Parents of the HS Class of 2014

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
6161

<p>fogfog–I am so sorry for your loss. Take comfort in your happy memories. I’m sure the college app process will provide a bit of distraction.</p>

<p>Minniemom–hope your interview went well today!</p>

<p>Captain and Kamamom–thanks for the info on Vandy. Good luck to both of your D’s on ED.</p>

<p>School doesn’t start here until after Labor Day so I would be nervous about waiting until senior year to get the essays complete. I’m not sure how much they can change in the course of a month! But then again, I’ve never had a senior under my roof before. Our school’s English department works on the common app essay the first semester of school but I’m hoping that go2girl can flesh out some drafts ahead of time. Or at the very least, get some of the supplemental essays complete.</p>

<p>I heard from a friend that if there is a choice of several questions in the supplement section and one includes “Why College X?” - you should definitely answer that one and show the love. Schools wants to at least feel that they are your #1 choice. It will be difficult since some of the schools on go2girl’s list we won’t have physically visited.</p>

6162

<p>Checking in as I am stuck in Syracuse airport after delayed flight which means I already lost connecting flight to west coast… Aargh!!!
My condolences fogfog… It’s that time in all of our lives sadly
What a great idea… The HS English dept using English class to work on CA essay… It wouldn’t even need to be the whole semester, given that many kids are in AP English. If they just took a week or two to get them a head start seems to me a good investment
S having an amazing time in summer college… Tells me 90% sure he will try ED- like previous poster, will need to start crossing everything for good news before Christmas</p>

6163

<p>I’ve been doing some sleuthing on the Common App Supplement website: <a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/SupplementInfo.aspx[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/SupplementInfo.aspx&lt;/a&gt;
and have noticed that some of the schools have posted their supplements.</p>

6164

<p>Hello everyone, about to start the process again with child #3, youngest son, age 17 and a rising senior. Just planned a fall visit to LA for Claremont McKenna, Pitzer and Occidental. Son is interested in a science/biology program of study, wants to go to medical school. His other choices for application are Tulane (his brother’s alma mater; he is also a 3Y law school student there) and Duke. Also will go look at Rice (he is kind of “meh” about it) and University of Houston (safety school, but a good honors program and very affordable), and Southwestern in Georgetown (not far away, his small LA college safety). We live just outside of Austin, TX.</p>

<p>My daughter is in Vanderbilt, a junior this fall studying music. Luckily my kids are pretty self motivated and tend to do well on schoolwork and standardized tests, especially the ACT. My youngest son is athletic, a HS Varsity football player and loves activity, especially outdoors. He also likes good weather, doesn’t really have any desire to spend 4 years in a cold or rainy place, since he spent the first 12 years of his life in NY State. </p>

<p>I’ve learned a lot with the other two - the fine line you need to toe between presenting options and seeming too heavy handed; the importance of a good social fit (both my older ones are scholarship kids in Southern Ivys, and there are issues with that they have successfully dealt with) and all the related intangibles and tangibles. I’m convinced a school visit is also a must. </p>

<p>Unfortunately my son has no desire to apply to Vanderbilt (they give great financial aid and his sister will still be there his freshman year), but he has to be happy with his choice. Actually the California schools all seem like really good fits for him, although I know the Claremont consortium schools are tough to get into. Their Keck Science Department looks awesome. He has a lot of strengths: an A- average in HS, lots of AP classes, NHS, Varsity sports, works with kids in his school’s PALS program, works as a cook in a restaurant locally, and got a 31 on his first try at ACT. He’s taking it again in the fall, and if he is like his brother and sister, will go up a couple points at least.</p>

<p>So anyway, hi to all you other parents of Class of 2014 students. I know all of the kids whose parents post on here tend to be at the high end of things, so my kids are probably slackers in comparison, lol. But I have also learned that if a kid isn’t self-motivated, they wont put the energy in. I try to save my pushing for important things, like making sure he meets all his deadlines and makes time for studying (important when athletics, work and social life with friends and girlfriend all compete for his hours!). It is bittersweet to be doing this for the last time, but I am also looking forward to the new chapter in our lives once the heaviest lifting of child rearing is done.</p>

6165

<p>welcome Moonmaid! I too have a daughter starting her junior year of college – it’s good to have you here on our journey.</p>

<p>Does anyone else feel like doing the college research falls on one spouse more than the other? H has joined us on a few college visits (and he took D on some himself) but by and large, all the CC stuff and looking at schools, etc., falls on me. But the other day he said “I heard that kids with ADT get all kinds of scholarships from the government.”</p>

<p>I’m thinking…ADT…ADT…does he mean…ADD?</p>

<p>I asked him to look into it.</p>

6166

<p>^ Yes Classof2015. Here I wrangled it all for K1 and am doing the same for K2. I found it slightly annoying/amusing when people would ask DH about the process and instead of passing them to me, he’d give advice without completely knowing what he was talking about.</p>

<p>K2 just left for the Sr portrait shoot. The HS changed photo companies from the one we used with K1. One setting is the formal yearbook shot. The other a casual outfit for a nice pic. K2 is very photogenic. Almost never takes a bad pic. I hope that continues. K2 is the only one of the family who the camera loves.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>hahahaha :)</p>

6167

<p>The college research tasks fall squarely on my shoulders but that’s OK. DS travels an awful lot for work (will easily hit 100,000 miles again this year and just passed the million mile marker last week). </p>

<p>But he doesn’t even pretend to know much about the current process and gladly refers all questions to me.</p>

6168

<p>Take note of the CA supplement site - I noticed some of those supplements are from the 2012-13 application year.</p>

<p>And, can someone please explain to me why a school would choose to have the supplement sent via snail mail or fax when the CA is submitted online???</p>

6169

<p>

</p>

<p>a) they got a great deal on stamps at Costco
b) they need to validate their admissions outreach budget with # pieces of mail sent
c) they have a cousin who is a postal carrier and they want to make sure he stays employed</p>

<p>On a different note, S is coming home tomorrow. He left on Saturday for the Hamptons with just the clothes on his back (and a towel). He has stayed at no less than 3 friends’ houses. Reminds me of the Cheever story about the young man who traversed the suburbs, one swimming pool at a time.</p>

6170

<p>Hi 2014 parents! I’m jumping in from 2013 thread to tell you all to hang in there - and enjoy this year! It’s stressful and exciting and worrisome and will be over before you know it.</p>

<p>A few things that I wish I’d focused more on with my D about this time… we looked at schools for fit, for finances and for a range of programs because my D was undecided about a course of study. By this point, it was clear that D wanted a LAC with strong sciences. What I wish I’d done though, was take a good look at the range of majors, the specific classes offered each term, and had my D look closely at those. It’s fine to know that a school has your major/ potential majors, but also look at what else your child might be taking. Do the classes excite him/her and you? Can you map out a course of study over four years that seems viable? Now is the time of year when you can find that information for the upcoming fall - much more specific than looking at department webpages and course catalogs that list ALL the potential courses that may or may not ever be offered.<br>
And try not to worry - there are many colleges out there where your child will thrive. :)</p>

6171

<p>Checking in from KC tonight after 9 hours in the car (blech) Truman state this afternoon. Rockhurst tomorrow morning and then home.</p>

6172

<p>I had my interview today and feel good about it. I remembered to ask a couple of questions. I will know on Friday if I get the job- fingers crossed. </p>

<p>DS14 has been completing his summer AP work without any reminders from me. Hope his initiative continues when schoo starts in a few weeks.</p>

6173

<p>Good Morning! Coffee’s on, tea on the sidebar, a lovely spread of fresh fruit I ordered up to the suite, and some raspberry scones. Help yourself.</p>

<p>I just finished catching up from the week I missed. We took a last minute trip to the shore and I’ve been catching up ever sense.</p>

<p>Fog, I’m so sorry to hear of the loss of your mother. I know how long of a road this has been. We are never truly prepared. I’m sure your eulogy was beautiful and a wonderful tribute to your mom. As was mentioned earlier, I hope packing up her personal items is therapeutic in the grieving process, bringing back many wonderful memories. Sending prayers of peace to you and your family.</p>

<p>I love hearing about all of the traveling and visit reports, early application and essay work. S3 is working PT and tbh I am really needing to push him through his AP work (not a small amount). We start after Labor Day so they have to be ready to go immediately, thus summer work tends to be heavy. I had wanted the AP work done by August so he could start essay drafts. Yea…oh well, he’ll get there. ‘The List’ is there, kind of. There are several schools he’s very sure about and a few he’s lukewarm. He does have a favorite. His older brother is doing the full court press for his school (where S3 will apply). Both are reaches and S3 is being very level headed about managing expectations. Tomorrow we head to U Delaware to tour and interview. He has a good profile for merit and honors there. I’m crossing my fingers he likes it. He’s found an interesting OOS safety, strong in his major, automatic 1/2 to full tuition merit for his profile. He also has a very strong IS safety. It’s the matches that are harder to define. Many academic matches become reaches due to competitive merit he would need to make it a possibility. He’ll apply wide, slight chance of an ED, see where the admits and merit fall, and reevaluate and revisit. Much, much different strategy then with his older brother, S2 (2011/15).</p>

6174

<p>@fogfog - Keeping you in my thoughts and wishing you peace and comfort during this difficult time!</p>

<p>@minnymom - good to hear the interview went well! Fingers crossed here. </p>

<p>@ordinarylives - you are in my neck of the woods. My daughter graduated from Truman. She, and all her roommates, have landed very, very well in their chosen fields and graduate schools. She had more “glamorous” options, but the deal they offered her was fabulous. I also know lots of girls who attend/have attended Rockhurst. They, too, seem to be doing well.</p>

6175

<p>At the barber . . . senior portrait this afternoon!</p>

6176

<p>First app submitted. School needs just a transcript and scores from the hs as several items waived by virtue of other stats etc.</p>

<p>Now if only K2 will start the essays…<br>
In order to get these things in within the priority time frame the turn around is 7 days. </p>

<p>sigh</p>

6177

<p>Schools have priority app time frames in the summer?</p>

6178

<p>Opinions here - we have 9 schools. None of us can choose any to drop. My d is uncertain whether she wants a big state U or not. So we have a good variety of location and size. We’ve researched them up and down, in and out.</p>

<p>She is not an academic superstar, but a solid student, very outgoing and involved. However, the state U’s don’t care how great and involved she is, they just care about gpa and act’s. </p>

<p>She is at the bottom edge of the 50% stats for quite a few of them. So I honestly think it’ll be a crap shoot to get in. She is not married to any of them. Our thought was to apply, and if you get in, then we can go re-visit. </p>

<p>How many do you think are too many? Or what do you think is the ideal amount for your child?</p>

6179

<p>I’ve been telling my kids 10 max because that’s the max for the FAFSA – more than 10 and you have to submit the FAFSA, wait a few days for it to go through, remove schools, add new ones, submit again. And then if you have changes, repeat. </p>

<p>My DS’11 applied to 8. Wasn’t “in love with” any of them. Accepted to 6, rejected by 1, waitlisted by 1. We eliminated the waitlist since they are known to give especially poor finaid to waitlist students. Eliminated 1 based on the financial offer, and eliminated another based on a detail we learned about the program he was interested in during an online chat session. Visited 4 (3 were return visits, one was a first time visit) and made his choice. All in all, I think that number worked well for us. </p>

<p>So… I would say 9 is not unreasonable. Especially since you don’t think she’ll get into all of them. For us, DS11 was a very high stats kid, so he had 5 “safeties” but he liked them all – the question was which ones would give him money rather than where he’d get in. </p>

<p>Does she have a couple you’re sure she’ll get into and that you expect you can afford? I think it’s great that she’s not married to anywhere – that worked out really well with my DS because we could eliminate the ones that didn’t look good financially without any emotional baggage – for my DS it was a relief to have ones to eliminate as it simplified the choice for him.</p>

6180

<p>She has a couple of safeties. We don’t expect FA and won’t be applying. I don’t even think she likes what I consider her reaches more than her likelies or safeties. We took her top choice off the list because she realized it was beyond a reach. Every other week she’s got a new favorite. The worst part might actually be the final decision. I can see why she’d like every one on the list. But given her stats, I consider her a more borderline applicant.</p>