<p>champs: This is, in fact, the only “highlight” of the year for this teacher. Not going to give him a ton of credit here. He could have assigned this earlier in May, like right after the AP test. IMHO, they’ve spent too many class periods - all year - watching movies and other activities that don’t require the teacher to be present (and he’s not).</p>
<p>Anyway, the booklet produced by the HS is about 8 pages. It includes the common app questions, plus a whole page of the out-of-the-ordinary essay prompts that some schools offer (usually top schools). It also tells how to answer the essays and how not to answer the essays. I think it’s a useful booklet for the receptive kid, but since DS has thrown up a mental block on anything related to writing, my (not so subtle) prodding was absolutely necessary to unfreeze his brain.</p>
<p>LINY - Inspiring! Yay for you! So, very, happy for your son. HUGE victories! Thanks for sharing. May I say how lucky you are that your school cares to assign this homework, albeit a little late, as some schools, like ours, don’t. I (now not-so-) secretly dread the upcoming “summer of frustration”, but will attempt positivity. I want that book!</p>
<p>I’m having some computer issues with the scanner, but I could possibly scan key pages over the next few days if people want them (just PM me your email address in a cryptic way so that CC doesn’t ** it out).</p>
<p>Glad to hear that your son is getting it done, LINYMOM. All victories count in my book.
I wish that English teachers assigned kids this task for the summer, so that they were complete and ready to be edited early in September. It seems like a no-brainer.</p>
<p>In news from the 4three home, two are off to summer internships and one is (reluctantly) studying for finals. I can’t wait for summer to be official!</p>
<p>i would recommend to all the rising seniors, to write your essay(s) over the summer and fill out as many apps as you can. S was done before school started and this was a major relief. his friends were scrambling to get stuff done and he was relaxed. now we argued over the summer about doing it, but in the end he was so grateful to be done before the school year.</p>
<p>Just got back from HS graduation. It was a great time, for all 520 kids, 5 white balloons, 4 beachballs and the blow up doll! I don’t think there were any tears; all the parents held it together! Congratulations to all the other 2012 graduates and their parents!</p>
<p>So I’ve been mulling over songs for a slideshow to do for D13 next year. This is one of my favorites and I’m passing it along for you all to hear.</p>
<p>Book of Mormon: Love, love, love that soundtrack!! We are hoping to go next summer when it comes to our area. Although, there are a couple of songs that I’m not fond of because I feel like God is going to strike me dead for singing along!</p>
<p>Luvnmom- Almost there! Hang in!</p>
<p>MarkBass- interesting info on CTCL. We also went this past spring. I didn’t realize that no one was really governing it any more. That’s good to know. My D is very interested in several CTCL schools. </p>
<p>LINYMom- I think that booklet sounds awesome. I’m jealous! My D’s English teacher had them print out an app and fill it out in class and also write a college essay. I appreciated the help in getting the kids thinking about it! Oh! And I would LOVE to see the book. I’ll PM you.</p>
<p>Congrats to Philly and all the other parents of kids graduating! Very thrilling! </p>
<p>D has her last exam today and then we are done, done, done with Junior year! We are all ready to be finished. A break is more than welcome! :-)</p>
<p>Question to throw out there in “Jewish B Student”-land:
I notice this thread has minimal chatter about ECs, jobs, volunteer hours, etc. (not none - just minimal)… Is this because when applying to B’ish schools, it is “less important” in terms of admission criteria than A’ish schools?</p>
<p>Yesterday I told my S that our (“my”) goal was to complete aps this summer. He said, “I’m not even finished school yet! Don’t I get a break?” Should have waited til next week to mention it! Oy.</p>
<p>Hi Champs. I think that ECs, jobs and volunteer hours are all very helpful to the B student’s application. In addition, a well done essay focusing on an extracurricular activity or other experience can really make the applicant stand out. For instance, my D received a letter from one of her schools saying that her essay made an impression on them and following that she was accepted. I also think that teacher recs make a difference.</p>
<p>Boysx3: I loved that version of Lecha Dodi. Thanks!</p>
<p>Vandygrad: “The Things We’ve Handed Down” is beautiful and will be perfect for your slideshow. My favorite for grads is “My Wish” by Rascal Flatts.</p>
<p>Champs: I think that EC’s, etc are most important for admission to small schools and very selective schools. I’ve seen kids with minimal ECs do fine with admission to the big state schools when their GPAs and test scores are in range. The ECs are also important for acceptance to honors colleges and some merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Last night on Restaurant Impossible, University Grill was featured. The host went to Elon to get student impressions. Thought anybody interested in Elon might want to check this out:</p>
<p>Maccabeats will be performing at our shul on LI this December.</p>
<p>ECs are what got D into large state school. Grades were good but SATs horrible. She was accepted to a program at a large SUNY university for students that have great leadership potential and exceptional community service and decent grades but low ACTs and low SATs for that school. So yes they do make a difference even at large state schools. She lucked out because I do not think she would have gotten in otherwise. D did not apply to this program but the admission committee refered her application to the program, so obviously someone was looking at her ECs and reading her essay which highlighted a specific leadership activity. The program only accepts a limited amount of kids and they get additional advising without extra money. So far our dealings with this school’s program have made a very large school feel very small with a lot of individual attention.</p>
<p>Vandygrad, we’ve been working on our daughter’s video also! Took us almost a year when we did one for our twins graduation party. Anyway, some songs we are using: Cloud Cult-You Were Born, Loudon Wainwright-That’s My Daughter and Bob Dylan-
Forever Young.</p>