QOTD Yes. We moved into our current house 14 years ago and have known our neighbors for 14 years.
My kids went to preschool, K-5, together with the neighbor kids. I have watched the neighborhood kids grow from toddler to high schoolers and from kids to adults. Some kids now have their own kids.
DS’s saw their pediatrician on Monday who had come to the hospital after their births.
DH prefers anchoring and staying put as he grew up that way.
It is a foreign concept to me as my family moved around while I grew up. And I am itching to move.
QOTD: Have your kids grown up in same general area for most of their lives?
Yes, my 3 have been in the same school district, sames schools, but 2 houses their whole life.
I grew up in a declining rust belt town where it was just kind of assumed if you went to college and graduated, you were gone. So it was a bit of culture shock to move to Suburban Chicago where people aspired to come back to the same area.
In fact, in a subdivision near me there are a group of families that grew in another suburb together, went to college, joined the same fraternities and sororities, moved to the same neighborhood in the City of Chicago, and then all bought new homes in the subdivision as it was being built. It was all a bit “Stepford Wives” to me, but it seems to work for them,
But the schools are good, decent career opportunities without moving to the silicon valley, and I hate moving. DW and I assume we are gone when DS '20 finishes high school because property taxes are so high. (Part of the reason the schools are good; Illinois school funding madness).
No matter where you go, there you are.
QOTD: We have stayed in the same general area, mostly. D was born in Pakistan, so she spent the first 2 years of life there. Since we moved to America, we’ve stayed in the same community though we have not lived in the same building. When S20 was born, we were still living in a tiny apartment, and we didn’t move to an actual house until he was 6 or so. We still live in that house today, but we commute to a better school district half an hour away. We’ve stayed in the Orleans area since we moved here in 2001, excluding a year we spent in Houston after Katrina, so the kids consider it home.
In the area we live, very few kids go away to college, and most kids already know they will come back and build their lives in the same place that their parents had. My kids have already decided that it is not something they want to do, so H and I will probably move somewhere cheaper once they’re both out of the house. We moved here during the recession, so the economy wasn’t in great shape, but it was, and is, still a great place to raise kids. Not so much fun for old retirees without family in the area though.
Question for the entire weekend (and hope as many participate as possible): Although it’s early in the process and some of your students may not have a clear #1 yet, what would be the best case scenario?
For D - Getting at least 1 of: a full B/K at UMD, Morrill or Eminence at tOSU, and Chancellor or Lavelle at Pitt. Those are D’s clear top choices.
QOTWeekend: MIT. Hands down, especially after she visited there. She’s very clear about the fact that it’s a lottery school, though, and she is not allowing herself to fall in love with it. It’s hard, because she has to know a lot about it to write well about it, but to know it is to love it, so it’s a double-edged sword for her.
Got some bad news in the community today, a senior boy she used to go to school with (he is in the in-district school so she only knew him from middle school) committed suicide last night. 
It’s just so terrible, I have no words.
Not only have we lived in the same house their whole lives they go to the same h.s. I went to. The IB program director was in my high school class. If they mess up I hear about it. 
CA property taxes mean we’LL never move
@MotherOfDragons Such a tragedy. Always awful to hear about suicides, particularly of kids.
@MotherOfDragons That’s horrible…sorry for your D and your family.
@VickiSoCal Ha, I didn’t think of it when I responded, but we moved back to my hometown/suburb when D17 got to school age, and she went to the same middle school and HS as I did. It’s actually helped a lot. I sucked in school, but knew my way around to ease the transition…while she has been her own person and loves showing daddy up.
Best Case: No clear one yet. I think it would be something warm with a full-tuition scholarship.
QOTD: Best case, at this point.
One of the Vanderbilt Chancellor, Cornelius Vanderbilt, or Ingram merit scholarships.
But we weren’t asking how likely the best case was, were we?
Its funny to hear the Cal people talk about how they cant afford to move around. Yay prop 13! My mom is in same house 30 years for same reason. Its also helped me to avoid the temptation to move back (since we couldn’t afford to buy anything!)
Best case: for him, getting into a great school that we can somehow swing the net COA. For us, him being willing to go to one of the great schools that should offer him full tuition or more.
@MotherOfDragons That is too sad. I’m sorry to hear about the tragedy. Hugs to your D. In our regional area, one seems to set off a string and it is so heartbreaking
QOTW: NMF with a full ride that somehow occurs with only some effort on S’s part and results in a very hands on and personal engineering experience, possibly with honors college.
Kids grew up in the same city, same house, same school district, same pediatrician, same dentist… You get the picture. Come to think of it, I have been using the same cleaning lady since DD17 was born!
@MotherOfDragons Sorry to hear of that. It’s always a tragedy when a kid like this takes their life. Unfortunately, it happens all too often.
** Best Senerio **
Not sure yet. So far I think the best fit school all around is Oregon State. It has everything he wants in a school, it’s not too expensive and a solid match school. I can really see him there & it’s my favorite pick. And I have a soft spot of U Cal Santa Cruz, I think he’d be happy there.
Although I do think it might be underselling him. Perhaps the best situation would be if he got any of his reach schools for Engineering: Cal Poly SLO, U Colorodo Boulder, or U Cal Davis. (Boulder isn’t a reach school for other majors.) Getting in as Engineering is a best case, since he’s not 100% sure what he wants. Easier to change out of Engineering than into it.
Anyone an expert in what colleges want to see in a “school profile” that would be willing to look at a link for me? (don’t really want to get TOO publicly identifiable
@MotherOfDragons Its especially tragic that this time in our kids lives is both so brimming with potential and so very hard for many of them.
@MotherOfDragons sorry to hear that sad news I hate hearing stories like that, bummer.
Re: best case scenario
Kid gets into one of his top 2 schools and the coach holds a spot on him on lax team. He would be happy and the setting would probably work best for him.
Best case is probably Ohio State with Eminence. Though at this point my daughter is a big fan of the horses in Kentucky. Worst case (barring a total meltdown in senior year which I don’t see happening) would probably be Ohio State with just Maximus. Means she would graduate vet school (assuming she gets in) with double the debt. Academically worst case is probably getting NMF and going to Kentucky but not getting into honors college.
Because of her end goal of vet school, her undergrad options are pretty simple thus not leaving a lot space between best and worst. Picking her up at UK will be more than twice as far as UK but that is on my wife and I.
@itsgettingreal17 Fair enough, but “The neighborhoods our kids grow up in can play a role in our view of the world” was an interesting comment to me because I believe the neighborhoods kids grow up in play less of a role in their view of the world than ever before. Kids today have so much more going on and are involved in so many different communities that they have greater diversity now than any other time. The reason I was not following the demographics postings of our schools is I don’t know what it really tells us because the demographics posted only tell us the ethnic/ racial backgrounds of the students. True diversity is so much more than racial or ethnic diversity.
I have not come across essays as you describe and am now curious to see how colleges phrase that question. The only two in our binder that come close are: 1) As a diverse community, the AO would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay and 2) What do you hope will change about the place where you live?
I am okay with these questions but I will not be happy with anything that narrowly defines diversity or focuses on a narrow view of where one lives.
@MotherOfDragons “I have to say, one of my metrics when looking at colleges is that the D’s not be surrounded by a bunch of trustfundian kids. I like meritocracies.” I found this more interesting than the demographics posted. How can you tell if there are a bunch of trustfundian kids at a school? If there are some trustfundian kids at the school what is your threshold for crossing it off the list? Based on the demographics of a school we can’t tell any of this can we?
@paveyourpath I don’t think diversity, unless defined by race or ethnicity explicity like it is for some scholarships, is so narrowly defined. We haven’t come across that question, but if we did, my kids could so write an essay about being part of a large family and having an autistic brother who struggles with anger issues, anxiety, and impulsiveness. Their lives are absolutely outside the norm of the avg American household. That is bringing in diverse world experiences.