UVm comes to mind.
Considering about all of civilization is near water that means just about everywhere 
Ha! So true! Let me clarify by saying "Close proximity (say 10-15 minutes) to a larger body of water 
UVM is a good example!
my kids like water too, considering we are triple landlocked here!
or, theyâd take mountains.
or lakes.
or hills or forests. I get the urge for interesting geography for sure!
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Havenât been to Buffaloâs campus, but Stony Brook is suburban - on the north shore of Long Island. In terms of water, itâs much closer to the Long Island Sound side but the ocean beaches are not hard to get to either. LIRR commuter train puts NYC about an hour away.
Stony Brook is strong in STEM areas, applied mathematics, engineering, pre-med, CS, etc (yes, itâs the state school my D23 will apply to 
)
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My kid is looking for âtopographyâ as well.
Salve Regina is on my sons list.
Iâm not thinking of a lot of large publics near water. Here are some that might not fit:
Flagler in St. Augustine got some love on the 2019 thread. Smaller, private, but not $70k range, and has merit.
New College in Sarasota is tiny and a public LAC.
In Cleveland you have Case Western and Cleveland State.
Gannon (small) is in Erie PA and Presque Isle is absolutely the best state park in PA and gorgeous.
College of Charleston is close to the beach, as is University of Tampa - both medium size.
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The University of Washington has ALL of that: The Cascade range, Lake Union and Lake Washington, Puget Sound, lots of hills and forests!
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Fresh off todayâs press, an interesting survey course in contemporary architecture covering the past 70 years and in chronological order. Deliberately diverse and international in scope, only a handful of American buildings make the cut (no Eero Saarinens, no Philip Johnsons), but you can see the deployment of both mid-century modernism (aka, International Style) and Brutalism over time as the sleekness of glass and steel competed with the flexibility of poured concrete as construction materials:
The 25 Most Significant Works of Postwar Architecture - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
I dunno, after scrolling through those 25 curated photographs, what seems more strange being built in 1958, this:
Amherst College Chapin Hall Photograph by University Icons (pixels.com)
I havent done any tours with my son yet but Im not sure how much the exterior of a building is going to speak to him. I think he is more the type of kid to focus on what the inside looks like and what type of area that âugly buildingâ is in.
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A friend of my D23 told her to check her College Board account as some of the AP scores from administrations 3 & 4 were already posted (those are scheduled to be out around 8/16 I think). She checked and found she had earned a 4 on AP Lang which made her very happy, as she had struggled with that class as they moved from in-person to remote and back this past year. No score yet for Human Geography.
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Yes, and it is unfortunate that more tours donât incorporate peeks inside dorms. But, itâs hard enough recruiting kids to walk backwards while sounding well-informed without asking them to clean up their rooms too!
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Iâm going to throw one out I donât see mentioned a lot here: Texas A&M Galveston. Itâs the only âbranchâ Texas A&M that the diploma/ ring are for the main campus. Several members of my family went there, transferring between College Station / Galveston is extremely easy and many Galveston students do semesters/ double majors in College Station. The Engineering program is world class and students can take out boats, etc. But people either love or hate GalvestonâŠ
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If youâre looking for dorm views â if you search youtube, youâll often find students doing their own âdorm toursâ of their personal dorm room and floor. Not quite the same as walking through yourself, but better than nothing.
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Agreed that technology has helped so much for college kids who cant travel for tours! Back in the day we had to rely on pamphlets and flyers. 
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Took my S23 out to lunch the other day. He loosened up a bit and was wiling to talk college. He said now that junior year is starting soon, more of his friends are slowly starting to bring up post graduation plans. He still has interest in music ed but is open to other things as well. ROTC was briefly brought up (not totally out of left field). His main concern is he doesnt want to have much debt. He says study abroad greatly interests him (he has a friend who just graduated who is going to Greece her sophomore year).
Ideally he would like to consider WA or OR, which heâs never visited but he feels that being on a coast by both mountains and water is preferred (We will likely apply to 2-3 CA colleges as financial reaches). He says the only state totally out of consideration right now is IL which I respect. He says he feels he wouldnât like the Carolinas although hes never been there. He loves the ocean but is concerned about too much heat as he has midwest blood.
The other wildcard will be if he chooses to consider playing college football. This may be hard with a music major if thats the path he decides on. His high school football team does well which attracts lots of recruiters. My son is not a top performer but hes dependable and past players like him have gone to regional d2 and d3 colleges. I see him doing more outdoor activities or club sports but he isnât closing the door to playing totally yet.
Lots of time left but also wanting him to continue to be open to all the options and know what is all available.
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My husband has been trying to interest me in Galveston for post-retirement purposes. He loves Texas; Iâve spent almost no time there except for a baseball game at Arlington.
Trinity (San Anton) is on our long list; we may yet get out that way!
Did I post earlier that my D23âs (nearly) all-DE schedule has been completely finalized? Itâs the same as the draft, so I apologize if youâve heard this before, but Iâm pretty sure I didnât post it when changes were still possible. So, her schedule will be:
- Advisory (her one non-DE class): A half-credit âhow to collegeâ class taught by high school teachers, focusing mainly on pre-college things like applying to colleges, financial issues, the social transition from high school to college, and so on, intended as a companion course forâŠ
- Strategies for College Success: âŠthe universityâs âhow to collegeâ course, covering things like study skills, time management, research/library skills, using campus resources, and the like.
- History of the US I (I=up through the Civil War): Not the history course sheâdâve taken if it was up to her, but itâs the only one that fulfills the school districtâs US history requirement.
- Intermediate Algebra: The lowest math course at the university that gets actual college credit. She probably ought to be in the next course up based on mathematical knowledge, but sheâs horrific at timed math tests, and thatâs what the university uses for placement. Sheâs not bothered by it, since her non-math-focused self would rather have something she knows as her first college math course than be stressed out about it.
- First-Year Composition I: Okay, okay, it has a much fancier name, but thatâs what it actually is. She could technically have placed out of this course based on her ACT score, but given that FYC is also a âhow to collegeâ course most places and because college writing really is different from high school writing, I was strongly in favor of her taking this one.
They limit students in the program to four courses during the first semester and no electives, but if she does well she has the option to take five in the springâbut sheâs not sure about that idea yet. Sheâs hoping to take either/both music theory or/and German (her AP score places her into German 201) next semester, weâll see.
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@dfbdfb -That looks like a great schedule. I agree with you about the importance of the Comp course.
Our HS has some DE options but they mainly focus on offering Career Center-related classes (Accounting, Computers, etc). For core academic areas, the assumption is that students can take AP classes instead. Thatâs fine in some cases and for some students, but I wish DE was more widely available and accessible.
My D23 got her final schedule the other day. âFinalâ except that it could change. Or not. They like to hedge their bets on that. Sheâs taking:
Precalculus Functions Honors
Chemistry Honors
Jazz Band
A-Capella Choir
Band
Pre-engineering & CAD
20th Century American History Honors.
She would have considered APUSH for her US history requirement, but we have modified block scheduling and APUSH is a 1.5 credit class. She would have needed to take a .5 credit class in something else to fit it in and she didnât have any .5 credit options aside from study hall. And with all the music she wants to take, that doesnât seem like a good choice. So this is one example where offering only AP doesnât work.
She also really wanted to take AP English Literature. She wanted to take it last year (both AP courses are open to 10th, 11th, and 12th grade) but her freshman English teacher told her to take AP Language first (and I do think that was the right choice). However, this year D was accepted into Jazz Band, and AP Lit and Jazz Band are the same block. So, after swearing that she wasnât going to do any more AP classes online, she decided to take AP Lit online and started it a few weeks ago. So far it is going well.
And speaking of AP, she got her AP Human Geography grade today. After struggling with the timing of doing this class 100% online, cramming a lot into the last two months in order to finish before the exam, doing well on the assignments but so-so on the multiple choice exams, she declared after taking the AP exam in the final administration that she did not do well on the exam. There were a lot of tears in April and May and June, along with the decision noted above about not taking any more online AP. Turns out she got a 5 on the exam. She has a really hard time believing in herself, but hopefully this will help (also hoping she learned something about better time management).
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I havenât asked my S23 what his classes are but because everyone pretty much takes the same thing and I know what his math is I assume his schedule is. Havenât said this in a while but he goes to a school with a Project-based Curriculum. No APs/IBs.
Calculus
Physics (all juniors take it - had Biochem for 9th and 10th)
History - not sure but might be US for the 11th graders
English - all 11th graders have the same English
Health - normally 11th graders have PE and you take Health in 10th grade but since he was the only 10th grader in pre-Calc it didnât fit his schedule so he got PE last year while online
DigVid - This is his elective. He started this last year and itâs a CTE so heâll be doing it the rest of High School.
Also all kids have an ILP(Individual learning Program) which is kind of like an internship once a week for 3 hours. He can find his own or the school helps find something. Heâs looking for something coding related but will probably end up doing something DigVid related.
He completed Spanish 4 last year so heâs done with language but he was studying Korean on DuoLingo so he might try to take Korean at a local University.
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