As we are planning S’s schedule for next year and figuring out what next time this year will look like with traveling to auditions I am thinking that COVID lockdown and virtual auditions for S21 was actually a blessing in disguise. No way we would have handled it!
Yes!!
With a Fall sport, D22 was so thankful she had much of her essays done before school started.
D24 knows she needs to do the same. We will do big trip first half of Summer and then it will be essay writing time sprinkled in with a few college visits and prepping for Fall sport.
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Suggestions for summer program, 1-3 weeks at a college/university, focused on engineering/physics/rocketry? Would love for S24 to stay in CA but willing to travel as well.
Thanks!
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My older son did Operation Catapult at Rose-Hulman and it was a very good program. They pick a partner and a project to work on, so not all kids do the same thing. Supervision is from a professor. They do have fun activities in the evenings as well.
There were a few suggestions up thread around 1290 or so. EPIC at cal poly SLO could be an option. https://epic.calpoly.edu/
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I was just reading through the ED and RD threads for schools that are likely to be the reaches on my kid’s list (he has the stats, but acceptance rates are low). I’ve been through this process before more than once, but every kid’s situation is a little different… it’s only January and I’m already annoyed with the entire thing: the strategy, the gaming. Either he will need to ED to one of the slightly less-selective (but still highly selective) schools on his list (which may, in fact, end up working out if it’s his first choice), but if his first choice is one of the reachier reaches, it’s going to be another long and stressful season. Kind of wish there was ED3 lol…
Two visits planned for President’s weekend and zero ideas about spring break. The ones we are going to in Feb are on the quarter system and will have spring break the same week as my S (it is not ideal to tour when classes aren’t in session), thus the need to do them in Feb. At least that gets them out of the way.
Anyone else planning tours? I suggest starting to think about reserving any tours for the President’s weekend Monday and for spring break, as they do sometimes fill up. Spring break info sessions are often standing-room-only at popular mid size privates. I would try to get those tours reserved at least a couple of weeks ahead, maybe even a month.
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I am glad you bring up “executive function” as my D24 has been saying something similar to this for last year or so and i never understood what it meant and that there are coaches available to help address this situation. D24 has a excellent work ethic and is smart and hard working but staying on track with several competing tasks has been a challenge in her competitive high school. Part of it is the toxic culture prevailing in the school.
Let me start looking up the coaching options in my neck of woods.
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We have three visits planned, Vanderbilt presidents weekend, yale for the tuesday of our spring break and northwestern for the monday of that week. Interestingly, Northwestern doesnt have tours open yet for April and none of the music schools have their availability yet. Hoping they dont immediately fill.
And totally agree with the annoyance with the discussions on ED. S will only ED to a school if it is his real first choice and his application is ready (he will likely have a music audition so the pieces have to be completely ready). This gaming the system stuff seems odd to me.
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Our first official college prep counseling session with the HS GC is next week and i just started checking out Naviance for the school’s past performance.
Naviance is a treasure trove of information for researching interest areas and tuition/aid. Didn’t realize why the COA costs were 15-20% lower that what is being posted on CC until i saw that the college stats/profile data was last updated in 2017 
.
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Yes, two tours scheduled over President’s Day week for likely admit schools and contemplating options for Spring Break. My D24 is considering her ED options and if she does ED at the highly rejective LAC she’s considering, then we need to go back to visit that campus when students are present (we visited last summer when it was 104 degrees and deserted), which would mean a 3 hour flight.
Seems silly to me to fly and stay overnight just to see one college but i suppose we could make a short vacation out of it. Does it make sense to do that in April or could we wait until the end of September to go, that is the question. September of senior year might be crazy busy. These are the things I’m constantly weighing.
Any other reach schools for possible RD are not worth visiting now, in my opinion. If ED1 to the reachy LAC didn’t work out, she could apply RD to all the others on her list and visit after admittance.
The other option if ED1 didn’t work could be ED2 at the school she likes very much, has visited, and where she has a very high chance of acceptance. I hesitate to call it a safety, even though almost everyone from her small private high school who has ever applied has been admitted.
These are my musings and the strategies we’ve been considering, and yes it feels like gaming the system and is quite consuming of my mental energy these days.
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If you’re considering ED, I think your idea about doing a visit while classes are in session is great. If it were me, I’d do it in April vs September.
That gives plenty of time to be sure about the ED1 choice and yes, September of senior year could be very busy. If you visit in April and she loves it, you have peace of mind. If you visit in Sept and she gets cold feet, then she might be scrambling on her application strategies.
It might feel silly, but in the larger scheme, I think a visit is well worth it.
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I am taking D24 to Portland for a weekend. Skipping school on Friday to hit a formal tour that day, and plan to walk a few colleges over the weekend. Will hit reed, lewis and clark, pacific university and OSU. The goal is just to help figure out what she wants and spark some real interest in college and motivate to start more research. If anyone has recommendations for things to hit on a Portland college tour or highlights for a teenager in the city, please send them my way 
Thanks for the tips regarding Presidents weekend. I do want to schedule a tour on that Tuesday, will pick a school now and ensure we have something booked. I have been surprised how many colleges do not offer tours on Saturday.
We have made all of the visits into weekends since we are only looking at one school in each city since the list is so specialized. Decided to find a nice hotel, go early the day before or leave late the next day. We have never been to many of these cities.
I know I keep saying this over and over but for S21 we didnt see any of the schools until after acceptance and he loves where he is.
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We will be touring Reed and Lewis and Clark in February, too. Visiting Powells Books, Voodoo Donuts, food trucks (there are a couple of fun food truck courts with outdoor seating), and maybe poking around thrift shops are what my D24 is most interested in.
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We’re going to see Georgetown, UVA & Wm & Mary later this year and hubby is taking our son for a tour of Dartmouth in a couple of weeks. We are really at the beginning stages so I don’t know if he will apply to any, all or none of these schools. He has seen UMass (where his brother is a freshman) already. We really need to identify and visit some more likely admits - he is thinking of Pitt for a safety but really, really needs more matches. It is still early so I’m trying not to stress.
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Donuts and thrift shops definitely overlap with my D24 interests. Will put those on the list, thanks.
Same here for S21. Actually didn’t even visit his final choice until dropping him off freshman year. The campus vibe/location just didn’t matter relative to the department and peer group. It really depends on the kid.
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Same for my D21. Hadn’t toured campus until we moved her in as a first year, 1200 miles from home.
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We are heading to U. Miami in February since we will be there for vacation anyway. Then for April break we are heading down to see Alabama, Auburn and Clemson.
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Thanks so much, so far the engineering topics have not been listed on the website. Anyone’s kid attend the Cal Poly SLO summer engineering program? Good/Bad/Indifferent? Since it’s only a week out of the entire summer, might be a good one to try.
For my engineering/physics focused kid (34 ACT, A- average, interested in small-mid-size schools, in or near a major city), we’ve seen Boston-area schools so far: MIT, Harvard, Tufts, BU, Northeastern and Brown.
On the agenda PA/MD schools (have a kid at Bryn Mawr so will double as a visit): Penn, Swarthmore, Haverford, JHU, maybe one more?
Down the line spring break: Cal Poly SLO, UCLA, UCSD, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Occidental, Cal Tech, others?
Later in spring/summer/fall possibly: Wash U, Case Western Reserve, Carnegie Melon, Columbia, need to add some targets to the mix as well as merit-aid schools.
We live in Nor Cal, so will also check out Stanford and Berkeley.