Parents of the HS Class of 2026

Any other folks dealing with all this snowy weather? We are in MA and it feels like almost every school district across the state closed today and in the end, at least here we only got like 2" plus some sleet. BUT they are saying another system moving in Saturday night 4-6" possible, and a third system moving in Thursday next week. I am over it. We leave for Aruba next Saturday and I am so ready to see and feel the warm sun!!

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Yes, I was referring to the college essays. In my opinion although the teacher may not read or review the essays if they did, nice to have. Also, my D24 also worked on her essays in class. What she submitted was completely different than what she worked on her junior year. I wouldn’t just rely on these essays to submit or to share with teachers or counselors. They may ignore them or not read them, but I believe the ones who truly care for your child may at least quickly read them. But that’s just my two cents. To me the counselors and teachers may only really know 5-10% of their students who ask them to write a LOC. It’s beneficial to be in that percentage if you can. I had my son write a separate essay about himself to all his teachers and they used this new found knowledge about my son to write their letters. I’m certain it helped him get into some colleges.

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Yes, I’m in Western NY.. By this time of year I think most of us are sick of it. The last couple of years were almost nothing for us so we were spoiled.

Warmer days ahead.

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Yes, snow day here yesterday, too. Even my daughter had a snow day at her college—I wish that had been a thing when I went to school! It’s looking like the next storm may interfere with my son’s meet this weekend. It would be the second time this season if they had to cancel for snow, so we’re hoping this one changes track (no pun intended).

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D26 just took the ACT. She said it was “really hard”. Both the math and science sections she ran out of time and had to guess on the last few without even reading the questions :frowning: But at least she did not leave anything blank.

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the good thing is that it’s only Feb. So if she wants to take it again, there’s plenty of time!

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D26 had 2 practice AP exams at school today: AP USH & AP Psych. Said she got 72% correct on the MCQ section of AP USH & 81% correct on MCQ section of AP Psych. She’ll find out some time over the next 3 weeks about what her overall score would have been + recommendations on what to focus more on studying for the actual APs in May.

D26 said that if she decides to go to U of A, she’ll probably want to live on/near campus for sophomore year, too. My sister lives in Tucson about a 30-40 min drive from campus (time varies based on if you’re driving during rush hour or not). DH is hoping we’ll be able to save some $$ on room & board by having D26 live at my sister’s place for year 2-4 of college, but I think it would be better for the kid to be on/near campus for years 1 & 2 at least.

For her preferred major, there’s on campus internships & employment available in the field she wants to study, so that’s a big plus there.

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My D26 said it was hard too. Guess we’ll find out what that means 10 days from now.

Yes, she is already signed up to take the new digital version in April, so hopefully that version is a bit less stressful as they will have more time/question.

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Neither of my kids are into Greek life, but out of curiosity, I looked up what the semester dues are for frats & sororities at U of A.

Oh. My. Gosh. Price ranges from $1000-$3000 per semester. $6000/yr to be in a sorority. And no, that’s not the cost of living in the house.

Super glad that we already decided we (parents) aren’t paying for that. How do people afford that on top of tuition, room & board?

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At those costs, not happening in our world either.

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S26 said it was exhausting and came home and went to bed. He has extended time which makes for a long testing day.

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Didn’t mean for my prior comment about sorority and fraternity dues to come across as judgmental so if it did, I apologize! Just surprised at how expensive it is.

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I had no idea it was that much! that’s crazy. It’s like what I was mentally budgeting for S26s car when he gets to the point of needing one.

I don’t think all of them everywhere are like that, are they?but some end up costing much more of course, like those articles talking about how it costs thousands of dollars just to rush for sororities in some instances. Again while they are not all like that, hard to get away from the sense that those ones at least are really just for rich kids. I’ve seen someone justify sending their kids instate so they can spend the rest of what they would have spent on tuition on dorm decor and Greek life :woman_shrugging: I mean, I can see how someone could use that rationale even if I wouldn’t. I guess everyone has their own priorities.

I have no idea what the Greek life dues are at other colleges except for D24’s school (small LAC in TX). D24 said that during the fall activities fair, she & her roommate went to some of the sororities’ tables and they generally said, “Oh it’s not that expensive. It’s only something like $250 a month.” D24 thought that was a lot of money and we’re not willing to pay for sorority dues, so she opted not to join.

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Oh my, this article made me so sad and angry. (And I was a sorority girl back in the day. I made lifelong friends, but it was nothing like this!)

Based on this article, it’s not just the financial cost (which is ridiculous). But the social emotional costs too. Recommending teen girls create a social media profile years before high school graduation that creates a superficial sorority girl image?!? I can’t imagine giving worse advice to young women!

It totally depends on the school and on the house. I know U of A is known for being really $$- we know a girl in a house that is paying close to $10K for the year. S24’s fraternity at his school (NOT U of A) is a fraction of that. But there are def other costs to consider- they just had a formal in NOLA that was a decent expense. Anyone who had a kid c considering Greek life should def do their homework and plan for the extra costs.

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Again - I am sure they are not all like that. A close relative who graduated around 10 years ago from a v good southern college was in a sorority that she loved and she totally did not do any of that over the top stuff. I guess people do research into where they rush pretty much like they do for colleges for “fit” as well as cost? My kids were and are not interested in Greek life so I never really looked into it. But some of them just seem wayyyy over the top.