Parents of the HS Class of 2011 - Original

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
9921

<p>blue - congratulations on VT! About the snide comments, D and her close friend have chosen to NOT tell anyone but each other their decisions - at least so far. No posts on facebook - although I have seen several other kids post their decisions on there. D said something like why would I want to post when I am not sure yet where I’ll go? </p>

<p>On another note, she had admission to one school that she is really not considering seriously [ unless something changes dramatically]. She found out late last week that another girl in school loves that school and it is at the top of her list. Finances though are a concern for that girl. D was feeling guilty for having a merit scholarship to this school and not even seriously considering it while the other girl is hoping to get some money. I told her the two were not connected and that she shouldn’t feel guilty…hopefully, I am right!</p>

<p>Minor scare this morning out here with the CO detectors going on and asking us to ‘evacuate’. Gosh - didn’t know that these new detectors ‘spoke’! Was spooked - the fire department was over and has determined that the levels were higher temporarily since H backed one of our cars near the garage and had it running while he loaded it !! S had to get out of bed early on a vacation day and was not happy :)</p>

9922

<p>arisamp - good to know they work…that is more important. Son & I are feeling guilty about a big merit scholarship he has to a ‘safety’ school. Assuming school has yield histories and know that only a certain % will say yes.</p>

9923

<p>Congrats to those getting good news and good luck to those auditioning and interviewing.</p>

<p>We just returned from an accepted students visit to D’s stronger safety. The school really did an amazing job selling the kids and D loved it. Quite a relief after the last accepted students visit that ended with the “I’d rather take a gap year” comment. We did not visit these 2 safeties pre application but did visit the rest of the list. Classic older child application mistake…Younger S will be visiting the safeties first! </p>

<p>D will be leaving considerable merit money (full ride) on the table at the unloved safety. We had the sensitivity chat. The merit money deciders know the odds, so we don’t feel any guilt, but do have compassion. Important to be aware as others have said. </p>

<p>Almost done! Just the Presidential Scholarship paperwork to FedEx and one other essay left. Oh, and the regular schoolwork and ECs! Tick Tock, we are on the March 31/April 1 wait with so many of you. We always celebrate Pi day at school and work (my colleagues think it is funny that I celebrate with pie). No MIT app here, so we can relax.</p>

9924

<p>For those with ambitious kids or parents hunting for more scholarships, here are a few more:</p>

<p>*Mu Alpha Theta for the math kids - [Scholarships[/url</a>]</p>

<ul>
<li>Joe Foss - requires essay on what you can do for your country <a href=“http://www.joefoss.com/images/scholarships/2011-haysckirby-guidelines.pdf[/url]”>http://www.joefoss.com/images/scholarships/2011-haysckirby-guidelines.pdf](<a href=“Mu Alpha Theta | National High School & Two-Year College Mathematics Honor Society”>Mu Alpha Theta | National High School & Two-Year College Mathematics Honor Society)</a></li>
</ul>

<p>*Kohl’s - requires strong comm service [Kohl’s</a> Cares® Scholarship Program](<a href=“Corporate Responsibility”>Corporate Responsibility)</p>

<p>*Voice for Animals - requires essay on what student has done RE: preventing animal cruelty [A</a> Voice for Animals](<a href=“A Voice for Animals”>A Voice for Animals)</p>

9925

<p>FlMathMom - thanks. Yes, it is indeed nice to know they work, even if they scared the heck out of me this morning :)</p>

<p>I think D is tapped out and does not want to do any more scholarship apps. Given the low probability of getting some of these, I am fine with her not applying either. Have asked her to start looking around seriously for a summer job - she has sent one in for a camp where she volunteered before, but they reneged on their offer late last year. So, I am not comfortable with her just staying with that one option - want her to explore others as well. We’ll see what she does.</p>

<p>February is almost over - but the wait seems interminable. I hate this limbo state - would rather she have all her decisions in and work on making her choice! Never been very patient…</p>

9926

<p>Yes the dreaded State of Limbo-which someone asked earlier and yes it is only OOS tuition.</p>

9927

<p>arisamp – If there is a summer camp fair near you, go and take your daughter. The year my D was 13 (tall and looked older) we were fending off camp-owners who were jumping into the aisle to ask if she’d be interested in being a counselor! With all the older teens busy trying to amp up their resumes with special activities, camp counseling had become less desirable. </p>

<p>They’ve got energy drinks, sleep-aid drinks, extra-hydrating drinks…when do they come out with a patience-booster?</p>

9928

<p>Do you remember those loooooong nine months of pregnancy when you never thought you’d ever see your toes again. We survived that. Many of us (moi included) somehow managed to survive years of trying to get pregnant. Each month watching the calendar for the ‘right time’ and then two weeks later to see if it worked, only to start over again and again. </p>

<p>Instead of wishing this time away, let’s celebrate it. We have about 5-6 weeks left so let’s think of 5-6 really cool things we can do with our seniors, our families or just by ourselves during this time. Moms of girls can go get pedicures together. Moms of boys can take them to a movie or out to dinner, just the two of you.</p>

<p>Put on your thinking caps and share your ideas.</p>

9929

<p>D and I are planning our trip to NY, and we have some gaps around her auditions. We plan to do some prom dress shopping out there. I think that sounds very fun to her, much more fun than the repeat campus visits I originally suggested…</p>

<p>Pepper - funny!</p>

9930

<p>^^Emmy, we are doing the same thing tomorrow; preliminary prom and graduation dress shopping…anyone else already set a $$ limit???</p>

9931

<p>I went shopping today with my husband, our two sons and our younger son’s best friend. Men’s Warehouse had a “buy one, get one free” sale. Husband and older son needed new suits, younger son needed a tux (cheaper than three rentals) as did his friend. We kept the salesman hopping! </p>

<p>Our son’s friend touched base with his mom about the tux and she decided she wanted to purchase him a lighter weight wool online so we had to decide who was going to get the fourth suit free! I was hoping for the Brotherhood of the Traveling Suit–one they could all three wear, but they are not the same size. We opted for a new suit for the younger son since his current one was a JC Penney special for speech and debate tournaments–and it’s been thrown in the back of the bus for two years.</p>

<p>The four men were hysterical in the store, trying on leather jackets and hats, making jokes about each other when the alternations lady was “chalking” their suits, and trying to convince me that the younger boys needed Converse tuxedo shoes. (They were not buy-one-get-one!) Our son even texted his prom date who approved of the Converse tuxedo shoes. I told him to work some more hours at his job to buy them himself.</p>

<p>We went to lunch at a Indian restaurant. Just me and four handsome guys. Best day off of work in a long time.</p>

<p>Saturday, I take my daughter-in-law shopping for her dress to wear to the Cotillion for Achievemt ball so she will be the prettiest sister-in-law there!</p>

9932

<p>cooker, grats on the big envelope and good luck in snagging the big $$!</p>

<p>Novelisto, I’m going to suggest that my daughter look into the camp counselor gig. She’s trying to figure out how she can earn some bucks this summer.</p>

<p>Luckily she’s all set in the prom dress department. She’s decided to wear a gothic belly dance costume she already has. That won’t actually look too odd at her school’s prom – I’ve seen girls in kimonos and Star Trek uniforms, boys in dresses and ren faire garb… </p>

<p>Time to put on my thinking cap and consider FLMM’s fine suggestion for celebrating instead of fidgeting in limbo.</p>

9933

<p>I love snoozn’s school’s prom wardrobe ideas! Wish that could go at our school.</p>

<p>D will use her dress also to perform her Concerto in March, so it has to be right for that, too.</p>

<p>This is the only prom dress D will have gotten (she’s anti-prom, but BF isn’t, so she’s being nice). Might go over the $200 limit I set, if we find the right one. She’s liked a few online so far, knows what general style she’s looking for. It would be fun to get one in NY - less likely 5 other girls will be wearing the same dress, don’t you think?</p>

9934

<p>Bought junior year’s Homecoming dress on a NYC visit with D2. Did end up seeing the same dress in a local store, but no one at her school wore it. Bought junior year’s Banquet dress (our equivalent to Prom) in Atlanta and didn’t see it in any stores or on anyone at the event. Probably my favorite dress of the 15 we’ve bought between D1 and D2 so far. D2 and I have joked that we need to do a college visit to shop for this year’s Banquet dress. We may end up shopping in Phoenix next month on our way home from the Grand Canyon.</p>

<p>Haven’t spent over $150 on a dress yet. Hope to keep that record going but admit I’d probably cave for D2 if she found something she had to have.</p>

9935

<p>Cooker, congrats to your daughter! Best of luck on that big scholarship, too. Wonderful and exciting news!</p>

<p>Arisamp, my d also has some guilty feelings about having won a big music scholarship, given to only one kid a year, at a school she’s pretty sure she won’t be going to. We had to talk through it, and came to the realization that the alternative would have been not to apply/audition at more than one school, and how could she have known which one that should have been? This whole audition process, spanning since last October, has been so enlightening for her, and it’s what is helping her to be in a position to make a good choice in April.</p>

<p>Still, she says she keeps thinking of those other kids on audition day, playing/singing their hearts out…so hopeful…maybe wanting this school so much, and part of her feels like she cheated them out of something that would’ve meant a lot to them, and something she now probably won’t take advantage of.</p>

<p>I don’t think it bothers her so much with the academic scholarships (most of which are 3-4 times as much money). For her, it’s the emotional aspect of a young musician really wanting that scholarship…putting everything on the line for it, maybe missing it by just a hair…and then the girl who gets it says no, thanks, and walks away. She just feels bad about that.</p>

<p>Guilt…perhaps the most useless yet unpleasant emotion.</p>

<p>OWM, glad you had a fun day guy-clothes-shopping (and got some great deals)!</p>

<p>Sb is thinking about what she’d like to do for her 18th birthday next month. She’s checking out the rest of the season at the Lyric, so there might be an evening of opera, which would suit me just fine. A while ago, when my biz income was a happier state of affairs, we saw La Boheme, La Traviatta, and Porgy and Bess almost back to back. Very fun, but a bit steep for our current budget. Still I could swing tickets for one, if that’s what she wants to do. We’ll see…</p>

<p>Re prom dresses, my d is not a prom-goer…but she does wear a lot of beautiful dresses for shows and recitals. We have a fantastic vintage gown resale shop not far from us, and I’ve bought her 4 Audrey Hepburn / Grace Kelly style one-of-a-kind gowns there. Never paid more than $75, and people’s jaws drop when they see them. They may not work for every 17 year old, but since my d was born in the wrong half-century anyway, she’s mad for them. :)</p>

9936

<p>MomofSongbird – My D was also not born in her right time. We buy her things sometimes from White House/Black Market which frequently borrows looks from the 40’s/50’s. My D looks outrageous in that era’s fashions! Talbots is also going retro as are several other places – I think it’s because of Mad Men. </p>

<p>We bought her ‘prom’ dress on line – I sent her web-photos of half a dozen ones I liked and she sent me some she liked and together we narrowed it down. In the end she picked the least ‘blingy’ and the least expensive. She says that some of the girls at her school go all out – spending big bucks – and she can’t compete with that, nor does she want to. So she kept it under $200 and found something that has her kind of elegance. </p>

<p>Chances are that your D’s scholarship $$ will go to someone else if she turns it down. So by refusing, she is giving someone else their big chance.</p>

<p>BTW, have you seen that Carmen is coming to theaters in 3-D?</p>

9937

<p>D2 considers it a bit of a guilty pleasure the morning after the big event to try and find the dresses online girls wore the night before to see what they spent! Last year one of the dresses was $300.</p>

9938

<p>Hi novelisto, no this endowment scholarship is offered to one music student per year. Like many scholarships, by the time they find out you aren’t accepting it (in apr-may), its far too late to offer it to other candidates, many of whom have already chosen other schools instead. The $ stays in the pot, accruing interest, until next year.</p>

<p>Didn’t know about Carmen…thanks for that heads-up. Though unless its done in the original french, sb won’t go. She doesn’t believe operas should be sung in anything but the original language. English subtitles are fine, but to change the libretto is (to her mind) an outrage. She compares it to going to see a Monet that somebody reproduced with a paint-by-numbers kit. Ah, artistic purists. So young, so idealistic…I remember being that way, and I really kind of enjoy seeing that trait in my d. She will change, of course, we all do. But if you can’t be idealistic at almost-18, when can you?</p>

9939

<p>OWM - I love the mental picture of your guys being fitted for the suits :slight_smile: That’s one you burn in the memory bank. I absolutely might have caved for the converse though. I’m the two for one mom, the clearance rack mom, the we don’t pay full price unless we have to mom, but every once in a while I’m a sucker for things. Bluejr has a thing for shoes…</p>

<p>He managed the ‘guilt’ over merit at schools he knew others really needed to attend by quickly notifying any school that came off his list that he wouldn’t be attending. If your student’s not sure, absolutely keep it in play… especially if you’re waiting on oos/private fin-aid offers that could change everything. He just had one that he knew was off the table once he got another acceptance. Great school, good program, he just didn’t like it as well as another acceptance that came in. He wanted to make sure he notified the school before departmental merit was awarded. IF (operative word being IF) he was in the running for departmental merit, he wanted it to go to a student in the first round that intended on attending. It was work differently. They may allow for this. It made since in his mind.</p>

<p>Not much talk of prom here. No gf this year, owns a tux, so from HIS pov no prep work needed. I think he does intend on going. May just seems a million miles away. I have reminded him that he needs to consider giving a date time to look for a dress. No sisters so these things have to be explained. He does have a good friend who is a Jr he has mentioned asking. She is a lot of fun and know they would have a good time.</p>

9940

<p>Novelisto and MOSB- sounds like our daughters are cut from the same cloth. D loves the vintage look and has been able to find a few more reasonably priced every day dresses at Mod Cloth. Last year the D went with a vintage pattern from Vogue and we had dress for prom made. She dolled it up with some elbow length gloves and a rhinestone bracelet from her grandmother circa 1950s(?). This year we already purchased mail order through “light in the box” site. Great dress, price etc. We do have a $200 limit- but usually come in about $160 or so. Her best score was at the Salvation Army on the upper East side NYC- got an Anne Klein halter chiffon tea length dress, still with $200 tags on, for $20. Saved enough to balance out the train fare to get there.</p>