Parents of the High School Class of 2017/College 2021

[robinb]

Is anyone else considering a gap year?

I think it depends on how well my DD's college search goes. It's at a standstill right now.

ETA: My niece is taking a gap year between undergrad and med school.

 

[punkin]

I think it depends on how well my DD's college search goes. It's at a standstill right now.

ETA: My niece is taking a gap year between undergrad and med school.

Yes, our college search is not going well. I think she could use another year to mature a little bit more.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Is anyone else considering a gap year?

For DS17, no. But, DS20 didn't jump right into a four year college. For the last two years he has been taking classes at the local community college and working. He now plans to apply to a few colleges and hopefully start in January. There is no way to know, of course, but I think that there is a good chance that had he gone to a four year school right away, he would not have lasted. So, not a gap year, but he just needed more time.

 

[robinb]

Our local community college is also an option. They have a great program called the "Liberal Arts Transfer Program" that allows kids to get all the prerequisites out of the way in 2 years and they are guaranteed to be accepted at the University of Wisconsin for their final 2 years as long as they have a "B" average.

 

[aprilgail]

Sounds like a great program. I hope she continues to have a great time. I know my daughter got a few things for summer college programs but none that interested her enough to pay the price. She's good at science but it isn't what she wants to do.

My daughter also wants an urban school. She wants to be at a school where she can she regular people doing regular things (as she puts it). Her top choice cities are DC, Pittsburgh, Boston and NY.

Got the teary "I miss you" facetime last night- they had a meeting at school and it talked all about "homesickness" - she says "I wasn't homesick until I went to that meeting!" She made some good friends and is having a good time otherwise- hopefully she will get over the "homesick hump" and be fine. She wants to go away for college so at least this will give her a taste of what going away will be like!

 

[aprilgail]

Well the homesick lasted one night LOL--been good since-she says she is having the time of her life!

Did anyone in the Northeast go to the College Fair that Brown hosted yesterday? My daughter said there were a lot of colleges there and she was happy because may she talked to said her ACT scores were right in the range or those colleges. She said she got a bunch of info on a few colleges and actually expressed interest in 2 that had not previously been on her radar.

 

[robinb]

Well the homesick lasted one night LOL--been good since-she says she is having the time of her life!

Did anyone in the Northeast go to the College Fair that Brown hosted yesterday? My daughter said there were a lot of colleges there and she was happy because may she talked to said her ACT scores were right in the range or those colleges. She said she got a bunch of info on a few colleges and actually expressed interest in 2 that had not previously been on her radar.

I'm glad things are going well for her!

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Yesterday we visited one of DD's top choices - James Madison University. We had a private meeting with a Nursing Department person, an admissions meeting and a campus tour. It was her second favorite college so far and she definitely had the stats to get in. She likes Virginia Tech better, but Va Tech doesn't have nursing, so it's probably not making the cut. We have a Nursing Open House scheduled at University of Virginia (her reach school) on October 8th. She has set up hospital volunteering this summer to make her UVA application stronger. She's also starting her SAT prep class next week. She needs to pull up her math scores if she wants a shot at UVA.

So far she's toured:
Radford - had nursing, but she didn't like the school at all, has no football team
Old Dominion University - has nursing and football team, but she didn't like the school
William and Mary - no nursing
Virginia Tech - no nursing (LOVED it though)
Christopher Newport - she liked the school, but it doesn't have nursing
James Madison University - hits everything on her list (nursing, football team, not a commuter school, likes it)

In addition to UVA we may look at Longwood and Mary Washington. Both have nursing but no football team so she probably won't like them. Longwood and UVA are direct admit for nursing though, which is a plus. Virginia Commonwealth University has nursing and is in our backyard, but she doesn't like it (no football, a big commuter school). As least she knows what she is looking for!

Once she makes her decisions, I think she'll apply early action and hopefully we will be done with this in January.

 

[robinb]

Yesterday we visited one of DD's top choices - James Madison University. We had a private meeting with a Nursing Department person, an admissions meeting and a campus tour. It was her second favorite college so far and she definitely had the stats to get in. She likes Virginia Tech better, but Va Tech doesn't have nursing, so it's probably not making the cut. We have a Nursing Open House scheduled at University of Virginia (her reach school) on October 8th. She has set up hospital volunteering this summer to make her UVA application stronger. She's also starting her SAT prep class next week. She needs to pull up her math scores if she wants a shot at UVA.

So far she's toured:
Radford - had nursing, but she didn't like the school at all, has no football team
Old Dominion University - has nursing and football team, but she didn't like the school
William and Mary - no nursing
Virginia Tech - no nursing (LOVED it though)
Christopher Newport - she liked the school, but it doesn't have nursing
James Madison University - hits everything on her list (nursing, football team, not a commuter school, likes it)

In addition to UVA we may look at Longwood and Mary Washington. Both have nursing but no football team so she probably won't like them. Longwood and UVA are direct admit for nursing though, which is a plus. Virginia Commonwealth University has nursing and is in our backyard, but she doesn't like it (no football, a big commuter school). As least she knows what she is looking for!

Once she makes her decisions, I think she'll apply early action and hopefully we will be done with this in January.

She needs to be 100% double-dog sure that the college is right for her and that you can pay for it to do early action.

I dont think I would give up my options just to 'be done' with the process.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

She needs to be 100% double-dog sure that the college is right for her and that you can pay for it to do early action.

I dont think I would give up my options just to 'be done' with the process.

I have no issue with Early Action as it's not binding. Early Action just lets her know if she is in in January and cuts months of stressful waiting out of the picture. She would apply Early Action to both JMU and UVA. You don't have to make any decisions until April 30th and can wait until all the regular application acceptances are in. Plus at some schools you have a better shot at getting accepted Early Action. DS did the same thing (EA) 2 years ago. It was such a huge relief when he got a "yes" from his top choice school in January! Early Decision (binding) is a completely different thing.

Paying for it is not an problem. All the schools she is considering are in state schools. We did the 4 year 529 prepaid tuition program for each of our kids when they were little. Tuition and mandatory fees to our state schools are already paid for. We won't need to wait for financial aid awards to make any decisions; we didn't get anything but the $5500 unsubsidized loan with DS. I took a better job with more hours, more responsibility and a bigger paycheck 2 years ago to pay for room and board.

 

[lucky978]

Around here (northeast) Early Action is the only way to go for some of the competitive majors (nursing included). By the time the schools get to regular admission, their spots are already filled.

 

[laughinplace199]

My DD is considering applying early to her favorite (so far) school. She'll decide for sure once she's seen the other schools on her list, but so far she likes it more than the others. It's a reach school, but that may be her best shot at getting in.

 

[bjscheel]

One of DD's classmates was killed in a motorcycle accident last night. She wasn't close friends with her, but still in a class of about 50 kids you know everyone pretty well. I don't know how she's holding up at work this morning but I'll see her at lunch.

 

[laughinplace199]

That's terrible! I can't even imagine what the family and friends are going through. I hope your DD is doing ok.

 

[bjscheel]

I remember when I was a freshman, two sophomores died in an accident and I got the call on a Saturday morning. It just seemed surreal then, and felt more real going to school on Monday. One of the best things the teachers did was change up the assigned seating that Monday so there weren't those empty chairs. Being summer it will be different, but they are having grief counselors at school this afternoon.

 

[SmallWorld71]

One of DD's classmates was killed in a motorcycle accident last night. She wasn't close friends with her, but still in a class of about 50 kids you know everyone pretty well. I don't know how she's holding up at work this morning but I'll see her at lunch.

How awful! Every parents' worst nightmare.

 

[robinb]

How terrible! {{hugs}} to you and your DD.

 

[Poohforyou]

I'm so sorry bjscheel.

 

[punkin]

I'm so sorry. It is just awful.

 

[bjscheel]

Well our first college visit is done. I don't know if we'll visit others or not! The private colleges are so expensive, the other public universities are so big, and she doesn't want to go too far away. This is a public university, but small and in a small town, which makes our country girl much more comfortable than the big spread out schools in the cities. Love that it's compact and you can walk to every building easily. I also liked that they could tell us the automatic scholarships based on ACT score, rank, & GPA so we already have a good idea of cost. Plus all books and a laptop are included. Need to raise her ACT by 2 points this fall to step up to the next level of scholarships but I think she can. Of course she liked the newer dorm, which is $900 more but we'll see.

When we got home there was a letter from the one private college she applied to, offering what sounds like a huge scholarship per year, but it still costs $10,000 more per year than the one we visited.