<p>S2 is getting similar treatment (emails, then snail mails that follow) from a group of nice colleges. He knows of some (NYU, BU, etc) but hasn't heard of many of them (Rice? Northeastern! Are they trying to sound like Northwestern?) and he's generally unimpressed with the marketing material, joking they must have had a big meeting among admissions committees on how to reel in students since so many of them seem identical-- They all want to send him to online quizzes to help select the best school for him (which he, in all his 16 year old jaded wisdom, suspects will always point to them). I try to point out the cool co-op program at one school, or whatever upbeat and open-minded advice I can offer, but he's not interested. Sigh. Please pass the doughnuts.</p>
<p>:: hands madbean two cups of soup ::</p>
<p>No doughnuts for you! Soup! Soup for you! Tortellini and corn chowder!</p>
<p>No doughnuts! Soup!</p>
<p>:: puts fresh wheat-honey-oatmeal bread on the table ::</p>
<p>S has commented (several times and in various accents) about the similarities of the letters. Carleton's letter was unlike any of the others; it was downright elegant.</p>
<p>Peabodie, I don't know what I did with the WUSTL letter; will have to find it. S got something from Williams and American a few days ago that remain unopened, and today's additions include Colorado School of Mines, UDel, and Wake Forest.</p>
<p>Owlice, I'm stressin' over colleges and S2 is 2 years from even applying. This mom needs carbs!!! </p>
<p>I am getting a little junk mail envy. Madkid2 (new nickname!) just got something from Drexel. Drexel? Aww. Couldn't he be tossing away come-on letters from Cal Tech or Carelton or Williams? I even crave WashU. </p>
<p>Ummm.... brownies?</p>
<p>Brownies it is!! Fresh from the oven, too.</p>
<p>:: hands madbean brownies ::</p>
<p>My spawn got mail from Drexel, too, madbean! Also Hampton-Sydney College, which I'd never heard of, and to which spawn is certain not to go.</p>
<p>I just made some great wild rice soup, if anyone would like some...</p>
<p>I told D1 to NOT check off the "send me tons of junk mail, please" box, figuring there was no need until 11th grade. Still, yesterday she got envelopes from Caltech and RPI. Wasted marketing dollars, not her kind of place. </p>
<p>Anyone remember the deluge from their youth? I remember saving it all up, thinking it was hilarious. One school in particular was the subject of great mirth--here was some TURKISH university, sending all of these kids in CA come-on letters.</p>
<p>Another 2011/2015 parent here! We're getting buried under the avalanche of snail mail and e-mail too. My son had no interest at all until one piece of mail arrived - the Simon's Rock letter. "Starting college while still in high school" will do it every time....</p>
<p>I hid the Simon's Rock letter from D2. I'm saying yes to CTY this summer, but I'm not ready for her to go off to college for real.</p>
<p>She got the Drexel one, University of Chicago, Colgate, NYU, Carleton, Emory, Washington & Lee and Kenyon yesterday ... but I'm feeling sort of miffed that she hasn't heard from Colorado School of Mines nor any of the service academies. D1 was flooded by those mailings. Obviously recruiters who had never talked to any of her PE teachers ...</p>
<p>londonb, my spawn has applied to Simon's Rock; hopes to hear something next month.</p>
<p>Peabodie, yay! for CTY! I predict D2 will have a blast!</p>
<p>I had to LOL when I went to the mailbox today and found a mailing from Colorado School of Mines for my sophomore daughter. She's rather, umm, high maintenance on the girly-girl scale. Can they wear stilettos down in the mines?</p>
<p>
[quote]
I had to LOL when I went to the mailbox today and found a mailing from Colorado School of Mines for my sophomore daughter. She's rather, umm, high maintenance on the girly-girl scale. Can they wear stilettos down in the mines?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The Marine Corps *still *thinks they want my son. Have they seen *him *in PE class?!</p>
<p>DD starting to get the snail mail from colleges. Nice ego boost to go through and say yea or nay on the colleges</p>
<p>I had to do some adding to make sure this applied to me. Yep, son is a sophomore. We've been getting mail too but not too much exciting stuff. My kids tend to under-score on the PSAT and we hear from schools that are under most people's radar screen. The one fun letter was from my older son's college. I got a kick out of that anyway. After getting 5 pieces of mail in one day I mentioned it to my young son and he said that he had been getting lot's of e-mails from Colleges but never even opened them!</p>
<p>His older siblings gave the colleges my e-mail, which I kind of liked getting!</p>
<p>I love the college search process, and have a few in mind to visit right now, but no worries yet.</p>
<p>New to CC, hi everyone! Gotta say I'm getting depressed reading all the upbeat posts. My S is a HS freshman, goes to a private HS, and is not doing well. Two D's on his 1st semester report card. This is a kid who was an A/B student throughout (public) middle school. Yes, the private school program is more rigorous, but we thought the small class size and individual attention would compensate. We are in a quandry as to what to do (he does not have ADD or ADHD). I feel like college is out of the question already at this point, but someone please tell me it isn't!!!!</p>
<p>:: hands Jeremysmom the double-stuffed Oreos ::</p>
<p>College is not out of the question. He's a freshman. Some (maybe many) colleges discount freshman grades. </p>
<p>Also, is he not liking the private school? He might not like small classes and individual attention; he might be happier in a bigger school.</p>
<p>:: pours glasses of milk ::</p>
<p>:: adds freshly-baked chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies to the buffet table ::</p>
<p>D1 told me that a kid who graduated last year is at Colorado School of Mines, and is LOVING it. It's an engineering and geosciences school, and I saw pictures of (ironic?) hardhats, but no stiletto heels. Do they even have stiletto heels in Colorado? :) </p>
<p>Cool trivia I just learned: their graduates get a silver diploma. Real sterling silver.</p>
<p>Oh, that is very cool, SlitheyTove!</p>
<p>My mother asked me, after my diploma arrived in the mail oh, so many years ago, whether it was sheepskin! I laughed. (Ah, that would be no, it wasn't sheepskin!) It's still in the tube in which it arrived; someday, I should probably do something with it. Had it been silver, I'm sure I would have!</p>
<p>jeremysmom, welcome. Don't despair. There are many colleges out there--but cc is filled with an uncommon number of hyperachievers who often aim at the same super-selective universities. Is your S happy in his new hs? Does he want to rise to the challenge? At rigorous private schools, the classes may be harder, grading deflated, and down the road, the kids end up competing with their own high achieving classmates for private college spots and with all the high GPA'd public school kids (in our state, that means grade inflation) for the public college spots. There is really no right answer! Which is why we all hang around cc to commiserate.</p>
<p>Thank you owlice for the choco chip cookies. The oatmeal look delicious also, but they may be just a tad too healthy for my current needs. :)</p>
<p>Thanks madbean. I think he does care about doing well, but after a teacher conference yesterday, his problem may be that he doesn't know HOW to study. He's overwhelmed and demoralized. I am thinking of having him take a study skills class at eg, Sylvan, but I hate the idea of throwing money after money. (We are already rifling his college account to fund private school.) Does anyone out there have experience (good or bad) with a learning center? Or is this off topic?</p>
<p>Nothing is off-topic in this thread!</p>
<p>I know nothing about study skills training. Good timing on this question, though, as local Flagship U is offering such a course, to teach high schoolers college study skills, this two hours a week from sometime in the near future into May, for $225. I asked my owlet whether he was interested. I got a big fat NO.</p>
<p>madbean, what if I added coconut and chocolate chips to the oatmeal cookies? Would that help? :D</p>