@washugrad
Totally get your rants about the yearbook not giving more kids representation/displays!
Re senior portraits, we have pretty “strict rules” for boys and girls (just these two, there are binary/trans kids in DS’ class), but we could use any places/photographers as long as the rules are followed. We are thinking of using one of our friends’ daughter, who is studying photography at our local U.
Our school distributes them in the fall. I’m guessing that’s not the same for everyone?
I’ve never heard of a yearbook being distributed in the fall. I have three yearbooks from middle school, three from high school, four from college, and kid yearbooks from kindergarten on for a grand total of seven different schools. We got all of them in the spring.
If the school hands them out in the fall, how do seniors and other kids who transfer schools get theirs and get them signed?
D20 got her yearbook last week. Sucker is huge…but I have not looked at it yet.
I hadn’t either although I do see some logic. Any activities in the spring are not in the yearbook. Spring sports, prom, any senior activities that happen before graduation Typically the yearbooks are available by Homecoming. As to yearbooks signings there seems to be less interest in that nowadays, at least in our area.
My own high school back in the day used to do a spring supplement… I can’t remember if they mailed that out or gave it out in the fall or what but things like baseball and prom were in it.
@Nicki20 Do you mean the next fall? So the 2018-19 yearbook will be distributed Fall 2019? I guess that does make some sense. I initially thought you meant beginning of the school year, so Fall 2018 for the 2018-19 school year.
Fall 2019 is what I meant. I sort of mentioned it because of the talk of omission of pictures. Especially a lot of the academic awards are given at the end of the school year. Many kids come back for the Homecoming football game.
Yearbooks will come next week at S2’s school. Signing is still a very big thing here, and I know the underclasses would be sad not to have seniors around to sign their books, especially in the “will and testament” section.
And today is the LAST day of classes for S2, finally! All papers, projects, etc. are done done done as of 3 pm, and one final big performance this evening. Just a single final to go next week and then he can call himself a senior. Yikes.
@HarrietMWelsch Congratulations! The last day of class sounds wonderful and getting through juniro year is epic!
Last “regular” day for D20 also! SAT2s and prom tmrw, finals next Tuesday, and a just-scheduled trip with Dad to see Pitt on Thurs-Fri. Buh bye junior year!!
Also: had “family meeting” with the GC on Wednesday. Sadly, very little G from the C. I feel very on top of this process but if I hadn’t, or if this was my first time through it, I would not have felt reassured. Biggest concern for me is that he is putting schools like Barnard and Vassar in the target column for my kid and Bryn Mawr and Mount Holyoke in likely and I feel strongly that those are each one bump up (at least) in selectivity for D20. Don’t want her getting conflicting info from me and GC and also don’t want to be the Debbie Downer or have her think I don’t have confidence in her or her apps. Also didn’t want to debate that with GC in front of her!! Advice?
Last regular day of classes for D20 here too. SAT II tomorrow. Three finals next week. Prom the following week, and an orchestra performance at the Baccalaureate. And she’ll be done with junior year!
@Itisatruth similar issues here with the GC. I have combatted her magical thinking by reminding my DD20 that she is only looking at stats that are a bit old ( college results .org ) since only data available is thru 2016 and she is not able to consider the financial side at all. I think all GCs should have to have kids of their own that have gone through the college search or significant training on college costs and funding sources (merit, need based aid)!
Hooray, @Itisatruth and @momzilla2D!
I hear you about the lack of G from the C. It’s wonderful for your D to know that he has that level of appreciation for all that your D is bringing to the process, but solely and only on the basis of numbers, I agree with you that this year, those two schools aren’t true likelies even for the strongest applicants. And agree about debating this with GC, in front of her. I don’t know how sensitive your D is to those baskets (target, likely, etc.), though. Do they hold a lot of sway for her? It might not actually matter that much to her or influence her understanding of her chances - but you would know that better than any of us.
@Itisatruth Same story with our GC. I knew it before the meeting (from experience with my other kids and my friends) and I had told my D that at our school the GC just offers a generic advice and throws colleges in the list without a good understanding of chances and/or fit. I did not argue during the meeting because I thought it would not be helpful or maybe be seen as rude. After the meeting I talked to my D again and thankfully she agreed 100%.
And especially for Vassar and Barnard I don’t think anyone should put them in their “target” list. However, I would feel more comfortable with BrynMawr and MtHolyoke. Not that they should be taken as sure things but if the student had visited and the fit is there and stats are right I would say I would be surprised if the results were negative for both schools.
@Itisatruth I have also been in that kind of family meeting with student and GC and the info is not quite right IMO. For me I let it go especially the distinction like you described. It’s a nice compliment to your kid that GC thinks those great colleges are match or likely. Rather than contradict GC I would just focus with kid on beefing up the very likely end of the list. Judging from your visits thread I think you and your family are doing a good job on the likely side of the list. And when kid gets in to those less likely schools with a bunch of merit aid it doesn’t really hurt anything to let that GC think they knew best all along…
Same experience with GC at our DS20’s public school. And I was thinking of asking members on this thread about the following for a while - now maybe the best time to ask:
Anyone here tried any outside-school guidance service? - think our family may need this service after all. When it comes to college list: we maybe able to come up with huge help of CC - would need a critical second opinion to avoid any gotcha’s. More importantly, DS needs some help in streamlining his thoughts/ideas for essays (he is a reasonable writer but having difficulty in writing about himself - in his own words ‘his thoughts are all over the place’). We may also seek help in formatting the responses to any waitlist - based on his experience with summer program apps, this is highly likely. Is it better for us to go with a GC who work on-demand on a hourly basis or with a package. Any advice or specific recommendations please let us know (either on this thread or you can DM me). Thanks in advance.
D20 is taking SAT Subject tests tomorrow. Math 2, US History, and Lit.
@hs2020dad we are using an independent counselor. D20 will be meeting with her on Monday morning for the first intensive brainstorming essay-writing session (I wanted to get that going asap after school was out as my kid is going to be at a summer camp for 4 weeks that has no email/ phone access so won’t be able to work on it during that time). We’ve been working with her very lightly since Christmas… just occasional email check-ins and one phone call so far as we figured we could do most of the list making and pruning ourselves.
D is taking Chem and USH tomorrow. True to form she hasn’t so much as looked at a prep book for chem (I have a couple because I tutor it) or at any resources for USH.