<p>Weekly countdown. Just 361 days until common app submittal day. :D</p>
<p>Thanks Steve.</p>
<p>blueiguana â I feel your pain â we also have one âoverlapâ year but otherwise, the fin aid options for Sâ14 are kind of minimal (since he wonât get any merit aid).</p>
<p>Sâs SAT tutor just told me to get the Princeton Review SAT book (I guess heâd done all the practice tests in the âblueâ book). Boy that thing is heavy â like the Manhattan phone book!</p>
<p>D also asked me to get her a book when I was out: The Hour between Dog and Wolf by John Coates. Me: âIs it for a class?â</p>
<p>D: âNo â I just wanted to read it.â</p>
<p>Thatâs a first for her â reading for pleasure. I was happy to add it to my very heavy book bag.</p>
<p>WellâŠDS got his first speeding ticket today. 
Luckily the officer marked it down to ONLY 11-14 over when it could have been 30 over! Time to get a real job to pay for it.</p>
<p>DSâ14 headed back to school tomorrow. Hard to believe Jr. year is racing by. He had a strong first semester - hopeful he can keep it going for another 5 1/2 months :)</p>
<p>DD14 had her first SAT tutoring session this weekend. According to the tutor sheâs got good test taking strategies (she watched her take a CR and Math section of the blue book so she could see how she actually took the test). DD seemed to hit it off with her so that was a plus! The tutor doesnât seem to think she needs a lot of tutoring but needs to do practice tests so sheâll meet with her again next weekend and then DD will take a practice test the end of the month. Sheâll give the test to the tutor to correct and then will meet with her later that day to go over it when itâs still fresh in her mind. Now I just need to find her time to meet with the other tutor for the Writing section! At least this was a very positive meeting for DD and I think gave her confidence that she can do this. Now she just has to get thru mid-terms next week!</p>
<p>Got S14âs first Summer Program application in the Mail after hours tonight! Break out the virtual Champagne. Sometimes just going through the motions of applying is enough reason to celebrate! Yippee!</p>
<p>Hello all!</p>
<p>Longtime lurker, first-time poster here, with 3 kids: S14, D16, and S2/1st Grade. In a celebratory mood because we finally got PSAT results today, and S14 looks good for NMSF.:))) Over the past months Iâve learned tons reading through these threads, and have found them a wonderful resource, not to mention a safe place to indulge my college obsession without driving my nearest and dearest nutsâŠ</p>
<p>Anyway, a little about S14: clever, introverted, has moderate ADD that he manages with medication, doing the full IB (plus a healthy dollop of APs) in a large, competitive public magnet, B+ UWGPA (will get a more exact read on that at the end of the current semester), school doesnât rank but I think heâs in the second decile, 2270 on the 12/1 SAT, ECs are few but solid (Eagle Scout, cross country, track, various volunteer gigs). Definitely leans to STEM; right now he is interested in Mech Eng (although that could changeâŠDH and I are encouraging him to learn more about different STEM fields, what the course load is like, possible career paths, etc.). Weâre in Florida; he wants to go âsomewhere with four seasons and not minor variations on summer.â Weâre focused on Northeast/MidAtlantic regions. He doesnât want anywhere too small; no strong preference as to urban/suburban/rural. Proximity to the ocean or mountains a plus. Not really a partier and not so much into the rah rah sports scene, but he might surprise us on that scoreâŠ:)</p>
<p>Our EFC is likely to be in the mid-20âs, although anything over about 20K out of pocket will be a real stretch. Heâll do work study/Stafford loans if need be, but thatâs it.</p>
<p>On our radar so far (S14 is a dual Canadian/US citizen, which make the first two affordable for us):</p>
<p>McGillâŠmay be admissions reach, not sure itâs a good fit, DH is alum and FIL was professor there but I donât think any of that will matter as they go strictly by the numbers.
QueenâsâŠhe loved it when we visited
Northeastern, WPI, Stony BrookâŠwill visit in March
Virginia TechâŠtoured over the summer and he liked it
UF, FSUâŠinstate; affordable</p>
<p>Other possibilities: Lehigh, Drexel, Pitt, Rochester, Case Western, ??? Not considering any mega-reaches at this pointâŠmaybe Cornell??</p>
<p>Anyway I look forward to joining you all on this journey, and I hope this time next year (more or less) to be celebrating with you as well!</p>
<p>Hi Dowager and welcome. Your DS sounds a lot like mine!</p>
<p>Look at University of Waterloo â my S is also a dual Canadian/US citizen and also interested in mechanical engineering and he liked it a lot (we have family in the vicinity so we visited over Thanksgiving) and maybe U of T(oronto) also. Waterloo has a fantastic co-op program, and they offer an interesting-looking program called mechatronics that combines mechanical/electrical/computer and system design engineering. Your list sounds quite similar to ours so far :)</p>
<p>Thanks mathmom. We actually toured both Waterloo and UT in July. Waterloo he liked okay but not as much as Queens. Maybe it was the student guide; he seemed really to connect to the Queens one. UT was not a success; he toured with DH on what was probably the hottest day in TO in, like, forever, and DS just didnât engage at all. DH was bummed because he knows UT very well; did a postdoc there in the early 90s.</p>
<p>Welcome dowager- I have a 2016 also.</p>
<p>Welcome aboard to dowager! Glad you decided to join the ride.</p>
<p>Met with DSâ14âs College Counselor last night - she recommended a book: College Admission by Mamlet & Van de Velde. Has anybody read it?</p>
<p>iâm checking back in after not being on cc for a few months. my junior daughter is doing well. her interests are ballet and art. as of now, she is undecided between pursuing dance or art school after high school. sheâll be auditioning for summer intensives in the near future. if those donât work out, perhaps sheâll look at summer art programs.<br>
I also have two older students (one in junior college and one in law school). Iâve been on cc for a number of years.</p>
<p>Hi dowagercountess! Your kids are spaced like ours but S14 is our middle child. Isnât it great having a little one to hug and enjoy while the older ones are launching? <3</p>
<p>A few pieces of advice from DSâ14âs College Counselor:
Take challenging courses senior year, but balance with ECs.
College Admissions Comm. likes to see an âupward trendâ in grades.
Take 4 years of science and 4 years of foreign langguage if you want to apply to the more competitive schools.
Set aside time every two weeks to talk about college applications progress with your parents, rather than talking about it all the time.
Institituional priorities are out of your control, so do not waste any time fretting about them.
Landscapes shift: just because a kid with your gpa and test scores got in last year, does not mean that you will.
formulate an SAT/ACT testing schedule and stick to it.
GPA is more important than SAT score, so donât study SAT prep at the expense of GPA.
Donât make application decisions based on âsticker priceâ - there is a lot of FA out there at some of the more pricey schools.
Start planning your summer now: job, school, service or internship.
A Summer program at a prestigious college is for enrichment, not to help your admissions chances.</p>
<p>Just passing these tidbits along.</p>
<p>glido: I can add another one to the list. Do not wait until every acceptance is in before visiting. My older son had friends who tried to juggle APs, ECs, jobs and visits during their senior year. The students thought they could handle it, but some had a tough time when they missed several classes to go on those visits. Their coaches were not too pleased when they missed games or practices. </p>
<p>That said, my son wants to see at least two schools during spring break. Then, weâll go and see another one or two in the summer before he starts his apps.</p>
<p>Thanks seattlemom! Yes my DS2 benefits in many ways from being the youngest by several yearsâŠnot least of which is a vastly more relaxed parental approach to the early elementary years compared with what his sibs experienced.;)</p>
<p>Waiting here for DS14âs calc teacher to post the midterm grade. He studied his tail off over the Christmas break for this and I really want it to pay off for him. Itâs a hard subject and according to DH, whoâs a math prof, DS absolutely has the chops but he tends to make careless errors that drag his grades down. Fingers crossedâŠ</p>
<p>Thanks also to happymom and AvonDad for your kind welcome!</p>
<p>Welcome back, condor! (I almost wrote welcome back KotterâŠ)</p>
<p>glido â lots of good tips. You have a valuable resource there.</p>
<p>We had âcollege nightâ last night at our public high school (thatâs what I call it; it was billed as âdiscussing options after high schoolâ but all the powerpoints said âcollege planningâ). Our GC said âthe common app has topic of our choice â I suggest you all do thatâ. I guess he isnât on CC, because he would know it wonât be available for our kids. He also said âtalk to the alums of this school â theyâre always the best prepared wherever they goâ. Iâm thinking: wrong. D and many of her very smart friends found many college courses extremely challenging, and they said they were not as prepared as kids who went to private school. The GC talked about âthings you should look for in a schoolâ â financial aid never came up (itâs a very affluent town). GC talked about kids who applied ED only had to put in 1 app (Iâm thinking, what â no rolling admissions or EAs?)</p>