Glad to read all the positive comments about finding work experiences! My older kids have never had a problem, but I started to wonder if it was their fields. Dd is definitely a motivated self-starter, so I am going to go with the belief that she can find opportunities just like her siblings.
DS asked his English teacher yesterday for a LoR. She said she’d be happy to do it. I asked DS if she mentioned whether she’d want to write it over the summer or in fall, and DS said he doesn’t know but she’s retiring after this year. (Odd, she’s young. Seems like a number of teachers at his school are retiring…)
I guess he needs to get a non-school email address from her and see whether she will have access to Naviance. They do the Brag Sheet thing in Naviance and the LoRs somehow go through Naviance to the Common App. He only has one school that doesn’t use the Common App (besides the UC and CalState systems, which don’t want LoRs).
Has anyone dealt with LoRs from retiring teachers for their older kids?
@RightCoaster: The University of Denver is on my daughter’s list of possibilities for grad school, if she opts to focus on the conflict studies side of her interests down the line—they aren’t a good curricular fit for her undergrad interests, but their graduate program in international relations is apparently pretty good, which is kind of a who’da thunk it sort of thing.
Also, coming in a bit late on weather, but startclass.com has what they list as average winter and summer temperatures for at least most colleges. (They’re pulled, I’m guessing, from weather data for the places they’re located.) I’d take issue with what they count as cold or hot as opposed to comfortable, but they give a number for each, too—and anyway, my point of view may have been skewed by my normal being with what they describe as “freezing cold winter” and “very cool summer” temperatures. 
Just bought a boatload of Amazon gift cards for the 2016 grads in our lives. Next year will be the same for the 2017 grads. FWIW, D15 found that the Amazon GCs (or cash) were the most useful gift because it was easy to get basically whatever she needs. Plus we have Prime so shipping on most items is free.
Sadly I can’t really speak to the work experience part for non STEM kids, at least not super positively. SS11 did have plenty of work opportunities related to his major while in school and took advantage, as well as having non major menial labor jobs for spending money. They have not translated into a “real” job related to his major yet however I’d put most of that on him and what he has chosen to leverage or not. He is going the entrepreneur route, in his field, on his dime (with non career path jobs), but it remains to be seen whether it will be sustainable.
SD14 is doing summer session and that, combined with soccer, has not left time for any “work”. We hope and pray she does work this summer, she has never ever had a job of any sort and if her mother had her way, would not at all while in college which does her a major disservice imho. We shall see. Hoping next summer brings an REU opportunity for her and I do think there is a decent chance of that.
That said, in my opinion as an employer, an REU combined with a “real” job no matter how menial is far more valuable on a resume than just the REU. I need to know a student fresh out of school can actually work outside of the academic environment, take direction, etc.
Our school wants everything though Naviance in the fall, all transcript requests, LOR’s etc so we are holding on requesting per instructions. In our case I think that will help as we will have a clearer picture of the school list and truly what teachers will be best to ask. Given that many only require one, choosing that one wisely seems prudent.
Question of the Day: In creating your (i.e., your child’s) college list, what compromises are you having to make when deciding which schools stay and which don’t?
There is only 1 school that is a perfect/near-perfect fit for D. But she is OOS for that school, so if she isn’t offered enough merit aid, it will not be affordable. All other schools will be a compromise of sorts. The main compromise as we go down the list will be finding a school that has enough Arabic course offerings + related extra-curriculars + study abroad opportunities to provide anything close to what is offered by a flagship.
@itsgettingreal17 For OOS schools, one aspect I’m looking at is the easy access to a major airport.
One school is even hard to arrange a visit. I imagine traveling to and fro the school three times a year is going to be a major hassle.
Typing on iPhone:
My kids have long made fun of my one-fingered hunt-and-peck iPhone typing. I downloaded an app called TapTyping Trainer. I’m not even very far through it, but I’ve gotten a decent bit better at the young-uns double-thumb method.
Naviance:
I recently found out that not all Naviance admission data is from your kid’s school. They use something called Peer Data Sharing:
I can see where this would be useful, but I find it annoying that they don’t explicitly state on a school’s page that they are using this method. There are a wide variety of HS’s in my area and I’d always assumed that all data was particular to D’s school.
UGA:
Aww, no one’s going to UGA! My H’s family has really close ties there, with several buildings even named after some of his relatives. H and I went to GA Tech and H’s brother went to UGA. He loved it, especially football and the music scene. It’s funny now though – he is still a huge UGA football fan and crows every time UGA beats GT. H and I don’t have the least interest in GT football (and didn’t even when we were students). So it really annoys BIL that we don’t get all worked up about it!
We will totally have a rule about ease of travel. I’m thinking under a five hour drive or a direct flight with some sort of shuttle or another easy way to get to campus from airport. No flight plus long drive. Schools that are far from airports must get lots of kids who can drive from home (even if it’s five or six hours). I don’t see how any 18-21 year old could take a plane and then get to a school that is still two or more hours away.!
I’m trying to get D to think about the ease of travel. Her two auto-merit schools are so far and while she would take her car to campus, I wouldn’t want her driving all the way home.
We didn’t think about ease of travel when D matriculated to a school 3 flights away. However, the merit aid made up for the inconvenience (and cost of such indirect travel!) Luckily, S doesn’t want to be far, so schools are generally 1 flight, maybe two short flights just because we are not near a major airport.
Ease of travel? I’m planning on moving away once D goes to college…and not telling her where we went! She won’t have anywhere to go back to! :))
^^Us too 
We’re obsessing over edgy houseboats right now, of all crazy things. It’s a good distraction, and there’s even a show on tv called “my floating home” where they build them custom.
When dd moves out to go to college, we will have gone from 7 kids living at home to only 3, all within 4 yrs. It is hard for me to even imagine. And we will all be able to fit in a car instead of a van!
What does happen is that the second they move out, their “space” is gone, so when they come home for visits, they are stuck sharing someone else’s space in whatever room arrangement and decor has transformed the space.
Does anyone else have a kid who goes off any schedule once school ends? S is in that “transition” time between doing something productive (actually getting and starting an internship, research project or job) and studying for tests like the SAT and going on a couple of college visits. He is sleeping until lunch and then hanging out in his PJs all day. I have been calling him at 10:00 just to wake him, get him out of bed, and started on things he needs to do (laundry perhaps! SAT study??) Starting in June he will be doing SOMETHING out of the house, but for now he’s a slug.
Hello everyone,
With the school year finally over for my DC, I am “delurking” and just wanted to say how much I have learned and laughed by reading this thread. You guys are funnier than SNL at times …
We are not as organized as some of you but have done a number of college visits and will do more over the summer and in the fall. Right now, we are looking at a mixture of schools that give either merit aid or are flexible with need-based aid because our financial situation will change while DC is in college.
Just yesterday, DC finally went to the head of the guidance department and was pleasantly surprised. The list seems to look good but needs one more safety. The guidance counselors at our large, not very competitive public school are overwhelmed. DC is on the forth “new” GC in just three years and thus the visit to the head of the department.
Can’t wait to learn and read more and chime in from time to time. Happy Planning everyone!
Welcome aboard , @Ghibelline2017! I wonder how many lurkers there are out there. I was one on the 2016 thread.
Lurkers, sound off…
I let the girls go full potato.
They both have month-long academic summer camps this year that start later in the summer, and D17 has the SAT & ACT on the 4th and 11th of June, and D18 has driver’s ed for the next four weekends all day long.
This gives them about 3 weeks to be lazy. They still have to do chores, but I don’t care when stuff gets done as long as it (eventually) gets done.
So, when they don’t have to do anything I let them get completely and utterly potato-ish. After about two weeks they can’t stand themselves and start doing things like showering and brushing their teeth again, lol.
By week 3 they are champing at the bit to get to summer camp and going out and socializing with their friends. I think it’s a good thing to let them be lazy, because they’ve realized they don’t like a whole lot of it, but occasionally they need it so they can get recharged emotionally.
Hi @Ghibelline2017 welcome to the monkey house 
Have a banana!
@itsgettingreal17 we’ve not yet removed schools for ease of travel but that will be a pass taken on all that stay on before going any further. I don’t want to limit initially on that reason alone but it is definitely a factor.
@homerdog apparently they can’t, on their own. SD is either 2 flights away or one flight plus a car ride, bus ride or train ride. In the interest of making things easier last spring we booked the 2 flight option.
She missed the first leg. Small regional airports do not have frequent flights. Miss that first one and the logisitics of rescheduling is nightmarish at best. Not to mention the fact that the kid is stranded at the airport without a car or a place to stay since move out has already happened.
It is a real factor, especially freshman year if they live on campus.
That said…the younger kids have learned from this to “not do what SD did” in terms of how early one needs to get to the airport and i am pretty sure she will never let that happen again. Moral of the story is, even when you think your kids are savvy travelers they are not paying attention to some of the basics despite repeated exposure. You will only realize this when you are not with them.
Welcome @Ghibelline2017!!!
@mtrosemom I had that issue today and yesterday and school isn’t even out yet! Late start for 2 days apparently meant sleeping in both days and snarling if anyone tried to poke the bear. To remind the bear to yes, study for ACT and um maybe get ahead on homework?
It will be a long summer if he is unable to find a job.
Welcome @Ghibelline2017! Nice to know our slow descent into insanity can be entertaining!