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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Mon Jul 17th, 2006 11:00 pm |
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Entomom started a thread for this year's seniors ("Class of 2011 - H.S. Class of 2007) so I thought I'd start one for this year's juniors. My son is one. 
Preferred geographic location for college: Like his sister, at this point any where but California. However, he is not as opposed as she was to possibly using the UC's as a back up plan.
Specific things looking for in a college: He's leaning towards LACs, but is open to smaller universities as well. One key requirement is that the school's curriculum be very flexible, although that may change. He loves class discussions and was horrified when I told him that some schools have lecture halls built for 500. He wants the student body to be "CTY-ish" by which he means (I think) mentally stimulating and interesting and into quirky sorts of fun. He is very social, but also intellectually curious.
Possible academic interests: Ha! What isn't he interested in? So far, he has mentioned: physics, philosophy, classics, creative writing, linguistics, architecture and engineering as possibilities. I predict he will drive college advisors insane.
Schools visited: Haven't started college visits with him yet, but we'll likely start with a visit to Reed, Whitman, UPS and Lewis & Clark sometime this fall. He's also expressed an interest in: Grinnell, U of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Brown, Denison, Beloit, Earlham, Carleton, Wesleyan and Oberlin but that interest is mainly based on the mailings he's received and the schools his sister looked at so I expect much to change as he actually starts visiting schools.
Stats: Based on sophomore year PSATs, likely to have excellent SAT scores, especially in math. Grades are decent, but not stellar Ivy-league quality. Most rigorous curriculum possible at our high school. All honors and AP classes junior and senior year (with the exception of required religion classes).
EC's: Two years of varsity football then switched to Theater crew last year which he adores, plays drums and bass guitar (has his own garage band), member of many clubs - as long as there are cute girls and good conversation he's there - Translates ancient Greek and Latin poetry for fun, writes his own as well, collects and sells antique books.
Last edited on Mon Jul 17th, 2006 11:25 pm by CarolynLawrence
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jocelynDAD
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Posted: Tue Jul 18th, 2006 02:44 am |
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Ok, D3 is now a 'rising' Junior and gently starting to look at colleges with tours and info sessions. She is forming her ideas of what 'style' college location/size/etc would be her best fit.
D3 is decidedly undecided. Intends to use the first year or so of college to locate her primary interests. Personally, it is my feeling that she will one day be in Law School, but time will take care of that.
This summer will be looking at LAC's in Pa, Ct, Mass, Md, and into the D2 to St Olaf and have planned visits to colleges at each stop on the trip. Sort of three birds with one stone.
D3 has not taken any SAT/ACT tests as yet. Will take both in late spring 2007. Will start visiting schools for overnights in spring and fall 2007.
D3 is the youngest of our 7, with five siblings already graduated and one entering college, D3 has heard plenty about college including visiting Princeton (her Mother's Campus) since she was 2 years old for xmas parties, numerous lunches and other affairs.
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orchestramom
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Posted: Tue Jul 18th, 2006 11:47 am |
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Fiddlekid's in this group too! We are just beginning the college visit process this summer, trying to take advantage of our various travels to fit them in naturally, and will plan more formal visit trips this fall and next spring. We had an informative and enjoyable tour/info session at Columbia University (NYC) last week, which prompted a good conversation on the train ride home.
I think it is likely that she'll develop two college lists for applications: one that is liberal arts/humanities-focused (with strong music opportunities) and another that is music performance-focused (and will probably require auditions). There are clearly good schools that overlap both categories, so we'll be giving those special attention/research.
Besides music (every style from classical to indie rock and everything in between LOL!) her interests are pretty far-ranging: languages (esp French), Shakespeare, creative writing, photography, journalism, history (she had two terrific and inspiring history teachers freshman and sophomore years). Next month we will tour McGill in Montreal (fabulous music school), and probably stop by Middlebury (amazing languages) on the drive home through Vermont.
Geographically she seems to be leaning to East Coast, maybe certain areas of the midwest, urban or suburban. Size "not too small" (definition will evolve over the next year or so, I'm sure).
I'm looking forward to sharing this adventure with everyone here on AA!
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Tue Jul 18th, 2006 02:48 pm |
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orchestramom wrote: I think it is likely that she'll develop two college lists for applications: one that is liberal arts/humanities-focused (with strong music opportunities) and another that is music performance-focused (and will probably require auditions). There are clearly good schools that overlap both categories, so we'll be giving those special attention/research.
That sounds like a good plan to me! That way she will undoubtably have lots of options to pick from instead of focusing in solely on one or the other.
JocelynDad, I can't believe that you are about to start with D3. Is she your last?
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jocelynDAD
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Posted: Tue Jul 18th, 2006 04:48 pm |
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Carolyn: D3 is our youngest, I will be passing the baton to S2 whose oldest boy is starting HS this fall.
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Alumother
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Posted: Wed Jul 19th, 2006 06:37 pm |
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Yay! I LOVE to talk about my children .
I have also got a rising junior son. His big sister will be a sophomore at Princeton next year - which BTW she is absolutely loving. (jocelyn's dad, your wife teaches there?)
Here's S. Grades so far: freshman year all As, all honors possible, JV soccer, band; sophomore year: all As except A- in APUS History both semesters, A- in Honors Chemistry second semester. Cause for much parental tsk-tsking. Video games, March Madness, and downloading 70's pop/soul/funk were to blame...However, did get highest score in school on AMC-10. Still not good enough to qualify for next level. Must explain that S only did the problems that didn't look boring....Still played JV soccer (coach made him co-captain), still played in the band. This year? Banning video games for the first part of this year until we see that he has fully engaged. Courses will be Latin 3 Honors, Pre-Calc Honors, AP Physics, World Civilization Honors, English Honors, Religion (Catholic school, it's required), and Spanish 1 to replace band which he is quitting as he and ALL his friends hate hate hate the new teacher .
PSAT was 70 math, 71 writing, 64 CR. Study for it? Well, he did do the practice test.
I should also mention the type of boy he is. He is neither the big buff water polo player nor the happy-to-be-a-geek guy. He's 5'10", but only weighs something like 120lb. Eek. He's handsome ( I promise it's not just me), but still wears braces on his teeth and has pretty dreadful skin and a bad haircut most of the thing at his insistance. He is good with girls, always their friend, but hasn't yet had a girlfriend. Apparently the girls who like him tend to be the smart quirky girls and he wants a cute nice one. One can only hope he will learn over time....He is also funny. Even his teachers comment on his dry sense of humor. Think of the subversive, attractive, quiet, very very smart and slightly under-achieving guy who plays pretty good but not great soccer (i.e. club team but class 3, plays center mid), and who is very sweet to his mother but hoards his words like gold. That's S.
Anyway. College. He likes biology. But, he might also want to write for TV shows. So another one with diverse interests. Where? Anywhere but Swarthmore since he thinks it is too serious. His criteria for anyone he likes is whether or not they are funny.
I have no idea where would be good for him. Looks like he won't be wowing anyone with ECs. And, although he's bright, he's not the I-got-800s on my 10th grade PSATs either. My current strategy is just to set the expectations that he gets the grades he is capable of, that he does study for the SAT and try to do as well as possible as I believe there is some potential there for very high scores, and then find a diverse set of colleges to apply to. I think as long as somehow he can find the group of kids he likes and a topic he wants to study, and as long as the place has top students and faculty somewhere, he will be OK. That argues for UCLA etc. On the other hand, I can also imagine that an LAC would be perfect - if he found the right fit.
Will be taking a very odd college trip this fall - planning on Carleton and Rice - to look at geographic and size options. UCLA he can see any time. And then we will see. The only things he has ever said for sure are: No Swarthmore, no Minnesota (I am ignoring that for now) and UCLA for a combination of astrophysics and film would be a possiblity.
Sorry for the length of this, but no one else wants to hear me obsess. Any thoughts more than welcome.
Last edited on Wed Jul 19th, 2006 06:39 pm by Alumother
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DesperateDad
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Posted: Wed Jul 19th, 2006 08:58 pm |
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alumother:
With a 205 psat sophomore year, your S is in stiking distance of NMSF. If so, schools like USC would offer a nice tuition discount; their film school ain't bad either. You might try a (video grame?) bribe to get some sat prep going this summer so he can take the psat 'for real' in October. If he does decide to prep now, also consider taking the fall Reasoning test -- good scores, and its on to Subject Tests.
btw: assuming you are a Calif resident, the NMSF cutoff is ~217, so he'd only need a few more bubbles; the math curve is brutal -- one missed bubble is ~30 points.
Last edited on Wed Jul 19th, 2006 08:59 pm by DesperateDad
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jocelynDAD
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Posted: Wed Jul 19th, 2006 08:58 pm |
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Alumother:
my wife is a Research Scientist at the Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory where they are working on mastering the (Fusion) energy that powers the Sun. She has been with them for just over 15 years. Her direct contact is only with the Physics and Environmental Science majors who do an internship at the lab.
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alanarch
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Posted: Wed Jul 19th, 2006 09:00 pm |
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| You might want to consider Wesleyan. A lot of Hollywood writers have come out of there and I think the sciences are OK.
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Wed Jul 19th, 2006 10:06 pm |
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Alumother wrote: Must explain that S only did the problems that didn't look boring....
LOL! Sounds like my son. It is frustrating when you see those bumps in an otherwise pretty good transcript, isn't it?
I will be very interested to hear how your son reacts to Carleton and Rice. Will be fun to hear your reactions, as those two are ones that my son will also look at at one point or another.
It's funny, but at this point with my daughter, we had already done some preliminary college visits and did more as the fall progressed. With my son's schedule, however, it will be hard to find time to squeeze visits in. And, to be honest, the thought of another 25 campus tours makes my eyes glaze over. Hmmm...maybe this time around his Dad should do the travel aspect and I'll just hold down the fort at home. 
Last edited on Wed Jul 19th, 2006 10:08 pm by CarolynLawrence
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Alumother
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Posted: Wed Jul 19th, 2006 10:32 pm |
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Wow. I didn't realize the math curve was so steep. Hmm. D was NMSF, maybe S will get there too. I think some SAT prep next month is definitely in order. Perhaps if I have him do it online I can trick him into thinking it's an online game? He he.
Carolyn, I will certainly report back on Rice and Carleton. It's the least I can do if that's useful to you...
And as for Wesleyan, one thing I need to add about S. Although he really couldn't be a conservative, coming from this family, he is definitely annoyed by any group that is too dogmatic. So if Wesleyan has emerged from the gender wars, it would be OK. Otherwise, S would not like all the political side-taking. Debate he likes. Impassioned, single-minded advocates he does not.
Go Fusion lab. How cool. D has a horror of physics unfortunately and is going after nueroscience/mol bio/psychology/religion. I think she actually wants to study the meaning of life and how to organize other people to give you what you want but they don't offer that yet...
We are class of 2012, right? Oh goodness. Thanks all.
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jocelynDAD
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Posted: Wed Jul 19th, 2006 10:35 pm |
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Carolyn: IMO you are just wishfully thinking. Visiting colleges is a chore and ultimately they blend into a unholy mess. It takes a certain tenacity and recognition (eye on the prize) of the ultimate importance of giving our child a fuller understanding of the potentials etc.
Some parents (uncles/aunts/grandparents/older siblings) have it and their child gains the benefit, others, however well meaning are burdened and worn down by the 4th or 5th campus.
My wife is great on the final swing and is happy to visit 3 or 4 colleges with our D's.
But, her energy and interest gets burned out. I doubt that you could sit back and allow the visits to occur without your eye focused on the campus and facilities and hearing the comments from the faculty/admissions/etc.
With D2, my wife took both girls (in August) up to New England (Maine/Ct/Mass) visited 6 colleges, saw the foliage, shopped for strange items and had a great time, in November she flew with the girls out to San Diego, visited her Mom and her Aunts, D2 visited Scripps, San Diego State and had all had a good time. Finally, after acceptances were in , W and D2 flew to visit St OLaf and Lawrence (kinda like what your H and D did with Beloit). All other trips were me and D2 in our minivan.
So Ms Lawrence, I feel assured that you will be on the trail with your S and me with D3 over the next 16 months, it really is too important to do otherwise.
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WestrnMom
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Posted: Thu Jul 20th, 2006 01:42 am |
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I love college visits. I'm the only one in my family who seems to enjoy them. Everyone else views them as a necessity they might be able to get out of if they can come up with enough excuses.
I so wish we had done more college visits during junior year but S had no interest, even over spring break. Now we're trying to catch up. I have a feeling when it comes down to making the decision it will be out of the schools he's visited, as he's a hands-on sort of person who likes to see things for himself. So the fewer visits we do, the fewer options.
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sweetkidsmom
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Posted: Thu Jul 20th, 2006 07:11 am |
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Last edited on Fri Mar 16th, 2007 09:23 pm by sweetkidsmom
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DesperateDad
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Posted: Thu Jul 20th, 2006 04:40 pm |
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just to clarify....my earlier point about one bubble equaling ~30 math points was for the Reasoning Test and its 800 point scale, and on the upper end of the scale; for average scores of 550, indvidual math problems are not so valuable. Essentially, miss one, and the Math score is 770. Miss three and it drops to ~720/730, depending on whether the answer was wrong or left blank.
On the 80 point psat scale, one math problem ~3 points. Thus, alumother's son needs ~4 more correct bubbles to move into NMSF range.
I apologize for any confusion.
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Alumother
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Posted: Thu Jul 20th, 2006 10:47 pm |
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| No big. It's really his SATs I'm focusing on. Also I think his CR should be raisable - the child used to live for word games and read the New Yorker for fun.
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Sun Aug 6th, 2006 07:42 pm |
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Just brought my boy home from his last CTY summer -- he double sessioned. He cried throughout the ending ceremony.
However, he now has a new plan for college visits. He says he is going to plot out all visits to colleges by distances to CTY friends' houses so he can visit them all along the way. LOL!
On the other hand, he did come home with some new ideas for colleges he wants to look at, based on suggestions given to him by his two CTY teachers and their TA's: Vassar, Kenyon, Wesleyan, Oberlin, and Reed. Some of these were schools he'd already expressed a slight interest in, but it seems he is now (at least for the moment) really starting to develop a list of possibiliites. Of course, whether ANY of the above are realistic choices for him based on his grades is another story entirely....
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westkymom
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Posted: Sun Aug 13th, 2006 10:50 am |
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Hello all! Having just completed a furious flurry of house reorganizing, I'm finally back to the routines. Nice to see you all again.
My son is a junior this year, set to graduate in 2008. He has AP US History, AP Chemistry, AP German, Physics, Enriched Junior English and Pre-Calc this year. He is expecting to have to study a lot harder than last year (we'll see!). He is lucky to have a Pre-Calc teacher (she is new to the school) who has a degree in Computer Science; that was a lucky break. Hopefully, she will make a good mentor and will give him a good recommendation letter some day. When the clubs get going, he's switching from Chess Club to Biology Club ("they do more"). He has a 3.5 GPA so far for his freshman and sophomore years in the most challenging courses his school offers (albeit in a small town public high school).
He is still adamant about majoring in Computer Science and has completed a Visual Basic course from University of Missouri-Columbia. Living another and separate life on the Internet, he is planning to Admin his own Ventrillo server this year, after having been an assistant Admin for a year. Unfortunately, he is devoid of any interest whatsoever in music or sports (sigh).
Re: college visits, we are planning to visit Allegheny and Juniata in Pennsylvania this semester, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, Indiana, very close to us geographically) sometime this year, Beloit in Wisconsin next semester (we are looking forward to a report from Ama after her first semester there), and any other match or safety school he adds to the list. I've asked him to save the more improbable schools (reaches and ultra reaches) for fall of his senior year so that we can see if his grades and test scores indicate it's worth the trip -- Harvey Mudd (a very iffy school for us anyway), Swarthmore, and Reed College fall into this category. My son still holds firmly the reins on this college search process. I had to lobby very hard and often to keep Juniata (an SAT and ACT optional school) on his list.
I'm looking forward to surviving this process with all of you other parents of 2008 kids. May the Force be with us!
--Rhonda
Last edited on Sun Aug 13th, 2006 10:54 am by westkymom
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skibum
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Posted: Sun Aug 13th, 2006 04:41 pm |
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| We to have a rising jr. Just beginning to explore college stuff in earnest. S. got a 204 on last yrs PSAT, but unfortunately his strength is math (only one of the 3 subtests on the PSAT)-- Critical reading and writing is not as good- so I can oly hope that he can bring those up into striking range for the NM. The other bummer is that the # of students (babyboomer offspring) competing for college spots peaks with the class after ours (class of 2009). So the competition for those desired spots is getting tougher and tougher. Only a few schools are increasing size/enrollment. So, for the mostpart, competition is steadily increasing (as we all know). Looking forward to the support we can all give each other in these next few years...
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jocelynDAD
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Posted: Sun Aug 13th, 2006 08:57 pm |
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Rhonda: When you go to Beloit, consider visiting Illinois Wesleyan (IWU) in Bloomington and Knox in Galesburg.
Bloomington is directly south of Beloit on Rt 39 and Galesburg is south west of Beloit.
Both schools give merit aid, but more important are excellent LAC's. IWU is seeking to broaden their student base outside of Illinois and should be a good match.
BTW, D3 will be visiting Allegheny on August 28th and Juniata on September 6th, PM me if you want any specific information from either school. Our S4 graduated from Allegheny and had been accepted by Juniata as well.
Last edited on Sun Aug 13th, 2006 09:00 pm by jocelynDAD
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