A measure of my impending insanity -- the pre-college spreadsheet

Parent Cafe
1

<p>S is a HS freshman. Man, I’m glad I found CC when I did, as there is sooooo much to learn/absorb/take to heart in the whole college admissions arena!</p>

<p>I will have to be strapped down and sedated, I suspect, when S is in application mode, but until then, I try to maintain a semblance of organization and thoughts that I know what I’m doing with The Spreadsheet, started recently after spending time here reading, reading, reading, and plotting, plotting, plotting.</p>

<p>Let me tell you about The Spreadsheet. Actually, it’s a Workbook with eight, yes, count 'em, eight, spreadsheets, but we refer to it (okay, <em>I</em> refer to it) as The Spreadsheet.</p>

<p>The eight spreadsheets, and what they hold…</p>

<li><p>Pre-High School:
High school courses taken, teachers’ names, grades and GPA for those courses
Summer programs taken (CTY) – not for college admissions, of course, just to keep track of it with other pre-HS stuff
Distance learning taken, year taken, from where, and grade
Testing, which for S, means 7th and 8th grade SATs, when taken, and scores, and the state-mandated high school testing necessary for HS graduation, date taken, and score</p></li>
<li><p>Freshman
Courses taken, teachers’ names, quarter grades and GPA, final grades and GPA
School ECs and their activities (for example, Latin Honor Society raises money for a battered women’s shelter, collects toys for Toys for Tots, and so on, and his robotics team competes)
Other ECs
Testing such as PSAT, dates taken/scheduled, registration completed (Y/N), scores
Summer plans, including CTY sessions and any surreptitious college visits</p></li>
<li><p>Sophomore</p></li>
<li><p>Junior</p></li>
<li><p>Senior</p></li>
</ol>

<p>The three above are similar to Freshman, with deadlines for various needed test registrations noted as well, and, for Senior, a general outline for college applications, which will probably get spreadsheets of their own.</p>

<li><p>High School Summary
This is intended to be the one-stop shopping sheet for basic high school career info. It has three sections that are each multi-columned and go vertically, and they are:
High school course information, this a consolidation of subject/grade for each grade. Information is pulled via links to the relevant spreadsheets/cells for each grade.
Testing information; type, date, scores, also pulled by links to relevant spreadsheets/cells for each grade.
Extra curriculars, including summer. Same deal – info pulled from other spreadsheets.</p></li>
<li><p>Scholarship info
Info I’ve picked up from you fine folks on CC about different scholarships, with a brief description (four-six words) and a link to the relevant site, whether organization or college.</p></li>
<li><p>College info
So far, just a link to a thread here on CC that has a lot of good information about crafting the list of colleges to which to apply. More to come, I’m sure.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Now that I have all this written out like this, I see I need another spreadsheet for financial management, so that I know when to move what monies where and so on. For example, I plan to move some 529 money from one investment to another to preserve capital starting next year. I already track what money is going into which college-funding vehicles elsewhere (handwritten, but it works).</p>

<p>This is what CC has done to me! How long will it be before I’m put in a rubber room?</p>

2

<p>Owlice - You’ll have a lot of CC company in that padded room. I’m a compulsive data gatherer and ranker. I generated dozen of pages of various stats and comments on schools across the country when my Ds were looking at colleges, and then I was disappointed on the day that I realized that there were no more schools out there to research - I’d researched all the viable ones.</p>

<p>Your spreadsheets will come in very handy come application time, but my advice would be to keep your mania to yourself and to not involve your S. My two Ds amassed very impressive HS credentials, but the best thing I can say for both of them is that they did none of it for the purpose of resume-building. They got passionate about things and their mother and I tried to do everything we could to make experiences available to them that would sustain and grow those passions. And when they finally applied to colleges, their passion and enthusiasm was evident in everything they wrote or sent in as supplemental materials. So be sure your S does what he does for the sheer love of it, but be assured that three years from now he’ll thank you when he doesn’t have to try to recreate his past three years from memory.</p>

<p>Now, do we get to eat on this thread too or is that just for the moms on the vigil?</p>

3

<p>Hello kindred spirit,</p>

<p>At some point you will also want to start a paper filing system (OK, you probably already have.) We have files for tests, brag sheets, and each college. The files were stored in milk crates, and she had three going at the peak of the reseach/mailing phase. We use the plain heavy paper file folders which were easy to take notes on. That way when the phone would ring and someone from a school was on the other end, my d could start talking, I would grab the file and pencil, and she could take notes and then date the conversation. She could also be looking at the stuff in the file to refresh her memory about the school and prior conversations.</p>

<p>And if you’re thinking about making fun of me and owlice for this kind of activity, just save it. This is our drug of choice.</p>

4

<p>Where is the Spread Sheet on Catering Stations and smorgasbord menus of what you will be serving at all the important virtual meetings you will be holding to discuss fine points of all the other spread sheets? That is the spread sheet I want to see, and may be the one that will keep you away from the rubber-walled room.</p>

<p>You are over the top, to be sure, owlice. But you will not have to rifle through old files to find one single thing needed for the application. For all parents out there who wonder why a parent would want to have this stuff handy… well, I direct you to the Wad Theory of filing that most of our sons subscribe to (if they subscribe to any theory of filing at all). Easier for Mom to find the old hs grades than for S to look through the wads of paper in the bottom of backpacks.</p>

<p>I must be eligible for Laid Back Parent status in comparison to you gals posting here. I didn’t enter the Spread Sheet stage until applications were pending. Limited mine to the Date Due, Scores Sent, Essays Written, etc. etc. type. Slacker-mom here.</p>

5

<p>I sat through a presentation recently about research on the phenomenon of Helicopter Parents, and learned that hovering takes a number of different forms, some of which are fairly insidious. But perhaps the most benign form is the parent who’s an undergraduate wannabe. That’s me. I read the online campus paper from my daughters’ school, I follow the football team, I check out performances and speakers that are coming to campus, and in D1’s first two years I’ve visited the campus five times for events (1000 miles each way). Do you suppose that those of us who are data addicts when our kids are prospective college students typically become wannabes once they get to college?</p>

6

<p>owlice
I like you love to research and be organized, but I admire your fortitude so early on.
You’ll find it helpful having kept track of the smaller things like summer programs and EC’s when it comes time for your kid to write those applications/essays/scholarship applications and when needing info for teacher recs. I also threw in a folder any letters,award certificates that came along the way just for reminders sake.
It especially came in handy for D#1 who was music performance major/merit scholarship applicant.What a wild ride that was..keeping track of audition appts,plus all the usual stuff. After her S #2 was a piece of cake, "only one "major,merit scholarship and having lived through D’s wild ride a few years prior.
When the college mail came, we didnt throw anything away for awhile, just dumped it into big bins for later sorting.
wait till you get to make the spreadsheets with app deadlines,test sendouts,teacher recc sendouts, FAFSA and other financial stuff…you’ll either be in heaven or hell!!</p>

7

<p>I particularly like the drug of choice and Spreadsheet on Catering comments. :)</p>

<p>Another idea for you, owlice… I know there are a few schools which want students to submit a sample of something the student has written with the teacher’s comments written on the paper. I heard about this from someone who applied to Colorado College and it seems to me there are some other schools that might do this too. So, if over the years your son has any especially fine English papers with teacher comments on them, you may want to tuck them away.</p>

8

<p>gadad: You can count me in. My data addiction takes the form of keeping files. I can find anything very quickly. In addition, I made a notebook for each year from kindergarten on up for both of my 2 kids. Using transparent sheet protectors, I put in everything that I thought was relevant or interesting - grade reports, test scores, excellent homework assignments, programs from concerts and musicals, award certificates, sports results and medals, newspaper articles, everything. I just filed the stuff as it came in, and it was pretty easy to find all the info that my kids needed when applying for things like NHS, scholarships and college. My kids love their memorabilia notebooks and I don’t have boxes of mildewed papers in my basement.</p>

<p>I still skim the online paper from the school where my D no longer attends. I am reading the online paper from the school where my S isn’t attending yet. I’d love to go back to college, and maybe I will when S graduates.</p>

9

<p>I admit to reading the online version of my son’s college newspaper. Imagine my surprise when I saw and op-ed piece he had written (“oh, I forgot to mention that” he said)</p>

10

<p>Owlice, I haven’t gotten to the spreadsheet stage - and I’m not sure I ever will - I just don’t think I have it in me to be that organized (though I wish I did). My method is different, but will hopefully be good enough. I use a really big binder and the transparent sheet protectors. I use them for progress reports/report cards, standardized test score reports, awards, letters of recognition, newspaper articles, school newspapers with articles written by D - whatever else I think is important. I just add them as she gets them - in other words, chronologically. Unlike gladmom, I do not have notebooks going back through kindergarten - I started D’s her freshman year in hs (and just added some of the relevant stuff from middle school - but not too much, just report cards with high school-level classes, and letters/certificates for a few honors achieved in eighth grade).</p>

11

<p>I’m so glad I have company; it’ll make the rubber room ever so much more fun!!</p>

<p>2blue, good idea about English papers. I hope someday to see a graded one from a high school teacher; hasn’t happened yet this year, though. [imagine a grumpy emoticon here; thanks!] I’m hoping S will take a course on essay writing at nerd camp one of these years; something may come out of that if he takes one. (Yeah, I’m dreaming!)</p>

<p>LIMOMOF2 and gladmom, I can’t find S’s report card from last quarter (from just weeks ago), much less any others! I need to hire you two and riverrunner to manage the paper files; we are, all of us in this house, paper-file challenged. (The only paper I’m organized about is financial, and even those, it’s only certain ones: 529, mutual fund for college, IRAs. Those are in binders on a bookshelf. I haven’t balanced a checking account in years, though do have most of the banking statements in files. Don’t know where those files are, though.)</p>

<p>All awards/certificates get framed and put on a wall; some frames hold multiple awards/certificates, as in, they are simply stacked in the frame, and only the most recent is showing. I’d lose them otherwise!</p>

<p>I’ll start on the Drug of Choice and Catering spreadsheets when I’m back from the library. I want to take out a book on, guess what? Paying for college!</p>

<p>Does this mean I need a hobby, or have just found one…?</p>

12

<p>Ha…it has already happened that one or both of my Ds has spurned a school I had fallen in love with. Like gadad, surfing their webpages and learning all I could…only to have my heart broken…sigh ;)</p>

13

<p>historymom, if my son turns down a particular acceptance he has, I told him I’ll try to pass myself off as an 18-year-old guy so I can go there!</p>

14

<p>owlice: you are clearly and undeniably a waaay over the top obsessive-compulsive type :D. Relax, let your child be a child, and enjoy the last few years you have together instead of obsessing over things that don’t matter:</p>

<p>1) On recordkeeping: the school does that for you. All you need to do is archive one page per semester — the final report
2) ECs: don’t even get me going on all the BS kids do for the sole purpose of padding their resumes. Help them figure out a couple of things that are approximately close to their heart, and you are done. No need for a spreadsheet to track 2-3 activities
3) Scholarships: many are open to any HS student. Apply early, apply often. FastWeb.com is a decent place to start, many states have their own web sites.</p>

<p>As a parent of a senior if I could change one thing it would be leaning a bit on daughter to get ready for the PSATs. NMF makes A LOT of difference at the second tier of schools that offer decent merit aid (ranked 20-50 on that much reviled list). D missed NMF status by two points, which would have translated into an extra $10k per year of merit aid at the school she is likely going to.</p>

<p>Oh, and did I tell you that you are over the top and need to back off? :D</p>

15

<p>Please read “Accept My Kid Please” to get some laughs from this process. Should be required reading for all CC parents.</p>

16

<p>Please sign me up for the jmmom “Slacker school.” :wink: D thought I was a bit over the top with my very simple one page spreadsheet with possible schools and info about each one, (ie overseas study programs, size, merit possibilities, etc.)</p>

17

<p>^^ Absolutely, I am in “purge” mode at my house, as we are scaling down. But I will <em>not</em> purge “Accept My Kid, Please…” I just won’t.</p>

18

<p>Wow, owlice, you’re organized ;)</p>

<p>For DS1 (HS Junior) I’ve got a spreadsheet on Google Docs, which I like because he can see it as well as his father (my XH). It’s very simple, just a list of colleges that he’s interested in, a link to their engineering dept websites, FAFSA/Profile, application start and due dates, visit date, ED/EA, and a checkbox to indicate whether SAT scores have been sent. DS1 and I populated the list of colleges by looking at a variety of search engines (Cal State mentor, Princeton Review, WICHE, etc).</p>

<p>I’ve also set up some links and checkboxes on backpackit.com, as suggested by a CC member at some point, but I’m finding this less useful so far.</p>

<p>We get zero mail from colleges because my son opted out from the PSAT and SAT mailings. Just as well - he’s comfortable reading all of this info online, and paper mail would just go straight to the recycling bin.</p>

<p>So far I haven’t seen the need to set up paper files, but might once DS gets into more serious application mode this summer/fall.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

19

<p>

</p>

<p>Actually, it doesn’t; I had to tell S’s GC that S had already passed the high school assessment test for algebra. (S skipped algebra I.) The score wasn’t in the school’s records. (That has since been fixed.) The school also doesn’t have his SAT scores, know what he’s done/doing over the summer, nor what distance learning courses he’s taken and the grades he received in them, and what ECs he does outside of school, nor when he’s done them.</p>

<p>S is a freshman; he picks his own ECs. What he chose this year might not be what he chooses to do when he is older; in fact, the choices he made this year may not even be available to him later in his HS career! </p>

<p>And let’s face it: I’m old. I’m unlikely to remember what ECs he did this year unless he continues with them or one of them burned itself into my brain by annoying me!</p>

<p>vballmom, the spreadsheet is organized; me, not so much! :wink: Google Docs sounds like a good idea. Alas, it’s highly unlikely my exH would look at anything I put on there, so I will probably not use it. ExH is going to be very very surprised when it comes college admission time; he actively resists talking about college financing. I know he will have a little money for S, as the state-mandated child support payments (which are quite low) go into a 529 that he controls for S (my idea), but other than that, I will not count on him for college funding. If he provides some, that’ll be great, of course! But count on it… not a good idea.</p>

<p>Your S sounds farther along the college admissions thing than my S, and that makes sense, considering he’s a junior! My S isn’t interested in any of it, and that’s okay with me. He has a couple of years before he needs to gear up to deal with it. We do sometimes talk about the financial aspect of college; he knows how much I will likely have for him for college, but other than that and taking whatever standardized tests are a good idea, nothing. (He also opted out of mailings on his PSAT/SATs. Next one he takes, though, I might suggest he opt in.)</p>

<p>Good luck to your S!</p>

20

<p>owlice - my XH is a bit head-in-the-sand as far as college finances are concerned, but we negotiated terms for splitting the cost in our divorce settlement, so he knows he needs to come up with the $$s. I also send him links to finaid.org etc so at least he’s got the basics. DS1 has enough in his 529 to easily pay the first 2 years of any college, so that should give XH enough time to fully understand how expensive this will be. I know that in a lot (maybe most) divorces, there’s no provision at all for college funding. Sounds like at least you’ve got a start with your son’s 529.</p>

<p>DS2 is a sophomore and has zero interest in talking about colleges. I don’t bring him along on visits w/DS1. No point in creating a spreadsheet for him this year either. DS2’s friends are starting to think about it though, and since he has been buddies with 2 boys in particular since kindergarten, I’m guessing they’ll end up looking at a lot of the same schools just by virtue of their pack mentality.</p>