Parents of the Class of 2019

[mom2rtk]

I think Madison would be tempting to visit, too

I knew it was risky to try to get to New York in March but thought the opportunity waa too good to pass up (plus it's been warm and sunny here so kind of forgot about the Groundhog's warning).

I keep telling my 22 year old son that we're sending her to Madison and she's taking his second bedroom.

Let's just say that he's not on board yet.

I hope you get your visit rescheduled soon!

 

[mjkacmom]

I think Madison would be tempting to visit, too

I knew it was risky to try to get to New York in March but thought the opportunity waa too good to pass up (plus it's been warm and sunny here so kind of forgot about the Groundhog's warning).

Good call, I was just expecting heavy rain, but a lot of icy snow is currently falling.

 

[tink1970]

Good call, I was just expecting heavy rain, but a lot of icy snow is currently falling.

Yikes!! Thanks for reinforcing my decision

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Yikes!! Thanks for reinforcing my decision

That stinks Tink1970 that your visit had to be cancelled!

 

[tink1970]

That stinks Tink1970 that your visit had to be cancelled!

Thanks @MerissaAndMomLoveDis On the bright side, we got part of the fence painted today since it's gorgeous here. So there's that silver lining

I had DD email the program director for the tour/info session and he was kind enough to email back and let us know of another upcoming date. Fingers crossed it works with our schedule; I know she was disappointed we cancelled.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Good morning all,

Checking in to report back on DD visit to University of Texas-Austin yesterday. We did the campus tour/admissions talk, Engineering Department meet, the official tour of the San Jacinto dorm and an unofficial tour of Kinsolving dorm, where the Women In Engineering Living Learning housing is. We also attended the accepted students meeting with her boyfriend, who was with us and has been accepted into the aerospace engineering program at UT. She came away very in to the whole vibe at UT and decided she wants to apply to the Engineering Honors program and also to the Women In Engineering Living Learning housing (they only accept 40). I honestly was surprised at how much she liked it. I guess mostly I did not know if she would be ok with (a) how big it is and (b) that it is smack in the middle of the city—definitely an open campus in the very sense of the definition. Every where else we have visited was more of a closed or contained campus. Also, it is tough for a freshman to have a car on campus there, and I was not sure what her reaction would be to that (I’ll bring my bike mom!).

One thing I learned (I am probably late to the game here and you guys probably already know this about some colleges)—UT opens housing applications on August 1st, 2018 for Fall housing 2019. There is only enough freshman housing for about 60 % of the accepted students. UT recommends you make a housing deposit of $50 ON THE DAY YOU COMPLETE YOUR APPLICATION, and that you do both in August or September. This is before you even know if you are accepted!! The time/day of deposit receipt’s timestamp determines your position for housing. I never thought about doing a housing deposit for a school your child is applying to but has no idea if that is where they will end up!!!!! But I guess I will be putting aside some money budgeted for making some housing deposits.

And for the part I liked the best about the visit... they have a Safe Rides program promoted by Texas-Ex Matthew McConaughey, and he can often be seen out driving the car for the Safe Ride program hahaha. Our tour guide shared her exuberance at calling for a ride and being so shocked that he responded as her ride. Apparently he was good natured about taking selfies with her to commemorate the occasion. Lol. Anyway...

We knew she was applying to UT, but the visit and seeing students in action yesterday and being super impressed with the Engineering school opportunities really helped solidify exactly what her plan would be for that school.

 

[bjscheel]

We are back from our first official visit, to a school affiliated with our church denomination. It was rainy, windy, and 40. Fortunately the rain stopped for our walking tour and we got home before the ice.

DD went in with the attitude that she wasn't interested because she's so into the school we're visiting next month, but after talking to a Geography professor she decided she could see herself going there. The distance isn't bad and it's a great school. The problem with this one is cost, so we'll have to see. We went with a group from our church district. At the hotel DD had her eye on one of the boys so today at lunch when he and his mom were looking lost I pointed out our table and we had a great talk and knew several people in common so...that was fun. I am becoming my mother

 

[StephMK]

Love reading about everyone’s visits! I can’t believe this time next year we’ll all just be talking and waiting for decisions!

DS has been researching like crazy and finally made himself a spreadsheet. He has some pretty specific criteria but he keeps revising them and then can’t remember which schools offer everything.

I am trying to plan our road trip to see them this summer so we’ll see how it ends up. DD18 is officially enrolled at her school so we will also be going to her college orientation.

I’m ready but not ready for all of this at the same time!!!

 

[mjkacmom]

Going to Villanova in a few weeks. Johns Hopkins is coming to NYC next month, but there is a dance fundraiser that day. We will probably check out Fordham over break too.

 

[laughinplace199]

Going to Villanova in a few weeks. Johns Hopkins is coming to NYC next month, but there is a dance fundraiser that day. We will probably check out Fordham over break too.

Villanova and Fordham are on our list too. Unfortunately we won’t be able to visit until the summer.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I’m ready but not ready for all of this at the same time!!!

So true!

 

[soccerdad72]

Our tour to Univ. of Cincy went well this weekend - even though it's an urban campus, it's all pretty compact, so nothing on campus is more than a 10-15 minute walk away. They're a few blocks from downtown Cincy, so there would be a lot to do.

The engineering tour part of the day went especially well. My son was really impressed with all the facilities they have. And their co-op program (apparently, the first in the nation going back over 100 years) is top notch, with all engineering students required to do 5 semesters of paid co-op's.

We also found out the same afternoon as the tour that he got accepted into the summer engineering program at UC. They only accepted like 25 students for the program, so he was pretty excited to get accepted. It will also give him a good chance to be on campus and get a feel for living there. Right now, this may be one of his top choices.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Our tour to Univ. of Cincy went well this weekend - even though it's an urban campus, it's all pretty compact, so nothing on campus is more than a 10-15 minute walk away. They're a few blocks from downtown Cincy, so there would be a lot to do.

The engineering tour part of the day went especially well. My son was really impressed with all the facilities they have. And their co-op program (apparently, the first in the nation going back over 100 years) is top notch, with all engineering students required to do 5 semesters of paid co-op's.

We also found out the same afternoon as the tour that he got accepted into the summer engineering program at UC. They only accepted like 25 students for the program, so he was pretty excited to get accepted. It will also give him a good chance to be on campus and get a feel for living there. Right now, this may be one of his top choices.

Glad your campus visit went well, and Congrats on your son’s acceptance to the summer engineering program! That is so exciting, especially since they took such a small number! I think it is so helpful to do a summer program when the kids are considering engineering. We are currently waiting on 4 more summer programs to make final acceptances. All of the programs were highly competitive, so I don’t have any idea what her chances are. DD had a finalist interview with one last week—waiting is so hard! Plus it sure has made it hard to plan for the summer as we wait to see if she got accepted, and to which one.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Man has it been a busy couple of months! DD finished her swim season, which was pretty uneventful since she voluntarily asked to be put on the "C" team so she could focus on schoolwork. Apparently her plants in her Biotech research class have a fungus, all of them even the control batches, so their data is all corrupt, so it's a great baptism by fire into how actual science works! She's not in too bad of spirits for that, because her team is Juniors this year, they'll continue their project for next year.

No other college visits, but we did find out that the wife of one of DH's coworkers is the regional interviewer for Vanderbilt, who has sent her probably 10 promotional fliers over the last year. They're ranked pretty high for Biological Engineering majors, so she's interested in going, but we can't swing any touring until the summer and DD gets back from her Thailand trip.

The biggest surprise of the year so far? DD actually wants to go to Prom! Her friends and her are going as a group because on of their members is a Senior this year and he actually wants to go. So we've been doing some prom dress shopping. DD had a dream dress in mind, so she found a local store that sells that maker and model of dress. We went to try it on and it looked awesome on her! Then, we find out that they will only sell any model of dress to 1 girl at each high school, and if someone else has already bought that dress, they won't sell it to another girl from that high school. So, the dream dress was out from that store, and we bought it on-line. Should be here any day!

Here's the dress, just in case anyone is looking for one (this is obviously not DD!

 

[mjkacmom]

Gorgeous dress! At our school (and I think this is common) there are instagram pages created (starting with the 6th grade dance), and when someone posts a picture of a dress, no one else can buy it. I know so many girls with unreturnable dresses that are never worn, for this reason. We’re in NJ, but this happened to my friend’s Dd in MA. Fortunately they only owned the dress for under 24 hours, and the dress shop took pity on them and gave them a credit.

I think it’s absolutely nuts, my dd said no to a couple of formal dresses because they looked too similar to others posted. We have a junior formal, only seniors have prom, and it’s in the gym, no limos, although most girls ge5 hair and makeup done. Girls are wearing long this year, I think that should be for prom. This is dd’s dress, I liked others more, but she chose this for the reason above. It looks nice on her, she’s short and skinny lacking some assets that some dresses require.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

View attachment 309894 Gorgeous dress! At our school (and I think this is common) there are instagram pages created (starting with the 6th grade dance), and when someone posts a picture of a dress, no one else can buy it. I know so many girls with unreturnable dresses that are never worn, for this reason. We’re in NJ, but this happened to my friend’s Dd in MA. Fortunately they only owned the dress for under 24 hours, and the dress shop took pity on them and gave them a credit.

I think it’s absolutely nuts, my dd said no to a couple of formal dresses because they looked too similar to others posted. We have a junior formal, only seniors have prom, and it’s in the gym, no limos, although most girls ge5 hair and makeup done. Girls are wearing long this year, I think that should be for prom. This is dd’s dress, I liked others more, but she chose this for the reason above. It looks nice on her, she’s short and skinny lacking some assets that some dresses require.

That's a great dress! Here the Juniors and Seniors are together for prom, but it's planned and funded by the Junior class as a "gift" to the graduating Seniors. Underclassmen (9th, 10th grader) can go as invitees, but are unable to buy tickets to the dance, and it's expected that they will wear short dresses rather than gowns.

I'm just floored that she wants to go, because she's always been very anti-school dance, and wears jeans and a t-shirt or sweater every day. She doesn't wear makeup, and doesn't really do her hair, so her interest in wanting to do this surprises me.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Such pretty dresses. Thanks for posting the photos!

 

[mjkacmom]

That's a great dress! Here the Juniors and Seniors are together for prom, but it's planned and funded by the Junior class as a "gift" to the graduating Seniors. Underclassmen (9th, 10th grader) can go as invitees, but are unable to buy tickets to the dance, and it's expected that they will wear short dresses rather than gowns.

I'm just floored that she wants to go, because she's always been very anti-school dance, and wears jeans and a t-shirt or sweater every day. She doesn't wear makeup, and doesn't really do her hair, so her interest in wanting to do this surprises me.

I think it’s great she is going with friends. Dd is bringing her boyfriend if one year who goes to an all boys Catholic school a half hour away. He does know her friends, who all have dates, but the dates are all just friends. I think she will obligated to hang with him, while her friends will be dancing with each other.

 

[mom2rtk]

You guys are way ahead of us in all of this! Congrats to everyone setting up summer programs and finding prom dresses! We still haven't scheduled any school visits. Hopefully now that the roads aren't covered in ice half the time we can get going on it. Right now I can't seem to interest her in pursuing some more competitive schools. She's hanging tight with wanting to go to one of the state schools.

We just completed a weekend with the fake baby, so at least she's firmly convinced she needs to make enough money to hire a night nanny. She was never so happy for a Monday morning to roll around!

 

[KristiMc]

My son will be going to the prom with his girlfriend who is a senior. Our school only has a senior prom. Here is her dress.