools that she LIKES early-on to relieve some of the stress. Unfortunately, she (and I) felt a little let down by the likely, and the campus felt just too small and a bit run-downish, though there were good things to say about it. But did not excite her at all. One of the reach schools was fabulous in its way but just not “her,” and another she liked well enough to want a second look/official tour. She kind of fell in “strong like” for the reachiest of the three that we did tour. It’s within the realm of possibility (as she currently has a 4.0/4.4) but I doubt she’ll have the absolutely steller test scores and ECs needed as this school seems to be soaring in popularity right now. I read a lot of posts by stunned and disapointed “average excellent” students last spring who thought they’d get in but didn’t. So she knows not to get her heart set on it. But it’s beautiful, fit her picture of what college could be, and I think she’d like to fit in there.
Don’t know if seeing this school is a good or bad thing. On the one hand, I hate thinking about the likely pain of rejection she’ll face, but on the other, it may just put some fire under her tail so to speak, to self-motivate. She gets anxious easily, and as she’s a concientious student who does all her assignments without prodding from me, I’ve decided not to push her too hard on SAT prep and ECs. I’d rather she be happy and balanced in life than pushed to an external standard of success. But I’m glad now that she sees what’s out there and what the competition is so that she can make more informed decisions about how much/how hard to work in the coming months and own the decisions/consequences.
Fortunately, there is another school we saw last spring that she likes a lot, is closer to home, that I’d be thrilled for her to attend. It’s more of a match/ low reach, so we’re still looking for that elusive fabulous safety.
I’m sort of in the same boat. I don’t think it’s in the ballpark of Davidson or Wake, but honestly, while my daughter is very smart, she’s out to get a good education, but not necessarily to have the toughest four years of her life. None of the schools on her list are reaches, and that’s her choice. She’s aiming for med school (I know, like everyone else…) and has her GPA to think about. We’ve also shared with her that the bank of Mom and Dad is only open for undergrad, but we will retain some of her college funds for grad school for her if her costs come below budget, so she’s got her eye on merit money and honors colleges at larger schools.
Aside from location and size, the filter that we are using that eliminates the biggest chunk of schools is the school must have at least a basketball pep band if not a full marching band where you do not have to be a music major to participate. It’s her main extra curricular that she really wants to continue in college and she’s full of school spirit (I’ll admit, I don’t know how full of spirit Elon is - but it has a marching band and a basketball band). I’m glad she’s got an area of the country in mind plus something like that though - because otherwise I don’t even know how you would start narrowing things down when you want to major in something as prevalent as Biology, Chemistry or Math.
Elon just came up as an option and it looks pretty nice. We’ve learned they are super big into study abroad (ranked #1 by USNWR) and service (both of which my D would like to do) and have lots of quickie options for study abroad (like winter or early summer), which is a nice option for a pre-med because it’s hard to take pre med/science major courses abroad. In fact, in order to graduate the kids have to participate in a minimum of two of: study abroad, service, leadership, internships and research. I’m looking at the brochure and 78% spend at least one term abroad and 89% complete at least one internship with 67% of internships leading to job offers. The brochure also says 94% of the Class of 2018 was employed, in graduate school or doing service (I don’t know what that means, hopefully akin to Peace Corp) within 9 months of graduation and 95% of the Class of 2018 accepted a position related to career goals. I don’t know how that compares to other schools, but I like that they cultivated those statistics and put them out there, because they are more important to me than how many states the kids come from.
I don’t know. I still think it may be too small of a town for her, and possibly not enough school spirit (athletics), but it’s good to be open minded and have options that aren’t 20,000+ kids.
@3kids2dogs As I’m sure you know Clemson and Elon are like apples and oranges.
Clemson is more than 3 times larger than Elon.
Clemson is also more difficult to get into as the acceptance rate is lower and the SAT/ACT scores are higher.
Elon is a private school while Clemson is a public university.
Clemson has very strong Engineering school. Elon does really have engineering school. Almost all engineering student would have to go 2 years to another school such as NCState after 3 years at Elon.
Clemson has a nursing program and I don’t think Elon does.
Obviously it is all about fit, major, cost, distance from home etc. As your D21 actually narrows down the major type of school etc. and visits them I have no doubt she will find the place that is best for her.
As an aside I would not rule in rule out any school based on the in school information session. Nor would I rule out a school that you visit because the tour guide is lousy.
I know! But like I said, it’s good to have options.
Right now, she’s got 4 big schools and two medium schools on her list.
Clemson - big school, college town
UofSC - big school, small city (already visited and loved)
Alabama - big school, medium town
LSU - big school, small city
Tulane - medium school, big city
Elon - medium school, small town
I think that after visiting them all in March, she’ll get a better feel for what feels like home (cough, cough Tulane - only because that’s my alma mater and how could anyone want to go anywhere else 
). I could honestly see her in a smaller school or a larger school. She loves large school spirit and with honors colleges and marching band would probably easily find her people in a big school, but I could totally see her excelling in a smaller school too.
It’s going to be a fun year. Let’s see where this October ACT puts her - that will help, too.
@3kids2dogs I do think it’s smart to keep different sized schools on the list…and for a student to apply to a range. Even S19, who was really into the LAC idea, applied to three medium sized universities. Kids do change their minds over time and that’s why I’m a little shy about using ED with D21 but my guess is that she might need the ED bump for some of the schools she likes.
@inthegarden you’re killing me with no school names! At least share the one you recently visited and didn’t like! 
LOL, if I shared one you might guess the others! I promise I’ll spill the beans a little later in the process though.
I guess I want to have a better idea of her test scores to know what will be realistic reaches/matches. PSATs happening soon! She did take the PSAT 10 but froze up during the math section. She said she knew she did terribly while taking the test. The score is so low (as compared to her performance on state testing every year) that I knew it was a fluke…couldn’t represent her real skill level…but I still don’t know what her true range will be. I feel she’ll get in the low 700s (at least) in reading/English on SATs but likely a good bit lower in math. Her math school grades are high (often her highest "A"s) because she works at it, but it doesn’t come intuitively and she gets thrown on tests. But we could be happily surprised…some years she has scored higher in math than in reading in state testing. I’m hoping that finishing Algebra II and Chemistry (with all its math) last year and now doing pre-calc and AP physics (with ITS math) will make a big difference in her score.
@inthegarden I hear you on being anxious for test scores! My D was always great at state standardized tests but tanked on the PSAT last year and has only scratched the surface in studying for the real thing (next week’s PSAT might be a wake up call). We visited several reach schools hoping to motivate her to study and I do think that will ultimately help, but she is so busy just keeping up with school, work-study and sports right now. I also want her to have balance and think she will learn a little something about trade-offs in the process. Visiting the reaches is a great reality check - as much as a kid wants to fit in to a favorite school, the schools don’t always feel the same way. My D likes small elite LAC’s, but the last thing they want is another middle class, white, female applicant. Her application would have to be exemplary with perfect scores. It takes lots of research and hard work over a prolonged period of time to make it happen. If you work your tail off trying to get in to these schools, you will also have to work your tail off once you get there. Having the endurance for that is part of the process in finding “fit” . Fortunately, it is still early and she’s open to looking at more options, so off I go, to search for more “likelys”.
@Acersaccharum Let me know if you find the likelies! We will take a few LAC likelies too!
Yes! @Acersaccharum. My daughter doesn’t want to be more than five hours from home, she doesn’t want a very big or very urban school (or completely in the middle of nowhere) and we don’t have a nearby airport to make flying an easy option, so our school choices are limited. O the other hand, LACs of fewer than 2000 students feel too small to her. I’m really not finding true academic “match” schools in our area that meet these criteria. Of course, I don’t really know yet what will be a match school (without knowing final test scores) but in my estimation, every school we’re considering (with the possible exception of two) will be either quite reachy or not stimulating enough. If she liked medium to large schools she could find like-minded people in even a safety school, but she likes LACS. It’s more important to get the right fit in a small school, I think,
We live in an economically depressed area with low educational attainment by many in the general population, and while I think the small cohort of maybe 20 (of a class of 170) honors/AP students that are her peers are a good group for her (all very bright kids but none truly gifted, herself included) the vast majority of the students at her school are not very academically oriented. We live in a conservative area (not just politically, but in the broader sense that people just don’t like to change how things are done in general) with not a lot of new ideas generating creativity. There are many, many families who have been here for generations and can’t imagine going far away for school or careers. DH and I didn’t grow up here. There are lovely people here but a very limited mindset among many. I really do want her to get out of this bubble and have a college experience that is very different from her high school, that expands her mind, her peer group and her sense of possibilities in life. Our flagship would be more than fine for that but she doesn’t want a big school and I agree that she likely wouldn’t thrive in that environment for undergrad. None of the other state schools seem like great fits either for a variety of reasons. There’s one particular LAC that I think might be a great fit for her and I think it will be a good match or low reach, but these days there are no guarantees of admissions!
@homerdog I think very highly of the CTCL schools and they could very well be likelies. We looked at several for my D19, who was lower on the academic scale, but I think they can offer a very stimulating and supportive environment for a high achiever. Like all LAC’s each one is unique so it’s best to visit if you can. We are also looking at smaller publics and Jesuit schools (we are not religious, but these schools seem to be nice sizes, offer a variety of majors and have good sports teams). It really requires a ton of research.
@inthegarden My D19 loved LAC’s and could only imagine herself at one in the fall of her junior year. We visited several and they all felt so comfortable. A few months later we visited a mid-size school - the largest one I could get her to consider. She was a little overwhelmed, but the visit was great and got her to realize that her college experience would be better if she pushed herself a little instead of opting for “comfortable”. She is blissfully happy with her choice. Their thoughts on schools do evolve.
@Acersaccharum right. Even S19, who is happily settling in at his LAC, is realizing that his friends at bigger schools are getting a much more typical college experience with football games and tailgates. He absolutely knew this going in and didn’t prioritize that but now he really understands how different his experience will be. For him, I think it’s causing him to really dig deep into what his school does offer instead of bemoaning no big tailgates…and he has friends to visit at BC if he’s really wanting a little taste of that.
As for Jesuit schools, I hear you. So many are a nice size and offer much of what D21 wants. There are a few on her long list.
Trying to get our S21 to figure out some colleges to visit in mid-November (our first free Saturday) and it’s been a challenge. He finally mentioned that he’d like to visit Lycoming College. The recruiter at the recent college fair really impressed him so at least we have a spark of interest in something. However he said Swarthmore and Susquehanna were too small when he visited and Lycoming is even smaller. I am a bit concerned that Lycoming’s physics department is too small but we’ll worry about that a bit later on in the process. They do have a new building for the department that looks pretty well kitted out so that’s a plus. The math program looks pretty good, though I’m not a math oriented guy so I could be way off base.
Was hoping to hit Lafayette/Muhlenberg/Moravian since they are so close together, but Lafayette isn’t offering tours the day we have. Lafayette fits the bill as a slightly larger school, and since none are in a small town it might help his impressions of the smaller schools, too.
As Sunday’s open up this fall we might do some informal campus walk throughs of other nearby schools.
@inthegarden My D17 also gravitated towards LACs of 2000-3000 students. I don’t know where you are geographically but there are SO MANY great match LACs in PA and OH, a number of them CTCL schools as @Acersaccharum mentioned. If your daughter wants to continue with marching band, maybe look at College of Wooster? I may be misremembering but I believe that the “Fighting Scots” marching band has a bagpipe section and may wear kilts! Merit of up to half the total cost of attendance is possible. Wooster also has also been growing its international enrollments. It requires a senior thesis of all students. The revitalized downtown has a lot of cute shops and restaurants.
Hope that your daughter’s test jitters don’t resurface this time around on the PSAT!
@sccaflagger74 I loved Lycoming when we visited with S17, but way too small for him!
D21 has thrown a bit of a wrench in things - she’s decided she wants big school spirit! She goes to a big public school (about 475 in her grade), with 0 school spirit. But she also wants small class sizes and to know her professors! I’m thinking honors colleges at public schools, but she may not be able to make the cut at a lot of them. We switched our Clark November visit to a Syracuse visit. We may try to hit Scranton and Hobart and WIlliam Smith or another LAC on the way up, and take a different route home to see Marist. Budget is a concern for us, so I’m nervous that some of these won’t come in low enough. But I guess the good thing about your state school running $30k is that it makes some privates in range with merit!
Any ideas on school spirit with smaller class sizes are welcome!!
@NJWrestlingmom Well those words are exactly D21’s -small classes and big school spirit. But her other thing is small-ish campus so big state school with honors program probably does not work. When I took her to Wisconsin, it was a beautiful day and also a big no. Campus way too big and felt too urban - lol. Madison, WI is too urban?! So, it’s obvious that she wants a walkable green campus.
This niche is not that easy to find. That’s why her list is so stinkin’ small right now and I don’t know if it will expand. I wonder how big Syracuse’s campus is. I should look at that. I hear kids are happy there.
We were thinking D1 LAC like Colgate or Davidson would fit the bill, but she’d have to get in! We have friends at both and they say football and basketball are well attended and super fun. Her other schools are also reachy. I think I’ve probably mentioned them but those would be Wake and Richmond (although I’m not sure about the school spirit and Richmond but it has other things she likes). The other medium sized big school spirit school she might like is Boston College but her friends there are living in freshman dorms that are separate from the main campus and she’s hating that idea. I’m going to have to start preaching that you can’t always get everything you want. We are still on the hunt for safeties.
Maybe your D would like U South Carolina? I here very good things about their honors program. University of Georgia too.
@homerdog well, D21 also isn’t big on the south!!! LOL she’s trying to kill me! She goes to a top school, and she’s probably in the top 25% of the class, but that’s lots of B’s so I don’t think U of SC honors would take her.
She also wants a traditional campus - Rutgers is a big fat NO. It’s a struggle! Towson did come up as a match when she search Naviance.
The party school aspect of Syracuse may scare her away - she’s not a party girl. But we’ll see - I know lots of happy kids there who got good merit. Worst case, maybe she’ll hate it and we’ll go back to Clark!
But Colgate was on my mind. I’m sure it’s a reach, but we could fit that in with Syracuse.
@NJWrestlingmom I hear you about the south. And those two schools probably feel very southern. Now you’ve got me thinking about Syracuse, especially because I think they are strong in communications, right? D21 is leaning in that direction maybe paired with psych. She’s really hoping to put cold winters behind her for a few years but I don’t think the weather is a complete deal breaker if it’s the right school. I didn’t know Syracuse gave merit!
@sccaflagger74 As a Lafayette graduate I would highly recommend it. Although it is different from when I went there many moons again…it is a nice size, beautiful campus, great location with Philly, NYC and the Poconos all about an hour away. The town of Easton has really improved with lots of great restaurants and bars in and around the circle. Unfortunately for my me, my D21 wants a larger school.