First week of senior year down! It was a good first week, and he seems to like his classes. Even the teacher we’ve heard horror stories about seems okay thus far. His schedule isn’t as brutal as several of his friends who are taking the max number of APs plus additional DE courses. There’s a part of me that wonders if his schedule is too easy, but I hope he can have an enjoyable senior year. Common app is basically done (with some help from mom, in full disclosure), and he just needs his letter of rec now. I was able to convince him that he cannot only apply to Rose-Hulman, so I believe his list will be:
Rose-Hulman
St. Olaf (the only other school he has even a little bit of interest in)
Ole Miss
Miss State
Alabama
Arkansas
And maybe UTK, since it’s in-state
I wish he would add a few more, but I am trying to trust that he knows what school is the best fit. I just have a fear that something wacky will happen and he won’t get into Rose, even though he’s above the 75th percentile for scores. Boy do I love to catastrophize!
Love hearing about everyone else’s progress and the end of summer/start of school year fun!
Oh boy do I feel this. We are in similar place – kid has been working nonstop all summer, so much left to do, and none of us is great at multi-tasking.
She is an auto admit to Stockton and Tiffin U. We are visiting Stockton this week. She has zero interest in Tiffin but it was a 100% Tuition Exchange school with a dance program so it it’s likely Plan Z at this point.
We put in no essay easy apps to Mercyhurst, Minnesota Mankato, U of Southern Mississippi, University of Louisiana Lafayette and Wayne State College in NE.
She hasn’t shown me her essay yet but told me about it and I was impressed with her ideas.
First badgerette competition of the year and they ended up Grand Champions with two 1st place routines, one 2nd place, and two 3rd place routines. And got the Sportsmanship Award. She was thrilled!
I feel this so much. Except change the name of the school. My guy has a favorite, and I’m just catastrophizing. Sigh. I’ll get over it, but this appears the be the thing I’ve latched on to to worry about.
Same (sorta)! While he has a fairly long list with safety and targets, S25’s response when any other school is mentioned is “but I am going to X.” I know he is trying to be positive, but X is a reach for him (and anyone). I want to manage his expectations without crushing his dreams.
Hope everyone has had a decent summer. Hard to believe some kids have already kicked off their senior year! S25 still has two weeks of break, but preseason begins this week for his fall sport. Time to get serious about wrapping his brain around the fall schedule and his commitments - that is hard when it’s still peak tourist season around here and everyone seems to just be having fun instead of thinking about fall.
He did submit for and passed a preread at one school this summer (his current favorite), but S25 is not a priority recruit for a few predictable reasons, and the coach won’t be able to offer him admissions support at this time. The coach left a sliver of a door open if kiddo knocks the fall season out of the park, but S25 thankfully is taking a healthy perspective on that and is no longer putting all of his eggs in that one basket… I had a feeling this would be the case for this coach in this sport, but S25 wanted to see the process through. I think he’s done a terrific job managing it so far, and he has learned a lot and gained a bit of clarity. Even though that school remains his top choice, he is finally beginning to look more holistically at his whole list! Net positive!
I think we need to sit down, review and expand the list, and come up with a strategy for apps. I just am sooooo ready for the routine of the school year and to get the ball rolling on this process.
And ditto on the single digit acceptance rate for S25’s top two choices…holding my breath to say the least.
My kid has a definite top choice (for the moment, at least), but also knows that we’re chasing Big Merit Aid™ and so even admission there definitely doesn’t necessarily mean matriculation.
One thing that came up yesterday, though: I hadn’t realized it, but none of C25’s three older siblings were rejected from any of the colleges they applied to. That’s perhaps skewed a bit by C19 and C23 applying nearly exclusively to big public universities (due to field of interest and preference) rather than more highly selective places, but still—that’s a lot of pressure. I suggested that C25 should send in a RD application to Chicago with a slapdash essay just to be certain of a rejection and eliminate the stress right from the start.
D25 got her schedule today. Some surprise class mates in AP Chem and AP Psych. Kids that have never taken an AP or honors class before. Should be interesting.
School doesn’t start until next Thursday, but the business starts now! Tonight, we have a parent/student all sports meeting, tomorrow is a student council run lock in for all the incoming freshmen, Wed is is picture day (my S28 ad D25 still has to get an ID) and laptop pick up day, plus she has to hand out last year’s yearbooks. Then next week Wed. is freshmen 1st day along with paint your spot for seniors. She will also start her job back up next week. Plus she has a bunch of meetings for her various clubs.
She should be hearing back from her safety (that she LOVES) within the next couple of weeks. Her admin counselor said rolling admit decision start coming out later this month. Her teacher said she’d look over her essay on Wednesday this week so hopefully there will be just very minor changes (we’re thinking tense corrections) and then she can submit to her reach.
Interesting re the surprise classmates. My understanding is that AP Chem is one of those classes notorious for A LOT of work. If true, those that haven’t really had any other AP or honors classes may be in for a rude awakening.
Last night a member of my son’s senior class died of suicide. My son didn’t know him (it’s a big class and son is shy.) But he was a successful athlete and a prominent member of the class. Of course even if he were a complete unknown, it would be gut-wrenching. Somebody lost their kid, suddenly and completely. Parents I’m texting with are reeling.
In a quasi-unrelated note, some entrepreneurs/business partners made public comment tonight in my planning commission meeting wherein they proudly announced that their daughters were about to start at (insert two names of top 20 ultra-selective schools) and jokingly discussed that they had gone to Stanford and Cal but would shelve their rivalry for the sake of their business venture.
I think before I would have felt a warm glow for their daughters and laughed appreciatively at their joke. Today, I winced, a bit. Would they have name-checked their kids going to Sonoma State or a local community college, or referenced a rivalry that didn’t come with quite the cache? Our area is really attuned to where people’s kids go to college and people spend an ungodly amount of time and energy (while acting publicly nonchalant, of course) to try to get our kids into some school that affords us bragging rights, a place that we imagine that will secure their tenuous position in Silicon Valley (help them get the job at McKinsey or Google or wherever we imagine they can make enough to replicate our lifestyles, I guess?) Of course it’s b/s. We all kind of know it (some more than others I guess). And yet this is the culture and we mostly participate in it.
It’s pretty rough on the kids. Not saying the first tragedy is connected but as we’re all describing the stress our kids are under just trying to get ready to start the school year, not to mention all the applications that are looming…I wonder, and I worry, and I wish we could take our feet off the gas a bit. Let our kids be kids for a little while longer without worrying that we’re dropping balls/compromising their futures.
(a dispatch from Silicon Valley, which is not looking like the land of milk and honey at the moment.)
Our school is trying so hard to get more kids who haven’t been on the traditional honors track to opt into harder courses, even it if means spending extra time supporting them. There’s decent evidence that a lot of kids from lower-income backgrounds (/kids with parents who don’t have college degrees or aren’t as attuned to how the system works) don’t sign up for these course and aren’t encouraged to do so, even if they could handle the material. I hope in your daughter’s case that the kids are getting the support and encouragement they need to thrive.
Took d25 to nyc for the first time. She hated New Orleans so we were surprised she didnt hate nyc.
She would love a place similar in diversity but more suburban she said.
schools also worked! (Space after the X and the first parenthese.)