<p>After being around CC for about 2 years and after going through the process once with S, I thought I had either seen or read it all when it came to parental admissions/testing frenzy. I was wrong.</p>
<p>This past Saturday D was taking the SATs. She had been assigned to a test site that was almost 20 miles away and in one of the worst areas of town so she decided to “stand by” at another site. Since it was raining I offered to drop her off at the test site and wait to be sure she got in.</p>
<p>As I was waiting for her to let me know that she had been admitted to the site, I saw a mother walking her daughter into the site (admission ticket in hand) with the daughter clearly mortified to have mom tagging along.</p>
<p>Later when I returned to pick up D I again saw the mom walking into the parking lot;this time however her hands were full. As she got closer I realized that she had a video camera in one hand and a gift bag in the other! She proceeded to sit down on a small wall right beside my car.</p>
<p>As her D exited the test she called out to her D and began videotaping her as she walked down the sidewalk to the place that she was sitting. D hurriedly separated herself from the other girls she was walking with and you could see by the expression on her face that she was not pleased with the “scene” that her mom was creating. When mom presented her with a gift bag she wouldn’t even look at it as she tried to get away as soon as she could.</p>
<p>I have to admit that when I saw her walk her D into the site that morning my first thoughts were that perhaps she too was trying to “stand by” and that her mom wanted to be sure she got in. I wondered if it was just me being slightly jaded to have found it so amusing. However upon seeing the mom in action again after the test and how clearly embarrassed her D was, I can’t even begin to tell you all the things that went through my mind.</p>
<p>that’s hilarious…I’ve seen some weird things on SAT/ACT test days. When I took my SAT a few years ago I walked into the test room and saw what appeared to be a really young kid. I proceeded to sit next to him and strike up a conversation. Turns out the kid was 11 years old (5th grade)…he was telling me that his parents made him take the SAT twice per year (since he was 9). He said his parents were really concerned about him getting into Harvard and that he needed to boost his scores and take the SAT as many times as possible in order to get a 1600. Some people are crazy! Also that same day as I walked out of the building I saw something similar to what you saw eadad; I saw a girl’s parents waiting for her with the video camera ( no gift bag) but as I walked by I heard the mom say in a very thick asian accent, “how you do? You get 1600? Remember if you don’t get 1600 we take car away.” now that’s some serious pressure…</p>
<p>my D had to take the SAT in 7th grade for a scholarship, I only stood with her because she was 12 surrounded by 17 years olds…she couldn’t wait for me to leave…it was so cute, she is not very tall and was afraid the older kids would look at her funny. but they could have cared less, teens at 8 in the morning don’t paymuch attention to anything</p>
<p>at the end, she walked out all cool and confident- it was like a rite of passage</p>
<p>citygirlsmom: I too took it in 7th but for a program that required it (Johns Hopkins Center for talented youth). But this kid was being forced to take it twice a year because mommy and daddy wanted him to go to Harvard. </p>
<p>kind of on the same topic, when i was at a visit at harvard I took the tour and the admissions people gave a presentation with q&a at the end (pretty standard), however, one question was hilarious. A parent asked what kind of classes his child should be taking in order to prepare for harvard. The adcom asked how old the student was and the parent said KINDERGARTEN!!!</p>
<p>I can certainly understand standing by the side of a 12 year old girl and also can “see” her wanting you to leave. 12 and 13 year olds might be the only ones who want their parents around less than 17 yr olds! LOL.</p>
<p>In this case she was not a 7th grader unless she was a very ahem… “mature” …7th grader…and she also wasn’t Asian. I don’t know, perhaps she was the first generation going to college (in this case I really don’t think it was the case) or even a home schooler which if either I apologize for my lack of sensitivity. </p>
<p>Looking back I remember how excited we were after S took the SAT in the 7th grade and I think we took him to lunch to talk about the experience but we certainly didn’t haul out the camcorder to record the event for posterity!</p>
<p>I had S and eamom in the car because we were going to lunch. I had just finished telling them the story about the mom’s morning incident when we spotted the mom walking onto the lot. Eamom saw the camcorder and gift bag before I did and after an “oh my God” we all got a good laugh. Eamom looked at S and said " and you thought we were bad!"…then wondered out loud if the mom planned to co-enroll with her D as well.</p>
<p>A colleague’s child attending college, had to go to the university administration to complain about her room mate and request a room change. Seems the roommate’s mother had come for a “visit” the first week of school. After 2-3 weeks, she was still in the room, helping with homework, writing papers, doing the wash, etc. My colleague couldn’t believe it. She said her D wouldn’t have had a problem with kicking another kid out, but it was a little uncomfortable complaining about a mom. The school didn’t give her a different room, but did show up and ask the parent to leave.</p>
<p>Well, the writing papers and helping with homework is too much, but if my roommate had someone willing to do the the cleaning and laundry for free when I was in school . . . I’d probably just try to get some of the perks myself!</p>
<p>We had a girl in Ds class in junior high who was ALWAYS video taping things- I mean every basketball game (but only when D was on the court), every thing they could tape they would, drove the rest of us nuts, only because we were like the bad parents for not taking pictures of everything. </p>
<p>WHen D took test, I did take her shopping afterwards. That made ME happy!!!</p>
<p>These stories give parents a bad name!!! I saw something very similar when I took youngest D for her in car driver’s test. The car in the line infront of us had a mom and 16 year old (roughly) son. When it was his turn, the mom got out to let the MVA tester get into the passenger seat. Then the mom videotaped her son driving away…</p>
<p>In our state they have you parallel park first (might as well not prolong the agony, I suppose.) So this mom captured on videotape her son failing to parallel park and returning to the beginning of the test route with a “Failed” on his checksheet. Wonder at what point she turned off the videocam?? Not having sons, I can’t say for sure, but what 16 year old boy would allow his mom to do this??? And what mom would add to the pressure of that situation by taping it? BTW it’s not like the driving course is close enough to where she was taping that the video could have helped him later determine how to improve.</p>
<p>oh, wow…when i took the sat (sophomore year) i was completely drained because i’d only had an energy bar for breakfast, so my mom took me to whole foods and got me some fruit juice before going home. it didn’t seem like a big deal to me…but whatever works, i guess…:eek:</p>
<p>It’s nothing new. When young Douglas MacArthur enrolled at West Point, his mother came along too. She moved into a hotel just outside the academy walls and requested an upper floor room from which she could see her son’s dorm window. She wanted to be able to see that his light was on late into the night to indicate that he was studying. Seems to have worked; young Douglas graduated first in his class.</p>
<p>Yeah, but I bet she wasn’t hanging out in the room, doing his schoolwork for him and laundering his clothes! At least she had the decency to get a room “outside the academy walls.”</p>
<p>Large uni in the northeast. More than that, I won’t say since after all, they did the right thing by kicking mom out. But wouldn’t you have loved to have been the proverbial fly with that one? Freshmen dorms are small enough without a third person !</p>
<p>hayden: So she really was in the room (not living in a hotel and visiting every day and night)? That’s just wild. At least the roommate has a great freshmen story to tell…for the rest of her life.</p>
<p>Only because she couldn’t get in because security is pretty tight at a military post. She stayed there and kept an eye on him for the full four years. I wonder what Mr. MacArthur back home was thinking.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s boarding school one boy’s parents were called by the dean because they had been sneaking onto campus in the morning to make sure their son got up in time to go to class.</p>