@CTMom21 we have not yet looked. The closest school DS is interested in is 10 hours from us. So, we have one visit scheduled for Thanksgiving week, then we have a college/BS (for DD) trip scheduled for Spring Break. We are similar…no big cities and no big schools. I can’t believe this is happening so fast. It seems like we were just stressing about M10!
^^ DS didn’t do any college visits until spring of junior year and I envy all of you having that in front of you still. We had so much fun traveling together and I especially enjoyed getting to see what he wanted his college experience to be. We still laugh about some of the nuttier things that happened on those trips. Enjoy, everyone!!
Good luck to all the students, and parents of students, of the class of 2021! Here’s to hoping that the the 11th grade year is not as grueling as we have been led to believe.
Amen to that @CaliPops ! DS leaves in 3 days…I’m not ready for this year!
I can’t believe our child’s boarding school adventure is already half-over. The days are slow, but the years are fast.
Seriously @CaliPops!! How did this happen?!? And with the college stuff starting, it feels like the end is nearing fast. DS leaves tomorrow for peer leader duties in advance of pre-season and has A LOT to do between now and tomorrow afternoon, including taking his driving test tomorrow morning. Nothing like waiting till the last minute.
The suitcase is getting filled as we speak, for similar reasons as @CTMom21 mentioned with her DS. Texas requires 6 months of having learner’s permit before being eligible to take a test…with all of the time off from driving a car, I’m guessing we will be doing driving tests next summer. And applying to college. And applying to BS. And pulling hair out…?
Agreed @Buuzn03 & @CTMom21. Two other random comments:
- My kiddo has somewhere between very little and no interest in getting a driver’s license. I really don’t get it.
- @buuzn03, I’ve seen your handle on here many, many times, and I’ve been reading it as “buzzn03” for the longest time. Now that I have (finally) read it correctly, I see it has a different connotation.
?? @CaliPops DS really is not motivated too much to drive. Although he is looking at some colleges where he will have to have a car, so he’s realistic. I would’ve liked him to have had his license this summer so he could’ve carted his sister to all of the places she needed to be!!!
Re driver’s licenses – both my older boys waited until 19 to get theirs, and my current 16 year old has no interest. I think waiting till they are older is more common than it was 30+ years ago.
@cinnamon1212 the insurance is cheaper, too!!!
I had intended to not rush with the driver’s license, but once he had his permit last March (which expires after a year) and I realized the complication involved in scheduling the 30-hour class, I decided to just push to get it done this year before we’re full-on into college visits every break. Not that he’s going to do any driving on his own for a while. I told him the more merit aid he can get for college the more we MIGHT be able to HELP with a car in the future…and I want to muzzle every college tour guide who talks about how many kids have cars on campus.
I’m torn about the driving. I’m not looking forward to increased car insurance rates, and my wife is happy she doesn’t have to worry about accidents, but I would not mind an end to schlepping.
Regarding college visits, I think we’ve been in a minor state of denial. But as we plan to attend the college counseling session this upcoming parents’ weekend, and our child will be assigned a college counselor this year, I think we’re going to have to move into acceptance very quickly. Ugh.
Ha ha. Me too.
Drop off gets a bit less monumental each year. This year I took DS to my office early and then to his driving test (passed!), then back to my office for a long meeting with his club sport coach, and then he and DH were off! As we parted ways in the parking lot I sort of forgot he was headed off to school and not home, so no pictures, and just a quick good-bye. It was great that his last conversation was with his coach getting a reminder about grades. Off we go — Junior year! Best wishes to all the 2021s!
Congratulations for passing driving test. It is a big deal !!!
Thank you! Exciting and a relief to check something off the list.
@CTMom21 Congrats to your new driver!
I wish all of the 2021ers a successful and hopefully not too stressful Junior year!
Well, we just got back from family weekend/V form College Counseling weekend. It was interesting, to say the least. The school focused on finding fit for colleges, not rank. They brought in a guest speaker to talk about toxic approaches to the application process. They provided insight into what goes into ranking scores and how they don’t accurately portray schools’ academic excellence. They cautioned parents regarding priorities and pushing students in certain directions that were prestige based.
The most interesting part for me was in one of the seminars, they separated the parents and asked us our biggest fear regarding college…I had raised my hand confidently because mine immediately popped into my mind -“how will we afford it?” Luckily, others were called on before me, and as I had a chance to hear their fears and look around the room, I realized…yep, I’m the only one that has that fear here. There were a few families that I know are on full FA (very good friends with DS) and the rest have vacation homes on Nantucket and in Stowe…we are dead in the middle. So, I slowly put my hand down when I came to realize no one else there shared my fear or would even understand it.
All in all it was a great educational experience. I felt reassured that DS would not be pressured to apply to schools that will just make the matriculation list look good for prospective applicants. He has a few on his list that are definitely not making any national media lists but seem perfect for him. It’ll be interesting to see how this all translates to actual practices in the end.
PSAT is Saturday and the real deal ACT the following Saturday. It’s getting real.
I will be curious to see how our process goes and if they in fact “walk the walk” of fit over prestige. We have a 5th form college talk this weekend at Parents’ Weekend, but it really kicks off in January when there is a full day college seminar, which sounds more like you did, @buuzn03. DS did PSATs yesterday (not highly relevant, since based on the diagnostics last spring, he will be doing ACTs only, which he will do next week as well). (And it’s not his strength in any case, so not the funnest weekend.)
This is going to be a whirlwind 12 months — that’s for sure.
DS has done a ton of work on the sports side, and we have visited a number of schools, so I will also be curious how all this dovetails with the school process. He has a pretty clear idea of the type of college where he sees himself and he too is looking a bit off the beaten path.
BS is definitely not the real world in terms of paying for college. I know non-BS families whose kids have stellar grades and stats but are basically planning on community college, being the only way to afford it. It does seem that college admissions is a different environment in terms of both need-based and merit aid, though, and it seems there is a lot available for strong candidates.
My favorite advice is what DS’s coach has said — “Keep the faith, know that it will all work out, and don’t get caught up in other people’s hype.”