We’re practically neighbors!
@MACmiracle stick around lots of parents on here that can offer some great advice, guidance or just a place to vent and help you find the best college for your daughter.
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So true.
I hope that this thread is inclusive of all types of students with various abilities or strengths. We can all at some time use support and encouragement from others. I’ve learned so much on here even if it’s just about college visits, mental health strategies, buying/packing dorm items, test prep plans, prom/graduation party ideas, driving/car use at college, planning move-in and parents weekends, etc.
My students are varied on gpa, test scores, and ECs. The older 2 found places to land and we fully expect the same for ‘23 grad.
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Welcome! Our D’s sound very similar especially with that lean towards illustration/digital. My D is taking virtual classes this summer from SCAD (Savannah) to see if that is something she really is considering or is just something she wants to enjoy. However, it is definitely something we are thinking about as we look at potential schools.
Our D finished the year strong which is good since she is heading into what I think is a tough junior year. After much soul searching, she decided to drop her club soccer team after 14 years of playing. The passion wasn’t there any more and it wasn’t something she wanted to pursue in college. She’s had to pass on other opportunities because of the practices, games, travel, etc. over the years and she finally decided enough. It was a little gut wrenching for us as parents but you can sense her relief and that’s all that matters.
We did go walk a couple of campuses over Memorial weekend in the Boston area - Tufts and Brandeis. Impressed with both but have to say that I was maybe a little bit more impressed by Brandeis once I started researching it more. Both are still on her “possible” list. We also stopped by Brown (BIIIIG stretch) and she wasn’t as impressed, so that one comes off the list (phew). We will visit Davidson and Wake Forest in July. Then we will start making other possible plans for the fall visits (now that we don’t have soccer we DO have more free weekends 
)
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I think this thread is very inclusive, regardless of what your kids stats are. We’re al here to support and cheer each other on.
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@Mom24Boys, I am so sorry for your loss. Grief is tough. I hope you are all able to take some time and grieve in a way that is healing for each of you.
@MacMiracle…I am fascinated by Rutgers-Camden. My daughter is a solid B student and very, very practical as far as her interests and her thriftiness. I don’t think she could get into Rutgers NB but have been wondering if she should look into starting at Camden or Newark. I’ve suggested a few privates that I think would be good for her and she has flatly rejected them as too expensive. I love that she is thrifty for us but in the end, I just want her to find her place. I think she would like the diversity of of Newark or Camden, also.
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There’s a hs class of 2023 3.0-3.4 GPA thread.
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That’s where I thought I might find a better fit, but everyone is so friendly and welcoming so I think I will be okay after all. Thank you to all for the warm welcome.
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I’m on both. Double dipping. 
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I think with the Rutgers app, students can apply to three colleges in the Rutgers University system. It’s so easy with self-reported grades, except entering classes in the app was a bit tedious. I don’t even think letters of recommendation were necessary. My D applied to Rutgers Newark, Rutgers Camden, and the college of arts and sciences in NB. She got her acceptance from Newark in under two weeks and it was a very nice boost for her. Rutgers Camden’s acceptance came soon after. Her grades were all over the place, not much rigor, and her SAT was 1200. I didn’t expect her to be accepted in NB, but she got waitlisted and then accepted.
The funny thing is that she was planning on Stockton originally but decided it was too far. It’s only about 20 minutes farther, and under a hour from us, but she decided she wanted to be as close to home as possible. Lol.
All lower and middle income NJ families should pay attention to what’s happening in terms of financial aid. All community colleges are now free at certain AGI levels and it looks like that is going to be expanded to include two years at all NJ public universities. Assets are not considered so it does matter what’s on the fafsa. It’s just AGI from your tax return. Eventually, there will be a sliding scale, I think, to include higher income levels, like Rutgers Camden does with Bridging the Gap. It’s not quite as generous as the Excelsior in NY but it’s pretty good.
Got S23’s ACT scores - not good at all. He didn’t prepare AT ALL and got a 24. Sigh. He’s going to have to do prep and will probably need to be in-person instruction - he isn’t disciplined enough (ADHD) to do online studies. Dreading the cost…already cutting corners due to my husband’s extended unemployment.
@JaceyK, It might be worthwhile to investigate going test optional for your son. I’ve seen several schools on our daughter’s (enormous and vague) list that have already declared they will continue to be test optional through 2023 application cycle.
Dickinson has declared a test blind policy (won’t consider scores even if sent). Test landscape could be massively changing.
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Benn away for a couple weeks or so getting ready to travel and then traveling.
First off, heavy condolences to those who have gone through losses recently. I mean, I can’t even imagine.
Second, as those of you who have been around a while know, I’m amidst traveling around the Southeast and mid-Atlantic for family reunions and college tours. We landed in the lower 48 in Nashville, so we started with a few Tennessee schools. (And for those who don’t know the background, my D23 is interested in recording tech, and requires more sun than we have at home.) Here’s the four we’ve toured so far, in the order we did them:
- Middle Tennessee State University, nearly two miles in nearly two hours with two tour guides, one of whom played lead (and who reveled in self deprecating dad jokes). Very much a red brick, modern construction campus. It was a good tour, and it impressed me more than i expected from a regional comprehensive (speaking as someone who works at a regional comprehensive, though a somewhat newer one). Physical plant is good, and there’s good use of green space. They’ve clearly put more into student life and services than most similar mostly-commuter places, and it shows in good ways. Also, it’s a more than solid choice for D23’s intended major. There was the one parent in the group who seemed absolutely freaked out by the possibility that their particular snowflake might have to share a washroom with other people when living on campus, but I’ll just say that I don’t share that concern, and leave it there. (Also: The swag bag included a t-shirt.)
- Belmont University. An utterly spectacular campus, you wouldn’t believe the landscaping, and the buildings (especially but not exclusively the interiors) are amazingly outfitted—it’s amazing what a college can do with money, innit? The tour itself was a bit under a mile in a bit under an hour, but unlike most campus visits in the wake of covid, this was a massive affair—we started with an info session, then the tour, then they split the kids into info sessions by college (the entertainment industry one for D23, the college of business for D25),then there was a presentation by campus housing, then a presentation by the honors program, and finally lunch at the dining hall. Better than four hours in total, which felt kind of crazy, but it was all quite well done. Both of the kids were impressed but neither of them thinks they really want to apply there. Both of them were concerned about the relative lack of diversity (including, particularly for D25, diversity of thought, given the religious limits on faculty and administrator hiring), and D23 especially felt like it was too much of a bubble—they played up Nashville as a big plus, and it pretty certainly is, but the campus is incredibly insulated from anything Nashville-like. And, if anything, it all felt too perfect, you know? So they were both impressed, and they both liked the place, they just didn’t feel like it was right for them.
- The University of Memphis. I didn’t hit “track” on my app, so I don’t know how long the tour was—and i’m actually curious myself about how much distance we covered, because it was a traditional info session (in the highest point on campus, the 12th story of a tower with cool views of the Memphis skyline) followed by a tour lasting just over two hours (long enough that my daughters were thoroughly and utterly drained from the heat by the end). Very much a red brick campus with cast concrete accents, but not boringly so. The physical plant as a whole was both bigger and more attractive than i expected. Good pair of tour guides who offered lots and lots of information. Of all the colleges we’re touring, this is the one that’s on paper the most like the one i work at—and really, thinking about it, it’s an example of what my university could be if it were a bit less starved of resources. On the whole, we were all quite pleasantly surprised, and hadn’t expected to be as impressed as we were. D23 is a little concerned with the degree to which it’s a commuter college, but they seem to be improving their residence life options. (D25 was concerned with how hot and humid it was. I’m afraid there isn’t anything the university can do about that one.) Also, lots of excellent use of green space in what felt like the central campus area.
- Trinity University (in San Antonio, not the similarly-named college in Connecticut). About a mile and a quarter in about an hour and a quarter around an almost aggressively red-brick campus. This was our first tour with a single tour guide rather than a pair, and the university had marked out stops with places to stand to enforce social distancing. Fortunately though, given South Texas heat, there were occasional forays into air-conditioned interiors rather than the entire thing being outside (which is what the emails with instructions for the tour had made it sound like it would be). The tour was followed by a Q&A with admissions staff, which was—kind of bizarrely—held outside. D23 and D25 were both suitably impressed by the school, with D23 particularly in love with the fact that there are campus cats who are cared for by a student club. (She is kind of annoyed, however, that they don’t have her intended major. Can’t have everything, i suppose.) D25 got to talk briefly with an economics major about the level of flexibility in that program (the TL;DR is that it could totally work for a student like her less interested in the financial side than the human behavior side). (Also: The swag bag included a t-shirt.)
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@dfbdfb Keep the reviews coming! Thanks for the input! Enjoy the tours!
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I totally drove that loop for my college tour with my mom 30 years ago! I did Rhodes, Vanderbilt and Trinity. Those 3 made it clear to me I would never survive in the south.
Interesting about Belmont. It was on my radar. My S is anti religion though. The musical theater staff really try to sell it as not religious at all. It’s coming off the list based on your comments. I am going to suggest Your recording D take a look at Wright State. I heard a talk recently that makes me think they might have what she is looking for. Assuming it is not high level academics. And they have nice dorms!
I’m getting kind of excited for our summer tour. Penn state, Shenandoah, James Madison, Montclair State, Rider, Fairleigh Dickinson and Temple in July.
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My son and I just took a tour of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. The campus was very nice and compact and I enjoyed the information session. It reminded me a lot of Loyola in Baltimore where I went to school even down to the bridge connecting the two parts of the campus. It looks like most schools have summer tours during the week and since we are both working, that might be the last one this summer. My son did get a flier from St. Mary’s College announcing some open houses this fall so hopefully, we can visit a few more schools then.
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My D23 is finally done for the year! They really keep 'em til the bitter end in NY. I am proud of her for persevering though a tough year, mental-health wise, and finishing strong enough to keep her 4.0 going.
The winter was really tough, and I’m sure several of you and your kids can relate. Her concentration and focus just took a nosedive and she was starting to slack on her personal hygiene habits - I had to nag her to brush her teeth every day and shower. She just had no motivation and everything was a slog. Our pediatrician was able to set us up with a MSW to meet with her in person weekly, and then we had several Zoom sessions with an adolescent psychiatrist after D23 asked if she could try medication because she felt like she was in such a hole.
So I am happy to report that between starting a low dose of Wellbutrin, the return of 5-day a week in school classes, and I’m sure the lengthening days, she’s pretty much back to being herself again. She’s actually attending a virtual Hackathon this weekend and working on new music (she composes & arranges so I’m following @dfbdfb 's family research into music programs with interest) and making plans with friends instead of hiding in her room.
I have promised her that she can have the balance of June completely off from any thoughts of school, but she has asked herself about starting to do at least a little SAT/ACT prep starting in July. She’s got zero testing under her belt because Covid canceled her schools offering the PSAT to 10th graders as a practice run, they only gave it to juniors this year. And then with her ongoing mental health struggles, it was hard enough to get through homework and projects, forget test prep. So we really have no baseline for her to even know what sorts of colleges to be looking for. I guess doing some practice tests and seeing how her APs come in will start to offer some clues. Meanwhile, I’m loving the campus visit reports!
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My s23 got a car. Mom taxi hours officially decreasing.
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Sending mine off to camp tonight at midnight for 2 weeks. So weird to think school is just ending for some when we are already in the countdown to back to school! I’m also so jealous when the first try at anti depressant meds work. My kid is on year Two of trying to get it right.
Hoping you convinced your kid to get a reasonable car!
I mean, I actually do think that Belmont is honest when they say they welcome all types of students, regardless of religion or anything else, and that they don’t push religion onto their students. However, they are quite limiting when it comes to the hiring of faculty, staff, and administrators—they are all required to be Christian, and that’s a particular sort of Christian, in that my Christian but nontrinitarian self doesn’t qualify.
(Other places you mentioned: Wright State is where D23’s music teacher went to college! But it doesn’t get enough sunlight for her seasonal affective disordered self. And we’ll be touring Temple ourselves next week.)
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