Parents of the HS Class of 2026 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
8627

We did just 1 accepted student day that was a long distance and ended up doing the 12 hour drive instead of flying. Drove Friday, visited Saturday and drove halfway home that night. Got home Sunday. Brutal, but she was pretty sure and just wanted that last visit to be sure.

Some hotels will give discounts to people visiting campus. We get a great rate in both cities for my kids now. I found out both on the Facebook parent pages.

Are all 3 tied with her for wanting to attend if accepted? Is there a way to visit without being admitted and maybe narrow that down? Even if it was just to the top 2 instead of top 3 places, it would help.

Adding that with both older kids, we didn’t even visit some of the places they were accepted to. Ever. With S22, he was NMF and valedictorian and he applied to way too many in the long run. We learned a lot. A lot ended up unaffordable in the end. And tours in 2021/22 were pretty awful. D24 visited a couple in fall/winter senior year and really narrowed down what was important to her, after the academic programs. This let us eliminate a few just from what I was reading in FB parent pages and what we found on the website. For her, the dorm was really important, so made it easy to drop some. Maybe now that it’s closer to being real, some priorities are changed from when the application was submitted and some can be dropped lower in the list?

Also, my kids both fly Delta, so we always book changeable tickets. They get ecredits and that works for us. And for visits that I was on as well, we flew into cheaper airports that were less convenient, since we were renting a car anyway. Nashville and Atlanta, specifically for us over Birmingham and Huntsville. When they come for breaks, they fly local and I just pay the price. But saving a couple hundred on each ticket was worth a 3 hour drive. So maybe there is a different airport?

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8628

Next week is finals week here. He doesn’t have to take any, so isn’t. Fine by me at this point! He doesn’t have too much senioritis yet, but I’m sure once second semester starts, he will have some. S22 never had much, but the school had basically given up on everything that year, and they only went in 4 days a week by March. He was an IB kid, so had to keep up on that and they didn’t take any of those tests, but had to turn in assignments by the end of May, so he was still working after graduation. Not really senioritis, but he was incredibly glad to be done. D24 had more for sure. Also IB, and really needed some prodding to finish some of her internal assessments, but she did. She was very ready to be out of there.

I can not wait to be done with the schools. I’m so excited to be moving on!

Any FIRST FRC kids here? Kick-off is today! We have a weekend of things planned for it. Should be fun. I’ve been a mentor or coach for 11 years now and will miss some things, but not all, next year.

I’m trying to figure out how to move older kids out in May. They both finish the week of FIRST Championship and I want to be there if the team is. S22 has a car and can move his stuff to storage. But he’s never done the 14 hour drive by himself. I think he could do it in 2 days and at least he’s old enough for a hotel now. D24 has to be out of the dorm then too. She doesn’t have a car, so someone needs to move her stuff to storage. My husband may have to do some of this, but he doesn’t drive at night, so it’s a multiple day trip on each end for him. Why does this all have to be the same days??

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8629

She is so right! She’s got until May to decide on a school and at least 2 years in college to decide on a major. My S23 had no clue what he wanted to major in when he applied to colleges in Sept/Oct of his senior year. By February of his senior year, he realized what he’s most interested in and is still majoring in that field to this day. Our kids are still evolving, growing, and honestly, I wish there wasn’t such a big rush to go to college and decide on a major at 17 or 18 years old.

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8630

We did the same thing for S23. Out of the 8 or so schools he got accepted to, he did a deep dive into each of their computer science programs and eliminated the ones that didn’t sit well with him in terms of distance (he realized after applying to 2 schools 8 hours away that he did not want to be 8 hours away from home), campus, dorm, CS program, food, etc. He had only visited 5 out of the 8 he got accepted to. He realized that his priorities/preferences changed from August/September of his HS senior year to February/March of his senior year. So out of the 8, he narrowed his choices down to 4, went back to those 4 and that last accepted students day sealed it for him and he’s still happy at the college he’s in now - such a great fit for him.

Thanks for the tip on getting hotel discounts!

S26 is tired. So tired. He’s taking an insane number of AP classes (his choice), 6! Plus symphonic band and an asynchronous online Econ class that’s required. Somehow he managed to still get mostly all As this first semester even with marching band thrown in earlier in the semester. I don’t know how he does it. I think the busy-ness forces him to stay focused and organized. Thankfully that Econ class will be over in a few weeks. He’s ready for high school classes to be over, but he also doesn’t want high school to be over just yet because he loves his friends and the social aspects of high school.

Meanwhile, I’m done with high school. S26 is my 3rd and last S. I’m excited for our next chapter!

S26 got accepted into All County Band and has his concert later today. He’s been pulled from classes to rehearse all day yesterday and Thursday evening. So while marching band is over, it’s a whole new other busy-ness this month and February!

Apologies for the long post!

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8631

How do you book with a Costco membership?

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You go to their website. There’s a “Travel” tab at the top. When you click on it, one of the choices will be rental cars. There’s also a hotel option but Ive never used it because I normally travel on hotel points.

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8633

Mine just got her first semester grades too, had her worst semester ever. Thankfully, only one RD school wants first semester grades automatically….. the others have not requested them yet. My D is pretty good about homework completion (although she misses a few) but she still does not know how to study for exams. But, like you, I agree that most kids end up where they’re meant to be

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8634

Other than Monday, when we were all still battling jet lag, C26 has been in a great mood this week. I think their grades had a lot to do with it . There was a mini meltdown before the AP physics exam last semester - “I should never have skipped AP1, I can’t do this” - and even though they didn’t do great on a couple of subsections still ended up with an A- overall for the course, and they were bubbling on about how interesting the current physics unit is this week! The fact that they now have certain things locked down - they know they already have a couple of good college options, CSF achieved etc has surely helped their mood. Validation is important for this kid. They’ve worked so hard on the EF issues and that in turn has helped with the anxiety issues. I do still worry about how they’ll handle college workloads, because it’s easy to spiral between EF and anxiety as I think some other parents here know only too well. Homework has improved a lot. Studying for exams is still hard for subjects like history, and their natural flair for math and science has definitely saved them a little. But they are going to have to do a couple of history-related courses regardless where they end up (everyone has some kind of history of architecture requirement) so…tbd.

in other news, D19 has started submitting grad school apps. A couple of them are in the same cities as C26 is considering…it would be so fun (and a lot easier for us haha) if they end up near each other for the next year or two!

finally…re hotels for move in. At least one school has a 4-day window for move in so hard to know when exactly to book for, if like D19 they will get assigned one day within that, so not really possible to book it now.

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8635

Yes, the three schools are genuinely tied in part because what she likes most about each in terms of differentiators (they have a lot of similarities all being small LACs, though one is a women’s college) is apples to oranges criteria. Honestly, she’d be happy as a clam at any of them (or the other two in the top 5), so I keep trying to remind myself it doesn’t matter which she chooses or why amongst the options she’ll have. All that said, I am so appreciative of all the tips you all have provided. This group is so great!

Edit: It doesn’t matter for her happiness and being at a great school. It will matter for me as one is in CA and an easy flight to SoCal which we do a lot anyway, one would be far but close to some family, and one is all the way across country in a city we have no ties to, which could be an exciting adventure for her but exacerbates the empty nest feel for me.

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8636

Since you dont play Pokemon, I assume Pokemon adoption is not a criteria.

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8637

Okay, I need to vent, and this group feels like the only place I can do that.

A few posts up, I mentioned D got her worst grades ever last semester (3 B grades), but thankfully, only one school (so far) had requested mid-year grades.

Several weeks ago, I emailed D’s guidance counselor and specifically asked if mid-year grades were automatically sent (after seeing a post on this thread, actually, where someone mentioned they were at their school). The guidance counselor answered no – they were only sent if requested by the student.

Fast forward two weeks… We were just checking D’s portals, and her mid-year grades have been sent to ALL schools. Every. single. one. Even EA schools that have decisions coming out this month. Even RD schools that did NOT request senior grades.

I am upset. A little pissed at the counselor (who obviously provided incorrect info), but mostly worried about the negative impact this will have on two of her pending top choices. I think that the counselor goofed because this is our school district’s first year using a new high school-college connection platform called Schoolinks. In the past, for my older two, we used Naviance. With Naviance, students were required to request that mid-year grades be sent. Apparently, that is not the case with Schoolinks. But, still, it is the counselor’s job to know the differences. And I specifically emailed and asked!

I keep telling myself that it is too late now, so there is nothing to be gained by stressing.

For reference, my D ended with B grades AP Bio – which is double period, so B in lecture and B in lab – and AP Calc. A grades in everything else, including DE Anatomy, DE English, AP Gov, and her Buddy PE class. Her weighted GPA actually went up (4.98 to 5.04), but her unweighted GPA went down (3.78 to 3.76). The two schools she is hoping for are Michigan and BC (both for nursing). Both are tough admits, so this will definitely not help things.

How bad is it?!?!?

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8638

I dont think a drop from 3.78 to 3.76 is going to make that much of a difference. If there were a couple of C’s or it went from 3.8 to 3.6 that’s probably more noticeable.

Michigan/BC have so many applications, I’m not sure the admissions counselors are going to focus on mid year grades that barely move the overall GPA.

As you say, unfortunately there’s nothing you can do so just hope for the best.

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8639

Our school counselor also sucked, I had to email her multiple times to sign a piece of paper allowing S26 to take AP stats at a local community college. It took weeks and I finally had to email her and her boss and she did 10 min later. In the meantime most classes filled up and we had to search and find a random online school that offered it on demand. It’s preparation for the real world where the kids will have good/bad bosses or good/bad teachers in college.

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8640

I agree with this. My impression is that for most schools, S1 senior year grades only matter for borderline applicants or where colleges want to confirm an upward trend in grades - sounds like your (@aewlmom ’s) D has been consistently achieving well so I don’t think either of these cases is relevant.

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8641

SO FRUSTRATING!

But there’s nothing you can do about it now. The cat is out of the bag.

If she doesn’t get into Michigan or BC, it probably won’t be because of 3 B’s…it’ll be because there’s a huge applicant pool. And they reject people every year who have all A’s.

FWIW, at our high school, the counselors send mid-year grade reports to all colleges the students apply to, regardless of whether or not the college actually requires it.

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8642

I’m not too familiar with FIRST – robotics, right? I know both RIT and WPI give specific scholarships for it!

Ugh, I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve missed things because our three kids had conflicting activities. Definitely hard to coordinate! In four years of D22’s college experience, we never once attended parents’ weekend because it was always the same weekend as a marching band competition, and the kid at home had to take precedence. I’m breathing a sigh of relief that D22’s and D26’s graduations are two weeks apart.

Hope you guys figure out something!

8643

I’m tired just thinking of that, lol. Mine has three – AP Bio, AP Lit and AP Calc BC – plus an AP-weighted STEM capstone class (which is her hardest). But then she has symphonic band, standard level Gov (Econ last semester) and a standard level required Bible class (Eschatology). I really think she’d buckle with more than that!

I feel you – this is my third and last kid in her last semester, and as much as I’m trying to savor it, I’m really ready to be done with the high school experience for good.

Congrats to your S on All County Band!

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8644

Ohhh I worry. Probably way more than is healthy. Since D26 will likely be deciding between four schools, I have entire scenarios in my head about which would be the best choice when considering her EF and work habits.

I mean, if she’s likely to melt down spectacularly in college, do we insist on the closest and cheapest school?

(We can’t and won’t do that, of course, but…)

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8645

I worry too. I definitely worry more than S26 does. He got all As this semester with 4 APs and 2 regular level classes—with less of my scaffolding AND applying to a bunch of schools, which is amazing. I think I have some residual anxiety leftover from his earlier middle school and high school days, before we got his ADHD well-managed and he matured more, and when I felt like I was besties with his Canvas app. My biggest concern comes from the lack of structure oin college—that he’ll have many hours in the day without class and left to his own devices.

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8646

Same! Mine also ended with her best semester yet in terms of grades – straight A+ which she’s never done before. So I have a hard time voicing my concerns – what exactly can I say?

BUT, this was with my dragging her out of bed on the weekends, helping her list out homework priorities, making her plug in all electronics outside her bedroom, insisting she sit at the dining table to do homework (instead of lounging in bed) – we’ve found it’s the best spot because she likes background noise but it’s around the corner from the kitchen/family room – then generally prodding her to GET ON WITH IT ALREADY.

I’ve heard people hire ADHD coaches in college – is that a reasonable thing to do? Because clearly I’m providing that service now, lol.

I asked DH if I should just stop doing all this and see what happens – he said, “Sure. Maybe start May 15.”

:grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :person_facepalming:

(For the record, I didn’t do this with either of her siblings – neither needed it, even though S25 also has ADHD.)

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