<p>^not with the current kid, but definitely with d’11. Fortunately, she wanted to limit her college search to “close enough to home to come home for the weekend” and then her final decision was to attend college locally, at my employer (so it was a bargain, too). At first, she came home a lot, but she had an awful roommate. Last year, she only slept at home when the dorms closed for the holidays. It is very nice, when there are real, legitimate concerns about the transition (d’s were medical), to have the kid close. We were in a better position to help when the medical issue became acute. </p>
<p>I think you have to go with your gut on this one. I’d have been ok when she was an hour away. When the medical issue got worse, I was so glad she was local.</p>
<p>Hi everyone! Just popping in to say hi. 2 /3 of the way through with our European trip. Max is back home keeping the world & hopefully the house safe from KAOS. </p>
<p>Spygirl is on her third week of French immersion school, working hard to earn those college credits & really enjoying all of the sightseeing. This is a good trial run to see how she’ll do with a roommate as she’s a bit of a slob!</p>
<p>Hope test scores were high & that summer is going is going well for everyone!</p>
<p>Hope you are having a fantastic trip, Agent99! However you are missing a fabulous NW summer!</p>
<p>I’ve been doing some online research today on merit scholarships at some of the schools go2girl will apply to in the fall. I have a couple of questions for those of you who have gone through the process with your older kids.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Some of the scholarships require nominations from their school counselor. My guess is that there will probably be many students applying from the same school and applying for the same scholarships. Does anyone know if schools are restricted as to how many students they can nominate? One college said no more than four for a specific scholarship but my guess is that it can get messy.</p></li>
<li><p>I also pulled up the supplements on the Common App for some schools (most are from last year) but I saw several schools ask the question, “Where else are you applying?–Name up to six” How does one handle that question? (I know I’ve seen it on CC before but darn if I can find it!)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hope you all are enjoying hte summer sunshine!</p>
<p>No idea on question #1. For question #2 we put in other like leveled schools, but not every single one where he was applying. So if you’re applying to a selective, mid-size private school - we put in a few other selective, mid-size privates. I don’t know if it’s anything else beyond data crunching material for the colleges, but I figured that was the safest strategy.</p>
<p>I agree with eyemamom about listing peer schools. I figure they should be schools the target school thinks they could lure you away from with the right offer. Where it gets tricky is if the school asking is your safety. I’m not sure how best to handle it in that case. Generally you don’t want them to know they are your safety, though they can probably tell by your grades/scores.</p>
<p>Thanks eyemamom (why do I always envision you as a Cyclops) and mathmomVT (calculator w/maple syrup…)…</p>
<p>I thought that might be the right answer. I don’t see that question asked at the more selective schools but definitely the mid-tier. </p>
<p>Call1–my best friend’s daughter who has an Aspergers diagnosis just completed her freshman year. She made some great friends and had a terrific opportunity to distinguish what “real friends” are…For the first time in her life she got to consider what she wants in a friendship. She was acadmically challenged; there were a lot of phone calls home coaching her along the way. Her parents are a good 5 hours north of her but we were on stand-by in case she ever got stuck. She never called and will return for her sophomore year. Take out the Aspergers diagnosis and I think you can describe many freshmen’s experiences! I think it was tougher for my BF to let go…but she has seen great developments in her D.</p>
<p>Well I do have eyes in back of my head so I could see why you could be confused. :)</p>
<p>calla - kids go to college much like they arrived in Kindergarten - at a huge wide range. My son does not have aspergers, but he dealt with some anxiety, and some lack of common life skill sense. I swear I tried. He went knowing how to do laundry, but just getting to the advisor and getting the right forms ended up screwing up a class first semester. There is only so much you can do from a distance.</p>
<p>In our eyes, college was about more than the classes. There were tons of things he had to learn to negotiate. His grades weren’t stellar, but he’s the kind of kid who will take the hardest, most challenging class because it sounds interesting. He’s the one the professors love, he hangs out during office hours, gets into in depth discussions, and somehow gets a B in the class. He’s completely unmotivated by grades, and with his anxiety, just getting stressed about stuff will freeze him up. He’s spending this summer working with a psychology on stress management. But he’s got to learn to stand on his own two feet, take care of himself, get stuff done and manage the stress he feels. </p>
<p>I actually didn’t expect him to struggle as much as he did in some ways, but do so well in others. Where other kids made plans to do anything but come home, he couldn’t wait to get back here. He’s not dreading going back, but he definitely likes being home. I expect next year will go better now that he’s settled in. </p>
<p>It really depends on your child. They may surprise you and do well on their own, they may need to be checked in on more than they prefer, you have to know your child, but unless you really know they couldn’t handle it I believe in giving them a chance. Plus many times there are lots of support services around, you can do things like get them a single room, etc.</p>
<p>And the first school on the list bites the dust. We’ve tried to visit twice and there’s always some reason why admissions can’t accommodate. Not a selective school by any means, so I don’t know why they make it so hard to visit.</p>
<p>OL, that’s annoying! It may be just because it’s summer?</p>
<p>My DS is getting rather annoyed by the emails asking “do we have your correct email address??” when he doesn’t reply to their first message. As he says: either it is and I’m ignoring them, or it isn’t, in which case I’m not getting the message anyhow!</p>
<p>Well, this time may be because it’s summer, but last spring there was some other reason why they couldn’t let d talk to anyone. Not a problem, I guess. One has to cull the list somehow.</p>
<p>Just been catching up on all the visits and news, as we were out of town visiting my folks in SC. Hot weather and lots of rain for much of the visit. Here’s a new last for the last list: The last time we go shopping for school supplies required by teachers. My oldest son had little required for classes while in college, and generally, he bought everything himself.</p>
<p>The college mail piled up while we were out of town. No new schools to add to the list, but a nice, handwritten postcard came from one admissions rep. This school is No. 2 on the list. It is nice to be wanted, we observed. The same rep also left a phone message.</p>
<p>Son '14 remains busy with his training for cross country – ran six miles in the 90-degree temps last night. He heads for cross country camp in a couple of days and seems excited about going. He gets to run while seeing a college campus and all its offers. Started his SAT prep the other day. Today is senior pictures. After he finishes, he’s stopping at guidance for transcript request forms. His brother told him that it’s really awesome once those first couple of acceptance notes roll in. A sense of relief that someone wants you.</p>
<p>My DS '14 has been working at a volunteer job this Summer where he gets to interact with a number of UT students, and it appears that the UT women he interacts with are catapulting UT to the top of his list. All that time and energy spent in crafting a college list and it looks like it may all be trumped by hormones. Dorothy’s reasoning at the end of “The Wizard of Oz” comes to mind, which could be crystallizing his thoughts about the matter (as in “if I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard; because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with”).</p>
<p>^ For all the high talk about finding the best environment for learning and personal growth and fulfillment, I guess it is important for us parents of young men to remember that they are young men, after all.</p>
<p>True. My DD has mentioned how attractive/hot the “guys” are at U of Miami, and I honestly think she considers it a legitimate reason to go there!</p>
<p>When my guy was looking at college mail from an LAC he is interested in I pointed out that one pic of several kids had mostly gals - only two guys. He looked at me and said, “So? What’s the problem with that?” with a grin…</p>
</p>
Where it gets tricky is if the school asking is your safety. I’m not sure how best to handle it in that case. Generally you don’t want them to know they are your safety, though they can probably tell by your grades/scores.</p>