looking for advice regarding college.

#26
#26
McDad said:
Are internships and work study opportunities arranged through each department at school or is there a central office that handles all of it?
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As someone else said a lot of it will be up to your daughter to find her own opportunities.

Otherwise each department will offer help finding internships for her; and some may have specific companies/places that the school already has a partership with.
 
#28
#28
Ok, here's my take. I have a daughter at UTK now. She is a sophomore majoring in business. Here are the things we learned:

1. Have her take the ACT as many times as possible. 30 is the magic number. For maximum effectiveness, the 30 has to be on one test, can't be super score. Many Tennesseans don't know that you get $1,000 more per year with the Hope scholarship with a score of 30.

2. Apply to as many schools as you can. If you your daughter is remotely interested. My daughter was an excellent student having a 4.5 gpa taking AP and honors classes. She was offered a decent scholarship to UT that in combination with the Hope covers her tuition but not room and board. We were told that for a full ride she would have had to have scored a 30 or better to have been considered for a full ride, she scored a 29. She turned down a full ride at another school because she didn't like the school. The more you apply to, the better odds of a scholarship at a school she likes. My daughter only applied to three schools.

3. There are tons of other scholarships out there. Research them on the Internet and apply for as many as you can.
 
#29
#29
McDad said:
McDaughter is a junior. We are starting the process of college selection. She's our oldest. Mom and dad are college graduates. I am hoping to get insight from those who have recently gone through this with their kids, dvice from recents college grauates, and those currently enrolled.

What would you have done differently in the application process, testing (ACT /SAT), and senior year of high school?

What was the best thing you did for admission likelihood, scholly offers, and general navigation of the system?

Were visits to the school beneficial or a waste of time?

Besides "party less, study more" what would you change about your college experience? Study abroad? Internships? Work in career placement office for inside track on jobs?


ETA: I meant to post this in the Pub. Sorry zoners. Can a mod move it over for me?
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When it comes time for this step, do all you can to make sure that your kid's first roommate is a good influence. This worked well for me, and years later for my daughter, but my son needed one more good supportive influence around him than what he had.
 
#32
#32
Good stuff in here. I'll second the community college route or not immediately declaring a major depending on the type of student she is.

I breezed through high school without really breaking a sweat. Had around a 3.8 with a 30 on my ACT. Maybe I should have looked around more, but I never wanted to go anywhere but UT. Being really good at math and physics and loving airplanes, I majored in aerospace engineering. Talk about a rude awakening. My GPA limped along for the first two years. I finally got my act together and finished strong my last two years, but the damage to my GPA was already done.

After I graduated I decided to get my masters to help my resume. I got my masters at UT as well, but this time with the right mindset. I lucked into some great research for my thesis and got to do two summer internships at the Air Force Research Lab. It was a great experience that taught me more than any of my classes, and helped me land a good job.

TLDR version... Beware focus problems especially if high school was easy for her, early GPA problems can be hard to overcome, and internships are a great way to get real works exposure to a field your interested in and can be better learning experiences than any class.
 
#33
#33
This is an open Question for anyone.

McDad said:
Regarding ACT prep / review courses, what's the general feeling on how much do they help?
Seems that taking the test and then taking a prep course and going from a composite 16 to a 26 may be easier than going from a 26 to a 31. Thoughts?
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#34
#34
jjay2518 said:
Good stuff in here. I'll second the community college route or not immediately declaring a major depending on the type of student she is.

I breezed through high school without really breaking a sweat. Had around a 3.8 with a 30 on my ACT. Maybe I should have looked around more, but I never wanted to go anywhere but UT. Being really good at math and physics and loving airplanes, I majored in aerospace engineering. Talk about a rude awakening. My GPA limped along for the first two years. I finally got my act together and finished strong my last two years, but the damage to my GPA was already done.

After I graduated I decided to get my masters to help my resume. I got my masters at UT as well, but this time with the right mindset. I lucked into some great research for my thesis and got to do two summer internships at the Air Force Research Lab. It was a great experience that taught me more than any of my classes, and helped me land a good job.

TLDR version... Beware focus problems especially if high school was easy for her, early GPA problems can be hard to overcome, and internships are a great way to get real works exposure to a field your interested in and can be better learning experiences than any class.
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Thanks. Your HS experience sounds very akin to her own so far.

You and a couple of others have stated declaring too early / taking a hit to the GPA is something you would change if you could.

Question for everyone:

is it wise to limit yourself to 12-13 hours the first semester (or two) and really nail the GPA?
 
#35
#35
InVOLuntary said:
Ok, here's my take. I have a daughter at UTK now. She is a sophomore majoring in business. Here are the things we learned:

1. Have her take the ACT as many times as possible. 30 is the magic number. For maximum effectiveness, the 30 has to be on one test, can't be super score. Many Tennesseans don't know that you get $1,000 more per year with the Hope scholarship with a score of 30.

2. Apply to as many schools as you can. If you your daughter is remotely interested. My daughter was an excellent student having a 4.5 gpa taking AP and honors classes. She was offered a decent scholarship to UT that in combination with the Hope covers her tuition but not room and board. We were told that for a full ride she would have had to have scored a 30 or better to have been considered for a full ride, she scored a 29. She turned down a full ride at another school because she didn't like the school. The more you apply to, the better odds of a scholarship at a school she likes. My daughter only applied to three schools.

3. There are tons of other scholarships out there. Research them on the Internet and apply for as many as you can.
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Clarification on your 1st point. You said,..."can't be super score"... Is that to say the score can't be super (higher than a 30) because it will eliminate some sort of Hope scholly help, or something?
Or, is it to say the 30 must be the composite and cannot be the aggregate of her highest scores on each section after taking the test multiple times?
 
#36
#36
McDad said:
Clarification on your 1st point. You said,..."can't be super score"... Is that to say the score can't be super (higher than a 30) because it will eliminate some sort of Hope scholly help, or something?
Or, is it to say the 30 must be the composite and cannot be the aggregate of her highest scores on each section after taking the test multiple times?
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Pretty sure he means 30 for a combined total. I had a 34 but that was before the Hope Scholarship. Had a 3.5 GPA and had some great schollie offers. Went to a private school where they only paid 50% of it. Huge mistake I'm still paying for today.
 
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#37
#37
McDad said:
This is an open Question for anyone.
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I'd say a lot of it depends on the teacher. Are they offered for free by your school system or do they charge?

If they're cheap or free, I'd say it can't hurt.
 
#38
#38
McDad said:
Thanks. Your HS experience sounds very akin to her own so far.

You and a couple of others have stated declaring too early / taking a hit to the GPA is something you would change if you could.

Question for everyone:

is it wise to limit yourself to 12-13 hours the first semester (or two) and really nail the GPA?
Click to expand...

That puts her on pace to graduate in 5 years. Most schools always encourage football players to do this, and even drop a course so we're down to 9 during season if needed.

It's say it depends on your kid and how well she adapts to college life. If she adapts well, 15 should be fine. But there's nothing wrong with doing 12 incase she does struggle and then catching back up with a summer course.
 
#39
#39
Vol8188 said:
I'd say a lot of it depends on the teacher. Are they offered for free by your school system or do they charge?

If they're cheap or free, I'd say it can't hurt.
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They charge. We need to check out online reviews as well.
 
#40
#40
Vol8188 said:
But there's nothing wrong with doing 12 incase she does struggle and then catching back up with a summer course.
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That precisely what I'm thinking. Daughter puts a lot of pressure on herself to do well. I'm thinking fewer hours means her pressure will be more manageable as she acclimates.
 
#41
#41
McDad said:
Clarification on your 1st point. You said,..."can't be super score"... Is that to say the score can't be super (higher than a 30) because it will eliminate some sort of Hope scholly help, or something?
Or, is it to say the 30 must be the composite and cannot be the aggregate of her highest scores on each section after taking the test multiple times?
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The latter. Super score is where you take your highest score from each category and form your super score. It has to be a 30 or higher on one individual test.
 
#42
#42
McDad said:
Thanks. Your HS experience sounds very akin to her own so far.

You and a couple of others have stated declaring too early / taking a hit to the GPA is something you would change if you could.

Question for everyone:

is it wise to limit yourself to 12-13 hours the first semester (or two) and really nail the GPA?
Click to expand...

Oddly enough, I always made a higher GPA during semesters where I took more hours. I didn't have as much free time to goof off
 
#44
#44
McDad said:
is it wise to limit yourself to 12-13 hours the first semester (or two) and really nail the GPA?
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If her schollies really depend on gpa and all that, then yes I would have done that. Unless she's just a great student, I think a lot of people would have benefitted from just one less class. I jumped straight into 18, then have stayed down at 12-15 every semester since. My gpa wasn't low, but I think it suffered a bit from a heavier load too early.

Scheduling is another issue she'll have to prepare for. Obviously she has the freedom to pick when she do stuff. My only advice is if you truly hate early mornings, then do everything you can to avoid it. I'm terrible in the mornings, and every semester I did my best to avoid classes before 10. My advisor was a ***** about this because she kept saying "you need 8 am classes because it'll force you to work harder". But I know myself and made the best choice. It's a little harder once you get past all the basic level stuff, because there's fewer choices, but it's worth it imo if you know you'll struggle getting up to focus. I'd rather have a class at 4 or 5 pm than at 8 am. I also spread my classes out and usually only had 2 on Tuesday/Thursday, and 3 on Monday/Wed/Friday. Some try to pile them all onto a MWF schedule and free up Tuesday/Thurs, but thats a bad choice imo.
 
#45
#45
McDad said:
That precisely what I'm thinking. Daughter puts a lot of pressure on herself to do well. I'm thinking fewer hours means her pressure will be more manageable as she acclimates.
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Just remind her that you're always there for her. When I started, and a lot of the things I encountered were difficult, I had a lot of problems in my own head. Keeping those problems to oneself is never healthy. I remember my dad being there during some rough times, maybe when a class didn't go how I wanted or something dumb happened, and it meant a lot.
 
#46
#46
SDV said:
Oddly enough, I always made a higher GPA during semesters where I took more hours. I didn't have as much free time to goof off
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I agree with this. It makes you buckle down. I wouldn't recommend anything less than 15 hours a semester. It might be a jolt at first, but at least she gets a better understanding of college. If she takes 12 hours, the step up will be a huge change for her. I'd say it would be a bigger challenge to adjust to a full 18 hour load after only taking 12 hours than it would be to start at 18 right away.
 
#47
#47
I work at a large university. I think it is a good idea to start with a slightly lighter load as long as you emphasize that if things go ok, you want her to ramp up.

Visiting is good just to determine if she thinks the fit is ok. I wouldn't expect tours to reveal anything significant or super enlightening.

Depending on her field, I would definitely ask about how they are helping students get practical experience via internships. This is getting to be an expectation now when you graduate and look for permanent employment.

Good luck!
 
#48
#48
McDad said:
Thank you for the well-wishes. We are considering the CC route if scholarships aren't in the picture.
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I would recommend a little research to ensure the undergrad credits from the CC will transfer to whichever institution she will finish her degree.

My CC credits were accepted by some universities, but not all.
 
#49
#49
McDad said:
Thanks. Your HS experience sounds very akin to her own so far.

You and a couple of others have stated declaring too early / taking a hit to the GPA is something you would change if you could.

Question for everyone:

is it wise to limit yourself to 12-13 hours the first semester (or two) and really nail the GPA?
Click to expand...

It's definitely not a bad idea. There will be an adjustment to how much more time each course requires outside of the classroom. If she took less she could easily make up one or two classes during the summer to stay on track for four years (and my experience with summer classes is that they cover the same material but are usually easier to make good grades in).
 
#50
#50
Don't force her to take the ACT over and over and over again. Have her take it early to get a feel of how it actually works, then give her a break for a couple months, then have her get into the studying to retake it. Spending her entire time studying for that can harm her studying for classes and it can just fry her brain.

I was in band in HS and my parents forced me to take the test 3 total times, which wouldn't be awful if the 2nd wasn't while I was on a trip to Disney with the band. We had like 8 guys taking it at a high school in Orlando. It was each student's worst score.
 
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