@apraxiamom - hope it is nothing. I know when my son goes on scout outings he is POOPED! So, hopefully it’s just too much fun and not enough sleep.
Hope your S is fine @apraxiamom. Smart to have him checked out though.
D and I were just talking about dark fables yesterday. She read some German “children’s stories” for her AP German class last year. In one, a little boy wouldn’t stop sucking his thumb, so someone cut both of his thumbs off with scissors. @-)
@ShrimpBurrito was that Der Schwevelpeter? I obviously don’t know the spelling. My mom had that children’s book and it was horrifying! No wonder why kids used to be so well behaved! JK
Yes!! Der Struwwelpeter! D has a friend who grew up in Germany–she says those stories gave her nightmares!
Congrats on all of the good news…especially those last minute apps that got in on time!!
I was looking at local scholarship applications and one needs a picture uploaded so I was telling DS that we needed to get a head-shot for that. He said “why can’t we just use a snapshot like I did for my other scholarship?” What?! Which picture did you use?! Turns out he uploaded a picture of himself at the beach this summer. It is a close-up and he is on the balcony with the beach in the background, it’s a cute picture but still not professional in my opinion. This was for a full-tuition scholarship at what is probably his top choice. Hopefully they won’t judge him based on that. Between the photo and the fact that we already put down our deposit at this school to secure housing, I am really worried that they won’t be awarding him the big scholarship…which means he won’t be going to that school. DS is so chill. He told me not to worry. They just wanted a picture so they can put a face to the name and possibly place him from the scholarship event. I hope he’s right and this is why the control freak in me wants to oversee everything.
Thanks for well wishes. Little S had a low grade fever, which we discovered during triage. The child has super sensitive skin anyway (regularly get impetigo and rashes, and has a dermatologist as one of his regular doctors). In hindsight, I’m not surprised bug bites hit him like this. We left with 2 prescription creams and were told to watch for infection. He’s not contagious, but I may keep him home tomorrow to rest. He loves school and currently has perfect attendance, but his health is more important. We’ll see how the evening goes.
Some of you might know I love looking at what comes in the mail and how I’ve found the whole college marketing process fascinating. Well, yesterday for the first time, my D got something from Dartmouth. I thought the timing was so odd and ineffective. It’s already December. Don’t almost all kids have their list finalized? Or at least have their reach schools finalized? I can see a kid realizing that their list is short on safeties, especially once some earlier decisions roll in, but I don’t know many kids who are searching around for a reach school at this point. I could see that might happen if a kid recently got back some standardized test results and did much better than they thought, but this isn’t my D who finished testing in June. Doesn’t this seem odd to you?
When do you all think kids complete their lists? My D’s list was mostly complete over the summer and finalized it in October.
Do you guys still get a lot of mailings, or have they trickled off? At our house we are getting mailings from schools we visited and a few other schools that have sent my D mail all along, but almost no new ones.
@melvin123, D’s list continues to evolve and I think will right up until January 1. She has added one this week that surprised me, and I’m sure that some will fall off due to essay fatigue.
Hah @ShrimpBurrito thanks for the real name! I was going off of memory from 40 plus years ago. Guess that book stuck with me in a negative way, right?
@S18D20mom if I sat on the scholarship committee I’d love to see a picture of a kid with a beach background. You’re right that the impression I’d have is, wow, this kid is chill, let’s have him join us because we need to have a little balance to all of the Type A kids coming.
Oh @suzy100 you’re right! I can totally see schools coming off the list due to essay fatigue. But I just couldn’t see adding a reach with essays. Thanks for the perspective.
Her add was a reach with essays. :-"
S18’s llist had a November add-on after the SAT. He’s still getting mail from colleges he’s not interested in.
@melvin123 we keep receiving mailers from various schools, including the Arizona, ASU, Columbia and Miami of OH on a relatively constant basis. And we also received the nice big magazine type mailer from Dartmouth a couple days ago. I think D’s list is still a little fluid at this point, that it’s entirely possible that she’ll add one or two. But the remaining apps still to submit in all likelihood won’t change other than maybe deletes.
Our mailings have slowed considerably, except for Mississippi State and Texas State, they seem to be on a campaign to get DD. MS State called on Thursday. It is the 3rd call from them. Even though we had said she was not interested the last time they called. On Thursday I told them she accepted admissions at another school hopefully that will help. Texas State sent an offer to their honors program recently.
Thanks @melvin123 that makes me feel better 
At least they will know that his mom didn’t submit his application, right? Our college mail has slowed but we receive something from Pitt and Miami weekly without any demonstrated interest.
My D gets weekly snail mail from NAU, Puget Sound, Monmouth, ASU… and a bunch of Colorado colleges. The emails continue, too (not sure why she doesn’t unsubscribe, but they keep asking her to apply… to Tulane, RPI, Beloit, Lawrence, to name a few). She’s interested in none of them. And she got the big Dartmouth magazine-like brochure, which I loved and read cover to cover, but she threw in the recycling bin - alas, D has no interest in applying to my alma mater, to my dismay!
Mailings have tapered off here. Mostly D gets very personalized mailings (and phone calls) from OU and UTulsa (she got TWO hand-written letters from OU on Friday). Many local NMSFs end up at one of those schools, and they are treated VERY well. D’s NMSF friends are telling tales of college deans personally delivering acceptances to their homes. Wow!
With all of the recent FOMO talk here, I can see why reach schools would do late mailings. D got a nice letter from UChicago last week, and H and I keep urging her to consider applying, but I think she’s done.
@S18D20mom, as long as a casual photo is appropriate I would imagine it’s fine for any scholarship pic, unless they specified they wanted a particular type of attire or pose. If you would feel comfortable showing your S’s beach photo to his grandparents or sharing it with your friends on your social media I’m sure the scholarship committee will be fine with it, and it could even help him stand out among the sea of plain headshots.