Indiana-Bloomington is cruddy for oos merit, right?
@payn4ward Wuthering Heights was an option for summer reading for S. I summarized it for him as “awful people being awful” and he took a pass.
confession: 1984 and Brave New World are two of my fave books.
I always say my high school English classes read some very classic books.
@flatKansas, I also liked 1984 and Brave New World, plus Flowers for Algernon. And I have to say, I didn’t like many of the books I had to read for HS.
@LoveTheBard, I advise making a call to BU about their Merit money. While I do not have multiple examples first hand, my friend got a bit screwed there. They front loaded First year merit money, and cut it way back in the second year. This practice is used by NYU, Miami, And GW. I would call and ask if they have merit that is guaranteed for 4 years. this story happened two years ago, so you should check fur current policy. Could be a game changer.
@WhereIsMyKindle, IU does give merit Aid to high stat kids. I have heard they usually top at around 11k a year. One kid in our town was heavily courted by them They ended up throwing out a lot more to attract them.
@payn4ward I recently watched Gattaca with my D17 and she loved it!
The goal is Nov. 1 submission for all applications, perhaps earlier. Some require this for scholarship consideration or EA. D17 will wait until her September ACT scores come back before deciding which test scores to send with her applications.
SAT subject scores: we waited until the results came in; two were 750+ so D17 will send to schools that “believe they will strengthen their application.” In the end, the schools that require or recommend them fell off her list - all that suffering for nothing!
@WhereIsMyKindle My D’s best friend just started at Barrett Honors. It was her safety and she was not that enthusiastic UNTIL she visited campus (on their dime) and was blown away. She is now delighted with her choice. Said friend is a very high achieving student (don’t know if she was NMF but I’m sure her test scores were good enough for significant merit-based OOS funding), went to one of the top private schools in the country, and had very strong and diverse ECs.
My D’s AP Lang teacher came out with guns ablaze’n . They read the Handmaid’s Tale, not exactly a page turner. Three essay’s due the first day plus a quiz on the book followed by a test two days later. That sent a message.
@WhereIsMyKindle IIRC, IU-B has at least 1 competitive full ride. The renewal requirement took it off the list however. Wells Scholars. 18-22 offered per year.
D’17 just informed me that she is applying to several local jobs :-S . Did she forget how much work she will have after school starts? Should I say something to discourage that? :-?
@whataboutcollege I’m not discouraging my D. She is very excited about working after school on a regular basis. I think it’s good for her to learn to manage her time better. This is the first year she’ll work more than an occasional week day night. We’ll see how it goes. I’m not concerned she won’t get her work done. I’m more worried she’ll fall back to her bad sleep habits. I am hoping this gets her off social media (which is a huge time suck for her). lol
@whataboutcollege I think parents can set limits on employment if you feel the need to. I know my parents didn’t want us working during the school year, not even in college(if we had qualified for work study it would be different). We are expected to work in the up coming summers. You could always tell her you perfer she focuses on her schoolwork during the year and works over the summer.
For painful books read in HS (QOTD perhaps), my D had to read Turn of the Screw by Henry James for Critical Theory. They spent a whole semester on it. Then, for freshman English seminar in college, she could have picked a class that read the same book (she didn’t). I am very thankful S is not as advanced in English ad D was and will not take Critical Theory. He would wither.
UMD app is now really live.
@whataboutcollege In regards to job. I think it would depend on what your D’s EC’s & schedule look like. And how many hours she would get.
There is no way my S17 could fit in a job. He has marching band till 4pm most afternoons. Weekends are filled with marching band events. He has a few other EC’s. Plus Homework & music practice is a priority & that takes 3-4 hours a night, college applications, and he needs to SLEEP. It’s very important I have no idea where he would fit in time for a job.
@itsgettingreal17 @readingclaygirl Getting her off social media and netflix are important too 
I seriously doubt she will have too much free time for any of those this upcoming semester… After field hockey season (applications should be done also), I think she will have a lot of availability for jobs! Well, she might not get the job, that is a real possibility 
@curiositycat333 I am hoping her time management skill is as good as she thinks!
I think working is great. Teaches them important life skills, responsibility, and appreciate the value of a dollar and hard work. This generation has the lowest employment rate of any before it. I was told by more than one admission officer that it is highly regarded. My S tutors and works in a music store during the year. He is a camp counsellor in the summer. It will be an important part of his application…I think it shows more than some of these filler ex’s…Just my opinion
time management D has a lot on her plate. Work M & Th 3-8:30, Hospital Volunteer T 4-8, Lax practice W 2-3, plus meetings for HOSA, StuCo, and Mentoring after school. Come Nov it gets really bad when high school swim starts up M-F from 8pm-10pm. I am really hoping all apps are done before swim starts. Luckily weekends are pretty open 
And there has been little to no driving practice - permit expires end of next week! Another thing I was really hoping we were going to be able to cross off the list.
I know some colleges like to see someone who gets into volunteering. The volunteer work is varied a lot was through the boy scouts and the order of the arrow. He went above and beyond his weekly meetings and also spent time at the marsh volunteering. Doesn’t seem like the common AP can really do justice for all the time he has spent on this activity. How could he let them now all the time spent. My son thinks it isn’t important to list hours.
I think D17 and D18 would both like to work, but our three schedules are kind of hairy. D18 I want to really focus on school this year. D17 is thinking she’ll look for a programming job in January, or working at the pet store. It’ll probably be on the weekends, though, since she has to share a car with D18 and once school starts for me I won’t be that available to pick up and drop off.
My D17 has worked quite a bit during this summer. She was able to handle working with playing 2 varsity sports last year, but has decided to not play sports and just work and volunteer for her senior year. She usually works 10-15 hours a week during the school year. She really has some great savings goals and has learned so much from her 2 jobs. My D19 has just started working as well and will work a couple of hours a week once school starts. Her job is seasonal, so she will only be work early fall and late spring of the school year. I think it is really important for kids to have jobs, but not everyone agrees with this. Working has not hurts my kids grades at all, otherwise they would not work.