This discussion has been moved.
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Moved: Curious: Did she get played superbly by Chelsea Clinton?
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"A nursing degree from an Ivy is a waste"
I am new here but I have a question I ask sincerely and with good intent.
There seems to me to be a severe culture on CC which criticizes people for wanting prestigious or private college educations. An example is the quote below, from another thread (poster name withheld).
Maybe you would need a 5 at an Ivy, but a nursing degree from an Ivy is a waste.
- If it is a college you are proud to go to, and love, why is it a waste?
- Why isn't the value of a high-demand education its own reward?
- Why should this critical developmental life decision -- which has social and interpersonal effects which quite possibly outstrip the professional ones -- be decided with a spreadsheet like calculating ROIs on Municipal Bonds?
- And more importantly, why do posters feel so entitled to tell people things like "it's a waste"?
A recent thread where a student asked why he shouldn't enroll at MIT when he could go to UCSB for $160K less, people were very adamant that "you won't make $160K more in your career with the MIT degree" (paraphrased). Let's forget the fact that they have no idea if that is true, nor do they have data supporting it... Why would that MATTER?
It's turning me off this otherwise incredible source of information.
For the record, I am not talking about threads where people state they can't afford to pay for one they want. Those are different (and heartbreaking) circumstances and I understand that.
Sorry, I'll hop off the soapbox myself now ;-)
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National Merit pics make students feel bad
Traditionally, the front hall at our high school displays the photos of the current years 30 odd National Merit Semi-Finalists. The other 98% of the school is primarily covered with photos of athletes.
This week I was told that they removed the National Merit photos because someone complained that the photos make other students who didn't get the award feel bad about themselves. Of course the athletes photos are fine. All heck would break loose it the athletic pics came down.
To me it is sad that it has become unacceptable to do anything at all to recognize academic achievement. It was almost never recognized before, but apparently that was a little bit too often for the pc police.
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Just smile and nod...smile and nod
It's that time of year. Well-meaning family and friends blurt-out unimformed reactions to our college news. What masters of self-control we must be to keep from laughing in their faces or kicking them in the shin.
Some comments we've heard about Son attending Wake Forest:
"OMG! You do know that's run by Baptists, right?"
"Too bad he has to go someplace so small."
On the ROTC scholarship:
"Why doesn't he want to go to college?"
What have you encountered? Share it here. We'll laugh and comisserate together.
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BYU - So Upsetting Reading/Watching This
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/29/health/brigham-young-university-rape/
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Georgia colleges-- campus carry bill vetoed!
At the very 11th hour, Georgia's governor vetoed the campus carry bill. Many may disagree, but I applaud this decision.
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Rape By CMC Students
http://www.thepeelonline.com/anonymous-pitzer-student-raped-at-cmc/
Just ugly.
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Setting up incentives for Kids to focus on academics in college
While we were trying to make a decision on private college for our child, I talked to one parent who told me that they had worked out an agreement with their daughter that as long as she did well in school ( A's and B's) they would pick up the tab for private school (i.e they would fund the education fully).
If their daughter went crazy (I think this school has a reputation for being a greek dominated party school) while at college and started earning C and D's then they would make her pay a sliding scale of the costs they were incurring. They said this was an incentive for their daughter to focus on being a good student. She could graduate without debt and loans if she focused on being a good student. If she however decided that she wanted to "find herself" or "party till the wee hours of the morning" she could do that too, but on her own dime and would graduate with a lot of debt, since her parents would withdraw their support.
They did not expect problems, but since it was such a significant investment, they wanted their daughter to know what was at stake.
At first I thought this was kind of strange, but I have been mulling over this for a bit and I can "kind of" see the logic. Establish some boundaries and principles and then let the kid play within the boundaries, kind of thing.
Have any of the parents here tried this or some other incentives to encourage their kids to pay attention to their academics in college?
Please don't come back with comments like "if they can't trust their kid, woe on them" or "such a kid should not be going to private school" or some such thing.
Chime in with any ideas you might have.
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It is that time of year!! The annual list of colleges that still have openings on the NACAC Website
Every year around May 5, NACAC (National Association of College Admission Counselors) publishes "a list of College Openings Update: Options for Qualified Students (formerly the Space Availability Survey) is a voluntary listing of NACAC member postsecondary institutions that are still accepting applications from prospective freshman and/or transfer students for the upcoming fall term." This list gives the names of colleges still accepting applications for FAll 2016 enrollment.
Here is the link to the list: http://www.nacacnet.org/research/research-data/College-Openings/Pages/College-Openings-Results.aspx
Please be aware that this list is updated daily so a college may appear today, fill the spot and not be on it in a couple of days. The list is only available until July.
Please feel free to move this post if there is a better forum for this information.
Good luck to those students still applying to colleges for Fall 2016
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Private Universities Should Stop Wealth-Hoarding and Share
From an editorial in Crains Chicago Business:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rw2ifctZIpUJ:www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160331/OPINION/160339964?template=printart+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
A snapshot from Chicago: In the past few weeks, as faculty and staff at Chicago State University reviewed their pink slips, and those at Northeastern Illinois University learned about mandatory furloughs amounting to 20 percent pay cuts, University of Chicago announced a $35 million gift from the founder of an investment firm to establish a “new think tank to research urban issues.” It received another $10 million dollar donation from the Pritzker family to fund “Urban Labs” that will support research addressing the “big challenges cities face.”
In fact, these donations are one of the challenges. Another is what can only be termed “wealth-hoarding” by private universities.....
Our modest proposal, then, is that the University of Chicago and similarly well-endowed private institutions should share their assets with Chicago State, Northeastern Illinois and other struggling public schools. Our students are incredible. They can also conduct exemplary research and can offer the best solutions and policies for the communities in which they live.
Or, better yet, why not nationalize the private universities so that all students in Chicago, from all communities, can benefit from their excellent resources?
Research isn't necessary to understand that sharing, not hoarding, is central to solving the “urban problems” of the day.
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Pennsyvania College Vaccine requirements
Hello Parents,
Hoping some Pennsylvania parents can clear up the vaccination requirements for my son. We are from Connecticut and my son is heading to Lehigh this fall. He has had two doses of the meningitis B vaccine and will be getting the last one in August before school. Are Pennsylvania students required to get the old meningitis vaccine as well? I guess it is known as MCV4 - Menactra or Meneveo. Not required in Connecticut. Sure would be nice if the vaccination requirements were a national requirement. Thanks a bunch.
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Moved: Any schools to add to list?
This discussion has been moved.
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Stacking Aid: Need-based + Merit on top?
Is this a myth or reality that some colleges sweeten the FA pot for particularly attractive candidates? I have heard parents claim their children received their need-based financial aid in full, and then merit aid on top of that as an extra incentive. The implication is that their S or D was so wonderful that the school really wanted to make sure the student chose to attend, and thus essentially gave them more than what they needed based on FAFSA and/or the CSS.
However, the schools we've visited seem to offer either / or, meaning they give FA to those who need it regardless of any merit ranking, and then academic or talent merit aid to wealthier students as a way to lure them in. One school we visited does claim to give both types of aid to one student, but it's definitely not stacked. Merit gets put in the pot first, and then need-based aid is added to reach the total need amount. No FA student is going to ever get more than their calculated need, in other words (not that I expect they should, of course). Affluent students, however, do receive more than they technically need, since their EFC is the total COA yet they may receive as much as a $25,000 merit award.
Can anyone verify that their talented S or D received a "sweetened financial aid pot?"
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Moved: Albuquerque info?
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Studying abroad in Russia - safety?
Hi, CC parents,
I've been lurking for several days but something has just come up with S and i'd like to get your opinions.
I live in NY and S1 is a student at a Texas state school. He's enjoying it and is double majoring in international relations and international business. He also loves languages, having studied French, Italian, Arabic, Spanish, and most recently, Russian. He's also very eager to study abroad, which H and i are encouraging him to do because we never had that opportunity in college.
Last semester, he had to fulfill some sort of world history requirement, and to do that, he took a Russian history class that he enjoyed very much. It was a small class, and he ended up as one of the professor's favorite students. He also got obsessed with the idea of studying abroad in Russia, and this professor recommended a program for him. S1 is very excited about the prospect of doing this program - a whole summer in St. Petersburg, Russia!
However, I'm VERY concerned for his safety. We are most emphatically not "Russian-looking" - H and I are both black. I've read some truly chilling things about foreign students/immigrants being assaulted and murdered in Russia by violent Russian nationalists, and I've read that sadly this type of crime is on the rise. I had no idea about this phenomenon and I couldn't believe it was true.
Just try to imagine my shock when I casually Googled "Russia crime" and was barraged with pages of sad videos and articles about victims of violent nationalism in Russia - black students afraid to leave their dorms, an Armenian woman whose husband was beaten to death in broad daylight by skinheads, Chinese students beaten on the Moscow metro, Central Asian workers dragged into the forest and decapitated on VIDEO with knives. I asked a Russian acquaintance of mine about all this and she said that sadly, it was all true and that those types of attacks rarely make headlines and that the perpetrators are either given extremely lenient punishments or are not punished at all.
And THEN, as if i wasn't already beside myself, i read that St. Petersburg has the highest incidence of this type of crime. I just can't fathom the thought of S1 even being verbally harassed by these people. I know that old axiom that "racism is everywhere" (and before you tell me that I'm being narrow-minded, that there's plenty of racism here - trust me, i KNOW that) but I just don't know if Russia is a safe place for my son to be all summer. I also realize that not ALL Russians are like this, and that most foreign students probably study in Russia without any real issues. I'm just afraid to subscribe to the line of thinking that "it'll never happen to me."
I just don't know how to express these concerns to him without hurting his feelings. I want him to be happy, but I also want him to be safe. What would you do in my place? Thank you so much in advance.
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Moved: Advise figuring out safeties, matches and reaches for my 2017 DD
This discussion has been moved.
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Where did your 3.3-3.6 GPA child get in?
Calling all parents who have been through the cycle of the dreaded college application - help for those with less than perfect GPA kids.
Admission process takes months and the waiting is going to be rough, we don't even have a clean college list as yet! Hence my thought of starting this thread to give other parents in similar situation a hope and a clear trend to where other kids have gotten admissions.
If you do not mind sharing the GPA and SAT stats please state them.
I am a mom of rising senior son, hence this thread. He has 3.3 uw GPA and 2100 SAT. He is looking to major in Comp Sc (Software), a down to earth kid, would have loved the Stanford/Rice kind of environment with down to earth student body and pleasant weather. Thanks!
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Need advice for my specific case -- paying for sons college -- what to do/not to do?
I already mentioned in other threads my particular case. I have three sons. One is going to college this year, second son next year and the third will be 8 years from now (not yet an issue).
I would like to thank those who already contributed and gave advice. It is already helping me form a decision, or at least giving me many options.
One best thing I've learned today is the automatic full-ride scholarships at some colleges (outside California)...I didn't know that.
Anyway, as I said, I am lucky enough to make good money starting a couple of years ago that I am just starting to save up for retirement and kids college, and not lucky enough for kids to qualify for FA. I promised, and hope I could keep my job to keep my promise, to my first 2 sons that I can afford 15k each/year. That basically cover for tuition.
First son has 4.5 GPA (weighted) and 1900'ish SAT and wants to be a chemical engineer. We live in Bakersfield CA. CSUB is an option but it does not offer chemical engineering. Second option would be UC Irvine or San Diego but we have to take a loan, which could amount to 120k total for 2 sons after graduation.
Options I learned today:
1. Apply for automatic full-ride scholarships.
2. Go to community college first, and then transfer to UC later.
Both sound good to me and I will discuss this to my sons.
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Penn State has spent over $92 million on Sandusky scandal with more to come
Penn State University has spent more than $92 million in the last two years on settlements and related costs in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal — and it could still face claims from six or even more alleged victims, according to university documents published this week.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/penn-state-could-face-claims-six-more-alleged-jerry-sandusky-n469766
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How important are grades in non core classes?
DS just found out his grade dropped from a B+ to B for orchestra. He has been in orchestra through all three years of high school. He will likely end up with a B for the semester. Music is one of his major ECs, and he is interested in pursuing a music minor in college. Will it look odd that he has this one B, while his prior grades in orchestra were A's? I won't get into why the grade dropped, but trust me, it is for a very petty reason. Orchestra grades are not calculated as part of his high school GPA, but it will still appear on his transcript.
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