How did those kids who got snail mail make out today? We got 10 pieces of mail and not one for for D-she said she wants some mail, darn it! It was funny. At this point we’re just waiting…so frustrating.
My H cannot ride a bike. He won 2 of them as a paperboy for high sales, but gave them away. He grew up on one of Seattle’s legendary hills and had no interest in dealing with a bike there. It also had cobblestones-that probably played into his decision. He can’t swim either. My two older kids were big bike riders as kids. They used to go -road with their dad. My older D did a summer camp here in Seattle where they went off-road and she broke her wrist. She was annoyed to have to curtail her extreme sports all summer. Sseakid can ride a bike, but she hasn’t ridden in a long time. Her bike is going to be used in her science fair project next month, though. It will be generating power for the school she and her partner are working with-the model, anyway.
The mail DS received was an acceptance to the Computer Science Honors program- he was waiting to see if he would be admitted to both programs he applied to. Another + in the column for the flagship!
@carolinamom2boys, our boys never learned to ride bikes either (they both did learn to swim well). The oldest has some interest in learning before college. Don’t know if he’d need it in Philly, though.
Ditto @Cheeringsection … My D is getting more excited about the ASU Barrett Honors College by the day, and not only because she gets to travel to Arizona in February.
A month ago, the story would have been different but getting blanked on the early round of merit $$$ at Fordham has given her time to get excited about the benefits of some of her other (cheaper) options.
At her super-competitive charter school she’s definitely an outlier. And I admit I still struggle with my old notions of ASU as a party school with weak academics … but times have changed. For her major, it Is among the tops in the nation.
Plus: Tonight we got the nicest surprise phone call. ASU will reimburse $250 of her flight and is setting up some special meetings for her.
It’s certainly nice to be wanted.
And, welcome, @mom23travelers … I loved reading the story about your D15. Such a lesson for us all.
Update:2 pieces of mail from same school, both “congratulating” her on her scholarship. She got a nice scholarship from this school a month ago, but now is applying for their full ride. So we think this still is just promotional related to previous scholarship…a bit unclear. My D is following the money for sure. The odd thing is, as she wins awards, we (I at least) just keep raising our hopes. She has full tuition…so now I want full ride! Trying to keep myself in check and not be greedy.
Some schools are still trying to get her to apply, which seems too late to me. Bg
S interview went well. He has another one coming up next week. Here in my town we are freezing at 50 degrees.
We also had nothing in the mail today.
As for bike riding, I once had more miles on my bike than on my car.
Ah, I used to be a passionate distance cyclist, but that was when I lived somewhere that bike culture was good, and I didn’t fear for my life getting on my bike. It sits forlorn in my garage now. S has ridden a few times, but not often. It’s just not safe here unless you’re exceptionally skilled, and even then -not great.
Meanwhile, S also has zero interest in learning to drive. No permit, no license. He turns 18 on Thursday. Where we live, public transit really is generally pretty good, and driving is not. I do want him to learn to parallel park in San Francisco, though, because it’s where I learned it, and I can parallel park like a champ. (Hey, we each have our own talents. ) Otherwise - meh. Not pushing it. His top 3 college choices either don’t allow first year students to have cars or drive, or are in places with exceptional mass transit, even better than what we have in the Bay Area. Maybe it’ll be a summer project. He’s the kid who, as a little one, wouldn’t do anything until he was certain he could master it. He spoke late - but in full sentences with big words. Same with shoe-tying, potty-training - I figure driving will be a lot like that, too. He pays attention now.
We’re not expecting any mail or other notifications until March. In fact, we may be at one college’s admitted students event at the same time he hears from 1-2 RD schools. So ready for this to be over.
@MidwestMomTo2 , My sister went to ASU and never left the area. She went because of a boy-who returned to NH after college, but of course they broke up and she is still there 30+ years later. My older D started at ASU for the sustainable business major, but ended up back east in an entirely different program at a completely different kind of school. But boy, I always enjoy visiting my sister in mid-winter!
@Booajo , D is still getting mail from colleges too-mostly state colleges around the northwest. I wonder if people shy away from them because of the cold and snow (Idaho, Montana) or rain? I’m not sure where they’re getting her name as she didn’t check any of the boxes for schools to contact her.
@Waiting2exhale - Oh, I so understand! You’re not alone. I love driving in SF, but I essentially really learned to drive in the City. I got my license elsewhere, but was 18 when I spent several months in SF. Young, reckless, and my '81 Civic and I thought we could take on the world. S is way more careful than I was - and even though he’s still at school tonight, I can hear his voice saying, “No, Mom - I’m more careful than you ARE, even now” - and yeah, that’s probably right.
I have been known to parallel park strangers’ cars for them if I really see them struggling. I hand over my phone as collateral.
Wow. W2exit has received almost no constant mailings. She has not been stalked by even the most famous of them all, though she is applying there. Hasn’t gotten mail in a really long time.
Everything comes for Waiting4Her2leave (looking for a moniker for the next one). The one small southern school which finally had me sit down and read their mailings seems to be the only school who has kept this child’s name and address…hmmm.
This will have to be an experiment, I’ve decided. If no mail means no acceptances, then I will have gotten a whiff of that early on and simply failed to read the signs.
@sseamon: How did your daughter get on the radar of the HBCU’s? Or did she start that process? I think only my first child ever received any contact from an HBCU, and then only Howard.
So many mailings! Wonder when it’ll stop. My sister never put her information down either @sseamom but has been getting more and more college mail. Think of all the paper they are wasting. I got this notebook about our school thing randomly from Lesley University, must of cost a pretty penny between making the thing and shipping it-it wasn’t even an ordinary envelope.
My S is the youngest in his grade and I wanted him to learn to drive as soon as possible when he became eligible. In our state, you can get a permit at 16 but you must have it for at least 6 months before you can get a license (plus 65 hours of driving time). S turned 16 in January of 2015 and the day he got his permit I had him out in a parking lot. He seemed a little unsure that first time but I took him out every weekend and then began having him drive home from sports practice all winter and spring - those 15 minutes a day really start to add up and give a lot of confidence due to the getting behind the wheel numerous times a week. We also had S get a good amount of highway driving in doing college visits in the spring and summer. S got his license at 16 and a half - just in time to drive himself to his cross country practices throughout the summer (7 practices a week) and his volunteer job. With both my kids, I wanted them driving as soon and as often as possible. My thinking was that the more experience they have behind the wheel when they are living at home and I can influence their driving skills, the better equipped they will be. That being said, we live in the suburbs where driving really is an important skill. I am sure my D, who is out of college, would not have wanted to have me teach her once she was living away at college and rarely home. She would not have had the patience to be in the car that much with me once she was in college.
Our S16 is on the later end of getting his license, and since it takes 9 months on a learner’s permit he wasn’t driving until late this summer, when he was about 17 1/2. Now he drives D18 everywhere - it’s great for shuttling her to rehearsals, friends’ houses, etc. They can’t drive other kids for the first 5 months after they get their license, except for siblings, so he’s just now able to drive other teens and hasn’t done it yet. It does make it a little easier in the beginning when they aren’t legally allowed to drive other teens who might distract them, although many of them don’t follow that rule. I will miss him driving his S to school next year since she is young for her grade and can’t even really get a learners until she starts next fall
We are running into a new bump in the road on S16 plans. He applied and was accepted as a CS major early in November, but now he’s pretty sure he wants to switch to Information Systems. At one school, both CS and IS are in the same department, but at the other, CS is in the STEM dept and IS is in their selective business program. Looking at the course offerings, he’s definitely better suited toward an IS degree. We think it would be best if he changed his major formally before starting in the fall, but will it cause a problem with his applications? Is there any harm in calling the colleges and asking? I know if I do, they’ll want to pull up his record. We don’t want to jeopardize either acceptance at this point since he likes both schools, and CS and IS are not all that different.
Has anyone else’s D or S decided to change their major after being accepted, and if so, what should we expect? Thanks for any tips!
Woot! New class ranks were released today and D16 moved from 29 to 26, moving her from just over the top 5% to solidly in the top 5%. Class size also increased from 601 to 614 seems like a big jump from 11th to 12th grade.
I had no idea about class ranks and weighted classes when DD started public school, had I known, she would have taken more weighted classes but the fact that she can pull off a solid top 5% with more than the usual number of non-weighted classes is very good!
If I hear one more person say, “but how can she turn down an auto admit to UT to go to OU”, I just might scream!
@3scoutsmom Yay to your D! Top 5% is very impressive! “What popular isn’t always right. What’s right isn’t always popular.” Totally true for college stuff. Especially with a “for you/me” after the right. Everyone has to choose what’s best for them as an individual.
@readingclaygirl Do you think Lesley University might have been a good for for you for the education degree? My D16 has it on her list (but another school tops her list).
) Otherwise - meh. Not pushing it. His top 3 college choices either don’t allow first year students to have cars or drive, or are in places with exceptional mass transit, even better than what we have in the Bay Area. Maybe it’ll be a summer project. He’s the kid who, as a little one, wouldn’t do anything until he was certain he could master it. He spoke late - but in full sentences with big words. Same with shoe-tying, potty-training - I figure driving will be a lot like that, too. He pays attention now.