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limner
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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 11:56 am |
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| EM, great news on the scholarships! And I'm also impressed at your D's thoughtfulness in declining UWisc now.
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entomom
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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 03:06 pm |
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I think there are many "best" colleges out there for every kid, they all have something great to offer if the student is willing to put out the effort. I know that my D has often gotten comments about the wide range in the size of colleges she's applied to. Most are in 5-10k, but there is one LAC and a couple of large state U's. But the LAC is in a consortium which makes it feel larger, and the state U's have honors colleges and other ways of making them "smaller". And beyond size they all have qualities that make them desirable to her.
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 08:22 pm |
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entomom wrote: Rumor on the other board was that all Shipman and LSA scholars had already been notified, so this was unexpected. She's been looking forward to visiting Ann Arbor, so she's very excited.
Just goes to show that "rumors" are best ignored. Congratulations to your daughter Entomom - I will be anxious to know what she thinks of Ann Arbor.
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binx
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Posted: Mon Feb 5th, 2007 05:44 pm |
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My D got an email on Saturday from the violin teacher at Miami, asking her to consider bumping her music major plans from AB to Performance. (Still doubling with whatever else.) He told us he felt this was doable, and that D's level of skill puts her ahead already. Said he could give her more money, which he would like to do.
We investigated the website, and she has agreed to do this. I would love to hear from anybody who might have an opinion, though, or something we haven't thought about. I thought about posting on the Miami thread, or on the music thread, so if you see anybody over there, send them here!
I have some concerns.
Right now her second major is linguistics. But she was really counting on college to "look around" and explore some things before she makes a final decision. Plus, Miami has a core curriculum requirement. There are a couple overlaps between music and core, or linguistis and core, and her APs knock out a couple (we hope.) That leaves about 50 semester hours for linguistics. About 19 hours remaining of the core. About 59 semester hours for music. For a total of about 128. 128 hours total is the minimum required for graduation, which comes out to about 16 hours per semester. (12 is minimum for full time status; more than 20 requires special permission.) Most of the courses seem to be 3 credits, so we're looking at 5 or 6 classes per semester. Plus music requirements - practice, ensemble, performances.
The linguistics major offers her some flexibility in course requirements. And the core introduces her to a few others. But there's not room for her to "play around" with languages or other subjects she might like to explore. And if she doesn't get exactly the perfect schedule every semester (especially where she is counting on covering two requirements with one course), she'll fall behind.
Linguistics and music have slightly higher hour requirements than some of the other majors, so if she decides to switch early enough, there's room, I think.
The AB in music and the Performance degree are nearly identical the first two years. (I don't really see how her skill level would help in any way. Unless she just doesn't have to practice as much, which I have mixed feelings about.) So I told her I thought it was okay to apply now for performance, and see what happens down the road. Am I missing anything? Does anybody know how difficult it is to get the classes you want at Miami? (I've heard that honors students get first crack; we don't know yet if she's been admitted to the honors program) Does anybody know the usual course load per semester? Anybody have any knowledge about the ease of doubling at Miami?
(And of course, we haven't heard from other schools yet, so we haven't begun to compare offers.)
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mominva
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Posted: Mon Feb 5th, 2007 06:18 pm |
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Binx,
Congraulations to your daughter!!
My personal parenting philosophy (as it relates to college) is don't close doors you cannot reopen. I do not know anything at all about Miami, so I cannot address the details.
It seems to me that your daughter is wise to keep open the performance option at Miami. Since the first two years are essentially the same, she would not lose anything if she were to change her mind and switch back to AB at a later date (speaking of requirements here and not how that might affect the additional $).
And of course, if she is anything like my daughter, it will be very late in April, before the check gets sent to Miami or elsewhere 
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mominva
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Posted: Mon Feb 5th, 2007 06:18 pm |
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sorry, double post
Last edited on Mon Feb 5th, 2007 06:18 pm by mominva
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Engineeringmama
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Posted: Mon Feb 5th, 2007 10:05 pm |
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Binx, I think that she could do it if she's in Honors'. I'm sure that the priority scheduling is the same as it is at Ohio State and I've heard that scheduling is not a problem at all and OSU is a much bigger school. My S has a very good friend at Miami and I'll ask him to IM her and ask if she has had any problems scheduling. She has so many AP credits that she went into Miami as a Sophomore, so if anyone has had problems scheduling, I would think that it would be her.
Not that I have a lot of knowledge but based on the kids from my S's school who got into Honors, I have to imagine that she will. But then her schooling has not been normal and hopefully Miami will see through that.
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limner
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Posted: Sun Feb 11th, 2007 04:40 pm |
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S got the invitation to the Honors Program at UMich yesterday. I was very happy to see it. I attended a large state school and know that you often have to really work to get the classes and the education you want in that ocean of students. He was not, however, at all happy to see the "optional" essay. As he has pointed out before, if you really want in somewhere, there's nothing optinoal about the essay.
I've left it alone for now. I'm pretty sure that in the slew of essays he's written, there's somthing he can use for the UMich honors essay. I think he's feeling the pinch of school and everything else these days. He was really jazzed with one of his interviews this week, though. It lasted an hour and a half and he really enjoyed talking with the alum. He came home and told us about the whole thing.
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entomom
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Posted: Mon Feb 12th, 2007 11:08 pm |
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D just called with news that she has received Rice's Trustee Distinguished Scholar (14.5k/yr) and Century scholar (8k/yr research mentorship for 2 yrs). She has also been given the go-ahead to apply for the Rice/Baylor combined BA/MD program. This process means three more essays, a semifinal cut, interviews and a final cut down to about 20 students.
Probably the one negative with Rice is the fact that architecture would not be an option as they just have a 5-year program. But the Houston art museum is close to the college, so that's a plus. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she likes it this weekend when she visits.
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limner
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Posted: Mon Feb 12th, 2007 11:19 pm |
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EM, that's great news! What does your D think about the Rice/Baylor program? Obviously, if she still wants the architecture and Portuguese at a school, she's not completely sure about what she wants to do?
I would be in a pickle if I had the choices these kids are going to have. I have a hard time deciding on which deodorant to buy.
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entomom
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Posted: Mon Feb 12th, 2007 11:28 pm |
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Limner, that's a good question. She was much more sure about medicine when she applied last year; lately, since she's had time to think less about schoolwork and more about her other interests, she's unsure. I have a feeling that she will forgo applying to the program, but she hasn't come to that conclusion herself yet.
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binx
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Posted: Mon Feb 12th, 2007 11:35 pm |
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Wow, entomom - the good news just keeps coming! I never knew a doctor with an architecture undergrad, though.... I've heard such good things about Rice - I'm sure she'll like it!
D finally heard from Miami U about honors today - semi-good news. She did not get into the University Honors program, but is instead an Oxford Scholar, which is a step down. And I admit, stings a little. She has the SAT scores for the higher level program, but they stipulate "top 5%", whereas Oxford is "top 10%." My D is neither, because of her German schooling, so I guess I should be grateful she got into Oxford. She had high SAT IIs, great first semester senior year grades, and a unique foreign experience -- wish they would consider that she got the highest "German" grades of anybody in her current HS. In hindsight, I should have expected this -- The application asked all kinds of questions that didn't fit her -- School honors (none - not done in Germany), National honors (ditto,) jobs (none - no work visa), leadership roles (ummmm -- translating for my mother?) No where did they ask how many languages have you learned recently? Or name all the capitals of the foreign Soviet Union in German..... Just didn't ask the right questions!
OS doesn't have the course requirements that UH does, so that is the bright side, since she'd be pretty busy with a double major anyway. Both require the same GPA to keep it. (Which I think is odd -- if the Oxford folks aren't as capable, shouldn't the requirements be lower?) OS comes with $1k per year, UH comes with $2k -- not a huge difference.
The letter did mention that students would still be evaluated for further awards (they mentioned some my D is not eligible for, such as national merit) which will come in March. They also said she is eligible for a $6800 out of state award, which was good news, because I didn't know that existed! And we are expecting something for music, too. AND there are still schools we haven't heard from.
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limner
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Posted: Mon Feb 12th, 2007 11:40 pm |
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| Well, not going for that program doesn't mean she can't eventually go into medicine. College can be such a rich experience with so many opportunities to learn and so many subjects to pick from. I think it's hard to have that kind of experience when you've decided on a career goal. I'm not advocating not picking a career at this stage, but I think there are many advantages to trying all 31 flavors (or however many) that are available.
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limner
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Posted: Mon Feb 12th, 2007 11:46 pm |
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| Binx, that's great news--although I understand the sting. Still, not having as many core requirements would be nice. And it sounds like there's still money to come--all around, excellent news.
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Mezzomom
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Posted: Tue Feb 13th, 2007 01:49 am |
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Binx, re: Miami and a doubling with a performance degree...has your daughter been in touch with the chair of the music department? It's so unusual for a performance major to double without being on a five-year plan that I'd want to hear more from someone higher in the food chain. It's possible that the violin professor is so enthusiastic that s/he is losing sight of the realities of the situation. I'd also be looking carefully at any policies regarding double-counting credits, e.g. core courses also counting towards major requirements. Some schools are very open to that; others (like my daughter's) limit how many courses can be double-counted.
Having said that, I certainly wouldn't turn down scholarship monies based on a major that isn't even declared until further down the road. My daughter accepted a large music scholarship, contingent upon her being a music major, and she wasn't even sure that's what she wanted! When it became clear to us that Otterbein was a real contender, we asked her if she would be willing to try a music major for one year; if it didn't appeal to her after the first year, she could drop the "major" and we would make up the lost scholarship $$$. It looked like a win-win for all of us...she could explore the realities of a music major (which we thought would be helpful given her theory-phobia), and she could accept the scholarship without any ethical ambiguity. As it turns out, she has decided to continue with her music BA (and is excelling at theory...no one is more surprised than she!), so keeping the scholarship is no problem.
One last thought after rereading your posts...does Miami have the usual (for music majors) collection of one-credit courses and/or courses that are required but can be taken for zero credit? The reason I ask is because 5-6 courses per semester doesn't seem like much for a music major; my daughter typically takes/will be taking nine courses per quarter. But maybe it's just the difference between a quarter system and a semester system...
Last edited on Tue Feb 13th, 2007 01:55 am by Mezzomom
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entomom
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Posted: Tue Feb 13th, 2007 02:08 am |
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Binx, good luck on the scholarships! Lack of course requirements is very popular in my house  . I think that's the hard part about settling down with one major or career for my D, there's just so much out there to explore. I think the one thing that appealed to her about pre-med (beyond being able to care for her ancient mom), was that she could take those classes but actually major in something else (although likely not architecture as you pointed out).
Limner, I totally agree about getting into med school later if she chooses to. The main thing that drew her to the Rice/Baylor program was the possibility of not having to take the MCAT's, and the cost is pretty reasonable. As someone who went from Asian studies, to Anthropology and finally to bugs (with a few side trips along the way), I agree about checking out all of the possibilities!
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binx
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Posted: Tue Feb 13th, 2007 02:34 am |
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I really appreciate the thoughtful responses. I'm going back and forth so much over all this that I'm getting seasick.
When the teacher formally asked D to double with linguistics and music, I spent an entire Saturday afternoon on the Miami website, plotting courses to see if it can be done. It can - just. But both music and linguistics are heavier majors than some, and there's not a lot of breathing room. Which is why I felt like she needed the honors program to give her first dibs on scheduling. (Which Oxford will do.)
But it doesn't give her any room to look around. She does not at this point have any desire to perform. (Frankly, if she did, we probably wouldn't be looking at Miami....) So dropping back to a minor (Miami actually has a performance minor, which is rather rare) or a BA after the first two years would open up a lot of room in her schedule.
My other concern is the music major has a lot of outside-the-classroom requirements - recitals, ensembles, practicing. So she would be one busy girl. If she gets a good enough money offer, the fifth year could be worth it, though. I think I may take you up on your suggestion, Mezzomom, and contact someone "higher up," and get a second opinion. (D had to send the letter to the head of the department, so I know he is aware.)
The music program does have some 1 and 2 credit courses, so I guess it would come out to more than "5 or 6" classes - I was basing it on the average 3 credit class.
My eldest, at UPenn, seldom (never?) took more than 4 classes per semester. That was considered a full load. And they were 1 credit each. He needed 32 to graduate. My middle child, at Juilliard, takes 5 classes (including orchestra; not counting private lessons) -- I have his schedule hanging on my computer desk, so I know when it's safe to call. So 5 or 6 in addition to ensembles and such seems like a lot to me.
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Engineeringmama
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Posted: Tue Feb 13th, 2007 02:35 pm |
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binx, congrats on the OS program. I'm sure that it was the class rank that was the deciding factor. It also could be that she is OOS. It's hard for a state school to determine how difficult her HS is if they don't have many applicants from there.
That being said, my S had the same experience at Ohio State. I think that OSU and MU have the same criteria and set up. He had the ACT for Honors but not class rank and we were told that he would have little to no chance of Honors. After exploring the Scholars program, he would have been very happy. He did not decide to attend OSU in the end but it was a very close second. My S was even told that he was at an advantage not to have to take Honors courses in Math. I guess that they are more theoretical and do not apply as well in engineering. So maybe Scholars is a blessing based on her career aspirations.
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patsmom
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Posted: Tue Feb 13th, 2007 11:29 pm |
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S got a very nice packet from Rice today, which included new that he had been awarded a Barbara Jordan Scholarship worth $14,500 per year for all 4 years. It only requires a 2.8 to keep it, which is really nice
We really never thought he'd even get in to Rice, so to get a scholarship, too, is almost unfathomable  !! He won't make a final decision until May but he's definitely leaning towards Houston right now!
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binx
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Posted: Tue Feb 13th, 2007 11:34 pm |
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| Great news, Patsmom. I've always liked Rice. The scholarships sure make it easier. S2 considered it for awhile, and now is considering it again possibly for grad school. Maybe someday I'll get a kid there.
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