@itsgettingreal17 - Is your D planning on doing a co-op or internship while in college? If so she will probably need a car.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek – boys’ elementary school was one mile, middle school was just over one mile, in other direction, and HS is one mile past the middle school, so two miles all in. Big box retailers are four to five miles away. I go weeks on the same tank of gas.
300K miles in ten years! Yikes!
Thanks for the visit report @caroldanvers I appreciate details 
We’ve visited UMD but never on a big program day.
UMD is one of the schools that convinced me to weight D’s grades (homeschooled also). I have both weighted and unweighted on her transcript.
Day 2 of fall break. D is having a meltdown because she just realized her CA essay is currently 799 words - not complete (in her mind) - and her Eng teachers ONLY comment was “That one is great! I love how you connect it to college at the end!”
Ughhhh
@itsgettingreal17 Sorry to hear about the car. We just replaced my car, which was intended to last until D14 got out of college at least, because of the transmission. We were fortunate to hit the end of sales year clearance event and get a good trade-in deal on the old car. I ended up with a new but pretty basic 2016 Honda CR-V, which I didn’t like last time I test drove one in 2008 or 2009. Not sure what all’s different this time, but a good used one might fit your budget and meet your D’s requirements. @MotherOfDragons Don’t tell me what’s wrong with the CR-V – next time I’ll contact you first. Both kids’ cars will probably need replaced within a few years (hoping D’s will last her until she’s got an income and can get her own), so I’ll know where to go.
And @Mom2aphysicsgeek, I’m in the same boat as you with suburban/rural driving. My previous car bought new in late 2010 had 150K+ on it when the transmission started acting up.
@itsgettingreal17 wrote
USB port for charging or for connecting her phone as a media device? For charging it’s super easy-you just get a charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter slot (that’s what the MB has).
2014 Hyundai Elantra, 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport (suv), 2013 Buick Verano (although she’ll hate you for getting her a buick, lol, but it’s safe and big). 2014 Toyota Camry,also Prius in that age range. They should all have USB ports and bluetooth hands-free, but check the particular model. All of those were safety picks for the IIHS.
You will find tons and tons and tons of Nissans and Chevys in that price point and mileage range, but I don’t love them-the Nissans don’t feel sturdy or comfortable to me, and I just generally avoid Chevy (and Dodge) products because of past experience.
We have only ever bought one car brand new off the lot in our (me and H) lives. 2012 Hyundai Elantra. Bought it knowing that I would drive it 3-4 years, pay it off, and then pass it on to the kids to drive till it died. It was a great plan…until an impaired driver ran into us at 50 mph when we were at a dead stop at a traffic light. Car totalled 
I loved that car. So this summer we scrambled to replace it and ended up buying a used 2012 Mazda 3 off craiglist. Oh - the best laid plans and all that…
I’m in love with my Subaru Impreza, which we bought used. H is the car shopper in the family. I just tell him what I’d like. Nimble, all wheel drive for Chicago winters, hatchback, fits a surprising amout of items purchased from IKEA. 
I’m used to driving used cars, with a lot of miles. This 2010 Impreza is a big upgrade from my 2001 Outback. USB port? What’s that? There are work arounds.
@LoveTheBard Got to agree with your post entirely. The Adcoms already tout that they look at the application for 15 mins or less. With more and more apps every year this number might go down. I told my D not to bother with zeemee, an attached resume, etc. I’m pretty sure 95-99% of the admission decision for her is going to based on her transcript, test scores and common app essay. She doesn’t have any major, unique accomplishments, awards, etc and sprinkling magic fairy dust on what she has done isn’t going to transform them.
Having an irrational panic attack today…suddenly paralyzed in fear that my D17 will be disappointed beyond belief in the outcome of this process and the exorbitant amount of time spent on apps, essays, etc will be lost. I have a high stats kid who is otherwise just a good person and wants to go to a top 40 school. Ugh!! Anyone else trying to talk themselves off the ledge?!
@WhereIsMyKindle @Mom2aphysicsgeek @itsgettingreal17 I was just mentioning to a friend how ds is getting essay fatigue from honors and scholarship application essays. He’s jealous of his friends who just need to submit CA apps with few or no supplementals. I keep telling him it’ll be worth it and hopefully these scholarship apps will mean they “show him the money”. Putting in a big push here this week and next and hopefully he can get most of them completed and sent in.
^^Daily. 8-|
I actually like car shopping and test driving. I got a new car when S17 finally got his DL. He got my 2007 Honda Pilot with 185,000 miles on it. I needed a commute car that could handle snow. I got a pretty basic Subaru Impreza and I LOVE IT! It is averaging over 33 mpg and it has all wheel drive. It is fun. We got D15 a car for her sophomore year at college. Again, all wheel drive for the snow plus it needed to be big enough to hold her instruments. She got a Honda CRV. Also a solid car that will last for a long time. FWIW! We own an auto repair shop, so we tend to keep cars for a long, long time. Until the new Sube, out “youngest” car had 160k on it (we still have that one too).
@BlueAFMom Your child will probably do fine and have lots of choice. Does she have a balanced list including affordable and admissions safeties that she would enjoy? She might not get into every school if she’s aiming at the tippy top, but she will probably get into many of them.
Remember, there are lots of high stats kids that don’t end up at top 40 schools because they can’t afford them or face other constraints that have nothing to do with their smarts. My daughter’s friend was one such kid - got into top 20 schools and ended up at a large public with a strong honors program because her top choice ended up being unaffordable. Well, she has found her tribe and loves where she ended up!
@BlueAFMom Don’t stress out now, there is plenty of time for that in March when top 40 decisions tend to come out. I’d describe our kids similarly to how you described yours and it worked out fine last time. One piece of advice I got from a neighbor is that they may end up at a place different than they initially expected and that’s how it was for us. I’ve started to think that rejections might mean the school is not a fit personality-wise for a high stats kid - at least I try to look at it that way to keep my sanity.
@stlarenas UGH! That’s a nightmare. Almost worth than not having the English teacher look at it! Does the teacher not even know what the word count is supposed to be?
I’m not sure where S’s stands. He had final edit suggestions from his reviewer. They are working in essays in English all week, this week. He was debating whether to send it, pre-edits in as his homework sunday night. I suggested he do the edits and send it in, that way he could have a final set of eyes on what should be a finished product and spend the class time all week on supplements. He wasn’t sure what supplement to start first. But he’s mad at me about everything right now so I’m really not sure what he ended up doing. I did send him all his supplements to make it easy but…Suffice to say we did not have our weekly college meeting this past weekend but I hope to do so tonight.
I just pray his English teacher doesn’t come at his submission with more edits!
I don’t know if other colleges do this or not but we just got an email from UGA that the counselors school report has been submitted. I’m glad they sent an email now we don’t have to keep checking the status.
@eandesmom She know. The word count is written right next to the prompt at the top. My guess is she didn’t even bother see how many words it was.
@BlueAFMom I fear the same thing. So much so that I just sent D a list of 5 schools that I would be perfectly happy with her attending that are true safeties and do not require ANY writing supplements (not even the CA essay). I said “You need to do what makes YOU happy not me. If you like any of these schools then go ahead and apply and you can be done. This is about what you want not me. I know you will succeed at any of these!”
Of course I want her to spend the time and effort and apply to some of the others. But I am afraid it is becoming about what I want and not what she wants. I need her to remember this her decision not mine.
There have been a few mentions of using unweighted vs weighted GPA on the common app. Does it matter which one they use? I’ve heard admissions info sessions where they say that they mainly look at the transcript and almost disregard a weighted GPA.
@stlarenas D had a meltdown yesterday morning for the opposite reason of your d. After editing one essay for the much-better, she discovered that it was 50 words shy of the minimum word count.
Wailing, lamentations, gnashing of the teeth–so I decided to run errands :))