<p>Buick Achievers scholarships -renewable for four years, which could bring the total individual scholarship to as much as $100,000. The GM Foundation plans to start a new group of 100 students on renewable scholarships of up to $25,000 each year. <a href=“https://buickachievers.scholarshipamerica.org/[/url]”>https://buickachievers.scholarshipamerica.org/</a> Scholarship recipients will demonstrate an interest in pursuing a career in the automotive or related industries using these areas of study.</p>
<p>mamom, we switched ShawSon to a physician who specializes in adolescent medicine, probably during his senior year. He was probably a foot taller than his pediatrician, who was a really nice man and probably a good but not amazing doctor. However, he was in both kids’ corners when they had serious problems. A great human being.</p>
<p>ShawD switched to a woman pediatrician a couple of years ago. She now wants an adult-focused doctor. </p>
<p>I’ve now filled out the FAFSA form. A little hard to know what to do on some of this, but it is completely irrelevant. I’m not going to lose my job because I am an owner and head of the company. The company could lose money, but unlikely to be prolonged because we could cut back staff, and could, I suppose, go bankrupt, but that seems unlikely. My contingency plan, discussed with ShawWife, is that if we ever hit tough economic times, we’d move someplace where the cost of living is lower. Our business is global and not particularly dependent upon our local economy. I can’t figure out how the FAFSA is going to help.</p>
<p>Any one have moments of unexplainable, irrational panic lately? I love hearing everyone’s good news and all the excitement, but it is making me a bit anxious knowing our house has another 7 weeks before we have our options. I’m optimistic and reasonable but every now and then I have moments where I’m a bit overwhelmed. Because I’m naturally calm, reasonable - this is exhausting!</p>
<p>Someone should have warned me not to watch that skype ad. Oh, there was mention of kleenex I think. Gluton for punishment.
Keylime - My ds (slacker) boy wouldn’t have studied for the PSAT (or SAT) if I had promised him a million bucks! God bless those with studious conscientious students who make the schools and parents proud! Maybe I will get one of those in the last 3 kids, I’m betting on #2 or #3. #4 is more slacker than ds and she’s only 9! Then again, she wants to go to clown school for clowning studies she said.</p>
<p>
Yes! End of March seems so far away. I know time will pass, it always does, but I’m chomping at the bit to find out. And so is D.</p>
<p>I was sobbing watching the Skype ad, too.</p>
<p>My S, though a hard worker, hates the PSAT/SATI tests with great passion, so he didn’t study for them too hard either. I did sign him up for the SAT Question of the Day, which he totally ignored. But a day or 2 before a test day he did a full length practice test. A big motivation for him to do well on SATI was that he would not have to re-take it.</p>
<p>One Girls Mom: I can see why you feel frustrated about National Merit. If your daughter came that close, I’m sure that she has many other accomplishments and will end up with good results.</p>
<p>Rom and Omom: I can relate to your feelings of panic. I was really tense while we were waiting for ED results. I can’t even imagine having to wait until the end of March. It’s such a long process.</p>
<p>While volunteering at our HS this morning, I saw some of the kids my daughter has know since kindergarden, and I can’t believe that they are graduating. Then I came home and watched the Chinese sykpe ad. Please pass the tissues…</p>
<p>My daughter received her letter in the mail today! Anyone else?</p>
<p>Big list of Parents of HS Class of 2011/College Class of 2015 NMFs:</p>
<p>32578233
aniger
cooker
dignified1
FlMathmom
fogfog (if “Fot” means “Got”)
keylimepie
mnmomof2 (official!)
momofsongbird
ohiomom24
olderwisermom
Pepper03
phbmom
Schokolade
SlitheyTove (the spy)</p>
<p>waiting for official word:</p>
<p>UT84321–Did you hear?</p>
<p>DH reviewed the Profile—we have a ton of changes…so will neatly do that and ship off to the fin aid office…
I am disappointed as the fin aid office has ignored email inquiries sent back in Dec…</p>
<p>Did the FAFSA in under 30 minutes…I haven’t submitted yet, as I need kiddo’s driver’s license info and a few items.
Of note, there were some questions the FAFSA skips if not relevant though it makes me nervous because instructions say leave nothing blank.
For example, our assets are under a threshold, so several line items are left out…
Since it will be in the Will File…until we get this stuff to the acct, I suppose I shouldn’t freak…I just dont like having to make corrections…kwim</p>
<p>Saw the Selective Service question…so I guess boys have to register even if they aren’t 18?? idk</p>
<p>fwiw
I posted the skype ad on my Facebook profile and sent it to moms of Srs. :o)</p>
<p>fogfog - It is no big deal to make FAFSA corrections. You just change the numbers online and resubmit. There is a tab showing your history. When the school accesses it, they see the updated info. As far as selective service, I got dinged the first time I answered the question b/c son not yet 18. I forgot how they word it but I said that FAFSA could enroll him in Version 2.</p>
<p>I showed hubby the Skype ad. He didn’t get it. I cried again. What is with these men!</p>
<p>Son got into state flagship today. For financial reasons, I wish a school of 50,000 was right for him. It would be ZERO tuition and we have prepaid R&B. NOTHING!!! Oh well.</p>
<p>Son got his NMF letter today. Yesterday he found out that UC Berkeley had invited him to come down for UCB Regent’s scholarship interview (in 2 weeks). Earlier in the week he got his UCLA regent’s notification - so a good week overall. Of course neither school has sent out the official admissions letter yet…</p>
<p>Congrats to all the other winners…</p>
<p>Big list of Parents of HS Class of 2011/College Class of 2015 NMFs:</p>
<p>32578233
aniger
cooker
dignified1
FlMathmom
fogfog (if “Fot” means “Got”)
keylimepie
mnmomof2 (official!)
momofsongbird
ohiomom24
olderwisermom
Pepper03
phbmom
Schokolade
SlitheyTove (the spy)
dadmm85</p>
<p>SlitheyTove - So it’s you I have to thank for that tear-jerker? 
I think some of you know this so you can tune out…</p>
<p>A year after college my older brother moved everything he owned home to my mom’s, quit his job, and got a eurail pass, kissed mom and I goodby and said ‘Love you both, see you in two months!’. That was twenty one years ago this summer. He called from scandinavia at the end of two months 'Guess what? I have a job, I’m not coming home yet.". He didn’t know a soul, the language, anything. He now owns his own business, teaches graduate classes at the university, brings his students to the states each summer but rarely to ‘our coast’. He owns his own flat. He speaks English with an accent. Most of all he’s happy, truly happy. What he doesn’t do is come home. I miss him like crazy. For my mom’s sake I could wring his neck! She goes there when she can.</p>
<p>This one just reduced me to tears… I sent a note to my brother telling him it was time to come home to visit!! 
I hope if my boys decide that their ‘home’ is a world away I’ll have the strength to let them fly.</p>
<p>Did someone ask about irrational panic?</p>
<p>Slitheytove, finally looked at the link…definitely a tear jerker! I have noticed that my daughter and I get along better when she is away too ha ha!! distance makes her heart grow fonder for me…I always love her, near or far!</p>
<p>Definitely panic … what I hate are the nights I can’t get to sleep because I fear I’ve messed something up on her behalf. But they’re getting fewer, since the apps are complete. I expect they’ll rev up again when we have acceptance paperwork to do.</p>
<p>I have to admit the worst stress was when I lost sleep because I feared SHE’D messed something up on her own behalf. But again that’s eased because she’s pretty much done. Hearing her do her monologues (for one audition they came clearly through the door) I could tell she had done well for herself, no matter what the outcome. Sometimes I find myself rethinking the essays … should I have suggested more edits? … but I have mostly given that up, too. </p>
<p>When I was pregnant with this D, I had several odd health problems, including a couple that ultimately put me on bedrest the last 8 weeks. When she was born, they disappeared instantly, just as my OB had predicted.</p>
<p>I guess this “college admissions pregnancy” (as someone once compared it) is having its own complications. I am sure again that they will be gone as soon as she picks a school and the deposit goes in.</p>
<p>I’m so glad that so many of you were moved by that commercial. I’m sure I’m not the only parent here who sees themselves in both the parent and the child role. I provide tech support for my parents (well, really, my mom–my dad isn’t much of a computer user); I like to think that I’m a good and patient instructor who doesn’t roll eyes, but I do see that dynamic of the older generation asking hesitantly for help from the younger. </p>
<p>There’s a link on the page to the notes that the original poster wrote about how the commercial was received when watched by a group of thousands of Chinese students. It adds even more cultural context. Though some things seem to be universal. As Mark Twain wrote, “When I was fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have him around. When I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” :)</p>
<p>I’ve decided that we need a theme song for those who are still waiting to hear admissions and FA news. I offer you two choices: </p>
<p>a) You can’t always get what you want, but it you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need; or</p>
<p>b)Do you know where you’re going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to?
Do you know…?</p>
<p>:D 
:D</p>
<p>There are things we cannot in good manners do in real life–like out-and-out crowing in happiness about our kids’ grades or test scores or admissions. So I appreciate this group where we can root for each other’s children’s successes and feel good about our own. As you know, my S2 is not a test-lover (!) and was not in the running for NMF, but he has had some amazing good news so far and (we hope) more coming. And its from this feeling of abundance (there are plenty of good colleges and each of our kids needs but one!) that I celebrate the good fortune of those families with excellent PSAT results–it’s always nice to have your kid told they are high achievers. But for any parent quietly freaking out, you may notice that even the most highly selective universities admit hundreds of non-NMF, so it’s still everyone’s game.</p>
<p>Since I started this, I wanted to put up a more current and corrected listing:</p>
<p>Big list of Parents of HS Class of 2011/College Class of 2015 NMFs & NAF:</p>
<p>32578233
Aniger
cooker
dadmm85
dignified1
FlMathmom
keylimepie
mnmomof2
mommylaw
momofsongbird
ohiomom24
olderwisermom
Pepper03
phbmom
Schokolade
scoutsmom
SlitheyTove
UT84321–still waiting?
OneGirlsMom–ouch! Those on the wrong side of the cutoff pay the highest price. Since this is our list, we can cyber-relocate you to a more forgiving state and add your D to our list.</p>
<p>I love (b), but I’d definitely go for (a). Great idea!</p>
<p>So funny - I just realized D’s choir sang the Stones’ song in their Pops concert Monday night. I wonder if any of the seniors (or parents) noticed the relevance?</p>
<p>The other big song was Lean on Me. Pretty apt, too.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all the NM Finalists and good news from Florida and California. It’s always fun to check in and catch up.</p>
<p>After the good news about NM this week, our son had disappointing news from the Mizzou Scholars program. Missouri’s flagship has 10 scholarships of $10,000 for incoming freshmen. About 250 qualified to apply; 50 get interviews. We learned today that our son and his best friend (whose essays I proofed!) are not in the final 50. They are bummed.
Our son said “I’m so tired of writing essays on prompts that have nothing to do with what I want to do with my life. Do I have to do anymore?”</p>
<p>We decided to go to dinner tonight to celebrate NM and pick five more scholarships to try, recycling essays from other stuff. And then be done! Everything left will make just a small dent in the COA at MIT should he somehow be admitted. And he still qualifies for about $8,000 in merit from Mizzou despite not being in that top 10. And he has a guaranteed $10,000 from Purdue.</p>
<p>So it’s down to these applications and we’re done: Discovery Fellows Research grant at Mizzou, Military Children Scholarship Program, PTSA and two scholarships from organizations that my husbands belongs to (building inspectors and code officials-now those are some fun prompts!) </p>
<p>So it’s off to dinner and NO conversations about scholarship applications.</p>
<p>Have a great weekend, everyone.</p>
<p>ST- I love your sense of humor…can’t decide between a or b!</p>
<p>I like your song choices, and of those two, I like Do you know where you’re going to? But how about, “I hope you dance”? This was popular when my daughter was in High School and she and I always sang it out loud when it came on the radio. I have to laugh at the choice, You can’t always get what you want, because that’s the song I would sing to my kids when they were little and would whine about waaaanting something!</p>
<p>I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed</p>
<p>I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance</p>
<p>I hope you dance
I hope you dance</p>
<p>I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances but they’re worth taking
Lovin’ might be a mistake but it’s worth making</p>
<p>Don’t let some hell-bent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
( From: [I</a> HOPE YOU DANCE Lyrics - LEE ANN WOMACK](<a href=“I HOPE YOU DANCE Lyrics - LEE ANN WOMACK | eLyrics.net”>I HOPE YOU DANCE Lyrics - LEE ANN WOMACK | eLyrics.net) )</p>
<p>I hope you dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always)
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder)
I hope you dance
(Where those years have gone)</p>
<p>I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance</p>
<p>Dance
I hope you dance
(Dance)
I hope you dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always)
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder)
I hope you dance
(Where those years have gone)</p>
<p>Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder
(Dance)
Where those years have gone
(Dance)</p>