<p>My D has a lot of choices and great options and 2 more colleges still to see, but everything is pointing to her picking one of her saftey schools. She had 2 first choice schools, one she did not get into and one she did with no money.The pros for this saftey college are location, she has always wanted to go to school in Ca and her good friend is going, it is close to her brothers school and she is starting to want to be within driving distance of home, and she has great money there. (she has good money at many other schools however)
My concerns- Her scores are 120 points above the average SAT score but she did not get into their honors program. I am worried that she will not be challenged enough, she has mainly taken AP and honors classes and has always gotten easy A's with minimal studying in non honors classes and felt unchallenged. She plans to go to a doctrate physical therapy program after college and we called NAU's PT program and were told they have had good students from here. The school in question is USD. Are my concerns unfounded? I want her to be challenged but I want her to be happy with where she goes as well. Any thoughts if I am simply being neurotic or if these should be considerations. Anyone with knowlege about USD. I want to make sure my D chooses a school for the right reasons.</p>
<p>I am sending you a PM. As you know, I know many kids who have gone to USD and been very happy there. Several of them turned down more selective schools to go there and been very challenged.</p>
<p>South Dakota or San Diego?</p>
<p>Cheers, Arizonamom is talking about University of San Diego.</p>
<p>In that case, :)-- I can add is that my Massive-Brain-Phd-in-Optical Engineering-Going-to-Be-a-Billionaire-BIL went to THAT USD on a full ride and loved it.</p>
<p>Thanks cheers, was he in the honors college? I think I would have felt better if she had gotten in there, I think she just missed it but I am reassured by all the positives I have been hearing.</p>
<p>How long have they had the Honors College? He graduated in the late 80s.</p>
<p>He certainly hung around with the other massive brains. I've seen pictures of the coke bottle glasses, lol. He's WAY cuter with contacts!</p>
<p>Marian, I wouldn't worry too much about the honors college. I think that USD is a strong school overall. It is not the same as a large public university that accepts students with test scores from 900 on up. There, yes, an honors college would be an important plus. USD is quite difficult to get into these days which says to me that their students, whether or not they're in the honors college, are going to be pretty darn smart. Certainly, the kids that our high school sends there are at the top of their class (in fact, one mom recently complained to me that her daughter would love to go to USD but our GC told her that there was no chance she'd get in without more AP and honors classes and "only" an unweighted 3.8 GPA --- and we are a "feeder" school!) The sciences are excellent at USD and you've already heard from someone in PT admissions that they LIKE students from USD.</p>
<p>cheers, lol, I can just picture those glasses. Thanks carolyn for the feedback!</p>
<p>Arizona,
Is your daughter upset about the Honors program?
Can she articulate why she feels she should have been offered a spot?
If so, she should petition the committee for reevaluation. I have seen it done at a comparable East Coast Catholic university with positive results.</p>
<p>re: honors programs - like suggested above, you could petition to see if she can be admitted. Sometimes colleges only offer Honors to entering students who receive certain scholarships. But after the freshmen year, if you have a particular gpa min (like 3.7 or something), you can ask to be invited into Honors. Guess this helps to cover the kids who might not "catch fire" until in college. </p>
<p>One caveat: I just spoke with a student the other day, who is very smart and graduating through the honors program who said he really wishes he hadn't done it. It was an AWFUL lot of work...sometimes very interesting, sometimes not...and it really consumed alot of time and effort for him. He is a business major and also participated in a co-op type of program so he alternated full-time study with three 6-mth work experiences for credit & salary. He also was very involved in campus activities - so he had a lot of demands on his time & really felt too stretched in the long run. He's still graduating with a 3.8, but felt his gpa could have been better if he hadn't done honors!
Also many times, science majors will not accept honors, because they want to focus strictly on sciences & preparation for med. school & don't want the added worry of meeting honors requirements.</p>
<p>Thanks irishbird, she decided to wait and attempt to get in after 1st semester to try and get the lay of the land. She is the type that does varsity sports, student government, volunteer work and has a work study opportunity so it will give her more time. Mominva,I think I am worried about it more then her because she will rise to whatever level she needs to.I'd just rather she rises to that higher level.</p>
<p>Arizonamom- I'll join the neurotic club with you. My D is also strongly considering her safety school where her SAT is 200 points above the average. I go back and forth as to how much I should say to influence her.</p>
<p>Arizona,
Your daughter sounds quite wise. She could be a stellar student without 'honors' and maintain involvement with other aspects which are important to her. Sometimes it is the non-academic contacts and opportunities which become pivotal in life!</p>
<p>Good reminder mominva thanks! . Mom60 I would have a hard time not giving my opinions , my D knows she can't escape that ,but she does know that I respect her decisions and she has the ultimate choice. What school is your D looking at, I know she has some great choices.</p>
<p>Arizonamom- University of Denver is the safety. I have told her my concerns but I also have told her ultimately it is her decision and in reality they are all good choices.</p>
<p>I will also join the safety thread! My D is pretty well set on Chapman University, where she received the best merit aid (apart from the state schools). We visited twice and it really seems to click with her. She will probably have better music opportunities (she will be the only organ student!) --she is not interested in majoring in music, only keeping up with it. She has not heard back from the honors program yet, but the idea of settling in and joining it later may be the way to go.<br>
Arizonamom-can you blame our daughters for wanting to be in CA?</p>
<p>arizonamom- is your D considering Puget Sound?</p>
<p>rbinaz,lol I know, my D says when in her life would she be able to afford to live in Ca. right on the water no less! mom60 no ,she liked Willamette better because the students seemed more lively and outgoing. She felt Puget Sound students were more laid back and matter of fact. Academically she liked them both. She got by far the best merit and finaid package at Willamette as well although Puget Sounds was good . You have to realize, I have a picky D, my S loved most schools he visited, Wash U, Trinity, Barretts, he just loved Pomona more! My D discounted many schools I thought were great after spending a night on campus. I worry sometimes that it can just depend on who your host is and how campatible the two of you are.</p>
<p>I understand. I also have a very picky D. In hindsight I wouldn't of had her visit so many schools before applying since she marked so many good schools off her list before she even applied.<br>
Does Puget Sound give any preference to their undergrads in admittance to their PT school?</p>