@CAMidwestMom, poor guy. That first “B” is tough…kind of like the first scratch on a new car!
I accidentally posted this on the other 2016 board, but to repeat here…D16 came back from fly-in weekend preferring one of the two schools over the other. I think she also has a better idea of the sorts of questions she might have about the school, so it was a valuable trip. She got to run with the cross country team at one place, which she enjoyed.
@CAMidwestMom I agree that one high B after maintaining such a great GPA should not make a difference. I happen to think that maintaining a very high GPA in a rigorous course load is such a better indicator of a student’s ability and dedication then a snap shot test score. My D always does better in the everyday then on the one time test situations. She slipped this first semester a bit in 2 of her AP Classes but considering that she had Varsity Soccer that went into the post season, took an SAT II again, completed and submitted 7 EA and 2 RD applications, kept up her responsibilities with her EC’s and worked a few hours a week…who could look down on that? Your S should hold his head high and know that he is giving it his all everyday (which is more than many do) and if that is not enough for a particular school - maybe that school is not right for him. That is what I tell my D when she gets down on herself for some minuscule self-deprecating slip up. No one is perfect and no one should want to be perfect.
Thanks for listening to my vent last night. @palm715, I agree, his intensity and yes, stubbornness, have mostly been a plus, but I look forward to him hopefully being a little less hard on himself in the future.
@Mysonsdad The college board has not only changed a report status from sent to pending, but they also seem to have sent scores to one of our schools four times. Yes four. After I escalated the situation with the changed status, it went back to sent, with a date two weeks later. I am going to call and get the batch number today. Gee, writing this I’m thinking people might read it and say ‘gee, wonder where her son gets that intense behavior from…’
@CAMidwestMom – Nothing wrong with intensity (although I agree that getting upset about a single B is a bit much). I think that intensity and yes, competitiveness, serve kids well in the world into which they’re heading. One of my favorite books (from long ago) is The Hotel New Hampshire. It’s not clear until the end of the book that one of the real heroes is Iowa Bob, a wrestling coach. My memory is that the book closes with his motto – “Get obsessed and stay obsessed.”
P.S. What’s the basis of your screen name? Originally from CA, now finding yourself in the midwest?
@AsleepAtTheWheel Thats a John Irving book right? I’ve read a lot of his books. Maybe I should check that one out. Yes, I grew up in California, but live in the Midwest now. Have been here for over 15yrs.
@palm715, Actually, I think there’s a certain integrity in having a B mid-semester in Hawaiian History. It shows you are a relaxed Islander. @CAMidwestMom, at least you recognize your intensity!
@EastGrad you actually made me LOL. Island time is real. Kindness is too. Thanks for that. 
I agree with the first B being the hardest. My D had perfect grades in middle school. She was so annoyed with me when I cheered that she got a B (maybe more - I don’t remember) her first quarter of high school. I felt that she no longer had to work to keep up an unattainable goal. She did very well through HS, but didn’t stress as much about each B. At least we avoided tears over Bs after that.
I accidentally posted on the other thread last night too. D’s school has given out the order forms for caps and gowns, and all the extra junk the company offers, like $300 rings and $50 unpersonalized sweatpants. D’s having none of that. But the senior boys were trying to talk the principal into allowing brown robes and light sabers for graduation. Luckily the color gown is set in stone as the school color, but they actually got the ok to proceed with the light saber idea from the senior advisor. D is not on board, but says that if this happens, she wants a PURPLE light saber like Sam Jackson used!
We also got the deadline for the senior photos and quote. She actually has a photo in mind but hasn’t mentioned a quote.
It is that time for D to order cap and gown too. She hasn’t let me look at anything, so not sure what she has in mind…
D16 has received 6 acceptances (so far) to northern schools (we are non-native Texans). She did not apply to anything south of the Mason Dixon line or west of the Mississippi, so she will definitely be going to college in a snowy locale. Now that some of her classmates have acceptances coming in and have committed/deposited to their school of choice she is feeling very conflicted about which school to choose.
This past weekend she asked to go winter coat and boot shopping. My husband, confused, asked “Why does she want to winter clothes shop NOW? She isn’t going north for another year and it will be cheaper to buy them at the end of the season.” I shrugged and said girls like to shop. I wanted to tell her be practical and wait until after Christmas to buy but, I suspected that buying the winter clothes was a way for her to solidify in her head that she was actually committing to a school in the north. So, I sucked it up and smiled and said sure lets go shopping. Low and behold during the shopping trip she confessed that she was confused and anxious about which school to choose, buying the winter clothes was the one thing that she could make a decision about and control. She ended up with a winter hat, a longer wool duffle coat, a pair or rubber “duck boots” and a puffy vest. Later that night, getting ready for bed, the lightbulb must have gone off for my husband because he said " I know why D16 wanted to buy the winter clothes. It was about admitting to herself she is leaving home, right?" I told him that we will have a lot more weird requests over the next year, we should just smile and say yes.
D16 said many of her friends have had no problem committing to the school of their choice and she is being pressured to choose. She was one of the first kids at her school to receive an acceptance that was not an auto admit in-state acceptance and her classmates are incredulous that she hasn’t committed. She still has 5 apps outstanding so she just keeps making the excuse that she is still waiting on all of her options. Most of her classmates have only applied to 3 or 4 schools and the moment they receive an acceptance to one of the state flagships they are good to go (although U of Alabama seems to be a very popular choice among her classmates!) She is lamenting that her classmates all seem to have known from birth whether they wanted to be a Longhorn or an Aggie or a legacy to their parent’s alma mater.
The process of waiting and making the decision about which school to choose is proving to be far more stressful than any of us would have suspected.
Just curious if anyone knows the answer to this one. Do interviewers get told if their interviewee(s) did or didn’t get in? And, if so, how much ahead of the official notification dates do they know? Also, DD is having a tough time moving on from the early apps she’s sent in to the RD apps she’s yet to complete. Anyone else in that boat?
I’ve a friend who interviews for her alma mater in a different part of the country than the one I live in and here’s what she said about that:
"Since I’m the chair of my region and am in charge of assigning all interviews, I get a master list of the decisions for the students in my region. I don’t get it until the day decisions are available to the applicants themselves, and I’m asked to wait several more days before contacting anyone so that all applicants get a chance to hear from the school itself. I notify the interviewer(s) if their interviewee(s) has been offered admission, and ask the interviewer to contact the student and see if he/she has any questions. If I’ve interviewed a student offered admission, I contact him/her directly.
So, in short: we know nothing until the time the university releases the information, and the individual interviewers only find out if I, as chair, notify them. "
I assume this is probably not unusual amongst selective schools, though I don’t know if it’s universal.
@labegg and others from more mild climates considering schools in the northern parts - I have a suggestion for holiday gifts for your kids…the little handwarmer packets (also come as insoles for shoes/boots). They are called HotHands. You can buy them all over up where I live and I usually give my kids some every year to keep in their car and back pack in case of emergency. They are not very expensive and you can buy them in bulk too.
@sseamom I wish our school would allow light sabers at graduation.
themommymommy (and others) - I will keep you posted on the light sabers. If there was ever a school where this could happen, D’s school is it.
Earlier this week with our temperature dip (for those of you not in SoCal it was in the 50’s in the morning and a high of about 67 degrees), D questioned her decision to apply to colleges in “cold places”. She said she was already freezing and wearing two layers (a t-shirt and sweatshirt) :)) . I recommended that she work on her UC essays!
We have 40’s in the morning this week and expect 30’s next week. Not bad this year yet.
Thanks @petrichor11 , that’s pretty much what I suspected, although I think I’ve read on some other threads here of kids getting a call from their interviewer the day before results come out.