I am so glad that this year has wrapped up, but also a bit sad.
I feel like this transition from 11th to 12th is that line of demarcation between having a high school kid vs having a young adult preparing for their future and getting ready to fly the nest! (she is my youngest- so could be why this one is hitting harder than her older brother did )
She had a great year and is excited about her senior year classes. They do not finalize the schedules until a few weeks out of the start of school year- but she was able to see the working draft.
As of now:
~AP Eng Lit
~AP 2D art and Design
~Calc 2: not technically an AP class- but most sign up for and take the BC test. It turns into a concurrent enrollment class during the 2nd semester. Most of our in-state schools take this as a transfer credit for Calc 2- so super nice!!
~ Principles of Engineering (Taken at a separate Tech school)
~ Jewlery design and Metal Smithing (This is the class she is super excited about!!! hopefully this one doesn’t get taken off of her schedule)
~ can’t remember the last one
We are on our way to pick my daughter up from her boarding school now. She’s done! We were out there yesterday for their academic awards ceremony, she got the math award which we sort of expected (she hasn’t gotten anything below an A+ in math all year) but also got the Foreign Language award which was a nice surprise! She’s done with languages now, since she has exhausted the curriculum and just took the French IB exams. So one less class next year!
Sunday we are leaving for a short trip to upstate NY to tour Syracuse and Rochester. Hoping she loves one or both so we can add a couple nice targets to her list. A little concerned that the vibes may be off since school is not in session, but we couldn’t find a better time to visit.
We visited Rochester last summer and my son liked it, despite the lack of students (in fairness, he prefers a smaller school, so the quiet campus may have helped in our case). I recommend The Mad Hatter for brunch if you have time—cool place!
We’ve done nearly all our tours during the summer months because it’s just so hard to fit them in any other time. Have fun, and I hope she likes one (or both)!
I feel like we are in this weird nebulous period for class of 2026. College application period is ALMOST here -but there are summer activities and no real rush to do a ton before August. Guess it’s just becoming so much more real now that Junior year is over.
And that’s officially a wrap for junior year for C26! Ended on a bang with the first finals result out - 100% for precalc honors! (I love this teacher for always grading within a day or two of a test.) They’re grinning from ear to ear. We do have some stuff to do on the weekend though as they have the college application workshop that the school is running Mon/Tue and need to have a rough essay draft, list of ECs etc to take to that.
D26 came home from school yesterday with a big grin. She has been putting off asking her teachers about writing LORs. Finally yesterday she asked her AP Bio and APUSH teachers, and they both seemed delighted to be asked and said they would LOVE to recommend her. D has had good relationships with these teachers all along and enjoyed their classes, but she was still surprised at how positive they were about writing her LORs, and commented to me that she hadn’t previously realized how much they appreciated her as a student!
Finals are next week for my D, so it’s not quite over yet.
D26 turns 17 today! Going out to dinner for homemade ramen at a locally-owned & operated Japanese restaurant in Tucson that we used to take our kids to frequently when they were little (we used to live in Tucson). D26 compares every ramen dish to this place and nothing ever measures up to it. She’s getting a new laptop for her birthday and it’ll double up in a year as a college laptop, too. Her current one doesn’t have any battery life in it anymore, has to be plugged in all the time in order to operate.
She’s sleeping in today and is going to do a whole lot of nothing. Tomorrow is going to pick things back up with Modern States so she can score at least a 75% on their practice Spanish CLEP exam with the goal being to take the Spanish CLEP exam by the end of June.
So D26 and Dad were down at Pearl Street yesterday. That was scary. Just glad she was with Dad (lot less lollygagging around with him there!) instead of by herself or with friends. They were luckily far enough away that they knew something was happening but not what. They did not find out until after they got home and I told them what was going on. Lots of crazy things happen in that area so at the time they just assumed it was ‘normal’ Pearl Street crazy type of stuff instead of what actually happened!!
We are doing this for D26- but as Christmas gift later this year.
Hope your daughters Bday is fun and relaxing!!
We are waiting for college to get a new laptop. C26 is currently using a MacBook which will certainly be ready to be replaced by the end of next school year, but it sounds like windows will be the way to go if they do end up doing architecture. So we’d rather wait and see before buying something now that may not be optimal.
D26 finally bucked up enough courage to ask one of her teachers about a letter of recommendation. He is her favorite teacher this year and she is excelling in his class. He teaches AP US history. And she loves history and I’m sure it shows in that class. He said he’d be thrilled to write it. Now she just has to figure out if she’s going to ask her pre-calculus teacher or her physics teacher. I’m encouraging her to ask physics since she’ll be in AP physics 2 next year and she’s the only girl in it so it shows some guts maybe?. We are in a rural district in Maine and so many of the girls in her grade tend to fall for the idea that girls aren’t good at or shouldn’t like math and science. physics is like the ultimate of math and science combined apparently.
Regarding common app essays. She took a creative writing class at our flagship University last summer and wrote a narrative that was apparently incredible. She received praise from the professor. I haven’t read it, she’s very private about her writing. But she said it was regarding an imaginary game that she made up and would play with a girl from down the street when they were in elementary school. The professor wrote in the critique that her voice was very strong in this essay and she received a perfect score and he kept it to use as an example. Is something like that appropriate to use on the common app? She’s not a kid who has ever really had any personal struggles or anything wild to write about so I was thinking a very well written personal narrative might be perfect on the common app.
100% imo. S26 did an essay writing seminar and they emphasized writing with your own voice and how using AIs will dilute and mute it. There was an example essay on some top university where a girl made a playlist for her team and it helped bring their team closer together and then they went on a winning streak. So essays don’t have to be about struggle they should be honest and personal with the students own voice.
Yes, almost universally (I say almost because there may be a school out there that’s not and I’m not aware of it) Architecture will use a Windows system. I believe most of the software the students use will run on a Mac but there’s several applications or plug-in’s that are not Mac compatible.
Also be aware that with some programs you need to purchase a machine through the school (so all the kids in that cohort are on the exact same spec).
Other than architecture or other math heavy majors, do you think Mac is fine? My d26 has had a MacBook provided by school her whole life so she’s super comfortable with that system. Hoping we can get her one next year as a graduation present.
For sure get her one for graduation but would suggest waiting to see what school/program/etc she’s going into before going out and buying something. Even if you settle on the Mac v Windows debate, certain programs will have very detailed minimum spec machines.
TBH I never understood the tendency towards Apple computers. I learned computers on Apple’s in middle school (back in the 80’s) but since entering college and all through my career it’s been centered on Windows. At my company - approx. 4K people - a handful of folks in IT and Marketing use Mac’s but everyone else is on Windows. For certain occupations I understand that Mac’s can be more useful but for general college work you’re going to be using Microsoft Office. I have nothing against Apple/Mac’s but I’d steer my kid towards what they’re likely to be using in the workforce and that’s still dominated by Windows. Maybe a controversial opinion but my $0.02.
Re: Microsoft Office for college work - Many colleges and universities now have Microsoft 365 integrated into their student portals/course management platforms. I believe it’s cloud-based and works on both PC and Mac.
Even with that available at no extra charge, a lot of college students I know are still using Google docs/sheets, etc. for assignments because they’re so familiar with those apps and already have them on all their devices.
When we did all of our tours, we inquired with various tour guides and on occasion, students we felt comfortable inquiring with on the question of Mac - vs- Windows.
100% said check with department requirements first to ensure you meet them.
100% of the guides and students we inquired with said they used MacBooks. Not a single windows user.
Our daughter would prefer neither and use a chromebook since she can run those with great ease. It will be a new transition for us regardless of the selection.
)
A little concerned that the vibes may be off since school is not in session, but we couldn’t find a better time to visit.
She has been putting off asking her teachers about writing LORs. Finally yesterday she asked her AP Bio and APUSH teachers, and they both seemed delighted to be asked and said they would 
LOVE 