I think you encapsulated it well. For similar reasons we may not list the engineering camp, unless C26 feels the design & other relevant parts of it is worth highlighting.
D26 had their pre-senior year meeting today.
Meeting is to get their schedule and do a quick review to ensure no graduation requirements are missing. All looked good.
She got mostly what she was expecting â but a few surprises! Overall, she is happy with her schedule,
-AP Art 2D and Design
-Calculus 2- Second semester it is a dual enrollment class. Also, they sign up for and take the AP Calc BC test (optional)
-Principles of Engineering
-And the one surprise- They took her out of AP Lit and put her into a concurrent enrollment class: 1st semester English Comp 1 and second semester English Comp 2.
(All the rest are 1 semester fun extra curriculars such as forensics, sculpting âŠ.)
She really did not mind the switch of her English class from AP Lit to a Concurrent Enrollment class- just kind of weird that they did not tell her until now?
(She was a bit upset that she already finished and submitted the AP Summer homework though!! Lol)
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I donât know what Concurrent Enrollment means â but as my D26 is currently slogging through her summer AP Lit assignment, she would be SO ANGRY if sheâd already submitted it, lol!
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Concurrent enrollment is very similar to Dual enrolment
At her school-
DE is taught by an adjunct professor.
CE may or may not be.
Both give college credit that are transferable to most of our instate school.
(Both create a college transcript from the college that they are associated with)
The biggest difference for us- DE cost $$ and the CE is free
If staying in state- itâs nice because they are transferable to her top schools and no end of year test needs to be taken. If out of state- the AP class/test may be easier to get credit assuming that they get a high enough AP score.
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And D26s first response was âwho is giving me my time back!â
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C26 is home, and I think we created a monster.
â can I do architecture with a minor in engineering?â
Uh, pretty sure not, but you can probably take one or two engineering courses.
âHow about I stay at college for 8 years and do both degrees?â
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That reminds me of something D26 said when she was younger.
âIs there a limit on how many PhDs a person can do?â
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Turns out they can do this at the reach schoolâŠ
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I agree. And D26 Common App essay is actually about the nursing camp she just attended because it made her realize a lot about herself and she truly had an epiphany while she was there. So for her that experience was life changing and not just something to throw in an activities list.
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D26 is placing her paid summer âcampâ in her activities - this was advised to us from our counselors. Itâs more of a âfit to majorâ issue for 1-2 schools given her curriculum is IB and many IB STEM courses are not offered. I think the âpay to playâ gets a bad rap because people assume doing a program at X college will increase your chances of admission. I feel like you were in the thread where I asked about this. The reality is, she wanted an internship, was not selected, but also wanted to take time this summer to explore major-related stuff. How else do they really know what these majors offer? So if she is trying to show fit for major, or sheâs done several camps she can include on one activity line then it cant hurt. It sounds like she did these out of genuine interest and not to just get into the host school. Thatâs the difference, IMO.
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Just to put my $0.02 in, I think mentioning pay-to-play activities makes perfect sense in an activities section. Club sports, music lessons, etc, are generally all pay-to-play, too, and nobody quibbles about including those. Spending a significant chunk of time during a summer on a paid experience definitely makes sense to share what interests the kid and how theyâve been spending their time.
What I think is problematic is when a pay-to-play activity is listed as an honor/award or even an accomplishment (i.e. anyone who paid to participate in this research camp got their name listed on a paper published in a journal of little renown). I suspect that I am not alone in making this distinction.
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D26âs 1st day of senior year went well. She had College Counseling as her last class of the day. The counselor had cupcakes for everybody and they spent the class period celebrating the last first day of school. 
Counselor had them do an ice breaker activity. Everybody had to come up with a bucket list of things you want to do this school year. D26âs list had things like âget a passportâ and âget into college.â On the back of the worksheet were suggestions of things you could add to your senior year bucket list if you had trouble coming up with stuff. One of those things was âhave a best friend.â One of D26âs classmates (male) jokingly said to her that she should add that one to her list (D26 was sitting right next to her best friend).
D26 said to him, âNah, I already have 3. BFF (sitting next to her), âBFF from 2nd grade whoâs at a different schoolâ, and my sister. My sisterâs THE best friend.â 
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Today was the last day of my Dâs summer program. This program had so many ups and downs for her, but at the end, she was thrilled with what she learned and her progress. She came home absolutely beaming with joy, and says she feels sure she wants to do some kind of engineering now. âIt was frustrating at times, but also satisfying. I really liked the engineering process and working on a team with people with different skills.â
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FWIW, there is a major called Architectural Engineering. It often takes five years instead of four, but can be both ABET and NAAB accredited.
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Theyâve looked into that - not sure itâs the way they want to go, but itâs an option. Thanks!
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I logged on to a common app test account this morning to see the changes/updates. Everything looks pretty good IMO.
D26 finished her common app personal essay yesterday- so that is awesome!! It turned out very well.
Need to go through and do a good proofreading to ensure that grammar/punctuation and such are all good.
She chose:
~ Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more? ~
Was not my top choice for prompts- but I am not the one applying 
Three short 250 word essays (2 have rough drafts already) are what she has left. That and tidying up the other section in the common app.
She has a meeting with the counselor in a few weeks to go over application stuff, so after that hopefully everything for her top 4 applications will be locked, loaded and ready to hit submit!
Things are feeling too real and sudden right now!!! lol
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Happy Common App Day! 
Wishing everyone a strong start to application season!! Iâm looking forward to following your kidsâ progress and celebrating their successes.
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Re: Pay to play⊠S26 has done a couple of these this summer as a way to explore possible majors. We do plan on listing them, but in the case of the Brown one (astronomy), we were thinking about bundling it with another astronomy activity he has been involved in, since we are running out of space. So the Activity Type is Science/Math, and the description includes impact/learnings at both. What do you guys think?
Another question about Activities on the Common App: S26 will be enrolled in a Peer Mentoring class next year, where he will tutor kids taking Algebra 1 during the class periodâpulling aside kids who need support and working with them individually. He was recommended for this class by his Honors Pre Calc teacher, which was very nice. The counselor who runs the mentoring program told him that he would receive 200+ hours of community service for this. That said, this a class that will show up on his transcript. Would it be considered âdouble-dippingâ if he also includes it as an Activity? The reason we might want to do that is to note that he was selected by faculty and that he will spend 1:1 time with kids and likely have a measurable impact (like possible raised scores/grades among kids he helps). The transcript would not tell this story, which is why we considered adding it.
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May the procrastination in our house cease!!!
I HATE that she doesnât have 10 meaningful activities to list because Iâm one of those who doesnât like to leave things blank, but she assures me that sheâs got it covered.
Iâm curious about the double dipping too. Through NHS and another club, she volunteers a lot. So does she list volunteer hours under NHS and the other club as a bulleted list with hour breakdown?
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This is a tough one. I think technically they donât want to see classes listed in the activities section â maybe it could be mentioned in the additional info section in a sentence or two?
My D26 has something similar â her senior STEM Seminar is a weighted capstone class where she will be working to create a video game for kids with disabilities. Thereâs really nowhere to mention it on the application, but it speaks directly to her interests and possible future major.
So, she decided to mention it in her essay â overall essay topic is about her various creative pursuits since childhood, and the counselor asked her to rework the ending with more self-reflection, why creativity is important to her, and what sheâs doing currently. So this seemed to be a good place to work it in.
As to your other question, yes, I def think you could mention the Brown astronomy program with another science/math thing. My D26 will possibly list both her summer camps at two different universities â one design camp, one game design â in the same way.
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