It’s going to be an adjustment for sure, but I’m looking forward to traveling with my husband.
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My sister is going on a cruise to Antarctica this December! She just recently got a medical evaluation that the cruise company required. Make sure to stock up on plenty of anti-nausea medication. I’ve heard that the Drake passage is pretty gnarly.
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Thanks, yes we were considering flying one way (my husband wants to sail it at least one way) to minimize it but apparently the flights can be messed up from weather too, leading to unexpected delays, and we were advised that sailing is safer from that perspective. I do get seasick fairly easily so will definitely have ample meds.
Thanks!
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We will be empty nesters. We’ve talked about how we should travel when she’s gone, but we’re thinking more weekend/long weekend trips because work gets in the way of anything more than that beyond our family vacations and visiting relatives. Maybe we should figure out one big trip next year to celebrate the accomplishment of successfully raising the kid and sending her off.
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We will be empty nesters and I am sure it will be an adjustment. I am looking forward to a clean house and smaller grocery bill 
but getting used to our social calendar not revolving around fall FNL will be really weird. I work at a school so I will still be bound by the school calendar in terms of when I can travel so that will be kind of annoying to still only be able to travel when it is most expensive and not line up with their breaks, other than December. It will be interesting to see how it goes.
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Yes! I’m sure we’ll still go to watch the band a couple times – but probably only a couple times, lol. But I’ll still be going to theatre productions at both my kids’ schools.
I really do need to figure out what I’m going to do with my time – there’s only so much we can afford to travel with three kids in college.
I post on the class of 2025 thread because my son is a current freshman, and the parents over there are discussing moving in to dorms, how their kids are settling in, rushing, roommate woes and all of it. Hopefully we’ll still be here doing the same! 
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Just curious, are any other people’s kids applying test optional everywhere or to most schools? D26 opted out of testing early (mostly because of lack of SAT easy access in CA last year and a poorly timed bad testing experience I foolishly foisted on her). So, she is only applying to test-free and test optional schools. No test scores going in. Just wondering if there are many others on here who effectively opted out of testing or aren’t submitting test scores.
No, my D26 is very lucky to be a strong test-taker – her SAT score is the strongest part of her application, so she is damn well going to share with everyone, LOL. In fact, one of the schools on her list was test-blind last year, and we were dismayed, but they switched to test-optional this year, which is great for my kid.
We don’t have test access issues here in GA, though – and our state schools require test scores.
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Absolutely! If she is proud of it, and they help, submit them everywhere.
State schools requiring them is probably linked to the no test access issues in your state. Our test access issues in CA are clearly linked to our state schools being test free. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is also why some of the CA privates went from test optional to test free as well. I’m told lots of places that used to offer testing sites here no longer do.
A factor for my kid opting out was also that her high school is also exceptionally strong in testing (I think the median SAT is like a 1450 or something like that), so it would take a lot for her to stand out in the context of her school. And, when we looked at her list of schools she was interested in, not a single one required test scores. So it made no sense for her to start a test prep journey. Her college counselor was 100% on board with that for her and said she didn’t need to. So, lucky for us.
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We’re the opposite. C26 had a rough start grade-wise to high school but is a strong test taker, one and done with a score at or above the 75th percentile even at the reach schools on their list, so definitely submitting in the hope that it will help validate the upward trend in their grades. (Which it may or may not depending whose posts you read on cc, lol)
But you can see on the CDS’s that a lot of kids still go TO. I don’t think it’s a problem.
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D26 submitted test scores to most, but TO to the couple that are below the 25%tile.
Wondering how it works at your high schools on how transcripts get sent? D26 has several colleges that want official transcript and this is something that at our school the counselor sends. It sounds like (at least what we’ve heard through the grapevine) is that at our school they wait until the deadline for materials, which makes me highly anxious - if they submit it late, then D26 will get pushed to regular decision round, right? Any advice on how to navigate this to prevent that from happening? Or does it work differently at your schools? We are a large public with very few counselors and the assigned one is new to D26 this year.
I know College Board gives test scores in context of the school when you log in, but do colleges get that information? I guess if the high school lists it on the school profile, then yes?
I didn’t think about schools seeing the score in comparison to the average at the school. In which case, D26’s score is almost 300 points higher than her school’s average, so yay for her if that helps!
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Our transcripts are requested via Maia, and it sounds like the school registrar sends batches weekly.
We’ve been told the letters of rec may only go out just before the deadline.
You would have to check school by school what their policies are. Most of them seem to give 1-2 weeks after the EA deadline to get the high school materials in, but one on C26’s list needs everything submitted by then,
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This is wonderful and such a good reminder. A lesson I learned later in life and hope I can instill in D26 earlier, is to know and believe that no matter what path she chooses or which flip of the coin lands, she will be good. That she can pivot and make it ok. That includes the colleges choice.
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Our school profile lists the median, 25th and 75th percentile SAT scores, but just the median ACT.
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Our school lists the average SAT on the profile.
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I would guess that the school attended by @ECCA2026’s daughter is well known to AOs, and they won’t need test scores to validate rigor:
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At D26’s school, she submits an application, prints out proof of submission (confirmation page from common app or an email or something), then attaches it to a physical form with basic info – did she apply EA or ED, the deadline, which college/dept, etc.
Her school requests this to be turned in to college advising office two weeks ahead of the college’s deadline, and they make every effort to send it within the first week of getting it.
I’m not entirely sure what happens if they don’t. I think most colleges have a grace period after the deadline to get all documents in?
Georgia Tech, for example, has an EA deadline of October 15 (for in-state students), but document deadline of October 31. And they list November 15 for self-reported test score deadline because they want to give students a chance to take a fall test.
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That would be great if they give a grace period since it is out of her control. D26 did just submit a rolling app that requests official transcript, so hopefully this is a good estimator for us. She will wait a wait and then if the college hasn’t received it, will each out to the counselor.
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