<p>Thedad: very similar story here. As I recently mentioned on another thread, my S's application and college search were built around astronomy. However, by the end of AP Physics senior year, he decided he hated physics, and that his interest in astronomy will remain recreational. He will continue to read about astrophysics theory, and observe with his telescope, but no more physics for him! If he was filling an astronomy slot for Columbia, oh well. Looks like they got themselves another English major, instead. (LOL.)</p>
<p>Luckily, I had learned from his sister's experiences not to build the search around th major (she only wanted marine bio, hated the school she went to --chosen over other, better schools which did not have it--transfered, and ended up majoring in government.) Lesson learned--he chose the schools, then looked at the major this time. </p>
<p>He also said that he really wanted big time sports, then chose Columbia over Michigan, so go figure. He'll happily root for UM in the Rose Bowl, while his alma mater eeked out one win this year. </p>
<p>He chose Columbia mainly for the afore-discussed Core Curriculum, which he is really enjoying, along with the NYC location--which he has made much use of. So it's worked out fantastically well, despite the early change of major. He couldn't be happier.</p>
<p>we to had our share of I am not getting out of the car. Or in the case of Muhlenberg she was willing to get out but then again she was hungry. We enquired about the info. session time and she said I am not going here so I will not go. She did agree to have lunch and lunch comfirmed her resolve to not even walk in the admissions building. We then drove to Lafayette where we were not going to get out just drive around. Looked similar to Muhlenberg to the rest of us. She insists we park and enquire about a tour. It was late the rest of us were cold and tired. We do the tour and she wants to go back inside and ask some questions. In the end she did not apply but it stayed on the list for quite some time.
There was no rhyme or reason to it to the parents.</p>
<p>ReasonableDad, I may have conveyed a bit of the wrong impression. D is still dancing as much as she can but other things are being given priority. E.g., there was a performance of "Serenade" being done by the Five College Consortium. It's a demanding piece that she's already danced and knows pretty intimately...but it conflicted with Orchestra rehearsal and she stuck by her commitment. A change from ballet: any time, any place. The more key point is that if it conflicts with a highly desired class next semester, she'll let it go for the semester. Apparently a number of the girls are having scheduling problems and the instructor is looking at trying to find another time slot that works for more people.</p>
<p>But if my post helps you deal with your 11th grader exploring more broadly, great. :)
I'm a fan of using college for exploration anyway. I'm distressed at some of these 15-year-old kids who are adamant about getting into the right undergrad business program so that they can be investment bankers upon graduation.</p>
<p>Coureur: ah. Insane Diego. My apologies.</p>
<p>Mini: LOL re "be good for the rest of my life."</p>
<p>Garland: great story.</p>
<p>Carolyn: LOL re sniff test. You may be on to something.</p>
<p>Some of your posts about the not-getting-out-of-the-car thing have made me very glad that.... get this ... I never have been on a college tour with my kids. My son went overseas the summer after 11th grade, thereby eliminating any alternate plans of visiting campuses. I foisted the job of visiting southern Cal. colleges in the fall with my son onto my ex, who has family down there. The other colleges remained unvisited until spring of senior year, when I simply put kid on a plane, equipped with cell phone, with pre-arranged overnights at the various campuses. The one advantage of that is that the "car" ends up being a taxi from the airport, and refusing to get out is not an option -- especially when there are no parents around to put up with that sort of thing.</p>
<p>TheDad ~ I'm glad to hear that your D is still dancing! Sorry that I mis-understood. ReasonableMom was also surpised by my reported misunderstanding, and is now reassured. Your daughter's tale, told over many family meals, has also been grist for my 14 year old daughter, who takes it all in but says very little until she has digested it.</p>
<p>Calmom, that is how S did his visits as well. He had to go to the colleges or find alternative plans. Though knowing him, he may well have found other things to do. </p>
<p>Garland, you were ever so wise in your approach to your son's college search. I see so many parents scrambling and bending over trying to find that one or two schools that have just the right combination of what the kid wants in ECs, majors, etc. I have heard parents looking for a school that will allow a triple wierd major with some other unusual program, and they seem proud that their offspring has come up with this impossible requirement. Most kids find all kinds of new things to keep them busy.</p>
<p>RD, I have this fear that somewhere in her adult life, the D is going to encounter someone like your daughter who says, "I know all about you!" I try not to go that far out, really. But I hope it's helpful...otherwise I wouldn't do it.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, does your 14-year-old dance?</p>
<p>TheDad ~ My D has been taking ballroom off and on for a few years (S too for that matter), but with nothing like the intensity of your D. Actually Tae Kwon Do is more her style (she's a 3rd degree BB), and she is very math/science oriented, so that is also a bit different. But my D is very interested in stories of the young women on CC, and how they make their decisions where to attend and what to study. That's why she was fascinated with your follow-up report. The thread last year with your D, Sunshine, AA, etc became a household saga. It was a great wake-up call because it turned out that we knew so much less than we thought we knew (and some of what we knew was no longer ture...). My D and I both read that thread.</p>
<p>RD, fwiw my D is majoring in Math as part of a double major. So far, loving it.
If ever cornered, D will probably just blush and shake her head. I try to navigate
a fine line between having her experiences be useful on the board on one hand and protecting her privacy on the other; sometimes I even query her.</p>
<p>Sac, Coureur and Jamimom: Thanks for sharing. I thought for sure I had the only kid in the world who rejected a great school meeting all of her requirements because she didn't like the name!</p>
<p>When I was going over some Catholic colleges with the kids in an inner city school, some of the name got rude comments. I mentioned that Notre Dame, a school that strikes a chord and is known to many of those kids, means "our mother". One kid as he was leaving the room made the comment of "What kind of people are these that names a school "yo' Mamma"?</p>
<p>When doing university visits with my older daughter, younger sister refused to exit the car at one school as she had no interest in ever going there, we thought, hey 9th grade, check them all out and we won't have to repeat the journey in 3 years.</p>
<p>Now that school is the "I won't get out of the car" daughter's EA app! Who'd have thought?</p>
<p>RD: It's great to see another girl who's so in to TKD. I've been taking it for about eight years now and I'm also a 3rd degree, but a bit older than your D. I think a lot of the girls I started with got turned off as we grew older, so hopefully she'll maintain her passion. :) A lot of the parents of kids I work with (I teach TKD) are surprised to find out that I've stuck with it for such a long time and/or that I'm only applying to colleges now. I guess for the past years I've worked there they've all just assumed that I must have started in college.</p>
<p>Snapple05 ~ Congratulations on sticking with it! Most of the girls my daughter started with are also gone, including her best friend, but she really likes it and plans to continue in college (she told me this today). Where do you plan to apply? Did you do an EA application?</p>
<p>I remember when I was hunting my personal sniff test was: can I see myself among these kids? And second, do I find the typical male of the species here attractive? Shallow but true. </p>
<p>My D seems to take a similar " do I fit in?" bead on a school. But the danger is the first cluster of kids (who could be nothing like average at the school) can = rigorous scientific sampling for a tired high school kid!</p>
<p>My D's shortest campus visit ever had to have been Bennington. The drive to the College was Currier & Ives perfect (apple season & fall colors; winding country roads and clapboard churches & antique stores...) and the campus was just gorgeous. She and I leapt out of the car!</p>
<p>We went directly to the dining hall for lunch (on a Sunday), and upon entering a look of horror, as though we were in the bar scene in Star Wars, crossed her face. </p>
<p>Those students not wearing tattered pyjamas and un-brushed hair had either some version of army navy surplus or odd, artsy ensembles like prom dresses worn with wellington boots. There were a few "Pats" of indeterminate sex. Many clearly post-coital couples. Many facial pierces, technicolor hairdos-- you get the idea. I actually liked it; how comfy to wear pjs; nice counter culture vibe; it reminded me of RISD. </p>
<p>It reminded my D... never to apply there. Of course, we were hungry so we ate. There was one very straight, fashion-magazine-looking girl that my D sidled up to at the salad bar-- the girl reminded me of Marilyn Munster she was so out of phase with everyone else's style-- & of course she was an international student who had never visited the campus (though she seemed perfectly happy.)</p>
<p>I thought it looked like a fun scene but after lunch D was like a cartoon character whose feet run in place they're in such a hurry to peel out. It didn't help that we had to exit through a cloud of cigarette smoke by the door...</p>