<p>Thank you, EngrMom and KathieP. I’ll bookmark both of those sites.</p>
<p>Fog, I had googled it and didn’t find anything, but I will also try the other terms you suggested.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>husky, if it is any consolation, ShawSon did not finish any apps until late December (his were complicated as they had high school and home school sections). Christmas vacation was just about apps. But, he got into to elite schools and happily finished his freshman year in May.</p>
<p>ShawD is supposed to do one last practice session before her September test date. However, we completed our 6 colleges in 5 days tour and then she spent 10 days in a science program at one of the schools, which was her tentative first choice. It is now her definite first choice. It is a Canadian school that doesn’t need ACTs or essays. She’s said that she won’t apply to a number of the US schools on her list (Hamilton, Goucher, Colorado College, and New College of Florida have dropped off list and only University of Rochester and Oxford College of Emory remain). But, her meeting at her top choice was very encouraging – met with an admissions counselor who was recruiting her and discussing merit aid, the university president (due to one of my contacts who is one of the school’s most distinguished recent alumni), and several professors and students through the science program, which she loved. Plus, she got interviewed on a radio program (though she thought the interviewer didn’t know anything about science, edited out 3-D imaging from her description of what she was doing with an electron microscope, and wanted to focus on whether they experienced discrimination against women in science). According to her current plans, she’ll apply to two Canadian schools and two (or one) US schools. She’ll find out early from her top choice, and if she doesn’t get in, she may ramp up the number.</p>
<p>hmmm</p>
<p>a little work on summer reading going on here today…
I was going to suggest kiddo look at apps…
however that summer reading has to be done asap</p>
<p>Just had a “talk” with S. He is away this weekend and nothing will get done. Football starts Monday. But, I told him until I see some forward progress on the common app and essay he will not be playing with his electronics. I think I have to get him in the habit of 15-20 minutes a day type of thing, like we did for the SAT prep. 15-20 minutes is not onerous.</p>
<p>S is applying EARLY early action to CMU, so he has to finish his application by Sep 1st. He is almost done. However, his summer reading is moving very slowly. I threatened cancellation of his weekend plans if he didn’t finish the first book today (suddenly he found time to read it!). He still has two books left, and marching band is taking up more time now. Last year he was up all night the day before school started finishing his reading. Procrastination should have been his middle name.</p>
<p>Now from a student’s perspective: I’m finally working on finishing my AP psych work. I got the dvd I needed to watch for English this year (yes my summer reading includes a video) and I’m probably going to make that into a summer study party.</p>
<p>I hear ya, engrMom! My S has finished 2 out of 5, but is bogged down on Crime & Punishment. I told him to get the other 2 done and go back to it, but he is a last-minute kid and I’m sure that is how he will do the college apps also. Sept 1 is very early, is it a special program for CMU?</p>
<p>D and I are getting a late start on the college search, but have an aggressive campaign planned for this fall. Weve got tentative visits scheduled to 5 colleges and would like to visit 4 more before the end of the year. On just about every one Id like for her to have a personal interview.</p>
<p>I thought my work schedule might be a problem, but a bigger one is that D found out today that she is only allowed 2 excused absences for college days this year! She goes to a small school and everything else seems nice and informal, but on this one issue they seem to be pretty rigid.</p>
<p>Are two excused absences for seniors about the norm? Weve already booked visits on Labor Day and fall break. With the 5 visits we have planned, well have used up both of her days. For others that are quite a distance, I was thinking that wed travel on Sunday, visit on Monday and travel back home Monday evening. Any creative suggestions would be appreciated. Telling me that Im too stupid to have fathered children for starting so late is creative, but not that helpful. Thanks.</p>
<p>My daughter’s school only grants 2 absences for college visits also (combined Jr & Sr years). She’s already used one in her junior year and she has 3 overnight visits scheduled for this, her senior year. We’ve done our best to ensure they don’t overlap any crutial times like midterms or finals but, my husband and I simply made an executive decision that this is far too important in order to make the right choice. </p>
<p>Perhaps you can take a look at your daughter’s schedule and search for days where you know there are school-wide assemblies or when underclassmen take PSATs?</p>
<p>I am not one for lying usually, but if they are going to be so inflexible, it seems like she may just have to be “sick” on those days…</p>
<p>btw, D has done none of her summer reading while working at the summer camp! (despite my bribing her with her favorite teeshirts!)She gets home Monday and will have her work cut out for her. On the plus side she did write her college app essay!</p>
<p>I thought our college visits had inspired D to start on the Common Application, or at least look through it. No dice. School starts Wednesday, and she is taking 4 AP classes, as well as being heavily involved in several very time-intense EC’s. I’m glad to hear that others have gotten a late start in the process and still been successful in the application process, but I sure would feel better if I knew that D was at least starting on some essay drafts. She plans to apply EA to two schools, and probably will apply to at least 4 others. I’ve been reminding her daily that time is running out, and she is doing the smile and nod thing. Too early to panic - too late to relax…</p>
<p>We are very fortunate that there is no limit to how many days students can miss for college visits but I think it’s because the overall attendance is well over 90%, so a student missing here or there won’t make much difference. I’m afraid my son might become “sick” if we had to visit a college on a certain day. One of the reasons we started visits last fall was so we could go visit colleges on the in-service or HS holidays when Colleges were in session. My son does not do well when he misses school and really, really does not like to do that. I must say, I find that quite different then how I felt in HS!</p>
<p>Wow, they limit the school absences for college visits to 2? Our small private HS adds a 5th day off (for seniors) to an existing 4-day weekend in Oct expressly for this purpose. Oh, well, here’s my 2 cents on absences. We are very compliant on school rules and policies, and my D never racks up more than 3-5 days out per semester. But I won’t be made to lie; on occasions such as this, I simply report her absence as, “Prunella will not be at school today; we are taking care of a family matter, and she’ll be back tomorrow.”. No one has ever asked me for details (and if they did, I would simply reiterate, “It was a family matter.”. Good luck on your college visits!</p>
<p>That’s a much better solution momofsongbird. It seems that a school is really shooting itself in the foot if they don’t allow excused time off for college visits. My son did ask off for two school days in February this past year, to visit his sister’s alma mater out of state and the teachers were very good about giving him the homework he would be missing. Turns out we had a snowstorm (started about ten minutes after his plane was off the ground) and school was closed anyway for both days.</p>
<p>Hmm
Hadn’t even looked at the absence policy for college visits—I guess I was thinking that is a no brainer and should eb excused. I do know that the kiddo is responsibel for all work missed–and has to negotiate it with teachers…and teachers are not always sympathetic…
Kiddo hates to miss any days as it really makes keeping up hard --too many APs and a time consuming EC to miss days…
We did visits over the last few years during school breaks –
in fact we stopped leaving for holidays or returning late by the time kiddo was a freshman–because the work load was so heavy and it was too hard on kiddo.</p>
<p>as for the apps, essays, summer reding and Kiddo#2s summer reading…
they are expected to get alot done today and tom even if I have to duct tape them into the chairs! ha ha</p>
<p>We have Election Day off this year so S is taking off Monday thus giving us a four day weekend. When you live in South Florida everyplace is far away even if you fly. I’ve never asked how many excused absences are allowed. We told the truth on the very few days S took off last year. He hates taking off days so we keep them to a minimum.</p>
<p>We have discussed this with my daughter’s school at length. Regular college visits are regular absences. College visits with an interview are excused absences, two per semester. Athletic Official Visits are excused absences, up to five days per year. This means the student has until the next class period after the first day back to turn in any missed work. Teachers are not obligated to give missed work early so that it may be done while traveling. The Athletic Official Visits used to be given TLE (Temporary Learning Environment) status, which did not count as an absence and gave the student more flexibility. </p>
<p>I am pretty worried because not only will my daughter be taking official visits, she is in a fall varsity sport and will miss one day the first week and two days a week for the following two weeks for the State Championship Series. She has five APs and two college classes, so it will be a lot of work to catch up on. Fortunately, one of her APs is taught by the Asst Athletic Director, so he will be understanding. Another is a football coach, so I am hoping he will be also. She should not have to miss any of her college classes, but I will have to drive her to one of the meets, three hours from home, because she will miss the team bus. I have to say, I will be happy when the season is over, even if it will be her last high school season.</p>
<p>I looked up the absence policy
and at our kiddo’s hs–any work done for an “unexcused absence” automatically loses 2 letter grades!</p>
<p>The official visits will take kiddo out of school 2 days per visit…thats alot of school to miss. I think kiddo will have to go to the Dean’s office for clairification.</p>
<p>Any one know the reason why some schools are so strict?</p>