DD18 is very organized when it comes to deadlines, but email is something she really avoided until applying to college since she doesn’t communicate that way with friends or even her teachers. They communicate solely by text or group chats or Snapchat, so checking email is another thing to do, and hard on a limited data plan when texting is not data dependent. Plus, her first email experience was the bombardment of messages from colleges freshman year after the first round of psats. Now she’s learning she needs to check it daily, sometimes more often , so she doesn’t miss important college or job into.
S16 is even worse about email, and in general less organized. But once they get to college, they learn they have to check it or they miss when a class moves to a different room or is cancelled… He learned that on a cold rainy day when his 8 am class across campus was cancelled the night before and he was the only one to show up
Woohoo! Congrats on TAMU and Ross decisions!! Very exciting!
With regard to the email question - I do not have access to S18’s email and never have. I have had to ask him to go through and do searches every once in awhile to make sure nothing went to spam from colleges he applied to (several emails have, so it’s a good idea to have your students do that search).
Question - Have any of you experienced that various departments at universities don’t communicate with each other? For example, after visiting and applying to 7 universities and their honors programs and scholarships, D16 got a ton of mail/email encouraging her to apply, visit campus, fill out scholarship apps, and consider their honors program. Often made us second guess ourselves, like did she REALLY click submit on an application? Now that she is narrowing down her options and has withdrawn her admission from 4 schools, she still gets emails and snail mail from all of them about signing up for housing, summer orientation, etc. Even got a lengthy voicemail from a Dean at one school who seemed to have no idea that she had withdrawn. Again, it makes us go back and double check that she did everything she was supposed to, and every time it has been their mistake, not hers. Our only experience is with large public flagships and state universities, but we’ve had the same issue with all of them.
A great showing in a club volleyball tournament AND an acceptance to University of Rochester for my D this weekend. A nice surprise (the acceptance, not the volleyball), since she wasn’t expecting that RD until mid to end March! Still waiting on four more…
@EmptyNester2B My DD has tried to unsubscribe from one particular private university and I swear it just generates more emails!
Every time she gets an email there is an option to unsubscribe. She does. The next day she gets more, from a different department or marketing area. In general it’s been pretty straightforward to get off the lists but not with this place.
I don’t have access to any of my kids’ email accounts, college portals, or social media (although I am “friends” with all of them on the various sites). I don’t aceess my kids’ midsemester grades or homework assignments, etc. I have never even seen a report card for either of the two I have in college. Its funny, because I never considered myself particularly hands off. I talk to them regularly and I believe they tell me what’s important. Fortunately, it hasn’t been a problem. If it were, I would have no issues with requiring them to give me access.
So, we’re back from our trip to visit ASU and Barrett. My husband and I were very impressed. My D? Who knows. She isn’t saying anything. So frustrating. Anyone else have a kid internalizing all of their thoughts about college?
We were there for ASU’s “More2Explore” event which allows you to choose your own schedule. We spent the first couple of hours at the WP Carey school for a presentation from the Assistant Dean and to hear from some of the faculty at the school. Halfway through, they sent the students to another room for a business related exercise which was nice. The faculty seem very invested in making sure each kid has access to an advisor and that they find the major best suited for them - even if it’s outside the business school. I was happy to hear that changing majors here is not uncommon or hard, as compared to the CSU schools that we’re waiting to hear from where I think it won’t be quite so straightforward.
Our last two sessions were at Barrett. Dorms here are incredible. All of the parents touring the upperclassmen apartments were commenting how we’d like to live there. Beyond the dorms, the program itself sounds fantastic. Lots of support from advisors here too.
My daughter said very little during the tour. There were some positives and some negatives, but she’s keeping her thoughts to herself so far. Personally, I think she’s afraid to like anything outside of California so I’m not going to push until we know which CA schools she’s been accepted to. I wish the UCs and CSUs were a bit faster with their decision making!
@bacmom - Regarding kids internalizing thoughts - YES my son seems morose and is not talking unless asked a question. He has narrowed down to two schools - one acceptance and he should hear this week about the other. If he’s rejected this week, he’d be IN in his (former) first choice school. Why not thrilled? I am glad I’m not the only one wondering about this.
@bacmom My D never says much either during and after visits. It makes it hard to know what she’s thinking because she’s always very chill. Not many words or other expressiveness in most cases. But she became very cheery at two schools. She has become especially animated in those same visits when talking to current students. That’s pretty much all I get to go on.
@bacmom I get absolutely nothing from my son. I honestly do not know where he wants to go. Well maybe Vanderbilt is on top, but of his current acceptances? Clueless.
Glad it’s not just my kid! She did say that it’s a lot to take in and she’s not sure of her thoughts yet. I won’t push, but I do wish she’d just share whatever it is she’s thinking.
I learned very quickly with my son to limit myself to two questions once we were in the car:
What didn’t you like?
and
Could you see yourself here?
When it was right, we both knew it… he was uncharacteristic in his praise of the right school. He started that conversation with “This is where I want to go.”
Same @burghdad! Although there was no purchase when we were at Clemson. Which may have been a good thing considering the waitlist offer, lol! Oh my, what if we jinxed it?!
@bjkmom and @burghdad very funny my daughters were both the same. I couldn’t ask much of anything and only until we got into the car or to a restaurant. Then I had the same questions. Funny thing, with D18 and her current #1 school she was so obviously in love with the campus from the minute we got there. It was very clear. And yes…she asked to buy a shirt ;). That was the clincher!
Congratulations to the good news and decisions that have been posted here the past few days!
So looking forward to our own decision day…with four March decisions pending it will be a while.
In the meantime we leave tomorrow for a trip to visit what I believe are number 3 and 4 of the accepted ones so far. They are right next to each other and close to my brother and his family so we are taking a few days for a little family trip. I am hoping they knock out the one I want I move to down the list (her # 3, my # 7) and also will provide a good comparison when we go the current #1 of the accepted schools. Because #1 is still a long way off financially I am hoping one of these two shines a little more.
It will also be great to see my nieces and have some family time!
The plan Is to have our 7 current accepted down to top 2 or 3 when those March reaches come in. So we can make a decision by the end of March or first week April before the big school production goes into 7 days a week of rehearsals.
She did get the honors application for #2 done ( I have to proof it for her) and has almost completed the essays for the Italian scholarship her grandparents wanted her to apply to…both due March 1st and both she procrastinated on so she had a long day yesterday on the first day of vacation getting them done. We return the 26th so there was no other time…some things never change!
Someone a ways back this weekend was looking for food spots while at Purdue…there is a burger joint Triple X (XXX) right near the campus that was really good and reasonable…much more a grab a bite place than a dining experience but I would recommend it.
She does her own emails, I have no access nor do I want any. I have a goggle spreadsheet for her to check her portals once a week and report back if there is anything we need to know…also lets me see she is checking them…few scares over financial apps but this way I don’t have to nag. She knows if she messes up on this she might have eliminated a choice so she is much more mindful after the scares.
@labegg no worries about not buying the shirt…we bought it and she was waitlisted. Still likes wearing it!