<p>Any elite LAC. My son has fabulous stats, is like a dream candidate really.</p>
<p>But he only wants to go to a conservatory. </p>
<p>I just would love to know where he <em>could</em> have gotten in, were he to pursue the LAC route. But I shove aside that overzealous mother-side. It's not about me, after all. Shucks. ;)</p>
<p>
[quote]
D would not look at any Catholic universities. Would not believe me when I told her they are Catholic in spirit, but not full of hardcore religious students. My experiences at a Catholic university could not change her mind.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Ditto my D. Also, re University of Scranton: My brother's boss is a graduate, and he speaks very highly of it at company functions. There are quite a few excellent Catholic schools out there, but D wouldn't consider them.</p>
<p>D is very stubborn and changes her mind very rarely. But I was shocked and surprised that she reconsidered Northwestern at the eleventh hour and did apply there as one of her reaches. A NW rep had come to her school for a presentation, and it turned her off somehow. For the next year I kept asking, "What about Northwestern?" because the school has a strong department in what she wants to study and it's a great size for her. One day she aquiesced. It made me feel good that she was keeping somewhat of an open mind! (And that she finally listened to me! :))</p>
<p>
[quote]
But I shove aside that overzealous mother-side. It's not about me, after all. Shucks.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This cracked me up, Allmusic! So true!</p>
<p>Kenyon. DD hated it (wanted to leave right after the intro talk). Too remote I think (couldn't even pick up a cell phone signal).</p>
<p>I actually wanted my older one to go to Amherst (being a Williams guy, of course.) She sat in on a class, met students, stayed overnight, and hated it. Way too much drinking for her, much too prep, and (she said) not a single female student said anything in a class.</p>
<p>As it turns out, the department she would have majored in (music) lost about half its faculty in the following two years, and she is a double major in Italian Studies, and Amherst sends its Italian students over to Smith (where she ended up). Go figure (sometimes the kids know more than we do.)</p>
<p>Although recruited by my alma mater (and the music department there is great), and after three visits, she ended up turning them down as well, and again it turned out to be the right decision (Romance languages are terrible, and she couldn't even have taken more than 3 classes in Italian, at most - they don't even offer it.)</p>
<p>The interesting thing is that the fact that the all-female aspect of her college played no part in her decision (other than in the much reduced party atmosphere.) She had already attended a coed school (Evergreen) for a year, and since we homeschooled, the issue of coed vs. all-women never even became part of the conversation.</p>
<p>This conversation started early at our house as S is only in 8th grade, but we were at H's alma mater, Harvard, over the summer visiting family. I casually said, "wouldn't this be a lovely place to go to school?" and he came back with, " I hate all these cars. I hate this city. I hate all these people. I hate the old buildings". There you have it. Went across the state to Amherst for a wedding where he breathed a sigh of relief..."aahhh, there's green grass here! I can breathe, but it gets cold here in the winter, right?" Right!</p>
<p>Re: Allmusic's statement--
I think it's only normal to wonder 'where else' or 'what if,' esp. if they applied ED, because... there were no other schools. Since we started thinking about colleges well over a year ago, our opinions about where S. COULD get in flip-flopped more than a few times. Alarming articles about college admissions, the demand for 'passion' shown through EC's, record numbers of applicants, etc. really put a scare into us. Looking back now, I don't think we needed to worry so much, but who knows? Anyway, it's normal to be curious!</p>
<p>2 years ago but still...Va. Tech. We thought it would be perfect for him in every way but he refused to even visit (We think the gf had a lot to do with this. Of course they broke up before the end of sr. year). He is fine where he is but sometimes wonder if he would have been "more fine" elsewhere.</p>
<p>My daughter was initially favorably disposed toward Brown (alma mater of Jeffrey Eugenides and Rick Moody), but when we visited the admissions presenter was very hippie-ish, and our tour guide was a jock and (female!) fraternity member. Perfectly nice, but very social and careerist. Brown dropped off the list. And my son wouldn't even look at it due to his sister's low opinion, even though in many respects it would be perfect for him.</p>
<p>Princeton: This was one of those "get back in the car" moments. We got out of the car just off Nassau St., Daughter looked around, and said, "Dad. I'm not going anywhere where people dress like this." I got her to go to Princeton Record Exchange, which was not cool enough to change her opinion, but she wouldn't set foot on campus.</p>
<p>University of Hawaii - for the campus tour of course! ;)</p>
<p>"At some point, you wish you could clone your kid and send them everywhere"</p>
<p>Ha ha, I think my dad wanted to clone HIMSELF. When I got into Stanford, I proudly ran to my dad to show him the big envelope (which said "Congratulations!" on the outside, because Stanford is just that cool). He said in a fake-crying voice, "I want to go! I want to go! You're not using this one, I'll take it!"</p>
<p>I can't blame him, because it's been nine years, and I'd still like to go!</p>
<p>Any of the schools that were offering Brandon travel $, etc, to visit their campuses, and some of the schools offering to waive application fees because of his NMSF status! </p>
<p>If I weren't concerned about wasting these admission offices' time, just for the heck of it I'd have liked to see how much merit aid these colleges would offer him if he were accepted.</p>
<p>At least he is applying to a couple of schools that might give National Merit Finalist $ (Vanderbilt, Florida) . . .</p>
<p>allmusic " Any elite LAC. My son has fabulous stats, is like a dream candidate really.
But he only wants to go to a conservatory. "</p>
<p>yah that's me, still dreaming of Princeton.
What's the instrument? There is always wonderful Northwestern. DD2 is auditioning for the MA program in February. Yale MA in performance is tuition-free. Not on her list.</p>
<p>Classical piano and jazz percussion. NU's jazz department is without a director at the moment (and consequently in flux), which really is a pity, because otherwise it might be on his list. </p>
<p>Isn't your D at Juilliard, OIJ?</p>
<p>Mini, we looked at Williams, and I thought it was wonderful. Son was not interested...alas. I think he would also love Wesleyan, but there is no performance major, so he won't even go and look.</p>
<p>Wouldn't look at any womens colleges ( why would I want to go to school with only half the human race?)
Wouldn't consider Whitman- Carleton- Macalester Uchicago too cold
wanted a school where white kids with dreadlocks wouldn't feel out of place
;)
( not that she has dreadlocks- or piercing other than (one hole each) her ears, or even any tattoos or interesting style or color to her hair- she just wanted the * other * kids to look different- I said- You don't want to look at Bard?)</p>
<p>"Mini, we looked at Williams, and I thought it was wonderful. Son was not interested...alas. I think he would also love Wesleyan, but there is no performance major, so he won't even go and look."</p>
<p>Wesleyan's music department used to be great - a national leader in ethnomusicology and jazz performance, but budget cuts some years ago have taken a toll. What did he think of Bard? In terms of faculty, they probably now have the best undergraduate LAC conservatory in the country (and I'm including Oberlin), and the piano faculty is extraordinary! (I think last time I looked they even had Richard Goode and Peter Serkin! <a href="http://www.bard.edu/conservatory/%5B/url%5D">http://www.bard.edu/conservatory/</a>)</p>
<p>Peter Serkin would be amazing, but no Bard because they offer no Jazz (not even any percussion, if I remember correctly)....</p>
<p>Another vote for Carleton. My S is only a junior in HS, and he's already informed me that he won't be applying, even though it seems to me to be perfect for him. What is it about Carleton?</p>
<p>LurkNess, as the mother of a Tufts junior, I have to chuckle aloud at the notion that the school is too preppy. In fact, as someone who attended a southern school that is the epitome of preppy, Tufts is anything but. The girls barely pull back their hair in a scrunchy and I've yet to spot any mascara (as opposed to my former classmates who wore add-a-pearl necklaces and sorority lavaliers.)</p>
<p>I don't have a wish list. They applied to a small number of schools that were within their reach. The older one still thinks his a great fit. He was biting at the bit to get back.</p>
<p>The younger one did ask me if his new school would throw him out for being a 'misfit on campus'. I have no idea what he is talking about. He has BMOC written across his forehead in neon.</p>
<p>I do wish my kids could have applied to:</p>
<p>One more Gtown in Washington or
A GWU with Harvard's endowment.
One University of Michigan in Little Italy in New York
One Haveford or Swarthmore embedded within USC and UMiami and Tulane
A football team and a WUSTL campus at NYU, BU and GWU
Residential Hall systems at all universities</p>
<p>HeliMom:
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I wanted my daughter to apply to Smith. Then my son reminded me that he's an only child...
[/quote]
Hilarious and I can relate... :D</p>
<hr>
<p>I agree with above comments on U Scranton. It's a great school that never seems to be on anybody's radar, but it should be!</p>
<hr>
<p>And I can relate to JHS's "get back in the car" moment. We had a similar one at Boston College with son #1...It was really annoying.</p>