Parents of College Class of 2018 (A.K.A., "Is this the line to the poor house?")

[Chelley00]

I think here in Indiana, it is a mix. It really depends on the school, not whether they are state or private.

There are some pretty competitive and selective state and private schools, but then there are some state and private schools that are where you go if you can't get in to one of the bigger name schools.

 

[elgerber]

It's a mix here also. The U of M Twin Cities is actually highly competitive and hard to get into these days, but we also have some state schools that are considered bottom of the barrel. The private schools here are mostly considered more presitgous than some of the state schools but not all.
I did however, know that Berkeley was a great school LOL.

 

[Gina]

on a full ride!

Sorry!! Wasn't trying to copy you -- I composed offline and didn't refresh the page before posting my reply... But hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right??

 

[elgerber]

Sorry!! Wasn't trying to copy you -- I composed offline and didn't refresh the page before posting my reply... But hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right??

HOW DARE YOU!!!!!!!
Actually, I didn't even think twice about it!

 

[Gina]

I did however, know that Berkeley was a great school LOL.

Sure, rub it in... LOL

 

[clutter]

They are worse than DIS like over there! LOL, its kinda scary. They make my 4.03/34ACT score seem like an idiot, and they aren't afraid to say, sorry, not good enough!!!
And it all seems to be east coast/southern discussions. Nothing for those of us up in the north LOL.

So to any 2015 parents lurking here with kids that won't have those scores, we will start our own thread for 'average' kids next year, right? Not that you all say 'not good enough', but if you have no chance of merit aid (and slim pickings getting into one of the better known state schools, and only a limited amount of cash, and you don't want your child to borrow because she's going into a low paying profession, it's really a different ball game.

I am learning a lot from you all. Mostly irrelevent, but a lot!

 

[elgerber]

Sure, rub it in... LOL

I have no idea why I know that though, I think maybe from watching High School Musical 3, or The OC .

 

[elgerber]

So to any 2015 parents lurking here with kids that won't have those scores, we will start our own thread for 'average' kids next year, right? Not that you all say 'not good enough', but if you have no chance of merit aid (and slim pickings getting into one of the better known state schools, and only a limited amount of cash, and you don't want your child to borrow because she's going into a low paying profession, it's really a different ball game.

I am learning a lot from you all. Mostly irrelevent, but a lot!

I'm sorry, but just because my dd scores well, doesn't mean that we don't have a lot of the same issues. Most of the good state schools here, and many of the better private schools here do not offer merit aid. And I do not have a lot of cash either, and my daughter is also interested in majors/professions that are low paying, so I have the very same concerns as you do. I don't want her to have to borrow a lot of money either, but most places we are looking at it's pretty unavoidable.

 

[powellrj]

I think here in Indiana, it is a mix. It really depends on the school, not whether they are state or private.

There are some pretty competitive and selective state and private schools, but then there are some state and private schools that are where you go if you can't get in to one of the bigger name schools.

A few months ago there was a post from someone talking about Purdue being a prestige school. Living in Indiana my whole life, while Purdue is a great school I never thought of it as a prestige school. Not like I would Notre Dame or Rose Hulman.

My middle DS goes to Ball State. I know in the past it was always thought of as a safety school, but he knew he wanted T-comm and they have a great department. It was the only school he applied to and he applied early. He had a 3.3 and OK SAT scores. I am not sure of his class rank, but he was in the top 20% out of a class of 400 because he got an award of some kind for it. He only took the SATs once and he took it the morning of his brothers wedding, and 3 days after his grandfathers funeral, so he wasn't in the best shape, but he did ok. He got in with no problem, but no money was offered. Many kids from his school applied later with better grade points and SAT scores and they didn't get in.

DD should be OK for most schools in Indiana. I don't see her attending a Notre Dame or Rose Hulman type of school though. Right now she is an unweighted 3.9 and is about 6th in her class. We will see how she tests. Right now she is very interested in Indiana Wesleyan. She has done overnights there and has several friends that attend. We will see how it goes.

Our oldest attends Anderson University. I am really not sure how its thought of anymore, weather its a good school or not. I know lots of kids that attend there, but we are a big Church Of God area, so I know that plays into it. He is on the GI Bill, so we don't pay anything towards his schooling.

 

[madge]

I think here in Indiana, it is a mix. It really depends on the school, not whether they are state or private.

There are some pretty competitive and selective state and private schools, but then there are some state and private schools that are where you go if you can't get in to one of the bigger name schools.

I'd say Kentucky is very similar.

Centre College is consistently ranked as one of the top schools in US News' rankings (with a hefty price tag to match!) ... it's very competitve to get in there. Some state schools are better than others. Same with the privates.

 

[madge]

A few months ago there was a post from someone talking about Purdue being a prestige school. Living in Indiana my whole life, while Purdue is a great school I never thought of it as a prestige school. Not like I would Notre Dame or Rose Hulman.

Purdue has an excellent engineering school. That much I know. DH had high hopes that middle DS would pursue that path ... but, he's not. LOL

 

[elgerber]

Purdue has an excellent engineering school. That much I know. DH had high hopes that middle DS would pursue that path ... but, he's not. LOL

I had always heard Purdue was also a really good school. Frankly I really have no clue what's really good and what's not

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

DS is 17 and a junior. All he knows is that he wants to go to college for computers. Exactly what he doesn't know.

He hasn't taken the SAT. I'm trying to get him registered for it but he can't remember the password or even what email address he used to originally sign up. there is only a couple of more days to sign up for the only one he is available for this summer and I'm gone for most of them. I'm getting very frustrated with him.

He hasn't looked at colleges, hasn't even tried to narrow down his interest. Other than the fact that he suddenly decided Georgia Tech looks good, that's it.

And I had to leave the room at that point so I could have a good laugh. His grades aren't good enough for GA Tech - one of the top schools in the state. He's not even at a 3.0 GPA. Middle of his class gradewise, no achievements.

And then we'll have to pay for whatever college he gets into. I need to say goodbye to my solo disney trips soon.

Yeah I'm not looking forward to the final year of High School. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

 

[Mom21]

I avoid college confidential anymore. It's all people talking about their child graduating a year early and bragging about all their scores and activities and placements and class rankings and scholarships and acceptances and if you ask a legitimate question they are all over you like you are most stupid. It's awful.

Regarding ACT scores, you can look at your college websites and find out what their requirements for ACT scores for admittance/scholarships are to find a good baseline of what you need.

I think I will stay away from the site. Actually my dd skipped a year, and they wanted her to graduate this year which would make her 2 years early. Honestly I was glad she said no. I left it up to her. I find it causes more problems than anything. Can imagine a young 16yo heading off to college? She does want to go away because she doesn't have a school near us with what she wants. I'll just stick to this thread. Thanks for all the info. I'm lost. Things are nothing like when I was young. The pressure these kids are under is awful.

 

[Cinsu]

Late to the party here and haven't read all the posts yet but wanted to chime in-- have a DS graduating in 2014. The whole college thing, SAT/ACT, class rank, the list goes on (as you all know) makes my head spin!
Glad you're all here to commiserate with!

 

[bballmom56]

Don't be afraid of college confidential. Sure there are the over achievers. But there are also plenty of normal people as well. Check out the Parents' Forum and Parent Cafe. You will find threads strictly for 3.0-3.3 kids and 3.3-3.6. There is a ton of information and recent real life experience from these parents from starting the search for colleges, to navigating the financial aid world. There is plenty of information about colleges that are generous with merit money for these students too.

I still visit the site daily and my last child graduated from college 2 years ago. I have some friends I made there with whom I keep in touch. Some are from my kids' university, others are not, but we had things in common. Plenty of friendly people. You just have to find them, just like on the Dis!

 

[runwad]

Well my dd just signed up to take the ACT again on June 8th. She took it the first time at the end of her sophomore year and got a 21. We were hoping with another whole year of school she'd do better this go around but only got a 22. In all honesty she didn't study one bit. She's a good student takes honors classes and has a 3.7 unweighted GPA, just not a real good test taker. The university that is commuting distance from us has a 21 requirement for admissions so I was fine with letting the 22 stand, but she wants to take it again. I think a lot of her friends got higher scores and she's pretty competitive. Who knows maybe she'll get some studying in this time. Nah who am I kidding, the last day of school is June 7th and she'll be studying for finals. Oh well maybe 3rd time will be a charm.

And for the poster who asked what is a good score, in my mind, it is a 25 or higher.

 

[Gina]

I think I will stay away from the site. Actually my dd skipped a year, and they wanted her to graduate this year which would make her 2 years early. Honestly I was glad she said no. I left it up to her. I find it causes more problems than anything. Can imagine a young 16yo heading off to college? She does want to go away because she doesn't have a school near us with what she wants. I'll just stick to this thread. Thanks for all the info. I'm lost. Things are nothing like when I was young. The pressure these kids are under is awful.

Hey, I was 16 when I went to college, and I turned out okay... But I was always really independent, and even though I loved my parents dearly, was ready to go. Of course, I did some stuff at that tender age that if I think about too hard, makes me want to lock my dear DS in his room until he's 30... It'll be hard enough for me to let him go at 18, lol!

 

[madge]

Can imagine a young 16yo heading off to college?

my oldest has a friend who went to college at 16 -- his parents kept him in HS until he turned 16. The boy was a math genius. I've never seen anything like it. their quiz bowl/academic team blew everyone out of the water that year ... this kid knew the answers to the math questions before they were even finished reading them.

he went to a very small private school in close proximity to his extended family. graduated a couple of years ago.

 

[JeannieNM]

I finally have a minute to catch up. We have the college stuff as my daughter puts it on hold because things are so busy. She did write a few trial common app essays for an English assignment. She really wants to go to school in LA (we don't live in CA). We have 3 weeks left of school with finals. Term papers are done. Projects, tests, recitals, camping trips and performances still going on- then the dreaded finals. DD is a good hard working student, though she is not a very good test taker, fine with essays but terrible with other types of tests especailly standardized tests. We don't have her ACT scores yet as she took hers under special testing at her school and we can only get the results via snail mail. She wants to retake them in June but I don't know if she will be in town enough to do that. We hope to finalize some of our summer plans this weekend inbetween performances.

We have looked at 4 colleges and she has stayed at 2 others for brief summer programs. 3 of them last year and one this year. Here is our what we saw:

University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) as her college counselor has said it is imprinted in every high school kid he knows to love this school when they visit. It has its own beach, lots of vibrant healthy looking kids biking and skate boarding to class, they serve sushi in the cafeteria. The school is known for undergraduate research. It is part of the UC state school system so like other CA schools it is suffering from tough economic times making it hard to get the classes a person needs to graduate in 4 years. It appeared to be strong in the sciences and ok in the arts. It also has a reputation for being a somewhat demanding academic school while also being a pretty heavy duty partying school. If anyone is interested in Dance it is modern based and does require an audition. Theatre department is small. Both programs are BA until you are student for a year and then you can apply for a BFA. All CA public schools have minimum requirements to apply including specific courses and gpas they require. Double majors are allowed. DD will probably apply but it is not one of her top choices.

University of Southern California (USC)- large private school, fairly competitive for admission. DD was a bit overwhelmed at first but came to really like the school for the programs it offers. They offer a pretty top notch film school and theatre school. A new school of dance is opening in 2015. They have a lot of beautiful science, gaming and engineering buildings. Some of the liberal arts like philosophy seem to not have the popularity or money of a department like computer science. Marshall business school is extensive. Has large following for its football team and they just recruited a new coach for men's basketball to try and up that program. We know several students that run track for USC. Athletics are a big deal. Campus is lovely old buildings combined with newer buildings in a middle class area of LA. Some sketchy neighborhoods as you get further from campus. DD will apply but it's a reach for her. Theatre BFA requires an audition/portfolio review, BA requires an interview.

University of California at Irvine (UCI). This is in suburbs. This is pretty close to Disneyland!!! It has a 1970s feel with some newer style buildings. The campus is a large circle. The dorms are tiny and the ones we saw are a bit odd. The dance studios are excellent as is the dance departments reputation. It includes dance, modern, jazz and has a more mixed feel then one specialty. Appeared to be a bit boring on weekends with students returning home but we could have misread that. Suffers from the same problems as other CA University problems. DD will probably apply. The dance department requires an audition as well as separate admission to the University.

Southern Methodist University (SMU)- a medium size private school in Dallas, TX. Pretty campus, old buildings, religious affiliation is not very strong if it even exists any more. Has a real Texas corporate feel. There is a lot of affiliation between the schools and business looking for employees. The theatre program is narrow and exclusive. They admit 25 students a year and it is BFA, with no option to double major. Highly selective for Dance and Theatre. Not sure about the rest of the school. DD will not apply.

Occidental College- we did not tour here but DD went to a 2 week dance program here two summers ago. The campus is a bit run down, and suburban. The academics are supposed to be very good with a strong liberal arts program.

CA State Northridge (CSUN)- DD went to a program run by the Joffrey Ballet and housed at CSUN. She lived in a very nice suite style dorm for a month. The dance and performance facilities were beautiful and well equipped. It is a large school physically. Not really near anything but about an hour from LA on a good day.

Colleges we would like to learn more about so if anyone has any information on any of the following or any we have not listed we look forward to hearing about your adventures:
Loyola Marymount
CA State Long Beach
CA State Fullerton
Colorado State
Florida State
Tulane
Elon
University of Maryland (DH has his undergrad from here but that was a really long time ago and current info would be greatly appreciated)
American University (current information. I have my Masters from here but it was a long time ago)

I hope eveyone survives the end of school, finals and tears as senior friends move on. Good luck putting your lists together. Lets keep posting about schools even you end up eliminating them. A school that is not a match for your DD or DS maybe for someone elses.

Have a good weekend.