Ugh, S26’s June ACT score is still not out. Getting a little impatient over here!
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Mine did too. She said she really doesn’t like touring colleges and will visit schools more seriously if she is accepted.
Her college list is still very long (around 15 schools). This is partly because direct admit BSN programs are super competitive. There is really no such thing as a safety and D will need to cast a fairly wide net. However, we know for sure she will apply to Pitt in August. She liked the campus when we visited (favors urban campuses) and the nursing program is top notch. If she is accepted early (Pitt is rolling) that will change things dramatically. There are a bunch of schools she will likely cross off her list at that point.
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Mine is applying for BSN as well but only half her list is direct admit. Her top choice is not direct admit but I am wondering if things will change once she has an actual idea of what her options are. She is very set on only the south, with one exception to a direct admit program right near us here inn the NE. But that school is way down the list for right now. It will be really interesting to see how this all plays out. I am also curious since our kids are the first round of the “drop in admissions due to low birth rate” if that will actually have an impact on admissions. I feel like it probably won’t as most kids apply to the same 500 schools and I am not sure a decrease of 400,000 graduating seniors will be enough to have an impact this year.
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How funny, S26 had the exact same reaction to Stanford food. He did a music program on campus two summers and constantly complained about the dorms and the quality of food. He liked the downtown Berkeley food selection a lot more. Not a big issue for us as I don’t think he’ll be getting into Stanford.
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D26 made some progress today with college app essay prep & completed the roles & identities exercise from College Essay Guy. Plus a good friend of hers (who happens to be a boy) stopped by today to pick up some Star Wars books that we’re getting rid of…D24 & I both think that this boy has a crush on D26, but D26 is totally oblivious to it. 
I told D26 about the U of A changes to their admissions process. Her reaction was, “Eh, ok, whatever. I’m still applying.” And then later on, she said, “Is it bad that I just want to skip the rest of the summer so we can start senior year and I can hurry up and finish high school already?”
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S26’s ACT score arrived upon our landing in Boston this evening. His score went up 2 points! He’s very happy with it and that concludes his chapter of standardized testing. Whew!
We are here to tour Northeastern, Middlebury and University of Vermont before I drop him off at his precollege program at Brown for a couple of weeks. I’m excited to see Northeastern again through S26’s perspective. It was not at all a fit for D22 (I believe she called it “the school without a soul”) but there’s some cool stuff about it that might be a hit for S26 (they have a good advising program for undeclared students, they have strong support for neurodiverse students, he is curious about NU.in, he loves Boston).
I’m working out of NYC and ATL before I pick him up again and we head south to see Wesleyan, Fordham, Vassar, NYU.
He still doesn’t have a definitive list but I hope this concludes our pre-application touring. He can do online research and make educated guesses after seeing a handful of privates, OOS publics, LACs. He’s someone who really needs to see places, but I think this journey will give him a lot of perspective about what he wants.
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Wesleyan will look a little underwhelming without undergraduates, but try to stop by Brew Bakers coffee shop on Main bet. Court and William Streets. You’ll get a good idea of the surrounding town and gown mix. Closes at 2PM.
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It sounds like most are done (or are nearly done) with the testing cycle. That has to feel good to all of our students.
Hope all got what they wanted from it!!! And for those few that still have another test or 2- Good luck!! 
It will be over with soon.
And many also have their list of schools to apply to in the works!
It is starting to feel a bit too real. 
Not sure that I am ready to let my youngest go- the empty nest is going to hit me hard, I think.
D26 left yesterday for Ireland. I did not sleep a wink last night. Got my proof of life photo from her after she made it through immigration/customs- so I feel like I can breathe again!! lol
They would not let Dad go with her past security- so she was on her own after check in. She has never flown independently before- so going international was an epic way for a first go at independence. She should now be able to handle any solo trip from this point on!!
It will be nice for her to have this next month as down time doing something that she really loves (Art/Photography) that has absolutely nothing to do with school or college applications.
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My D26 had a viscerally negative reaction to Northeastern — which I had expected to be a great fit (direct admit nursing, urban campus with green space, fun city, good hospitals for clinicals, etc.). She said she would rather go to community college!
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This is why college tours can be so helpful! It could look great on paper or online but when you get there, you either love it or hate it or it’s just “meh.”
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Haha, we’ve also been using “proof of life” while C26 is away.
It’s been hitting me quite hard this week - it feels somehow different from when D19 went away and I’m sure it’s because it’s the “baby” effect. Not much helped by the fact that C26 is not super communicative so I’m always worrying that they’re ok! When we dropped them off, the program director did say “parents.., I know it’s hard but you need to let your children go”,so I’ve been trying not to overload them with questions!
They did text me earlier to say that they were the only one in their studio group who got the lecturer’s “stamp of approval’ for yesterday’s project, which they were really happy about because they felt like they didn’t really know what they were doing! It was a 3D paper project and they have always been good at 3D stuff. But it’s nice to know someone else objectively thinks so, and it’s a nice boost for their confidence I think.
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We do the same, asking for proof of life! Yay for your kid on getting that stamp of approval and a boost of confidence! Are they in a summer art workshop?
S26 is at Kenyon, almost halfway through the Young Writers Workshop. I had a hard time earlier in the week wondering if he’s ok, if he’s made friends. He’s shy, an introvert, who doesn’t communicate much to us either, answers yes or no, keeps a lot to himself, and keeps me wondering! I know not to bombard him with questions so I waited patiently for him to share what he wants to share when he’s ready. So different from S23 when he went away one summer. S23 was a lot more outgoing I guess!
A few days ago, finally, he shared attending a meeting, commiserating with other kids, going to dinner with them, and playing a card game! It made my day!! He’s shared pictures and expressed that he’s having fun, but no details. Yet! I know he’ll share more when we pick him up in about a week!
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It’s an architecture workshop. They are also an introvert so it’s been a bit tricky on the friends side,but by last night they had a couple of friends to hang out with so that’s a good start. There was an evening lecture the other day that they were not so keen on but then told me afterwards it was interesting. (Do I know what it was about, no lol). This one is a 4-week one which feels quite long but I think they’ll be ok. And hopefully enough to give them a good sense of whether this is something they do actually want to do (better to find out now if not than after a year of tuition and classes which are hard to transfer to other degrees).
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It’s such a relief hearing they’re ok and making friends! Yes, these summer workshops are great sneak peeks into programs, or even the school! S26 is at Kenyon to see if creative writing is indeed for him and if Kenyon’s campus is a place he can live in for 4 years. Two weeks isn’t long at all (wish it was 4 weeks like yours), but it’s enough to give him a taste of college life and Kenyon.
Is yours interested in applying to the school they’re currently attending for the architecture workshop?
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No - the school (cal poly) only offers a 5-year BArch and C26 is more interested in a 4-year BS followed by an MArch. In any case their GPA is not competitive enough, especially as cal poly takes 9th grade into account when C26 had a terrible year before their ADHD was diagnosed and treated. They might give it a moonshot because it’s an easy application (CSU app, no essays), especially if they decide that they might apply for architectural engineering rather than BArch there, but realistically it’s not going to happen. But I am interested to hear what they have to say about liking the campus. Neither my husband nor I liked it much when we dropped them off, and it’s a totally different…. everything from their current #1 choice of Boulder. That said, I know from D19 that very different campuses can sometimes still appeal to the same student.
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It does seem like this is the summer to really be a big kid, lol – flying alone, doing the summer programs, etc. Mine is doing a one-week game design camp the week after next, which is the only one we could find that didn’t conflict with her band camp and band leadership retreats and all the band stuff, lol. (The better/longer programs were all in late July and early August.) Oh well – she’ll have to get a taste of it quickly. She’s also flying alone to said program, first time flying alone and to a city/airport she’s never been to – but it’s less than a 2-hour flight, not Ireland! 
She’s used to flying in and out of Atlanta, though, which is such a pain that anywhere else seems tame.
Crossing my fingers she learns something useful in the short game design program because she has a year-long game project planned for her senior STEM seminar class, and she’ll have to hit the ground running.
Yesterday and today I took my S25 for freshman orientation at his college – we are both exhausted, lol. They took the students for their own activities and programming and then had separate presentations for the parents. It was SO much info. Good grief. I sent my D22 off to college in another state without knowing a tenth of what I now know about my son’s school – but different kid, different school, different situation.
DH and I plus both our girls plan to go with him to move-in and get him settled. I can’t even fathom how weird it’s going to be to leave him there. 
(This is my kiddo that has needed many, many supports throughout his life…but here he is, ready to launch.)
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C26 (and co.) got to see a corpse flower bloom today! They have it in the Cal Poly greenhouse. Got a fabulous photo too…and said they had apparently missed “peak stink” so the smell wasn’t too bad!
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Well, nearly at the end of week 1 (they have studio on Saturdays as well). C26 has been really enjoying the studios and we have been enjoying the photos of the work they are sending us.
This is a kid with real natural talent in art (in everything they’ve tried, sketching, painting, 3D art - unlike the parents who are good at drawing but not the other stuff) but who for much of school has chafed against the idea of being told what to draw, paint etc so they have not actually done any high school art classes (they did middle school art and 3D art, and have been taking outside art classes the past year where they can choose what to draw/paint/sculpt etc and the teacher helps with technique), so I was interested to see how they would adapt to a formal studio environment. So far so good! I wasn’t sure at first about choosing one of the longer programs for this but happy now that we did, and so are they. BIG sigh of relief haha.
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This is so good to hear! I totally understand the sigh of relief, lol. Hopefully the rest of the program goes smoothly, and your kiddo comes back invigorated and ready to move forward in this career.
Holding my breath while my D26 figures out exactly what she wants to do and chooses between programs.
In her architecture/engineering class this past year, she loved the sketching and drawing of elevations and building 3D models. The calculations plus technical drawings for plumbing and electrical, etc. were a nope.
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The kid is good at STEM too which is why they were thinking maybe engineering (and there is a week engineering program later in the summer they’ll do), and I think they do touch on architectural engineering during the workshop, but I think ultimately they’re more likely to do something where they can do a lot of creative stuff. Yeah, I’m not sure diagrams of plumbing are what they have in mind 
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