Sounds like kids putting a lot of pressure on themselves. Hope they do OK. :neutral:
Today was D20ās AP Physics āfinalā and by āfinalā I mean final project presentation. This has been stressing her out more than any of her actual AP tests didā¦ I think mostly because her grade has been at the B+/A- border (really, itās probably going to be a B+ but she has a tiny possibility of an A- if their group gets like 100% on the project which is nearly impossible). The project was to build a boat out of cardboard that was large enough to hold at least 2 group members, bonus points if it could hold a 3rd member (they went for it), bonus points for good costumes (they went for it), and today in class they rowed the boats across the school pool and lost points if the boats sunk or tipped over. Honestly it actually sounds fun and probably would have been if her grade hadnāt been so precarious. They didnāt sink and their costumes were cute although I donāt know how they stacked up compared to the other groups. My minivan got requisitioned for transporting the boat so Iāve been driving my kidās old Honda civic today.
In other news, S22 found out that he got into chamber singers for next year so Iām very happy for him (and woo, that takes me down to zero days I have to drive him since D20 is also in chambers already - itās an after-school class so I was picking S22 up on chambers days this year. LOL. Unfortunately for me D20 will leave for college before S22 turns 16 so I will have to resume my chauffeuring gig for a couple of months at that point.
D15 is all graduated from college and home for the summer and Iām having to tread that fine parental line between nice mom who is just happy to have her kid who worked hard all semester home again and āgee, donāt you think maybe you should put in some job applications today already??ā (for a summer job, btw, this isnāt a hardcore real job thing. I want her to find something before the high school kids get out).
D20 heard back about a summer volunteer position at our large childrenās hospital where she will āfunction as a parent helper as their child is having a procedure or surgery in the day surgery department.ā
She was surprised to see all the college-age applicants during her interview day, so I think sheās pretty lucky to have landed a position that should be fun, and get her (a future nursing student) some behind-the-scenes hospital experience.
@bigmacbeth- Thatās a fantastic summer position for a future nurse and a great way to gain perspective. She must be very mature.
S20 just heard yesterday that he was accepted as an intern at a large tech firm. I had to be present when they made the offer since heās under 18. As a ārecoveringā helicopter Mom I really enjoyed it! I canāt brag too much though because heāll probably be the only employee getting dropped off at work by his mother.
Happy long weekend to all, and happy prom to all those promenading! 
I love hearing about these summer plans and how the students are finding ways to explore their interests during their time off. My D has a summer planned of extra curricular interests.
Happy Prom to all those attending. And Happy Summer to those that are done or almost done with school. We have until near the end of June before weāre off.
One more ACT, and no matter the score, sheās done. Her current score is fine. We would have liked a bit higher for scholarship opportunities, but I left it up to her. She knows what I can afford and is willing to take the leap of faith. I just hope sheās happy when all is said and done.
We have 3 college visits set up for the summer. She is only available weekends and the rest of the schools on her list donāt have weekend tours during the summer. 1 scheduled during the fall and 2 more to set up and then all the reasonable visits will have happened. Everything else will wait to see if she is accepted and the finances work out.
We spend some time this morning going over her list and I think its finalized. Sheās happy with it. Iām happy with it. We have 3 financial safeties, 2 of which are academic safeties. No academic reaches. Everything else she falls near or above the 75% and none are top schools, so for most, 75% really means sheās more than likely got a spot. Now we just wait to apply and hope for merit because most are unaffordable without it. Lucky for us, she seems to love one of her financial and academic safeties. Of course she hasnāt visited yet, but weāll get an official read after the tour in mid July.
We discussed essays today. Has anyone else looked at the ones needed for where they are applying. In class they are writing a common app essay but she wonāt be using that one. I donāt like the tone, and neither does she. She brainstormed topics today and picked 3 that sheāll hash out once school is over. 3 of her schools want āwhy this majorā so she needs to write that too.
This is all getting too real. One or two of her schools have applications that open July 1 and a few open August 1. Deep breath. Here we go!
I opened up a parent āpracticeā common app account just to see what all it entails. @MuggleMom I checked out the essays D20 will need to be thinking about. I guess things could change though on August 1st when I think they reset the Common App, right?
@MuggleMom Sounds like everything is coming together and decisions are being made! Good for you and your D20.
Weāve not looked at essays yet, but thatās a task for when finals are over ā which is soon. First, a week vacation and then my D20 starts her first internship (first job!) working in data science which is a possible area of interest for a college major ā but weāll see, itās early in the game in that regard. Hoping to start on essays after a few weeks into the internship. @Redslp ā I too will be driving my child to her internship and Iām pretty glad about it. The internship is 30 minutes away and a lot of conversation comes to the fore when the two people talking are looking forward and a āhard stopā is on the horizon.
ACT done. 2 subject tests done. LORs, locked and loaded (2 awesome, 1 a crapshoot). Finishing up a not too terrible finals period (good spacing of tests/projects) and looking forward to family vacation! It canāt come soon enough.
@MuggleMom D20 must be lucky, because all her schools are on the Common App. A couple schools have optional essays that she may have to answer depending on other answers on the app, so not sure. She knows which essay she will be answering, and will get started soon, since she wants to have everything done before schools starts at the end of August.
Question: The Common App asks for GPA. It allows you to choose whether to enter Unweighted GPA, or Weighted GPA. You canāt enter both. They also capture the scale used (e.g., 3.5UW with GPA Scale=4 vs. 4.2.W with GPA Scale of 4). Which one do āyouā plan to use? It seems strange they donāt let you enter both? Schools may just ignore this information, I suppose, since they will recalculate based on the self-reported grades or transcript. Just seems odd, as it might be interesting for a first pass of info.
@bigmacbeth With regard to reporting weighted vs. unweighted, it looks like the Common App Q&A page advises that you report weighted: https://appsupport.commonapp.org/applicantsupport/s/article/How-do-I-report-my-class-rank-and-GPA
Thanks for asking this question! My DD17 wouldnāt let us look at anything (killed me, but it all worked out great in the end), so I had no idea!
@MommaB123 I had helicopter blades whirring for D17 (had her CA login, as well as every portal login to every school), but donāt remember this question. Iām sure it was there, but have no idea what she put. I would have guessed that UW was preferredā¦so itās interesting they say weighted, and the more I think of it, that makes sense.
Thanks for all the comments about LORās (between comments 5784-5797) - since asking that initial question, we attended a college fair and also met with DSās school guidance councilor - the takeaways from both these meetings are almost same as the comments on this thread. DS20 is going to ask three teachers but will use only 2 of them - which two, depends on the college requirement. He already asked his math teacher - and she enthusiastically accepted (she gave a few letters for summer programs so it maybe already ready) - will ask other teachers after the final exams in 2 weeks.
Summer plans: DS20 is taking a subject sat on June 1st (final standardized test); immediately after final exams he is attending a two weeks summer program till July 4th. After that he plans to take it easy for couple weeks and then may work on apps/college visits (he has a tentative part-time/unpaid research internship lined up too - but not sure of its time commitment). Yes, itās all coming to reality now.
Our GC sent us all an email about this - suggestion is to use W.
Good idea - can we open a parent account? (yet to look into the common app).
I read somewhere that essays for common app will remain same - so even after Aug 1st reset most of things maybe same/similar. Apart from essays, most other things are listing facts/stats - so any changes may not require much additional work.
OK, I am poking around the CA this morning. Totally overthinking this one, but some schools ask the question: Do you intend to pursue need-based financial aid?
If you donāt actually intend to seek FA, is there a disadvantage to answering āYesā to this question?
I was thinking of scholarships, and if you donāt need FA, maybe you can do with scholarships, too. 
Itās a very important question for need aware schools. You could get a bump for being full pay by not checking that box. This is completely separate for the merit scholarship awards, which are not based on need - so should not hurt to not check the box if you are looking for that. I would not check the FA box if you are certain you wonāt get aid. Do a NPC on a super FA school like Harvard and see what it says for EFC. If Harvard says EFC is greater than 70k, then you wonāt get FA anywhere and donāt check the box.
@suzyQ7 I guess I was looking a little more deeply (i.e., over-analyzing) into how the question could be interpreted by colleges. I know that FA and merit are separate, however if you say you are able to pay for college without FA and you are are unsure if merit will even be awarded yetā¦then maybe they can forego awarding you any merit at all, or a reduced amount.
Iām not talking about elite schoolsā¦because obviously there is no merit to be had there.
Offshoot to the FA question. My D20 will be using her dadās whole GI Bill for college. Despite our near zero EFC, all of the schools she is targeting will be totally covered by the GI Bill. Should she leave the box unchecked to help with admissions or no- since her aid wonāt technically come from the schools? Iām guessing she should check it so she can get pell and fall back on subsidized loans should she need to?
A common app newbie question: for need based financial aid (or for any other question) can we customize it for each college or it will be same for all colleges. (i.e. for the question āDo you intent to pursue need based financial aidā - can I say yes to the need blind college submissions while for others no).