Parents of Class of 2018 thread

[StephMK]

Alice-thank you for all the wonderful advice. I agree, both of my girls have struggled to find their direction.

DD23 graduated in May with her degree in family sciences but is still struggling to find a path of some sort. Some medical issues and a big move slowed her search last year so she's just getting more into finding something FT.

I think DD16 would do better at a small art college but so far, she is reluctant to explore and has only mentioned the large state college. She enjoyed her chemistry and physics classes but can't seem to find a path in that direction that is appealing. She likes the idea of interior design but "wants to make a lot of money". There is a design camp at the state college this summer to explore interior design, landscape, and architecture but she'd "rather use the money for a Disney trip" lol.

She is talented at drawing and resists any thoughts of graphic design. A/B student with mediocre test scores. We are in Midwest but hope to get back east eventually. Family in PA, VA. Any advice? Thanks in advance!!

 

[Aliceacc]

Can you give me a ballpark idea of where in the Midwest or PA?

And what does Family Sciences encompass?

 

[Aliceacc]

Until, you get me that info, I googled "majors that combine science and art" and found this: https://biochem.web.utah.edu/iwasa/PDFs/STEM_Fair_Careers_Infographic.pdf

http://www.brighthub.com/office/career-planning/articles/110003.aspx


http://mycollegeguide.org/articles/choosing-a-major/careers-in-creativity

As to your older daughter, I would suggest going back to her university's career placement office.

Without an idea of a major, it's kind of hard to narrow down.

 

[Aliceacc]

@StephMK

I'm home for the afternoon-- don't ask-- and had a bit of time to play with this.

Personally, I'm a fan of smaller schools for kids who haven't found their inner scholar yet. I think it's harder to fall through the cracks in a small school than in a large university. I know that's been the case with my son.

Would your younger daughter consider a career in Marketing? I'm thinking that working in advertising might let her use those creative juices while still qualifying for her "tons of money" requirement.


I started with www.collegetoolkit.com I like it as a starting place because they rate admissions in terms of difficulty. I'm not sure of the geography, so I'll cast a wide net:

I'll start with Nebraska
Take a look at the "L" schools-- particularly Concordia
http://colleges.collegetoolkit.com/colleges/state/nebraska/31.aspx
They have graphic arts, they're small, the tuition and room and board are-- well, not "affordable" but not "mind-numbingly expensive either."

OK, on to Kansas: http://colleges.collegetoolkit.com/colleges/state/kansas/20.aspx Is Tabor too small?

How about St. Ambrose or Simpson in Iowa? http://colleges.collegetoolkit.com/colleges/state/iowa/19.aspx

A quick glance doesn't find me what I want in S. Dakota, but it may very well be there:
http://colleges.collegetoolkit.com/colleges/state/south_dakota/46.aspx

Colorado: How about Johnson & Wales in Denver? http://colleges.collegetoolkit.com/colleges/state/colorado/8.aspx

Missouri: How about William Woods? They have an art/advertising major, and the tuition and admissions are both reasonable. http://colleges.collegetoolkit.com/colleges/overview/william_woods_university/179964.aspx

Schools offering Interior Design:
http://colleges.collegetoolkit.com/college-search/colsearchmajor.aspx

How about Univ. of Wisconsin at Stevens Point?: http://colleges.collegetoolkit.com/...ersity_of_wisconsin-stevens_point/240480.aspx
Stephen's College:
http://colleges.collegetoolkit.com/colleges/overview/stephens_college/179548.aspx
Mount St. Joseph; http://colleges.collegetoolkit.com/colleges/overview/college_of_mount_st._joseph/204200.aspx

OK, gotta run

 

[robinb]

Hi everyone! I'm just popping in from the 2017 thread to give you a PSA. Don't make the same mistake I did!

My DD struggled on the ACT and SAT and ended up just short of the scores she needs for most merit scholarships. Her recalcitrance in really studying for the standardized tests will cost me thousands of dollars. If she had just ONE point more on the ACT or SIXTY points more on the SAT she would have been eligible for a $10,000 scholarship at one of the out of state universities where she is accepted. Instead, she gets a big FAT $0. That ain't chump change and it makes me mad at her for refusing to study and even madder at myself for not finding a way to make her study, especially over the summer. She took a cheap local study course last year at this time and never opened the book between classes. She never worked on the things that were stumping her. She took the ACT 3 times and only crammed a couple days before each test. She did better on her second one but dropped back on her third one. Of course, all her friends were doing GREAT without studying and she didn't want to feel "dumb". You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.

She was getting so stressed over testing that I just said, "Let's stop and just use what we have." I was lulled into complacency with the ACT "superscore" but I was wrong. She has the ACT score she needs in a superscore but most colleges want the ACT score from one taking for scholarships.

If I had a do-over, I would have paid for an intensive course over the summer *and* hired a tutor when she had more time to study. At least I would have felt like she gave it her best shot instead of letting her bury her head in the sand. So, don't be me! Check a couple of colleges and see what ACT they need for merit scholarships. It's too late for us. The schools won't take ACTs for scholarships after a certain deadline ... the $10,000 scholarship had a deadline of December 2016.

 

[lesliekatya]

Thank you @robinb!

 

[gemini2727]

Yes, thank you for the heads up! I had no idea they wouldn't superscore for a scholarship. I'm going to have my daughter read your post. She studies, but it takes a lot of reminding and nagging on my part. Maybe reading about your experience will get her more motivated, thanks again.

 

[trip]

Another 2018 parent here! My oldest DS has exactly 9 days left of middle school and I'm the one who's emotional. I've already warned him I'll be a blubbering idiot at his promotion ceremony! He just takes it all in stride.

I'm nervous because he elected to do all honors classes and even though I know he's capable, I also know he puts a lot of pressure on himself. Just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. He'll be playing on the HS soccer team and doing the marching band too. It should be an interesting year!

We go to WDW the end of August and he has freshman orientation two days after we get back. But what better way to cap off what I hope to be a great summer!

Then I get to do it all again with #2 in the class of 2020!

 

[DawnM]

DS has said he wants to go into Film and Editing. We are going to look at a school in NC (UNCSA) over Spring Break, but we will be looking at a few schools in the LA area this summer. My oldest (currently in CC here) wants to go into film and animation. He is currently in the Game Design and Animation program but has decided he really doesn't like the gaming end of it and would like to look at Film. So, he will be checking out some schools in LA this summer too. We will def. be visiting Pasadena College of Design.

I am crossing my fingers that this MAY mean a move back to CA for all of us.

PS: Coming in to add, some things have shaken up in our household. Dh's job is one of them. There is a strong possibility we are now ALL MOVING back to LA. That will open up a world of colleges, even if they want to live at home and commute. I am so excited I can't stand it.

 

[mrsv98]

Well, the first college visit is done! Saturday we went to the School of the Art Institute. It was a GORGEOUS day, 70 degrees and sunny and the presenter went out of her way to say the Feb in Chicago is not usually like this...lol

Very impressive facilities and opportunities, and our guide was the Energizer Bunny on Redbull!

DD liked it but I think she was also overwhelmed but it is good to have gotten started. Next up in April, UW-Madison!

 

[dvcfamily41801]

We are still trying to fit in the visits. While I know we should not, we are going to be away for spring break. It is something we needed as we can not easily take more than a couple of days off at a time in the summer. And we literally have 2 free weekends between now and June because of school activities, SAT, proms, class trip and my son has a job. I am finding a lot of colleges stop their campus tours by end of April. Has anyone done them over the summer?

 

[Aliceacc]

Yes, I did a tour at the school my son is now attending over the summer.

No, we didn't get the real feel for what the campus is like when kids are in attendance. But we did get a personalized tour, and a real feel for the school-- enough to fall in love with it.

I had hoped to get a tour in this week, but I was sick-- and then got Jury Duty. Such is life. We'll get to them somewhere between now and the fall.

 

[Mom3girls]

Hi everyone! I'm just popping in from the 2017 thread to give you a PSA. Don't make the same mistake I did!

My DD struggled on the ACT and SAT and ended up just short of the scores she needs for most merit scholarships. Her recalcitrance in really studying for the standardized tests will cost me thousands of dollars. If she had just ONE point more on the ACT or SIXTY points more on the SAT she would have been eligible for a $10,000 scholarship at one of the out of state universities where she is accepted. Instead, she gets a big FAT $0. That ain't chump change and it makes me mad at her for refusing to study and even madder at myself for not finding a way to make her study, especially over the summer. She took a cheap local study course last year at this time and never opened the book between classes. She never worked on the things that were stumping her. She took the ACT 3 times and only crammed a couple days before each test. She did better on her second one but dropped back on her third one. Of course, all her friends were doing GREAT without studying and she didn't want to feel "dumb". You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.

She was getting so stressed over testing that I just said, "Let's stop and just use what we have." I was lulled into complacency with the ACT "superscore" but I was wrong. She has the ACT score she needs in a superscore but most colleges want the ACT score from one taking for scholarships.

If I had a do-over, I would have paid for an intensive course over the summer *and* hired a tutor when she had more time to study. At least I would have felt like she gave it her best shot instead of letting her bury her head in the sand. So, don't be me! Check a couple of colleges and see what ACT they need for merit scholarships. It's too late for us. The schools won't take ACTs for scholarships after a certain deadline ... the $10,000 scholarship had a deadline of December 2016.

I came here to report the same thing! My daughter is a senior and decided on a whim that she wanted to take the ACTs in Dec. she got a 30, which only qualifies her for $5,000 per year at her school of choice. She wanted to take it again in Feb and got a 33. Great score but too late Temple told us you get one offer. We are sending over an appeal letter this weekend. Moral of our dilemma is make sure your child takes all of their tests early and multiple times!! Also, have them take both SATs and ACTs. They are tested on different material and while your child may not do great on SATs they might score really well on ACTs. Don't miss the deadlines like we did. It might be a difference of qualifying for $18-23,000 per year vs $5,000 per year

 

[VillainFavs]

This is probably a very basic question but...open house versus scheduled tour? Any preference? Which gives a better feel for the college? Any insight at all?

We went to one open house in the fall. A nearby school that my son is interested in had an open house specifically geared to juniors. Of course, he fell in love with the place--I wasn't so in love with the price tag!

We have spring break in April and I want to go visit a couple more schools. But then someone said the individual tours really aren't great, that you need to go to the open houses. They told me the tours are generic and the open houses have breakout sessions for the particular major he's interested in. Does that even matter at this point?

He's our oldest, and both my husband and I went back to school much later in life. So this is all brand new to us!

 

[Aliceacc]

OK, so we went out yesterday and found a dress for the junior prom.

Then, this morning on a whim, I checked the date of the prom.

It's the same date as the May SAT.

Not a crisis-- my daughter can take the SAT in June instead. But what an idiotic choice of dates. It's the JUNIOR PROM, and the MAY SAT. Both targeted at Juniors, both big deals for those kids. I'm glad I checked before she registered for the exam.

 

[StephMK]

We went on a guided tour last summer in July. While it wasn't packed with students, it showed us the campus, dorms, size, etc. DS decided to cross it off his list because of factors unrelated to the tour.

Alice-yes, that was a bad choice of dates! Glad you can easily schedule it the next month.

DD will take the ACT in April at school during the day. Her school has the entire grade take the pre and ACT as a grade level. Based on past tests, she'll likely end up with a solid score but nothing in scholarship range.

She is still choosing the state school because she doesn't want to look. I'm going to drag her to a few anyway so she can see some smaller campuses and then see what happens.

 

[gemini2727]

Is it crazy to visit schools where the tuition is insane unless substantial scholarship money is given? Since we won't know what is offered until my daughter has finished taking her second SAT and ACTs, been accepted to schools, etc., I feel like we are flying blind with what we can afford. I don't want to say no, we won't visit, but also don't want her to fall in love with a school, then not be able to afford it after all. I wish it wasn't such a guessing game...

 

[DawnM]

Is it crazy to visit schools where the tuition is insane unless substantial scholarship money is given? Since we won't know what is offered until my daughter has finished taking her second SAT and ACTs, been accepted to schools, etc., I feel like we are flying blind with what we can afford. I don't want to say no, we won't visit, but also don't want her to fall in love with a school, then not be able to afford it after all. I wish it wasn't such a guessing game...

We are asking the same questions. My Junior has an idea of where he wants to go, although he has not looked carefully yet, and the first choice so far is $50K if he lives on campus. I would LOVE for him to go there! But we can afford half of that at best. We will have 2 kids in college at the same time.

I hate for him to not even try, you never know until you find out, but if he doesn't get enough in scholarships and he still wants to go, he will have to take out loans for the portion we can't pay.

 

[sk!mom]

Is it crazy to visit schools where the tuition is insane unless substantial scholarship money is given? Since we won't know what is offered until my daughter has finished taking her second SAT and ACTs, been accepted to schools, etc., I feel like we are flying blind with what we can afford. I don't want to say no, we won't visit, but also don't want her to fall in love with a school, then not be able to afford it after all. I wish it wasn't such a guessing game...

Our experience and my advice is to get a clear picture of what you can afford to pay and then share that VERY openly with your child.

For us, that was , we can afford to pay the total cost of an in state public University- about $25K per year. Any school that she applied to would need to fit that budget through actual cost, fin. aid awards, or the loans offered to her alone- $5500 freshman year. We would NOT be cosigning on loans for her or taking any parent loans. She understood this and applied to an instate first choice, as well as a private "maybe if the awards generous." She eventually choose the instate with a generous scholarship so that she didn't have to accept loans and there was room in our budget for books and a few extras.

I think of it as managing their expectations- "This is ALL we can afford so this high priced school is only an option if they award big money."

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

My daughter has finally committed to a date to take the SAT and another one to take the ACT. She still doesn't know what she is interested in doing for college.

I'm going to check on the nearby college website to see when their next open house is and schedule her for that. Plus I'd love her to tour University of Georgia and Kennesaw State University since both of those are within 2 hours of home.

Even better would be her wanting to tour Georgia Southern University - I love that smaller college and so does my son who is in year 3 there.