<p>good luck LINYMOM. </p>
<p>I know for myself I do have an impulse to try to order my children’s lives but for some strange reason (lol) they perceive my well intentioned efforts as controlling or nagging…I’ve tried to back oir tendency to procrastinate… I know that next year I won’t be there to remind (nag) and it will be up to D2 to get her work done on time in college.</p>
<p>Pamom - I know exactly what you mean. What part of “I know what’s best for you” don’t they understand (or appreciate). LOL!! :o</p>
<p>Hi all - I’m noting the rising emotion among parents of class of 2013. A couple of thoughts: Last August (before HS senior year), I required my son to participate in a 1-week boot camp to write CV & Common App essay. In fact he didn’t quite finish either, but made an important start. It was 5 days, M-F, 4 hrs/day. It took me out of the equation, & got him thinking about college apps, his goals and his future. Costly, but worth it. Once school started it would have been difficult to get him to focus as intensely on the task.
Putting together the one-page CV (grades, jobs, HS courses, extra-currics, interests, awards, summer activities, etc.) was a useful exercise in itself - provided a reference for applications & college-specific essays, and he took copies along to interviews.
In August, we also started looking for a “likely” school (since there aren’t really “safeties” these days) that he would be happy to attend. He applied early action (others look for rolling admission schools) and it was a very good day when he was accepted there early in senior year.</p>
<p>Last year I wished I knew of a bootcamp like the one Liztserve mentioned. For us it was all about dangling a carrot. My S really wanted to be gone for most of the summer. We therefore gave him things he had to accomplish before he left in June, when he came home for a brief camp break, and then placed limitations on out and about time until the application got done before school started. At the time particularly in June my S kept stressing that he was the only one of his friends as far along as he was. I know he was happy in Sept when he had his acceptances in hand. At the time I wondered if we actually helped the process along by having him scheduled to be away. There was little margin for procrastination and he was really appreciative about getting to go to camp and he held up his end of the deal with, I’ll call it coaching from the sidelines to get it done :).</p>
<p>That stat for the low numbers of Jewish students at RIT is a surprise. I was just in Rochester for the jazz fest. There are a large number of temples in the area close to U of Rochester, and FWIW a high percentage of Jewish students at U of R.</p>
<p>Chardo and Dudedad:</p>
<p>I sent an email to Hillel.org this morning asking how accurate their numbers are on their websites re: Jewish population at the colleges. The response from Hillel was that they are updated by the colleges not Hillel. So to get an accurate updated number it’s best to call the individual colleges.</p>
<p>dudedad–</p>
<p>I cannot comment on how many Jewish students are at RIT, but I know you cannot estimate it on the number of local synagogue you see that service the local community. Case in point is Long Island where I live. If you did a google search you’d come up with many, many temples in a nearby proximity to schools like CW Post, Adelphi and Hofstra University. And yet those schools are not at all known to have a large Jewish presence–especially on the undergraduate level. Most of the local Jewish youth leave Long Island to attend college elsewhere.</p>
<p>I agree- I wish I knew of an essay boot camp or something for my D. She has a couple of essays roughed out but they need help and I am not sure how to guide her.</p>
<p>Uskoolfish:</p>
<p>This is the reason that this thread began! 
The Long Island colleges and RIT seem to be more in the B category! B+/B/B-…</p>
<p>I was actually surprised that Hillel leaves it up to the individual colleges to update…could be a huge discrepancy if not updated on a regular basis! Best to call the college admissions office and try to get an updated figure.</p>
<p>CCC: I’ve also contacted the Hillel itself at the college to get a better idea than the Hillel website.</p>
<p>As for the EC essay, it is not going well. Not. At. All. I cannot believe he is making this so difficult.</p>
<p>linymom,
just an idea for your son if he is writing about an EC…have him use a vignette of some moment/event/significant person, and expand from there. Sometimes it’s easier to begin writing that way, maybe less awkward or fifth gradish (“Fencing is important to me because…”) Sometimes this will help him tell his story (which is what he needs to do) and help him do it in a way that will be memorable to the reader.</p>
<p>Have a look at [My</a> Essay](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/autumn2006/features/my_essay/what_to_say.html]My”>Reed Magazine: My Essay)</p>
<p>Thanks, vonlost. That was insightful. For me anyway. DS is not a writer. Would rather do math problems. I will have to re-read what he wrote and make sure it doesn’t fit into any of the “what not to do” categories.</p>
<p>This weekend we took a lesson in what not to do regarding FA or any required paperwork. My husband filed the paperwork for both kids in February. S1’s school is always late at notifying us of the FA package. We have gotten used to that. Saturday morning he got to looking at S1’s portal which has several links on it to see if there was any news. He found a link for the first time that S1 wasn’t aware of that indicated that an additional form was due May 1 that had not been turned in. We worried all weekend what this would do to S’s FA, which is mostly in the form of grants. After contacting FA today it seems it won’t be a problem. Bottom line, one way or another be sure to get confirmation that all paperwork needed is received. We thought by the fourth year we had the hang of this but apparently not. We were very worried but with all of the heartbreaking news this weekend we kept telling ourselves we can deal with this, even if it meant S couldn’t return to school in the fall. Still it was unecessary stress that could have been avoided. Lesson learned here.</p>
<p>I am glad that worked out for the best Spectrum. It’s good that you have access to your son’s portal. Colleges are so protective of students’ privacy- they often won’t discuss things with you, so it is good that you set it up that you could see it. Yes, it is a small thing in light of recent tragedies, but stressful. Glad it is all taken care of.</p>
<p>On that note, Our family policy is. If I am paying for any part of your education, than I must have access to your grades and other financial things. My kids provide me with their access code. If they prefer not to, they can find ways to play for their education. Simple, and stress free.</p>
<p>spectrum2 - OMG - that must have been stressful. I have followed a policy of emailing my sons’ colleges every year in the spring and asking - do you have everything you need? yes - I can check it myself as well - but I like the reassurance of having something in writing from the school saying that they have all needed FA forms. Glad it worked out for you.</p>
<p>In other news - saw this update from Elon today:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I have the same policy as socaldad. So far I’ve had no arguments.</p>
<p>That is great news Rockvillemom.</p>
<p>Good idea about the email RVM. With regard to the portal we just asked the kids for their logins and they gave them to us. Interesting though, at TAMU they make a point of saying that parents should use their own parent’s login and if “they”, not sure who “they” is think that anyone other than the student is using his login it will be locked.</p>