@dyiu13 , I think she really needs to do the essay. There are no looming deadlines at this point, right? Still time to work on it.
@ballerina16 please share how that process went. I have DSās senior pictures scheduled for this week. I had kind of assumed he would go alone and I would pick out what we want later but it occurred to me a few days ago that it all may be digital and there is no wait for āproofsā. Did you order same day? I need to call the photographer on Monday.
senior photos seem so location specific. I have some friends whose kids can only go to the school-required photographer and wear school-required clothing, and there is an (expensive) minimum order. Other schools have no rule at all (that would be ours). Some allow your choice of photographer and pose, as long as you have a headshot to turn in. When my older D was a senior, it was all digital and we got to see the proofs right away. We chose right then what we wanted. She picked the yearbook pose and we bought some of the others we liked. It wasnāt too bad costwise but we didnāt get a huge package. What we DID pay for was the disc, because most of our family prefers digital photos now.
My 2016 kid is deciding between two photographers weāve been to-one is a friend and will only take a small gratuity, the other a small operator who is reasonable with his prices. Weāll get some formal shots, then she wants her DAD, who takes photos as part of his job to do a full shoot with locations around the city and her in different outfits. I think thatās so cool that she wants her dad in on it. Her school is very chill when it comes to yearbook photos. They even allowed some selfies last year, so whatever D decides on will be fine, Iām sure.
Our high school has a designated photographer that must be used for senior yearbook photos. Most kids then go to a different photographer for their own senior photos (or mom takes the camera to the park and does them herself, given the prevalence of mom-photographers these days).
The yearbook photographer charges a minimum sitting fee of $10 if all youāre doing is the yearbook photo. Given that freshmen-juniors get into the yearbook free, and there are around 350 seniors, itās quite the racket.
I think our son has his college choices pretty well narrowed down. Unless he hates it when he visits this fall, he says heāll go to Temple if they offer him full tuition. He has the SAT score for it, but it will depend on how they weight his GPA. They require a 3.8. He has a 3.35 unweighted, but all his classes are honors, magnet, or AP. He liked Ole Miss, and would be guaranteed tuition and room. He said that heād definitely go there if it were more urban. Since his top choices have rolling admissions, he should know where heās going early.
@Cheeringsection our school contracted photo studio. We cannot go anywhere else. The photo sessions was about 25 minutes. The price for photo session only was $60. To get prints you have to select from the packages they offer. The least expensive one was $125. To get CD with digital images you will have to pay $350. I was not in the studio for photo session, but was called in to pick images we want to order.
My school is the same as @sseamom Dās in regards to senior pictures. Thatās crazy expensive @ballerina16 and for such a short amount of time. Senior sessions here are usually 1 or 2 hours long.
Breakthrough! D16 got there. Tonight she found a way to personalize her experience of her sport in her college essay. Eureka!
I told her to park her ego outside the house for two hours. She had been fighting the idea she had any insight about her experience and had just dug in.
Then, I tried different words games, which she and her dad shut down (When I do X sport, I feelā¦I amā¦I fearā¦ etc.) So, then I suggested a typical spiel, that āproblems go away when youāre out in natureāā¦and that got her to complaining that, no, her (and the worldās) problems didnāt go away. Follow up questions on that got her to the place she could describe how the problems were still there even during her outings, but the sport gave retreat and respite and built up her resolve to help the world that is so full of problems. Which is totally her.
Just hope the adcoms will agree.
Whew. Wasnāt sure she was going to find it inside.
$125 for the cheapest package seems like robbery! I swear a regular package from many places would be cheaper, but the āsenior portraitā tag and requiring students to use them lets them jack up the prices all they want. I guess lower income kids donāt get photos. Our school DOES do individual photos for all grades, and they start at $14, with one of the ābetterā photographers doing them there at the school. At least seniors who want SOMETHING have that option.
I completely agree. It is good that our school did not have junior prom. I can only imagine how much prom and related expenses will be.
Perhaps senior photo prices arenāt that bad IF it covers having a real and trained photographer who also wants to be there and who listens to the child/family. But thatās a big āif.ā Considering overhead, labor, & materials, would about $100 for a basic sitting and package feel right?
Yeah, the senior portraits these days are pretty time consuming for the photographerā¦usually multiple locations, maybe a studio session too. Pre-session consult. But the most time consuming bit is the editing afterwardsā¦can be several hours. And the overhead is higher than people realizeā¦pro camera, current editing software, computer, data charges, etc, etc. It IS a shame that more schools donāt offer the in-house quick snap type of senior portrait, because certainly not everyone can afford a custom session.
Editing to add, these days there are usually tons of would-be photogs willing to do a senior session for cheap or even free. A lot of high school students actually have entry level cameras and a lot of enthusiasm for posing fellow students! But you do tend to get what you pay for 
But firefly, Iām thinking that school required portraits do NOT involve multiple locations and outfits.A friendās school required photos recently were in a studio and the boy had either his jacket on or jacket off. I know there are costs involved in the editing and all, but it still seems awfully steep at $125 for the cheapest option.
@mysonsdad, hoping you may have some inside insight that would answer my question; others here may know the answer too. Iāve been searching the Common App website to no avail.
Background that Iāve mentioned before, but donāt expect that everyone will remember: my daughter has always homeschooled, though in our state we have the choice to join a public homeschool program. We get some funds for curricula, instruction, whatever, and in return we submit to some oversight: turning in a learning plan, grades, work samples, standardized testing, etc. So, we are in one of those programs, in addition to my daughter doing a single class at the local building-based high school (and the occasional university class, live or online.) She has a transcript from this school and guidance counselor/academic advisor, though all of her instruction has been done away from the school.
So here is my question, which came up this evening because the woman who tutors my daughter in Chinese seems to be having some trouble filling out the Common App recommender form because they are asking about the school.
Does anyone know if āteacherā recommenders on the Common App need to be currently affiliated with a particular school? My daughter had named a few people as āteachersā on her app. A couple are clear cut enough; she has a calc teacher who taught her at the university, and she takes orchestra at the local school, so thereās a music teacher. However, it would be nice for some schools to use her physics and chemistry āteacherā, who taught her in a homeschool group class for two years (and is a retired teacher, great background, actual instructed a future Nobel Prize winner) and knows her exceptionally well, as well as her Chinese āteacherā (who is affiliated with a local Chinese āschoolā, but I use the term loosely. They give Friday night classes to children, and have been in existence for years, but itās not accredited or anything, and my daughter used her as a tutor; she didnāt actually go to that program. Her instruction was organized and excellent though.) And then there are the online instructors she had for various AP (real, AP-approved curric) courses through an online entity called AP Homeschoolers. They were her primary language arts teachers, and, again, know her academic aptitude pretty well.
Some of the schools sheās applying to are reach-y/lottery, and we certainly want her to have quality recs of at all possible, and as many as are allowed!
.
First week of school is down and it has been so busy. I have had two 14 hour days at school already and now get to spend my weekend preparing for next week. Itās okay though, I love what I do so its not really work. I just try to make my school a great place for students to attend.
Regarding competition from our kids that are on this board, most of our kids (if not all), are applying to highly competitive schools. Even if all our kids applied to all the same colleges, there are about 20 different parents on here. When you consider that the colleges that our kids are applying to will have 10,000 or more students applying (UCLA had 92,000 apply last year) I hardly doubt that our kids applying to the same schools really makes it that much more competitive.
@AKFirefly, I am not sure how the recommendations work, even though I teach high school a lot of this is new to me. I would hate to give bad advice. I usually just write LORās for students and submit them. Sorry, I wish I could be more of a help. Try calling the colleges and asking them.
I tried to see if I can figure out in commonapp but it is very odd that the app no longer requires people to name recommenders if the school uses Naviance.
I am so glad that @AKFirefly and @happymochi are on this board. S16 is in a traditional school but S20 is coming up soon and I have no idea what a homeschool high school application looks like. I am eager to watch and learn!
The admissions tally begins for D16: One acceptance so far.
Will apply to 13 colleges, total. Sheā be thrilled to enroll in this college that admitted her, but we must wait until we see the financial aid package to know if itās doable.
So, I now feel like, except for one financial safety school sheāll be applying to, itās the fin aid awards in spring that will really mean āacceptanceā or ārejection.ā She still intend to apply to all the colleges as early as possible and manageable. (That stall in her Common App essay was starting to get in the way of applying to some EA and rolling admissions schools on her list.)
D16 is applying to no highly selective college, so no issues about competing with any students on this CC group.
And, just a reminder to newbies like like me, with their first child going through the college admissions process, we have decided to send in the REFUNDABLE acceptance fee that would hold her a spot in the fall 2016 semester at the school she was admitted to. If we learn she cannot attend based on the fin aid offer, then weād request the refund.
Given this, I expect weāre going to be saving her seats by ālendingā the 13 schools at least $4,000 total until decision day at the end of April 2016.
Oh, well. Sheās still profoundly happy to have an offer from a school at the top of her list.
Congrads @dyiu13 ! Progress on the essay and an acceptance is really a great week! I am with you that it feel like the financial aid packages will be the real acceptances and redirections. DS has one school that includes scholarship offers with acceptance so I would really like him to get that one done and in soon! This school has offered him a special application or he can use the common ap. One minute I think he should use the special one since not everyone can, and the next I think he should send CA so they know they have some competition. Any thoughts?
Thanks to all that commented on senior pictures. I really do need to call the photographer on Monday.
Another question: soon we go to the first āwow, you are a seniorā event. Not sure how to handle inquiries about where he is applying. I had planned to keep that info pretty private but have failed miserably at that when directly asked one-on-one in the last couple of weeks. DS does not appear to have a preference but I am thinking he might as this moves along. How have you handled? He is not applying to highly selective schools but is chasing merit.
@AKFirefly ā Iād PM happymochi to ask her to read your note, or post a new thread on the Parents Forum w the word āhomeschoolā in the title. Iām sure someone has cracked this nut already.