Parents of the HS Class of 2011 - Original

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
10121

<p>boy - hard to catch up on all that’s been happening! Congrats to those who have received good news and condolences to those who are dealing with bad news OR no news. </p>

<p>Arisamp - I do know people who have ordered prom dresses and received them in time but have not ever done so myself. I went shopping with DD today and actually found a dress she loved at our first stop also. It was pricier than I would have liked but we just have so many other things going on over the next couple of months that I just went ahead and bought it. Plus she reminded me that she has skipped a few of the other dances over the years (including prom last year) so she has “saved” me as much as I spent today. Have to love that teen age mentality!</p>

<p>I know some of you have kids abroad or kids who have been abroad in the past. Any advice on the whole cell phone issue? DD will be in Italy and France for about two weeks this spring and I just don’t know if it’s worth it to try to set her up with some kind of international calling ability. The teachers taking the group seem to think that it’s best to buy a calling card when they get to each country and then have the kids call home from a public phone every day or two. Some of the kids going on the trip thinks that Blackberry messenger is an option and we have a couple of BBs that I could reactivate if I wanted to.</p>

10122

<p>When bluejr was overseas this summer the bulk of communication was via email or facebook messaging on an old itouch. He’d check in whenever he had access to the Internet. We went round and round about this and finally decided this was easiest. It worked out really well.</p>

10123

<p>When I was 16…more than a few decades ago, I went to Israel for 10 weeks - 2 weeks sightseeing with a group, 8 working on a kibbutz. I had never been on a plane before and never so far from home. No cell phones in those days. The mail was slooooooooow. After 2+ weeks of not hearing from me, I received a telex from my dad. I still have it. MOTHER WORRIED. YOU OK? PLEASE CONTACT US.</p>

<p>Things have changed. Some for better, some for worse.</p>

10124

<p>When D1 was in Africa, she had very little internet access. Her best choice for communicating was by getting a locally provided cell phone. Sadly, while the other kids who had the same service could do international texting and she couldn’t. But we talked every week or so, which was very nice.</p>

<p>Hurray, D2 and I are HOME now, done with auditions, done with trips, done with paperwork, done, done, done!!! Oh, of course she has classes, tests, homework, concerts, competitions, rehearsals, plays, community service … but that’s NORMAL.</p>

<p>And within days news will start to flow in, too. Amazing. </p>

<p>I’m OK with her moving on a few months … it will be a big change for us, becoming empty-nesters. But it’s OK. I was flashing back on her life as I tried to sleep at the hotel the other night. It is really quite stunning to think about. </p>

<p>But having a college senior who’s so much more mature, I find myself REALLY ready for this one to be past this particular phase. Honestly those “moments to treasure” have been pretty few and far between these days.</p>

10125

<p>2boysima - Thanks for the comments about the housing deposit. You are quite right in that is a separate action at many schools.</p>

<p>MilitaryMom - Pi + 1 is much better than waiting until March 31st!</p>

<p>Rodney - Thanks. NACAC was the Association that I was referring to regarding the commitment date policy.</p>

10126

<p>OhioMom, great to hear from you. What wonderful news about your son advancing to the finalist stage on that scholarship. I’ll be pulling for him, and keeping good thoughts for you as you help your mother. She’s very lucky to have you!</p>

<p>Songbird’s honors music scholarship thing was a Fri-Sat affair, but her academic ones are Saturdays. Tue-Thu is weird! Can’t imagine why they’d do it that way, unless its a deliberate intent to thin the numbers down to those few who are dead-serious. Am I getting paranoid?</p>

<p>snoozn, glad your D’s auditions went well. You have every right to be a very proud mom!</p>

<p>FMM, so glad to hear he had a great time at Olin! Fingers crossed with you while you wait. And I loved that telex from your dad…some things were just better (even if less convenient) in the old days. I’m still waiting for a boy in a cap to ride up to my house, throw his bike down by the azaleas, run up on the porch and ring the bell calling, “telegram!” I’ve been watching too many old movies, you say? Probably right, but I’m another one born in the wrong half-century.</p>

<p>I admire those of you who are mentally prepared (or preparing) to send these kids off in a few months. I can’t even begin to go there.</p>

<p>BUT I DID GET THE FAFSA AND PROFILE DONE!!! :)</p>

10127

<p>proudmom - It’s not easy to find a public phone in Europe these days. When S was on a trip in France, we got him a prepaid calling card, but he only called once in 3 weeks. We found that e-mailing was the easiest way to communicate. Most of the hotels have free hi-fi and there are internet caf</p>

10128

<p>Thanks for the advice - sounds like email may be the way to go. The teacher-chaperones had advised against bringing laptops, mainly so the kids aren’t schlepping them all over Europe and worrying about losing/having them stolen. I hadn’t even considered the I-touch as I don’t believe DD ever used that communicating. We’ll look into that as an option.</p>

10129

<p>Am I the only one who feels like I am going to make some terrible gaffe with all this paperwork and the deadlines?</p>

<p>I almost made a huge mistake on the NMF designation by having him send in his first choice school. Without going into gory detail my message is unless you know for sure where you are going do not make a choice until April 27. There is a thread talking about this on CC and I strongly urge anyone with this situation to read through that.</p>

<p>He chose a school thinking it was not a problem and then because someone I met on here emailed that might be a problem I checked it out and it is. I had him send another fax to NMSC yesterday going back to undecided.</p>

<p>Congratulations to everyone here who is getting all those FA forms is and all the kids completing auditions and/or scholarship competitions and visits.</p>

<p>My little girl is very sick with the stomach virus so I am homebound for the day and want to catch up around these parts.</p>

<p>Sounds like everyone is hanging in there-we here are just waiting and hoping to avoid a major mistake-very nerve-wracking.</p>

10130

<p>Congrats to those who are finishing up the audition process. All I can say is WOW! I think that added layer of requirements would just about do me in at this point.</p>

<p>FLMM: So glad that your son liked Olin! Fingers crossed for him!</p>

<p>Got the IDOC submission out the door on Saturday – that felt good! We still have one school that requires that the tax documents be send directly to the school, but I’m hoping that that will be the last of it!</p>

<p>As for the scholarship competitions, I think the Tues - Thurs thing that S2 has been invited to is kind of crazy. I’ve been mulling this over and just can’t figure out why they’d do it this way – maybe so they’re not competing with other scholarship weekends? maybe to weed out the uncommitted? maybe so the kids can have ample opportunity to sit in on classes? Not sure. After some discussion, S2 will attend. I think the odds are now down to 50/50 or better for him to get a “serious” scholarship at this school (full ride or full tuition), so we’ve decided that it’s worth the effort. He received notification on Saturday that he’s a finalist in another school’s scholarship competition. That one is just a one day event that takes place during his spring break, so that one is easier to handle. The disappointment of missing the cut in one that he applied for seems to be offset by the good news he’s received recently. Of course, he may strike out on all of these and end up at his financial safety, but it’s nice to know that he’s still in the game for now.</p>

10131

<p>Good luck OM.</p>

<p>My son was under the mistaken impression (from me) that he might hear from his top school by mail of an invite to their big scholarship interview competition. I misunderstood that if he was going to be invited it was in the same envelope as the acceptance so he went to the mailbox for a few days waiting for something that was never going to come.</p>

<p>I don’t know what felt worse-him not getting invited or me getting his hopes up-and having to tell him on his birthday on top of it.</p>

10132

<p>Congratulations to all those who have gotten good news and finished up auditions.</p>

<p>FLMathmom: I’m glad the Olin weekend went well. I didn’t know much about the school, so I checked out their website. It’s sounds like an amazing school. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that things work out for your son.</p>

<p>Pepper: I’m sorry about the scholarship interview. I hope your little girl feels better soon. It must be nice to still have a little girl in the house, even a sick one.</p>

<p>Arisamp: Most of my daughter’s friends ordered prom dresses online last year. It is a little risky. I think that the “no returns” policy is pretty standard. One girl’s dress was was too tight, and another one came in a much brigher yellow than expected, but things worked out overall. </p>

<p>Proudmom: My daughter really liked having a blackberry in Italy last summer. I’m pretty sure that BBM’s are free. You might want to check with your phone carrier to see how expensive it would be to activate the phone and get a temporary international calling plan. A T and T is pretty reasonable for this. </p>

<p>My husband and I will be empty nesters next year. I feel like we’ve been transitioning into it since my daughter got her license last April. One of my friends said that the anticipation was worse than the reality. She was a mess during her daughter’s last year at home, but did better once she actually left.</p>

10133

<p>Thanks-she isn’t exactly “little” she is in 8th grade but comparatively speaking she is a baby. :)</p>

<p>FlMathMom I am keeping my fingers crossed for you! I am so glad it went well for him.</p>

10134

<p>Well, made it through the weekend. My mom’s birthday (would have been 80th) was yesterday. I am sure glad we have almost a whole year before we hit major holidays. Besides valentine’s day, this was the day I was dreading. So back to work, I am looking through all those “accepted students days” trying to piece together when we can hit the road. Just wish we knew where all the chips were going to fall on financial aid right? Wouldn’t that be nice to narrow down the choices? Ds knows it will come down to cost and he is even agreeing to re-visit the instate public (ewwwwww). Meanwhile, I have to finish my homework for the week - taking a course in project mgt to try to get some sort of credential to get back to work. We will see how that goes!</p>

10135

<p>I’ve been trying to catch up over the last few days. Every time I think I’m nearly there, pow another two pages arrives :slight_smile: I was so wrong last fall in thinking this was going to be a slow time for all of us!</p>

<p>The FAFSA was pretty darn easy…then came that stupid, stupid, stupid profile. We had a few things that made that monster more than a bit nasty to fill out. Bluedad kept looking at me saying ‘What the heck? It’s a state school!! They aren’t going to give us money, we just want the option for loans!’. ‘Yes dear, I’m aware dear, I know it’s insane we have to pay collegeboard yet again dear, umhum yes you have to fax the documents…yes, yes you do dear. Okay, well in the link I sent you back in November, and again in early January it explains all this…oh, I’m sorry, was that outloud?’</p>

<p>That said, no news on the college front, but we don’t expect any for another month. Bluejr has visits planned to both schools. Both a few hours, so not too bad. He’s a homebody, so the more time he spends on either campus will go a long way towards making it feel like home.</p>

<p>I’m so happy to hear about the auditions coming to an end for Songbird and EmmyBet’s DD!! What a road! :slight_smile: I have really enjoyed hearing and learning about the process. I was really surprised when I mentioned it to Bluejr that he seemed to pick right up ‘Oh yeah, they have to audition and get accepted academically…it’s a pain!’. Big school, I guess with college on the brain, kids talk.</p>

<p>I’m so pleased to hear of the scholarships and admits. We have a bunch of very bright and deserving kids here! :slight_smile: For the few schools that have decided to pass them by, I honestly feel it’s their loss. Hopefully our kids will bounce back and feel that way as well very quickly when faced with news they’d rather not hear.</p>

<p>Happy Monday, happy second cup of coffee, and here’s hoping that the Financial Services Offices fax number isn’t bogged down when Bluedad tries to fax all that paperwork!</p>

10136

<p>BI do we have the same husband? :)</p>

<p>AK sometimes the instate public option that we aren’t crazy about it not as bad as we think?</p>

<p>I know my son would say if he didn’t like a college we visited “I would rather go to — than here” and we knew that was that-but really I know so many people that have gone to that school and gotten a fine education and have done very very well in life. I think what he is really saying is “I want to go away and stop seeing the same people I saw in HS”.</p>

10137

<p>arisamp- we went through light in the box in December and got D’s prom dress for this year. Fit was excellent although a little long. Color a little brighter than the sample we asked for/purchased but overall a good experience. I would fudge on the date so you have time to shop if dress turns out horrible or order is messed up. If you get the dress by April 30th there is still some time to shop…</p>

10138

<p>AK – Good luck! It’s so important to keep up your skills…and so <em>tiring</em>. </p>

<p>arisamp – We ordered my D’s prom through NewYorkDress.com – she hasn’t tried it on 'cause she’s not home 'til Weds – but it’s beautiful. I will echo others when I say the color is a little diff…more teal than blue…so be prepared for that. Also if your D is on the cusp between sizes order the larger…taking in is easier than letting out. </p>

<p>It’s getting close now, folks. I can’t believe it’s the Eve of March!</p>

10139

<p>Our son had some friends over to watch the Oscars. They “let” me hang out with them and it was a fun night. During commercials, we talked about who was going where to school. 438 kids in their class–probably 60% going to college. Probably 75% of those going to our local directional school and living at home. The cream of the rest of the crop is primarily headed to…the state flagship or other state campuses. Why? Because parents in our economy cannot justify anything else. Even doctors, attorneys, CPAs, etc. </p>

<p>Our son will be right there with them unless two miracles happen in the next month: 1)MIT acceptance and 2) a strong MIT financial aid package. The odds are against both. I love our state flagship (it’s my alma mater) and I know they can all thrive there.</p>

<p>On a different note, today is our grandson’s first birthday. Certainly, when we sent the older son off to college in 2008, we could not have imagined this is where we would be in 2011. But we are so proud of him and our daughter-in-law for accepting their responsibilities and loving and caring for this baby. They are wonderful parents and devote all their time to him. He is smart, happy, funny and such a joy. We are hosting the birthday party Saturday at our house. I’ve already started to move anything breakable. Five one-year-olds running aroud should be a fun afternoon.</p>

10140

<p>Happy Birthday little fella!</p>