@apraxiamom Is Earlham on your S’s list? They have a very strong Japanese program, plus a major in Comparative Languages and Linguistics.
Oh, and another reminder: PLEASE Make sure that your 18 year olds (and you too, if you haven’t gotten to it) have a Health Care Proxy. You can download the form; I think you need 2 witnesses and it may have to be notarized. But every adult-- including your 18 year old child-- needs to have one.
My son’s copy is in the college health office, in case the unthinkable happens.
What is included in the counselor recommendation? Is it more or less standard? Do the colleges put a lot of weight on it? My D has a new counselor who doesn’t know any of the kids personally and also not very approachable. 
Since we homeschool, I am the counselor and have to write a letter on behalf of my son. If you google: “A Quick Refresher on Counselor Letters for Colleges” you’ll find a nice write-up about how they are to be written and what is to be included.
Our school is so big and the counselors don’t know the kids. The kids are required to supply a resume, student brag sheet, parent brag sheet, and then schedule an interview with the counselor. Fortunately my daughter is an IB student, so she is going to have her IB coordinator write the counselor’s letter.
Thanks @ColoSky. I will try that.
@crazy4info - that makes sense. We have the brag sheet too. I guess, I will have to provide the counselor some material that she can use (hopefully)!
One visit is in the books, and one visit canceled before we started the car, lol.
I figured the first visit would be low-key, not the favorite, and just a data point. Hmmm … it was actually a very nice program and we got to talk to some nursing students waiting in the hallway (this was at Wright State, and they did answer my questions about budget cuts). The nursing advisor sat down with us and went through the curriculum. We got to tour the skills and simulation lab - nirvana to my kid, who had a huge smile on her face the whole time. One fun fact is that all the academic buildings and all but one residence hall are connected by underground tunnels. You don’t have to see the sun if you don’t want to, lol. It’s not a huge place, but they seem to take care of their nursing students.
The second visit, which was going to be Monday, is already canceled. After further reading of information and a couple phone calls, the school represented itself as a direct admit program but it really isn’t. If anyone prospective nursing parents want to know details PM me … I won’t bore the rest of you… The only reason she was even looking at it was because it was direct admit, but now that’s off the table so they are off the grand tour.
That’s okay, there are six more on our list 8-}
Fellow '18 parents whose child is going to camp or being a camp counselor this summer. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad about it:
Oh, wow! S may have found the Holy Grail of college majors as far as he’s concerned. UNM is one of only 13 schools in the nation to offer a BS in Emergency Medical Services. By the time you finish, you’re a Paramedic, too. Not only that, but the math, chem and bio requirements are very close to the standard pre-med requirements. Pre-med requires two more semesters of chem, but the overlap will mean a very streamlined schedule for S.
Under normal circumstances, students would do basic EMT certification as part of the EMS degree, and S would already have it. Between that and having his core pretty much done, he could probably swing a double major in psych if he wanted.
Thats great @DiotimaDM
@DiotimaDM, Wow, UNM is meant to be! How wonderful for your boy!
Shrimp Burrito: Thanks for the info. I’ll share it with him. I think he’s set for prospective schools, but who knows? This time last year he still wasn’t sure he wanted to go to college.
Diotima: that’s good news, and job security too!
Bearcat: shame about the cancel. At least the visit list is getting smaller!
I’m also a homeschool parent, so I am the counselor too. I’m glad it works out this way because there’s no middleman, no worries that the counselor won’t know S, etc.
I’ve set a schedule for my son, reminding him about due dates for ED, EA, and financial aid. It’s on our wall calendar because he’s visual. Anyone else doing this?
So we had an essay summit this morning - went through the Common App essays, and what colleges required what kind of other supplemental essays.
She chose her Common App essay, which is basically an essay she’d already written for some other thing that needs a few tweaks.It shows her passion, something she’d write about anyway. She can use a couple supplementals for more than one college. It was nice to lay it all out and see where the wheel doesn’t have to be reinvented seven times. One of the supplemental essays, if she can pull it off, will be a really good topic.
We will have to get some essay guidance from one or two places - a couple prompts were not online.
So it’s been a good morning - I confirmed that the Social Security Administration has her correctly listed as a US citizen, she is thinking about essays and she’s doing her laundry. 
My D hasn’t looked at Common App yet, or started any essays. She did ask yesterday if she could start buying ski gear that’s on clearance. (She wants to go to UBC in Vancouver and skiing is a big deal up there.) At least she’s thinking about college, right?
I just keep thinking back to my own college admission days - back in the days of paper applications. I think maybe the only thing my mom might have done is drive me to the post office to mail them. I sent away for them (yup), filled them out, wrote out the checks, forged my mom’s name a couple times, etc.
I got into Cornell back in the day but declined. I don’t think I could get into my own alma mater now. 
ME: So what are you thinking about for your essay topic?
DD: Overbearing parents interfering in the college application process.
^^^lol I’m always being accused by D of being a helicopter parent. That’s been a buzzword in our house for about 17 years. That may have been her first words to me as I was pushing her stroller to the coffee shop and park.
Of course Guatemala has a 6.9 earthquake while my daughter is there. Of course. That’s how things work here. Fortunately, she wasn’t in the epicenter area. Another week and half to go.
I wonder how the no phone withdrawal thing is going. =))
Last day of finals! :D/
D ended the year well with an unexpected certificate of merit from SWE.
I get the same reaction @odannyboySF. @sushiritto I hope all is well with your daughter and that the rest of her trip is uneventful.
You guys are making me antsy. S is taking his last exam today. I am not bringing up essays for a while, poor kid needs to recover from junior year!