Thanks for the input everyone. @RightCoaster - I’ve been to Dartmouth - many years ago, as my ex sister-in-law used to teach there, but I didn’t really spend any time on campus. Still waffling with regard to DS19. His ideal school, or so he thinks, is UChicago. He spent some time at Brown this summer, and then we drove through the other day on the way home from vacation so I could see it. I could totally see him in that setting. Providence seemed kind of perfect for him. But he has some doubts about the level of activism/political correctness. I think he really wants to be in a school with diversity of thought. But at Dartmouth - ugh. I don’t know. He does want to go somewhere cold. But he’s not athletic, I doubt he would even consider rushing a fraternity, at the moment he has no interest in drinking, he likes to have interesting architecture to look at, he’s not a skier, and he’s not a camper or a hiker.
All of these, of course, are lottery schools. He has the stats, but probably not the extras, so really he’s going to have to pick one and go early decision. I don’t really see the point of visiting so many lottery schools when he is really drawn to UChicago. Could be his Dad is just trying to keep him on the East Coast.
“But Mom, you told me the Common App doesn’t come out until August first!”
Yeah kid, that doesn’t mean you can’t fill in the Naviance questionnaires you’ve blown off, get past page 8 in your summer reading, work on your main essay or at least check out the supplements for schools.
Meanwhile our list includes:
Hanging out with the boyfriend
Baking
Experimenting with makeup
Rearranging the bedroom
Hanging out with the boyfriend
Buying school supplies over a full month early
Buying school clothes over a full month early
Cleaning the fridge (at least I got some free labor!)
Hanging out with the boyfriend
Video games
Drawing
Jewelry making
Social media
Hanging out with the boyfriend and
Hanging out with the boyfriend
@Sue22 sounds like an excellent summer 
DD is not applying anywhere selective, so we’re not worried about applications yet. And there’s no summer homework or reading. She’s working away at summer camp (and has a boyfriend there) so her list includes:
Cleaning
Serving
Store clerking
Hanging out with boyfriend and camp friends all day everyday
Raking in the dough
Pretty sweet deal.
We’ll be at camp with her next week, it will be nice to see her face. Home the week after that & we’ll pick a date for the next college visit.
Progress with the summer reading - S19 finally looked at the reading list and picked two books (The Road and Eaters of the Dead)… He is supposed to read “1 to 4” of the listed books. I predict he will read 30 pages of The Road by August 28 and then watch the movie IF the teacher remembers to give them an assignment based on the summer reading.
His new time killer is to start working on very difficult new pieces of music that are unreasonable at this point for auditions rather than perfecting the more familiar music he already picked. I guess it all helps with his overall playing, but I’m getting a little twitchy and find myself randomly yelling “Play the Bach!”
I’m leaving him alone about applications this week since I guess school-specific stuff will roll over tomorrow. I don’t think he’ll have any common or coalition app supplements but I’m not 100% sure about that. Getting the one main essay out of him will be enough of a challenge.
Kiddo has made serious progress in Dragon Age: Origins, Skyrim and Fallout this summer. He has also designed characters for a webcomic that he will never actually start writing.
I think that the lack of social interaction is beginning to get to him. He really needs to be around people more often, my husband and I aren’t enough. But most of his friends are working or away right now so he’s really feeling the pinch. The only people who want to hang out are the ones he doesn’t want to hang out with.
@Trixy34 I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Dartmouth is probably not the school for your son to ED then.
Has he looked at Columbia?
I don’t know much about UChicago so I can’t offer any comparisons or help in that regard. I know it’s selective enough that my kids would not get in, and it is very focused and intense in regards to academics from what I have heard, so my kids would not be good candidates, ha. I do know the architecture is nice there 
My son really liked Brown and I’m pretty familiar with the school if you have any questions. It’s a nice spot, good mix of nice campus, urban living, fun town, pretty safe, good academics, easy to get to, etc. I doubt my son will apply there, but he liked it a lot. He would have to be a recruited athlete to get in there.
My son has managed to get his essay done, his Common App is mostly done and he did one “why this school essay”. He has been working on his AP homework and reading assignments too. He should really study for the SAT subject tests but just hasn’t been able to get to it. He’s been doing some physical therapy and rehab and working out a lot, so that’s good. However, playing Fortnite with all of his school friends has been a huge suck of time and energy. But he is having fun with his friends and relaxing too, and I know that can be just as important as a lot of that other stuff. Kids need some down time and time to chill with their friends, otherwise it’s just grind, grind, grind and that’s not good for anyone.
My son has no idea where he thinks he may end up for college. Everything is still in play.
S got his wisdom teeth out today so the only progress going on here is related to Fortnite-playing and pudding-eating.
@elena13 have him sleep propped up and use plenty of ice.
@Trixy34 My oldest and I went to Dartmouth twice; a running teammate of his went there (along with his twin sister). My son figured out that he thought it was a nice school…BUT…there was no way he could be in a town that small. If your son likes Chicago and Brown then Dartmouth most likely wouldn’t be a fit.
@elena13 Hope your S is doing well! We are right behind you as D gets her wisdom teeth out on Monday.
Definitely keep up with the ice for the 1st 24 hours! It really helped to keep my older one’s swelling to a minimum.
Thanks @carolinamom2boys and @zipstermom! He’s doing pretty well so far and currently has the ice head wrap on. One of his best friends and water polo teammates came by after practice for a visit and brought S a Frosty. This was especially sweet since this friend never eats fast food or junky things (totally different from my S). Another teammate and friend from across the street came by as well. Listening to the boys talk about their upcoming senior season really hit me. This year is going to be fun but so emotional!
@RightCoaster and @SwimmingDad - Yeah. I’m not going to push the issue. I’m gonna go out on a limb and trust my motherly instincts on this one. Unless he tells me he’s interested in Dartmouth, then I’m not going to bring it up. It’s a beautiful campus, and it would be so fun to be in NH during the primaries, but that’s my idea of fun - probably not his. Thanks so much for the input. Funny you should mention Columbia, RightCoaster, because that’s another one I think would be a good fit for him academically. But he says he hates NYC. Never been there, but he hates it. :-? I honestly don’t know what my son’s chances of getting in to U Chicago are either. He really doesn’t have much in the way of extracurriculars, unless you count hanging out with the girlfriend. We were kind of thinking maybe he could pull off a great essay and interview. Well, UChicago scrapped the interview this year, and the essay topics are extra whacky. We’ll see.
As far as progress on applications goes, I know he has gotten to the point in the Common Ap that asks for my profession, but beyond that, I don’t think a whole lot has gotten done. 
His summer reading is Beowulf. We took it to Cape Cod with us. Somehow the book got wet and remained kind of damp all week, even growing a few specs of mold. So, of course, the book had to be tossed and a new one ordered. That bought him a few more days. :))
D23 gettin them out tomorrow. D19 getting them out next week. I’ll have those ice packs ready!
D19 and I visited Dartmouth in April. It was freezing! The campus is lovely, but it is pretty isolated. It definitely has small town charm. D liked the quarter system there, as well as the dining hall. Several hours away from Boston, but the campus does run shuttles there daily if I recall. Big Greek system, athletics, and lots of outdoor type activities and adventures. D thinks she’d be bored though and is looking for a little more proximity to a big city.
@Trixy34, D19 has to read Beowulf also, and we are headed to Cape Cod at the end of August. I think chances are high that her copy won’t stay dry either!
She has done zero, zilch, nada for her common app. She thought about one essay topic but discounted it. That’s it. In her defense, she has a lot going on–she’s training for sailing, traveling to regattas, part time job as an assistant instructor, and a part time internship/research project for school, plus trying to complete her GS Gold Award. And we just got a puppy (which we are raising for a service dog organization).
I somehow thought that without school and homework, there would be all this time to focus on the application . . . Must figure out how to help her manage her time! I never had any need/desire to nag D19 all her life until Junior year, and now there’s a constant To Do list and it’s too long. Please tell me that we can slow down again once she mails off the application(s).
S19 wisdom teeth consult is on Monday. Will be thinking of you @zipstermom and @elena13 and @pepperjo
Virginia tech and Elon U applications submitted! 8 hours of writing, my nitpicking his essays and his rewriting ugh. Exhausted!
I am second-guessing that he did not put anything extra in the optional area for Elon University on additional stuff they might like to know. There really isn’t anything extra LOL but you know what they say about optional. They specifically said not to write another essay. So I think it’s more about academic issues or something else. But everything is in his application. The only extra thing we could do is upload a resume but it just says all the same stuff so hopefully he did the right thing by leaving that blank. Can’t change it now anyway I guess right?
@cakeisgreat DS16 didn’t fill out an optional essays and was accepted into every school with merit. I agree that it is meant to be used to explain some inconsistencies in the academic record. Good luck to him.
Congrats on the submitted applications @cakeisgreat!
S19 completed his resume for his teachers and counselor, and it should help him flesh out his activities section on the Common App and coalition app. Very surprised that he was able to fill up a page but it doesn’t look half bad as long as the reader is not looking for a well-rounded person, haha.
I finally completed a single question on the parent questionnaire! My son hasn’t touched his part and I have no idea how to respond to the remaining questions. Oh well, baby steps.
I don’t actually think that Dartmouth is all that isolated, or at least not compared to some of the other schools we looked at with S17. There’s a bus from campus to Boston multiple times a day, it takes 2 hours. Way easier to get to ‘civilization’ than, say, Middlebury or Williams or Colgate. Full disclosure, S17 will be starting at Dartmouth next month (!), so obviously we liked it. I do think it’s helpful if you don’t hate the old or the outdoors. But the Greek life is nothing like what you remember from Animal House. We have several friends with kids there, none of whom are involved in Greek life but are nonetheless very mainstream socially.
@soxmom, I’m with you on the non-isolatedness of Dartmouth—after all, my in-state flagship is [dfbdfb does some quick google-mapping] 354 miles from the nearest two four-year colleges (which are in the nearest city of over 100,000 residents). Dartmouth is, what, less than 50 miles from Plymouth State? Less than 70 miles from Middlebury? 125 miles to downtown Boston (and less to the west side of the metropolis)? Doesn’t seem very isolated to me!