Done with AP here as well, we move into ACT mode starting Sunday with 4 rounds of practice tests and follow up tutoring. S really needs to bring his score up. If not…we may be looking at an SAT attempt come October but I really don’t want to do that. He felt pretty good about AP lang yesterday, at least for him, so it was a good end to the AP season. I did let him skip after the test…and he used that time to clean his room. Wonders DO never cease! Opening night tonight.
@kac425 Hey! We’ve had a lovely lovely spring here in Seattle. In fact…it hit 80 yesterday. 70 for my evening run which is warmer than I’d like! I actually don’t think we had a single rainy HS track meet…although plenty of super soggy practices to be sure and lots of soggy weekday runs for us adults in the house. Of course as I type this, it will probably rain for the race we all have on Sunday lol. One school? Gah.
@mcdmom we are on the same schedule as you are. I grew up with it and do like the whole not starting school until after labor day aspect but really wish we would scrap the full week at mid winter and let the kids out a week earlier in June.
Although I may want that week for visiting colleges next year.
Congrats on the NM Scholar @greeny8 daughter!
There is definitely something in the air @2muchquan and on these boards. Some of the threads have been a bit nasty and um, crazy. Boggling at the proctor @2muchquan! He couldn’t have waited 2 minutes? Did you ask D’s dad if he remembered proctor?
I feel your pain @Kac425, although we’ve had beautiful weather this week here in the PNW. Max took the mutts for a long romp in the woods yesterday and they were absolutely exhausted by the time they returned. And it was hot almost 80 degrees by noon. I was concerned for the doodle since he didn’t move a muscle for hours. But they’re both back to their chewing, playing, puppy ways this morning.
Anyone else’s kid stuck on one school? Trying unsuccessfully to broaden Spykid’s horizons, but he’s not having it. I do remember D being kind of weird this time junior year. I’ve dialed back the college talk and only engage if he brings it up. And I can do that because I have all y’all!
@Agentninetynine my kid is pretty much set on one school. He’s looked at others, is open to listening to about other choices, but really has no interest in visiting or worrying about them. His choices so far are all decent schools and he has a legitimate shot at most, slam dunk on a couple and maybe 1 reach if he decides to apply there. I think we are done thinking about it at this time.
Probably just going to ED top choice and hope he gets in and then we can stop all of this application nonsense. Because we are going to be full pay and my kid won’t be hauling in gobs of merit $$ at the schools he likes, it seems like a decent strategy to up his odds at his top choice.
Thank goodness S is not stuck on one school. He is stuck on one major (CS) and I can absolutely live with that.
Tomorrow is S’s last day as a junior. They have a fun day, do a scavenger hunt, sign yearbooks, clean lockers, etc. Monday will be graduation commencement for the seniors. We will go to that as there are a lot of kids graduating who are either friends with S or friends with D15. After graduation, S has a week long (voluntary) “Common App Boot Camp” at his school. I had forgotten about that, so I can’t start nagging him to study for the June 4 SAT until after that! The kids will complete their portion of the common app during boot camp. As I have mentioned before, I love his school counselor!! He was so happy yesterday when he was done with all of the testing. I think senior year may seem much less stressful than junior year spring semester has been.
Dd just found out that she placed 1st in the B1 level (that is the European system of classifying language levels) in an International Russian Olympiad. 
Congrats @Mom2aphysicsgeek! That’s very cool…was that the event at UIUC?
My D is also stuck on one school, which happens to be the last one she’s seen. Her DREAM school use to be WUSTL, which was the first school we toured since we were in town. Now, it’s not even on her radar. Lucky (?) for me, she’s working her way down the ‘prestige’ list Maybe we should visit the local CC last?
@RightCoaster If only the school he’s stuck on didn’t have an 18% acceptance rate. Oy. He has back ups but Dream School comes up the most in conversation. He knows the odds but can’t seem to process them. There’s a lot of talk about scores and college at school right now. The mom network tells me quite a bit of boasting has been going on (especially among boys) so that may be what’s fueling his denial. D will be home for a few days next week. I’m going to broach the subject of looking in other areas so she can back me up. He tends to listen to his sister more than us. Go figure. 
Opening night? @eandesmom. Break a leg! Last year and sadly next school year, S’s school will start before Labor Day. It’s a bummer for him as state fair is that week. Last year he and a friend skipped the first day of school to compete in 4-H. Probably do the same this September.
Wow - @Mom2aphysicsgeek, that is amazing! I struggle with french, can’t imagine Russian.
@mtrosemom Common App boot camp - love it! Son’s school has something similar but I think they focus on the essay.
LOL @2muchquan. WUSTL is my son’s “stalker” school. Last week they send 3 view books, and countless emails.
@2muchquan No, not the UIUC one. This one was an international competition where kids from 7 countries and either 6 or 7 states entered either written essays or videos of an oral presentations. Dd entered a video.
Done with AP & IB (One AP & One IB exam for DS). He had to postpone one IB exam to 2017 October (yes, he has to come from college to take it if he wants IB Diploma) due to Science Bowl nationals. Now, on deck for Science Olympiad Nationals in Wisconsin next week, followed by finals and SAT II on 06/04. Summer plans are still in flux. Started contacting local UC labs.
Do any of you read Lynn O’Shaughnessy? She’s a financial writer who also writes a blog called The College Solution. I highly recommend it and I read her book when we went through the process with D. Today’s post lists schools with low 4 year graduation rates. Very interesting. We’re not allowed to link to blogs, but I suggest you check it out.
@agentninetynine I agree. She has a lot of great advice. I shared her article on meets need schools in the homeschool to college talk I gave.
@Agentninetynine 18% is not that great of odds. Maybe EA or ED improves chances? The school my son is most interested in has a little better odds 25-30% maybe, so still low. He’s right in the sweet spot grades/scores , not too low, nor too high. Maybe his chances increase going ED and being full pay? We’ll see. That is Plan A. If not, then we mover forward withl Plan B enacted which is better for us financially
Congrats to all of your kids winning awards, finishing AP tests, and completing jr year.
We still have a month of school left here in MA. Right in the thick of it now.
Congratulationss on the NM Scholar @greeny8 D16 !
This seems cool.
http://www.onlinepreplive.com/
ACT tweeted.
@RightCoaster @canypava I think we’re just going to let it go. I know 34 is a great score and her writing will shine through on her essays. Since all the schools seem to know of the issues and are placing less importance on the writing anyways, I think she’ll be fine.
@CT1417 Yes, she is familiar with the core. She thinks it will be a good fit for her. I can see how it might be limiting with a double major though.
As for focusing on one college, my DD definitely has a top choice (Columbia) but she is actually casting a wide net. Not only because most of the schools she’s applying to are very selective, but we also need an NCP waiver and since those aren’t guaranteed and can be hard to get at some schools, we have other options that will make it financially feasible should we not get the waiver at some schools. She is applying ED to Columbia and EA to two other schools, so if she gets in that may avoid some of the applications. But since we’re in CA the UC applications are due pretty early so she will have to have those completed and turned in also.
Yes, congrats @greeny8! Pretty amazing to be 1 of 15,000 or so. That’s like 300 per state…round numbers. Very impressive.
I looked at the Graduation Rate blog entry (I use to track grad rate in my super-duper-overly-bloated-college-spreadsheet). Interesting. My main takeaway is to look at Freshmen Retention rate. That seems a big influencer. There are a lot of factors that affect the graduation rate that it can be misleading at times it seems (co-ops/engineering majors/spring admits (i.e., gaming the system)/etc.).
I also look at %freshman living on campus. I like to see this near 100%.
She also mentioned a website I use for comparison purposes. I’ve found it helpful, and you can save your queries without creating an account. Maybe one of you pointed it out to me: http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
Ok, so much action on this board lately that I can hardly keep up! @Agentninetynine I like that blog too and have her book. It really helped me understand all of the financial aid lingo.
So, what do you do when your child wants to pursue a major that you think is just a temporary passion? My DS has been writing screenplays for about a year and wants to study film in college. I have no idea if he is any good at it or if this is just for fun. My suggestion to him is to find schools where he can start undecided and take classes in creative writing and/or screenwriting as well as other classes to figure out what he really wants to do. The problem is that we are in TX and there aren’t many schools that offer this type of opportunity.
I feel like his criteria are a little too hard to find a fit: Big school in a city, smart but not super-competitive environment, good foreign language classes, and a possibility of continuing dance. Seriously, I don’t think we will find a school that meets all of this criteria. So far, he has really liked Boston University and kind of liked UT Austin. I’m thinking that Chapman would be another one to visit. We will qualify for no financial aid and I am cheap. I could afford an expensive school but I’d rather not. A year ago, he wanted to go to a school in NYC and now he has no interest in NYC. I am so conflicted about where to look because I feel like he will change his mind a million times before he actually goes off to college. He is hesitant to talk about where he wants to look because he knows he is so undecided and feels like his friends have it all figured out.
I bet after all of this stress and worry, he ends up at UT because there are tons of options and it isn’t far from home. Of course, if any of you know of schools that fit this magical criteria, I’d be happy to hear it.
I’m really just venting because I continually have the conversation mentioned by @Gator88NE below and just want to have a list of schools to visit. Grr. Argh.
DS 17 seems completely disinterested in the college search. Or, better yet, he’s just busy with everything else and doesn’t put much of a priority it.
Me: “Son, look a letter from Princeton!”
Him: * doesn’t look up…*
Me: “Son, a packet from MIT! Is that building melting?”
Him: * doesn’t look up…*
Me: “Son, a pamphlet from some college in south Georgia that I’ve never heard of before! Look, mountains!”
Him: * doesn’t look up…*
Me: “Son, looks like you got letters from 4 different…”
Him: * Looks up, scowls, almost says something he WILL REGRET, thinks better of it, and then looks back down to his phone or/and laptop or/and text book (likely all three at once, the little multi-tasking #$&$)…*
He’ll work on essays and such over the summer (and if the College board ever tells us how he did on the March SAT, perhaps prep for the SAT or ACT in the fall), but knowing him, he’ll not get “interested” until he’s back in school in the fall.
@Gator88NE This is the same conversation I have in my house at least once a week. :)) That was awesome!