Hi everyone! I’ve only posted once in this thread but I’d been enjoying reading everyone else’s stories. I took a couple weeks’ break and wow! Your kids all are making great progress!
My daughter took her SAT in June and I promised her not to bug her about college from then until she got back from her summer program, as long as she got a satisfactory score, which she did. That was hard for me! She’s been back for about three weeks and started school Monday. She has a (in both our opinions) very poor first draft of her Common App essay written. We have both been dreading the essay writing process, she HATES writing about herself, so I suggested the “other” topic. She then tried a couple different themes before settling on the draft she’s got now. This is about where I thought she’d be - it’s not pretty but it’s coming together. Her English teacher will provide lunch hour help with essays starting the second week of September - I think she’ll have a decent draft ready by then.
She has also made progress on the rest of the Common App, but I don’t think she’s requested recommendations yet.
The goal is to apply to all seven colleges by UNC’s early action deadline of October 15th and be done, except for a couple honors applications. She has seven weeks left.
My daughter also chose the other category for her essay. She is done with her essay now I think. Once she had that first draft the pace started picking up and she was able to do revisions and make it pretty good. Now she just has to hit that submit button.
D25 got into one of her top 2 yesterday (no essay required for this one)! The admission counselor actually called her in person to tell her. We knew she’d get in as it’s her safety but still feels really good to get into one that she really wants to go to.
She is so close to submitting her app for her other top choice and she has that interview on Labor Day. She’s planning to submit it tonight hopefully but by tomorrow at the latest, so they have it before her interview. She’s just waiting for her teacher to give it one final read.
Yes! This is about where things are around here too. S25 did say that he worked on his common app some more yesterday and we agreed to set aside some time this weekend to review what he’s got.
It’s a very different dynamic around here in the morning than in the past, since he is out the door by about 6:45/6:50 every day. So much quieter. He is really going to have to manage his time well and be way more organized than he ever was at his old school. There’s been a change in his class schedule - they apparently bumped his psych class to the spring, so his load is a bit lighter this semester, but only on paper. He expects a lot of work, especially in his English class. We’ve gone over the upside and the downside of not having this class this semester- and he’ll be OK. In the grand scheme of things, this is relatively minor. I think I need to tell myself that he’ll be OK every day for the next year - ha!
D25 thinks AP Lit is going to be her toughest class. Last night, she’s said, “We’re reading like a book a week!” They just finished Oedipus Rex. After I said, “wow!” I also added, “You’ll be ready for college then next year.” She agreed it was a steep curve, but it would benefit her in the end. That is a big improvement in her attitude towards challenges.
Her language teacher asked her if she wanted to move up to Language 4 and she said no because it would conflict with her other Language 4 class. She also was very insightful about it and said that she was not as strong orally as her fluent classmates, but she was better at the written work product.
Still no finished Common App, still no final essays, still no applications submitted. I might force the issue this long weekend. One rolling admission application in her back pocket (and presumed acceptance) would make me feel more relaxed about next year. Once she gets one in-state admission (San Jose State) and one out-of-state admission (Oregon), the rest is icing.
Reflecting upon yourself is hard! Still, the “other” topic should still be about herself. Whatever she writes about, “she” needs to come through, whether it’s character, passion or drive. Even if it’s not “about” her.
The way my kids have approached it is to write a story without regard to the prompts. I don’t think they ever even looked at the list. After it’s done we’ve gone back and picked the one that worked best.
I gave my daughter three “not-about-me” prompts and asked her to dash off a quick 300 words on each. For one of the prompts, after she finished she told me that prompt wasn’t bad, but asked if she could modify it because there was a specific aspect she wanted to dive further into. Perfect! The modified prompt shows more about who she is and what’s important to her, and that’s the kernel of the current draft. I think once she refines it she’ll find that it actually answers one of the non-“other” CommonApp prompts quite well. But if we had started there, she’d still be struggling.
Everything about this is awesome! Congrats to your daughter - its not whether a school is a safety or not, but rather about the fit and whether it is a match for who you are and what you want to accomplish. Having been accepted to a school this early in the process that she would be delighted to attend is such a tremendous lift of pressure. That said, all the best with the interview to #1. Hope she has a difficult decision to make between #1 and #2 soon.
I’m trying hard to back off this year and not micromanage so much. Kiddo has ADHD and he’s needed a fair amount of scaffolding over the years. Thankfully he’s so much more self-directed now. I just tend to remind him about things that he needs to get done, teachers he needs to reach out to, etc. I’m also trying not to hound him about his grades, since he really has to manage this himself. So far he’s doing well and I’m struggling a little bit to let go. Hopefully I will do better!
Last night was the back to school night where parents visit each class to hear from all the teachers. There weren’t a lot of senior parents there, but I went to specifically hear from his math teacher. She is known to be incredibly rigid and not very nice to the kids. She is also a stickler about handwriting, which is my son’s biggest weakness. I tried to engage her after the session to see how I can best support him, and she basically said, “If I can’t read it, I can’t grade it.” When I asked for some advice she just shrugged. Thankfully he’s trying really hard to do neat work, even though it’s difficult. He said it’s good practice for college and that he’s learning to be more careful with his work. So, once again, I need to just sit back and let him figure this out. (But it’s so darn hard!)
Excited to hear about application progress and other updates from the group!
Oh my word, that sounds awful. I’m not sure I would have been able to keep my composure in the face of that response! Let’s hope your kiddo is able to manage what he needs to with that teacher, and gets through the year ok.
And I totally sympathize with the feeling of how hard it is to not get too involved and just see if the kiddo can manage on his own. I am the same way with S25!
Good luck, and know that you’ve got a cheering section here on the forum to let you know you’ll do great, the kid will do great, the year will cycle through and we’re all going to make it okay!
I usually do well with teachers and always try to be really respectful with them. This one is definitely a tough nut to crack! Thankfully S25 is having a really good attitude and trying hard. He is so passionate about math and says he’s going to use this as an opportunity to hone the quality of his work. At least one of us is having a good attitude about her!
This is a great attitude to have and I suspect that he will have much success in this class, largely because of the attitude. I can see the teacher’s point and I can see your frustration / angst with her response, but your son’s attitude will carry the day.
We’re in a holding pattern. D25 is this close to having her common app essay done, and keeps saying she’s going to “finish it tonight”. I think she and I might have different definitions of “tonight”. She showed me the start of her activities list and I commented that it was really dry. Mistake! Learn from my mistake! It turned out no one had told her she should use active verbs. Somehow I thought she knew all these things, which is my bad. This is a learning curve for both of us.
Off to a dance thing for the weekend on the other coast. I’ll be wowed by the lower housing costs, super excited to come home from humidity, or both. I’m just hoping she comes away from this get together with a better sense of which type of program would be best for her goals. Random question for anyone (dance experience not required): do you think it’s ok if I just print her headshots and paper clip them to her dance resume? Or do you think I need to go to Staples and get them to print a two sided resume/headshot?
Congrats on the almost done essay - S25 hasn’t started his!
I think it depends on what the dance thing is…we printed 2 sided headshot/resumes for auditions with professional companies, etc, but for a competition, I would probably go the paper clip route.
Well, two days in on senior year, and I guess it is time to share:
On the classes front, S25 seems to be feeling good about what he has lined up for both days (4 classes one day, another 4 the next day, and then alternating). He’s had all but two of his teachers before, and is thrilled that he can have lunch with his buddies both days this year. He’s taking two math classes (the IB required math plus Calc A/B) and has the same teacher for both. Here’s hoping she’s easier to get along with than it sounds like @Kumihama-Cho 's kiddo’s match teacher!
The one hiccup to the start of the year is that S25’s counselor – who he would normally list on the Common App to submit his transcript – is out on maternity leave. The school didn’t say anything to any of the parents about it, and I think they are clueless about how some students might already be in the submission process, but I’ve freaked out a little about it. S25 has sent an email to student services to see if they can tell him who he should list on future applications to make sure his stuph actually gets sent.
And speaking of applications … first one in and done! It’s for S25’s fifth choice out of the five he has on his current list, so I’m trying to be chill about the fact that he might have sent it in with the wrong high school counselor contact.
But today I got to read his essay for the first time, right before I gave him the credit card details to pay for the application. And I got such a kick out of reading it! I hope an admissions officer will see it as an honest presentation of my kiddo.
I’m a super critical reader, so I think S25 was both relieved and honestly happy to get a positive reaction from me on his work. He knows I won’t hold back, so for me to only have one comma and one preposition to change, he has to feel pretty good. We walked down for ice cream tonight to celebrate.
Looking forward to hearing from other folks about how things are going!
Three days in to senior year and when I ask my child how classes are going the only thing he has said is “I am going to be like a god in ASL.”
Like a naive idiot, I said “why? Are you picking it up quickly?” (He’s in ASL 1, he needed one additional class and most of the ones that appealed to him wouldn’t work with his schedule. He’s had four years of French so doesn’t need a language, but figured this would be interesting and potentially useful.)
His answer to my question?
“No, I’m just ok at it. But I’m the only senior in the class and I sit with a group of freshman boys. They think I’m AMAZING.”
D25 heard back from her teacher about her essay today. She said it was good to go. I naively thought all she had to do was come home and quick upload the essay onto her application. Nope! She still had to enter all her classes and do all of that other stuff. So guess what’s not getting submitted tonight?! GRR.
Oh well. They got all of their decisions made for spirit week and homecoming in student council today. Sounds like it’s going to be really fun.
It’s for S25’s fifth choice out of the five he has on his current list, so I’m trying to be chill about the fact that he might have sent it in with the wrong high school counselor contact.
. No lack of confidence for this kid…