@3scoutsmom Nice to know I’m not the only ambitious one! The website says you should get an email with student log in information 24 hours after you pay your deposit. I didn’t so I waited a couple days and called. After being transferred 3 times, turns out that information won’t be sent out until February-“hardly anyone makes a deposit this early” @dyiu13 I’ve already looked up the academic calendar but sadly orientation dates aren’t posted yet. I like to know stuff. @carolinamom2boys Congrats! <:-P
@dyiu13 I’m right with you. Fortunately, my DD has her school locked in so we don’t have to try to get info for several schools. We already have summer orientation and registration dates, move-in info, etc. DD is looking at study abroad opportunities for summer 2017 to help lighten her course load during the year.
I’m a very compulsive planner too.
Awesome news @carolinamom2boys ! I am glad that your DS will have choices.
Wow lots going on…first and foremost Super Congrats to all the great news to be had…hugs and sweets to those receiving not so great news. Regarding the friend who may need assistance…I would definitely approach him and suggests…if he accepts great, if he doesn’t no harm no foul. I am a big planner as well but I would wait to put in deposits until a little closer to the deadline…not near the end but a lot can change for a student from December to April…and then even from April until August. I saw it with my S14. He was one and done in January…by May or June he was a little unsure and by August he was positive it was the wrong place for him. We thought it was just jitters (and it was but not entirely). He realized that it was not the right place for him but at that point he was in for a penny (or $20,000 pennies) in for a pound. So he tried so hard to make the best of it but in the end his instinct was right…it was not the right place for him. This may not happen to everyone but what we have learned is…a lot of changing happens to these kids during the second half of their senior year and through their summer. I do agree with honors programs not necessarily being a total benefit to all students. It really depends on the school, requirements and the student and their temperament.
@Carolinamom2boys congrats!
Are any of your kids doing anything special the summer before college? D has a European trip that we’ve been paying for since 9th grade (when she first heard about it). A teacher from her school organizes it and take a big group of students every other year.
@fretfulmother : What a mom, what a neighbor, what a friend.
We are giving a cruise for my D as her graduation present so that’s what we’re going to do for part of the summer.
The school that she’s going to attend has a 3-day summer orientation and registration period. She will pick a session in late June to do that.
Finally, she is going to see her classmates from the HS in FL she attended freshman year. She’s seen them every summer since we left FL, but this one will probably be the most special since everyone is going to college.
DD is going to relax as much as she can this summer since she is thinking that she will use the next few summers for study abroad and summer school opportunities.
Congratulations to your son @carolinamom2boys.
Today my D joined a Facebook page for one of her top choices and started chatting with potential roommates. She was upfront that she hadn’t committed yet but still was getting plenty of interest. I think she is getting closer to deciding.
She has had a successful application season going 6 for 6. But two are expensive private schools where she didn’t get merit so they are unaffordable. Sadly, one is the “dream” school. But she has bounced back well focusing on two choices that she really liked and that are in the budget. She has decided not to bother applying to two schools that were planned for RD because she says she doesn’t need them now. I hope she comes to a decision early so we can just focus on moving forward and planning summer orientation and looking at courses for the fall like many of you have.
Our family is going to Cape Cod in June. Originally my son had talked about going to Europe with a group of friends but they didn’t have a plan and he decided that he would rather wait to go in college. We are happy that he will be going with is on the trip. Other than that he will be working and I do know that one school has a two day orientation in July. We also go to a family camp in IL. Now that he’s out of high school he can be on the volunteer staff and he is very excited to finally be a staffer. I am sure the summer will fly by. 
We’re going to Disney World , DS16 choice. We have family in Orlando so it will be great to see family who will be unable to make it to his graduation.
Welcome @me29304. Hopefully we’ll
hear something later this week on our other school.
We had originally planned on going on a cruise this summer to celebrate D’s foray into the college phase of her life (similar to what we did when S14 graduated. Cruise to Italy France and Spain…it was a combo trip to celebrate S’s foray into his college life, D’s Sweet Sixteen, my 50th and Hubby and my 20th Anniversary). But we cannot agree on the cruise itinerary (I want Greek Isles out of Venice, Hubby wanted England and Paris (until the terrorist tragedy in Paris) and both kids want to cruise to the Baltic Capitals (very interesting but I do really want to have to wear a hoody in July and August? I think not.). So right now we are stymied by these situations. I am usually such a severe plan ahead person but we cannot seem to get a 3/4 majority on any venue except England. So we might just make a somewhat last minute plan to take a trip to England with a high speed train excursion to maybe one other city. There is a lot going on now and needing to be planned in the near future…we are a little planned out and stressed. I think we will take this trip (whatever it ends up to be) a little footloose and fancy free. We will need to consider S14’s pending ear operation (third and probably not last unfortunately), his work schedule and date he needs to be back to school, D’s HS graduation, college orientation (where ever she ends up), move in day and work schedule, not to mention hubby and my work schedules. So as much as I usually need to plan excessively, there are just too many variables at his point to really do much advanced planning.
Originally we were thinking to visit Korea a little longer. However, DD applied NSLI-y at Korea for academic year and we don’t know yet. I think to take a trip to west coast including Yellowstone or Grand Canyon while my wife prefer Hawaii. And DD wants to leave home.
We were originally thinking London and Paris this summer. We are now rethinking it because of the recent terror attacks. I think we may go to Florida. Our family always enjoys going there.
I’m sure that I’ll write about this again when we get closer to the summer, but now that summer-before-college trips, etc. has come up:
Quite a number of schools offer some sort of outing or activity (frequently a menu where the student can choose one of many activities) prior to the formal beginning of move-in/orientation. Frequently these activities, whether they’re on campus or off, are in relatively small groups of ten to twenty kids. S14’s school had a choice of various three to four-day outdoor activities – he ended up camping at a lake an hour or so from school and doing all sorts of water-related stuff. The goal, I think, is to ‘break the ice’ and start off in low-key setting with a small number of kids. Many of these pre-orientation activities are optional, although they are mandatory at some schools.
On the Class of 2014 thread every kid who did something like this found it to be a wonderful and worthwhile experience. My son enjoyed it immensely, purely for the social aspect. Not only did he move in already knowing a number of kids on campus, but he felt confident that he was going to be surrounded by a lot of good kids.
Of note, at many of the schools there may not be enough slots for all the kids who want to go on these outings, so it’s important to sign up sooner rather than later.
DD hopes to be working as a camp counselor at a Girl Scout camp to earn money to help her pay for college this summer. No fun trips for her!
I’m hoping we can get somewhere in Europe. Kids are all about London (Sherlock plus Dr Who drives this I think). Spouse votes for Finland??!! I am all about the $$
And like the rest of you, schedules are already mucky, complicated by younger kids sports and camp schedules. But have some flats in London bookmarked–they go fast. And thinking maybe we can fly IcelandAir. They advertise a “free” stopover in Iceland that intrigues me.
If any of you are looking for an alternative summer experience for your DC after HS graduation:
When D14 graduated from HS, she worked for 32 days that summer at a salmon cannery in Alaska. She worked 17 hour days, 7 days/week for 32 days with NO days off…and she came home with $5000 in her pocket, and a very mature work ethic and a new found respect for those individuals that do manual labor! Between graduation money and her summer earnings, she paid her first semester bill herself (and she is at a private college across the country). What a character building experience! She thinks the work experience she has gotten since then on campus at a research lab and with the catering department are posh in comparison!
Summer plans: Netflix and chill. The actual version, not the smutty version.
My daughter was cooing over Iceland Air’s Paris offerings just last night. I asked her if that was where she really wanted to go, and she made some low rumblings about Reykjavik (Ray-kee-uh-vic), which then turned into a pronunciation smackdown with the college student. ( Can anyone here say " Eyjafjallajökull" - the name of Iceland’s rumbling volcano?)
She didn’t mention a stopover, though. I’ve always been a little curious.
I went to college with a young man who spent his summers in Alaska working. He was definitely happy with his bulging pockets after his stints there. His parents were well-off and he didn’t appear to need to go for financial reasons, but was so outdoorsy and a bit of a do-it-my-way lad with a great spirit.
“And DD wants to leave home.”
Welcome, NYDad513.