We had a two-hour “go over the report” meeting today with the psychologist who did D26’s psycho-ed testing over spring break. There’s nothing better than listening to an extended explanation of all the ways your kid struggles.
The good news is her IQ is off the charts, as we knew, and she is able to compensate for a bunch of things because she’s wickedly smart. The interesting news is she was not diagnosed with any anxiety this time at all, whereas last time it was three different anxiety disorders.
The expected news is she still has moderate combined-type ADHD, along with all the associated foibles. It stings a bit to hear the comments from teachers regarding what they worry about most for her.
But, she will now be armed with the info she needs to navigate college accommodations – so, onward.
This is the last time we will need to do a full psycho-ed eval with this particular psychologist, who has been seeing our kids since they were very young. I think we contributed pretty significantly to her retirement fund.
On college tours, both of my kids had rules for me to follow. Mostly stuff like “Don’t ask any embarrassing questions.” What constitutes an embarrassing question? They could not specify.
THIS!! My D23 was a classical voice and musical theatre applicant. Between mid-Jan through the end of Feb, she and I went to numerous college auditions all over the country. It was super stressful, but we had so many adventures just the two of us. It was a really special time and I am truly thankful for it.
That is great that she has all of this ready before college starts so she can begin on the right path with everything in place to help her be successful.
Leaving tomorrow for our nearly weeklong college visit marathon. D26 has narrowed it down to 3 assuming she does not get off any WLs.We are also visiting a couple more SLACs just to be sure that she is not really interested in them.
Wish me luck - she has been so snarky to me - mostly because she has been really disappointed with the results and I’m her safe space but I am getting tired of it.
I DID end up asking a couple of questions on each tour. I learned after the fact that my questions were NOT embarrassing because I asked stuff like:
What’s your favorite place to study on campus that’s not in your room? (every time, there would be somebody else in the tour group who would say, “Oh that’s a good question!”).
What’s your favorite class you’ve taken here so far?
What do you love the most about this college? (or ‘Why did you decide to attend here?’)
Hahaha this. I was on a tour with D24 a few years ago, and we were taken to a super nice rec center – and I had the temerity to ask the guide how crowded the gym was at peak times.
We fly out for admitted students day visits weekend 2 of 3 tonight. Southern California this time, so shorts weather! (Forecast in the 80s for both schools). Back to back days of visits should be interesting for comparing.
I also realized that for the three schools that remain, we very likely will see people we know since they are all small colleges that always have admitted students from her high school considering them. And for the two in CA, even on prospective student visits we saw people we knew from her HS and her middle school (only a couple kids from her middle school go to her HS). We’ll have to strategize so we don’t get distracted catching up with old friends. Maybe make a plan to meet them for coffee or dinner or something after?
It interests me how people differ on the prospects of high school classmates at college. Some kids don’t mind either way, some actively want to know there are people they know on campus, others actively prefer not to have too many people they know.
Drumroll…… We are getting very close to a decision (finally)…. Last night, D revealed that she is very seriously leaning towards CWRU. I told her to sleep on it, and she said she already has. I think we will still wait a few more days before clicking all the buttons and paying the deposit, but she seems content. She said it was her favorite nursing program (facilities, clinicals, nursing abroad options, all of it), and she felt socially confident there. For example, she would not be intimidated to rush or tryout for intramural/club teams, etc. So instead of working, I spent my morning window shopping for college merch and checking out their housing.
Welcome to Duke! I am an alum, S24 a sophomore and D26 headed there this fall with your D!
It’s a magical place for so many reasons but her why is so especially touching.
And I will second they are very generous with need based aid, which makes it easy to say yes.
