@ynotgo - I will also sign up for collegeessayorganizer upgrade. We are still not sure about applying for MIT yet. Not sure if it’s a good fit for pre-med but I do see they have Biology major with Computational Biology concentration.
Congrats to all of you with completed apps. Still waiting for the CA and the CO App to open.
I don’t know if this applies to anyone here but if your child is applying to SUNY New Paltz even as a safety, have them apply before November 17th. That way if they go there they don’t get a forced triple in a double sized room like my friend who just found this out at orientation
@mamaedefamilia, nice detailed trip report. I visited U Chicago with DS14 3 summers ago and it was exactly like your described. I think U Chicago has “perfected” their summer visit Day format.
@MichiganGeorgia Not visiting everywhere either. I think it good to visit some schools, and a variety of types of schools. Really did help S17 understand the entire college search and how to understand what we see online. But after a while they do start to all look alike.
@carachel2 - doing gas due to oral surgeon’s recommendation – two out now to hopefully help the underbite!
@STEM2017 Is there a separate Application at USC for the scholarships? I need to go back and look. Get a head start on the Honors College essays and then it will be easy to finish the app once your sons scores are in.
@WhereIsMyKindle I wish I had had something like that as a resource when our oldest left for college. He has serious life threatening food allergies. He is severely allergic to all tree nuts (which is actually easier to deal with bc they tend to used to people with nut allergies.) But he is equally allergic to all fruit that grows on trees, spices like cinnamon (yeah, definitely a tree thing going on here), obviously extracts related to fruits and nuts, but also all seafood/shellfish. Just touching a shrimp will make his hands swell up like fat sausages.
He started off living in a dorm, but it was a disaster. We ended up getting a medical waiver for him to live off campus (his univeristy actually required on campus living for freshman and sophomore yrs, so getting the waiver was a big deal. His allergist wrote a letter saying they were putting his life in danger by making him live in the dorm.)
I worry about him bc his allergy list keeps growing due to cross contamination. For example, he wasn’t allergic to peanuts, but after having reactions to peanut butter that must have been process in the same environment as tree nuts, he is now allergic to peanuts. The same thing has happened with some fruits.
I’m glad that universities are becoming more aware of the seriousness of the issue. That is a newer thing. We were treated like we were crazy when we first insisted that he couldn’t eat in their dining hall bc they weren’t handling his allergies like they were real.
@jeepgirl It’s all one application but you can only access the honors/essay/LOR section if you input your test scores and only if those scores are higher than the minimum requirement. You probably didn’t notice because you guys put in your scores and the section was automatically available.
I had my son put in a fake test score in the ACT box and a whole section became available. Unfortunately when he erased the fake score the section disappeared.
This is nothing but a rant, so you can just move on…
Well, she has given plan B even more time and effort. But, yikes, the response is unenthusiastic and leaves me cold. The first response from the Russian professor was, yes, you can continue to study Russian beyond our listed courses by doing independent study. Hmmm, ok. I told her she needed to press for more details. What did that entail exactly? She wrote him again. The response was, well, you do things independently like translating textbooks or business articles. Ugh. (She read that and said, well, that sounds incredibly boring.) She wrote a third time and asked if there are any conversational opportunities. No response yet, but this is going no where except toward a train wreck.
I am appalled by the responses. At another university when she contacted the Russian professor, she was so enthusiastic. She said she would design courses just for her bc she would love to work with a student like her. That professor contacted her chair and confirmed it would be possible and wrote Dd back saying that it would be.
If a student cannot achieve their stated goals (which she clearly articulated by mentioning all 4 areas covered in language acquisition) just say so. Don’t act like you can when you are offering a 2D version of 3D reality.
Depts and professors make all the difference. Dullards or professors who really want to teach…
U South Carolina has 2 essays for scholarships and honors.
@Ynotgo I had 4 wisdom teeth, kept them until my mid 20’s when I had some issues with the gums around them and had them out. I had enough room in my mouth for them, but the gums were just making me nuts. D17 has three, but has my big mouth, and they’re not impacted and they’re in and not bothering her, so we’re going to let them be. D18’s teeth haven’t come in yet (she’s still in braces), but she does not have mom’s freaky Julia-Roberts-sized mouth so she may have to have them out. I remember in high school a LOT of my friends had theirs out the summer after they graduated HS. I have memories of bringing milkshakes around to a lot of woozy people 
Remaining tours:
UA (in the fall)
Drexel (next time H flies to Philly for work)
UMDCP (only if she’s accepted with good aid)
Uof Miami (only if she’s accepted with substantial financial aid for 4 years)
U Richmond (see U miami)
I am still nervous about her having a true financial safety, which is stupid because UA is an automatic admit for her. I guess if she hates UA in Sept I can make her hunt around and find another automatic admit for stats that she’d be ok with, but knowing her I think UA is the best match for her from the automatic admit for stats group.
Swear Jar is STILL empty!
O:-)
She did talk about colleges a little on her own yesterday and I answered her, but prefaced it with saying “will I end up in the swear jar if I reply?” and she said “no, it’s ok”. It was mostly about the weather in the north being preferable because it was over 100 degrees yesterday when we were out doing errands (we found a work bench for her for $9 at a thrift shop!). For me Miami heat was tolerable because there was always an ocean breeze. UA has good ac, but the heat will be an issue for her there. Although, really, she’s used to the heat, she just doesn’t like it.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek wrote
D17 has a peanut, bean (legume like a peanut) and cumin allergies. The bean one is actually the trickiest for her because a lot of prepared food uses bean paste or bean powder (or chick pea powder) as a source of extra protein. She stays out of chinese, thai (super bad for peanuts), and is careful in mexican restaurants just to get fajitas because they typically have no beans or cumin as part of the preparation. It’s challenging for her.
The upside is she’s become very mindful of her food, and likes “clean” eating without a lot of ingredients-she loves bacon and eggs, and I swear she’s 50% eggs :). She’s also developed seasonal allergies over the summer-we thought she had a lingering cold, but nope, seasonal allergies so she’s on Zyrtek now, which works really well for her. She’s grumpy that she has two kinds of allergies to manage now.
It is SO hard not to comment to her on how she’s progressing on this week’s to-do list. She’s playing a lot of video games on her computer right now with the friends she made at GHP, and I can hear a lot of laughing and shouting, so she’s obviously having fun with it. And I don’t want to mess up my streak with the Swear Jar. I hope she gets it done. The application to apply for the application for UA is on that to-do list.
Next week’s to-do list is already in progress (the two Barron’s books have come in for the SAT 2’s), so if she doesn’t have the first week done at next College Chat I’m going to get medieval on her keister. “You want to go to UGA? Fine, because that’s what you’re setting yourself up for by not doing this stuff.” (I have arguments with myself ahead of time in my head because that’s the only way I can keep up with how smart she is and how fast she argues with me in real life.). UGA is a great school, she just doesn’t want to go to college with her classmates.
@STEM2017 When is your Ss test date? The next one is October? Has he emailed admissions or his regional rep to see what to do in your situation? Because you need everything in by 11/1 (11/15?) including LORs. Just afraid you’ll run out of time because it sounds like UofSC emails your GC and Other recommender with a specific request once you submitted the app (you can download the GC version and see basically what they ask the other recommender, which I don’t think needs to be a teacher). If you can get the LORs lined up, and the essays, seems like you’ll be in good shape when your son’s 35 comes in. <:-P
@2muchquan 35!!! Wouldn’t that be nice. [-O< Thanks for the info.
He’s taking the ACT first time in Sep and again in Oct. His GC has been sent the request (automatically by the USCarolina system.) His teacher LORs should be locked and loaded by Sep 1 - we’ll see about that. When he input a fake 29 into the app he was able to get the essay prompts. “Thinking” and “Doing” - heavy stuff. 500 word min. Yikes. Word Count is the function he uses more than any other in Google Docs. ~X(
Congrats to everyone who has submitted apps, and sympathies on the wisdom teeth. D15 got hers out two weeks ago, and D17 had to get braces back on this summer (after having them off for three years). Fortunately no charge this time!
We are gearing up for some college trips. Someone asked about ACT rescores. S17 requested a rescore on his ACT writing and it came back unchanged. I don’t think I can talk him into retesting, so I think he’s done.
Good luck to all with the wisdom teeth! Back in the day no one had them out that early unless there were issues. My dentist told me I could keep all mine as long as they weren’t bothering me and I could keep them clean. So I did. Till my early 40’s. Getting them out? Not so fun. We thought they broke my jaw but it turns out it was only hyper extended.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek those are some scary allergies to deal with for your S. So sorry. Rant away about sub par responses from professors.
@STEM2017 is your S doing the ACT with writing? If so you will most likely not have that Oct score in time for an 11/1 deadline. I’m personally worried about the 9/10 writing scores being ready in time for 11/1 dates (since folks are suggesting sending at least 2 weeks early). We have quite a few 11/1’s…my plan it to see what the composite looks like as that will be ready early and then decide to send or hold depending on the school and whether it superscores or not.
@eandesmom Thanks for ruining my morning. 
Just kidding. We are very aware of the deadlines and just keeping our fingers crossed. Not much we can do about it now. We made a conscientious decision to put off testing until September and we have to live with our choice. Yes, he is doing the writing section of the ACT so we do expect delays. Further, both Florida State and North Carolina State have MID-OCTOBER deadlines! I spoke with both and they are pretty adamant about the deadlines. Florida State did say they would work with kids if there are delays from the testing program. Gee thanks.
With the newly out wisdom teeth, just make sure they eat milkshakes and smoothies with a spoon, NO STRAW until doctor gives ok, because of possibility of dry socket.
Back in the eighties some of my high school friends got out their wisdom teeth. I was in my twenties when my new dentist recommended that I have them out.
My D got them out after junior year of HS. She had 4 bony impacted wisdom teeth so had general anesthesia. She was pretty miserable for the first few days. She religiously used frozen peas tied around her face 20 min on and 20 off the first day. She also did the salt water rinses as directed and had no infection.
My S is probably going to have them out next summer. We already know they are impacted and have to come out from the xray the orthodontist took. It is better to take them out when the roots haven’t fully developed.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I totally agree! We have found the same thing when asking schools about double majoring in Accounting and Russian. Some are excited, ask him what made him choose that and what he wants to do with it and start thinking about how that could work. You can see them getting excited at the idea. Others just look shell shocked and have a well I guess maybe you could do that but why would you want to attitude about them. They can only see the problems and obstacles. Those schools are a total turnoff to us and it makes me crazy! Here’s a kid willing to work hard who has strong ideas about what he wants and how he needs to get there why are you not trying to help him reach that? Anyway ranting with you, it just takes me CRAZY! How your daughter finds exactly what she wants. Glad at least 1 was enthusiastic about her and her goals!
@stem2017 Do most of the schools require the essay? We haven’t run into any that do. If only some do, why not do the Sept test w/o and the Oct test with. USC and FSU don’t require it.
“*Note: If you are applying as a freshman for Fall 2017, we no longer require the writing portion of the SAT and ACT.” (from USC’s website)
“Beginning with applications for 2017 admission, writing section scores are no longer required by Florida State.”