@amominaz We have moved forward with housing deposit at 2 safety schools for peace of mind since DS won’t be making final decisions until March or April.
@labegg I’m sorry about the wait on TAMU. Not sure if this is a good sign or not that she is in the holistic review pile…but DS has a friend who is not in top quarter but had decent test scores who already get a letter saying she was not admitted. He has another friend who is not auto admit but praying for even Blinn team. I’m sure it will work out but the wait is painful. We have not had to wait on acceptances but are ferling the pain in awaiting merit as that will determine if certain schools are a possibility for DS. Is she Top 14% at a highly competitive Texas school?
@VikkiG5 - Is there a listing that show which schools require CSS for merit? Or do you have to look at each school - and, if so, is it typically on their financial aid page?
D had 2 interviews this week. One went OK - just a nice conversation, the other went great. I think so much has to do with the personality of the interviewer and whether they click. Even though I complain that my D hasn’t submitted enough apps yet, I’m still really proud of her and I’m super happy that she’s learning interviewing skills that are oh so important in the real, working world.
So many people are moving into the decision phase already. I feel like we are still pretty much at the beginning of the application process. A couple early applications are in, but the vast majority aren’t due until more than two months from now.
@amominaz We did a search on each school’s financial page to find out. Most were in plain sight, although one seemed a bit vague so we emailed them. For housing deposits we also found info on school’s websites, a few discuss first rounds get earlier access to scheduling and housing choices. Other’s it didn’t seem to matter.
For those whose DC have had interviews and afterwards received thank you cards from the interviewers, were all of the cards hand-written? I only ask as we received one that was a cookie-cutter printed thank you card… and it was from the interviewer that gave me the worst vibes. (I… must… not… influence… my… child’s… decision… ugh, I don’t know why I can’t let it go, but it could be because I had such high hopes for the school as well as the AO. Talking with him was so strange that it even felt a little surreal)
I’m not the only one with a tall, skinny kid, right? I seem to remember some of you commiserating with me over how hard it is to find jeans with a 36 inch inseam and a waist in the 28-32 range.
Costco has men’s Urban Star jeans in 32x34 and 32x36 for $11.99 through 11/16. S usually wears a 30 waist, but these looked right in the 32. He tried them on and they’re a little big, but not big enough to go back. They’ll shrink just fine.
Three colors: black, dark blue and gray. My store didn’t have the 36 inch inseam in stock, but shipping is free if you order online.
Thank you Dia! My S20 is tall and very skinny (don’t know measurements cuz kid grows like every freakin day), and we’ve almost given up on finding jeans for him. We will check these out!
DD got a phone call from her admissions counselor at the small school that right now is tied for first. It’s the second time he’s called … the first time was when she was admitted. It’s a personal touch that is unexpected, but kind of nice.
Now if only the financial aid office would call =))
When do your schools lock in Valedictorian? I need to let this go but it’s eating at me. My DS has been ranked #1 since Freshman year. He, by his own choice, is not a STEM student - he was invited to be one but since he doesn’t want to do anything in that field, he didn’t feel right taking a spot from someone who did. (that’s just a side note, I don’t know why I’m including it). Anyway, he had a big lead heading into Senior year while #'s 2 and 3 had just a miniscule difference. 1st mp is over and while DS doesn’t know his gpa yet, we know #3 has taken over the #2 spot. She is a brilliant girl but not a very nice one - snarky, I don’t give a crap attitude, not really involved, always doing things at the last minute. Anyway, she likes to compete with my son and became hell bent on being valedictorian - and I’ve seen in writing her say “just because I don’t want him to have it”. Whatever, that’s just competitiveness. But now it seems real that she could become Val and overall, I don’t really care - 1st, 2nd, 3rd - etc… I never expected I’d have a child do so well. It’s amazing. But between not hearing from any schools, the gap narrowing, I just feel bad. 3 years at #1 and it could be gone - that is so typical for him. So it’s eating at me. And I guess if it was the girl who had been #2, it would bother me less. How do you not obsess over this? I keep trying to keep him cool about it and he is - we talk often that it is no big deal, it won’t matter after he graduates, etc. But ugh, inside? I would just hate for this to happen and I know it’s exactly the type of thing that just may happen to him.
Thanks for letting me obsessively rant/vent/whine. I don’t want him to know that I really, really want this for him. But I need to put this out of my head.
@MomtoCon It was always my understanding that our school doesn’t “lock in” until all grades are calculated at the end of the year. We do semesters classes and finals are worth 25% of each class.
@MomtoCon , That would eat at me too. But after three years of a solid lead, it may be tough for her to really make up that ground. I hope your son pulls it out!!
S’s school locks in senior class rank in mid April. All the honor graduate activities happen starting in early May; I guess they want to be able to fete the Val and Sal properly instead of just a few minutes at graduation. Grad is held outdoors in late May / early June in Texas, with about 750 students graduating. 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity and hours of sitting…ugh. I’m glad the awards and honors stuff is done separately, indoors with the AC.
@MomtoCon isn’t it listed in your student handbook? Our school figures rank and Val, Sal based on the grades through the third quarter of senior year. Our handbook gives a very detailed description on how this is calculated.
@traveler98 I can not imagen an out door graduation in TX! Our school rents the Erwin Center at UT for graduation.
