momof4girls Daughter #2 college search thread

[momof4girls]

I completely enjoyed follow AGDee's college search threads and thought I would start one for my daughter. There is so much wealth of information here and I think I am really going to need a place to talk through this adventure.

Background:
Daughter #2, Cheddar (name changed to protect the innocent), is a sophomore in high school. She is most definitely my brainiac child. Cheddar is currently ranked in the top 5% of her class and has a goal to graduate top 5. When class rankings were posted she looked at me and said "I didn't realize I was that smart". Her father and I have continuous told her how smart she was over the years and in typical daughter fashion it was in one ear and out the other. She took her SAT in 8th grade (without any studying) and scored higher than the national average high school senior for that year. She will be taking her PSAT this fall (for national merit purposes) and I will also be signing her up for her SAT again this fall.

Cheddar is a second year varsity softball player and the varsity mascot this year. She's also involved with key club and crime stoppers club. She will be talking with her German teacher about joining the German club. Her algebra II teacher is talking about starting a math club. If that comes to fruition she will most definitely sign up. If she hasn't missed the deadline, she's decided to become active in student council as well. She has been in all AP classes since she started high school and is taking 5.0 classes for electives.

Personality wise, this child has an amazing poker face. She shows no outward emotion when she truly enjoys things. This frustrates me! I often refer to Cheddar as my absent minded professor. Intellectually she will blow you away, but every day, simple activities she forgets. Examples... Paperwork that is sent home from school will never make it into my hands, ever. Her cheer sponsor texts me to make sure she's at practice; otherwise she will forget to tell me she has practice. She often forgets to zip her zipper. What is this?! Simple everyday stuff and she will forget, but throw the quadratic equation at her and she'll solve it perfectly and quickly in her head. Mind boggling. She's friendly, outgoing and funny. Definitely has a great group of friends. Not awkward or shy on any level. She is very blunt. She'll tell you exactly how it is and not sugar coat anything. I'm working with her to tone that down some. Loves, loves, loves to read. She would stay in her room and read continuously if I let her. We have no volunteer work and will be working on that. Getting her to be active and not sit in her room and read can be challenging at times. She’s rather simple in her everyday living. She never asks for anything and it doesn’t matter to her if her clothes are from Abercrombie or from Wal-Mart.

Since she was 7 she has said she wanted to attend OU and study meteorology. Meteorology is still her first choice of majors, which knocks out a long list of schools. She wants to study atmospheric meteorology and not oceanic. That knocks out even more schools. Her dream job would be working with the national weather service.

Her requirements for college:
She wants a good school. Nationally ranked high is how I read that, but she hasn't elaborated. She would prefer a small school, less than 10,000. Cheddar is very disenchanted with the thought of having hundreds of students in her classes. She wants climate change and cold weather. We live in Texas and she hates the heat. She has no issues traveling far away from home for college. She's a People to People alum and loved that experience. As such a travel abroad program is certainly on her radar. She has no interest in joining a sorority. Big sister and I are diligently working to change her mind.

So our current list based on all the above:
OU - it is a large university, but it's the best for atmosphic meteorology

Texas Tech - have to throw a state school in the mix, just on principle

Creighton - we will be visiting this school in December

Valparaiso - I don't know anything about this school

Marshall - they offer a BS in Geology with an emphasis in Meteorology. She's intrigued by this degree plan.

Cornell - just know it's a great school

Western Kentucky University - no knowledge

Western Illinois University - no knowledge

Honorable mention that do not offer meteorology:
Duke
Vanderbilt

Scholastically I think all these universities are definitely in reach. I’m worrying more about her extracurricular activities.
I’m open to any and all words of wisdom. I’m thicked skin, so don’t sugar coat anything. She will take physics next year, so there is the possibility after she takes physics she may not be interested in meteorology. She’s also a math whiz! So, if there were a school that absolutely blew her away that didn’t offer meteorology she might consider a major change. She is not interested in engineering, so a major change would more than likely lean towards a math major or perhaps statistical sciences.