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<p>While gifts may sometimes be improper or impermissable, I think that thank you notes are universally appropriate.</p>
<p>Thank-you notes are indeed universally appropriate.</p>
<p>I taught three semester-long courses at a private high school 9 years ago. I received one long thank-you note and one gift. I cannot remember my passwords, screen names and sometimes relatives’ names, but I remember those two students. The gift was a set of personalized notepads, which any teacher could use! </p>
<p>I am the mean mom who makes my kids write thank-you notes to each teacher each year. So many people have gone the extra mile to help my senior D that I am working toward gifts for all of them. I am thinking of flowers for the “office ladies,” who are great. When I was in high school, going to the office was a dreaded occasion. In my children’s school, kids go to the office to say hi or to get a mint from a big bowl the office ladies keep for that purpose. I’m still looking for ideas for the GC!</p>
<p>I made S write thank you notes to 3 of his middle school teachers when he was entering 9th grade. He got to choose the three teachers. He wrote a great note to his 7th grade English teacher letting him know how much he enjoyed his class and how this class increased his love of literature. This teacher wrote back a heartfelt note about how much S’s note touched him. We still have it and someday (gosh it has only been almost 4 years!) I plan to have it framed.</p>
<p>Sb woke at 4am with headache, sore throat, and chills, and we were supposed to leave after school for our final (please, God) audition and overnight visit. We had to cancel and ask to reschedule (though they’re on Spring Break next week).</p>
<p>We were at a brunch Sun with a friend and her Mom, and the friend’s sister has mono. Lots of hugging at the brunch. Not borrowing trouble, but just wondering…what are the initial symptoms of mono (please don’t say headache, sore throat and chills).</p>
<p>So…advice, please: this is the school she really wants to go to, they don’t have a big rigorous Music Dept, but she’s satisfied that it will meet her needs, and they don’t give out big vocal scholarships. Still, even an extra 1 or 2K would help.</p>
<p>I’m worried that our re-scheduled visit might not happen for another 2-3 weeks, but this is scholarship season right now.</p>
<p>Do you think it would be appropriate for her to send the recording she made for that other school (but not identified in any way as for that) to this school’s Music Chair and primary classical voice teacher, explain what happened and that she’s still going to re-schedule a live audition, but that she wonders if they would be willing to assess her taped audition since we realize this is the month when many scholarship decisions are being made.</p>
<p>Too pushy?</p>
<p>momofsongbird ~ I don’t think that would be too pushy, but maybe you could check with them first?
Hope it’s not mono.</p>
<p>^^Oh my, MOSB. So sorry SB is down with a fever and more. Can’t answer about mono, but hope its not a long-lasting illness. However, what can you do? Even our hard-charging superkids are only human. I wish her speedy recovery.</p>
<p>What tough luck on the timing. I think your idea of sending her recording as a place-mark is wonderful and not pushy at all. Just trying to regroup while she recovers and mindful of their decision schedule. Anyway, it cannot hurt IMO, and in your further communication, I would suggest SB re-emphasize how important this audition was to her, how highly she values the school and this program.</p>
<p>Best of luck and hope she feels better soon.</p>
<p>We finally got a good GC this year! They recently changed policy so that the best GC works with 2nd Sem juniors & Seniors & that has worked out well.</p>
<p>camathmom and kathiep, grats on Cornell likely and Elon acceptance!</p>
<p>mosb, yikes, bad timing! You may want to get straight to the doctor. I had mono in high school and I still remember my doctor chastised me for waiting so long to come in – I ended up in the hospital for a couple of nights! On the audition, I don’t think you should send the tape without asking them first. Just a note that says “We have re-scheduled for March X. If you like, I could also send in a recording [with a brief description of the recording.]” But I would think if they were willing to reschedule, that probably means they would be waiting to make decisions anyway.</p>
<p>I like the idea of a gift card for teachers who wrote rec’s. We only saw two – the GC one was pretty blah, but my husband and I refer to the one from her English teacher as the “Second coming of Christ rec.” I’m sure these are common, but it was still nice to read such high praise and know it was going to be seen by the adcom’s as well.</p>
<p>MOSB- I really hope SB doesn’t have mono. My youngest had it last year and was really miserable. </p>
<p>D has narrowed list of schools to three. Two she is visiting next week. The waitlisted school is getting a reply that yes, she wants to be on the list. The one remaining school will announce on Friday but I am not telling her that. She was deferred and we aren’t expecting good news. She has her difficult and last concert Saturday night (Brahm’s Requiem) and although it will probably put her in a sorrowful mood, I think her method of mourning our Siamese is probably better.</p>
<p>VAMom, glad to have you with us. If you think you’re obsessed now, I can tell you it only gets worse over time. I’m like RenMom, this is our crack!!! But I don’t want the 12-step program…having too much fun here. No better companions in the world on this journey, that’s for sure!</p>
<p>Kathiep: Congrats on the Elon acceptance!</p>
<p>MM: I’m glad that your daughter has narrowed down her list. I hope that the visits go well.</p>
<p>MOSB: I hope it’s not mono. Her symptoms are possbile signs of mono, but it could just be virus. My daughter’s first sign of mono was swelling of the lymph nodes. I would recommend taking her to the doctor tomorow, so they can do a blood test. If it is mono, there’s not much you can do, but at least you’ll know what you’re dealing with. I agree that it would be best to call the school to see if you can send the tape.</p>
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<p>Agree with missypie. Thank you notes are ALWAYS appropriate.</p>
<p>“Thank-you notes are indeed universally appropriate.”</p>
<p>Absolutely agree!</p>
<p>kathiep - congrats on Elon. That one is not too far from us and we know lots of very happy grads from there. Beautiful campus.</p>
<p>mosb - timing is everything! I’m sure with sb’s schedule her immune system was shot. I agree that if she earnestly conveys how important this is to her and offer to send the recording, they’ll take it to heart.</p>
<p>We had planned on gift cards with personal thank you notes to S’s 2 teachers and GC who wrote rec’s once all the news came in. Glad we are on the right track.</p>
<p>If you walk away from this thread for more than 2 hours, you miss a lot!</p>
<p>MOSB, mono has a two-week (or longer) incubation period. My D came down with it away at college in Sept, and the docs told her she had caught it back home in August. Your D could have caught it from her friend’s sister several weeks ago, but if she was exposed just last weekend, I highly doubt she could be exhibiting symptoms already.</p>
<p>In any case, I hope she feels better soon! How disappointing and stressful to have to reschedule your last audition!</p>
<p>MOSB: Prayers that songbird will bounce back quickly. What yucky timing.</p>
<p>Does anyone have a GC that works specifically with the gifted/talented kids who are interested in selective colleges? I’ve been asked to be a part of a task force to redefine the gifted program in our HS and this is one of things that I think is missing.</p>
<p>Our four counselors divide the student body alphabetically. Each has about 400 students in all four classes. One college counselor handles all 400 seniors, but her primary focus is on getting first generation students into our local campus or other state schools. She had no clue about the selective process. (GC: “MIT uses the common ap, right?” OWM son: “Um, no, because there is nothing common about MIT.”) She is also clueless about the possibilities for NM Finalists and thus does not push the PSAT at all.</p>
<p>Anyway, my passion for helping students from our high school reach out to more college options may be coming to fruition since I’ve been aske to be a part of this process.</p>
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<p>That is my favorite Requiem. Others have their moments, but I love 100% of the Brahms.</p>
<p>I agree about the thank you notes. D has sent thank you e-mails to the admissions people at her EA and early write schools, and they have all written back and started ongoing conversations with her -despite how busy they are right now! I am so impressed.</p>
<p>We are lucky to have a fabulous college counselor. He was new to the school this year (but with years of experience in the business) so he started off by scheduling a 2 hour meeting with every rising senior between July and September, just to get to know them, and has been amazingly accessible. But it’s a small school…</p>
<p>MOSB - hope your D feels better quickly. </p>
<p>OWM- no gifted/talented GC at S’s school. He goes to private, but I am pretty sure there is no G/T GC at public either. Based on what I have learned here, I expect that a committed GC could come up to speed on slective schools fairly quickly. May take a while to establish a relationship but I can see that being a possibility. </p>
<p>highhead- S has exchanged several emails with the head of the dept at the school he will probally attend. It started out as a thank you email and ended up with them just conversing. And yes, if he ends up there he will send a formal handwritten thankyou to this guy who got him more merit money. It sounds like you are very lucky to have such a great GC.</p>
<p>MM- sounds like you are almost across the goal line. I can’t wait to see where she goes. (assuming you are willing to share)</p>
<p>MOSB – Vitamin C and Zinc immediately. I used to doubt that it worked but recent studies indicate it can make a big difference to the duration of an illness. Sounds like SB has been pushing herself too hard…that’s always when the Cold/Flu Genie strikes! P.S. Don’t you wish that sick people would a) stay home, and b) keep their germs to themselves when they do go out? </p>
<p>Kathie – Congrats on Elon! That’s the one school I wish we’d known about soon enough to apply. Why her GC (who likes that school a lot) never recommended it is beyond my understanding at present. It’s a beautiful place and sounds like my D’s kind of atmosphere but we’d never even heard of it until February…long after their admit deadline. Too many schools…too little time!</p>
<p>OWM – I hope the school listens to you. We don’t do enough in this country to support and nurture the gifted who aren’t nec. Math/Science gifted, but we don’t do near enough for those kids either. It’s like folks were saying earlier – just because you are smart doesn’t mean everything is easy.</p>