My gut says that D26 is going to apply to college mostly as test optional.
A few of D19âs classmates did this route so we had some good feedback on it. A couple did the DVC-Cal route (not a TAG but still worked out), but I donât think X26âs anxiety is a good fit for Cal.
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Hi all,
Just disovered this forum. D26 is my first child so a bit new to this though I am a high school Math teacher myself. 
Always different on the other side. D26 is interested in government, plitical science, public policy, law, international relations, journalism ⊠she is worried about narrowing it down. I keep telling her she can apply undeclared, it seems weird that 15 year olds need to have figured their career choices already! Anyone looking into summer programs/ internships? And if so, how to go about it?
Welcome!
Students donât have to figure out their career choices at 15. At seventeen, they can apply to a major, or as you mentioned, apply undeclared. Remind her that a major is an area of interest and not a career. Biology majors donât all become biologists. Journalism majors arenât all journalists. Math majors arenât all mathematicians. 
Many students change majors while in college. Many adults change professions.
Help her find her passions and interests. Help her understand how she relates to others. Is she a leader? Does she like to collaborate and work in groups? Or is she someone who enjoys working on their own. It will most certainly change as she grows and matures, but help her understand what she enjoys.
Regarding summer programs and internships, where do you live and what does she want to do? If she is looking for career type opportunities, a local attorney may be open to having a student volunteer over the summer. Many legislators have opportunities for HS students. They are often competitive to get into. She might look at your local library or newspaper to see if they are open to having a student volunteer over the summer.
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Other possible summer program ideas: search websites of local colleges, universities, and community colleges. They often run summer programs for high school students in various subject areas.
This is a great way to get a taste of that subject area, meet other kids with similar interests, and become comfortable with a campus. It might even be done on a one- or two-week break from a traditional summer job so she gets the benefit of both experiences.
Some summer programs can be competitive or have limited space, so plan to apply within the next few months.
You might also ask a counselor at your high school (or history/govt/journalism teacher) what are programs/opportunities theyâve seen kids do who have similar interests & academic profile as your daughter.
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One could consider volunteering at an organization your D26 is interested in. Start working at a part-time job. Our school counselor has said that doing the super-expensive âpay a lot of money to do a summer program for 6 weeksâ sort of thing is NOT required. Your kid should do something theyâre interested in. And if they havenât figured out what theyâre interested in, then try different things so they can see what they do and do not like.
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D26âs school is back in session tomorrow. Hard to believe that itâs now halfway through sophomore year! DH has signed D26 up for driverâs training. She doesnât turn 16 until early summer though. No idea what will be in store for D26 this summer. D26 is interested in volunteering through the local humane society and they are taking applications for teenagers starting later this monthâŠrequires 2 letters of rec! Holy cow.
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We are in school until third week of June so it is a loooooong ways away, LOL. Her brother S24 graduates end of May so at least seniors have a shorter year. She had talked about doing a week long summer nursing program (sort of like what your D24 did last summer) but now she is thinking instead to intern at a medical office a few days a week instead. She will finish up her year long coaching job in June and does not want to continue as it is a huge commitment and while she loves it, she gets too stressed out about all the travel involved for competitions and missing school for those.
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How is everyone doing?
The flu ripped through our house last week and we were all sick with it and miserable. D26 missed all last week of school because of it and is playing catch up this week.
Weâre not going to do any college visits this school yearâŠkind of too early and D26 isnât ready for that yet. But she did say that she wants to apply to both ASU & U of A and could see herself happy to attend either place (weâre AZ residents). D26 has a higher GPA than her older sister (D24), so Iâm certain that the auto merit scholarship amount sheâd get would be higher.
NM public universities have really great reciprocal scholarships for AZ residents, but D26 isnât interested in living in NM for college, so weâll pass on those when the time comes.
Later this month, D26 has her 1st mock trial competition and sheâs a little nervous about it. Sheâs starting to come out of her shell socially a little bit (sheâs very introverted) and has agreed to get a part-time job this summer (she doesnât turn 16 until beginning of June).
Thereâs a practice AP English Language exam at school on Saturday morning this weekend. And I think in another month, theyâll pick their electives for next school yearâŠholy cow, that came up fast.
Doing well over here- midterms are next week so lots of studying going on right now. They choose next yearâs classes end of March. She is planning some college visits for her April break (we get a week in February and a week in April)- going to mostly look in NC/SC, maybe go to DC as well depending on time. She is starting to look a bit early since she cannot travel at all in the fall/winter due to sports. Right now she is thinking nursing but also looking at PT, Kinesiology/Exercise science. We will see.
She is working as a coach for a youth all star cheer team and that is a year-round commitment so it keeps her busy. Comp season is ramping up so she will have several weekends where she is traveling with the team and away from home Fri-Sun.
We are in the thick of things with her brother S24 with college decisions so it is def a busy time. Hopefully I can catch my breath a bit next year and then it all Strats up again.
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D26 is in the thick of rehearsals for the school musical next week, hence the school day is effectively 9a-8p this week. Plus homework for the Most Rigorous Class Schedule, so she is exhausted. After the show runs next weekend, she will likely return to her usual life of coming home from school, doing some homework, and then curling up with blankets to read a book/binge a series/laugh at Tiktok until bedtime. If anyone comes up with a compelling way to put that on the Common App activities list, let me know. 
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Iâm right there with ya. 
This summer, all D26 really wants to do is play video games and watch Youtube. Told her that the days of lounging around all summer are gone, youâve got to pick SOMETHING constructive to do this summerâŠread a bunch of books? SOMETHING. So she settled on getting a part time job. Even if itâs just for 10 hr a week, thatâs ok.
What frustrating, ironic, and hilarious, though, is when your offspring start using your catch phrases on you. Like when I suggested she read some books this summer on topics interesting to her (aka WW2 history), she said, âNah, Iâm allergic.â Allergic to what? âReading books for fun. Iâm allergic to that, Mama.â 
âŠjust like the time when 1 of my coworkers suggested that as a team building activity, we all do a Thanksgiving âfun runâ together and I said, âIâll pass. Iâm allergic.â Allergic to what? âIâm allergic to running.â
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Part-time job is a great activity. D26 says that she wouldnât mind getting a job this summer, but when we try to suggest possible jobs, she always seems to have some objection to this or that. Too far away, too many hours, donât know how to do that, probably wouldnât hire me, etc. etc. We may be headed for another summer of cozy blankets. 
Truly, I donât want her to do a bunch of busywork activities just to flesh out college applications, as most schools either can tell right away that the student wasnât really invested or just donât care about ECs in the first place. But I have to admit that Iâm ready for her to find something that she wants to do.
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We had to do some arm twisting in similar situations with both our kids getting their first jobs. We made them work for several reasons, the main one being that they werenât doing much else. They were resistant but we emphasized it wasnât optional and they eventually got on board.
We gave them a few months to faff around being ridiculous in their job âsearchesâ like you describe. Then as summer approached, we physically took them to a grocery store and a fast food restaurant and a couple other places that are near our house. We made them pick up apps, helped them fill them out, and drove them to hand them in. It was so annoying. We told them we werenât driving them to/from work regularly, so they were stuck with walking.
But they each got jobs! And have done well at those. My eldest hated his first job but we made him stick it out til the end of the summer. He did good work and they said theyâd rehire him any time. To our surprise, he decided he wanted to keep working during the school year and found himself a different job that he likes. He still works there when heâs home for college breaks. S26 works quite a bit even during the school year and will keep doing so since he doesnât do much else.
These crappy jobs are by far the best ECs my kids have ever done, for so many reasons. It was worth the major parental annoyance to get them started.
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I think that getting a good old part-time job is a good character builder. Our D24 did a lot of growing up last summer when she worked a part-time job at McDonaldâs, and then worked for awhile at Taco Bell, and now works instead at Marshallâs.
After 2 weeks at McDonaldâs, D24 had several revelations:
- âI get it now. Now I understand why you guys harp on education so much.â
- âI donât ever want to have to work a lousy job like this full time for the rest of my life in order to support myself. This sucks.â
- âYou know, there are ADULTS working there where this is how they pay their rent and stuff!â
- âA good manager can make a lousy job tolerable. And a bad manager can make a lousy job even worse.â
- âI like having my own spending money.â
Meanwhile, DH & I were looking at each other and goingâŠ
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Exactly! Mine have said all of those things. My favorite other one: âyou know, my friends X and Y donât do much of anything and theyâd really benefit from getting jobsâ.
If they complain, our usual retort is either âthatâs what you get for being a 15 year old at a minimum wage jobâ, or âwell, now you know what kind of job you donât want to work for the rest of your lifeâ. But we have been forbidden from using the phrase âbuilds characterâ 
. I would PAY someone money to teach my kids these things, but they get PAID to learn these lessons!
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S26 and I just discussed jobs the other day. He has been a soccer referee since he was 13, which pays a lot for a teen job. And boy do you learn a lot about human behavior⊠At 14 years old he had to show a red card to an adult coach who completely lost it in front of his 7-year old players⊠On the other hand it makes for good college essay material. I know my D22 used her referee experience successfully in a number of essays
S26 will end up with three ECs, playing soccer, refereeing soccer and youth leg/model UN. Thatâs all he has time for (and all he cares for).
He just started second semester and is already exasperated by the workload of AP Seminar (we have block schedule, so 4 classes per semester). His first semester grades were good, 3 As one B, which is great for him and I expect more Bs this semester due to harder classes.
Not much college talk here yet, which works for me. He will not aim at highly selective schools, so we are relaxed so far 
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Weâre going to visit some places over spring break, since I did feel like I ran out of time with my S24. No idea yet as to where might be a good fit for S26 so I just want to figure out what he does and doesnât like for the next round. I think seeing his brother get into a school that heâs excited about is the reason heâs finally stopped rolling his eyes when I start mentioning college.
As for summer, heâs still going to sleepaway camp as a CIT, but next year heâll be a counselor hopefully. His ECs are pretty paltry but I canât seem to make this horse drinkâŠ
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When the time comes, I think that we might have D26 take a look at Trinity University in San Antonio. She has said that sheâd prefer some place ânot too coldâ and some place ânot really far away.â According to Trinityâs website, they are test optional right now for students entering Fall 2026. D26âs current GPA is in the range of students that get accepted but I donât think sheâll be a super duper SAT or ACT test taker.
D26 went w/us when we took D24 to tour Southwestern Univ (near Austin) last spring and she really liked it there, so that school will definitely end up on the application list.
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D26 is our 2nd so the real benefit is sheâs seen about 10 schools already.
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