<p>“I’m grieving how MY life is changing. Scouts, for instance. I was den leader to these boys from 1st - 5th grades, and involved in S1’s den before that. Now that S2 is in boy scouts, I’ve become very involved in parent committee positions. I love the other adults in the troop.” ~Calla1</p>
<p>@Calla1- love what you wrote- made me tear up a bit as my 2014 kiddo is the last one. For me it has been sports that have forged lots of parent friendships. I plan to enjoy every minute of this final senior year including my last “Meet the Teacher” night. Hang in there!</p>
<p>Hi all! Have been following this thread for a while, but first time posting. Feel like I’ve learned so much from this site, and can really relate. Congrats to all on Eagle Scout achievements and those whose kids have started Common App process! So want DD to try and get Common App done before school starts day after Labor Day and swim practice gets going in earnest again, with 8 practice/week minimum to be on elite team. DS has decided to attend local community college after his senior year, and we agree that is the best thing for him. Twin sister, on the other hand, is so ready to go. We have visited everywhere from Tufts to Pepperdine. She had her list down to Pepperdine, Tufts, Washington and Lee, Bowdoin, Rhodes, Colgate, and Hamilton, but has added in Univ. of Southern California and a couple others after visiting their campuses. DD has two official visits scheduled for Sep and Oct. Financial aid will play a huge role, so have told her she needs to get the Common App done, so we can start researching outside scholarships. Will be so relieved for her to get the essay done and hit that submit button!</p>
<p>Welcome dilecon! USC can be pretty generous with merit financial aid, but your DD has to have her application (Common App and USC Supplement) submitted by December 1 to be elligible for Merit FA. Make sure you hit “SUBMIT” twice! once for the Common App and once for the USC Supplement. If you submit either on the December 2, no merit aid.</p>
<p>Thanks so much, glido - great info, so good to know! </p>
<p>Congratulations, momreads and ordinarylives - what a great way to start the school year!</p>
<p>Really think I need to make a spreadsheet too with pros, cons, and deadlines for all the schools. Would be great to have it all on one sheet - it seems so easy to miss a deadline otherwise!</p>
<p>Congrats on the early acceptances! We’re going to start working on the CA tomorrow (I’m helping set it up - he’s filling it in). Our GC at school was mentioning we’re starting early. ;)</p>
<p>Calla - This year will be a rough one. If I could save time in a bottle (Jim Croce style), I’d never leave 2006. My kids were 14, 12, and 10 and it was awesome… (we spent 3 months traveling that year - Feb, Aug, Sept). Other years were great too - that one is just my pinnacle. Having had two leave for college already, I can say life changes, but you also get used to it. “Feeling old” is the worst part I think. But just as I was eager to leave my parents and start “My” life, so are my boys. I wish them well as they fly away even as it tears a bit of my heart out each time…</p>
<p>Take care. Don’t get too “sad” about the future that you miss today. There’ll be plenty of time to be sad later.</p>
<p>Good advice on the kids growing older from everyone; I posted my “last” first day of school photo today with both kids in high school, which was kind of a sad moment. Of course, that melancholy feeling was quickly changed to exasperation after taking my daughter school supply shopping and finding out that the $145 calculator we bought for a summer class was the “wrong” one for her current statistics class and we now needed to purchase a $130 calculator (plus about $70 in other supplies!). I sure hope my younger son doesn’t need anything, because the back to school budget is shot!</p>
<p>After reading today’s posts, I see we are in the thick of it all again. Calla- I went through it all 3 years ago with S11 and this is my 2nd (and final) year with a college bound senior. So many bittersweet moments lie ahead this year. I just started a new job and hope it will distract me from the pain of separating from the life of “mom.”</p>
<p>I am very much needed by S14 right now, however, he has asked me to spend the last two nights staying up late to help with his college ap essays being written for AP Lit. He has already caught a cold and is slogging through a demanding week. I am more mindful this year of my gratitude for being able to mother him through it. Next fall he will be dealing with stress and illness in a freshman dorm and I won’t be there (at least not in body … But always in mind and spirit.)</p>
<p>At the risk of sounding corny, hug your seniors a little harder tonight and be grateful for the gift of their presence.</p>
<p>calla1- That’s how I felt when BarnardGirl started her senior year because she was in marching band and I was a VERY involved band parent. I realized that year that most of my social life revolved around band. It was very strange last year to not be going to high school football games to see the band play. It didn’t make sense to go just to go. </p>
<p>I’m not as close to some of the Boy Scout parents, although I have a few close friends. I was an assistant cub leader but backed off some when he got to Boy Scouts because the boys just seemed to respond to the adult males better, frankly. I thought it was time for his dad to get involved there. Since he’s been able to drive, there’s been no reason for me to go to meetings so I’ve become distanced from the other parents more. I know I’ll stay in touch with the ones I like best, just as I’ve stayed in touch with the band parents I liked best. With BarnardGirl, I found the anticipation of it was worse than the actuality of it. The anticipation had me in tears at every “last”- band camp, football game, concert, band banquet, etc. It was a rough year. I’m not feeling as freaked about it this time.</p>
<p>The boy has FINISHED the Eagle Project! Woohoo!</p>
<p>DS just got a postcard from a ranked LAC which said “Congratulations National Merit Semifinalist.” Wondering if the NM lists were sent out electronically to schools. Has anybody heard anything?</p>
<p>My son found an interesting way to explain merit money to one of his friends. Over lunch, he told him that he got his acceptance letter from Alabama and that he will receive a merit scholarship in the amount of … His friend’s jaw dropped. Well, my son had been telling fellow seniors that schools do recognize you for your academics. You just need to look for those schools. </p>
<p>Maybe his good fortune will steer some kids from having to take out big loans and look for those schools.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, first official cross country meet is this weekend. Son is pumped.</p>
<p>I have come to see the best first test towards the empty nest is the drivers license. Once my kids got their licenses I wasn’t as involved in everything. Both kids got way more independent and we saw them both way less.</p>
<p>I emailed yesterday to ask how long it takes after you request transcripts through naviance to be sent - and she sends me an email that we still need to hand in individual pieces of paper and things are still sent snail mail. What’s the point of naviance then? ugh We just wasted 2 weeks waiting for these things to be sent and one of the schools is rolling admissions.</p>
<p>Wow! Lots going on!!
Congrats to OrdinaryLives for first acceptance!
Congrats to BarnardMom’s DS for finishing Eagle project!
And congrats to Glido for having a NMSF in the house!!
Welcome to the new posters. I’ll lay out the breakfast buffet since I have a few extra minutes. Help yourselves to eggs Benedict, fresh fruit and some mimisa’s.</p>
<p>Sure, I’ll miss her like crazy, I’m actually looking forward to this one, d’14, leaving. I don’t really know how to say this, but I expect this experience to be far more “typical.” My oldest went to school locally (at my employer). It’s been a great decision for her from a financial perspective (she’ll graduate debt free) and a personal one. But, that d developed several health issues that have had a substantial impact on her. </p>
<p>I sort of want to experience crying as I drive away and wondering what the heck that kid is doing because I haven’t heard from her in a week (and not have a legitimate reason to worry that something bad has happened–although I am sure I can come up with illegitimate reasons to worry).</p>
<p>Hi Everyone, thank you for the warm welcome! In fact, my daughter and I are on a last minute college trip (really just a vacation with a few college tours thrown in.) We’re having a ball together and I’m hearing so much about her dreams, opinions and secret teen life.
She still hasn’t lifted a finger on her apps. Still working on her summer homework. Her list: UCLA UCB, UCSB
USC, USD, Santa Clara, Chapman, Scripps, NYU, U Michigan and UW
McGill, Stanford, Princeton, Yale (far-fetched, I know) University of Washington.She plans on majoring in Art History. Has volunteered extensively at a local museum, arts programs etc.</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat as 2016BarnardMom was with the marching band thing… From August through April, it’s nothing but practices and football games and competitions and concerts. And uniform washing, since I’m on that committee, lol. But more than that, it’s a huge emotional investment… There’s going to be a giant void without it. I love love love watching him and the band perform! </p>
<p>It doesn’t help that he is my first last and only, and that it has been only he and I for 15+ years. I’m seriously going to become the crazy cat lady if I don’t find a life or a boyfriend or something before S goes to college, lol.</p>
<p>Congrats to y’all with acceptances and finished Eagle Scout projects and NMSF’s!!</p>
<p>Now, this doesn’t actually trouble me as my son hasn’t started filling out the common app, but thought I would pass the info along in case others were wondering where a school’s supp is. Also, for anyone applying to Cornell, the individual colleges’ essays do not appear until after the applicant declares a major. The essay questions are live, but hidden.</p>
<p>Re: NMSF
NMSC verified that the information was mailed out to schools and homeschoolers on Tuesday. State cutoffs are not posted anywhere online, but the packets sent out on Tuesday will list the cutoff for that particular state. So homeschoolers can hopefully post that info soon!</p>
<p>D is close to our state’s previous years’ cutoff, so we’ll see Good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>A few sentences written toward the Common App essay…it’s a start! But D14 is totally frustrated with the Activities section. “How do I summarize all my effort over four years in 120 characters?!?” </p>
<p>D was recently in England and has decided to apply to schools there too. She’s learning about the entrance requirements and has started the application process. Entrance there seems to be exclusively test score based, unlike the holistic approach of many US colleges.</p>
Help yourselves to eggs Benedict, fresh fruit and some mimisa’s.</p>