<p>Mine hasn't gotten 100, but he's been happy with the schools he's heard from. My favorite is the one from CalTech that said, "If you're reading this instead of seeing the image of our students, CalTech may be the right place for you." </p>
<p>Has anyone's kid started thinking about summer plans?</p>
<p>Well, I don't know how often this kid checks his email, and that 100 wasn't all college stuff!</p>
<p>Summer plans... kid will be taking Probability and Game Theory at CTY this year. I'm hoping to take him to Europe, though that's a BIG financial stretch for me (though I've been gathering airline miles for the past two years and such to make it maybe possibly possible), and he would like to go to a second session of CTY, but that seems financially unlikely.</p>
<p>owlice, your description of Simon's Rock was wonderful. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. I haven't visited here in awhile--taking a real break from college thinking for S2. He's not getting 100 emails, btw. His PSAT was, as expected, just average and the colleges he's hearing from are down the list from Cal Tech. Good job 2blue! Hope S2 pulls up those numbers by next year but we'll see. Just this morning he took the PLAN, the pre-ACT. Never even heard of that when S1 was in 10th grade 3 years ago. Now the high school recommends kids figure out what test seems to fit them best. Who knew? </p>
<p>S2 is all about his friends and likes high school, so while everyone seems more or less settled and happy I will take a while to smell the roses, enjoy the fact that S1 is soo enjoying his college this first year (whew!!), and put off my normal state of anxiety for a year. :)</p>
<p>The donuts look good - do you mind if I take a seat! My S is also a sophomore, CTY regular (Number Theory this summer) and engineer hopeful. My oldest - D - is a freshman at Marist College. She is happily settled, allowing me a slight breather before having to go through this again! S is so busy with school and ECs that his current attitude is "You do the research, and show me what you found next year". Simon's Rock sounds like a wonderful program, but it would certainly be hard to let them leave so early - saying good-bye at 18 is hard enough.</p>
<p>:: slides a chair over ::</p>
<p>I don't know, EngrMom --- how happy are you when you drop S off at CTY? :D</p>
<p>Simon's Rock has more frequent breaks than other colleges, so there are plenty of opportunities to see one's Rocker spawn.</p>
<p>I am happy that he is happy, but I still miss him. I am trying to get used to the idea of an empty nest (finding activities to do that don't involve the kids), but I have mixed emotions. Again, I am happy that they are happy and that I have (hopefully) achieved my goal of raising independent young adults ready to move on with their life. When D left it was easier, since she was the social butterfly that we never saw much at home anyway. S spends much more time with me, discussing philosophy, math, music, whatever and hates to use the phone. When he is gone I hear nothing from him and I miss him. Having him leave two years earlier would be done if it were the right answer, but I would still miss him sooner. So I am glad that he is not asking for it (and yes he has heard of it from other CTY students).</p>
<p>Welcome, EngrMom! It's nice to have another 2011/2015 parent here.</p>
<p>:: places platters of doughnuts, danish, and croissants on the buffet table ::</p>
<p>Spawn has been giving me some of his college snail mail. This week, it included Tulane, Quinnipiac, Rensselaer, and Olin. Also Siena, which he wouldn't attend under any circumstances (he went to one CTY session there), and Loyola in Maryland. He also got a booklet on the Oxbridge summer programs, which would be of interest if attending also allowed attendance at one CTY session.</p>
<p>He and I were both amused at the similarities in some of these mailings. He can have schools send him "Campus Visit Tips" (either "5 Proven" or "7 'Must-Know'"), or take an e-quiz. A few offer both tips of some kind AND an e-quiz. </p>
<p>I tried to generate some interest in various schools ("Oh, so-and-so's father went there." "That school is FREE!" "Your CTY instructor from whenever was attending grad school there." "That school is very good and has a reputation for good merit aid, and it's also near so-and-so." "Oh, I have NO idea how to pronounce it; maybe you could look it up!" Okay, I made that last one up; I thought it, but didn't say it. :D), but he just hands me the stuff and goes back to doing whatever he was already doing.</p>
<p>He's asked me when he will hear from Simon's Rock (um, dude, there's a website; use it!), and though I think he likes getting this mail, he isn't exactly diving into it. Which, actually, I think is a good thing overall. Maybe. Possibly? Okay, I don't know.</p>
<p>:: wishes kid had come with a manual ::</p>
<p>On another front, his report card has come, and the kid's grades mostly dropped this quarter to Bs, even in Latin. Latin!! Shocking, that. The drop is not surprising; there are things that have been going on at school that were Not Good, but I'm hopeful they are in the rear view mirror now and that this semester will be a better one.</p>
<p>AND the Science Fair is OVER!! Woo-hoo!! Bet mine's the only kid ever to have the word f**k on his Science Fair backboard legitimately! It's part of the name of an esoteric computer language, easily Google-able when prefaced by "brain." His project was to create a Turing-complete three-instruction computer language. This involved discussing other "Turing tar-pits" and limited instruction languages, one of which is the aforementioned esoteric computer language. (My subversive side is so proud!! lol!!)</p>
<p>chintzyboy made potato soup in Foods II this week.</p>
<p>:: is wondering where her soup is ::</p>
<p>We want soup! We want soup!</p>
<p>:: sniff ::</p>
<p>No soup for me. :-(</p>
<p>No Foods II or Cooking classes as S's school unfortunately. I could use some soup to get me through the rest of this winter. </p>
<p>He has been getting tons of email and snail mail from colleges though. I thought it was a good thing, maybe open his eyes up to some colleges he might not otherwise have considered. First we got the emails which he completely ignored. I figured that would be the last we would hear from those schools til next year anyway. Nope, then the snail mail starts (if he didn't respond to your email, why waste money on mailing out literature?) and repeat emails from a lot of the same schools. Now it is overwhelming. Although, S is ignoring the mail, I thought I would at least try to screen it in case there are a few worth looking into. Finding him a school willing to throw some merit money his way (and he is jumping up and down to go to) may be my free time activity for the next couple of years.</p>
<p>That sounds like a mighty fine pastime to me, mamom! I hope you're successful. What a wonderful combination merit aid and enthusiasm would be. My son is enjoying the mail.</p>
<p>You know, I can't figure out why my S isn't enjoying the mail. At his age I would have loved it and probably thought too much of it. He is a just take it one day at a time type of kid.</p>
<p>When D went through this, she enjoyed the mail, but never really looked at it - it made a huge pile in her room. She just enjoyed watching it grow (and feeling wanted)! S is not yet getting anything, because he didn't take the PSAT this year. We couldn't see any motivation - he already is happy with his SAT scores, and the schools he is thinking about don't provide much in the ways of NMS type awards. He will take the exams next year with everyone. He is interested in college selection, but is trying not to overstress by not thinking about it until his Jr year. And he could care less what the college looks like or about pictures of a few people that attend that he will never meet. So I expect he won't be excited by the brochures, either. It took him two days to notice the valentine's card from his Grandparent!</p>
<p>Saturday was a red-letter day: the first snail mail from Washington University in St. Louis, which I read on this site is the king of mailings. Maybe I should start a folder just for that school's mailings! :D</p>
<p>:: hands out slices of birthday Key Lime Pie ::</p>
<p>D is getting more that one email from same institution. She forwards to me, and I file them away. Only one snail mail so far though. Electrons cheaper than postage stamps I suppose, but starting to annoy her, especially since they are coming so close together.</p>
<p>::how about a nice ciabata?::</p>
<p>:: will make corn chowder for dinner tonight ::</p>
<p>H is cooking!</p>
<p>Owlice, D2 got her first WUSTL letter, too. Yippee. </p>
<p>:: adds tortellini soup to the dinner options ::</p>
<p>nasty flu/sinus ailments going on around here, so soup sounds good.</p>