Parents of the HS Class of 2019 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
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@elena13 it sounds like you have a great attitude! I will be enjoying spending time with just DS and DH this year. DS and I traveled alone this summer to college visits and it was really nice.

Mostly I will be trying hard not to cry at every “last”. While this is what we work towards as parents, I’m struggling not to be incredibly sad that this part of the journey will be changing so much.

@bjscheel fingers crossed for her! What a great final performance!

@ninakatarina wow, congrats to him!!! So exciting and I bet it feels good to have a solid option already available.

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@DCNatFan congrats to her!!! Are you near KS? I’m in NE

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Congrats to those with acceptances!! We’re still over here working on a list and S19 doesn’t think he can possibly do anything with an application prior to August 1.

We visited Temple University today and S19 really enjoyed the info session and tour. I can tell because he actually said “I really like it” instead of “it’s fine.” That was all I could get out of him, other than that he was excited about free tickets to the Philadelphia Orchestra. The AO who delivered the Info session was engaging and our tour guide was a fun theater major who did a great job answering questions.

There is a lot of construction on campus that will result in a huge new library and huge green quad prior to fall 2019. There is also a new rec center that wasn’t part of the tour. Temple is not in the best neighborhood, but it looks like you can get to other parts of Philly without really leaving campus, there is an on demand shuttle service (kind of like Uber) for students, and the “off campus” housing includes a lot of new apartment buildings that are basically across the street from the school. They also pointed out that the campus is extremely well lit at all times. There were still a lot of questions about security from some of the fathers on the tour, but I don’t think I would have any problem leaving my kid there. The campus felt pretty self-contained to me.

The suite-style dorm that they showed us was pretty nice and the food options seemed great with tons of places to eat outside of the dining halls. Food trucks everywhere! Housing is first come-first served, and freshman aren’t guaranteed on-campus housing, but with 13000 students residing on campus, I doubt that it’s really a problem.

We may go back when classes are in session for a more music-specific tour. S19 would likely qualify for generous merit aid since it looks like his GPA and scores match up with their honors averages. Still not a safety or match since he has to audition, but I’m happy to have it added to the list. So now I have a kid who liked Temple and Oberlin equally so I guess he’s looking for a small large urban rural/small town liberal arts public university.

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Congrats on the early acceptances. I think the earliest S will hear back from a school will be around Thanksgiving, but we’re in it for the long haul.
@bjscheel - my D17 did musical theater too. The last year of performances was so great and so emotional. My D was thrilled to get the part she really wanted in her last musical so that made it extra special. I really miss it. Enjoy!

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@drewsmom17 We actually are in MD, just outside Washington DC.

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@DCNatFan & @ninakatarina Congratulations!! Must feel so great to have a little bit of that weight off your shoulders.

I woke up super early this morning and started thinking about everything we still have to do this summer and started getting nervous. We leave for vacation on Tuesday, when we get back we only have one week before school starts - I know we are not going to get everything done (hello essay!) so I guess I just need to relax.

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We did a tour of Temple last fall, @eh1234 ! It was on our list a long time, until kiddo decided he wanted to go somewhere he didn’t know anybody at all. We got a personal tour from a friend who is two years older than my kid. She is in theatre and loves it, very enthusiastic about the school. Her one negative experience with the college was that she didn’t get her housing deposit in on time and ended up in off-campus housing last year, which wasn’t so fun. So if Temple is the place, get that housing deposit in quickly!

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That’s good to know @ninakatarina - S19 could not deal with off-campus living as a freshman (he’ll be 17 for the first month of college). He could apply early action (if audition materials are ready in time), but i suspect he would end up rejected or waitlisted if he did that - I think he needs until February to prepare. Maybe I’ll have him contact admissions to inquire about the likelihood of getting housing with an auditioned major. Auditions aren’t finished until early March!

He’ll be getting his results late no matter where he ends up going - I will likely be a basketcase all winter and spring.

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That is an interesting fact about Temple housing. Temple is also on my kids list but not living in on campus housing freshman year would be a deal breaker. Did this student know she wasn’t getting on campus housing when she committed to Temple, or did she find out after the fact?

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She thought she was getting on campus housing but didn’t get her deposit for the housing lottery in until the very end of April. She was admitted in October and hadn’t been opening all of her college email so she missed some deadline or other.

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Congratulations to @ninakatarina and @DCNatFan and their kids! So happy for you all! (It’s such a great feeling to get an acceptance in hand early–they should feel a bit smug :slight_smile:

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Quinnipiac had an open house in early June and it was mobbed. There was lots of hustle and bustle and some non tour guide students were still on campus. It’s really a beautiful campus with excellent facilities.

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Checking back in after a month off engaged in sports stuff with S19’s team. It’s a bit alarming to think S doesn’t really have a college list at all. He is focused on his ED choice (a sub 10% school) and doesn’t want to think about any place else. I’ve impressed on him that it is prudent to apply to a rolling safety that he would be ok going to. I suggested one that I thought hits his main requirements. Silence. “That you would suggest that school implies that you don’t believe in me.” That was more or less verbatim his reply. Btw, this is an otherwise charming young man and the snarky response was out of character but perhaps accurately reflects his feelings. We went around in circles a bit trying to find a safety that he would find acceptable. Finally he agreed to the prudence of applying to the one I suggested, but stated that there is no way he would go there. Sigh. Fun times ahead. I’m about ready to suggest a school in Scotland — which he may find exotic enough to be excited about as a safety.

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We toured Flagler College in St Augustine today . Very, very impressed. Well planned and executed Sneak Peak. Great school has quickly jumped up to number 2 on his list, close behind CofC. We had a really good day. The arts building is having some construction , but they were very accommodating and gave us and another family a private tour of the facility. Very impressive student ambassador. Very accommodating faculty . Can’t say enough good things about it.

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Catching up after a week spent semi-off-grid:

Senior pictures: Up here, senior pictures are generally done by professional studios on the parents’ dime, though the larger high schools in the district do have opportunities for students to sit for lower-cost pictures late junior year, and some use that. Lots of outdoor senior pictures here, what with this being an outdoorsy area and all.

Virtual tours: My D19 is going to have ended up touring precisely two (unless one of them drops off the list, and it ends up being only one) of the schools she’s applying to, so she’s become a connoisseur of virtual tours. Unfortunately, they’re apparently rather addictive, and part of the blame for her getting a B instead of an A in econ may be the scores of hours she spent “touring” colleges instead of doing her actual schoolwork.

Undecided majors: “Undecided” is a totally fine way to enter college, and may well be better for most than having a hyper-clear plan. One of the things CC helps us forget, what with being marketed to academically intense kids and their parents, is how academically, well, exploratory college is. Unless a kid has certain types of backgrounds or higher-ed contacts, they have no idea what they’re going to major in even if they think they do, simply because they don’t know what kinds of majors there actually are! I mean, how many people go to college intending to major in linguistics (my field!), editing, informatics, turf management, gastronomy, packaging science, physical chemistry, mathematical biology, paper engineering…Answer: Fewer than actually end up with degrees in those fields.

WPI: My D19’s rather in love with this school, and on mostly pedagogical grounds. I tend to agree with her—I feel like they do engineering education right. (I also think that if I’d gone there—likely if I hadn’t been waitlisted—I might would have ended up an engineer, as originally planned. But, of course, D19 almost certainly wouldn’t have happened. So it’s all a tradeoff, I suppose.)

National Society of High School Scholars: Run away! Run away!

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S19 and I visited Penn State’s Altoona and University Park (main) campuses this week. He lit up during both open houses. It showed on his face and in his body language. I sat back while he engaged with the English, German, and history professors from the College of Liberal Arts. And he proactively spoke with the Army ROTC instructors. He was giddy and chatty with me the entire time. It was truly amazing to see him like this, so excited about life after high school.

It was also the first time in many, many college visits that he bought something from the bookstore.

He is going to apply to a few other schools as well. But all rounds of “would you rather?” end with Penn State 2+2. If he doesn’t get in to main campus initially, he wants to 2+2. And that’s over four years at another school. But he has made the call about applying to a few other schools anyway. One of which is Mr. InfiniteWaves and my alma mater.

So, what’s not to like? The kid is taking control of his future plans and decisions. And he is feeling really positive about calling these shots and knowing what feels right for him. Oh, and we can totally afford the PSU in-state cost. Guess it’s time for me to grow up as a parent and let my 18-in-two-months kid grow up. :wink:

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@InfiniteWaves did he also tour Pitt, didn’t he like it?

Has he thought of any LACs like Lafayette?

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Monday, we have the last tour of the colleges D has on her list. I have enjoyed these tours so much, I keep trying to think of new schools we can tour…just because.

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@infinitewaves - Sounds a lot like S19 - planning to double major in German, now looking into Navy for help with med school (go after BA). Watching youtube videos on how to go about pre-med/applying/ECs etc. Love it!

@gallentjill same here - 1 more college tour unless I can convince S19 to go on a few more :). Luckily I have D20 to do a few more next summer :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

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@cakeisgreat My D has also talked about the military as a path after medical school! It is not anything I would have expected, but I would be very proud.