Parents of the high school class of 09

<p>Fireflyscout, I'm envious. DS is stuck on a topic, any topic. I was reduced to major nag status a short time ago, and I hate that. Fortunately, he went off to a rehearsal, and I opened a bottle of w(h)ine....</p>

<p>cheers SJTH :clink: My two have not even looked at the common ap essay topics so your DS is ahead of my DDs.</p>

<p>hi harriet and history et al! miss you guys from the vigil...too crazy a summer to hang out here much but my addiction is re-emerging...
so we are all '09ers and '08ers? preparing for my son's leaving for DC as part of preorientation at W & L in a week and encouraging daughter to take time away from bf to start essays. Well we made the best of both worlds and took a roadtrip starting out looking at potential schools for d and ended up at W & L where s starts in 2 wks-- took few days to enjoy a cabin in the mountains and explore the shenandoah valley--just beautiful...trying to look at my oldest leaving as a wonderful door opening to explore that part of the country... he's been really good at getting me excited to get him up there--wink wink</p>

<p>Ohhhhhhhhh lindz... What a fabulous trip for the two of you! I LOVE the Shenandoah Valley. Spent a week there in December 85 and it was lovely, snowy and so quaint. There are advantages aren't there, for those of us with a travel bug, to the kids going further afield. Enjoy! I look forward to seeing more of you ;)</p>

<p>Yesterday I finally said to D, "this is the last time I'm going to say this, if you don't produce a draft essay we can forget the whole college application process and you can just go to the local community college."</p>

<p>An hour later D sent me a rough draft (really rough) of an essay. </p>

<p>We communicate about college applications through email now, much easier that way.</p>

<p>As for the GC, I'm not thrilled but then again this is a public HS that doesn't send ANY kids to top schools and they all apply WAY too late in my opinion. They won't have official transcripts to send out mid-September, according to D, they told her they are busy this summer on other things. I want to know, LIKE WHAT?!? I'm going to call them today and ask them if they have the transcripts ready, what her FINAL GPA is including Junior year, and her rank. We'll see...</p>

<p>Welcome back, lindz! Your voice is always a welcome one. I'm feeling the same thing - I've spent much of the summer away from the boards, but all of a sudden, WHAM. Thank goodness we have good places to vent. </p>

<p>fireflyscout, congratulations. I'm happy for you, but envious.</p>

<p>Electronblue, we're in a similar place - kind of hoping that a genuine frontrunner emerges, so that ED could be a real possibility.</p>

<p>Bon voyage, Jolynne!</p>

<p>Jersey, don't they include a cumulative GPA on grade reports? It's all done by computer, for crying out loud...how hard could it be to print a transcript?</p>

<p>Just got off the phone with the GC. They are not sending any transcripts until after school starts in September. I asked her GPA, nope, don't have that yet either. She gave me this song-and-dance about how they call students down in the Fall and blah blah blah. I told her that D is applying to 3 specific OOS schools with merit deadlines of October 10th, I told her that their application has been up and available since August 4th (she seemed surprised). I then told her I'm driving D 2hours to take the ACT in another state next month (ACT not available in my state) and that I would like to have all of the application paperwork complete at these specific out-of-state schools no later than the end of September (figure we have to wait until the ACT scores are sent).</p>

<p>She told me to tell D to come see her during the first week of school, which doesn't start until September 3rd. She also said she was not going to be back in the office until school starts. wonderful. In my next life I'm coming back as a high school counselor.</p>

<p>Chiming in here. With my son there is a division of labor, I take care of the nuts and bolts stuff-he takes care of the creative stuff (essays on Comm AP, supplements and the interviews). Of course, its not like he's doing anything now on it. Well the WoW disks are put away for the school year now, so we are hoping for more productivity</p>

<p>Some of D2's friends are frustrated that Wisconsin state school applications are not even on-line yet! They all want to go to Madison and you have to apply early if you are OOS.</p>

<p>Don't be envious - the ONLY reason my son drafted the essay is that it is a summer assignment for his English class. And now that I've read it, please emphasize "rough". Topic is good, though.</p>

<p>Now my daughter, on the other hand, didn't finish her essay until early December and submitted most of her applications on December 30th. Never fear, they do get done.</p>

<p>Haha, fireflyscout, we have the opposite situation here: D was long done with drafts of essays and such by this time, when she was a senior. S1 operates on a different schedule. . . .</p>

<p>"Chiming in here. With my son there is a division of labor, I take care of the nuts and bolts stuff"</p>

<p>This is what we're doing, too. She has so much stuff going on this summer, if I weren't willing to help out this way, she'd only have time to apply to one school!</p>

<p>My S's counselor encouraged him to look through some old essays that he had written for some of his classes -- just in case he had something really good. He did not to like what he had so they met again -- today, for more than 45 minutes. She did an interview-like thing with him. He seemed to come out of the meeting very happy. My only advice to him was not to wait until the last minute, because he has a lot going on besides college applications. </p>

<p>Of course, this is the same advice I give to all my students.</p>

<p>Thankfully, we have this board so we don't nag incessantly or bang on fists on the GC's desk! I sent an email to S's GC asking for info we need for the Common App, but no response. My guess is she comes back right before school starts on 9/3 which isn't much help for early apps to the rolling admission school. </p>

<p>I can calculate his GPA, but not rank, and I'm not 100% sure of the classes he'll get for next year. S is at a public magnet HS, and while the GC is sweet, this is only her 2nd year and like others have commented, she is really only aware of UC and CSU requirements.</p>

<p>Glad to hear other parents are completing part of the Common Apps...I've been afraid to confess that I'm doing what should be S's job!</p>

<p>Hey, I'm not embarrassed about it. She's spending about 30 hours a week between swimming, violin, summer homework and culminating project and I'd really like for her to have a little down time. This application stuff takes a TON of time, especially since our mission is to track down every possible scholarship opportunity. And - this is a bonus for mom - she's overtly grateful for it.</p>

<p>Jaf, I'd be far less embarrassed if I saw some overt OR covert appreciation!</p>

<p>I have managed to produce a teenager who knows what side her bread is buttered on!</p>

<p>My D is a senior this year and at this time has picked to do ED at Bates College in main. About 8 hours from home. We are used to it since our oldest a S is at American which is about 8 hours away. I'm probably in the minority but right now I'm looking forward to it just being my husband and me again some of the year. </p>

<p>We have visited about 9 schools. She stepped on Bates campus and fell in love. It's a reach and I'm trying to make sure that she has a back up. Hope her heart isn't broken in Dec.</p>

<p>Can't type today. I meant Bates College in Maine.</p>