This dd is my 4th and last kid. Now throwing me for a loop because the programs she is most interested in bridge technology (which she has a good chunk of classes in) and art (which she has one studio class in soph year and wasn’t particularly gifted shall we say?) - and apps require a portfolio of some kind, maybe combos of tech and art stuff. She was nominated for our state governors school for STEM and ended up on their wait list (which puts summer into limbo for a few more weeks until that gets finalized). I’m madly researching summer art experiences, be it community college art course or classes in local museums, art schools or residential programs in nyc or colleges nearby. This portfolio territory is something I am completely unfamiliar with and she thinks in addition to essays, she can just whip up a portfolio? Erm, I don’t think so.
Makes me smile to see the love for my alma mater–W&M!
@SunnyFlorida22 Yes, I’m freaking out a little. I think I read too many denial threads on CC! It’s also what @InfiniteWaves said about our kids leaving the house. D19 is our oldest and I feel like we’re perched on the edge of the great unknown for our family.
@elena13 The whole SAT/ACT thing is hard. D is self-studying SAT, but her guidance counselor just told us that she should definitely take the ACT too because she might score in a higher bracket and open doors. D is normally a great test-taker, but when she tried to take the SAT cold, she got so anxious she had to postpone. Now, she feels like she has to do ACT prep too or it’s a missed opportunity.
As far as visiting, could your S go in September or October? We get a 3 day weekend in each month. I agree about having a good relationship through the process. D19 is fairly compliant but with D21, it will be a tricky balancing act!
Hi everyone! D and I had a nice visit to Elon University (and sort of UNC) in NC this weekend. I think it would be a safety for her and I really liked it on paper so we decided to check it out. Our overall impression was great - size and location are good for us, D liked the traditional northern looking campus (her impression - she said it looked like what she imagines college to be) and love the study abroad opportunities coupled with the J term so you have more chances to try out different things. The only drawback for D was that she is afraid the kids are too similar - I don’t know how to describe it but I guess it is the “prep school” vibe that she doesn’t always love, she wants a school to have all sorts of “types” of kids. We talked a lot about the pros and cons of big vs smaller schools and private vs public schools. I think she is finally trying to sort things out in her head - yay!
Now here is my usual long version…
D has a friend whose sister is a freshman and she offered to hang out with D and let her sleep over if she wanted. D was a little nervous about the sleep over just because she had never met this girl but she was looking forward to it.
It is an easy 1:40 direct flight for us to Raleigh/Durham airport then about a 40 minute drive to the school. It was a beautiful campus, all brick with white trim and lots of trees, flowers, fountains and a lake. We got there and met our friend who took us on a short tour of campus. Her dorm was great - pretty big room for a double, she also has a sink in the room which connects to a bathroom that is shared with one other double. Lots of common areas to hang out and a kitchen and laundry on each floor. After that she took us to the main spots like the dining halls and a few academic buildings. I thought everything seemed very new and well maintained. The are also doing some building and are working on a new basketball arena, updating and adding to the library, updating a dining hall and adding new dorms.
After the tour we headed to the little strip of shops that is directly behind the campus and had dinner. It is a small strip with a few restaurants, shops and the bookstore which is also a small Barnes & Noble. I had read a lot about Elon being in the middle of nowhere but D & I thought it was fine. (could be that my college was truly in the middle of nowhere - like 3 hours to the nearest small city and even that was only Syracuse!) You could walk to the strip (plus another area a few blocks away that had a bit more) or you can drive or take the daily shuttle 15 minutes to the next town. Burlington, NC had everything you imagine in a typical suburban strip mall town - Target, Michaels, Dicks, CVS, Home Depot, grocery stores, etc.
D spent the night with our friend and she got her first real taste of college life - she went to fraternity parties! 
DH & I knew about it and were OK with it, she is a responsible kid and we want her to see what true college life can be like. She had fun but realized fraternity parties might start to get boring pretty quickly -she is worried she would not have enough other stuff to do. I tried to convince her that she could have many groups of friends and they would like all sorts of different things - you don’t have to go to the same parties every night!
Next morning the friend took D to lunch at the dining hall then I picked her up to get ready for the actual tour. Tour was fine, great guide, pretty typical tour. We didn’t get to see the friend again as she had her sorority formal that night so D and I grabbed food and ice cream then just chilled out in the hotel.
The next day it was pouring rain and we had a little time to kill before our flight. D and I had talked about if we wanted to see any of the other local schools or not - they are all super reaches and/or not the right fit for her. We could have easily driven to Davidson, Wake Forest, Chapel Hill and Duke. The only one she had any interest in was Chapel Hill because her good friend has always said it is her dream school so we drove by there on the way home - fully knowing it is nearly impossible to get in especially as an OOS girl. D even said it is probably too big for her and she didn’t think she would want to go somewhere with such a low OOS population. Then we drove through - it was so beautiful!! The campus was great, the town was great - even in the horrible weather we both loved it! I don’t think it will end up on her list as it is just too much of a reach but I guess I am glad we drove by so at least now I know what all the hype is about.
@3SailAway - The hard part about making the choice for more testing is knowing that my S probably won’t study much. I think he would have to really put some effort into studying to get a SAT score that was higher than his ACT and I don’t see that happening with everything else on his plate. It’s probably better to focus on other things but it’s nagging at me a bit.
I do think we could see one or two colleges in the fall, but to do a longer northeast trip would require more days off. His school is finally doing a longer fall break in October where they get Thursday, Friday, and Monday off. Unfortunately, that is always the weekend of his state championship water polo tournament so we’ll be stuck here. I think his guidance counselor may have swayed him a little from the idea that virtual tours are just as good as actual visits. We’ll see!
@amandakayak Not close to NYC, but JMU in Va what looked to be an awesome summer camp for visual arts.
@SunnyFlorida22 – I’m with @jellybean5 – my biggest freakout was realizing in August just how much work was to be done relative to getting up to speed. I think I’m there now, hopefully D19 is, too, and we have a better idea of where we stand relative to schools, finances, etc.
I’m not worried about her everything getting done – my daughter is pretty organized, and I’m good at powering through with reminders and spreadsheets and the occasional nagging. My biggest nervousness is how I’ll feel, say, 9-10 months from now when the applications are in, but we’re waiting. I’ve read at least one book that does not recommend applying Early Action, but there would be some advantage in having at least a couple applications in besides the auto-admit of the state flagship.
D19 received a rejection for a competitive summer program this weekend – I wasn’t particularly expecting an acceptance, and I don’t think she was too disappointed, but I’m going to be an utter mess when I read on CC that notifications are going out for a particular college that she’s applied to and I just need to sit on my hands and wait.
Applying EA is fine. Especially so if you have a kid with top stats for the school. If your kid has mid range stats for the school and you apply early action, there is a good chance of a deferral. Which isn’t bad, you just have to wait longer for a result. You can always update the EA deferral application with any recent awards, big news, grades, etc.
It’s great getting accepted EA. You have an acceptance in hand and you’ll know the price before any RD results come out. You can visit some of those EA schools over the winter too, if you have time.
My older son had some early acceptances along with some deferrals to schools where he was on the bubble. That’s fine, he knew that might happen. It’s just a long wait over the winter. But being finished with most everything in the Fall is a big relief and it lets the kids to able to enjoy the last few months of HS without being stressed about writing more essays, filling out forms etc.
@me29034 - My husband is the same age as yours. We also got a late start. I find myself spending more and more time on the “retirement boards” and less time on CC. I am ready to move on…good luck with your search! It’s fun. No idea where will eventually land, but it will be somewhere warm and sunny 
@RightCoaster – The book I read generally thought there was a possibility of disappointment, and there wasn’t much advantage, but I think it was probably underselling the peace of mind of knowing you’ve got at least a couple different options heading into the spring. Our problem at the moment is that of the (current) schools that are more on the match-ier (or safety-er) side of things for her, besides the state flagship, don’t tend to do EA.
@BorgityBorg My DS16 applied to all 5 schools EA and had all of his acceptances by Christmas. Every school he applied to required EA to be considered for merit.
Since S19 is now all but decided on music and will audition in January or so, I guess we wait until mid-late March and have a better than normal chance of getting zero acceptances. This should fuel a good number of random panic attacks for the next 11 months!
I think I’ll have to insist he applies to one or two rolling admissions schools with a different major or make sure some schools on the list may admit him even if he doesn’t audition into the major he wants. Ugh, so much to figure out! D16 had her first acceptance in early December all of them in by early February.
S19 found out that the science class he wants next year (AP Physics 2) won’t be offered because not enough people signed up for it. He is not thrilled about the alternatives, but I am not upset about the AP course load dropping from 5 to 4 (he is not up for Physics C, Bio or Chem and isn’t interested in Enviro). Astronomy seems like the top contender. The school requires 4 lab sciences for an “advanced diploma” or he would probably just bag it and take something else (maybe AP stats).
hey @eh1234 good to see your son has a plan, of sorts, lol! It will all work out. I like the idea of getting in a few apps to some schools EA just in case he changes his mind. I’d pick a few safeties and at least 1 sort of match type school so he has some choices just in case, and doesn’t feel like those kids that say " I only got into my safeties".
Does he have some schools already in mind for his auditions? How does that work? I know nothing about theatre/music applications. You have to apply like normal and then go for a ’ try out/audition"? That seems particularly brutal, that would be like a sports kid applying and then having a tryout vs other kids to get in, which would be terrible. Why can’t they just watch video or listen to tape? Why do they need the kid there?
Because DS is taking 2 classes at the community college this summer, next year’s schedule is blown completely out of the water. He is talking with three other kids in the theatre magnet and the teacher about designing a senior seminar class in filmmaking and screen acting, where they write and film a series of short projects. The theatre teacher is open to the idea so long as they have a rigorous course design and things for the teacher to grade on a regular basis. It would be very cool if they managed to pull it off.
This is complicated by the fact that this teacher has a baby due in August and may be out on maternity leave for September, so another teacher has to be found for September to get final approval.
@eh1234 Maybe you can look on the CC boards that are focused on the music kids. I never thought about how it would be hard to choose EA schools for audition type programs. Or, maybe there are schools where your D could do music without having to audition? My suggestions may be ridiculous as I know nothing but trying to help! There have to be parents on a CC music board who have advice.
As for S19 and EA, we have two schools now (I just added one). Are they perfect? No. But they are realistic choices where I could see him fitting in some capacity. In some ways, it’s easier because he’s undecided on major.
Also, remember that not all RD decisions come mid/late March. I saw quite a few schools that got answers to kids in Feb even though the official date for decisions was in March. For us, S19 has a few schools that let some candidates know in Feb if they were a top candidate (with a likely postcard). Some of the schools with competitive merit on his list would give us a clue in January if he makes any cuts for those scholarships (and then I assume he’s admitted at least, even if he doesn’t make it to final rounds for merit).
I’m not feeling too anxious yet. As long as there’s work to be done, I can focus on that. He (and I) will be very busy this summer making sure his apps are moving along. I imagine the harder part will be when we are waiting. I’m in denial that he’s leaving and I’m not facing that right now. Just trying to spend time as a family and be in the present o that front.
@rightcoaster He applies like normal to the school and then does a separate music school application, followed by an audition. Most of them strongly prefer in-person auditions, but some allow videos. A few have “regional” auditions in major cities. I am not buying a $3000 flight case for the instrument so he needs to stay within a certain distance!
He is just starting to put together a list of schools. I’m trying to get him to aim for public schools with strong programs which might be a bit less competitive than the big name music schools (and might give him some academic merit). He has some “fancier” schools in mind. We’ll see. He’s not a candidate for the best schools, frankly. I want him to find a place where he can keep on improving and we’ll see about a “name” school for future study. Right now, I like Maryland - College Park because we got a good vibe at the music info session, they said they need basses, and you can be accepted to the school even if not accepted to the major. It’s also an easy drive with a very large instrument
@homerdog The CC music board is a little scary if your kid isn’t extremely advanced and already very accomplished and aiming for top 20 music schools. Mine found his passion a bit late. I have gotten a little bit of advice, but no one seems to have much guidance about the less competitive programs. There are supposedly some non-audition B.A. programs but S19 would hate the B.A. liberal arts requirements and I haven’t actually found one anyway.
I forgot to mention that kiddo is taking the SAT at school today. Wish him luck! And good luck and clear minds to all your students undergoing the same thing. We fortified him with extra high-protein snacks in the lunchbox, and Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. Extra chocolate caramel donuts. That’s got to be worth 20 extra point right there, wouldn’t you agree?
@BorgityBorg, my S19 also received a rejection from a summer program on Saturday. It must be the same one as your D’s. He really hoped to get it, but it’s just as well, and he is reconciled to it now. He did it make it into the NJ Governor’s School for Sciences so that’s where he will be headed.
@guppy64 Congrats on the Governor’s school - that is a high honor! Dd is waiting on the governors STEM version decision and would be thrilled now to get it (when she did the app though she was basically meh on the whole idea - bad timing on enthusiasm!)
I am told that the SAT “was OK lol”. So that’s done with and I guess that’s a positive sign?
Hi all! Popping in again! @ninakatarina S19 took test today as well. He seemed to think it went well too. It looks like test results won’t be available till May 3rd? (Per college board site.) Seems like a long time compared to other test dates. I think I am just as burned out from the testing process as S19 but unfortunately need to start all over soon with S20. Hope all of the other test takers out there did well!