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ellenrch
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| Joined: | Fri Aug 24th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 73 |
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Posted: Fri Aug 24th, 2007 07:22 pm |
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I'm the mother of a senior at an urban public high school in the Northeast. He's interested in journalism/photojournalism and has narrowed his list to six schools (or seven, or eight, depending on the day of the week!) with good undergrad journalism programs. He's working on applications now because some of them have rolling admissions.
Challenges/topics I'm interested in:
* surviving the college admissions process when you live in a hypercompetitive, overanxious, prestige-hungry environment and are trying hard not to be any of those things
* helping your kid balance all the aspects of the final choice, especially whether to put the major first or the overall academics first
* (the one I'm chuckling about) whether to tell my son I think it's okay for him to apply to Berkeley because even though he doesn't have a 4.0 and they don't have undergrad journalism exactly, oh, what the heck, he's always wanted to go there, and you never know--he might win the lottery!
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CarolynLawrence
Administrator
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 3191 |
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Posted: Fri Aug 24th, 2007 07:26 pm |
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Hi Ellen and welcome. I had a chuckle myself reading about your son's list expanding and contracting on a daily basis -- we must have the same son, because that's what my son is doing too.
Regarding your Berkeley question, I personally think that sometimes it's good to have a few schools in the mix that are chosen merely because they're a great fit, not just because they have a potential major. Majors often change, but great fits are hard to find!
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ellenrch
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| Joined: | Fri Aug 24th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 73 |
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Posted: Fri Aug 24th, 2007 07:48 pm |
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Right--but even though Berkeley is a fit in many ways, it sure is a reach in terms of GPA for out of state (he has about a 3.7 unweighted). Seems like kids who go from here are the valedictorians. But as I said: what the heck! He's had Berkeley t-shirts since 7th grade (we visit friends in the Bay Area). All his other schools are matches, except UNC-CH because we are out of state.
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CarolynLawrence
Administrator
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 3191 |
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Posted: Fri Aug 24th, 2007 08:42 pm |
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| As long as he has a solid list of safe bets and match schools, a few reaches thrown in won't hurt. But, yes, a 3.7 unweighted out of state will be tough going for Berkeley unless he has stellar test scores. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained... Last edited on Fri Aug 24th, 2007 08:42 pm by CarolynLawrence
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DesperateDad
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| Joined: | Tue Mar 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 829 |
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Posted: Sat Aug 25th, 2007 12:14 am |
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welcome ellen!
Just another comment about the UCs: they are mighty expensive for out of state kids, and finaid is poor, so if that is a consideration....
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Alumother
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| Joined: | Fri Mar 24th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 201 |
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Posted: Sat Aug 25th, 2007 12:21 am |
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Welcome. I've got a senior son (as of Monday) too. Too bad there isn't an open market on in-state rights. We are in CA and S doesn't want to go to Cal...but he is looking at UCLA, UCSD, and UCSB.
You will discover the term duct tape here. That's how we keep our fretting and natural competitiveness away from our kiddies and confined to these premises .
As I said, welcome.
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Canadian
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Posted: Sat Aug 25th, 2007 12:48 am |
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| Just adding anther welcome......I'm sure you will find a lot of info and support here!
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scoop
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| Joined: | Wed Oct 4th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 546 |
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Posted: Sat Aug 25th, 2007 01:29 am |
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| welcome!
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hummingbird
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Posted: Sat Aug 25th, 2007 01:43 am |
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Hello ellenrch! Good to see you here! Yep, this is going to be an interesting journey, to be sure.
(I replied to your pm.)
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Chedva
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| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 553 |
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Posted: Sat Aug 25th, 2007 12:20 pm |
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Hi, ellenrch! I just survived the process in a similar Northeast environment, so I'll be happy to add my two cents as appropriate. Fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy ride!
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