<p>Jackief - glad you went with my suggestion. Congrats on becoming a “Senior Member.” </p>
<p>Keilexandra - I like a A Persona’s list a lot. It may not right for everyone though.</p>
<p>mathmom - you made a few good points as well. But I’m not sure I agree with you about the Fridays off - sometimes those three-day weekends are very useful.</p>
<p>I have a question for y’all (I have to say “y’all” online since people in Maine laugh if I say it up here!). I have read that it’s a good idea to get teachers to write references before the end of the junior year. Is there a specific form the reference is supposed to take? DS’s track coach wrote him a glowing ref for his Eagle Scout rank, but it’s not very long and in an essay form, not a letter form. Is it OK to use that?</p>
<p>DD is using the common app recommendation form as nearly all of the schools on her list take the common app. In fact, if it weren’t for the state schools, I don’t think she would apply to a non common app school (and I am not sure she will apply to UC given the budget mess)</p>
<p>^ Having just checked my own college list–all take Common App–let me ask: are there any highly selective private schools that DON’T take Common App? Chicago used to be notable for this, but they now accept CA as an alternative to their own unique app.</p>
<p>At present, USC does not use the CommonApp.</p>
<p>FAP:</p>
<p>Keilexandra said “highly selective” :D</p>
<p>^^Some of us use the term more loosely. 
</p>
<p>^^what is the criteria for highly selective. i see many sites use it at different percentages of acceptance.</p>
<p>I was thinking pretty broadly with highly selective, i.e. <50% acceptance rate with commensurate SAT/ACT scores (to eliminate anomalies like Denison). So USC counts.</p>
<p>Selectivity of colleges seems to be like coffee sizes at Starbucks. Selective, highly selective, very highly selective. And then the ones that absolutely nobody gets into.</p>
<p>I am very excited here! I just booked airfare for a trip to TOKYO (April 2010), which will be DD’s graduation gift, a dream of hers for quite some time. No doubt she will study abroad in college, but she really wants to go with her family, and I’ve been ambivalent due to cost and because hubby and I are just not traveler types. DD has pushed me out of my comfort zone once again, and I have to say I am pretty much thrilled and needed to share! I hope this trip validates for her how much we understand her passion for Asian language and culture, and her way of making us think outside the box.</p>
<p>MaineLonghorn–With respect to timing, I think some schools encourage the kids to ask for LORs now in order to give the teachers the heads-up (and to get a commitment from them), but the teachers may not write them right away. For the common app schools, there is a short form and teachers usually attach a letter. For the Eagle Scout rec, I would think that format would be okay since it will be a supplemental recommendation.</p>
<p>psychmom–the trip sounds fantastic. It will be nice to have that time with your D after a hectic senior year but before she goes off to college.</p>
<p>psychmom, have a great time! We tacked on a trip to Japan about ten years ago when my husband was invited to speak at a conference there and we had a fabulous time. It’s one of the most interesting places I’ve been, a combination of being very modern and yet very non-western. Be sure to stay at some Japanese inns. If you want to know the highlights of our trip I’d be glad to share.</p>
<p>Thank you for the good wishes as I ponder this decision! We are passing up the multi-family senior trip (a Caribbean cruise) to do this, but it’s kind of symbolic of my daughter and her quirky, individualistic manner of being. </p>
<p>mathmom, I’d love to hear about the highlights ( and even the low points) of your trip…feel free to PM me. Our trip will have a different tone as it has to accomodate DD’s younger brother, who would much prefer a visit to Disneyland Tokyo over anything else!</p>
<p>psychmom, I will send a pm. We had our two boys with us. Oldest was in 6th grade at the time, and youngest was in 3rd. My 6th grader mostly went around with his nose in a book. (The back of his neck got sunburned!) But my 3rd grader had a great time - there were lots of castles full of armor. One thing we did that was a help was make bedtime reading for the last months before the trip Japan related - there are lots of fun novels set in Japan. We also watched some Japanese movies, like *Seven Samurai<a href=“which%20my%20son%20loved.”>/I</a></p>
<p>sounds like a wonderful trip pschmom, how long will you be going for? And what a great culmination to the end of the decision phase, though I hope your D is set by then as I think she plans to go ED?</p>
<p>K said in post 7064 that Chicago accepts the common app as an alternative to their own app. I don’t believe they still have their own app but I haven’t checked.</p>
<p>Psychmom:</p>
<p>What a neat way to celebrate graduation!!! It will be a trip to remember for a lifetime…</p>
<p>Have fun, psychmom!!!</p>
<p>Three more days to go here. Woohoo!</p>
<p>I am so envious of all of you who have kids finished with school for the year. D goes well into June and all the teachers seem to be intent on getting more tests in before finals week. The AP classes are also heavy with busywork assignments designed (I think) to lift sagging averages-not very fair to kids like D who busted their butts all year and whose averages don’t need lifting.</p>
<p>Many of the tippy top schools that use the Common App also have a Supplementary App, which appear to primarily consist of short and longer answer “essays.”</p>