I think D17 hasn’t been doing any additional essay and/or summer homework this week. She is focused on pre-season and her new job…Maybe the essay fatigue finally set in.
@IABooks you are one step ahead of me, no spreadsheet here!! lol
Who are my other spreadsheetless friends in here again? I know I’m in the minority on this,ha.
@RightCoaster No spreadsheet here! I get too much of that at work. I don’t think DS would look at it anyway. I prefer to take a look at what he inputs into the app to make sure things like SSN and address are right. I am just making sure he gets everything in in plenty of time so I know he isn’t cutting it close. He doesn’t have a long list of apps so I think that helps. If he had more apps, I think I would have to make a spreadsheet.
H and I have been Slacking back and forth (like yahoo messenger, but better) and he’s booked a flight into Richmond one day and back out of Baltimore the next so he and D17 can check out U Richmond and UMDCP next month. It’s going to be interesting because both of those schools are going to be new to her-a “traditional university” campus (but close to urban), and a “traditional LAC” (that’s still quirky). So far she’s seen Lottery, Co-Op Urban, Tech Institute, and Super Niche.
Plus, we’ll go see UA as a family (because it’s an option for D18 as well if she ever starts doing her homework), and then I think we’re done with visits. If D17 is admitted, she’ll fly out on her own to admitted students day to wherever those places are-by then she’ll technically be a grownup :).
@RightCoaster I have a spreadsheet - but no matter how many tabs, colors codes, web links, or filters I add, my D has yet to look at it 
Sometimes I go in there a reformat things make me feel like things are getting accomplished - even though right now all the work left is on my D 
@MotherOfDragons I’d love to hear your tour report on UofRichmond. That one is still at the top of my D’s list
@stlarenas …does your daughter have any preferences yet? I know you have mentioned she isn’t gung ho about the process but I was wondering if at least a few have risen to the top of the list?
@carachel2 Not really. She is still hoping her Sept ACT score will put Vanderbilt and ND within reach. And we haven’t visited any of the 4 safety schools yet (though they are all scheduled for Sept and Oct). Fingers crossed one of those clicks with her. She is dreading writing the essays. She considers herself a “basic” writer. (She is not - but she is more left than right brained, so she thinks she isn’t creative). But - she is back into the swing of things at school and the kids and teachers are talking up colleges and apps…so I think she is starting to think about it more.
Senior trip announced…4 European cities in 9 days. D can’t wait. Can I be a high school student again? :)).
@stlarenas …how are her daily section tests going in prep for the ACT?
I’ve often said that my retirement goal is to live the lifestyle of my children.
Senior trip sounds amazing…
@carachel2 well - I think they are more every other day sessions. But ok I guess. I was not pushing her to take the ACT again - this is all on her. So I am trusting that she is studying.
I don’t know if there is a senior trip, probably because D knows I’ll automatically say no.
I don’t think our school has official class trips. I know the IB program has one every year and the agenda sounds amazing . D wants nothing to do with it because it’s such a busy trip and she’s not one for big group travel.
“back in my day” large group of kids would organize trips to the in-state gulf coast. Those trips I’m sure were fun but did also make new Mommy’s and Daddy’s out of at least four of the participants every year so D will not be likely be invited to or going on a trip like that.
We are taking a family trip and including her best friend… We just need to plan it!
@MotherOfDragons I love your art project idea! I was thinking myself that I should find a way to turn all the catalogs and flyers into some kind of adobe bricks and build a small fortress in the yard. :))
@stlarenas good luck to your D with her ACT prep!
I have noticed that of D17’s friends, the more traditionally social butterfly types are pretty excited about the idea of going away to college, while D and her closest friends (who tend to be more quiet/intense like she is) are feeling more fear/uncertainty about the whole process.
@MotherOfDragons, I totally wish I could see that piece once it’s done!
And there are no senior trips here, unless maybe some groups of students organize informal runs to [url="<a href=“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer,_Alaska%22%5DHomer%5B/url”>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer,_Alaska"]Homer[/url] (unofficial but widely-used tourism slogan: a quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem) or somesuch. Back in my high school days in Maryland, the closest thing to a senior trip was a hundred or so students (of which I was not one) heading off to Ocean City, Maryland for a week of drinking and debauchery after graduation—I can’t imagine an organized trip to Europe, or even, say, New York City being an actual thing.
@dfbdfb …our bands and orchestras go to NYC about every 2-3 years. It is a super busy but fantastic and well chaperoned trip for sure.
I want to chorus in wth the comment that @Mom2aphysicsgeek you are missed.
@carachel2, yeah, that sort of thing happens—it’s a field trip for a particular class (or set of classes). But an organized trip for the entire senior class? Thanks to having been on CC for a while now I recognize that it’s a thing, but it still boggles me.
For those with kids that are having a harder time getting started with essays and short answers my D was greatly helped when we developed her Personal Narrative that is talked about in the prep scholar article linked a couple of weeks ago. Once she narrowed down what/how she wanted to present herself in her applications it became much easier to focus the essays and short answers. “How do I emphasize 1 or more of these characteristics of my Personal Narrative” when answering a prompt is much easier than “How do I answer the prompt”.
Our Counseling Center website had this list.
I thought it may be useful to some folks here.
Most schools require 1 Guidance Counselor Letter + 1 Teacher Recommendation (per Common App) but some schools ask for more.
** Colleges That Require Two Teacher Letters of Recommendation **
American University in Bulgaria
The American University of Paris
Amherst College
College of the Atlantic
Bard College
Barnard College
Bates College
Bennington College
Berea College
Boston College
Bowdoin College
Brown University
Bryn Mawr College
California Institute of Technology
Capitol Technology University
Carleton College
Case Western Reserve University
University of Chicago
Claremont McKenna College
Colby College
Colgate University
Colorado College
Columbia College Hollywood
Columbia University
Concordia University - Portland
Connecticut College
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Davidson College
University of Dubuque
Duke University
University of East London
Eastman School of Music
Emory University
Franklin and Marshall College
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Grinnell College
Harvard University
Harvey Mudd College
Haverford College
Hillsdale College
Hofstra University
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Johns Hopkins University
The Juilliard School
Lycoming College
Macalester College
Marlboro College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Middlebury College
MODUL University Vienna
Mount Holyoke College
New England Conservatory of Music
Northwestern University in Qatar
Oberlin College
Occidental College
University of Pennsylvania
Pitzer College
Pomona College
Princeton University
Reed College
Sarah Lawrence College
Scripps College
Skidmore College
Smith College
St. Lawrence University
St. Louis University - Madrid
Stanford University
Stockton University
Swarthmore College
Syracuse University
Trinity College
United States Air Force Academy
United States Merchant Marine Academy
United States Military Academy - Army
United States Naval Academy
Vanderbilt University
Vesalius College
Wagner College
Washington and Lee University
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
Williams College
Yale University
Yale-NUS College
Zaytuna College (3)