<p>I haven’t posted on here for a while. Congratulations to all those whose kids are done with all their applications. D has 6 down 6 more to go. Her list is Reach heavy because those are the schools that fit her criteria. She has 2 safeties and 2 matches and 8 reaches. The reaches are all because of selectivity. There definitely isn’t one recipe for all and D’s list probably looks like overkill on paper.</p>
<p>About contacting the school - D calls or sends emails for all application related questions, I call for all financial aid related questions. We live on the west coast and the bulk of her schools are on the east coast so she ends up mostly e mailing.</p>
<p>Cocktails and stuffed mushrooms sound fabulous. I’d share the Halloween candy, but the good stuff is gone. (I wonder how that happened?)</p>
<p>I agree that our seniors need to take on more responsibility, but I’m not sure that I’d make calling colleges to check on things the main thing to focus on. I called two of my daughter’s schools that said that they were missing things and got both resolved quickly. I’m really glad I called because one school is rolling and that call got her application moved to “complete” status. If I had called a week earlier, she might have heard by now.</p>
<p>Emilybee, I get your point about a kid who needs some growth in the responsibility dept. But I’m in kathiep’s camp on this one. I (and some others here) have a kid who is more on-task, diligent, responsible, never a non-productive moment than most adults I know. My worry is that she almost never unwinds, relaxes, has a moment to herself, etc. For this kind of driven kid, it makes far more sense for me to be the secretary on these admin kinds of things, while she continues cranking out the essays, audition rehearsals, A papers, A tests, etc. </p>
<p>It’s different depending on the kid, but there’s nothing wrong with a parent making the follow-up calls for a kid who’s hugely responsible but woefully short on time.</p>
<p>Some of us have very irresponsble "not ready for real world’ kids, and however much I want him to learn how to manage and be independent, no way am I taking any sort of risk on college admission stuff getting screwed up - that is just too much of a risk in my view. Let him learn by forgetting to do laundry or pay the phone bills next year rather than by ending up living in our garage!</p>
<p>emmybee, I understand your point but son is one of those very responsible kids that stays on top of things. If I mentioned this to him, he would do it BUT I’m the one not sleeping nights because I’m afraid we’ve missed something. Lot’s of things to nag about this application season but this is not one of them for me. He’s got a Robotics tournament this weekend and has been out of the house every night this week preparing for it. Two EA deadlines were or are within the next few days.</p>
<p>I want to join the party! Unfortunately, however, my D has yet to submit any applications. She has completed her CA, minus the essay (all her schools are CA schools) and committed to taking her essay draft (finalized yesterday) to the school writing workshop today for review and editing. She has two EA schools with 12/1 deadlines that we are now bumping up against. More stressful for me than her, unfortunately. This weekend is her church youth group retreat, and I had told her that I would not allow her to go unless she had completed her application by the weekend. Being a total pushover, I am counting completing the CA and taking in a final draft essay for review today as meeting that requirement. </p>
<p>I am hoping/planning on having something more concrete to report next week. In the meantime, those stuffed mushrooms and a cocktail sure sound good!</p>
<p>Last essay has been sent to a teacher for review. Hopefully between now and the time bluejr. gets it back he will fill in the common app, supplement, and be ready to go by the time the subject scores are released on 11/16.</p>
<p>I agree it’s hard to find the line of when to encourage your student to deal with admissions directly, and when to make the call yourself. It has been a combination at our house. When an email has served the purpose, bluejr has normally done this…off hours isn’t a factor here. There have been a couple of murkier things that even I was having trouble explaining so I thought it better to make the call myself. These fell into the ‘this is not a time to leave it to misinterpretation and get the wrong answer’. As it was, on one count it took three phone calls and four people to get an answer. Not the admissions office fault at all. It wasn’t a garden variety question.</p>
<p>I’m hitting another lull where I feel like the stuffing has been knocked out of me. I can’t imagine how my son feels. I’m not built for this marathon. I need about a week in a sensory depravation tank. With the holidays coming I don’t see that happening. I’ll have to ‘buck up’ and tie my running shoes a bit tighter.</p>
<p>MOSB, I hope your mom is doing well.<br>
hollie, I hope your daughter finds some peace. It’s not easy ending a relationship, no matter what end your on.
EB - congratulations on hitting the send on those CA’s! Whoot-whoot!! Feels so good!
O’mom - Ugh, dental work AND financials? Passing chocolate and cocktails your way (loaded or not, your pleasure )</p>
<p>Well, boychild has to be at school every day at 7 for band, he has six academic classes, plus JROTC, XC after school until 5 for practice and later when there were meets, plus his other EC’s and he works at Marshall’s part time. On top of this he has to drive 15 miles each way to school and home, do homework, work on his apps, etc., etc., etc. He managed to arrange all his college visits and set up his interviews at every school. </p>
<p>I know I have a much different philosophy than most but my main goal has always been to raise my child to be an independent adult.</p>
<p>C’mon emilybee - we all want responsible adults. Do you really think that we’re trying to create irresponsible adults? I’ve got to say that your son’s life sounds quite busy. Good for him for navigating the interviews and everything else.</p>
<p>This is my third child and my third time through this process. I don’t mind cutting both my son and I some slack this time around. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff.</p>
One EA school required Profile at same time as app; the other suggested it be submitted then, but it can be submitted anytime between now and beginning of Jan. I haven’t decided what to do. I’ll probably submit it over the weekend.</p>
<p>Cocktails and stuffed mushrooms at 5 sound great. I hired a nutritionist to devise an eating plan for me. I start on Sunday. Five meager meals totaling 1400 calories a day plus lots of cardio. That’s enough for a pigeon. I’m going to give it a try. Gotta get 30 pounds off that I’ve gained in the past four years. Get off and stay off. I’d love to go for forty-five. That would be my wedding dress weight.</p>
<p>Whoa, emilybee, we are all trying, and mostly succeeding, in raising responsible, independent adults. How we arrive there may be on different paths, but that is everyone’s goal.</p>
<p>Your son sounds like he’s doing just fine. If you choose not to make a college follow-up call for him, so be it. </p>
<p>But you seem to imply that those of us who help our kids with the administrative parts of this marathon are somehow robbing them of necessary development experiences, and that’s just not the case.</p>
I’m going to say ‘You go girl’, because that’s supportive…please know that in my mind I’m thinking ‘Has she gone mad doing this before the holidays?!?’. This is certainly a reflection of MY weakness. May ‘The Force’ be with you!!</p>
<p>Kath, I have to say I sometimes wonder. It’s why colleges now how to tell parents when they drop off their kids that it is time to go home! </p>
<p>Parents have even started going to job interviews with their kids after they graduate and some companies are devising ways to accommodate that. Leaves me gobsmacked!</p>
<p>He does have a very busy schedule - all of his own choosing. This year he has added Mock Trial (he already is on the Masterminds team) and is interviewing next week for a internship at a county court in the county just north of us (about 30 minutes away.)</p>
<p>I’m in the camp of doing lots of administrative help for my kids - also, a fair amount of reminding about deadlines. Clearly different approaches work well for different kids. </p>
<p>My older child is now a junior in college. I don’t think I was hand-holding throughout the college process, but I helped her set deadlines and I escalated my reminders about essays and test prep when I thought it would be helpful or when I couldn’t stand watching the procrastination. I even called a coach who was recruiting her at one point when she was out of the country and didn’t have phone access. She is now a very independent and organized person who handles everything beautifully on her own, and she has been that way from the day we dropped her off at school. So… administrative help doesn’t have to be a crutch. It’s just part of the parent-child dynamic at home.</p>
<p>different kids have different personalities and will want/need different parenting styles. There is no one fit all solution to parenting!
My d has inherited my dh’s spaciness, lack of organizational skills and poor time management…alas…so I do help her with administrative tasks…just as I help him!! I have increasingly given her more responsibility as the years go on…sometimes she follows through…other times not so much. But with something as important as these deadlines etc., yes, I have helped her with administrative tasks,more than I wanted to quite honestly! She is always very appreciative of it! As is my dh when I help him with stuff that he ASKS for help with. Neither of them want me taking over things unbidded, which I do not do!</p>
<p>Thanks Blue. Fortunately we don’t have too many holiday parties to go to. I know this going to be a HUGE challenge, but I have no choice. I refuse to start shopping in the Plus sizes (sorry if I insult anyone, but I was 118 when I got married so I’m not used to this).</p>
<p>Thanks emilybee! She is doing well. Limited swelling. Biggest issue is her hunger. She is starving and doesn’t want or like alot of the soft soft foods! Oh well, sure she will be feeling better soon. She is napping now:)</p>
I’ve got to say that your son’s life sounds quite busy. Good for him for navigating the interviews and everything else.</p>
This is certainly a reflection of MY weakness. May ‘The Force’ be with you!!</p>