@MWolf
What kind of booze? I hope you are not planning on sending the cheap stuff ?!
@JBSeattle no kidding! We are still waiting as well, down to two now. We arenāt even sure if heās thinking about it much - gets very grouchy if we ask. The schools are doing their part to keep him on track - the reminder emails are in his mailbox first thing every morning. We like both of the two, so it will work out one way or the other.
Congratulations everyone!!!
@JBSeattle Only the Very Best for my buddies here on the parents of HS class 2019 thread. Iām insulted, INSULTED, I tell you, that anybody would imply anything else!
Productive night here. Remaining grad party invites addressed, five scholarship apps completed, roommate requested and accepted, and no-bake cornflake cookies made. Whew!
S19 was selected as a US Presidential Scholar semi-finalist. No money involved if selected as finalist, just a trip to DC. Making the final cut will be tough though. Only 1 male/1 female from each state is chosen.
Congratulations @liska21 ! My S didnāt make the cut, he wasnāt really upset about it.
Congrats to everybody whose kids have made a choice and can relax for a while.
We attended Caltechās Prefrosh weekend and I think Iām in love 
DS was worried about the small size of the school, but it actually makes for a more intimate, family-like feeling (very smart family too!). I feel like I met half of the parents of the incoming freshman class already, and S19, not a very outgoing kid, has made several friends.
Coming home, we were hit by the news about schools being closed today because of a young woman with a gun who was infatuated with Columbine shooting. Itās a crazy world.
@yucca10 I was surprised that S19 wanted to submit the application for USPS. It was a gruelling application. His photo was a new and interesting essay about his grandfather. My favorite of the essays he has done.
@yucca10 Caltech is an amazing college, and Pasadena is a wonderful place (I worked there for a while in 2016). @liska21 Congratulations! Even Semifinalist is hugely impressive. There are only 800 across the USA. For comparison, there are 16,000 National Merit Semifinalists, and that is considered a big deal, and rightfully so.
Best of luck to your S, and I hope to hear that heās a Presidential Scholar! you.
PS. Weāll all have a toast with my not cheap wine, which is definitely not from a box, no matter what stories @JBSeattle wasnāt supposed to tell you.
@liska21 Congratulations to your son! Thatās an incredible accomplishment.
Wow! @liska21 Congratulations! Thatās so sweet!
Nice job @liska21ās son !! Congrats!
Congrats @liska21 - very cool! Congrats to all of the people I have missed this week - so many decisions being made. Welcome back @homerdog! @MWolf, donāt worry about me, I like the cheap stuff. Well, cheap beer and expensive wine! 
Nothing new here. We are in the middle of a bathroom renovation (that will turn into a kitchen and floors renovation next) which is a pain. D21 and S23 have to use either D19ās bathroom which is right next to them or our bathroom which is across the house. Of course D19 gets annoyed when S23 tries to use hers for anything other than brushing his teeth! It started last Friday so I was hoping at least the toilet would be put back but tomorrow but no such luck, they havenāt even put the new floors down yet.
DH and I are heading over to the other coast of Florida to see some of our closest college friends tomorrow night. They all happen to be on vacation in Napes at the same time! We talked D19 into coming with us because one of them has a S19 who she has known since she was born. We donāt see them much because they live outside Chicago but we always ave fun when we get the kids together. We actually did our visit to UVM with them at the start of our college search and now we will be able to celebrate the search being done! He is going to Tufts for lacrosse so it will be interesting to hear how it worked when looking to play a sport somewhere.
Congrats to your son @liska21 ! So great!
@momtogkc - itās so fun to get together with college friends. I have a girls night planned with a few sorority sisters (including my real life sister). After 30 years they are my favorite friends to get together with. Itās exciting to know that some of the people our kids will soon meet will be their lifelong friends.
My house is still a construction zone with not much progress being made because hubby had a long illness. Ceiling scraping and drywall repair is not very exciting. Looking forward to getting to the good part of the kitchen remodel.
I think weāre very close to an official decision!
@yucca10 Nice to hear about the accepted students day at CalTech!
@liska21 Haha, there does seem to be an over-representation of skinny kids at Caltech (my son is one).
BS in CS + Minor in Music sounds great. Maybe he can merge the two and get into music/audio software. There is lots of exiting work to do in that area.
Personally, I like BS/MS 5 year programs if they are at the same school. Iām not a big fan of 3-2 programs where you have to change schools after year 3. Most kids donāt want to leave their college for their senior year!
I doubt heād have to choose the MS specialty right away. CS might bend more theoretical and Software Engineering more practical, but I donāt think an employer would see them as much different. Heāll probably fall in love with a CS undergrad focus class and want to focus on that for his MS. At least that is what happened to me.
According to some literature my son was reading, his school has suggested that the majority of classes donāt start until 11 am every day. Next to good food, good school colors, this ranks highly for him in priorities. LOL.
After getting up 6 days a week at 6 am for all of HS this will be a huge bonus. Heās more of a night person.
@elena13 I agree - DH and I went to college together and we have the most fun when we get together with our old friends. DH was in a band and if we get to see all three people who are visiting Naples this weekend it will be a reunion of 4 out of 5 of the band members. The 5th we see every summer. I know my kids hope they meet lifelong friends like we did.
@RightCoaster That is so great!! My freshman year first semester we were not allowed to pick classes, we just got a schedule and that was it. I had Intro to Psych at 8am. I am also a night person, it was my only C I ever got in my major because I missed so many classes! After that I made sure to never have a morning class again. D gets to pick her classes in June, I will make sure she has no morning classes either, she is a total night owl. We are headed over to see a friend who is going to Tufts next year and I was just thinking how I will ave to ask him to send us a shirt with the mascot, it is so cute!