<p>I sent a note to <a href="mailto:qotd@collegeboard.org">qotd@collegeboard.org</a> expressing my disappointment in their decision to stop the question of the day emails.</p>
<p>The daily qotd emails are the best way for my kids to access the qotd. If they’re busy or on vacation, they can easily do them later. With it online only, they have to go find it every day. Life gets crazy, the reminder is key. And an app? My kids can’t be the only teens in the country without smart phones!</p>
<p>I got a very nice response thanking me for my input.</p>
<p>My 2015er got his first phone, a tracfone, two months ago when he turned 16. And since he worked a little during the summer, he’s helping to pay for his minutes. No, yours isn’t the only one. No one in our family has a smart phone except for my oldest son, a soph. at MIT. He bought his own phone during his jr. or sr. year in high school.</p>
<p>Snowme, Great idea, emailing to ask for the return of the Question of the Day on email. I sent one too…used the address you had and also <a href="mailto:srp@collegeboard.com">srp@collegeboard.com</a>. Just sent it, so no response yet.</p>
<p>Just came back from DC college tours. I now have to back up on the opinion of skipping the info session. At the last minute S15 decided to sit in on GWs info session and we were pleasantly surprised. We also had a fantastic tour. We saw a dorm room, several class rooms and a cafeteria.
S pointed out that the top tier schools we visited so far start their info sessions on how competitive it is to become a student there whereas the lower tier schools tend to spend more time on what you will get for your money.</p>
<p>^ we did an info session at Cornell where the admissions counselor announced that if you get a C at Cornell you should be happy. I don’t recall them talking about how competitive it was to get in, but I have no doubt that this is discussed at certain schools. That would be a turn off for my daughter, I am afraid. We visited " regular" schools with my older one and although they did not say they were competitive, these schools did spend a good deal of time discussing what GPA and test scores were required to be considered. there was also a lot of time spent discussing AP and IB credit, and of course they try and sell the school. I also sent an email about the SAT question of the day… Let’s see what happens!</p>
<p>muf123, does GW feel like a true campus? I’ve been in the area, and would not be able to tell which buildings were associated with GW and which were not. I’d like my daughter to look at it, but I think that would be a turn-off for her.</p>
<p>@ suzy, GW has more of a campus feel than NYU but it is in the city. I felt the buildings were closer together making a GW neighborhood but there is limited green grassy areas. I found the area lovely and just a few blocks from the white house. Both of my kids wanted more urban colleges.</p>
<p>I am a little sad right now because we are taking my daughter back to school on Saturday. Does anybody else have college kids going back? It’s weird- happy and sad at the exact same time. Oh well- Fall break is in October so it’s not terrible. I am going to enjoy the next two years because it goes fast. I love this college stuff but I am not looking forward to her going. Pre- season is going well. Looking forward to schedules coming this week ( or maybe not LOl). We have “back to school night” at the end of Sept- that’s always fun! Visiting UPitt in two weeks. She said she was bored so I plopped some vocabulary in front of her- all of a sudden she found something to do!!</p>
<p>Hugs to everyone bringing kids to school. I keep thinking how fast the next 2 years will go. I will be a complete mess.</p>
<p>Schedules finally came out yesterday, no big surprises since we had the phone call from GC when they couldn’t get AP Bio to fit. 8th grade son has decent teachers so hopefully he’ll have a good year. Still waiting for the 6th grade teachers. One week until two-a-days when I drive to and from the school all day long and watch my kids slowly wear down to the point they can’t even walk without pain. Fun fun fun!!!</p>
<p>twogirls - my college girl went back a couple of weeks ago to start her junior year. I think she spent 7 nights at home this summer. It does get easier! We miss her terribly, but our new " norm " is that she is away. We re fortunate that she is 75 miles away, so when I am really missing her I can drive over and take her to lunch/ dinner. We usually go to campus for a football game ( big SEC school) and we will get to see her at the Lake over Labor day.</p>
<p>3 away softball games this week. 9 pm and d2 is just starting homework. Will be a few midnight bed times this week! Won our first 2 region games!</p>
<p>Congrats Sally!! Last year when we dropped my daughter off to begin her freshman year, I cried on and off for about 3 weeks. It did get better and I adjusted to this " new normal." Funny- when she came home I was THRILLED, but I had to adjust again to having an extra kid in the house. My daughter is hardly ever home- right now they are still eating dinner at the mall and it’s almost 11:00! I will miss all the hs friends hanging out at my house, even if its just for 10 minutes as they are flying out the door. She is not terribly far- 3 1/2 hours.</p>
<p>Twogirls – my college student is home now. It’s my HS student we moved out on Saturday! Last night I had a houseful of college students as D’12 had her HS friends over. It was really delightful!</p>
<p>IJD I love it when my daughter has all her HS friends over! Your daughter goes away for HS? That must be hard also… Right now we are exhausted because we had to get my daughter to the field at 6:10- as I said I am not complaining because it goes fast. We are busy packing for college. Last night I was talking to a friend who was doing this for the first time with her college freshman- she was having a very hard time. They don’t warn us about this!</p>
<p>We will drop my older D at college this weekend. Current plan is to do a couple of college visits with D15 on our way back home. We’re going to stop at Butler on Monday.</p>
<p>The nice part about boarding school is that I don’t have to deal with early morning anythings, at least not very often. But it’s very hard to run interference when she gets herself in a tizzy (which she did yesterday over her ever-changing schedule).</p>
<p>Last February my daughter’s college had siblings weekend which fell right at the beginning of a week long winter break for my then HS sophomore. We decided that the timing was right to visit some schools in the area after she finished the weekend with her sister. It worked out nicely, but as a sophomore she was not terribly excited to make these visits… with the exception of Cornell, which perked her up big time. The very first school we visited was the U of Rochester. She recently stated that she wants to see it again, so I suppose it made a good impression. SUNY Geneseo was crossed off the list- too " sleepy" for her, but I liked it. It happens to be an excellent school- oh well.</p>
<p>We’ve just returned from a family vacation and D has one day to recover before returning to the school frenzy tomorrow. I have to give her a lot of credit though: this kid is so disciplined! She worked on extensive summer assignments, read two pretty dense novels, and taught herself the intricacies of Java during our trip. She also voluntarily picked up some SAT practice and timed herself. The only stumbling block continues to be that darned essay. </p>
<p>hugs to all with college students returning to school! I remember those transitions well. It is hard for me to believe that I have no college student kids now. </p>
<p>IJD, is this your D’s first year in boarding school? Did your older D go as well? </p>
<p>Muf, I got a kick out of how many schools had info sessions touting their stats when we looked with my older two. Turned us all off in a big way. The adcoms we encountered at Tufts and Vassar were particularly obnoxious: the Vassar person kept talking about Yale, Harvard etc as Vassar’s peer schools and the Tufts guy spent his time talking about himself. The big exceptions in the elite school group were Pomona where the person presenting did her very best to convey a sense of down to earth community and Brown, where everyone we met, from professor to student, was friendly and welcoming.</p>
<p>Another nice part of boarding school is that we parents have been through the packing and good byes for a few years now. So college send off is less nerve racking so far. I’m about to launch D13 off to college in 4 days and it feels more like a celebration rather than sad good bye. She will be less than an hour away from home.</p>
<p>S15 will fly back to BS first week in Sept. I no longer see what he’s to packing for school. BS has made him very independent. It feels like he’s already in college to be honest.
Trying to fit one more college tour in before he’s heading back to school. Thinking of Vandy. Has anyone been there?</p>