looking for advice regarding college.

#77
#77
Guide your children to major in a skill based demand field and not in worthless major with no or limited career opportunities like Latin or ancient Chinese art or a job that pays nothing like social work
 
#79
#79
Update (and a little proud pappa braggin'):

Daughter took ACT 2nd time. Improved score from 27 to 31.
 
#81
#81
McDad said:
Update (and a little proud pappa braggin'):

Daughter took ACT 2nd time. Improved score from 27 to 31.
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31 is pretty dang good, she shouldn't have a problem getting in to any state school.
 
#82
#82
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. recent grad

What would you have done differently in the application process, testing (ACT /SAT), and senior year of high school? know what the school requires and do accordingly. I didn't take the SAT because none of the schools required it. Auburn, UT & George Washington

What was the best thing you did for admission likelihood, scholly offers, and general navigation of the system? again really read and understand what they want. missed information is killer. community service never hurts

Were visits to the school beneficial or a waste of time? honestly a waste of time. I was bored at all of mine, and even had UT's and Auburn's campuses confused afterwards. unless you go there enough to get familiar. also if you/she has a major in mind try and meet with their admin who can tell you before hand what classes to take both in high school and college

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? again not really changing just stressing, find friends. study abroad looks good on a resume and is fun but often contributes little to your education. unless it is really specific you aren't getting much beyond what your college offers (assuming a bigger college)


ETA: I meant to post this in the Pub. Sorry zoners. Can a mod move it over for me?
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sorry i was late to the game.
 
#83
#83
McDad said:
Update (and a little proud pappa braggin'):

Daughter took ACT 2nd time. Improved score from 27 to 31.
Click to expand...

congrats, thats actually exactly what I did too. didn't bother taking it a third time. do you know if the schools she is looking at super score (combine best scores from multiple tests)(i haven't read this to know where she is looking)
 
#84
#84
LouderVol said:
congrats, thats actually exactly what I did too. didn't bother taking it a third time. do you know if the schools she is looking at super score (combine best scores from multiple tests)(i haven't read this to know where she is looking)
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Thanks for the advice earlier. She's looking at a couple of state schools, a few out of state, and a couple of private schools. She has narrowed her emphasis to engineering or healthcare. Wherever she goes, she will be weighted heavily in science and math courses. My understanding is scholarships are increased for females in science and math curricula.
 
#86
#86
McDad said:
Thanks for the advice earlier. She's looking at a couple of state schools, a few out of state, and a couple of private schools. She has narrowed her emphasis to engineering or healthcare. Wherever she goes, she will be weighted heavily in science and math courses. My understanding is scholarships are increased for females in science and math curricula.
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TN Tech has an excellent engineering program.
 
#87
#87
McDad said:
Thanks for the advice earlier. She's looking at a couple of state schools, a few out of state, and a couple of private schools. She has narrowed her emphasis to engineering or healthcare. Wherever she goes, she will be weighted heavily in science and math courses. My understanding is scholarships are increased for females in science and math curricula.
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yes, Georgia Tech might give her a free ride. ( I know out of state and all that). but they are almost desperate giving away scholarships to female engineers. my feminist sister turned them down, I about slapped her. not because I had to put my dominance into action but because she was turning away free money.
 
#88
#88
McDad said:
Thanks for the advice earlier. She's looking at a couple of state schools, a few out of state, and a couple of private schools. She has narrowed her emphasis to engineering or healthcare. Wherever she goes, she will be weighted heavily in science and math courses. My understanding is scholarships are increased for females in science and math curricula.
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Congratulations to you and your daughter. Sounds like she is making wise choices. Right now, biomedical engineering and biostatistics are hot fields - should be plenty of job opportunities in those fields for years to come.
 
#89
#89
hog88 said:
TN Tech has an excellent engineering program.
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Nursing program also excellent and hospital right on edge of campus for all their clinical work classes. Nursing is the #2 program at tech behind engineering.
 
#90
#90
OK...didn't read all the threads, so pardon me if this repeats stuff.

It's been awhile since my daughter (now 27) went thru the process, but she was our only one, so we went thru alot of research, especially my wife.

First and foremost, what's the personality of your child? My daughter was/is outgoing but she wasn't the real "rah-rah" kind of kid. We had a great visit to UT's honor dept. but in the end, while the school was big, she saw so many kids from her high school and town, she felt that she was almost back in high school. Sports was big for her (she is still a Vol fan though) and neither was the soroity scene. So she ended up going to a small school. Converesly, her best friend, who is like a 2nd daughter, was shy and pretty introverted. She ended up at WKU. Fine school and another big school we visited that really went all out. But sometimes a bigger school can be "smaller". She basically was able to hide in her room and then come home on the weekends. Never experienced college life or friendships. Because the school was bigger, she was able to blend in the background. Now if she had gone to a school like my daughters that maybe had 1000 students (smaller than her HS), her friend would be able to do that. The one thing my daughter had to adjust to was not much alone time. She would park off on a bench to kind of be by herself and before she knew it, poof, 4-5 friends are over there. A shy student would really thrive in that atmosphere I feel.

Next...ACT. My daughter was a very good student and got a number of offers based on her grades and achievements. She took the ACT a second time and got like a 33 or 34 (can't remember) and it was like the floodgates opened up. Suddenly she was getting full rides from all the public colleges in TN and really good offers from privates. ACT/SAT is important. If you find out a school she is interested accepts super scoring, then that's great. You can take your best scores from each section and combine them to make a "super" ACT score.

Lastly visits. They are worth it 100%. We made a number of visits. Once she narrowed down the 3 schools that were her faves, she did overnights. I can't tell you how important those are. Case in point. Her #1 school by far was Rhodes. Not even close. Great school. So we went for an overnight. Well another school she was interested in was Hendrix College in Arkansas (I know...Arkansas). So we arranged the overnights and the Hendrix one was first. We got there and suddenly she was whisked away with a backpack and notebook to a class with a guide. We went to talk to our own guide and went over all the financial, academic, blah blah blah. She was great. Then we go on a tour. Out the window of building I see my daughter in a group of kids making signs for some kind of protest. Laughing and having a blast. She is a bit of a hippy, so this was up her alley. Next morning, we couldn't shut her up about the visit (We left the day before for our hotel knowing this was her school). Next day we go to Rhodes. The person she was doing the overnight was 30 min. late. She finally shows up and takes my daughter. We ended up speaking to no one so we went to our hotel. Next morning we find out the girl she was staying with went to hang with her sorority friends leaving my daughter with the girl's actual roommate. She went to dinner with this roommate and then they came back and watched TV. So the school she was 100% sure she was going to, was dropped off the list. She also did an overnight at Centre College just to make sure, but because of the overnight, Hendrix proved to be the perfect school for her. She got a great education, made lifelong friends, and even her hippy-dippy major (social justice) got her a job. She is now essentially 2nd in charge with the Imagine No Malaria Campaign for UMC. Yes...I'm proud.

Whew...sorry for the long post. Other advice...do a study abroad. It's easy and essentially costs you a plane ticket. Mine studied in France for the sememster and her tuition/scholarships covered everything but the plane ticket...and of course spending money which would be the same whereever.

Thats what I got for right now. Have fun!!
 
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