<p>@SevenDad – what were your thoughts on the larger u vs. LACs? My D still hasn’t come to a conclusion as to which she prefers, so I’m guessing she will be applying to both. </p>
<p>So far my D2 has determined that, even though she wants to major in math or physics, she wants a school with a liberal arts focus rather than an engineering/tech school. She wants to be able to take courses in a wide variety of subjects. Jury still out on university vs LAC, which seems to come down to the individual schools. </p>
<p>Although I strongly encouraged LACs, and we visited several beauties, D wants nothing to do with a school the size of her boarding school (about 1100). Says it feels like more of the same. Wants a larger research university. Has a very strong preference. </p>
<p>We live near Case if any questions I can answer. Cleveland has a great food scene! The Case students seem very happy, but last winter the weather was brutal. </p>
<p>@Charger78: The distinction between various tiers (with regard to size) of “large” universities is definitely a real one. 7D1 remarked that what the tour guide was trying to characterize as “not too big” was bigger than every school we’d previously visited save one. I had to explain to her that the Penn States of the world had more than twice the undergrads as the school we were visiting…so indeed, it was a “small large school”.</p>
<p>As for her preferences for size, I don’t know if she has one yet. She seems to find something appealing about every school we’ve visited so far (7).</p>
<p>@MamaBear16: After talking to some parents at SAS over Arts Weekend, I am going to try to refrain from expressing any preference to my daughter from this point forward. A mom of a fellow junior suggested that approach, and I think it’s pretty wise if you can do it. For me, it will be hard, but I do see the merits!</p>
<p>@2prepMom: When we drove through the campus of one of the smaller selective East Coast LACs a while back, I said to my wife, “I bet if you went to a school like Andover, this would seem small in comparison.”</p>
<p>@SevenDad – I’m doing the same thing – not expressing a preference of one over another (although honestly I don’t think I really have one at this point). I see merits in both large universities and small colleges, enough that I think it really just comes down to personal preference. And my D seems to like pretty much every place we visit, large or small.</p>
<p>Was surprised to discover the concept of “honors college” within the public universities w mega-sized student bodies. Does anyone know anything about the dynamics of these colleges-within-a-college? Do they facilitate a small, selective university experience, or is it marketing hype?</p>
<p>@mamabear: I wish I had managed to keep my mouth shut for the first few tours!</p>
<p>@GMT: That’s a great question. I think it depends on the school…the one we were just at definitely seems to give the honors kids a lot of perks. Again, this is just the tour-level view. Who knows what the day to day reality is…</p>
<p>@GMT: I’ll give you one example of a hidden-gem honors college that walks the talk.</p>
<p>The Barrett Honors college within ASU is truly a residential college, school-within-a-school, with its own nine-acre campus featuring private honors housing and dining. It features small class sizes and direct access to the brain trust of the larger university. The current dean comes from 28 years at Swarthmore and during his 11 years at Barrett has attempted, in his words, “to drop Swarthmore down into midst of the larger U.” Working with the architects of the new campus, he instituted the “house” system he enjoyed as an undergrad at Harvard and many campus features, like the amphitheatre, that he loved at Swarthmore. The refectory is modeled after a similar room at Oxford; the students refer to it as the “Harry Potter Room.” The campus is modern, high-tech, and also boasts several awards for best food (wood-fired brick oven pizza, vegetarian and vegan options that change daily, sushi, and other made-to-order foods).</p>
<p>Though ASU is the largest public university in the nation and probably no BS student’s top choice, Barrett is in a class of its own. It is among the top producers of U.S. Fulbright scholarships. Last year, Barrett students submitted 58 Fulbright applications for 23 awards, an astounding success rate, higher than Harvard, Brown, and Yale for that year. Internship and research opportunities are impressive as well. Students matriculate to the best grad schools.</p>
<p>I’ve had the opportunity to meet and spend time with the dean, and I can say that he is focused on bringing an ivy-like experience to this honors college. I really like how he describes admissions to the program. Though the school is certainly looking for top students, it is really interested in those “quirky” bright students , the ones whose scores may not be what sets them apart. He says they are looking for evidence of intellectual rigor, and they often find it in students whose stats may be lopsided or overshadowed by something brighter in their application. For this reason, he says, Barrett’s profile of incoming students may not appear quite as impressive as the schools he considers Barrett’s peers, but the evidence of their good admissions choices is seen at the other end, in the number of national scholarships and matriculation to the best graduate programs.</p>
<p>This article from publicuniversityhonors.com does a good job of describing Barrett:</p>
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<p>If you are looking for an honors college, Barrett is definitely worth considering.</p>
<p>@ChoatieMom, Barrett has been on my radar for awhile now. Given the discrepancy between the larger student population and the Barrett kids, I wonder whether there is a great divide between the two. Do you have any sense whether there is a feeling of resentment from the regular ASU student body toward the Barrett kids? </p>
<p>@ChoatieMom, you had me at sushi. 
I’m going to go check it out. </p>
<p>3girls: I do not have any feel for how students in the larger U view the Barrett students, but I do know that, locally, it it is considered a top choice and tough to get into as opposed to the basically take-all-instate-comers policy of the larger U. The University of Arizona ranks better than ASU, but the U of A honors program can’t touch Barrett.</p>
<p>With Barrett’s private nine-acre campus, I don’t think the Barrett students care how they are viewed by those outside their walls. They have everything they need, including the perennial sunshine, in their own private space and not much need to leave. Even first-class dining and classes are confined to their campus. On the other hand, Barrett students are able to form honors contracts with almost any class/department of the larger U if they want to venture outside the breadth of the Barrett curriculum, and they can eat in any of the ASU dining halls, though only Barrett students can eat in the Barrett dining hall (maybe some resentment there). I have been very impressed with what I’ve seen and heard. I don’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for an honors college of any type or any tier.</p>
<p>Anyone know how it works if you want to take 3 SAT IIs but have only signed up for 2? (Apparently this is possible, btw.) Do they just bill your Credit Card or do they take cash at the testing center.</p>
<p>They will bill your credit card. Best of luck to your daughter!</p>
<p>Tx. It didn’t say on the SAT site. This week in doing some review, she “called an audible” (football reference) and said she thinks she can do three.</p>
<p>Since each is an hour long and they take breaks, I should figure on about 3:30 total time (for pick up timing), right?</p>
<p>FYI, she seems to be favoring larger schools at the moment…</p>
<p>They sent me a bill in the mail the last time a kid took an extra test. The main thing is the registration for the seat at the testing center. </p>
<p>I figure at the end a kid should have a range of sizes on the “apply to” list. A child who likes large is easier than a child who likes small, because there are usually a number of in-state, large universities available for strong students. </p>
<p>We were told it’s not problem to add a test unless it’s a foreign language one with a listening component. </p>
<p>Advice from a friend was to apply to a range of schools (re size). Her D was positive she wanted a small LAC in the fall. By March all was wanted was big. Her Mom said she was so glad she forced her to apply to the UCs just in case since then she had some “big” options. </p>
<p>CK is taking three SAT IIs tomorrow morning and will fly home Sunday. I’m beside myself counting down the hours, walking in and out of his (for now) spotless room and telling the cat to get ready for some loving torture because “his boy” is coming home! Oh, I just can’t wait! They’re seniors now. Where did the time go?</p>
<p>I picked D2 up from school yesterday! Officially a senior, now! (she took SAT2 Sophomore year and is done!). She slept until 4:30 today. :)</p>
<p>Just got back from yet another round of college tours. Really liked most of them but crossed one LAC off that had previously been up high on the list - just felt <code>wrong</code>. But now DS is really getting stressed out about admission and wants to apply to one ED. Is it really such a boost for acceptance over EA? He has a great GPA and all sorts of great ECs but has just done so-so on SAT so far. I would much rather he wait and see if he might get some merit aid offers (but may not get any even if we wait.) Or wait to see if he can get into UC Berkeley where we`d get in-state tuition. On the other hand, I would love to see him get into his top choice. Such a hard decision.</p>
<p>It’s been proven that, if you are an ORM, applying ED is helpful - they fill their spots early and then have to scramble to fill URM spots. And certainly you won’t get denied because of something like Tufts Syndrome, but besides those I don’t think it’s anything that adds a real boost.</p>