<p>I feel really great, another parent sent me a PM for advice, must have read my Post #4, always glad to give out college search advice! </p>
<p>Papers? Cleaned out in-laws’ house, it was sold, H saved all his papers from high school & BC, he is going through them in our barn, they will all be recycled. H recently hit 60, so I don’t think he really needs those papers anymore!</p>
<p>Research a vacation - I’m sure that will take a lot of time because you will have to find something cost-effective since you are paying for college!</p>
<p>My 2012 daughter and I wouldn’t mind more updates on your son’s Flagship Chinese experience…hint…hint…;-)</p>
<p>Ooops, I’m still here and D is a college senior. Gotta start a 12 step CC program.</p>
<p>Another similar addiction would be to move over to the home improvement forum on GardenWeb if you are looking to do any updates to the house.</p>
<p>Mentoring and advising other students is a great idea. Someone I know teaches in a full IB school in a blue collar area - few students even consider anything other than the local CC, and the tippy top kids (who could get a full ride if they had the right advice and a lot of nudging) aim for the local regional U. THey don’t know anyone who went elsewhere.</p>
<p>Apollo6, I read in another thread that your D was taking French, is fluent in Spanish, and is taking Mandarin. My S just took a 9 week intensive Mandarin course (at Middlebury, not Williams,) grew up in Mexico, and speaks French. Sounds like a good match to me.</p>
<p>dragonmom-you and me both—DD is a college senior this year and I am still active on CC—but “now” I have a “valid reason”…We moved/down-sized-and I now volunteer in a local high school counseling office. I assist the students, many of whom are first generation, with their applications and financial aid/FAFSA. CC continues to be a wealth of information, and I feel like I am paying back for all the help we got when DD was a senior in high school.
Go for it Mantori ! It’s a lot more fun when it’s not your kid!!
~APOL-a Mum</p>
<p>
All my kids are either in college or graduated. Yet I’m not quite ready to walk away from CC. Either I consider advising others who don’t want to hear it, or I start investigating grad schools. Which is it?</p>
<p>the entire college app process and touring was something I really enjoyed vicariously. I now visit CC and throw in my 2 cents once in awhile. Every year since only S has gone off to college is different, yet the same in that I miss him.</p>
<p>Just throwing it out here…</p>
<p>but for the seriously addicted…you can start reading the Grad School threads…</p>
<p>GRE is changing (news to me as of yesterday when my oldest asked me to register if there was a date over winter break at home)</p>
<p>Rankings, programs, applications… only 3-4 years and that starts.</p>
<p>Also, there are many scholarships for upperclassmen-- so there’s a search process there too and assistance needed perhaps (although doubtful).</p>
<p>LOL, What a group of dedicated parents and community members. I know why you love this forum. Some very real, wise and giving people here. </p>
<p>Cheers to everyone who has made it through. The gifts you all have will be needed somewhere. Just wait for enlightenment if you have not gotten there yet.</p>
<p>hahahahaha</p>
<p>Your problem is . . . lack of personal initiative devoted to keeping your obsession alive.</p>
<p>No problems here . . . I’m helping 3 sets of friends with their kids’ college choices AND am planning a community class on college selection for the fall AND making friends with parents of grade schools to create a farm system of willing fellow travelers.</p>
<p>Anything worth doing is worth overdoing!!!</p>
<p>Kei</p>
<p>If you have friends (with kids a year or two younger than yours) who didn’t apply to colleges or who went to college outside the U.S., friends who are going through the “choose which colleges to apply to” for the first time, I am sure they would especially appreciate your help.</p>
<p>When friends wonder how in the heck I come up with tidbits on admission or scholarships opportunities at a subset of schools across the U.S., I just say “college search and selection is my hobby.” (Actually, by now, most of my friends know that I love this stuff.)</p>
<p>I’m doing the same voluntary college advice for all the high school kids I know already…my friend saw me talking to a young person at a church function last week and grinned and said “she’s doing it again”. </p>
<p>Wull!! I mean when you know what’s in store for them and neither they nor their parents have the vaguest foggiest clue you just have to share!!</p>
<p>None of the juniors I have talked to are aware that they have an NMSQT coming up shortly or just exactly what the importance of it is.</p>
<p>We have very few kids around here who think much past a state university less than 4 hours away. There is nothing wrong at all with going to that kind of school but I strongly feel it is a decision that should be an informed choice, not a default!!</p>
<p>What I am actually going to do when D leaves next year, though, I think, is adopt a litter of kittens and spend the entire fall and winter on the couch reading and watching movies.</p>
<p><em>sigh</em></p>