Another senior milestone today. Senior sunrise and painting the rocks on a hill above the school to reflect the grad year. It’s such a fun tradition and the kids, of course, are covered with paint at the end!
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ETA: Realizing this didn’t send.
The college visit trips so far have been very helpful to D25. We will likely hold now until admitted student days so she can make her final choice.
We have learned that colleges that she thought would be great on paper, aren’t. That any type of service learning or public service and volunteering is a huge plus for her (feeds her soul and helps her meet people). And that talking to professors and other college staff have helped narrow her focus down on connecting a college major to a real life job after graduation. So although she may not attend any of the colleges she has visited thus far, they have helped on her journey and for that I am grateful!
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This x1000. Especially with smaller schools, we found it was super important to visit in person because they all have completely different vibes and while one smaller school might feel bigger than its population, another might feel cramped and way too small.
One of my kids thought Mt Holyoke was going to be their ED choice. Visited and it fell completely off the list (awesome school, gorgeous, fantastic programs and a total nope from child).
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D25’s school just announced her graduation date and time and I’m like 
all at once.
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Math/Physics teacher finally uploaded the LOR this weekend! Hooray! So all applications are now complete and I believe the remaining four decisions should come out throughout December.
Homecoming was this past weekend. S25 has never gone to a homecoming dance, but he decided on a whim to go with some friends. He had a blast and said he wishes he had gone in past years. I just reminded him to make the most of his senior year and to attend as many events as possible. And to remember this when he’s off at college and deciding whether he should participate in activities vs. sitting in his room gaming!
Fall break is next week, and we’re headed to DC for five days. No college visits. Just visiting some friends, museums and getting our fill of good food. The following weekend we’re headed to Illinois (my husband’s alma mater) for the Illinois/Purdue game. I’m interested in see if S25 will show any desire to apply to Illinois after our visit. He was always interested in attending when he was younger, since his dad went there. But I think it will be telling to see how he responds after our weekend there.
Hope everyone has a great week!
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D25 is moving forward on the Common App and now I have a question:
She’d like to include a letter of rec from a dance teacher (not at her school). Would this fall under “arts teacher” or “coach”?
I think so. It really depends more on whether the specific college accepts additional recommendations. Some do others don’t.
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If they aren’t a teacher (K–12 or postsecondary) or the equivalent, they don’t fall under that label.
(And even if they are a teacher, if they’re being asked for a recommendation for outside of classroom reasons, they’re best placed in the “other” category.)
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I just want to clarify: so a dance teacher outside the school shouldn’t be considered a coach, either? Just put under “other”?
Edit: my kid is doing this in another location, so we’re corresponding by text and me not looking at it. My apologies if this is really obvious!
Ah! I think I misunderstood your initial question!
You were asking about “arts teacher” as a subcategory of “other recommender”, not “teacher”?
If that is what you meant, then yes, the dance teacher is an “arts teacher”!
But they aren’t a teacher recommender, who’s an arts teacher.
So no, it isn’t obvious, and apologies for the misunderstanding and resultant misleading.
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I don’t know the exact set up but that recommendation, whatever the category, will generally be “an additional truly optional recommendation” which some but not all colleges allow for and should not be used as replacement for any of the standard LORs. If there is some sort of drop down I don’t think it really matters the category she chooses. Just pick on that makes sense and move on. I’d be inclined to schools coach or other for an outside dance teacher. As a rule of thumb these extra LORs should only be used if they will present something new and personal about h the applicant.
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We’ve had similar experiences, but not just with small colleges. My D25 thought she would love Boston College, but she just wasn’t feeling it. With the smaller schools, we looked at quite a few in PA, OH, and NY that sound very similar on paper. But in person they felt really different. We’re not making anymore visits for now. She has a good list and can wait for admitted student days to sort things out if she doesn’t get into her ED choice.
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Quick question re: Common App. In the Honors/Awards section, there’s a place to list the awards but no place to explain what that award is for. Is there another section where we can provide more details? What do you recommend? Thanks in advance.
Nope. You can add a short descriptor to the award box itself. If you feel it really warrants an explanation you could add the the additional information section, but I would do this cautiously.
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First acceptance! Washington State University, one of C25’s financial safeties (auto-qualifies for a full tuition scholarship), sent their response fast.
So that’s good to have settled as the rest of the process moves onward.
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Thank you! I’ll ask S25 to try to fit that in the award box… I don’t think he noticed the additional information section yet, I’ll ask him to look for it. Thanks!
Congratulations - Acceptance at a financial safety that C25 would like to go to is wonderful!
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Son just got into his safety too! University Colorado Denver. He still has to audition for his major, but it’s so nice to know he has at least one option to consider 
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UCD was one of the two my C23 had to decide between! (Though she ended up choosing North Texas.) They’ve got some really good programs in the fine arts-adjacent sphere.
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S25 has two safeties in hand now: Pitt and the University of New Hampshire. All his EA and ED applications are in. We are keeping our fingers crossed that his school sends out transcripts soon, and we are still waiting for his main recommender to submit, but things are moving!
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