S16 has landed here in Portland, ME. Thanks for all the good wishes and vibes. I didn’t get to sleep until 1:40 am when he texted me that he was in his seat on his initiation flight out of SFO.
S14 and I missed him by ten minutes, as we are on our way to Atlanta for the move back in at Emory. Mrs. AsleepattheWheel and S16 will visit Bowdoin, Amherst, and MIT (a theoretical consideration only – he hasn’t won the Intel prize) this week before returning home to start his senior year.
Glad everyone’s where they should be @AsleepAtTheWheel
Welcome @almondjoy My son is an electrical engineering/computer engineering hopeful. I don’t even know what computer engineering is exactly, and if that is very close to computer science (or not). I don’t think my son is clear on the differences.
I too have a son who is working/procrastinating on summer AP homework (for 3 classes) and will probably finish up the night before school starts on Sept. 2nd. In his defense, he was gone for 6 weeks during the summer and just returned on August 1st…and he really couldn’t work on anything while he was gone. However, he has been home 2 weeks and just finished work for AP class number one (read 2 books and other shorter readings, do several short writing assignments, plus write an essay related to readings). Now he only has 2 other books to read and much more writing to do in next 2 weeks! And of course yesterday he went to the waterpark with sibling and friend, and he has been catching up on online gaming (did not have computer with him for those 6 weeks).
S did get one college app done and sent…at my insistence! Easy one with no essay. I really wish his summer homework included writing rough drafts of essays for college apps…that makes so much sense but doesn’t happen at our school.
@AsleepAtTheWheel We visited MIT and a couple other schools last fall when we traveled to NY to visit D14 her freshman year. We flew into Boston, so it made sense to visit some colleges in that area.
Funny story about MIT. We did the general tour and were registered to do engineering tour. We only had about 45 minutes to make it to engineering, so hustled to the building to get there early, only to learn we went to the “other” building with the same number on other side of campus - we realized our error when we walked into the Portugese department! As we were leaving, we got stuck in the elevator for 15 minutes and had to push the red emergency button, they summoned security, etc. Once we got un-stuck…we ran to the engineering dept, arrived a couple minutes late, but were able to chuckle with all that were there. We will fondly remember the day we were stuck in an elevator at MIT! If you speak portugese, stop by when you are at MIT and say hello…they were extremely nice!
@4kids2graduate Thank you for giving me another thing to worry about during college tours. You are better than me. The tour would’ve been over once I got stuck in the elevator. I’m extremely claustrophobic , and I’m fairly sure my actions on that day would’ve immediately put my son on the “Do Not Admit List”.
This is so frustrating. D16 has her Common Application essay done…except for the one paragraph where she has to write about her own personal experiences and meanings. You know, the most impostent part – about why does performing in the sport effect her? But this is a child who hates and refused to self-reflect. She’s got…nothing. And I’m despairing she’ll find it and be able to write it. Her GC just notes that the element is missing, but is not suggesting how D16 can develop it. I obviously am no help. Should she just send it in without the personal- meaning element?
@diyu13 What is her sport? Is it a group sport or one she competes in individually ? Why did she choose that particular sport?
@dyiu13 – This is just one article, but I thought it was pretty good. Scroll down to the pitfalls you want to avoid. Methinks that the most critical aspect of the essay is the piece she hasn’t written.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5558597
(From Logan airport)
I wouldn’t worry too much about the Intel prize. MIT gets enough of those winners. What they are looking hard for are those who can get them swimming medals. 
@texaspg – thanks for the thought.
The coach told him that he has the academics to get in. The coach also told him that if his time in his best event were one second faster (in a roughly one minute event) he’d be in. Although he’ll probably get there by the end of his senior year, he won’t get there by November. So unfortunately it’s not likely to happen.
@4kids2graduate : S would be so envious of an application with no essays. Two of his schools have multiple, and the fact that they’re short response (<200 words) make them no less essays in his head.
He’s done his CA essays and two schools. Three more schools to go for the first round, which we’re sending out all at once (EA and state schools). Anything with a deadline before November 1 has a deadline of August 22, as far as he’s concerned.
All of you with kids who have completed any essays, applications, etc. are way ahead of us. S has not opened the common ap, has not begun his summer AP reading (although it’s only 1 book for AP Lit), and has not started essays (although he maybe has one that is workable with some tweaking from an assignment junior year). S drafted a resume but it needs serious work and cannot be used in the form it is in now. Basically, S is completely focused on fall sport which is ramping up. The team has high hopes for the season as they did very well last year and have very strong juniors and seniors on the team for this year. Marching band camp also starts next week so he will be very busy (I have tried to point out the benefits of doing some of the college stuff before all this ramps us but to no avail…)
S16 did have a college interview yesterday (with basically no prep and no resume to provide the interviewer) and he seems to have done just fine. He is well qualified for the college (which is local) and now says he will probably apply. Although he really would prefer to be out of our home town, he says he would probably prefer this University to our very big state U if it came down to those 2 options. Although this University is local it’s a well respected, mid-size research University that offers a lot of what he is looking for (including merit aid). So I think that’s good.
@asleepatthewheel - This is MIT’s coach? I am guessing it would mostly depend on whether he can get the offer made to someone else who is willing to commit right?
http://web.mit.edu/ir/cds/2015/c.html
Getting a boy into MIT is as hard as Harvard or Stanford these days. I am calculating that the admit rate last year was 5.8% for boys.
@texaspg – Surprisingly they’re a pretty fast swim team. ?Maybe there are more smart swimmers than other sports. They’re an EA school, and by then he will likely have committed elsewhere via the ED route.
Thanks for the encouragement and kind thoughts.
P.S. Rice, in your neck of the woods, has no men’s swimming team. Another wonderful by-product of Title IX.
D has not filled out any applications, and won’t for another month. She had to take 2 online courses this summer to have the full 4 years of LA and History needed to graduate this year, and we’re waiting for those to finish and be graded before she applies anywhere. She’s working on essays as she’s applying for some scholarships that require them, and has a couple from summer programs she applied to last spring that she’ll tweak. All but a couple of schools have rolling deadlines and don’t use the common app so we’re in a different place than most of you guys.
I think Rice puts all their money on baseball.
@dyiu13 My D also has no ability to self-reflect. She is in total avoidance mode. She too (like @momofzag child), is totally focused on her sport now. She is a captain, and they are state-level competitive, which seems to equal tons of stress for her. It means she is incapable of accomplishing anything on the college front. I actually spent several hours this morning looking for schools she could consider that DONT require an essay.
@AsleepAtTheWheel. She’s not in a competitive or school-based sport. It doesn’t require a team, but she is usually doing it with others. She won’t let me mention the exact activity, but it’d be parellel to things like leisurely surfing, rock climbing, horseback riding, hiking, rafting. It’s outdoorsy, requires techical skill, is actually fun.
Why she can’t squeeze something personally revealing for the essay out of it, I don’t know. My DH said it’s common for teens to be inarticulate on self-reflection. Is that true? I even suggested she even write about how she gets a mind-wipe when participating. Or, just fake it until you make it…maybe by coming up with a fake personal insight about what her sport experience has been or meant to her, she’ll trip over a real one.
@diyu13 Since I don’t really know what the activity is maybe something like even though the activity gives her the opportunity to be social and spend time with others, in the end she is ultimately responsible for her success and enjoyment in the moment. It gives her the opportunity to practice self reliance and gives her confidence that she’ll be able to succeed on her own. Just a thought. Hope the inspiration hits soon.
Just had DD’s senior pictures taken. Those things are expensive!