Thanks!
About Galesburg: I should have clarified that I was referring to the downtown area that is adjacent to Knox. It does give off a prairie town vibe, where many of the buildings are somewhat historic late 19th/early 20th century which we, especially my son, found appealing, but others might see it as a bit “rough around the edges”. We did find it to have an artsy touch. It is also a major railroad hub, so one will hear the sounds of trains come and go (my son actually likes that too!). The parts outside of the downtown area do appear shabby and run down.
While Knox has a handful of fraternities and sororities, we understood from talking to our tour guides and researching online, that Greek life is not very prominent on campus (only a small percentage go Greek), and it does not seem to have a major party scene presence. I have heard that DePauw has a more active Greek and partying scene, although our tour guide there told us that Greeks and non-Greeks assimilate well together. She did not go Greek but had many friends who invited her over to their Greek events.
Wishing your S22 best of luck in his college search! Luckily for him, I think schools and travel should be more opened up this summer and next fall for in-person tours to assess schools earlier in the process. I firmly believe that a school/area should be seen in person to really know whether it is a good fit.
Thanks @WorkingMomOfTwo for sharing your thoughts/experiences of Knox! It’s high on my D’s list right now based solely on virtual visits. She really liked that the “town” seemed walkable from campus, it’s always so hard to tell on a virtual visit so it’s good to hear that aspect validated. We definitely need to get on campus some time in the next year!
@murray93 we’re also in Texas (but north for us)! As far as midwest schools to check out, we also have CornellCollege(IA) and Beloit on our list but music isn’t a criteria for us so ymmv.
you might add Kalamazoo too. They’ve got a lot of personal attention in their music department and have added more jazz professors. It’s a wonderful school. St. Olaf might be a good one too. They have a robust music culture that permeates the school with really serious musicians and vocalists and more hobby players as well.
Same situation here with my DD22 who is very intellectual with a passion for writing (published her book and in online journals) but the GPA is in the range for this forum (a little too happy go lucky there!) and decent SAT scores. She’s interested in Applied Math and wants to keep writing, but only as a hobby. Would love to hear your feedback about Williamette. Thanks
We looked at Williamette with D19 and really liked it! She liked that it was across the street from the Capitol thinking of internships for poli-sci. Also seemed to have lots of creative and artistic kids. One thing I thought was great was when our tour guide said that the school’s philosophy is to try to say yes - when students want to study something unique or start a club or create a major, Williamette tries to figure out how to say yes. When a professor has an interesting idea for a class or an abroad - they try to make it work. I love that approach and I think it says something about fostering a climate of intellectual curiosity.
Thanks for the suggestions, all. I know about St. Olaf but I doubt son will be able to get in there unless he applies as a music major, which I’m not sure he wants to do. I’ll check out the music programs at the others! Anybody know anything about Augsburg in Minneapolis?
Not pushing that St. Olaf is the right school for your child, but to clarify, you don’t apply as any major. Typical of LAC’s you can state interests and your application would show interests too probably. They offer music scholarships but they are not limited to students majoring in music. Good luck. Lots of wonderful programs out there.
@BktoNJ I have another child who went the SLAC/music major route and most colleges with strong music programs are able to relax their admission standards a bit for high level musicians who intend to major in music.
I don’t know your kids stats, but mine has exactly one A in an academic subject in 4 years of high school and got in early action. No merit but they are meets needs and generous with their definition of “need.” I just think the promise to major in music didn’t seem to matter at all for them, though his interest and moderate experience as a musician probably made a big difference. Can’t speak for other musically centered schools. Also geographical diversity may have played a part for my kid.
Following along @murray93 's question about music programs but for non-majors – anyone have feedback on orchestras or symphonies at these schools? S22 is hoping to join an ensemble that requires an audition.
App State
Christopher Newport
Elon
George Mason
James Madison
U of Mary Washington
UNC - Charlotte
UNC - Greensboro
UNC - Wilmington
VCU
@pixter we also looked at Willamette with my D18, and we really liked it. It ended up on her final short list, but she ultimately decided she didn’t want to be a flight away and chose one of her closer options. I thought the campus was very charming, the food on campus was pretty good and with the proximity to the Japanese sister school, I believe there were a few more options than schools of similar size typically have. Academically, she was very undecided at the time but we felt like they had enough variety for her to choose from, and plenty to put her in the path of a decent career. My husband still thinks of it as “the one that got away” lol
Can I vent? My dd22 is “not living up to her potential” and it is sooooo frustrating. I know this has been a sucky year, but it’s been a sucky year for everyone in the whole world so I don’t think that really counts as an excuse for sleeping and missing class and not turning work in. She could easily be an almost all A student (math would be harder) if she would just take it seriously and go to class and do her work. So frustrating from a parental standpoint. For this year she barely has a 3.3 (87.6) unweighted. She had a 3.75 cumulative (not counting this year) for 9th and 10th. If she really tries and gets a C I’m okay with that, but when she’s got a bunch of zeroes from not turning work in it just really starts to make me crazy.
I am definitely not a Tiger Mom so I like hanging out here with y’all, but wondering if I have done her a disservice by not micromanaging more. I know it’s been a hard year, but it’s not that hard to be awake and go to zoom class and turn your homework in. She had all As the first quarter; 3 As and 3Bs in the second quarter; 2 As, 2 Bs, 2 Cs the third quarter, and now in the 4th quarter she’s got 2 As, 2 Bs, 1 C, and 1 D.
I feel for you and can understand the complete frustration. Sorry you’re having this struggle.
When kids are in high school I don’t view parental interventions as micromanaging — to me I see it as my job as a parent. If my DD isn’t up before I go to work I make sure she gets up. I check online grade book every few days. She’s gets frustrated because she stays on track on her own without me checking, but me not being heavily involved isn’t an option. I’m the parent and if I don’t monitor and correct any negative actions then it’s on me. Easier said than done in many instances I know, but not turning in assignments just isn’t an option.
@sweetgum are you me? I feel like could have almost written your post. Though in my case it’s honestly been a battle all year, not so much to get her to show up and do work, but to get the same level of work she was putting up before. Honestly I feel bad for her, for all the students that are struggling this year. I think the year of virtual school and isolation has been hard on their mental health and the deteriorating gpa is just one side effect. My D has shown many symptoms of depression, anxiety, OCD, even agoraphobia in the last year. Yes we are getting her help, but the problem with getting help for mental health issues is there is no “quick fix,” these problems that seem to appear over night, take months or longer to deal with, this is especially true if there’s any difficulty accessing a provider, or finding the right provider. So while you are “working on” getting better, things like school and grades can continue to be a problem.
But speaking as a micromanager, I have to say, my experience is that it doesn’t always work the way we hope it will. You know your kid best, but some teens become very resistant when micromanaged.
As a parent, I fully empathize, it’s so frustrating to watch that gpa melt away when it feels like it really didn’t have to.
I hear ya! I’ve been struggling with this all year. We live in a super populated area of a state with high covid numbers since day 1, so S22 has been distance learning since last March. And it’s not done his GPA any favors. Not only has it been hard for the kids to adapt (it’s not like they’re trying a new way of learning that’s a well organized machine) some teachers just suck at it, too. What he thought was going to be his favorite class this year, a subject he reliably gets As in, has been his biggest struggle largely because his teacher has not managed well on zoom.
We’ve tried a few different tacts with him to keep him on the rails to varying degrees of success. Keeping a close eye on his grades and assignments, threats, compassion, reason… I think the most successful approach has been reason - trying to explain that while it sucks right now, it’s a temporary situation with big implications for the next few years and we just want him to have the best opportunities he can have. But ultimately, we’re crossing our fingers. He’s a 16 yr old kid dealing with the same world crisis as grown-ups. (sorry, this ended up so long, clearly y’all struck a nerve : )
Thanks for all the feedback and commiseration. Today seems better . Hope it sticks around. At her school they just went back in two alternating cohorts for the last quarter, so since last week of March/first week of April really. She seems to do a lot better in class in person and says she likes it a lot more. I hope she will get her stuff together and correct these low grades for the last quarter.
It’s just so frustrating. I mean I went in her room 8 minutes before the class and said, “hey when is your next class?” and she said, “in 8 minutes” and I said, “ok be sure to check on powerschool and google classroom for any missing assignments, I think I saw one for science” and she said “okay” and then I went back to do some of my work from home and she went to sleep. I didn’t check back in until I had finished what I was working on and she was asleep. Grrrrr!
I do get up in her business as far as missing work, but I don’t know it’s missing until it’s missing, y’know? Most of her teachers are pretty lenient, but there are a few who are sticklers and will take off a letter grade for late work.
She kinda shuts down when I tell her that this last quarter really matters and she needs to make sure she gets her grades back up. Says I’m being too stressful. Ugh.
Well, it is what it is. I just don’t want her to be messing stuff up for herself, but if she does she will just have to make some other choices if she cuts off some opportunities. Hard way to learn that lesson, but I can’t do the work for her.
Just here to say I’m in the same boat with you, @sweetgum and @1822mom. Although my D’s grades are good-ish, I’m not really sure how? She tends to be behind on understanding the importance of things, even though I harp on something all the time. D just got her first SAT score back a week ago, she didn’t study as hard as she could have, in fact, kind of minimally even though I paid for a prep program and tell her all the time how a high SAT score is more important than a high GPA. So of course she has to take the SAT again, since her score isn’t going to be the ticket in to her top choice school. It reminds me of when she was 11 and trying out for club volleyball, which are pretty serious tryouts. During the tryouts she said, “they are judging me” as if that was a new revelation. Ugh! Like I wasn’t telling her that for months before!
D is the younger of my two daughters/ kids, so that’s the dynamic. I’ve already been through this with another kid who had her type of approach. I’m a SAHM and my #1 job is to see this last kid through and it’s a struggle! I feel like I have to micromanage, since this one doesn’t really tell me anything about what is going on with school. And this micromanaging thing probably comes from when I was a kid and my parents barely asked me about school or what was going on. It’s a miracle that I went to college. I’m trying to provide my kid with something I didn’t get, and that’s my issue but it sure is hard to get them to see that we’re trying to provide them with shortcuts so they don’t have to learn the hard way.
That being said, I’m sure looking forward to school being back to the old and normal way in the fall. My D is doing fine with this virtual school, but I know if she was in school every day, things would be different.
. Hope it sticks around. At her school they just went back in two alternating cohorts for the last quarter, so since last week of March/first week of April really. She seems to do a lot better in class in person and says she likes it a lot more. I hope she will get her stuff together and correct these low grades for the last quarter.