<p>Congratulations HollieSue! I think Juanita is an excellent school :)</p>
<p>You all are going to love empty nesting. I Promise weird at first. No one spends as much time and effort to find the right college fit and then be sad. It is why we have worked so hard over the years - to make happy, independent, confident adults.</p>
<p>We too did some trips. But watch your step. I fell and broke my leg, hiking in the Smokies after Elon’s parent weekend. I am back on my feet and we are back traveling. But frankly, it is nice to have time at home too. With cell phones and skype communication with our children is not like the old days of Sunday calls.</p>
<p>It was wonderful to see all the kids at break and listen as they talk about their new experience. Oh but don’t get me wrong, a few tears will be shed as both parents and chid separate to begin each new adventure.</p>
<p>RVM The hillel at U of Alabama is causing many of my friends to take a look. Know one child going next year. It is about time PSU has a building. My s looked at PSU ( husband is Alum) but felt there was point of contact for Jewish students. IU had more ways to connect with Jewish students. Thanks for the update</p>
<p>I’m with you guys. No tears. Just thrilled for everyone to begin the next phase. They’re not going off to war!</p>
<p>mazel Tov Holliesue to your d. Juaniata is a great school. I grew up in that area and they would come to my Temple for Passover but I think there are closer congregations now. Everyone who I have known who goes there has gone on to do wonderful things.</p>
<p>Congrats Holliesue for your daughter. Such wonderful news.</p>
<p>We are looking for information about San Francisco State University. Our daughter has an opportunity to graduate HS early and she could probably get admitted for the spring semester…so we are considering this option. We would appreciate any info in that we have not been able to find anyone who has attended SFSU. We will be visiting in the next few weeks so any suggestion on what to do, see or ask would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Yasher koach holliesue!
I have heard many, many great things about Juniata. Even better now that I hear about “heritage” money!</p>
<p>thanks for all the good wishes everyone!</p>
<p>thank you all so much for the warm welcome, and your responses. i haven’t been on for while cause i have my daughter’s bat mitzvah coming up. have a great weekend everyone!</p>
<p>Congrats Holliesue for your daughter. Such wonderful news. Love the heritage award.</p>
<p>Add mine to the good wishes, holliesue. :-)</p>
<p>HollieSue:</p>
<p>Mazel Tov to your D on Junaita! May she go from strength to strength. I don’t know anything about that school, but she’s apparently very psyched for her choice, so that’s great. What will she study? Is she one of the theater kids?</p>
<p>Indepenndent:</p>
<p>We’re happy to hear from you whenever you have something you’d like to contribute! It wasn’t so long ago I was going through the bar mitzvah process…that gets pretty intense too. Interesting how each stage of our kid’s lives have such special memories!</p>
<p>Sockhermom:</p>
<p>there are several posters on this thread that have a west coast viewpoint…hopefully they’ll read this and reach out to help you! :)</p>
<p>We won’t be empty nest yet, but it will definitely be wierd and so much quieter having two children in the house and then down to one. I definitely will look for work to keep me busier since S1 (and his ec’s) demanded a lot of my time…I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I am looking forward to spending quality time just with S2 the next few years and hopefully continue to steer him in the proper directions.</p>
<p>Yasher Koach, HollieSue…All the best.</p>
<p>thanks samtalya, DebT and CCP-she is going to major in psych, but also wants to take theater courses. Of course if she is anything like her mom, she will change her major 4 times.</p>
<p>Holliesue, I have been waiting to see if it was going to be Juniata. Mazel Tov!</p>
<p>Congrats of the decision Holliesue!
I just loved your Google Pesach link Sam, I’ve shared it with several friends and both kids.</p>
<p>As we come to the end of his Junior year my Ss stats are stronger than I would have guessed. His GPA is about 3.7 his rank is in the top 5% of his class. On the otherhand his SAT is 1160. Dont get me wrong, I am thrilled with how well he has done. Our world is a little different than most of yours because here, at least in state, rank is the all important number and will supercede test scores for admission. Test scores will influence scholarships, definitely influence admission if he decides to branch out from the state schools (not sounding very likely these days) and most importantly will determine if he is eligible for the honors program which would provide priority registration. What he needs is a 90 point improvement. I think this can be done but Im trying to figure out the priority and the most efficient way to address this. S wants to be an avodah at his URJ camp, if he does this that takes him away from work on college stuff for 9 weeks. They say there is opportunity to work on essays at camp but Im thinking that would be a bonus. He needs to get his Texas ap. completed in August, rankings can shift over the summer depending on which students leave and enter the school. Early applications are recommended . If there are any other schools to visit he needs to visit them and work on those applications as well. What Im concerned about is what his best investment in time would be and also if it is worth the amount of pull and tug it will take to get him to pursue standardized testing. He made the decision to focus on his school grades and put less emphasis on testing and that has made sense and paid off. He is completely content where he is but I dont think he understands the advantages of priority registration yet. Im really trying to decide if it is worth it to sign him up for a test prep class over the summer during his limited time or to come up with a review schedule or whether I should just leave him alone and take the easy route. As an aside S is top of the class strong in math and has a much more difficult time with reading. His scores in each are closer than I would have expected (560V a little more than I would have guessed and 600 lower than I think he is capable of). He always underperforms on timed tests. He was recently diagnosed with mild ADHD and has chosen not to request accommodations. Any thoughts about strategies for tackling study and also if it is worth the push are appreciated. I have been trying to sort this out myself for several days as we approach the homestretch of Junior year.</p>
<p>Cornell is for the jewish b student</p>
<p>Soccermom,</p>
<p>As one of the opinionated So Ca. participants, I am embarrassed to say I know very little about SF State. Very few kids down here go up there. San Diego St. is the big draw down here.
What I would say is less about SF and more about the cal. system. Our current budget crisis is terrible. Cuts have been happening for years. Gov. Brown does not look like he will change the governators past practices of cutting. Tuition will continue to rise, as cuts continue. While the UC’s were always outstanding, and the State system ok, they can not withstand this crisis. Majors, and classes are being cut. I believe that graduating in four years will become much more difficult. My oldest D did not apply to any instate schools. Neither will D2.<br>
Sorry I can not offer SF specifics.</p>
<p>Good luck to all taking ACTs today. Thankfully this is over soon and lucky the schools are kids are applying to don’t have to take subject tests. Now the APs in a few weeks.</p>
<p>Spectrum, we were very happy with an ivy insiders test prep over the summer. it was pretty cheap and met once a week for 3.5 hours. there was homework, but not unreasonable. you can find out about the program on their website. </p>
<p>As for accommodations, my S has ADHD and he didn’t receive accommodations just because he has ADHD. We attached his 504 plan, but that still wasn’t enough. My son didn’t want to be separated out so we dropped it. Make sure this is what your son wants; I know it has been a battle with us.</p>
<p>for today’s Passover video entertainment, my DH just showed me: The Ramone’s, I’m going to a seder (I want to be sedated)
[YouTube</a> - I’m going to a seder - Passover](<a href=“The Shlomones -I'm Going to a Seder - Passover - YouTube”>The Shlomones -I'm Going to a Seder - Passover - YouTube)</p>
<p>Hey Sam, I guess we are exam partners again today. Thanks for your suggestions. We don’t even have a 504 just adderall and the rec. from the psychologist who evaluated him to get extra time on exams. His grades always go down when time pressure is involved but for the most part he has done well enough that accommodations seemed a little much to ask for. He really hasn’t given testing a solid effort and he’s not needing super high scores to accomplish what he (I) want for him so it seems that efficient review is in order. After we see how he does on the ACT we’ll know which test to concentrate on. I wish they did PLAN testing here. The problem is, he doesn’t seem to really care about this testing much, he doesn’t yet appeciate the impact of scholarships or the honors program.</p>
<p>@spectrum: after you get the results of the ACT, you’ll have a better idea of which test to pursue. It sounds like your son needs targeted prep, not necessarily a full course. You may want to use a tutor instead, for direct attention to problem areas.</p>