How are you finding odds?
@amominaz, it’s just us parents wilding guessing. 
Nothing scientific, all in fun.
I’ll update odds, since D has dropped two schools from her list since last time.
McGill 30%
USCal 25%
UBC 20%
Grinnell 7%
Trinity U 6%
U Toronto 5%
ASU 5%
The field (SDSU, OU, or some other dark horse not currently on her apply list) 2%
@traveler98 sounds like your son doesn’t want you messing up his future car with parent decals 
Smart kid… plans ahead! Our DS has only picked up one piece of gear officially: a hoodie from uchicago. Refused to get a caltech beaver piece of merch despite our best efforts. We are sooo embarrassing! I no longer have to wonder where he is leaning, but it’s a bit premature IMO. I say “officially” as he has a ton of UF stuff from years of having an alum who is an adopted aunt… he’s got a giant stuffed alligator, a gator snuggy, about a half dozen shirts, etc. If he chose UF he would be set for life
It’s definitely a way to literally buy in to the decision. S15 felt good enough about his choice after an accepted student day for us to pick up a couple pieces of Temple merch and it helped to have us support his decision, I think. I’m not one who thinks things are important but the thoughts behind the things do. Knowing his parents were proud of his choice… well worth it.
@DavidPuddy , Tulane is an excellent school, and S18 would be 5th straight generation in our family to attend Tulane if he went there. But he wants to go away for college; and of the local options, Loyola-New Orleans is better for his intended major.
@bearcatfan - I contacted him through his website and asked if he still did consulting on essays. He confirmed he did and offered to read S18’s essay and make notes for free.
Well - that was weird. 3/4 of the post got cut off when I posted.
I’ll shorten it this time - we sent over his main essay draft and all his supplemental essays so he could get a sense for what was already being covered and our son’s personality, which came through a lot stronger in his supplemental essays than his main one.
We ended up going ahead and paying for an hour of one-on-one time and it was totally worth it for the inspiration and motivation for our son to get back at it and try again! Plus lots of helpful tips!
I don’t know if I could even begin to guess where S18 would go if he got in to all his schools!
He is thinking about taking off Michigan and Illinois and has added UCSD, Berkeley, and Dartmouth to his list.
He also is flying to San Diego this weekend for a XC meet and will miss the big presentation by the college counselors at his school on how to ask for recommendations, get transcripts, etc at his school. He is headed to their office today at lunch to see if there is a handout or PowerPoint he can look at on his own because he really wants to get this all done in the next couple weeks!
The counselor emailed me and said they finally got their National Merit packet on Friday! S18 qualified and they will have a little celebration for the kids this afternoon (18 of them out of the class of 650). I didn’t tell S18 so he could be surprised. That was a hard secret to keep!
@vistajay Four generations of Tulanians?! That’s amazing!!
Have you seen the stats of their current freshman class? It’s quite impressive.
https://tulanehullabaloo.com/27262/showcase/class-2021-academically-qualified-diverse-class/
D visited Tulane twice, but is not applying. It’s a great fit for her on paper, and she tried to like it, but she just didn’t feel it. H and I adore the school and are thrilled to see it doing so well. We were hoping to take S20 down to visit soon, but it may be too high of a reach for him with Tulane’s trajectory!
About that college gear… When D16 visited schools she wanted stuff from each one of them. That’s great until you pick a school and then you have all these shirts from other schools that you really can’t wear at your school. Her school actually has a trade in day where you can trade in other school’s shirts for one of theirs. So as D18 has been visiting schools I’ve been glad that she really doesn’t want shirts from each place. She has a few Purdue shirts, but that’s about it. There was a super cute Purdue sweatshirt we saw last week that I was so tempted to buy, but I held off. Gotta save a buck when you can.
@crazy4info and anyone else sympathetic to my plight. Kentucky has updated the language on their scholarship page again to now say check back in LATE September. First check back in early August, then mid August, then mid September, and now LATE September.
They first announced they were going to be making drastic changes (from merit to need) almost a year ago (Oct 2016), without any specifics. How can they still be dragging on this now?
@katstat1 , I agree about not buying too much college gear before the decision is made. The only think S18 has is a t-shirt that was given to him at a college tour. Love the idea of a trade in day! That would be fun.
S has a UTD shirt that he likes even though he’s not applying. It’s the one about their “still undefeated” football team. 
He says it’s for football season gatherings where all of the extended family but us are big football fans.
I think he also has an OU shirt, but nothing from UNM. Santa may remedy that. :-"
Speaking of college gear, our DD’18 has received a handful of shirts from coaches who have shown interest. When she gets home she buries them in the closet refusing to wear any of them, fearful that she may jinx the applications! [-O<
@LOUKYDAD: still frantically raising money for the scholarships?
Windy and rainy here at my evacuation place: upper SC, but all good. I have the youngest with me but S18 stayed home with hubby. I teased him he could have visited Furman again during this trip. Since all of Georgia is affected by the storm, they closed Georgia Virtual School until Wednesday. S18 will have a ton of work to catch up on, but he emailed his teachers before the storm hit, and everyone’s aware of everything. There’s no power at home in Savannah, but everyone’s fine.
@LOUKYDAD – That’s maddening!
Older D attended a college summer program while in high school and that college became her #1 pick. She put a sticker on the car she drove her senior year. Mama was not happy! It all ended well but yikers, this was not a safety school.
We’re realizing it’s a good thing DD did not hit the submit button yet on any college applications. After the first week back at school, she is seriously considering dropping an AP course since the workload is so heavy (she’s currently taking 4 APs) and EC activities start up this week. The issue is that she took 3 yrs of science, but fit them all in during her first 2 years of HS since they had a double-period option, so if she drops this AP science her last class was back in her sophomore year. I’m not sure how great that will look on her application. But, at least we know to wait on submitting applications until she gets her schedule nailed down. I’ve heard it’s very tough if they switch classes in senior year if they already included their 12th grade schedule in their application. Hopefully she can figure it out soon, since we are actually pretty close to submitting them (had planned on doing it this weekend before she panicked about the workload). Her teacher said to see how things go this week, but DS is worried if she has to change classes that she’ll be behind on the new one if she does change. I think it’s just a very stressful time for DS right now with lots of things going on and that she can handle the course, but I’m letting her take the lead on it…
I’m glad to hear from some of our Florida parents, awaiting news on my place in Vero Beach but hopeful that a little water damage is the worst of it. This was a scary weekend, I can’t imagine what that wind sounded like to those of you that stayed :(. Hoping for the absolute best outcome for everyone impacted!
My D18 finished her extra questions and supplemental Honors essay for U of Del…so she is about to hit send on the Common App. She still has supplementals for a few other colleges, but since U of Del is her top choice, it’s a huge relief to get that one completed and sent off.
@lifegarding I think that’s exactly why we haven’t hit send yet. Just making sure the work load is manageable with all D’s AP courses. It is most definitely a stressful time for a lot of kids in their early Senior year. So much to worry about and everything on a huge time schedule. Wishing her the best of luck as she navigates the process!
Sweet baby jeebus, they aren’t opening schools til Monday … at the earliest. Wow… just wow.
Out of all the schools our 18 visited, he only bought something at University of Wisconsin. He is the proud owner of a badger sweatshirt.
He did ask if we would put a college sticker on our car when he decides where he is going. I remember when I got the big envelope from my college, they sent my mom a “College” Parent bumper sticker in the package. She slapped it right on (I only applied to one school, so there was no question where I was going)!
I wonder if schools still do things like that?
PSA: check your 2018 kid’s shot records. Get necessary boosters BEFORE they leave for college. The logistics after the fact can be harrowing if they can’t just go to the student health center on campus. Meningitis, MMR, tetanus, and whatnot. Even though 2015 daughter is roughly an hour from here at college, it’s a pain trying to coordinate sometimes.