Just a quick update for a quiet thread. The High School finally had a workshop for juniors and parents on college. I thought it was well done (although my child was less engaged by it). They really emphasized the idea of fit, and spoke about being strategic in targeting financial aid or merit aid schools depending on your family situation. My only critique is it would have been more helpful for parents earlier on in HS although my child would have been even less engaged in it when younger, I suppose. I am hoping that it inspires him to start researching and considering schools.
We’re traveling over Feb break and will be doing his first college visit since we will be in the area. My freshman will be tagging along for the ride. (I’m slightly afraid that a February visit to a NE school will turn my youngest off to college entirely.) I’m curious about what my son will get from the visit though and I’m looking forward to the visit myself.
Semester grades are out and course selection for next year is done. Right now, he’s busy with several activities that are all peaking right before break. Spring should be a bit less busy. Time goes so fast.
Mine is in the depths of lots and lots of schoolwork - it was a rough week with lots of papers and tests all at once:(
College planning is really full-on at school (they are at a private school), so that is exciting - they are customizing lists now and putting them into categories now that fall semester grades and SAT/ACTss (for most kids) and at least PSATs are available. The kids are “forced” - ha - to do lots of reflecting at school for it, and it has been fun to see what my kid has come up with. The reflections sound like them, but there are a couple of surprises. Unfortunately, many of the things they want don’t really go together in a real school. Kid has meeting next week, and truth be told i can’t wait to see the list and how their counselor categorizes things. I have a solid idea, having been down this road, but my 25 went to a very different HS and had quite different rigor, so we shall see.
We also had our college planning night which had a few useful things, but as it is a big public school, the presentation was mostly geared toward in-state schools. S27 seemed pretty bored. He has been busy with school work, indoor track, and the annual solo music competition. In school SAT administration is coming up in another month or so but he hasn’t done much prep yet (maybe because his ACT went better than expected).
We did a visit to the Claremont Colleges in January and are hoping to schedule something else for spring break (he’s already visiting Colorado College with Dad but I have some time that I can take him somewhere the week before). He really got to interact with students at the January visit, so I think it is all starting to feel more real to him. Currently trying to decide between going somewhere new vs. visiting someplace that he saw over the summer with not many students around.
He’s also picked courses for the spring –I think he found a nice balance between rigor and interests- 4 APs, two semester long courses for interest, and his normal athletic training and music courses. He is also looking at some possible short academic focused summer programs, but haven’t been able to get him to make much progress there yet.
I was happy to see that he took some time to hang out with friends this weekend–that doesn’t happen a lot!
Kid has been fairly ahead on college planning, because we’ve been debating whether it’s worth trying to do a college visit this spring (which is complicated and expensive from AK), so I wanted her to have a few top prospects in case we did. I was leaning no, but I just got a $1000 travel voucher for getting bumped off a flight for a work trip last week, which changes the calculation somewhat.
Her top ‘target’ college at the moment is all the way across the country. And since most of her criteria are much more specific than big/small, rural/urban etc… I think if we go anywhere, we should probably actually visit that one, so she can have time to rethink if it isn’t what she wants.
I hear the “things not going together in a real school” issue though – ‘small class sizes’ and ‘lots of classes offered in my niche interests’ are a hard set to mesh.
She’s just started a second semester online DE class (systems biology) which apparently doesn’t have any intermediate due dates for assignments! I’m encouraging her to get at least the first one done ASAP so she can get some feedback – or else she might have no idea what level of work is expected until it’s too late to withdraw.
Nice to see some activity in the group. Things are getting real!
We are doing a college visit trip during February vacation. We booked the tours and flights last month, but just wrapped everything else up this weekend. D27 is starting to get excited about it as some of her classmates are touring during break also, otherwise it’s not her favorite thing. I was up at BU today for a track meet and took pictures during the “blizzard”. It’s a different college vibe, but lots of students still out and about…mostly athletes. Anyway it got me excited for our tours coming up. Also busy with studying for the March SAT. Since she is in-between sports, the timing is good…allows for more studying. Hoping this will be the last time she has to take it.
Lastly, trying to figure out course selection for next year. The final course selection process! She wants to take all the classes, but can only take 7. Definites, are AP Lit, AP Psych, AP Stats, and Anatomy. She has to take a wellness class and two Art classes, which all three are semester classes, not full year.. She’s trying to see if she can fit Calculus in there. I think I’m missing something that she is required to take, but am not sure. I can’t believe Senior year is around the corner!
It’s nice to hear all the positive updates from everyone and I look forward to hearing about the college visits. Other than the one in February, there is nothing else planned - he really hasn’t started considering schools yet. He already has a school trip on spring break but we will be able to do some visits this summer, assuming they are within driving distance.
He also has the SAT in March at the school. He says he has been studying and reports having taken a few practice maths. They are offering some test prep at the school (for $ or should I say $$) so he will be doing that as well. Unfortunately, the first session conflicts with the sitzprobe for the school musical (he is in the pit orchestra). He really does need to be at both but since he can’t, he will be going to the class.
It wasn’t supposed to be a big storm but the amounts changed yesterday and they were accurate. It was pretty in the city. BU was on top of keeping the sidewalks clear and salted.
Love seeing the updates and am looking forward to hearing about all the visits! We managed to cobble a quick one together for February break. Visiting four schools in total, three reaches and a likely, but a good mix of urban/suburban, medium/large, and some variety of campus styles. We’re in the early planning stages for a spring break trip; I kind of backed us into a starting point when I found a crazy deal on a cross country flight. She wants to be in a bigger city and is very vibe-focused, so these trips will be more about “can I see myself living in this city for four+ years?” as she hasn’t even been to most of the cities she’s considering.
She just wrapped up picking classes for senior year and is heading into the busy season for her main EC, so she’s looking forward to getting out of town for a bit. I’m hoping visits provide some clarity for her, as right now her master spreadsheet has something like fifty schools on it! Oof.
I feel like my 25s list looked like that at this point in their journey too…
It sort of all fell together though.. or so it seems…may be some suppression of memories - lol.
I sort of can’t believe I am back to the fact I have another one applying again so soon.
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Our current conundrum is that they have an SAT tutor, but don’t really feel like they have time to prepare - ugh. They definitely could really boost their score a lot with some effort, and given their major choice (engineering) a boosted math score would really help them a lot. Doubly so, as they are coming from a school with a very high average score. Obviously, classwork comes first, and their busy EC is their passion (and major related!), but I fell badly they are SO tired this winter HS is so hard sometimes! Really looking forward to the fact they have a long weekend next week:)
I can so relate to this! I spent almost 15 years as an ACT/SAT tutor and can barely find time to work with my own D. She also spends so much time on the ECs that she loves, but I guess I should be happy that she has found activities that she enjoys so much. Just wish there were more hours in the day! Junior year is a tough one.
I’m in the midst of trying to help D27 plan a spring break college visit trip, and it’s been a little bit difficult! She wants to be an animator (and to take the classes that’ll prepare her for that), but also would prefer a SLAC, and the two really just aren’t compatible. So now she’s swinging back toward a BFA, but those are really only available at larger state or technical schools (she’s aware of some smaller animation schools in Florida, but the state is a hard no for her). I had hoped to visit 3-4 schools over break, but it seems like right now there’s only one she actually wants to see. It all just seems very up in the air. The next year is going to be super interesting, in both the positive and negative senses of the word.
Meantime, the school-administered ACT is next month, and her results on that will dictate whether she bothers with the SAT. So I have her doing a self-paced online prep class. and while I’m not fond, in general, of the block schedule at her high school, I will admit that it’s nice that she only has 2 AP classes a semester, balanced with her arts electives. It makes for a far less stressful school year.
(sorry, this wasn’t meant as a specific reply; I clicked the wrong button)
Has she looked into Clark? There are about 2300 undergrads at this Massachusetts school that is a member of the Colleges That Change Lives association. It’s undergoing some restructuring, but I believe they’re leaning in to their interactive media/arts programming.
Its Interactive Media major offers several tracks including: 2D Art, 3D Art, Audio, Design Your Own, Production, Programming, UI/UX, and Writing. Below is its CTCL profile which is marketing material, but I find that their profiles tend to give a really good sense of the colleges.
I actually can relate to some of this..maybe not quite as extreme, but a lot of my kids wants (if not quite “musts” don’t really result in a real school).
My child is looking at a different area of study but I’m encouraging him to look at Clark as an option, too. I think there is a possibility for decent merit and it seems like a really great school and vibe. It’s close to us so I’m suggesting it as a spring visit - when weather is nice and before the students leave.
Has she looked at Sarah Lawrence? It’s a SLAC with a very strong Visual Art program. We just toured yesterday, my S27 loves it (he is into theater/film production and set design).
Have you looked at Cal Arts? Not a SLAC, but the size of a SLAC. It came to mind mostly because many of the animators we used to know at Pixar graduated from there.
HS is so hard sometimes! Really looking forward to the fact they have a long weekend next week:)