Parents of the HS Class of 2011 - Original

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
4661

<p>Thanks for the birthday wishes folks. Had a pretty good day, despite the gloomy, rainy weather out here. H and the kids went out hunting in a few different grocery stores to get the Friendly’s Jubilee Roll that I like for dessert last night - was a nice surprise!</p>

<p>Attended a Senior parents’ night at D’s school last night. H and I left half way through - felt like it was a waste of our time - learnt nothing new!</p>

<p>@phbmom - congratulations on the submissions! That’s fabulous.
@mosb - good to hear that your mom is doing better. We are also thinking of a senior recital for D - her piano teacher would like her to have one. We have to figure out if this is indeed do-able and if so, when! So, you are way ahead of us on this one - thinking of venues! Friends’ kids did have a senior recital - they held it at a town center for the arts - a small, but perfect sized auditorium with a stage and a piano for this type of recital.</p>

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<p>

Thanks, blueiguana. We’re about 50 miles west of Chicago, and this is an excellent idea. We, too, have tons of golf/country clubs in the area. I’ll have to find one with an excellent piano…that will be the challenge, but it will be easy to do some phoning. Thanks for the good thought.</p>

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<p>

Don’t worry, arisamp. You’re not behind schedule. I’m planning this way in advance because of the date we want. We’ll have out of state guests coming in for her graduation on Sun May 29, so we want to do the recital Saturday May 28 (so they only have to make one trip). That’s Memorial Day Weekend…I’m thinking tons of weddings, graduations, etc, so if we’re going to book any kind of venue, even a church/chapel, we need to do it now. If you’re thinking of an earlier spring (or summer) recital, you have plenty of time to plan, imo.</p>

4664

<p>Goody, our first Acceptance! D just got accepted to Whitworth University with a nice merit award. Thank God for Priority Apps. It helps parents get to sleep at night, without the thought “What if NO colleges accept them”</p>

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<p>^Congrats to KumiteD!</p>

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<p>Hurray!!! There’s nothing like this feeling! I hope all of these students can have it soon (and often!).</p>

4667

<p>Coca Cola closes on October 31, 2010!!</p>

4668

<p>Here’s a thought I’ve been having, as I watch my D plod her way through the work of applications. </p>

<p>Her list is a little different, because she is auditioning for theater programs, whose method of choosing has no statistical basis, so we can’t predict whether she’ll get in anywhere, let alone assign reach/match/etc. Some schools accept a higher percentage of applicants, and some have measurable academic expectations, so we have a slight idea of ones she has a slightly higher or lower chance of being accepted to. But it makes deciding on the number of schools difficult. In this case, more is often thought of as better.</p>

<p>Her list can be divided into 4 sections: harder to get into audition schools; slightly less hard to get into audition schools; LACs/matchy schools with non-auditioned theater degrees; and safeties with good theater degrees.</p>

<p>At this point, she has about 3 schools in each category. Partly this is to give her choices - such as if she only gets into safeties - and also to give her more geographical alternatives (the safeties and LACs are in several locations, while the auditioned schools are all in the northeast).</p>

<p>But right now it’s very slow going getting the apps done. Many of the schools will have supplements; some aren’t released yet, and I’m worried there will be essay upon essay that she’ll be writing, going on for weeks.</p>

<p>I’m thinking of suggesting to her that she drop one school from each category, at least in her mind. Focus on 2 from each in this early round (most have rolling or EA, or they recommend an early submission before scheduling auditions). She can add the others back in based on the early results (the safeties and non-audition match schools). Also, during the audition season, many schools will allow you to “walk-in” and audition, then submit an application for quick consideration if the audition goes well.</p>

<p>The only problem with this is losing her opportunity for merit scholarships that may be gone by Jan or Feb. That is not essential in our case (for which we are all grateful) but of course we’d love to see her get some scholarships, and she would be very proud of them.</p>

<p>I was telling a friend whose son is a junior now, who is a regular kid who wants to go to college undecided and explore lots of things, that really 4 schools will be plenty - or even less, if he really loves a safety or gets in EA/ED. It makes me think my D will be a wreck by the time she finishes this Herculean task of completing up to 12 applications … maybe for good reasons in theory, but possibly not worth the personal cost in the long run.</p>

<p>Like everyone, I am sure looking forward to hearing positively from the priority app - it’s a safety she really does like a lot, and I think she might reconsider a lot of schools once she’s in. There’s a big distance between “I really like that school” and “I really want to put in another several hours to get its app finished.”</p>

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<p>Emmy–
I don’t envy the added difficulty that the MT/T applicants face. No doubt 12 applications is a lot, but it seems a rational strategy given the random aspect of the audition schools. Maybe you could drop 2 of the match/safeties. Surely she would get into one of the remaining four.</p>

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<p>To laffter and others - Thanks to collegeshopping for correcting my BOO BOO on the Coca Cola scholarship date.</p>

<p>Congrats to Kumitedad on acceptance. Hopefully all of our kids will be joining that club soon.</p>

<p>Emmybet - all I can say is WOW. Makes our process look easy.</p>

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<p>We have 17! And most kids I know are applying to about 12.</p>

4672

<p>My D and I are coming to some good agreements about the “nag” factor - and our relationship is surviving. I’m beginning to think that’s going to be the most important outcome of this year!</p>

<p>We’ve tried a once-a-week appointment to talk about college, but her weeks are too flaky, and it hasn’t been effective anyway. What I’m trying is mosb’s “one task at a time” approach, and watching her mood and stress level before bringing up anything. When I time it right, we’ve had some very productive conversations (even moved on to a second or third task a couple of times!).</p>

<p>The other way I deal with my explosive need to make suggestions is to use e-mail. About once a week for the past several weeks I’ve sent her an e-mail with some carefully worded thoughts about how things are going.</p>

<p>Today I sent her my idea for a reduced list, and a timeline for how to decide whether to add or subtract schools. I think she’ll read it over carefully and let me know what she thinks. It’s just all too much to keep in one’s head all the time, even for me, the mega-multi-tasker.</p>

<p>I looked up all of the various admissions deadlines for her favorite schools, and I think if she keeps to a monthly schedule, she can get some rolling and EA answers, then use RD as needed for extra schools (several have 2/1 deadlines, yay!). </p>

<p>I got her down to a 7-8 school list by Dec 1st. That seems so possible!!! The long list was really starting to scare me. If she likes this, we’ll chart out which school needs which app - several of those are fairly quick, once she gets her Common App essays polished off.</p>

<p>Then she can spend Feb having fun in Chicago and NYC at her - probably - 4 auditions. I’m breathing easier already. I’ll let you know if she’s OK with my plan; we’ve been on board together all along, so I don’t think she’ll surprise me.</p>

<p>17 applications … wow … and I did try to get her to do some work before school started, except she had a wonderful summer theater opportunity that went right up to the end. And I do want her to have a fun senior year. So hopefully we’ll find some balance, and she can grind a bit now to relax more later.</p>

<p>I’m thinking of everyone through this - best wishes to you all. And hopefully the medical emergencies and crises will hold off for a few more months.</p>

4673

<p>OK, we just got back from a college visit trip. Visited Carleton on Friday, Macalester on Saturday, Swarthmore and Haverford both Sunday and Monday. I’m glad we went, because it was very informative and helpful. D now has a clear favorite and is planning to apply ED. She will still apply early action to a match school in California which has notification in January, and also submit an application to her state-school-rolling-admission-financial-safety. If she is accepted ED at her first choice school in December, then she’s done. Wouldn’t <em>that</em> be great? Otherwise, she already has most of her essays written for all of her (many) other schools, and will continue working on them while she perfects her ED app.</p>

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<p>oregonianmom, four wonderful schools. What did she love best? I swear I won’t tell anyone! :D</p>

<p>The Macalester admissions people seemingly remember everyone. D1 asked the head of admissions a question at a local forum, attended by hundreds of people. Two days later, she got a letter addressing exactly that issue. She didn’t see him write down her name. She was a little spooked. I was seriously impressed. The GC said that’s typical for the Mac admissions office–they remember details about prospies, even years later. I’m not giving any details because then the Mac people would probably see this post and figure out who my D1 was. :slight_smile: Then, we had visiting friends who live in Minneapolis; the husband works for the state and sang the praises of the school and the interns he’s hired from Mac. </p>

<p>If I ever win the lottery (which won’t happen, as I don’t buy tickets), I’d want my backyard to look like Swarthmore. :slight_smile: Which for a backyard in California would be quite something.</p>

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<p>My lips are sealed and my fingers are crossed. :D</p>

<p>I liked all of the schools, and I’m really glad we visited. Each one has something special about it. I’d never been to Minnesota or to Pennsylvania, so it was a new experience for both of us.</p>

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<p>One of my D’s close friends first liked Bates and Brown, then visited Carleton and loved it, and then visited Williams and loved it. The first choice shifted with each new love.</p>

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<p>Hi All</p>

<p>I had an “interesting” day–some of the most obnoxious, lazy kids…almost 45 in once class for bio…
Had to take one girl’s phone and turn it into the dean, and wrote up about 1/2 doz. Whew…
Scary thing is this is the future of our nation??
These kids were lazy, did not want to do the work
and …for example…didn’t know what the word “crisis” means
…omg!</p>

<p>Some days I love being a sub–the kids are great, well mannered, bright and articulate…and then there are days like today…and well mannered, bright and articulate do not fit this group.</p>

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<p>kumitedad - congratulations on the acceptance!</p>

<p>EmmyBet - hear you on the number of applications. D has 10 or so (not a very definite list!) - I’ve been telling her to focus on the 2 EA applications first. We’ll worry about the others later. But I’ve been thinking that perhaps she should drop 1 of her reaches and 1 of her safeties - just to keep the list more manageable. Also, I’ve heard of problems during the month of April if you have too many to decide from! I can just envision this going down to the very last day…last hour…</p>

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<p>I am really enjoying reading/sharing everyone’s joys/pains/trials/tribulations on this board. We’re all in the same boat with this stuff (or at least we’re in the same river in different boats) :slight_smile: </p>

<p>D is getting 2 EA/priority apps completed soon (I hope) and then she’ll start working on her on RD apps. Both EA apps are for safeties and she is expecting to get in to both. None of her reaches have EA and she didn’t want to apply anywhere ED. </p>

<p>Yesterday, she received invite/application for a full-ride scholarship worth $150k over 4 yrs at one of her reach schools. It is an extensive application, with essays that are quite unique-no way to use other essays. (Is that how most scholarship apps are?) Luckily, due date is Jan 15. </p>

<p>I gently remind (read: nag) her daily. Tonight, I will really have to crack the whip to get her to finish NAF App. GC gave her a couple extra days, which means- it’s due tomorrow, period.</p>

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<p>oregonian - so glad it went well! I’m partial to Minn myself.</p>

<p>Your plan sounds excellent. There is no reason not to hope that everything will turn out well for her. She has got a great attitude about all of this, and it sounds like it’s a win-win situation.</p>

<p>4 years ago my D1 chose to wait until after her ED school replied to apply to her rolling safety and start her other apps. That was a bit of a nail-biter for us, just because we wanted that safety in hand. But it meant a lot to her to go one step at a time, and I think she also just wanted to play the odds and see if she could do this in a “one and done” way. I am glad for you that your D has not chosen that route. My D now says it was kind of dumb! Plus if she had had to do that app the next day after being rejected - as promised - that would have been a very painful process.</p>

<p>I have my fingers crossed for you!</p>

<p>arisamp - you and I are on the same wavelength. We’ll see what my D says - if she wants to break her fingers doing apps, I won’t stop her. But I bet my plan will be tempting, especially because it doesn’t close any doors in the long run. I agree, too, about too many acceptances (did I actually say that? I can’t actually imagine being in that position - but that’s how people find themselves that way, by not imagining it!). Eventually it gets too hard to decide in the spring - all we have to do is read last year’s threads and know some of the very painful experiences some kids had, especially if they hadn’t been thinking about it all along.</p>

<p>My D has some very strange acceptance combination possibilities. I know there are about 3 schools where she’d go in a heartbeat (her 2 first choice auditioned schools and favorite LAC). But the price tag on the publics will make her stop and think, and in the long run choosing between a possibly less desirable BFA and a wonderful BA will be very, very hard. That’s one reason why I’m hoping to whittle her list; the choices might be clearer in the long run.</p>