<p>maxwell, I can’t remember if your kiddo is engaged in the college process or not. If not, then maybe a fair might be helpful. Each kid is different, though. My kid gets interested in schools that send her mail, but others don’t find that at all helpful. My kid is interested in Northwestern because she went to a meeting (or whatever it’s called) at her school with a rep. So it might not be a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. I think my D would take a pass at a huge fair though.</p>
<p>As to the FB thing, I don’t want that to be a weird exclusive community either. This thread on this forum has been incredibly beneficial to me. Maybe it could be a forum more to share photos and more personal issues that someone needs input on? I don’t know, just throwing that out there. </p>
<p>I have never been to a college fair and the idea of plowing through crowds makes me shake. I have seen that some schools offer opportunities to find them off campus that include college fairs as well as specific info sessions. My middle D went to several info sessions and interviews for CA schools that took place in NYC. She found these to be surprisingly personal and uncrowded.</p>
<p>As to the facebook group, I understand the range of feelings on this. My own concern on cc is that I can’t say too much lest someone recognize me, my daughter, her school, or my family. I’ve recognized others in prior years and on a completely different board at a different time, someone recognized me. I have no idea who is reading here. In a closed group, I can share more openly.
That said, this community is great and I don’t see the facebook group replacing this wonderful group of people. I will continue to participate here, learn from all of you and offer what I can!</p>
<p>@shoeboemom and @twogirls what’s interesting about the fb group is that the members are not technically “friends” with each other through facebook - so we’re not all linking up into each other’s lives - it’s simply a way to put names and faces to people you’ve met here. i wanted a way to be able to share more personally-identifiable details with the people i’ve gotten to know here, but didn’t feel comfortable doing so since this is a public forum and anybody surfing through can read what’s written here. (and potentially have people in my local community be able to identify me and my D, which then takes away the anonymity which allows me to express myself openly!) </p>
<p>but that anonymity and freedom of expression is what makes cc great - i’ve learned so much here and i will continue to post here so i can give back - hopefully others, whether lurkers or active posters, can learn something from me as i have learned from those before me. so, the fb group is a little work-around that allows you to “meet” some friends you’ve made here. i will always be posting here, though, to give support, advice, tips, tricks, and info that i think are pertinent to the college search/application process.</p>
<p>Thanks all! Yes let me know if there is one in Maryland, D.C area. It’s a day trip for us. But maybe it’ll be worthwhile? We’ll never know until we try. Thanks! </p>
<p>Maxwell – we went to a HUGE college fair last year. It was really overwhelming with huge lines to talk to the reps of most of the schools. I honestly don’t know that the rep can even put a face to a name when there are hundreds of kids meeting them in about an hour or two. We did go to another one, specifically because a small and not-well-know-in CA (but well known on the East Coast and a top-10 LAC) college was there (and they didn’t have a local presentation, which we prefer). It was worth it because while everyone crowded and jostled around the big names and the ivies, my D was actually able to have a real conversation with the rep and learn more about the school. But the big university tables were so swamped it was ridiculous. </p>
<p>So I guess my point is that if you want to see some lesser-known school reps it’s great! But it was impossible to meet the reps at the larger schools. The women’s colleges were also great, since only 1/2 the kids can even go there. </p>
<p>Last year went to BIG college fair. No chance to speak with reps. So crowded and loud. We have bags of brochures. Much more beneficial to meet with the reps that come to the school. We get about 40 a year and you can leave class a total of 12 times to meet with reps from schools you’d like to apply to.</p>
<p>I’ll be passing on the FB group. I think for me it’s a matter of losing the anonymity that I like here. I think there was some sort of similar group for the ‘13 parents’ thread as well (I could be mistaken). I’m pretty sure they brought their conversations from “there” “here” and it did seem like those of us who were on the outside were missing something. Also, there are so many internet safety concerns. How do we really know that everyone here really is a parent of a '15 grad? Call me crazy, but I’d like to avoid even a possibility of opening up my life to a creeper. ;)</p>
<p>We’re going to a large college this week. They have the scanners at each booth, so if you want to sign up with a college to get more info, you can have them scan your code. When my older d went to one, she had already narrowed down her options a great deal, so we mainly went to talk with that college’s rep and just check out a few other options. I’m not sure how it will go with my '15 d. I’m trying to have her at least look at the list of colleges that will be there and choose a few she might want to visit at the fair.</p>
<p>A lot of schools come to your area. For example if you search " Lehigh in your area" you will see the list of dates that they plan to visit. This past October they came to a hotel about 20 minutes from my house. Too bad they came during the week. I think BU does the same thing. The scanners must be new (?) because I don’t recall doing that with D12.</p>
<p>This week the kids go to guidance to finalize their schedules. I left the final decision up to her- this way if she has any meltdowns senior year she can’t blame me. [-X . They are also making an appointment to meet with guidance to make a list of colleges. It will be interesting to see how his list compares to ours. </p>
<p>Report cards came this weekend and she did very well . Of course now that I am on the parent portal every minute the report card was old news. She is also very good at texting me every single time she gets a grade. NHS induction ceremony is this week. We got her a dress for a low price but the " under garments" necessary made up for the cost. :-O. The dress has a weird lace back- ladies you know how that goes… </p>
<p>I am enjoying the facebook page and it’s been fun to “meet” people there. I am a facebook user and have a few facebook friends that I’ve met online in various forums over the years. The group is super-secret private so I feel comforted that it’s actually a little safer than here where anyone from my hometown can probably identify me pretty quickly even though I swore I wouldn’t share too much info when I started posting here. I didn’t do a very good job of that though (I would insert a smily or laughing icon here but I swear I can’t even see them!!).</p>
<p>I think everyone will still post here though. We have a lot of months to get through together.</p>
<p>The report card was not as kind here-the concussion took it’s toll. :(</p>
<p>The GC says that can be addressed in a letter she will send because of the drop in grades and all the missed days. That is great but I know that due to the sheer volume of apps she just isn’t going to make the first cut at some places if they have a strict number cutoff. </p>
<p>@MamaBear16 @eerboco thank you for commenting on college fairs. One of my relatives is a HS counselor. she thought college fair was okay but not worth giving up anything for. After reading your comments I understand why. </p>
<p>Pepper, sorry to hear the report card was not great. Take care of your child. Hope things improve and the grades will improve too. </p>
<p>We have another delayed opening. so there are 13 cancellations, and 7 delays.</p>
<p>Pepper so sorry to hear this, we had the same occurrence last spring with my daughter. Did I mention that it also occurred during a club soccer game–she determined to be on the sidelines her final season of her high school career.
They do rebound; lots of hugs needed has this happens–it really works.<br>
No weather delays here ,just plain cold.</p>
<p>@Maxwellequations thanks! It could have been a lot worse she is doing fine now if I could only get her to quit playing soccer-although she did agree that the next concussion if there is one is going to be the last one she will get on a soccer field. </p>
<p>That is unbelievable how many missed days and late starts. think we have had two snow days-she’s missed so much school this year I can’t be certain.</p>
<p>I went to one college fair and it was a zoo! I would much rather come here to get the info I need!</p>
<p>Back to school today after a four-day snowcation. The natives were getting restless, so I am grateful to have been able to ship them to class today.
Is anyone familiar with/had a child who received a nomination for the U.S. Presidential Scholar Program? The senior nominees were announced at 2015 Daughter’s school last week. I’m curious about it. </p>
<p>Re the Facebook group: It is in NO WAY meant to replace or “top” any CC forum. The sheer volume of knowledgeable posters on the CC forums ensure CC will always be the more informative site. No debate there. I completely respect the wishes of CC posters who want to preserve anonymity. The FB page is simply intended to be a fun, safe place where posters can vent, rejoice, or ramble without remembering offspring acronyms. It really is fun to be able to put a face with a CC name, and it’s still insular as the members are so scattered around the country there’s a minuscule risk of bumping into someone at the grocery store. :)</p>
<p>That may or may not be the case. Just based on what I’ve seen here, I’m pretty sure at least three of the regulars in this thread live within a 15 minute drive from my house, and I’d guess many of the Westchester brigade would report the same. </p>
<p>I’m certainly not put out by the idea of a “back room” group but won’t be joining you because (1) I don’t do Facebook – at all, and (2) I only say something substantive around here about once every three months anyway. </p>
<p>@HeliMom74 Our friends daughter was nominated in our little area. From what we could tell, it was the kids who received perfect ACT or SAT scores from each school district. She did not complete the application because she was simply too busy at the time and had spent a lot of time in D.C.and did not feel it was of interest. I heard mixed reactions on CC from people who attended with their kids. I think there are two separate divisions : one for performing arts and one for academics. The parent of the student who attended for performing arts was not very happy with how they handled the ceremony and felt it was not worth their while.</p>
I have seen that some schools offer opportunities to find them off campus that include college fairs as well as specific info sessions. My middle D went to several info sessions and interviews for CA schools that took place in NYC. She found these to be surprisingly personal and uncrowded.</p>
. Of course now that I am on the parent portal every minute the report card was old news. She is also very good at texting me every single time she gets a grade. NHS induction ceremony is this week. We got her a dress for a low price but the " under garments" necessary made up for the cost. :-O. The dress has a weird lace back- ladies you know how that goes… </p>