<p>yesway – believe me, both my kids had teachers like that – you swear they’re out to get your kid. Both my kids bombed in Bio with the same teacher (but did fine in every other science). No wonder they’re never going to go into the sciences.</p>
<p>I attended a panel discussion with 3 adcoms from Rhodes, Vassar, and U of Rochester. The Rhodes guy said: if there is a grade on your transcript that doesn’t fit the rest of your academic profile, we want you to explain it so we don’t have to guess what happened. </p>
<p>You and your GC may or may not agree with his statement, but it makes sense to me. In fact, he said the best essay he’d ever read was from a stellar student. It was called “D is for Chemistry”.</p>
<p>Rashel – way to go for such progress! re: supplements – none of my kiddo’s schools’ supplements are available yet. And I keep getting bounced out of the site for some reason.</p>
<p>I am not sure how far north you want go but you my want to look at University of New England - gives scholarship money - and UMO ( University of Maine in Orno ) both known to have good nursing program. University of Sourhern Maine also a good nursing program.</p>
<p>Well, after my comments about “plenty of time” and “I want him to finish his Eagle project first”, my S sent me a text with a question because he was starting the Common App. Ok then! </p>
<p>His friends are all at Band Camp this week so he’s tying up all kinds of paperwork for Boy Scouts and college apps. Cool beans.</p>
<p>Thank you Classof2015! I will definitely have D put that on the info section. Appreciate your sharing!</p>
<p>onlyonemom–thanks! I will look into UMO and UNE and USM. They are doable for a long drive :).</p>
<p>2016BarnardMom and calla1–Awesome on Eagle projects! My S12 is a boy scout…ranking up to 1st class on Sept 10. Lots of work but he has had amazing experiences with camping and outdoor learning. Love it!</p>
<p>Classof2015 - Thank you for the heads up regarding incongruent grades. I had pretty much forgotten that my son had withdrawn from Latin I after barely scraping by his first semester of Freshman year. Not sure how he should explain the withdrawal since it was mostly due to his very low processing speed. I’m not sure he wants to go into detail since he has managed to do very well in his other classes.</p>
<p>Glad I can help, yesway and e-mom. Yes, maybe I’d explain the Latin grade if it really sticks out from the rest of his grades.</p>
<p>I told S I wanted a draft of his essay by the end of the week. He called me and asked where the prompts were. He said he was working on it. Then I panicked – what if does his draft in the box and hits “submit”? </p>
<p>After a strong start last week on the CA, DS lost enthusiasm quickly. It is mostly complete (although I would like to sit with him to tweak his Activities section, which he will dislike!), but he does have essays he needs to write for supplements. I suggested that I didn’t think it would be too much of a reach to be ready to hit “submit” for 2 schools by the end of this week. At that point, he looked like a deer in the headlights and told me that he thought it was more important that he finish his summer hw for school first! Grrrrr… that’s the very reason I kept telling him it would be a GREAT idea to have that done before Aug 1! </p>
<p>DD is not much better. She did finish filling in the CA this weekend, but she is totally resistant to any and all suggestions about how to word or combine things in the Activities section. Ugh.</p>
<p>I am going to need many, many cocktails to survive this process…</p>
<p>Class–I gave that deadline to D as well, LOL…we’ll see how it goes. She is re-working it tomorrow. </p>
<p>Collegefortwins–I’m there with you. It is so much work, this CA! I find I cannot ask too many questions about ECs and she thinks I’m being a bit too “talkative” about this whole college thing, LOL. I bought cupcakes today to help me deal :)</p>
<p>On another note…visited Rutgers and shock of all shocks…we both loved it! (We both expected to hate it.) They dont do common app, so we just spent an hour+ self reporting scores. No app till Sept but at least that part is done. I so wanted to do the whole thing for her, but I let her do it and she let me check it. Another letting go moment.</p>
<p>Thank you to all who PM’d me and posted advise about upcoming interview. It went very well. The interviewer said the grades are OK for the school. They talked for over an hour and son received a handwritten card today in the mail from the interviewer. Will definitely apply.</p>
<p>DS filled out the CA information and drafted one essay. He is working on the second. Then there are the supplements. It’ll be a while before he reaches for the “submit” button.</p>
<p>We’re not even thinking about starting apps until after school starts (next week). We’re too busy right now with some travels (adults + middle son) and starting new job (S’14). I also thought it was a good idea to wait since I don’t know if our school requires accounts set up a certain way (as mentioned above). I expect submits to come in Sept or Oct. Ideally I’d like them all complete by Halloween, however, middle son added his current school (U Roc) after Thanksgiving last year - quickly did the app supplement - and is happily there now. There’s no rush for us.</p>
<p>And senioritis has officially set in … and school hasn’t even started. DD14 says she’s just done - she’s ready to be on to the next step. It makes me a little sad though - looking ahead and not living in the present. On the other hand, my DD15 ONLY lives in the present. So it balances out in the KaMaHouse.</p>
<p>DD14 has done most of the CA nitty gritty … she has a meeting with her guidance counselor today to answer some questions though. She absolutely doesn’t want me to read her essay(s) though. And I’m dying to. I guess we’ll cross that bridge when it we get to it.</p>
<p>Hope everyone is having a good summer. We’ve had really unseasonably cool weather here lately - low 70s when we should be in the thick of the 90s right now. Which probably means it’s going to be 100 here in November.</p>
<p>KaMaMom, I hear you about not living in the present. We are hoping that DS will be accepted into his ED school and can then stop worring about what is *going *to happen and enjoy what *is *happening.</p>
<p>Like several others, not focusing on CA apps just yet. Part of the issue is that here in Cali UC apps and CSU apps only open in Oct and close end of Nov. so mindset is to prepare for that timeline. S14 will apply on all 3 platforms. </p>
<p>On another note- S got his senior class schedule for 1st semester. He is on block schedule, so will have 4 of 8 classes each term. He only has 1 AP 1st term and 3 APs 2nd term… Not pretty on block schedule. Also he did not get his preferred electives. He will have to get to his counselor on the first day of school and figure out some changes. 1st day of school is in one week- next Thursday!</p>
<p>DD14 is on a whirlwind college tour with her dad. It’s very hard to be back at home working, and only get brief texts after the visits. So far, she has liked every school she has seen (and some that I didn’t know she would see…and I know we can’t afford…)</p>
<p>In the meantime, her high school counselor sent an email saying there are some conflicts in her senior year schedule. She has some options, not all bad, but I wish I was with her to talk them through.</p>
<p>I’m getting the ball rolling by signing up for the accounts. Doesn’t it seem like every school has a different criteria for user names and passwords? I have a spreadsheet to keep them all straight.</p>
<p>I told d - start with the rolling admissions school with the housing crunch that requires housing deposit asap, then onto common app, then the other apps based on deadlines. She just wrinkled her nose.</p>
<p>Glido…what do you mean second essay…don’t they only have one for Common App?</p>
<p>All…I would like DS to get started on Common App this weekend…is there any link to a pdf I can print out and review abit before the whole login and create account? </p>
<p>Yesway777…can you share abit on what you liked about Rutgers? My son is so dead set against in based on size. He loved TCNJ but that is the hardest admit in NJ.</p>
<p>We are visiting Muhlenberg on Wednesday. Any experience there to share.<br>
BobbyCT…I did read your review…following your path from months back! Thanks for the info on St. Joe’s! Plan to attend Open House but it’s not until November :(</p>
<p>Today is back to school day. Fingers crossed that schedules are ready. But she’ll get her laptop, her locker, her ID. D is in the office with me today working on apps. Sh’s just getting the app parts done. Listing honors/activities has been harder than she thought. Hasn’t started on her essays yet. She’s not a writer. Those are going to be ugly.</p>
<p>Son received a call from his guidance counselor today because there was a problem with his schedule. He was scheduled for AP English, History, Science, along with French 5 and AP French. Well, turns out that they arent offering French 5 until Spring, which means he cant take AP (not a big deal unless you are planning to major in French in college which, of course, he is). But he can take AP online (starts before French 5). Which still leaves an opening fall semester. So he chose to fill the spot with math. He does not have a math mind, but felt he should take it to be more appealing to his favorite school.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and he threw in an unexpected oddball choice for a school he would like to visit. We still havent finished visiting the ones that were already on his list and are somewhat understandable options. </p>
<p>So, tougher than expected schedule, Oct SAT, possible Nov SATII, campus visits, applications and essays…oy vey…I am considering moving out of my house until next summer…</p>
It is mostly complete (although I would like to sit with him to tweak his Activities section, which he will dislike!), but he does have essays he needs to write for supplements. I suggested that I didn’t think it would be too much of a reach to be ready to hit “submit” for 2 schools by the end of this week. At that point, he looked like a deer in the headlights and told me that he thought it was more important that he finish his summer hw for school first! Grrrrr… that’s the very reason I kept telling him it would be a GREAT idea to have that done before Aug 1! </p>