Oh nooo @GoatMama & @AppleNotFar !! Hope goatkid and appleseed feel better soon! Just hung up from FaceTime with DS. Despite getting beat by DA in crew yesterday, a pizza delivery, downloaded movie & early bedtime seemed to put a lil pep in his step! Only 6 weeks left!! Hope your kiddos get to feeling better—DS seemed to get over his viral crud
Room lottery can be a stressful time.
Room lottery stressful? There’s an understatement!
Sorry to all the sick, injured kids. Lousy anywhere but especially away at school.
Why is room lottery stressful? DS doesn’t seem stressed about that at all!
For lots of kids, there is a lot of angst around who to room with. Within a friend group, “favorites” emerge, and this is often hurtful. And occasionally, someone is left out, usually because there are odd # of kids for double rooms. (This happened to one kid I know both sophomore and junior year.) If there is a choice of buildings and a group of friends gets split up, it can feel like the friends will split up. That while idea of "your dorm is your family " now translates into “we are no longer going to be family.”
As with most things, it works in the end, but it can be rough while it’s happening.
^that makes sense…DS said he doesn’t care which dorm he gets…as long as he can have a single. He said he’d prefer the crappiest dorm with a single over the nicest with a roommate…so maybe that’s why he isn’t too stressed. Most of his closest friends are either Day students or upper class men in other dorms anyway…but I definitely can see where the “kickball selection” drama could result from the process.
^and if there are enough singles, no stress. But if there aren’t and he gets placed with someone not of his choosing (including a new 10th), that too could be stressful.
@gardenstategal we aren’t even going to bring up that scenario. I’m going to let him walk around in his current zen state. Especially after the pizza! Lol
It’s also possible that his preference for a single is driven in part by a desire to sit out that “kickball drama”…
There is a lot of serendipity in how frosh roommate assignments work out, and if it doesn’t evolve into a BFF situation (which it rarely does), it’s hard to know whether it’s you, the roommate, just living with someone else in general. …
Such a different experience dropping off this year versus last year. Much more of a low key experience with no fanfare. Great to see and share a meal with DC’s friends, whom we’ve gotten to know over the last year, and great meeting or getting to know some of their parents a bit better. Loved seeing how happy the kids are to see one another again. It’s still years away, but I can already tell it’s going to be very hard for the kids to say goodbye to one another when they graduate. I know some are hoping they will attend the same undergrad when the time comes. Time flies /sigh
@CaliPops I completely agree! We had time to see other parents (and a few CC peeps) while we were there. It was harder leading up to the day for me, because I now knew how bleh the world was without DS. But when the time came, we loaded his stuff into his room, had a great “last supper” and dropped him off at pre-season practice. He’s in “his place”. It was reminiscent of ol’ Curly Bill…”Well, Bye.”
My wife commented that she knew DC would like us to do the rolling drop-off next year–and DC agreed-- but my wife made clear that was not happening. She likes to nip those kind of thoughts in the bud.
Of course, when given the option of one more meal with the 'rents, along with DC’s friends, or being left alone, the kids opted for the meal. We are not above bribery.
Yes. What a difference a year makes. DS was saying how he was so nervous last year that he could hardly speak. He went on Tuesday for preseason, so a lot of his friends are my there yet, but what a difference. The new sophomores seem so much older and more confident back at their home away from home. He is very excited for sophomore year — no longer a new freshman but not yet into the full-blown college process. It is definitely bittersweet knowing that there are only 2 more drop-off days.
While it’s awfully quiet at home without all his energy, I also feel like we’re back to our “other” normal — just the theee of us. Of course I am counting the hours till the first soccer game. I hope all the other 2021s are just as happy to be back!
Disclosure…if you haven’t figured out yet, I’m a planner - to the point of neurosis. And i gave DS this trait. But, I was wondering if any of y’all had started treading down the college path yet? We’ve been trying to get some schools on our list to visit (having to do BS and college visits the same year is perpetuating my early plans).
I thought the Prep school threads were overwhelming…but I just peeked over in the college side and umm…well, I didn’t get very far. It makes these threads look like child’s play. If anyone has found any useful resources, threads, etc, I would appreciate it! TIA!
Hope everyone’s year is going well!
@buuzn03 , if your kid isn’t a recruited athlete, I would put this off until next year. Nothing wrong with you getting informed (in fact, great idea) , but dont start this with your kid. Geez, closer to the start than finish of BS and already having to think about leaving? Really unhealthy. And also not so helpful. What they are looking for now and what they want 2 years from now may change dramatically on everything from academics to social vibe.
What you may want to do is make sure you’re all square on subject tests for May/June and consider SAT/ACT prep and testing over the summer. For lots of kids, this can take a big stressor out of the junior year equation. (This never crossed my mind and it is one of the biggest things I would do differently if I were to do it again.)
You can also ask your kid to make some personal notes about this year and hopes for next - what appealed, didn’t, surprise, disappointments. These can be helpful essay sparks. Ultimately, your kid will have the best college match by knowing himself well – not by seeing a lot of schools.
Plan to spend spring break next year (and possibly some of summer 2021) doing visits. Most schools won’t interview applicants any earlier than April/May of junior year, so you may not really be streamlining by getting out in front of it.
And most BS do an excellent job on CC and managing the timeline.
Also: Do yourself a favor and read the Frank Bruni book, Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be.
I too am an intense planner and while my kid is not, he does want to play a sport in college (D3), and we have started working with his club coach on college stuff. I spent his 9th grade year trying to get him to not stress about college or even really think about it, but now we feel like we need to be about a year ahead of the school’s process. I do not know what his chances are realistically, but a lot of the schools on his current “recruiting” list would probably be on an initial college list anyway, so while it’s sort of a parallel process, hopefully they will converge. Until about a month ago most D3 college names were just words to DS…he has only just started to do a little research. I myself am vowing to NEVER open the Pandora’s box of the college side of CC. Just writing this is making me see spots.
@CTMom21 My kid isn’t even in boarding school yet, but we have been talking to a lot of BS coaches over the past month. In addition to your kid’s club coach, a prep school coach should be able to significantly help and guide you for college recruiting. It has been mentioned over and over to me - “this school has been to see this one, that school to see that one, etc.” I know for soccer everyone is club crazy (don’t worry we are too 
but I would reach out to the school coach as a resource as well. Also, I would make a highlight video and most prep schools have recorded the games so you can get the files and make a video (I know some schools will even do it for you).
If you are going the recruiting route, @SevenDad is a great resource in terms of timeline and how to work with your BS CC. Remember that they too are invested in a good outcome for your kid, athlete or not.
@gardenstategal he actually started the conversation…almost all of his friends are seniors, so I think it’s somewhat on his mind…he’s planning courses for next year…I don’t think it’s a wishing away BS…this is just how we are wired and all of his decisions are very well thought out.
But visits (Not at all official visits…more self-directed) are more difficult and we use them to weed out places we don’t want to apply to. Given work restrictions (limited days off) and school restrictions…we have very limited time to see places…add in BS visits and I have no idea how I’m going to coordinate it all within the one summer/fall. He may have to go on the official visits by himself…idk.
But, in the interim, I’d like to get more educated about the process and not be a bumbling idiot like I was with BS applications the first time around…I owe him that. College is completely different than it was 35+ years ago…
So, I was hoping to gain knowledge from some of the CC college threads but had no idea where to start and was wondering if anyone had guidance there…