My son has 3 books to read for AP Lit plus two papers to write (one must be his college essay) and another book for AP Psychology (plus a couple of essays for that as well). It’s a lot, unfortunately, and adds to the stress. He did finish one book and has started on the second so that is a plus, but still.
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We were told that many universities want three years of a foreign language. UT doesn’t require it if you take computer science but check if other targets do. Senior grades won’t matter unless she’s deferred and the school asks for fall grades.
Does your D22 have activities that show interest in pre-med already? Perhaps those would be sufficient and she can still do Spanish. If not, maybe the Medical Microbiology class would be beneficial in “showing interest” in pre-med.
What does the college’s website state regarding their recommendation on years for foreign language? I’m surprised by that advice— usually they like to see 3 or 4 years.
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While it’s somewhat prevalent at elite schools, I doubt 3-4 years of a foreign language is required/recommended at anything approaching a majority of US post-secondary institutions
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We have just finished the first of two college trips. We will be heading back out to A&M in two weeks. My S22 finished an Engineering Expo at Auburn and we visited Iowa State (because they are close, you know). Auburn was nice. We’ve been there and done that. S22 has decided he wants to do computer engineering and for the second time Auburn flubbed the computer engineering presentation. So…the takeaway was that he won’t be going there. Wife and I did the tour. We are from Memphis. We are used to hot. Auburn is hot and humid. We found a wonderful coffee house, though. Try the Coffee Cat if you go.
Iowa State is, in a way, like Walt Disney World. What I mean is that it doesn’t look like much until you get past the berm. From the street, you are like, that’s it? Then you get on campus. Oh my. Absolutely gorgeous campus. Awesome staff. Friendly people. Organized. Had a one on one with the head of honors. Probably the second best tour I’ve ever been on (nothing beats the Bama tour I had). Just absolutely amazed. S22 who never commits to anything loved it. He was active and engaged. It moved right behind his reach school (which is awesome as he is already admitted to Iowa State).
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Thanks for these two reviews, and I’m looking forward to your others. My S22 also wants to do computer engineering but only got a 1300 on the SAT in June. He wants Purdue but by all accounts it will be out of reach.
My S22 thought about Texas but decided not to. He is applying to A&M, Purdue, and the University of Washington. EtAM scares the hell out of us, though he likely would get into A&M (and may be NMSF). Purdue and Washington are unknowns regarding admissions. More likely at Purdue than Washington. Otherwise we are looking at Bama and Arizona State. We thought about Ohio State, but after Iowa State, S22 couldn’t see himself going there.
A few last things about Iowa State. They have done an excellent job renovating spaces. During the engineering tour, we were to meet at Marston Hall. It was built in the 1920’s. It looked well preserved from the outside. You step inside and aside from historical details, they did a studs out referb of the whole building. It is gorgeous across from the new innovation center. Some serious money was spent updating things.
A lot of schools pay lip service to academic support: “hey, we have a writing lab!” The discussion and information about academic assistance was refreshing. Further, sports wasn’t pushed. Yeah, you can see Jack Trice. They just didn’t mention it. That was nice (looking at you Georgia).
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We had much the same reaction three weeks ago. We included it in our itinerary because we saw the entire global ISU alumni population come to San Antonio to support the Cyclones in an Alamo Bowl game a few years ago. I was intrigued. S22 had no expectations and was blown away during our campus visit.
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Just returned from an overnight stay in Newport News VA, as S22 toured and interviewed with Christopher Newport University.
The admissions folks have the health guidelines done quite well, and the smaller group tour size was managed well – 10 am tour visits the campus for 45 minutes, then joins the socially distanced 11 am tour group for the indoor portion of the presentation, then the 11 am group tours the campus for 45 minutes.
The last time we visited was in 2018 when touring with D19. S22 says he remembers the campus, but based on his reactions today, I think he missed some details. 
He was quite pleased with the beautiful campus and knows he can manage a 5,000 student school (it is about the same # of students as his high school).
He said the interview went really well, and he just had a really enjoyable time. (And the rain held off!)
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With S22 having decided on communications/PR, he has also stepped up his decision-making on potential colleges. He ordered the latest Fiske from Amazon and between that and Naviance, he has a new list: NYU, American, George Washington, Fordham, Pepperdine, USC, U of San Diego, U of San Francisco. I like what he’s come up with. I need to do some research on some of the schools myself, but from what I know of his stats, there should be some matches and safeties among those names. NYU is on the reachier end, but he’ll have a shot.
In other news, S22 and a friend have started a landscaping business. They already have enough customers that it looks like I’ve lost my main golfing partner. 
It’s the same friend who started the architecture club with him and is also doing the Boston Architectural College summer academy, which they agree isn’t really working because of the remote setup. All in all, a good, productive summer so far.
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When you say USC do you mean USCal? My older D graduated from there and is currently getting her masters in digital social media at USC-Marshall School of Business. USC is great for PR and communications. I also love Fordham-Rose Hill campus, just haven’t convinced a kid to go there yet!
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We looked at University of San Diego (I assume you don’t mean UCSD) while we were in SoCal earlier this summer - it was one of the few schools offering in-person tours. One of the most beautiful campuses I’ve ever seen - it even smelled good with all the plants and flowers in full bloom. Their main cafeteria was beautiful and the tour guide raved about the food (many choices, good quality). They offer some decent merit for strong students if that is of interest.
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Thanks, yes, University of San Diego, not the UC. Nice report on the campus! And that’s good to know on merit. Will look into it further.
And yes, @vistajay, Southern Cal, the University of Spoiled Children. I’m sure not true of either of ours. Glad to hear it is indeed good in comms. We also have a couple of connections to Fordham: My wife got her MBA there, and I went to high school with one of the deans. We’ll be living in New York by the time S22 goes to college, so it would be nice to have him close by.
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Are u instead or out of state? Did they talk about that at all in the info session? I think it would be a great match school for my S22 but I feel like I read somewhere that it is mostly in-state students(like 85-90% ?).
We are in-state and we toured the campus with a student from SC.
I have heard that CNU is seeking more out-of-state students. Your student might benefit from this. 
There’s a podcast called Your College Bound Kid, and they did a college spotlight on CNU. It’s about 20-25 minutes long and I think it’s worth a listen.
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AP scores for the Administration 1 and 2 are out. D22 did well on her three APs. Wishing all the kids high scores!
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We are still waiting on AP scores release. Hopefully soon. We should have 2 AP scores released today.
While we are waiting, did anyone tried to use admission chances calculator (collegevine)? How accurate you think it is? It gives my D22 pretty generous admission chances and I am trying to see if I should get excited about it
We found college vine overly optimistic.
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Yay, D22 got her scores, too. Good luck to all.
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