As an immigrant who worked very hard I understand your frustration. I use the phrase - work hard as if your life depended on it. Well the truth is that does not apply to son so it doesnt resonate with him. He is happy with his Varsity sport at the expense of his grades.
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D24 got an email late in the day yesterday from the Summer Scrubs program, which she applied to earlier this year. Itâs a one week U of A college of medicine residential summer camp. Competitive admission for about 24 spots.
She was wait listed.
Sheâs upset. But I told her that given the large number of applications, this should be considered a victory. So maybe her essays were better this time than the other summer program she applied to and got rejected from.
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I think most state flagships will give credit for AP tests, although at UMass Amherst (where S22 is a freshman) you need a 4 or 5. Agree that having extra credits gives kids a lot of flexibility. S22 started with 20 credits, passed out of the Freshman writing seminar and was able to take a couple of higher level psychology classes (his major) as he placed out of intro Psych. As a result, heâll be done with all his gen eds this year and can easily double major (should he want to) - also, if he wants to study abroad that will be easier too. For kids targeting more typical schools, it is a huge bonus.
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My wife feels the same way that D24 has the potential to get straight Aâs in every marking period if she doesnât get distracted with stuff, but we are talking about 16/17 year olds who canât have adrenaline running high every single day throughout the year. They are allowed to slack off every once in a while as long as they are focused on the ultimate prize.
Thanks for remembering my handle 
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Nowadays, a lot of kids, including my son, donât have the level of motivation we wish they have for their school work.
Went to see Austin College today. Awesome place. Perfect sort of place for our kid. Some really amazing programs and opportunities at this school. DH spent a lot of time one on one with the head of financial aid and then the Dean of admissions. Their BA-to-PA program is really awesome.
The college President kicked off the morning. He talked a bit about all of the economic growth in Sherman, TX, including the $30B Texas Instruments plant expansion thatâs going to add 3500 new jobs.
Campus is VERY VERY safe. Getting access to every building requires you to badge in. I liked that.
D24 said 2 things when asked what she thought:
- âit was nice.â
- âI like the food a lot better than NMSU.â
The food WAS a lot better than NMSU. Even picky D26 liked it.
Students seemed genuinely happy. I saw lots of students smiling and greeting each other walking into the dining hall. Lots of guys giving each other bro hugs and fist bumps. Students eating together in small groups and nobody had phones outâŠactually talking with each other while eating. Students walking to/from class would smile at each other or wave.
Iâll write more later in the âmove up/move downâ thread. DH said today, âThis is the best one yet. I want D24 to go here.â This coming from the man who just a few weeks ago was asking why in the world we are even considering LACs.
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Forgot to add:
College president mentioned that theyâre starting dorm bathroom renovations this summer, will be spread over 2 school years so theyâre not all being done this summer. Some completed this summer and the rest the following summer.
College president also mentioned that this summer, theyâre doing some campus beautification stuff/landscaping upgrades.
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Nice. Is this Austin College or UT-Austin?
Austin College. Not UT-Austin.
We toured Olin School of Engineering over the weekend and thought it was an amazing school. DS really was impressed but the school is way too small for him. The dorm rooms are like hotel rooms - each with their own bathroom and mini fridge and microwave (we didnât get to see the inside of one but thatâs how our tour guide described it). The campus, though small, is lovely and students are able to take classes at both Wellesley and Babson. The student community appears to be very close-knit and happy. Very hands on learning. The rooms are not set up as regular class rooms but with couches and tables with chairs for smaller group learning. Lots of collaborative style and actual real world problem solving. Very impressive! Highly recommend if you think your student would thrive in this environment. We have plans to visit MIT and Northeastern as well.
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So we toured two schools last week. Donât have the reviews that @sbinaz does so beautifully but really was suprised at the vibe that both had and seems to really be guiding us on where S24 should look.
Brown-gorgeous campus, large but not too large, music program off campus but brand new performance building about to be finished. Students seem friendly, engaged and diverse not only racially but in opinions. Loved the open curriculum and ability to audit lots of classes before making decisions on classes for a semester. Definitely very very high on the list. (will either ED there or at Williams depending on fit with music teacher)
Wesleyan- day started off great with a trip to an amazing donut shop and quickly went downhill when we had to circle for 20 minutes to find parking. Were about 100 kids there for the tour and twice as many adults. Campus was lovely but the tour guides although knowledgeable and smart were all the same type of person and not my sonâs vibe. Left after about 10 minutes. We drove 4 hours for great donuts!
So now we know what he likes and what he doesnt. Told him that it is good to see what you donât like so you can know what you do!
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During the financial aid presentation, they said some interesting things:
- the new âsimplified FAFSAâ is throwing all colleges for a loop. Next yearâs wonât open up for apps until 12/1.
- this means that for Austin College, the financial aid award letter wonât come out as same time as the admittance letter (ie, youâre admitted, deferred, denied, etc).
- they will be able to use some âprofessional judgementâ when making fin aid awards in order account for families that have >1 kid in college. That statement just applies to Austin College though. I donât know about other schools.
- Austin College gives every family who submits a FAFSA an automatic $500 institutional grant.
Re: merit awards at Austin College:
These are given out regardless of financial need. Is up to $32,000/yr. Based on GPA but they do holistic review as well. More weight is given for AP, IB, dual enrollment. They also said that they know which HSs have a really rigorous curriculum where itâs hard to get a 4.0. And they know which HSs curve theyâre grading, where only 10% are given Aâs (it would really suck to go to that HS, I just gotta say). And they know which HSs only offer 4 AP classes vs none at all vs others that offer 16 APs. They said that this is taken into account when theyâre evaluating your kidâs app.
The Dean of admissions was familiar w/our group of HS, said the HS always sends a great overview of the curriculum and school profile info. Thereâs several HS in our network of charter schools in Austin and San Antonio now (weâre in AZ). I donât think many kids from OUR specific HS have applied to Austin College, but our counselor knows about this school and has spoken highly of it before. Now I can see why after going to the event yesterday.
Headed to Southwestern this morning.
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Knowing what you DONâT like is half the battle, in my opinion!
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We took S24 on his first round of college touring over Spring Break.
UP:
Wheaton College (MA): Good looking campus, green space, pond, felt spacious and walkable at the same time. S24 liked the core requirements as a scaffold for exploration while also appreciating the amount of flexibility within it. Really liked the fact the school is almost equidistant between Providence and Boston with easy public transportation to both. A lot of money has been put into facilities and S24 also liked that there didnât seem to be more favored facilities for the sciences over the arts (both very impressive).
Salve Regina: Gorgeous campus/location. S24 really liked the integration of community service and involvement of the campus in the larger surrounding community. Friendly students and impressive presentations about the academics and opportunities. Downside: Getting to the campus would be a bit of a pain as an OOS student.
DOWN:
UMass Amherst: Another gorgeous campus but way too big for S24. Incredible food and food choices, great academics. He didnât like the competitiveness of some of the schools and the inability to move easily between schools if one was competitive. Also was put off by school being larger than the town, and the tour group being advised by their guide, âIf you want peace and quiet, go to town - you wonât find it on campusâ. It made both the school and the town less attractive to S24.
Hampshire College: Way too small. Liked the environmental focus, and it is a beautiful campus. All freshman get singles in the dorms and dorms are pet friendly. ButâŠno majors (concentrations), no departments (4 interdisciplinary areas of exploration), no grades (written evals only). Information session very upfront about only appealing to a small group of students. Also was upfront about the pros and cons of only getting detailed written evaluations from professors (pro: great grad placements for students who hit it off with their professors, con: not so great if you donât mesh with a professor or class). Could be a good school for a highly focused, highly self motivated student who didnât want to deal with a core curriculum that would just slow down their personal goals. Did like the free t-shirt they give at Hampshire, the only school on the tour to give any âfreeâ swag out.
Clark University: Too âslightly-revitalizedâ urban for S24, reminded him of Uptown area of Chicago. Buildings pretty uniformly red brick, and S24 unimpressed with school swag design choices at the bookstore (too much red, too much cheesy 80s inspired school t-shirts/sweatshirts). He was making Shawshank jokes based on the overwhelming sameness and institutional feel of the buildings. School did seem impressive academically but with not liking the look of the school, the location and even finding the school swag off-putting, it was the biggest âmissâ of the trip.
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We have another trip planned for later this month, hopefully will find another few schools S24 likes. Will update after we return.
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We are having an issue trying to figure out if and when to do a tour of the virginia schools he is considering. UVA, U richmond and William and Mary. All within a few hours of each other and EA timeframe but I canât figure out how important it is to go until after he does his ED application. None say that they track interest and he will send a music supplement to all. It is so complicated when we leave it all to the end of the school year, I thought there would be more time in the fall!
I have been following your posts for a while now and enjoy reading your updates. Iâve often thought that based on all your descriptions, your daughter would thrive at an LAC like the ones in CTCL (Austin and others). I know she has been nervous about going farther from home and not knowing anyone, my older daughter was the same way, but I think youâll find that sheâll grow up sooo much between now and the fall of her first year in college. The wonderful thing about these smaller LACs is that they strive to create a supportive community immediately, which might be more of a challenge at a huge university.
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We did UVA, William & Mary and Georgetown on a 3 day swing (flew in from MA). It was very doable and you could easily replace Georgetown with Richmond. My son really liked UVA and Charlottesville (he liked the others as well but that was his favorite).
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I loved UVA and Charlottesville when I did this 30 years ago. I think he would love the vibe and area of all three. Richmond is really up and coming and may be a great match for him
I know nothing about Clark but that and holy cross are on another list that we have of target schools for S24. Worchester is definitely not as pretty as a lot of other college towns!
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