LOVE College Essay Guy!
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To alleviate some of my mom nervousness about D26ās physics grade, I used an online GPA calculator and put in different variations of a physics grade to see how it would impact her overall HS GPA. Her GPA will drop a little bit but it wonāt be significant.
Review week is in full swing. Thereās no regular classes starting next weekā¦just AP exams and regular final exams. She doesnāt have any on Monday, so sheās going to stay home from school that day.
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We were supposed to hear back today from a selective residential summer art program that S26 applied to months ago. Instead we got a message this evening saying they are still āworking on it.ā If S26 doesnāt get into this program, it will be a bit of a mad dash to fill his summer with something meaningful. Itās hard to be kept waiting this long already!
Iāve been poking around for some ideas. Lately, S26 has been very interested in philosophy and forms of government. Maybe a philosophy classā¦ heās definitely not someone who wants to work in governmentāhis interests are more theoretical.
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Oy, thatās frustrating ā I hope you hear in the next day or two! How long is this residential art program?
I looked at so many for D26, but almost all of them conflicted with band camp for her. (And before band camp there is pre-camp, and before that there is a band leadership retreat, and now before that there will be a band cabinet retreat. Ha!)
I really, really wanted to send her to the National High School Game Academy at Carnegie Mellon. It looks incredible. But there was no way we could make the six-week residential program work with her scheduleā¦and it costs $12,500. 
Sheās doing one week of game design elsewhere in a much more chill program, lol. (This was planned after she didnāt get into the Latin program she was trying for.)
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My D was really interested in this one, too! But in the end, we all decided it was too pricey to apply.
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S26 was rejected from one more summer internship, so itās off to his back up plan. A summer community college class and working. His sister found him a job already. Turns out one of her classmates parents have recently opened up a small shop by us, we stopped by to try it and out and turned out one of the owners was working there. A quick chat and she said she could use the help and best of all S26 can walk to the shop. His original plan was to work at in and out but that would have required driving and he doesnāt have a car. This works out much better for everyone.
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Glad that the Plan B worked out so quickly! 
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D26 warned us yesterday evening that sheās going to be a little testy & stressed out over the next 2 weeks and asked us to be patient with her. Sheās finished the Modern States Calculus course and is going to take its CLEP practice exam this evening or tomorrow evening.
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My D26 was also recently rejected from a summer internship. Thankfully, she knew it was a long shot and had already found a back-up summer job (day camp counselor). She actually thinks the job will be more fun anyway. Added bonus: no driving required either!
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Thatās awesome that sheās that self aware! Iād love that type of heads-up of whatās coming.
D26 here is getting stressed by her upcoming AP exams, and she ended up just melting down. Went through it all yesterday, gave her the pep talk (or more just the talk about whatās really important in life and that it aināt the APs!) She was worried about what her teacher, whoās going to be one of her recommenders, would say if she didnāt do well! Phew, so much self-imposed pressure these days!
Anyway, sheās back to normal today, but this year and next feel like real pressure cookers for these kids.
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In on the stressed out kid!
She got two roster spot offers yesterday. One would think that she would be happy seeing sheās been working for this for so long. Nope, too stressed out to think, and even sending a thank you email was enough to send her into tears.
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Summer plans for my kiddo:
D is planning to work. 5 weeks as a counselor at an overnight camp sheās been a camper/CIT since she was only 5 (she used to come with me when I worked there before she was old enough to attend as a real camper. And the only summer she missed was when they were closed due to Covid) then a few weeks on a family vacation to Spain to see all of our old exchange students together. And then sheāll spend the rest of the summer and the early fall working at a local resort providing childcare where she gets paid a ridiculous amount of money, including tips.
She has a potential opportunity to scrap all of that and do an internship at a local publishing company. Her intended major in college is probably English? Maybe double major with something actually money making. And the internship would be with our neighbor who is the editor at this local publisher. Sheās looking for an intern for the summer to do pre-reading, etc. but itās unpaid. And it would mean missing the camp sheās attended for 12 years as well as missing her more lucrative job at the local resort. Hard decision for sure but sheās been so so focused on school and AP test prep and SAT prep and all of that stuff that she really needs the summer to decompress before College applications hit her like a ton of bricks. I even advised her to reconsider taking an online college class this summer. She is getting a little bit burnt out from school work.
What are everyone elseās kids doing this summer? I see so many posts about fun internships and other opportunities. We live in the middle of nowhere so anything she attends is either virtual or she has to live there.
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Wait, this is a good thing, right? Do you mean swim team spots at schools sheās interested in? But does she have to apply and get into the schools the regular way, too?
(Sorry I know nothing about this world.)
Congrats to her! Hope sheās able to breathe and enjoy it for a minute!
Yes, it is a good thing. She will have to apply ED, but coaches committed to providing admissions support. But sheās too stressed out to enjoy it. She bought herself a little time to think about it, so will just continue with AP exam prep and deal with it later.
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Iām still mad c26 didnāt get the counselor job - also been there since 6yo as camper/CIT, even online during covid. But, they will be working 2 weeks at an art camp, then 4 weeks residential at a pre-college architecture program. Then possibly a week at the engineering program they got nominated for - tbd. Maybe a week in the Midwest for us including some college tours - weāll see. Iām exhausted thinking about it all!
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I get it. Itās all brutal. Mine had a giant 9-week project due yesterday, and she underestimated how long it would take her to finish (sheās a slow and deliberate worker) ā so she hasnāt slept in days. Today she has a bit of a breather, so sheās curled up in fetal position on her bed watching YouTube, which is really all she can muster.
Tomorrow is the seniorsā last day of school, and she has a few classes that are majority seniors, so it gets easier from here on out ā mostly AP exam prep (and she only has two) plus one major research paper for English. If only the child would listen to me and knock the whole thing out this weekend, then she can coast.
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That is a hard decision! I wonder if she can do the camp/resort this summer, and then ask if she can do the editing internship next summer? I guess that doesnāt help if your neighbor needs someone now. (Unpaid internships make me unreasonably annoyed. Surely they could offer a small stipend, at least.)
Weāre doing a two-week family vacation in Europe at the beginning of summer. Then D26 turns 18 in June (sheās on the older end for her grade), so she and her twin brother want to do something big to celebrate. What, I donāt know, lol.
Sheās doing a one-week game design program at a college in early July, and right when she gets back, all her marching band leadership stuff will start (retreats, meetings, etc) ā before she heads to actual band camp the third week of July. After that, itās daily marching rehearsal, and school starts in early August.
It feels like very little summer! She has a couple free weeks in June, and we may use that time to do a college trip.
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Pass on the internship. Do the summer camp job + resort childcare job. Let kid veg and not take summer school class.
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D26 is going to continue working at Walmart 16 hr/week. Sheās going to do an online āintro to Python scriptingā class that starts in June and goes through mid-Sept. Meets online once a week. Is NOT a community college class.
Am not pushing her to ask for more summer hours at Wally World since although we have 3 cars, 1 is down for the count and needs repair work and all of our spare $$ is going to pay for D24ās college fees right now, so repairs on car #3 have to wait awhileā¦and we have to share 2 cars between 4 drivers this summer since D24 will be home from college for the summerā¦and sheās going to do a 3-week M-F CNA class and then is going to get a job to work the rest of the summer 40 hr/wk as a CNA (certified nursing assistant).
I might make D26 try to do some ACT test prep over the summer, but itās going to have to be cheap/free test prep. There isnāt a budget for test prep courses in our household right now.
Looking at how expensive airfare is getting, the thought of D26 attending college in state is becoming a lot more attractive.
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D26ās 1st day of senior year is going to be Thurs 7/31. Holy cow.
Oh and in June, D26 is getting her wisdom teeth removed.