How was the tuba ensemble?
3 Likes
I visited TCNJ back in April 2018 with S18. He hadnât visited ANY colleges in person, and would have just picked a college based on online reviews; we insisted before he committed he needed to at least visit, but he only wanted to visit after being accepted.
Given that short window of time, we visited just 3 - Rutgers (New Brunswick), TCNJ, and Cal Poly (SLO). He initially had them ranked in that order. After visiting Rutgers, he decided it was too big - having to take a bus to get to a class seemed like too much. He LOVED TCNJ - but being from CA, the $$ differential vs Cal Poly was pretty significant.
After visiting Cal Poly, he decided that was the place for him, and it worked out well - he graduated last June.
But if it hadnât been for the $$, I think he would have gone to TCNJ, and honestly the smaller environment I think would have been great for him.
Best of luck as youâre deciding!
5 Likes
Thank you for explaining this, especially compared to the college application process.
This is, I think, an interesting question.
I think (limiting ourselves to âtraditionalâ college applicants here) that for some families that may be true. But in most, since the parents are paying the bills, that means that the parents can reasonably and properly take financially less advantageous (not just unworkable, but simply worse) options off the table.
So yeah, itâs the kidâs decision, but not solely the kidâs decisionâand in many families, maybe not even primarily the kidâs decision.
15 Likes
Thanks . She liked few things in each school and it was very hard not to attend Schreyers, because she is very respectful of our hard work to earn money but people convinced her prestige matters and UMD she has nothing to start other than being admitted so it was stressful but she chose UMD.
9 Likes
I agree thatâs why we had applied to only those colleges who said they had merit or had sliding scale based on income.,well we didnât get lucky thatâs all.
Life doesnât work out as per our best researched plans. She tasted the mixed flavor of life and I hope it makes her strong going forward.
I remember her touching words as she sat in our table mulling over all the stuff,â I donât think any one has figured it out mom!âher face looked sorrowful . It touched my heart but at least she got into some top schools. I am sure there are thousands of kids who worked harder and who were smarter but may not have gotten into good colleges.
Time to March on!
All I hope she fits in makes friends for life and learns lessons not just in comp Sci but those skills to have a balance in life.
2 Likes
They were Great!!
2 Likes
I think Honors is âadditionalâ things and Scholars an LLC.
It doesnât mean that her rigor, classwork, etc. will be any different. And sheâll be in a normal dorm, etc.
And when she applies to jobs - my son said thereâs no place to highlight things like Honors. Theyâre on the resumeâŠbut not job apps.
So by not being in Honors, she loses nothing - sheâll still have access to the same great CS education and sheâll still do well intern (after 2nd year) and job wise - assuming the market is still robust.
Congrats to your daughter on making a decision.
Best of luck.
1 Like
Congratulations to her and to you. I know this has been hard at times. I feel like sheâs going to love her school. Sheâs given it a lot of careful thought, and sheâll do great. 
Thanks! It was a tough call, I am glad she chose her school.
2 Likes
indeed. She mulled over for many days called many of her friends in all three schools and communicated and then decided. The location was the main reason.
Thanks!
1 Like
You can start interning freshman summer. It just depends on what your background is coming in, and what courses you do freshman fall. Not critical, but nice to start off freshman summer rather than taking it easy.
1 Like
Agreed but itâs not easy to get one then. Just setting expectation.
Neither of my kids and I donât know any of their friends who landed one. My kids tried though.
But 2nd year, while difficult, is doable.
After 3rd year, lots more opportunity.
My younger son is applying right now. There are a lot of opportunities for a CS major. There are tons of professors in your own university who need coding help for example, over the summer, analyzing data etc. If you are having a difficult time, reach out to the non stem profs â eg biology, medical school etc. They are hungry for help. This is just one example.
2 Likes
Agreed. Internships after freshman summer are definitely possible (but yes, they do require more effort than in later years). Aim for small shops where they need help, start the process early, and donât give up easily. Professors are a good idea too as @neela1 mentioned. You can shoot your shot at the big name firms, but thatâs going to be a lot more challenging as a freshman because they get so many outstanding students with sophomore or higher standing. Still doable though (I know one kid who got an Uber internship and another at Meta).
3 Likes
If you have special skills, you can get startup internships that are under the radar and not well advertised . By special skills I mean things that the startup cares about â eg ml/ai etc. There is always an appetite for helping regular small business â helping them get on the cloud â eg aws/azure. This is like in the old days when young enterprising kids helped small companies get on the internet by making websites etc.
Yes. And I include the startups among the âsmall shopsâ. Itâs important to tap into your network to find such opportunities. Theyâre not necessarily going to be advertised on LinkedIn or Handshake.
4 Likes
She would definitely try!
2 Likes
Yes it is possible for those very smart kids. One of her senior in HS who went to UMD had worked in one of those top companies as a high school senior and he graduated in 2 yrs and UMD didnât give that kid Honors!
So I made peace that when a college gets 60,000 applicants, its hard to please everyone and have quality control.
1 Like
Getting internships in freshman year is not difficult like getting into college. It is developing viable skills in some narrow area and knocking on many doors. It is a contained well defined problem.