I just added it up and DS has 23 supplements to write. There is SOME overlap and some are super short, but STILL!
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I like the notion of having a set time to discuss “college”. I also admire your ability to abide by that restriction. I would fail. I am aware when I raise college issues and I try to keep it positive and short, but I would violate the “no talking” aspect on the first day.
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I’m trying to line up a few more college tours for this Fall. Two of the schools are relatively near each other (well, you drive a long way to get to one (Va Tech), then keep driving past it a few more hours to get to the second (UTK)). I think S25 will like UTK, and he’s never seen it and doesn’t know anyone who has attended, so we’re going to visit. And I’m hoping a second look at VT will somehow make it more appealing. So why can’t I get tours to line up?
He has no school on Thursday October 3rd. I thought we could drive down after work/school on the 2nd, see VT on the 3rd, UTK on the 4th, come home at a leisurely pace over the weekend. Except VT doesn’t offer a tour of the two programs he’s interested in (he’s done the general admissions tour) on the 3rd, only the next Monday, the 7th. And we could do that - drive down on the 3rd, see UTK on the 4th, kill some time in the middle on the 5th and 6th, see VT on the 7th and home later that night, but that makes for a very late night home on the 7th and miserable work day on the 8th, plus just more time in between than we need.
No, this isn’t the biggest issue in the world, I’m just a little frustrated that it’s not more smooth. What this means is that I’ll probably ask S25 to email the admissions office, or the contact person for the two colleges he’s interested in at VT, and see if he can set something up independently. He won’t love that, as he hates talking to “official people”, but may as well start working on those skills now!
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Luckily, for regular college, he’s got only seven essays (common app, a school that requires 4, a school that requires 2). I think there’s going to be 5 or so more for honors college applications, but I’m hoping he can expand some of his current shorter ones, or use a topic that is adjustable. We’ll see.
Sigh. Part of this is also my pre-emptive exhaustion at needing to remind him.
We’ve had a great college counselor, but her contract clearly states essays for admittance for up to seven colleges; no help with essays for honors programs or other specialty programs. I kind of feel like we didn’t get our money’s worth as he only had two schools that require their own essays.
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That’s interesting and thank you for the heads up. We have an independent college counselor as well and frankly I’m not sure what restrictions they have. I think it is 7ish schools, but I don’t know if its limited to admissions only. Will have to check that out. Always an angle, huh?
Oh, I do fail, but she’s so stressed already about the process that I’ve vowed to ramp down any pressure I can.
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That’s about the right number of auditions. D18 applied to 11 audition schools, auditioned at 10 (USC rejected at video screen), and got 5 acceptances (plus 1 waitlist) of which only one was a program she really wanted to attend (others all had some limitations in terms of type of dance or professional career suitability). But she only applied to 3 other colleges (and two of those were UCs so didn’t require any additional work).
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Well, I read D25’s essay. It’s… fine. UGH she’s worked so hard on it but she doesn’t come through. She needs to go more in depth about herself. 2 weeks until school starts, and she still has to finish this up and finish her 3rd summer reading book. She’s off playing Fortnite right now though. Where did the summer go?!
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It was the last first day for us today. I was surprisingly emotional about it. S25 was not! It’s the start of many lasts - especially since he’s my youngest.
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D has started the common app but not the essay. She easily filled up all 10 activity spots and we’ll go back over them before submission to make sure they’re clear and concise. One part she couldn’t do accurately was the GPA, class size and rank. The school counselors are on vacation this week so hopefully she can get that info next week. It’s marching band camp time which is a very long 10 days of training plus she’s in a leadership position with extra duties. For the last few years the day after camp ends we gather her friends and their parents and have a lake day. It cools them off and is a lot of fun. The first time I had them over it was agreed that this will be a thing lol.
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How fun! And what great memories you’ve helped create for so many.
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Here we go! First day of senior year today!!!
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Congrats on the few who have already started school year 2025!
We’re on vacation, school starts next week, and I’ll have 2 more college tours to review when we return.
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Welp, I told my bosses and the people I supervise today that I’ve accepted another job. It was really hard to tell them - I haven’t been in this gig that long (15 months) and I know they, and I, expected me to last longer. As I was thinking about how I was going to explain why I wanted to move (nothing is really wrong) I realized a lot of it came down to my S25. He’s my youngest child. As I’m starting to think about what comes next after he heads off to college, I realized that my job focus will pivot. Right now, I give a lot of time and attention and energy to my mom job. And when the mom job isn’t there, then what? I want a work job that feels fulfilling. And the current job is… fine. It’s not a mission I particularly care about, and the work assignments and environment do not give me the dopamine hits from collegial interaction that I like. So when S25 is at school how do I get the positive feedback and reinforcement that I currently get from feeling like I’ve accomplished something if I help him with something, or guide him in some way, or even just spend time with him enjoying him? Once upon a time, I had a job I loved. I had to leave it to better manage my life. Since then i’ve worked for a paycheck. But the idea of working doing something that feels good at the end of the day is really attractive.
So that’s why, at the end of all of my musing, I think I’m leaving the current job. As I think of what I want my life to be like post-S25 going to college, this isn’t it.
So anyhoo, this morning and yesterday have been hard as I tell people the news. Now I need to settle in to it and get some good stuff done and closed out before I leave. And to thank S25 for, once again, being the random catalyst that helps me examine my life and where it is and where I want it to go. (this is the third time that that’s happened…)
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We are closing in on the beginning of senior year and things are rocky around here, folks.
The good: S25 had a great time at WPI. He’s not totally sold on robotics (because coding isn’t really his jam) but he enjoyed the more physical/physics aspects of the work, met some fun kids, and is set to apply to WPI this fall. He bonded with a bunch of fellow geeks in the dorm over Magic (The Gathering) and D&D.
So…what does this mean for college list? F if I know. I think it means he’s including schools that have engineering programs but isn’t applying exclusively to schools with engineering. In other words, we punt. The list is kind of a motley mix of places he’s seen and is lightly positive on, places he thinks his friends from high school might go, places neither of us has seen but we think they’re worth a gamble, etc. I shudder to think of what the spring decision-making process will look like but am trying to remember that in this grand choose-your-own-adventure book there are no really bad choices…right?
Right now, per Naviance, S25’s list includes the following schools: Brandeis, CU Boulder, Colorado College, Denison, Dickinson, Holy Cross, Kenyon, Lafayette, Oberlin, Occidental, Oregon State, U Rochester, St. Olaf, Union, University of Oregon, UW-Seattle, Whitman, Wooster, WPI. I think I’d probably add Lehigh, a couple of UCs (Davis and maybe Santa Cruz?) + Cal Poly SLO (even though all are long shots), as well as Pitt and maybe CWR or Virginia Tech, subtract Holy Cross/Wooster and maybe Dickinson? Of these schools, I think the Oregon Schools + Whitman should be likely admits. Many of the rest look like matches/low reaches on paper, or did, anyway, before this latest admissions cycle. Colorado College (because he wouldn’t apply ED) and the UCs, Cal Poly-SLO, and UW are long shots (probably also Virginia Tech, given what OctoberKate has shared). I’d love to say WPI would be a likely but they are test blind and his UW GPA is low by WPI standards (probably looking at something like 3.75, depending on how the summer courses shake out). I’m hoping that the rigor of his course load will count for something, as well as the strong AP test scores (four 5s and a 4) and his straight As in STEM subjects.
The hairy: In the final six days before school starts, he still plans to:
- Read and do notes for six chapters of AP Bio
- Complete a dozen projects for AP Photo
- Finish reading two novels for AP Lit (including “As I Lay Dying” which…yikes.)
- Complete a charity bike ride with friends + ride to San Francisco
- Hang out with his friend who is visiting from Israel
- Work on his college apps with his coach (who has wisely given up on getting him to do work between sessions and is now basically sitting and watching him write essays on Zoom.)
- Make some more progress on his summer Gov and Econ courses, which he really needs to finish in the next month.
In the last two days, he’s managed to write up half a chapter of notes from Bio. I would be annoyed with him for being flaky but honestly, he hasn’t had a single week this summer when he wasn’t trying to do something academic and I think he’s burned out.
He’s also planning on joining the robotics team this fall and starting a cycling club with friends. (where was all this joining/starting energy two years ago when it would have mattered for college apps? sigh)
In the next nine months I expect to go fully gray.
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FWIW, I think half the reason things happened the way they did for my older son with Va Tech was a combo of yield protection and they were looking for more higher pay out of state students and the engineering school can bring them in. Since you aren’t a VA resident, I would guess your guy would have a different outcome. (Or, phrased differently, they get more money from you, and your out-of-state wallet is more appealing than my in-state wallet. 
)
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I just saw a headline that said that Cal States might have a deficit of one billion dollars(!) and I wondered what how this might affect OOS vs in state admissions.
California State University trustees forecast 'painful' fiscal year; system could face $1 billion budget deficit, report says - ABC7 Los Angeles.
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What do kids typically wear for zoom college interviews?
Pajama pants and a businesswear top?
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That’s what my kid wore for his first one!
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