<p>Some accomplishments this weekend – per the requirement of college counseling office, DS updated Naviance with final list of schools (8) - ended up taking off two and adding one new one. Must say am frustrated b/c CCO has not yet submitted paperwork for a rolling app that I think would net DS an accept - which would ease some of the tension as we wait out the days until his ED notification on Dec 15. Heart so set on that - very hard to wait out these days and so hopeful for good news. Think we are having harder time than he is - he is busy with school, lead in play that goes up 12/10, and we’re in suspended animation! I know, I know - can’t live through my kiddo…but it’s hard!
Congrats to all who have heard good news and best to those struggling with health issues.</p>
<p>Had a great holiday weekend. Really enjoying our time with our Costa Rican exchange student. He is a fantastic kid and I will be sorry to see him go. He truly has the personality of a boy I wish I had for a son (and a brother for D!). Took him to Niagara Falls/Buffalo to visit family and he braved the cold and the wind!
No news on the college front here, but D has got to start working on scholarship stuff!! Unfortunately that will have to wait until our exchange student leaves. This week she accompanies the exchange students to DC and NYC for excursions (missing school…ugh…to do so!)
HOpe everyone had a wonderful holiday!</p>
<p>A lot of work done, but not quite enough- hopefully today will be a productive day. </p>
<p>DD sent her little dog from CA since she is coming East for the holidays via China. I picked him up at JFK last night, ugh. He is driving us crazy of course. Our big dog is panting, humping and chasing him around the house constantly knocking into things. And I noticed our fenced in yard is not quite fenced enough for this dog, so off to the store for some chicken wire. It’s going to be a long month. I’m not sure who’s idea this was. I was originally supposed to go out to CA and dog sit, but between my mom being so ill and college ap season I didn’t think I should go for 2 weeks.</p>
<p>Speaking of showing the love, I want to share an unrelated story with y’all. I get Google Alerts on my S’s school to keep me up-to-date on anything that hits the news or the Internet. There was a posting on the website Donor Choose from an 11th grade English teacher at his school who needed basic art supplies (markers, paper, scissors, etc) so her students could do a photo essay. I was one of the donors. Not only did I receive email updates from the teacher, but the students posted their appreciation as well as the results of their projects online. Yesterday I received a package in the mail with a handwritten thank you note from every student. Most were a half a page long and full of emotion. It was the best donation I ever made and I will certainly do it again. Well-written hand-written thank you notes DO have a powerful impact.</p>
<p>I think getting a personal note is a very nice thing. Boychild got a lovely handwritten note from the St. Lawrence alum who interviewed him a few days after and before boychild had written him a thank-you (he had lost the man’s email addy and was waiting the admission office reply to the email he had sent to get it.)</p>
<p>Poor judgement on my part. I let S go skiing with cousin and friends on Sat. They left at 5:30am and didn’t return to 8:30pm. S is exhausted and will not be able to finish the one merit app and one EA app he needs done by Dec 1 tonight. Well there are 2 more days left this month, no rush I guess!</p>
<p>F1MathMOM- How nice of the teacher to make sure your donation was acknowledged. I checked and neither of my kids schools has anything listed but I have bookmarked the site and will definitely find something to donate to when I have some free cash. </p>
<p>Siemom- every step forward is closer to submit. And only 17 more days til you hear from the ED school!</p>
<p>Emmy - glad the dinner went well. How nice of the restaurant to print special menus!</p>
<p>Collegeshopping- hope your D’s appt Monday is productive and she gets some answers.</p>
<p>mamom -I think it’s nice your son got some fun time in. I do think that’s important. And he’ll be proud when he gets that work done while also having had his outing. I think you made a great call!</p>
<p>Besides, next year they’ll have to figure out how to fit in fun, work AND sleep, without us there to guide them. I’m in favor of letting them experiment a bit as seniors and see what works for them.</p>
<p>I also believe that they will get apps done if they truly want to - I’ve bitten my nails quite a bit these last couple of months, but I wouldn’t have stood over her or made her stay home from something with friends to complete them. I feel that’s her decision. </p>
<p>I can say this because she did do regular and reasonable work on apps, and she’s making her deadlines, even getting a number in with a good cushion. The last week or so she had been talking about adding a school that’s due 12/1 - I don’t think she’ll get it done and I’m not saying anything; I don’t want to pay for scores and app fees on that kind of whim. BUT if she surprises me tomorrow night and says she has it ready to go, I’ll applaud her tenacity. </p>
<p>Good luck with the doctor tomorrow, collegeshopping. I’ll be thinking of you. I have a friend whose D struggles with EE and Celiac issues, and I do hope you get good news. I wouldn’t wish those troubles on anyone.</p>
<p>Thankfully the PSU honors college app was submitted today! Ds finished the final essay last night - engineers without borders at the Cheyenne River indian reservation…really interesting stuff. Thanks again for the suggestions, it really jump started things.</p>
<p>Same as dignified1 here 
Feeling quite relieved. I got to reread some modified essays that D wrote and they made me so happy; a wonderful end to this Thanksgiving weekend! </p>
<p>D had alum interview for EA school today. Felt okay enough about it to not dwell. I resisted the urge to ask for a word for word recounting. Thank you note ready to mail (what a great day)!</p>
<p>Best wishes to you all managing ill kids and ailing parents (and little dogs). Keeps things in perspective, but no fun.</p>
<p>So much going on around here. Wish I could post a cheer up note to each individual, but I seem rather late to the party. Let me just say to all who have been ailing and tending to ailing loved ones, I am amazed at your resiliency! I’m speechless at how kayak’s dear S is not only recuperating from major surgery–but also zipping off a terrific essay at the same time. Wow!!! </p>
<p>We’ve had a very busy holiday weekend as well. Another 900 pound creative supplement (okay I exaggerate–but only a little!) has been uploaded, and an equally enormous one (requiring tweaking portfolio shots, running to Staples for color prints–twice!–not to mention three new essays and a resume of creative works where each and every play, art exhibition, music award or whatever must be listed by date and detail. Of course I have my Outlook calendar for years back that lists those dates–but ARG. Glad these are over. One was uploaded (although nothing on the college app website acknowledges that it was…hm) – so more follow up I guess. And the question is: do we mail the other one that is due by Dec 1? Trust the mail??? Or do I drive it in (only 40 minutes away, but…) I will most likely drive.</p>
<p>S2 also had a phone interview with a very nice professor at one college he’s applied to that gives merit awards. He was prepared for the question of where else he is applying–however… he’s a really sweet guy and felt bad about not answering directly. His honest answer–that he can’t allow himself to fall in love with any college until he know where he might get in is true, but a little bittersweet too. Aw.</p>
<p>FLmathmom, love your donation. Very sweet of you–and those notes were just as you deserve.</p>
<p>holliesue, your exchange student sounds like a doll.</p>
<p>idinct, I feel for you and the new dog in the house.</p>
<p>All others, we are in the final stretch. Onward and upward!</p>
<p>madbean, is your S applying to specific arts programs? Is that why he has those supplements? Sounds like a ton of work, but kind of fun, too, maybe. </p>
<p>D will have to bring a folder with a resume, headshots, sometimes another little essay, to her auditions, and one school does have an arts supplement that’s optional for anyone. But we haven’t seen arts supplements pop up for any other schools. I wouldn’t wish the work on her, but honestly she could put a decent one together if they were interested. Not so much awards (some in music) but just a whole artsy lifestyle that I wish colleges knew more about. She did talk about her creative self in her essay, and it’s pretty obvious from her ECs (and from her transcript - 2-3 arts classes at any given time). </p>
<p>She left for school this morning with 1) a song she arranged for her choir, 2) a poem she’s preparing for recitation as an EC, and 3) a saxophone concerto she is preparing for competition. Next semester she’ll get back into painting. And in the next few weeks she has 2 plays to audition for … yeah, she’s artsy …</p>
<p>I just find myself curious about the official arts supplements and what it’s like to do one. I put one together when I was in HS and found it kind of exciting to see everything spread out in one place. Congratulations to you and your S, and best wishes.</p>
<p>I have about enough of the Facebook open grieving. Maybe some psychologist will come out and say how very cleansing it is to bear your grief on an online social group, that it is a wonderful way to reach out to friends that may not have heard the news…bladibladibla - but everyday - heck, every few hours, my cousin’s dd, all of 22 or something, puts up a new status of “these next few days are going to be the toughest in my life” and gets a bunch of hearts and hugs from her friends. Everyday a new picture of my deceased aunt from the past, funny - pics from before this kid was born, get posted. I know she is sad, she was her grandmother. But, this is just getting tacky, the pics are posted right after her new tattoo mobile uploads and pics of partying. We are from the silent, stoic side of the family and find this all a bit uncomfortable. Guess I am just really old?</p>
<p>So proud of my son. With a five day weekend facing him, lots of homework, local scholarship apps with early December deadlines, studying for upcoming mid-terms which are going to be practice IB exams plus family obligations, he insisted on choosing the priorities and timing so he would have time to sleep late and spend with friends. I admit I was surprised he did it. Not the way I would have, but that doesn’t matter, but for the most part it all got done. One scholarship essay due on Friday needs an hour or two more work, but that is it.</p>
<p>Me - stayed true to my eating plan. Today is the start of week three. Shorts definitely feeling looser, but all chins still there.</p>
<p>For those who do their own tax return, Turbotax is out. I bought mine at Costco.</p>
<p>Ah, it’s Monday morning after a long weekend and a house full of sleep-over guests and kids/husband. A quiet morning to myself, as I don’t have work today. This is the best. My husband finally recovered from his nasty viral thing, although he’s puckered out. Thanksgiving dinner went off w/out a hitch, thankfully! Hope everyone who was ill in the last few days is on the mend.</p>
<p>Just read the last few pages and a post of EmmyBet’s caught my attention. You mentioned how the kids next year will have to manage their time and balance sleep, play and work. I have to say, after seeing my son’s behavior and that of his friends this semester, I hope that they will learn to balance these elements. Right now, they’re just working way too hard. In terms of sleep, for my son at least, it hasn’t been all that bad–most nights he’s in bed by 11-11:30. It’s the play part that’s suffering and it’s been entirely his own decision, although if I spoke to him about this he’d probably say that he views the 3 hours a day he spends doing his varsity sport as his play time. Yet, he’s only very occasionally gone out on the weekends and just for a few hours because it’s during the weekends that he does his interviews and gets his app work done, and they’re all due to his counselor by Dec 1. Having them due to her a month before they’re actually due to the colleges has been a real pressured strain. He has lamented his lack of a social life this fall and I know he looks forward to getting back to one soon. He managed to get four more supplements done this weekend, two left to go. I think he’ll have a ball during Christmas break, as will we, regardless of the ED/EA news, just because all the stress of this work will be long over. What we’ve recognized as a family this last weekend is that the stress for us is not about where he gets in because we all know that no matter where this kid goes to school, he’ll make the most of it, as he’s proven already. The anxiety comes from him having to meet his deadline and making sure that he’s crossed all the Ts and dotted the Is. Once this is over, we’ll just sit back, relax and begin hanging out with each other again without any college stuff looming. College discussions will be entirely off the table until acceptance/rejection info is in and a decision needs to be made. This process has already taken up enough of our attention.</p>
<p>I agree that there will be much rejoicing when this particular process is over. Even though my D does manage to watch movies and go shopping sometimes, and took the rest of this weekend off apps, she FEELS like there’s always something hanging on her. </p>
<p>I don’t know if you, RM, have an older child in college, but I think I find it a bit easier because we have a college kid and can see how clearly HS recedes into one’s memory when it’s all over. Of course she too has plenty of stresses now, but she laughs a bit when she thinks back on HS days and how serious things felt. </p>
<p>And D2, having seen her sister (and being a broad-perspective type of person anyway) is able to keep things balanced pretty well. Yesterday she and I talked yet again - it’s becoming about a weekly thing - about making sure she saves being stressed or upset over things that are really worth it. She’s good at projecting 6 months or a year into the future and knowing that she’ll be in a different place, and that significant personal rewards or friendships are going to be much more important than the petty kinds of triumphs that can blur the moment. Even something that feels “big” - like who got profiled in the school paper, or got the lead in the play - will become a mere pinpoint a year from now.</p>
<p>Sometimes, as my college D is seeing, you just have that much work, and you’re going to be stressed and tired. Sometimes you learn to set things up differently next time - she had a horrendous spring sophomore year of college and vowed never to do it to herself again (way too many commitments, just not enough hours in the day, and schoolwork suffered) … well, this semester she realizes she played with that fire again, but she learned a lot from the experience. </p>
<p>D2 is more like a toe-dipper; she doesn’t have the ECs and accomplishments some kids have, because she takes her time getting involved and doesn’t want to over-commit. Finally this year she has the mental and emotional stamina to take on a lot more, but she’s still being careful. And even though she didn’t fully understand what applying to college was really going to entail, she’s managed the process a lot better than I feared she would.</p>
<p>I know that students get a rough shake from the outside world - most people think they have it easy: a flexible schedule, lots of vacations, a social goldmine. But this one part where they work so hard in such a concentrated way definitely balanced out the perks. Most of the time I think being a student again would be a blast … except for this aspect.</p>
<p>I bet your S does feel like his sport is “fun time” (or I hope he does). That was definitely so for me when I was a crazy-busy HS kid. And my D1 was definitely the activities type rather than the social type. D2 is 50-50 (and her activities tend to be very social!).</p>
<p>Venting here. D has two EA apps due on December 1st (two days away) and has still not completed her applications. We have discussed, and she has heard it from other than me, how important top-notch essays are in the process. Despite that, she still has not had her CA main essay reviewed by the teacher she wanted to look at it, and I’m not sure it even fits in the essay category she is checking. And the more minor essay (the one where it asks her to describe one of her EC’s) - not even started.
Someone here used the term “puts the ‘pro’ in ‘procrastinate’” too describe their child, and that certainly applies here. This would have been almost kind of funny a week ago - not so much now. D has always played thing really close in terms of finishing projects, studying for tests, etc. and it hasn’t presented a problem, up to now (although there was one class last semester that I believe she would have gotten an A in if she hadn’t let things slide so much by prioritizing her main EC at its expense, but that was an isolated instance since she’s gotten mostly A’s otherwise). She doesn’t have any reachy schools, although a couple are certainly more matches than safeties, so maybe she’s gotten a false sense of security with some of the “courting” she’s been getting. All I know is that she shouldn’t be in this position at this time, and it is driving me crazy. I know it’s her problem, not mine, and she is a wonderful, kind, responsible girl who will be an asset to whatever school she winds up at. I just don’t get it. At all.</p>
<p>It is tough on all our kids getting these apps and suppliments and merit stuff in and finding some down time. I know if S was playing football that would be his down time, there would just not be any other time available for him to relax. This is the first year since he was 7 that he hasn’t played football and he is loving having all that free time. Tonight will be crunch time though because he has some app stuff due Dec 1st. </p>
<p>New week and I am once again starting my diet. Goes very good til about 7pm, then it all seems to fall apart. But I have cut back on the wine or beer after dinner at home. I am substituting tea instead. </p>
<p>Regarding facebook, I am always surprised about how much folks put out there. Most of my neices and nephews have limited what the aunts and uncles can see but there are a few who either don’t care or like to shock, and shock they do. OTOH, I am surprised at friends and relatives my age who have been sucked into the games like farmville. </p>
<p>Arrggh taxes. We won’t get FA but some of the schools S may get merit from want profile and FAFSA info. We have an accountant do our taxes and although they are not complicated or involved, she has been doing them since H owned his own business (now sold) so we just stuck with her. There are many years she has to file extensions because I can’t seem to gather all info and get it to her in time. (wonder where S gets his procastination genes from) This year she will be pleasantly surprised when it arrives on her doorstep in jan.</p>
<p>Worked on 10 yo D’s applications for middle school all day yesterday. H & I in the dining room, D in kitchen. Most of the schools have questions D has to answer like “why do you want to attend here?”, “what can you contribute?”, “describe you relationship with your family” I love the part on the applications where it asks about her community service. I mean really, unless your family is very involved in community service, what 10yo would be? (and we do but nothing a 10yo can help with) D has been very good about the whole process, studying for the upcoming ISEE test, filling out applications, and practicing interviewing. I hope she feels the same way in 6 years when we go through this all again for college.</p>
<p>cooker–Your last post sounds like your life is similar to mine. I also liked the quote about putting the “pro in procrastinate.” In my case, I feel as though my D submitting the applications on time and in good shape does affect me, as the reason my daughter has December 1 deadlines is that those are merit aid deadlines (and if she doesn’t get enough merit aid, we’ll have to find the money somewhere; we can pay for freshman year but the others are somewhat in question!) </p>
<p>Let me help relieve your concerns on one point–I don’t think the category for the essay matters much; my daughter chose the “topic of your choice” option, and if you are really worried about your D’s essay not fitting in her chosen category, perhaps your D could just choose that.</p>
<p>Cooker - good luck with your D getting the apps done. She won’t be the only one writing essays at the last minute. I really think the importance of essays is overblown except at the reachy schools. A mediocre essay probably does no harm, a poor essay maybe detracts a little and a great essay gives your app a bump, but I think in general it is more about stats.</p>
<p>“O God, give us serenity to accept what cannot be changed, courage to change what should be changed, and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.”</p>