<p>This could be one of those proud parents weeks --or it could be a disaster.</p>
<p>The Show Choir at our school (think GLEE) has an annual fundraising event–a male “beauty” pageant. It is Thursday night. Sports teams and clubs sponsor contestants in lip synching, evening wear and swim suit. Our dear, geeky son will represent the LATIN CLUB in this competition, vying for the crown against guys from the football, soccer and cross country teams and several other less nerdy clubs. His choice of songs: the Double Rainbow song of youtube/Microsoft fame. Evening wear: a toga with fur coat (from Salvation Army store). Swim suit: his dad’s scuba gear.</p>
<p>And if you remember the prom date story–well the prom date is a four-year member of Show Choir and will be his escort. </p>
<p>Our son does compete in Humorous Interpretation for speech & debate, so he should do just fine. But part of me still can’t believe he is going to do this!</p>
<p>Not sure where rehearsing and finalizing costumes fit in the priority list that includes Scholar Bowl practice, prep for SAT II Subject Tests on Saturday and IB Physics group experiment presentation.</p>
<p>rodney - I interpreted the requirements for these schools to be that they require either the SAT I or the ACT with writing. But they also require 2 SAT 2 tests. Is that incorrect? It would be great if we could skip sending the SAT 2 scores completely!!</p>
<p>My son and I visited his safety today. We just showed up a he had an unexpected day off but they were very accommodating and set up a tour and asked if he would like to interview. </p>
<p>He is a shoo-in and would get tons of money, plus could enroll as a 3-3 with Albany Law School. They also have rolling admission so he would be in somewhere while waiting for April decisions. Would take a bit of the stress off him even if it’s not where he really wants to go. </p>
<p>In other good news - he got a lovely note from the alum who interviewed him for Bates, a professor at SUNY Albany. She wrote, “I hope that Bates makes the right choice and admits you.” Now, she might be just being polite but she didn’t have to write that to be polite. He probably still won’t get in but a nice thing nonetheless. </p>
<p>As for the drinking discussion- we have let out son have a glass of wine and even more at Weddings and special occasions for several years already. Didn’t want him to get to college and not know how to drink responsibly. The first wedding he drank way too much and felt like **** in the car on the way home. Since then he’s not had as much. He doesn’t drink a lot, doesn’t drink when out with friends (they are more the going to movie then out for something to eat crowd.) On a rare occasion he will ask if he can have a beer at home and we always say yes.</p>
<p>Relief = one good phone call plus a number of leftover Halloween treats (sigh)</p>
<p>I finally got through to a real person who knows about the application differences between BA and BFA and it turns out my S2’s EA app is fine as is–plus, for his particular program admittees even get the option of moving to BFA (upon portfolio and other approval) after matriculation if they wish! So—whew!</p>
<p>Now on to my pet peeve. Have any of you had the experience of calling an admissions office or other university department and finding you are speaking to a well-meaning, but less-than-fully-knowledgeable student worker who, never-the-less bluffs an answer? In today’s latest quest, I made several calls to admissions & the department and was given either 1) bogus info (Admissions told me no one could apply EA for Theatre BA–false!) or 2) such a hesitant reply that I was dying to say–can you please put me though to someone who absolutely knows for sure?? The thing that worries me here is that my DS2 might easily accept any answer (completely wrong, hesitant, whatever) as the truth. Okay, end of rant. I’m very forgiving right now because I did, in fact, after 4 other phone calls that seemed “off” get through to just the right person and she, of course, knew all.</p>
<p>Son’ second teacher was able to upload her LOR onto CA website by today’s EA deadline. Yippee! Its not registering on Naviance for some reason, but the CA is the one that matters anyway. </p>
<p>As for drinking issue, on Saturday night some kids in our neighborhood had a big party. I later learned parents were out of town. I know alcohol was part of the party because I saw party-goers bringing bottles in. I assumed it was the oldest kid (in college) who had the party – turns out it was his younger brother, the HS senior. (He and my S used to be friends when they were little, but by middle school not so much.). I never intervened, but I am wondering if I should have.</p>
<p>emilybee, that note is lovely, and is certainly a confirmation of how well your son interviews!</p>
<p>EmmyBet, I’m so happy for you. you’re hands down the most patient amongst us and I’m really glad your daughter is making progress. you’re the mom i wish i could be!</p>
<p>SDMomof3, i know your elation. felt it too last night when i saw that my S’s 2nd teacher finally submitted her LOR. I was so afraid that the system would crash and she’d give up.</p>
<p>Arisamp: You should go onto the individual school websites to check about the SAT II policy. Some schools will accept ACT with writing in place of the SAT and SAT IIs. BU and Penn have this policy. Others require SAT IIs with either ACT or SAT scores.</p>
<p>madbean–Yes, that can be very frustrating. I had a list of four financial aid questions. I asked the most complicated one first, and each time the person who answered the phone handed me off to someone else. Unfortunately, in one case, I wasn’t sure that the second person knew much more either!</p>
<p>Thank you, but I am not patient. I guess I kind of have a knack for putting a positive spin on things …</p>
<p>D told me her essay idea is all about how she’s gotten lost in her imagination all of her life. I gently reminded her that she probably should remark at some point how she manages to find herself again … I think they probably want her to seem competent … But I haven’t read it. I told her I think the idea sounds very “her” and very fun. I guess if the schools don’t like it, she doesn’t need them.</p>
<p>I’ll join the club that dislikes talking to 19-year-olds in the Admissions Offices. Not to be overly dramatic, but these are answers that could change our kids’ lives. We’re also tired of having “special meetings” with admissions personnel who are only a year or two out of college and who answer half the questions with “I’m pretty sure that’s true” or (I love this one) “I would think you could do that”!</p>
<p>I mean, look it up! I can wait! Good grief!</p>
<p>8 hours here until the midnight deadline for d’s Early application! I am remaining upbeat and positive (by staying in a different room from my daughter, and eating lots of leftover Snickers bars.) She decided last night that she hated her essay, and started all over again! But you know what? This new one is better, so she was right. </p>
<p>She wants to handle this all on her own, which I admire, but she occasionally yells down that she e-mailed me something that she wants me to look over for final editing. Having two floors and several computers is coming in handy.</p>
<p>olderwisermom-I love your son’s costumes-they sound so fun and creative!</p>
<p>Re the lack of knowledge in some admissions offices. Son’s school has college fair every spring and he cut two schools off his list immediately when he realized that the representative from the university couldn’t answer fairly simple questions and instead of looking it up, or writing it down and explaining that they would get back to him with an answer, decided to respond with “I think it would…” or an “I don’t know” and no offer to help him find the answer. Seems that it would be fairly simple for these representatives to be trained in how to answer a question that they don’t know the answer to. “I don’t know, but I will find out and get back to you.”</p>
<p>Definitely we were offended by the guessing, not by the fact that someone doesn’t know every last little thing about every department in an entire university. And the phone answerers who truly know nothing are in my mind utterly ridiculous. Just have them call themselves “receptionists” and hand us over to someone who really works there.</p>
<p>D said she’s just about finished with her essay and wants to “submit” tonight! What a great day! (At least in our house … we’ll have to see about the outside world.)</p>
<p>Magically the weeks pass and we all get closer to the end of this process. Isn’t that amazing. First quarter is just about over here, too.</p>
<p>I believe that they were admissions staff. Part of the college fair was moving from table to table in the gym getting initial information. That was followed by breakouts of 45 minute admissions info sessions in different classrooms. One of the schools talked about how they have a specific freshman engineering program that all students follow, my son asked how it would be handled if he tested out of all their freshman courses and the rep didn’t know the answer and just started fumbling around with the “I think…” responses. Admittedly, the school was not high on his list and it was an easy decision for him to drop it from his list.</p>
<p>Your son may have to learn some tolerance as he goes through the process. When I was going through this with my son, I had to make myself not judge a school by the ladies who answered the phone. Face it, some of these schools are not in areas with the largest labor pools, and a secretarial/receptionist position in an admissions office probably does pay a lot. I would have to tell myself, “Just because the person who answers the phone uses poor grammar, that does not mean it is a bad school.”</p>
<p>Son’s first app uploaded last night to UMass Amherst for Nov. 1 EA deadline. It’s his academic and financial safety, but he’s also seriously considering going there if accepted. It’s nice to have one done. His other EA’s are due Dec. 1 and he will be applying RD to at least a couple of schools. Onward!</p>
I’m very forgiving right now because I did, in fact, after 4 other phone calls that seemed “off” get through to just the right person and she, of course, knew all.</p>