My heart goes out to you @novicemom23kids – my son struggles with all that self reflective, personal judgment stuff. Qualities we see clearly he doesn’t - I like your overlapping Venn diagram approach though. He’ll probably try to guess what we’ll write so he can sabotage it though. :-S I do think it is hard for many of our kids to “think like this” – to promote themselves or their accomplishments. Mine is a bit of a perfectionist so tends to discount as worthless anything less – and of course he has very few “perfect” records of achievement. Perhaps you can help her understand the purpose of the report from the perspective of the reader and how she has much to offer that they’ll appreciate, so just share it – don’t dwell too much as this won’t be public or come back at her etc. I have taken on occasion to writing a draft, showing it to DS, having him reject it & tear it up (knew he would) and then coming back later or the next day and tweaking it and saying it was basically what he had in mind but was not sure how to go about saying etc. Good luck – can totally sympathize with you – and others sharing similar experiences. I think once they do a few though - save them in a file, as they could be useful as a base or example to refer to for other submissions - hopefully the process will get a little smoother over time. 
@mdcmom … WOW! Did you wake your son up screaming??? What a fantastic end to a crazy day.
@mdcmom wow! I was holding my breath as I was reading your story. It sounds like a happy ending to a good book! So relieved it was reversed.
I remember taking tae kwon do in college. I still remember some moves (not that I’ve ever needed to karate chop someone).
D is taking her dreaded Latin final today. It counts as 20% of her year to date grade. She has an 89.65 for the year so if she doesn’t get an A it will be her first B ever. No pressure!
After today just 3 days left of school. I’m looking forward to not waking up at 6:15 to make her lunch! But on the same hand, it’s sad I won’t ever make her lunch again because next year she has early release and she will get out at noon.
I am very happy that we don’t have to do brag sheets. I could see that reducing dd to tears, as well. She is humble to the core and never talks about herself. Good thing I am her GC and know exactly what to brag about and have no shame. For other recommenders, I have had them create resumes with lists of awards and honors. That is easier bc it is really just making a list of factual accomplishments.
@mdcmom What a story. Your ds’s inspiring the team is amazing. Can’t imagine their deflation at the DQ. So glad it was reversed.
Tomorrow I’m giving a homeschool to college talk at a homeschool convention in a neighboring state. I was asked after I did my small one here locally. (Major butterflies bc I am not a public speaker.)
College ds left yesterday for his REU in NY. He won’t finish until 3 days before fall classes start. We won’t see him again until Labor Day. His leaving threw 11th grade Dd into a tailspin. I think it made everything come rushing home that that is her life starting next yr. Then she started fast-forwarding, “If it this hard to say good-bye when all he is doing is going to NY, what is it going to be like when I am studying abroad??”
@mdcmom Congrats to your son and the rest of the team. Important to get calls right. Would have been a whole lot better for all involved if that had happened originally. Good luck to them at States!!
@greeny8 Good luck to your daughter. No doubt, no pressure. LOL
@greeny8 Hope your dd’s final goes well!
@mdcmom congrats to your son and his team. Good luck with Bryant. That school has come a long way since the 80’s. Totally transformed. I’ve had some friends that graduated from there and I will tell you they are all gainfully employed and enjoying nice careers.
@carachel2 More like the other way around, LOL. DS was about to send our video to the coach (even though we’d been told repeatedly that outside videos aren’t admissible) when the coach texted him 
. I’d been trying to get to sleep for two hours when I heard lots of noise, then later got up to surf and there the text was. Still haven’t seen him but we’ll be doing some celebrating tonight. But no junk food yet! (DS’15 told me that the first thing DS’17 did was try to get hold of the high-talent/low-discipline member of the team to stop him from eating too much junk food.)
@greeny8 - Good luck to your daughter. Tell me about pressure 
My S was in same situation this week for 2 subjects and he pulled thru and your daughter will do same.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek, that’s a bumper that you will not get to spend the summer with your college ds. REU is such a good opportunity though so it would be worth it, right? Was it difficult for your DS to obtain the REU? My college DS is doing research internship at a hospital in town but I wonder if he should apply to REU next summer instead.
@4beardolls I don’t know how competitive REUs are across the different majors, but I know in physics they are competitive. https://astrobites.org/2013/01/05/so-you-want-to-apply-for-an-reu-heres-how/
[quote]
Some of these programs are as competitive as the top graduate programs, with upwards of 200 people applying for ten or fewer positions./quote
Last yr (freshman yr) he applied to 6. He was accepted onto Duke’s CERN REU waiting list, but was not pulled off of it. He was not accepted into any of the others. He ended up doing paid research on his home campus. (That worked out well b/c he continued with that project the entire past school yr.)
This yr (sophomore yr) he applied to 6 more. Of course he now had another yr’s research experience, numerous presentations, plus finished all of UG physics courses, and only needs 2 more math classes for his math double. He was accepted by 3 programs: 1 in Sweden and 2 top 10 physics depts. He really struggled with which on to choose, but decided that he wanted to use an REU as a way to explore a different field and that made his decision for him.
For his goals, REUs are pretty vital. His goals are a top grad program. He will have 3 1/2 yrs of on-campus research. He is hoping he will have 2 summer REUs (one next summer as well.)
He lives and breathes research, so he is super excited.
Congrats to those who are now rising seniors!! <:-P <:-P <:-P And best of luck to those with big finals. DS has 4 projects due next week, but no more finals.
OMG, they will be graduating next year! I’m looking at baby pictures in the hallway and already getting teary-eyed. DS is off to Vegas for a math competition (and probably late-night card games).
@mdcmom Wow, what a dramatic story to read. Much more so to have lived it! I’m so happy that after all that, the relay team will be going to states!! Such fast times!
Re: Essays
I noticed the following thread, which started off with perhaps a naive question, but ended up having some useful advice about essay writing, especially the “Why here?” essays. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1895909-how-long-does-it-take-to-write-a-college-application-one-hour-per-college-p1.html
Re: Ignore lists
I don’t have anyone on ignore, because then I would keep saying, “Wait, who are they all arguing with?” and have to turn the ignore off to see what they said. There’s only one person I’m frequently tempted to ignore, and s/he’s not on this list.
Re: Swim tests
They are probably old-fashioned, but I kind of like the idea. Our school district got a grant to have all 4th graders taken to the local UC and given maybe 8 swim lessons. That happened after a couple of local kids drowned in a lake (back when SoCal still had lakes). It was surprising how many kids didn’t know how to swim. Kids who were past the advanced level got diving lessons or something.
Re: Englishes
@dfbdfb Loved reading about your field. Thanks.
Re: AP Physics C (about 6-7 pages back)
DS was deciding whether to take physics as part of his UC classes next year, but there were a lot of issues, so I made a separate thread in the Science Majors section. It is super TL;DR, but our decision (we think) is that he will take classes other than physics that interest him and sign him up for the AP Physics C tests next year. If a college he may decide on provides some placement benefit for the AP Physics C tests, he’ll cram during April and take the tests in May. He has a lot of physics experience and a lot of math that has included physics questions, but doesn’t have a physics with calculus class. He considered taking one of the AP Physics C tests this year, but they were the same day as AP Bio.
@IABooks asked for a list of Naviance brag sheet questions. Here are ours:
Re: Reading
Yeah, I spent about a year (maybe not that long) reading all the Game of Thrones books…
@Mom2aphysicsgeek, thanks for providing your ds experience and congratulations to him for getting these awesome opportunities.
Brag sheet parent letter…can someone explain that part to me? Is that simply for the HS to use in LOR’s or the GC to be aware of or is it actually included in college applications??
Wow, @mdcmom, what a story! I just can’t imagine how they felt after the DQ. So devastating. Thank goodness there was a happy ending. I wonder what really happened with regard to calling the DQ in the first place? Anyway, so happy for your son and his teammates. Good luck to them at the state competition!
Good luck to your D @greeny8! Hope the final goes well! Good luck to other kids taking finals!
@dfbdfb, I also enjoyed the description of your field. One day, my S20 was looking at the Columbia Univ library website and how many books they had in different languages. He does weird stuff like that! He’s also the kid who wanted “Latin for Dummies”.
Just had a friend’s D16 get off the wait list to UC Irvine. I know this kind of shuffling happens as kids get off WL and then the spots they had somewhere become available. Interesting to contemplate when it’s not your own kid and how it might all go next year. I think my brain is more likely to say go to a school that wants you vs accept a WL spot, but it could be worth it if the school is really a top choice. Tucking that away for now.
Sorry, I can’t help with any brag sheet discussions, I don’t think D has to do one. That’s a great list, @Ynotgo and worth having the kids think about even if they don’t need a brag sheet.
@eandesmom The parent letter isn’t included in college applications. It’s for the LOR writers at the school and the GC to read. I suppose that they might quote from the letter (no penalty for plagiarism here, I think) if parts seem appropriate.
Thanks @Mom2aphysicsgeek – really useful info about REUs. DS is aiming for a similar path. Congrats to your son on his acceptances!
@Ynotgo Re: Ignore list…we all know it’s a ‘she’ Also, thanks for the brag sheet stuff, I’ll try to remember to post the same info from our GC.
@eandesmom We have a similar ‘parent portion’ responsibility for our GC. It’s used by the GC for the LOR, in our case, and includes information that your kid may not have included in their brag sheet.
@eandsmom The brag sheet in my son’s Naviance asks questions specifically designed to help the GC write a recommendation for our son (see below). I spent a great deal of time describing and, yes, bragging about my son. Then I followed up with GC just to make sure she saw it and would use it.
- What do you consider to be the most important achievements of your child during high school, and why?
- Please describe your child in three or four adjectives or words.
- How has your child overcome obstacles or adversity, or demonstrated strength, courage and resiliency?
- What are your own hopes/ambitions/fears regarding your child's college selection and application process?
- Is there anything else about your family (individuals, history, cultural influences, special circumstances) that would be helpful for us to know as we work with your child? Etc, etc...
D had to fill out the parent “brag” sheet for a GC rec for a summer program. It was very hard to complete. I need better responses for the next one. Thankfully her teachers only ask for a resume. Her GT teacher did ask her to answer a few short reflective questions but they aren’t that hard.
Re ignore list: it just whites out the post from the ignored poster but to see it all you have to do is click in the white box to uncover. Then you read it and wonder why you read it. :))