heard the same about IU’s calc being a tough class.
One thing I would add is that my older son started college in Calc 2 even though he had gotten AP credit for AB & BC. I encouraged him to do this also. It turns out that Calc 2 is one of the hardest math classes. My boys both said that calc 3 is easier than calc 2. (go figure!) My younger son only took AB in high school but if he had AP credit for Calc 2 I would have encouraged him to use it and go ahead and start with calc 3. Calc 2 even after taking BC was my older sons lowest grade his first semester.
I just read all of the replies. So I guess it has been said before but yes definitely take the calc 2 ap credit if you have it and don’t repeat it.
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Hi, So I have a question about admitted student days. Do you think they are useful if your kiddo pretty much knows where they want to go? My D23 has not 100% made up her mind but I think it is probably between a couple of schools. I worry a that she might feel a overwhelmed at an admitted student day just because she is a little on the shy side and then get anxious about the whole going away to college thing. A million years ago when I went to college I remember going to orientation and being intimidated by the Texas girls ( I am from Kansas) who seemed to all know one another and I had a little meltdown. I am not shy like d23 either.
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We plan to have our son go to admitted student day to the school he chooses. A chance to meet people, possibly click with a roommate option, and get the energy of the day. He’s introverted but wants to go. He hasn’t chosen the school yet but all options are within a reasonable drive so we have done/will do second visits where he felt he wanted to see them again before deciding.
Another question about AP scores. My D self reported her AP scores in the commonapp, should she also send the official reports from CollegeB to the individual colleges? Appreciate your inputs!
Unless the college requests official AP scores, there is no need to do this until the summer before matriculation(ie once they know where they are going). None of D21&23s total of 26+ schools require(d) official AP scores , but check the schools just in case. (Some did require or suggest official SAT score reports though).
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I checked the ED college, and yes this is true. They have mentioned this. Thanks!
We plan to go to admitted student days for whatever schools our son is deliberating by then. Depending on how he has narrowed it down, I think we’ll be able to attend any that he’s still interested in. I’m predicting it will be 1-3 schools. I’m watching for announcements and trying to keep those dates open.
We’ve visited all but 2 of his schools, so it’s possible he won’t feel the need to do a 2nd visit at some of the schools that are further away. However, those further-away visits were all done during summer, so we’ll encourage him to visit again. The closer schools we visited in the spring, so doing an admitted student visit is easy anyway.
I was also a bit overwhelmed by the one admitted student visit I did for college, but I’m really glad I did it. Our son was super hesitant to go to a summer camp at one of his prospective schools last year, and he felt a bit uncomfortable at the camp. But he’s really glad he did because it gave him a great sense for what it would be like to attend there.
He can take in factual info very well (data, program offerings, cost), but he kind of struggles to take in information that would give a “vibe”. Even our summer visits really helped with that, and once all the $$ offers come in, it may come down to vibes (aka fit). He’s already basically ruled one school out based on talking to a friend’s brother who informed him about the prevailing atmosphere. So we want to give him the chance to get as much info about fit as he can, especially since he’s paying for college himself. While he initially grumbled about college visits, he quickly got on board with this strategy after a few visits (possibly because he’s paying). But I understand that these visits don’t do much for some kids.
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We’ll take a similar approach. We visited a few colleges over the summer to give him a feel for the different types (urban campus, traditional campus, city/rural, large/very large – didn’t get to visit a small though). Once we find out where he got accepted then we’ll visit the ones that seem a good value based on final anticipated costs (unless he gets his ED school, then we’re obviously set).
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With my D19, I found the admitted students day to be really helpful at being able to make that final decision. She was down to 4 schools and I would say she was about 75% certain about where she was going . The AS day for her favorite was actually incredible, and I thought for certain it sealed the deal but in the end she choose one of the other 3.
It might also be helpful to get her over there and get comfortable with the idea going away to college. Better to be anxious now then when she gets dropped off for orientation.
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Absolutely worth it to attend admitted student day. Even though my kiddo was admitted ED and locked in, the celebratory atmosphere of admitted student day made her even more excited and certain about her choice. My kid is shy in new situations too, but she made a lot of new friends that day and kept in touch with them over the summer; it was nice to see familiar faces at new student orientation. Four years later, those people have been dormmates, teammates, and sources of strength.
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Thanks for everyone’s advice about admitted student days!
Our daughter is going to three admitted days. Hopefully, that’s all! I’m hoping she can at least cut down her top four soon.
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My D17 was really sold on her school admitted students weekend. It was well worth the visit, even though she had visited the campus before.
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Due to travel time and jetlag, the possibility of D23 doing an admitted student day is low. That said, if it comes down to the final 2 or 3 including a college she didn’t get a chance to tour, we may fly her down to do a Friday visit at some point in the early spring semester.
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Right?
Coming in here to alert that some Admitted Student Day are longer than just 1 day.
MIT CPW (Campus Preview Weekend) is 3.14 days long.
My DS2022 used CPW to eat his way through all the events, and to check out his “home” for the next year as he toured each dorm, to put down for his housing lottery.
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Then let HER decide, if she still needs input?
My daughter had NOT made up her mind between two very-good top contenders. Her heart was drawn to her childhood dream University (iconic location), but her brain told her the other University was the smarter choice.
The accepted student days were important, because she realized that her childhood dream was not “blowing her away” with how the day went, and several details were underwhelming.
On the other hand, her concerns that the other University would be admitting all cut-throat, competitive, “all-academics - no-fun” people, vanished once she hung out with fellow admitted students and realized they were equally high-achieving, but still as well-balanced, multi-faceted, and easy to make instance connections with.
So - yes, having gone to the various admitted student days allowed her to rule some out (because she had only seen them briefly before applying and most were a blur by then), and better weigh the remaining choices.
PS: Because of scheduling/travel conflicts, she wasn’t able to do the “full program” for the school she ultimately chose. She never got to do the celebratory dinner, or the sleep-over in the dorms - but arriving for the 2nd day still was enough crucial input for her.
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I also wanted to chime in here and say that while I agree with all the other posters here about many of the benefits - it’s also fine not to go! An admitted students day is a special occasion event with the activities and vibes to match - they are not a “day in the life” snapshot of what those colleges are like, and so if she’s comparing colleges based on those special days/weekends - just be aware that part of what you’re truly comparing is their special event skills, not necessarily their student life qualities.
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Yes! This happened to my husband Linked In as well. Why do they need to do that?
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Congrats on the acceptance!
I would get so nervous about a program that wasn’t direct-admit. Our state flagship is excellent for computer science, but the thought of having the pressure of making it into the major is a big strike against it, so my kids (both want CS) didn’t even apply.
Good luck!
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