Thanks for the heads up about the GPS. His 3.6 is unweighted and has taken honors/AP courses. So UMaine does not convert unweighted to weighted but URI does?
Glad your friendās daughter had a good experience at UMaine.
That is fantastic about the increase in Merit aid.
Have no idea what he is interested in but does very well in math. He also will have taken a couple of AP courses in computer science. I think he is just so confused.
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Thanks about the information regarding New England Regional Student Program. I will definitely look into that program.
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So sounds like a school with a wider breadth of offerings he can explore would do him well. How about UVM? Any interest there? Itās a similar size to U Maine and URI. Seemed like a cool school to me and Burlington seems great, but my D22 stayed in-state in NC.
My pretty average kids received <$30k tuition offers from UMaine. S was invited into their honors program. Nice campus, nice kids. I donāt know any kids personally who have loved their time at URI, and it seems to have a worse rep than the other New England publics with regards to partying.
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Regarding merit for UMaineā¦ I called recent and was told that applicants who are eligible for the Flagship Match might get even more merit if they apply by the early action dateā¦ I think thatās what itās called, maybe December 1.
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Heading up to drop D22 off on Monday morning. Crazy how fast this summer flew by. She is so ready. I think we will be okay but it will be weird. Weāre going to take a couple of days before we come back to the house.
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Dropped off D at Elon Tuesday (early for band) and it looks just like the pictures. I still canāt believe that with all our research she ended up at the one place we never visited! A few hiccups thatās she working through, and limited food options until main move in, but so far so good!
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Best wishes for a successful drop off! We are departing on our journey 1 week from today! Weāre making a real road trip out it, weāre doing 3 days to get there, 1 day drop off/move in, then H and I are taking 5 days to return. The goal was to make the trip as enjoyable as possible for everyone. The real trick will be fitting all the stuff weāve packed into the truck. 
I think itās entirely possible she has more stuff than her older sister did, despite my intentions to the contrary!! I envy those of you with minimalist packers!
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Thank you!! Best wishes on your drop off road trip, too.
Weāre taking two cars! She is allowed to have her car on campus so weāll be taking hers and then gotta take ours to get home. Theyāre both small cars, though, so Iām sure will be packed full still. Sheās still gotta finish packing tonight, but is off having some last hurrahs in town before digging in on that.
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I thought Iād share that my D23ās digital SAT score from the pilot study came back and it was lower. They allowed kids to participate only if they were taking the March or April SAT to be able to norm them digital SAT scores. Thatās why it took so long to get the scores. This is the first time in the development period that kids have the option to actually use the scores, or they can choose to delete them. I will recommend my daughter to delete them.
She came out of the test thinking it was easy. Itās shorter and also it uses AI to present questions of increasing difficulty for the student from what I understand. I wonder if this is why my D23 did not do as well. She is sometimes better at hard things than easy things. I donāt know if itās an attention thing, like harder questions force her to stop and think, rather than click through without really focusing. Or if itās just a quirky thing about her.
I kind of regret now not having her do the June SAT. I guess I could talk to her about August but she hasnāt prepped at all and isnāt in study mode.
ETA: Wrong thread but I will keep it here in case itās helpful for someone.
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S24 and I started tours a bit early and Elon was our first. While he decided Elon would be too small for him, we both absolutely loved the beautiful campus, the fabulous tour guides, and everyone we met. It really seems like a great place.
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My son had an amazing freshman year at Elon. Headed off to start sophomore year on Saturday. Our whole family loves Elon!
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Hello! I noticed you mentioned your daughter went to Humbolt. I just posted about Humbolt as my daughter is considering it. Would you mind sharing your daughterās experience?
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How are all our kids doing, now that theyāve been at their schools a while?
S22 is doing well at Christopher Newport. He has one course where the (adjunct) professor has had some roving deadlines, and several students went to the department chair to āraise awareness.ā The chair quickly stepped in and addressed problems in the course, and other professors reached out to assist the students. Personally, Iām happy that S22 spoke up for himself and worked with other students so the chair could step in. (No parents need to be involved! 
)
Based on what he has run into with this one course, I think he is likely to switch his major. He doesnāt have to decide until sophomore year and my input has pretty much centered on āitās ok ā you donāt need to know nowā and supporting him to reduce the stress and anxiety. In addition to stepping up his attendance at office hours, he has reached out to the supports on campus, and based on what heās telling me, Iām impressed by the universityās approach to helping students.
S is taking advantage of the facilities on campus, too. Heās been at the gym regularly and heās found a group of friends to hang out together both on campus and off campus. (Yes, theyāve been to the beach already. )
He continues to take part in career planning activities each week. Heās starting to put together materials to apply for summer internships.
All in all, I think he selected the right school for him, and he is taking advantage of the many resources at the school.
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So far D22 seems to really like college. At least doesnāt seem homesick at all. We took her Fall Break to go on vacation (most of her friends from high school didnāt have a fall break week) so we got to see her then, but she hasnāt wanted to come home at all.
She seems to be navigating classes okay. I donāt really hear that much about them, but I guess no news is good news. Complains about the food. Wants more money. Typical college stuff I guess.
Seems to have quite a few friends and they are doing stuff together so that is great.
Itās a very small school and I do worry about her outgrowing it, but so far it seems like a good fit. She is looking at study abroad classes too.
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My D is home this weekend for the first time since drop off! Itās hard to explain without using superlatives, but she has been doing absolutely fantastic at Cornell College (IA). I knock on wood every time I say it because it almost feels too good to be true. 20 minutes after we left her on drop off day she called us crying that she was a failure because the wifi in her room wasnāt working and how would she fix it by herself? 
We talked her down and got her back out of her room and she found people, and itās been simply soaring after that. She made friends in her orientation group, she got herself set up with regular appointments at the counseling center so she can stay on top of her anxiety, she goes off campus with her friends regularly, and volunteers in the local animal shelter. She even applied for, and got, a job as a tour guide ?!? 
My shy, socially anxious daughter, impressed the current tour guides during her interviewā¦ Itās like she found her place and is just doing what she needs to do and Iām so happy for her. Sheās completed 2 courses so far, and grades are good and sheās really liking the block plan so overall, she absolutely made the right choice in schools.
Sheās started getting a bit nervous about the coming winter, but I reminded her she has warm coats and boots and she just needs to wear them when appropriate. She gets a lot of ribbing from her midwestern friends because her definition of cold isnāt really that cold. 
I honestly think the only reason she came home this weekend is because she wanted to spend time with the cats, I donāt think sheās been that homesick otherwise. Sheās spent a lot of time with them from the moment she got home. 
Anyway, itās all good here, and I hope the same for everyone else! Itās nice to see the updates. 
And if things are not as rosy for your kid, please know that we are still here to support and things will get better. I have an older one for whom things have always been a bit rocky and she transferred to a mostly online program during COVID and oh man is that roughā¦
Hugs to everyone here!!
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