@melvin123 Totally agree. I was comparing camping in high school to camping in college! Luckily, my kid was not organized enough to actually get the proposed camping trip accomplished.
Yes- drinking is very different today in my opinion. They don’t drink much beer these days- more hard liquor. My older son has definitely done his fair share and has shared several stories of friends or acquaintances who have overdone it- some ending up in the hospital. My younger son does not care for alcohol at this point and I hope it stays that way.
That was another CC thread a few years back- do you expose your child to alcohol before they leave so they learn the limit before they go or do you take the stand that it is illegal until 21 and not condone it period. A very personal choice for sure.
S18 needed to write his Georgia Tech paragraph for Common App. He asked me today when we could play Monopoly again as a family (we bought the game and last played last week). I told HIM as soon as the rough draft paragraph was written.
The paragraph was written this afternoon. The game started shortly thereafter.
“It is a really fine line between knowing they are safe and violating their privacy. We have heard good stories and bad.”
I have to admit that I am in the camp that thinks this is a violation of privacy. I’m one that has given both of my girls a long leash, and so far it’s been good. No curfews, and I ask who they are with but that’s about it. Neither of them have given me reason to pull back on that. I guess if that wasn’t the case, I might think differently but I would chafe BIG TIME if my parents tried to track me at that age (remember, we didn’t even have cell phones!) and I know they would too. Not trying to pass judgment, but wanted to give the other perspective.
Meanwhile, the largely un-monitored D18 still has not submitted her app due 12/1. :!!
I don’t track either of my kids (and unfortunately neither is particularly diligent about texting arrival/departure info). I find tracking (physically, academically) only aggravated my anxiety. Like looking at grades in the school portal for high school. I used to check obsessively, the pressure/nagging, in hindsight, definitely adversely affected our relationships. I am pleased to say that I have only checked DD#1’s College portal a handful of times in the past year and a half and I have only checked on DD2018’s grades 3 times this year! So far neither has given me any reason to feel that the latitude I have given them needs to be restricted. I am sure there will come a time when we wish we had some sort of app for tracking though.
I have definitely been more lax with DD2018 than I ever was with DD#1. I am sure they regularly have the “OMG, Mom would never have let me do that” conversation, lol!
If my mother knew half the stupid stuff I did at college - hoo boy. I was a good kid, but I made my share of mistakes. I hope my daughter doesn’t. She’s better than I was, and honestly less naive than I was, so I am hoping for the best.
In terms of drinking, she cannot drink due a health condition. I have been brutally honest about the implications, and I think she understands. We’ve also had conversations about never accepting a (nonalcoholic) drink at a party unless you are sure about it, if you leave to use the restroom get a new one, etc.
I think we will probably text daily. I likely won’t get a phone call or facetime until the weekend. I’m hoping we can work out something where we facetime once a week.
That is what makes me emotional - the thought of not seeing her every day. Dang, who started chopping the onions in my house this early?
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I haven’t chimed in but have been following along when I can; great discussion about the kids and their independence. I struggle with giving D space but have been making a concerted effort. Love the idea about having them fill out their own forms at the doctor while you’re there to answer questions, etc. I think the whole independence thing is tough for the parent sometimes bc in a way, they are always your baby.
Lots of uncertainty around here about whether to send a few more apps just in case ED school doesn’t come through. The big question mark is what happens if she does get accepted and the Financial Aid award is insanely high (family business significantly inflated actual income and I sent a letter of special circumstances). In that case, I would imagine I can appeal but what does that mean for ED timeline? FA office said a few months back that the best time (for me) to appeal would be in April once 2017 taxes are filed.
Will GC even send transcripts to other schools once accepted ED somewhere? The time-sensitive nature of ED is confusing in this situation. If she’s denied, she can send more apps then. If she’s accepted with an unacceptable FA offer, I don’t think it’s going to be straightened out in time for her to send apps anywhere by the Jan 1st deadline due to the Holiday Break. I will do whatever I can if she’s accepted to work out the finances but can only do that with income I actually receive. I hope the colleges can see that somehow.
D finished up her college apps several weeks ago, and has submitted her local scholarship app. Schoolwork is very manageable, and she’s been spending a lot of quality time with family and friends. I think she’s bored. She’s looking for other colleges to apply to. She wants more options in the PNW (UBC in Vancouver is her tentative #1). Today she is submitting an app to U Victoria in BC. Any other suggestions for her? UW would be great but no merit opportunities. She’s waffling over U Oregon. Lewis and Clark has been trying to recruit her for swim but she doesn’t seem very interested in the LACs. Are we missing anything obvious?
On the swimming note, my D16 was recruited by D3s but decided she really wanted a bigger urban school. She did not swim her freshman year, but now is on the club team at Pitt. They practice and go to meets, but the time commitment is much less. Don’t know if Canadian schools offer this, but most D1 type schools in US do. I’m certain USC would, for example.
Ooooh, yeah, I’ll mention Western Washington to her, and see if there are merit opportunities. Thanks.
@Booajo , that’s exactly where my D is, and yes, the Canadian schools she likes do have swim clubs. UBC has a beautiful, brand new aquatic facility. Seriously…five pools, all connected with a lazy river. It’s a huge plus, and there are countless other ways to stay in shape at UBC, with the staircases down to the beaches and hiking trails and treetop canopy walk, all on campus. Then less than 30 min away there is skiing, the Grouse Grind hike, the Capilano Bridge…UBC is really calling to D. If only they had the major options that USC has, and they spoke French like they do in Montreal. Sigh. She’ll figure it out.
I guess S18’s top choice wants him as much as he wants them: the day before Thanksgiving he got admitted with nearly 50% COA merit. We are all so excited. He applied EA in late October for an 11/15 deadline. They admitted him one week later!! <:-P
DS finished up the children of employee scholarship over Thanksgiving and just needs to get some things from his GC to submit it, he should have everything he needs in a day or two. It’s an international scholarship so the competition is feirce and he’ll be competeing against current college students as well as graduating high school seniors but it’s one of those if you don’t play you won’t win kind of things. His sister didn’t get it as a graduating high school student but did get the following year as a college student. That leaves him with only three other scholarships apps to do and they aren’t open yet, two he should be able to do over Christmas break, the last one is a high school scholarship and that won’t be available until March.
I just noticed that there is a direct correlation to the value of the scholarship and it’s due date (at least in his case) the larger the scholarship the earlier it’s due. Looking back, this was true for DD16 too but I just never noticed it.
He might hear about UTD’s McDermott scholarship a week from today, if not we’ll be waiting until January 3rd for the final word if he made the cut for the next round or not. Here’s to hoping that all the cc kids that applied for early consideration get one of the 10 early spots!
I’m so tired of waiting!!! Can we please go back to the days when this time of year they were just waiting for Santa to arrive? Much less stressful!
If you guys are credit union members, keep an eye out for those scholarships, too. We are a member of a couple, and in the past they have announced the application in January, due in March. They are a grand or so, but every little bit helps.
@3scoutsmom We also have an “employee” scholarship she may apply for, but this is a big multinational corporation so I don’t hold a lot of hope for it. We haven’t looked at the requirements - we may decide it’s not worth the hassle.
She just received confirmation that a local place received her scholarship application - it’s a nice one, $2,000 and renewable for four years. It’s due December 1, so at least it’s in. She probably stands a decent shot at that one but again, who knows.
I’ve been trying to keep up with this thread, but have been busy lately so it’s been hard.
Congrats to all who are getting admissions decisions and scholarships, and to those making progress on their remaining applications! My S is slowly starting to hear back. So far he is 5/5, but of course the more competitive schools on his list won’t respond for awhile.
Is anyone else having this experience when it comes to FA? S is unmarried and has not yet had a job, so he has no W2s to report. He signed a statement to that effect and uploaded it to IDOC. More than one school has said his FA application was incomplete because hasn’t submitted his / his spouse’s W2s - even though their portal shows they received the IDOC statement to that effect and therefore they should know not to expect W2s from him or from his spouse. The issue has been easily resolved through phone calls (still, aggravating to have to constantly call about this) at all but one school. At that one school, the only FA phone number listed anywhere that I can find puts me into an automated system and I cannot get to a person. The best I can do is get to the voicemail of someone who, according to the school’s website, is a work-study student, who apparently never answers the phone. It doesn’t seem like this should be such a pain in the neck.
Things are chugging along here. D is pretty much done with app to her last school due Friday. She also worked on some scholarship apps this weekend. MIght be long shots, but you never know. My employer gives a generous number of $2000 dependent scholarships. They can apply every year and its just a fill out the application with no essay type, so super easy. D16 has gotten for 2 years now so assuming D18 will get this year since stats are very similar.
I agree that this waiting is awful. I just want to know where she is going and how much it is going to cost. Darn you Purdue for changing from rolling admissions! I can’t wait until January, and maybe even longer to know if you want to give her any money! We are going to Purdue tomorrow night to go to a basketball game. Kind of a cheer recruiting visit so it should be fun.
She’s looking for other colleges to apply to. She wants more options in the PNW (UBC in Vancouver is her tentative