A "is this a good college" thread for all college searchers...

[kbeverina]

I should add, though, that one of the friends I visited was the press secretary for Mark Warner when he was governor and is now a senior communications director for Nancy Pelosi. So they turn out alright, despite the partying.

 

[clutter]

I think I'd also put UVA near the top of any list of party schools. It's kind of funnyy...a friend of ours stayed there overnight as part of a department/professional-group event and the students, the tour-guides, simply *everyone* openly acknowledged to the students and to any parents who were around that UVA is a party school. I have also heard this on our campus tour as well and that is truly the school's reputation. And yeah, I know all college students will party to some degree but the amount of drunken college-students staggering around the streets near campus on a Friday night is mind-boggling.

agnes!

Ahhh, you bring back memories of "Easters" from the late 70s!!!

 

[tar heel]

I recommended Warren Wilson for LisaR earlier, but I'm not sure about the classic underachiever part.

 

[MrsPete]

Every school is a party school, they are college kids . Even the "dry" campuses have parties somewhere. How much you chose to partake in the party scene often determines how well you do in college.

Yeah, MANY people from our church insist upon sending their kids ONLY to Christian universities -- Liberty being a favorite -- but I've always said that whatever you're looking for in college, you'll find. If you're looking for frat parties, they're going to be available. On the other hand, if you're looking for a quiet, conservative lifestyle, you'll find it. The bulletin boards are going to post advertisements for keg parties right alongside the Bible studies.

Of course, we all know that some schools are known as "party schools", while others are not . . . but you'll find what you want at any school.

I recommended Warren Wilson for LisaR earlier, but I'm not sure about the classic underachiever part.

Yeah, I don't know about sending a "classic underachiever" to college. I tend to think that this is codeword for "immature", and that person might need to get into the work world a while to find out just how hard manual labor is and how little it pays. THEN after a couple years, that "underachiever" might be ready to put in more effort.

 

[tar heel]

My mom worked with a Liberty student at a resort one summer and the girl literally traveled with one of the athletic teams (and I don't mean as a manager), or at least she claimed to. I don't think that's what her parents had in mind.

My middle son got a good bit of mail from Liberty for some reason. To go there, he would have needed a new wardrobe, a haircut and some kind of spell to erase his liberal upbringing. As we've said on this thread before, each family/kid has to choose what's right for them and one size doesn't fit all.

 

[tar heel]

I think you might really get the non-party atmosphere at BYU given the elements of its honor code and how seriously it's taken.

 

[bluesaturn]

I think you might really get the non-party atmosphere at BYU given the elements of its honor code and how seriously it's taken.

That's been made pretty clear lately

 

[punkin]

My DD got a lot of stuff from Liberty and we are definitely NOT in their demographic. Sometimes I wonder where they found my DD anyway.

 

[Green Tea]

Yeah, I don't know about sending a "classic underachiever" to college. I tend to think that this is codeword for "immature", and that person might need to get into the work world a while to find out just how hard manual labor is and how little it pays. THEN after a couple years, that "underachiever" might be ready to put in more effort.

Nice.

Thanks for your parenting advice.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

I'm hoping you can all provide some guidance. I never went to college, never applied, never even took the SATs. My DD is a Freshman this year and definitely college bound. I know nothing of the college life or where to even start. I've spoken to her guidance counsellor twice this year and I'm not necessarily confident in her abilities to provide the information I'm going to need. Is there a book/website/somewhere I can go to begin the process of finding out everything I need to know in order to prepare her for the SAT, what kind of schools she should be looking at, scholarships, and what we'll need to know in order to navigate the waters?

 

[java]

I'm hoping you can all provide some guidance. I never went to college, never applied, never even took the SATs. My DD is a Freshman this year and definitely college bound. I know nothing of the college life or where to even start. I've spoken to her guidance counsellor twice this year and I'm not necessarily confident in her abilities to provide the information I'm going to need. Is there a book/website/somewhere I can go to begin the process of finding out everything I need to know in order to prepare her for the SAT, what kind of schools she should be looking at, scholarships, and what we'll need to know in order to navigate the waters?

Here's a good place to start
http://www.collegeboard.org/

also see if your school has a subscrition to Naviance- it's a great program- let's you search schools and based on your interests,grades and test scores-then shows you some great fits.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Here's a good place to start
http://www.collegeboard.org/

also see if your school has a subscrition to Naviance- it's a great program- let's you search schools and based on your interests,grades and test scores-then shows you some great fits.

Thank you!

 

[Robinrs]

I'm hoping you can all provide some guidance. I never went to college, never applied, never even took the SATs. My DD is a Freshman this year and definitely college bound. I know nothing of the college life or where to even start. I've spoken to her guidance counsellor twice this year and I'm not necessarily confident in her abilities to provide the information I'm going to need. Is there a book/website/somewhere I can go to begin the process of finding out everything I need to know in order to prepare her for the SAT, what kind of schools she should be looking at, scholarships, and what we'll need to know in order to navigate the waters?

Don't worry, PksMom:

I was the very first person in my family to go to college. No one, not even in my extended family, had gone. My parents hadn't even finished high school. I did it all on my own WITHOUT the internet and all the info supplied today. I remind my son of this everyday!

This thread gives some amazing information (if you can weave in and out of the braggadocio) especially with info on websites. I use www.collegeconfidential.com www.studentsreview.com http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator and collegeboard.org

There are lots of test prep websites also. Collegeboard can email you an SAT question of the day, also! Practice makes perfect!

 

[golfgal]

I'm hoping you can all provide some guidance. I never went to college, never applied, never even took the SATs. My DD is a Freshman this year and definitely college bound. I know nothing of the college life or where to even start. I've spoken to her guidance counsellor twice this year and I'm not necessarily confident in her abilities to provide the information I'm going to need. Is there a book/website/somewhere I can go to begin the process of finding out everything I need to know in order to prepare her for the SAT, what kind of schools she should be looking at, scholarships, and what we'll need to know in order to navigate the waters?

This is a good place to start, I would also suggest "Collegeboards" and "College Confidential". In your situation the College Boards might be a better place to start. College Confidential is a little trickier to navigate and seems better suited for those that have some idea of what they want already.

As a freshman she should be taking as challenging of a schedule as possible-something to consider for next year if you haven't already.

Pick 3 colleges near you, a small, medium and large school-doesn't really matter which ones, and go on a tour. That will give you an idea of the "campus" atmosphere she will like best. Do that even now so you can narrow down what you like right off the bat.

As a sophomore, she can take the PSAT for practice (and the ACT/SAT). By doing this she first gets an idea of where she scores and what the test will be like. She will also get a boatload of mail from various colleges so you can start picking and choosing from those too (which is why I started this thread in the first place).

As a junior she should start meeting with the admissions reps that visit her school from schools she may be interested in attending. In the fall, many colleges also have campus visit days. Ours are scheduled during teacher convention weekends. This is a good time to get an overall feel for the campus-often they are sleep over weekends so that is fun too.

Develop a list of 10 or so schools and visit the top 5 or 6. Obviously this is going to be time dependent but do what you can. By this time she should have a pretty good idea of where she wants to go.

She should also take the SAT/ACT in the spring of her junior year. I know there is an ACT in April and one again in June. Take the test in April to see where she scores and if need be, take it again in June. Most schools "superscore" meaning they take the best parts of your test scores and combine them.

Our high school has 3 or 4 "Going to College" nights throughout the school year. They bring in admissions reps and financial aid reps from local colleges to talk about the process. They are pretty informative if you have never been through the process before.

If your school guidance office isn't he best, try looking at offerings like the above from other schools and attend those.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Robin and GolfGal, thank you so much! This information is tremendously helpful.

GolfGal, DD is in an all Honors program in high school right now so we're definitely taking the steps to get her where she needs to be. I'm not thrilled with a one of her grades (78 average right now in Bio), but we're also working on bringing that up to where I feel it needs to be (85 or above). I've already told her I expect Junior National Honor Society. She's a great kid and a good student, but unfortunately still needs to be pushed occasionally. I guess one of the biggest questions I have is, how do you know what you want to take for college? I'm assuming you should know already so you can pick the college that best fits the area you want, but how do kids even know at 16? One of the schools I'd like her to look at is Rutgers. It's out state school and the tuition for in-state is very reasonable. Also, if she continues to stay the course academically, her high school has AP college courses she can take that will already give her credit at Rutgers. Guess I need to try to find out what their requirements are.

Any ideas on local/community college for first two years then transferring?

 

[golfgal]

Robin and GolfGal, thank you so much! This information is tremendously helpful.

GolfGal, DD is in an all Honors program in high school right now so we're definitely taking the steps to get her where she needs to be. I'm not thrilled with a one of her grades (78 average right now in Bio), but we're also working on bringing that up to where I feel it needs to be (85 or above). I've already told her I expect Junior National Honor Society. She's a great kid and a good student, but unfortunately still needs to be pushed occasionally. I guess one of the biggest questions I have is, how do you know what you want to take for college? I'm assuming you should know already so you can pick the college that best fits the area you want, but how do kids even know at 16? One of the schools I'd like her to look at is Rutgers. It's out state school and the tuition for in-state is very reasonable. Also, if she continues to stay the course academically, her high school has AP college courses she can take that will already give her credit at Rutgers. Guess I need to try to find out what their requirements are.

Any ideas on local/community college for first two years then transferring?

I am in the camp of finding a school that FITS you vs finding a school with a specific major. Now, obviously if you want to something in the education field and they don't offer that, probably not a good fit. The vast majority of college students change their majors at least once so keep that in mind.

I also not a fan of going to CC route for good students. First, at least around here, most CC credits do not transfer like people think they do and you have just wasted 2 years. Second, living ON CAMPUS is a HUGE part of going to college and I hate to see anyone miss out on that. There is so much to be learned in that first year on campus about doing for yourself that just can't be duplicated if they are living at home. To me, living at home during college is no different then being in high school--even living on campus at a school that is close enough to run home at the drop of a hat isn't that great. Again, kids just miss out on some valuable growth experiences by doing that.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

I am in the camp of finding a school that FITS you vs finding a school with a specific major. Now, obviously if you want to something in the education field and they don't offer that, probably not a good fit. The vast majority of college students change their majors at least once so keep that in mind.

I also not a fan of going to CC route for good students. First, at least around here, most CC credits do not transfer like people think they do and you have just wasted 2 years. Second, living ON CAMPUS is a HUGE part of going to college and I hate to see anyone miss out on that. There is so much to be learned in that first year on campus about doing for yourself that just can't be duplicated if they are living at home. To me, living at home during college is no different then being in high school--even living on campus at a school that is close enough to run home at the drop of a hat isn't that great. Again, kids just miss out on some valuable growth experiences by doing that.

Thank you again. One of the things I liked about Rutgers was that she could live at home and commute. $11k+ versus $26k+ is a huge difference and honestly, we don't have any money saved. (Yes I know, bad parent). I was hoping maybe, instead of CC, 2 years and Rutgers and then a transfer to another school. I know the best thing would be to be away from home, but financially, I don't see that happening without some huge scholarships. But I'm not giving up hope. Maybe we can find a compromise between home and UCLA (where she says she wants to go because it's as far away from home as she can get ).

 

[pixie dust 112]

While I agree with the idea about the experience of being away from home being so valuable, I also see the value of going to community college for the first 2 years. Around here the CC credits seem to transfer with no problem to the SUNYs as well as to the private schools. I know a few kids who wanted to go to private schools, but could not afford it. They therefore started at the CC and then transferred into the private schools their junior year. It worked out well.

I've also seen kids who weren't such good students in HS and sho would therefore have difficulty getting into a 4year school, start with community college and absolutely thrive!

 

[Robinrs]

Thank you again. One of the things I liked about Rutgers was that she could live at home and commute. $11k+ versus $26k+ is a huge difference and honestly, we don't have any money saved. (Yes I know, bad parent). I was hoping maybe, instead of CC, 2 years and Rutgers and then a transfer to another school. I know the best thing would be to be away from home, but financially, I don't see that happening without some huge scholarships. But I'm not giving up hope. Maybe we can find a compromise between home and UCLA (where she says she wants to go because it's as far away from home as she can get ).

Check to see if your state has a Transfer guarantee program. I know NY has one and Georgia has TAG, a Transfer guarantee program from community college to university. It has worked well for many students here.

 

[allison443]

Robin and GolfGal, thank you so much! This information is tremendously helpful.

GolfGal, DD is in an all Honors program in high school right now so we're definitely taking the steps to get her where she needs to be. I'm not thrilled with a one of her grades (78 average right now in Bio), but we're also working on bringing that up to where I feel it needs to be (85 or above). I've already told her I expect Junior National Honor Society. She's a great kid and a good student, but unfortunately still needs to be pushed occasionally. I guess one of the biggest questions I have is, how do you know what you want to take for college? I'm assuming you should know already so you can pick the college that best fits the area you want, but how do kids even know at 16? One of the schools I'd like her to look at is Rutgers. It's out state school and the tuition for in-state is very reasonable. Also, if she continues to stay the course academically, her high school has AP college courses she can take that will already give her credit at Rutgers. Guess I need to try to find out what their requirements are.

Any ideas on local/community college for first two years then transferring?

I am in NJ like you. NJ has the NJ Stars program which is two years at a community college followed by two years at Rutgers. There is some kind of scholarship involved for cc and also for Rutgers. However there was talk at one point of imposing an income requirement (I believe). Also I think it goes year to year on whether the state funds this, so you may want to follow its progress. I haven't read anything about it for a while so you may want to look up more specific info.

My dd had a friend who couldn't get admitted to Rutgers right from high school, she went to the local cc for two years, then transferred to Rutgers and graduated three years later.

Like others have said, it's good to think about it now..take the most challenging classes you can, and get the best grades you can. Also make sure you take three or four years of the the main academic subjects. For some reason I think NJ only requires two years of a foreign language, for example, but most colleges seemed to want three.

Good luck!!