Parent of a s21 here.
We did handwritten notes and small
Amazon gift cards. (I know many don’t like Amazon, I get it, but for us the teachers were thrilled and appreciated it.)
They tend to have plenty of mugs.
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D24 did a thank you note and a giftcard to a local, specialty, grocery store. Except she still hasn’t handed them out and is running out of time!!
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Exactly our problem! And I also like the local gift cards. I went for an easy new year’s resolution this year: Buy local. It’s the only resolution I can say I’ve ever kept this long 
.
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High school graduation is still a month away for us but I was thinking about how much this article stuck with me over the years. Plan on sharing it with D24 just like my parents did way back in 1990!
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This may not be the right forum to ask this, but since the folks here have been so helpful and have been providing so much collective wisdom from experiences I thought I’ll ask.
For a Pre-med track student how favorable/unfavorable to Med school admissions is it to play a sport during college? It is a huge non academic time commitment for sure. D24 is very passionate about the sport and is quite good.
The consensus among people I know is that athletics will not really compensate for GPA/MCAT, so you should probably not sacrifice GPA for sports. If you can get top grades, fill all the prereqs, do a reasonable amount of health-related ECs (and don’t forget about summers and a possible gap year), and do your sport, then OK! I have heard it analogized to having a part time job in that sense.
And I note not a few people have reported actually getting better grades while doing a sport, because of forced time management. But I think it depends on the sport and the daily time commitment. There are also stories of coaches basically telling kids they cannot do engineering or pre-med.
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@wayoutwestmom Can you share the pros/cons?
This. If your student is good enough to be a recruited athlete, there may be constraints on major placed by the coach.
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I truly believe this. It is so important what they do while they are in school vs. where they go. And many times grad school looks at GPA and Test scores above all else (med school and law school for example). A hardworking kid who gets great grades in a “lower ranked” school is a stronger candidate than a mediocre student at a higher ranked school. I am a nurse and every graduate from a BSN program who passed the NCLEX exam is just as marketable/employable regardless of where they went to school. I think way too many people get caught up on the prestige and name of a school.
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Keeping fingers crossed you are right!!
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There needs to be a thumbs down emoji for this
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Last AP exam ever for D24–Macroeconomics. It doesn’t start until noon, which is a nice break for her after exam times at 7:30 every day this week. Then, tonight is the Arts Awards Banquet (a big deal at this arts magnet). My dad comes in next week for graduation on the fifteenth, so we’re prepping for that whirlwind. I’m eager for high school to finally be officially over.
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if a student is on the fence on two schools, can you put deposits on both?
Could you?
Yes.
Is it allowed?
No.
Would you get caught? Unlikely but if so, you could be removed from both.
Best to make a decision (will make your life easier and save you a lost deposit). It could be both are fantastic for the student with no wrong answer.
You might also ask one or both for more time to decide, depending on the circumstances.
But if it’s just they don’t truly know (as opposed to waiting on aid, etc.) - then you won’t likely receive an extension.
Personally I don’t judge - if someone deposited twice and for the right reason, I get it. I don’t think indecision is the right reason. I think it’s better to cull indecision now or it will just fester and make life worse.
But you’re not allowed to do what you’re asking.
Good luck.
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You should only deposit at one school at a time. If you need to put down a deposit to secure housing at School 1, but are still undecided, you can go ahead and do that. You may lose the deposit from School 1 if you decide to enroll at School 2, but sometimes that’s how it goes. Don’t make deposits at both School 1 and School 2.
My kid had to make an early deposit for housing at one of his final three schools: “school 1”. When the deposit deadline for school #2 came up in mid-April, we forced him to decide between school #1 and school #2. He chose to give up School #2. School #3’s deadline was May 1. He ended up choosing to attend School #3, so we withdrew the deposit from School #1 (they gave a full refund) and then he deposited at School #3.
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As others have said double depositing isn’t allowed.
With that said I won’t judge anyone doing this, especially this year if awaiting FA packages. Asking for an extension is a good idea as tsbna suggested.
If one did find themselves in this situation with a double deposit, I would strongly encourage the student and family to not tell anyone. Not the best friend, nor the SO, nor the HS counselor, tell no one. Parents don’t tell other parents. (seriously, the depths that people will go to still can surprise me, I have so many stories. A significant part of a senior admissions person’s job at the school where I read apps is dealing with people who call in to rat out other students…saying they lied about X, were suspended last year, etc. etc.)
The HS counselor is only going to send one final transcript so that is likely your ultimate deadline when this has to be resolved. And some colleges will require the final transcript before allowing things like attending orientation, choosing housing, picking classes. Good luck.
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This definitely happened to kids we know, and in fact they wound up choosing non-D1 schools because it was explicitly clear from the coaches at those schools that the kids would be athletes who happened to attend classes, as opposed to students who happened to play a sport. And not only were some majors verboten, they were also advised that certain course days/times were similarly not allowed for the recruited athletes.
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It’s looked on favorably by adcomms because of the teamwork, self-discipline and time management skills involved.
However, participating in sports does not get one any grace w/r/t to grades/GPA. Athletes are expected to have the same excellent grades/GPA as everyone else.
Where an athlete might ge some slack is with the expected pre-med ECs of research and community service. But only during undergrad. If the athlete takes a gap year (which most pre meds do nowadays), then the expectations for service to others will be the same as for everybody else.
Athletes also don’t get an any slack w/r/t to having clinical experience. Anyone who wants to be doctor needs to understand what they’re signing ups for.
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Looks like UCSB opened their waitlist. Know of two in last 24 hours.
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I do believe this- and I went to University of Pennsylvania. Being in a good fit school where you are motivated to get to know the professors, get involved in clubs, and network is so much more important than having a big name school on your resume. It might be helpful to have access to the alumni network- but again- the student has to take advantage of this. If I had to do it over again- I would have saved the $ and gone to a better fit school for me personally (I did not love being in a city). I do see people refer to research that also proves this- but I have never read the research.
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