<p>Hi MomFullofQs and Beadymom,
My son was nominated for Boys State as well and feels very honored. 4 boys out of 400 nominated, but I think only one of them will be selected from the interview. It is supposed to be really fun and interesting. My S has been involved in Model UN for 2 years, and they seem to have a few similarities. When are your interviews? S’s is next week.</p>
<p>Rowmom, DD’s GC hasn’t told her yet but I’m assuming it should be soon since the paper they sent home, which was from the head of guidance to all counselors, indicates that she needs transcripts and names by February 22.</p>
<p>And congrats and good luck to your DS as well!</p>
<p>ok - what is the meaning of DD and DS?</p>
<p>Sorry. Carryover from another board where it means “Disney Daughter” and “Disney Son” but it usually means “Darling Daughter” or “Darling Son”.</p>
<p>D goes to a private school and they roll in the AP test into tuition. No freebies here. AP scores have nothing to do with grades either.</p>
<p>Missing the kids right now. S comes home for spring break in a week. D stayed after school, went to her bf’s house then to the school play. We were supposed to go shopping tomorrow for a prom dress, but she got a better offer to go see her bff and see a soccer game. I feel like I’m in training for her to be gone. I’m not liking it so much.</p>
<p>Hi Rowmom - There’s a handy sticky thread with abbreviations at the top of this forum:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52585-abbreviation-thread.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52585-abbreviation-thread.html</a></p>
<p>Congratulations to our nominees for Boys & Girls State. :)</p>
<p>Congrats to Rowmom’s S as well! And good luck on the interviews! "Dear"Son (my term of endearment - haha) said that all 10 boys that were chosen will get to attend. The teachers nominated their choices and these are the ones that were chosen from the nominations - so no interview for DS.</p>
<p>Thanks great BeadyMom. My DD’s school has 9 counselors and only two girls will be chosen. Rooting for DD. Last year she was nominated for HOBY and came in third. Only two students going. And the one that was chosen over her never went. He had better things to do. :/</p>
<p>That stinks that they didn’t send the 3rd in line (your DD)! What a waste of a good program! Good luck this year! Maybe the boy who didn’t attend HOBY is not even in the running this year!</p>
<p>Sitting by the fireplace listening to dd and a friend laugh uproariously downstairs. I love that sound!</p>
<p>They’ve been plotting and planning, (as only teenage girls can do) and the house is supposed to be invaded by 6-8 other kids shortly. And for the first time, the group will include, BOYS! This is a first for us so it should be interesting. dd is used to having boys around as she has an older brother, but this is the first time the boys will be her age. All the back and forth cracks me up. “Well, x will only come if there are at least two other boys, but y is fine if it’s all girls and is z good enough friends with y?” Judging by my ds, I have to just assume that all teenage boys are pretty clueless and its a darn good thing that teenage girls seem to like to “organize” them!</p>
<p>^^ LOL</p>
<p>After much thought and discussion, my friends and I have determined that the absolute minimum ratio must be 2:1 for either gender. 50-50 is tough to manage as the gender ratio tends to skew towards that of the host.</p>
<p>Right now it’s 4 girls and one boy, but he’s one of the girl’s boyfriend and knows all the girls very well, so no discomfort on his part. What’s funny is that they know i’m sitting upstairs letting kids in as they get here, but they forget that I can hear everything that they’re saying. Kind of like when you drive a group of kids in the car, you become invisible!</p>
<p>haha! How fun!! My DS had a mixed group over for his birthday back in December. He had a “campfire” and roasted marshmallows. Sad thing for me was, I had to take little brother somewhere & I didn’t get home before they all left. </p>
<p>Confession time…I have started a new spreadsheet! This one is for the Net Price Calculator results. I ran several net price calculators a month or so ago, but just saved them to a file. I have now put them into a spreadsheet detailing the costs of the college and what they estimate the grants to be and the net price we will have to pay. Very interesting! So far some of the nicer private schools are among the lowest prices - especially lower than OOS publics. Which, I had already heard that, but seeing on a spreadsheet really brings it home!</p>
<p>S has another virus with fever, sore throat and a rash. His GF came to hang out with him anyway. Sweet but I hope she doesn’t get sick.</p>
<p>His last practice test before the SAT is tomorrow, if he’s feeling up to it.</p>
<p>Sent from my SCH-I535 using CC</p>
<p>S3s Spreadsheet includes fields for NPC info. We have run info for all the schools (what a pita to reenter all that info each time, as I refuse to allow collegeboard to ‘save’ it for me). I have fields for Room, Board, Tuition, anticipated merit/grant, Total COA. I find these are good because the first year you need all, second year you might need all but no meal plan, third year move off campus so no meal plan or board, etc. It helps look at things apples to apples. Each school has differing rules as to when students can move off campus and how long they must have a meal plan. For each they consider high on their list later you want to know if housing is more or less off campus, how many years it’s guaranteed, etc. This varies widely. </p>
<p>Seattle - Hope your son is feeling better today.</p>
<p>Beady mom: public vs private net cost was that way even back in the day! My DH applied to two schools, Northwestern and U of Illinois and got in to both. But NU was so much more generous with FA that it was a total no brainer for him when deciding where to go. NU was essentially free for him even though he was in-state for U of I.</p>
<p>ECmotherx2: You asked how they do the elective fair while conferences were going on. Well, they set aside one hour just for parents and students to come. I went down that night, and it was so well done. Awesome displays. A couple of teachers had giveaways. Parents did take advantage of this time to ask questions about classes. The following morning, the freshmen, sophomores and juniors, all at different times, came down to see the fair. Again, lots of questions asked. My son knew what he wanted to take before the fair, but he admitted it probably answered some of the questions that underclassmen had.</p>
<p>beadymom: My son also is attending Boys State. I knew about it, but thought he probably would not want to go. Well, his best friend is a senior, and he told him all about it. So my son jumped at the chance to go. He will be one of three from his school.</p>
<p>Son has a big AP Bio project due Monday, so he’ll be researching and putting together a powerpoint today. Tomorrow, he has a six-hour class to re-certify as a youth soccer referee. Got him to look at some college websites last night, because one school has a really nice cross country camp. His eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he saw the dorms where he would stay. Brand new. Suites. Gorgeous. Here’s hoping he not only goes to the camp, but adds the school to his list.</p>
<p>What a fun night, PacNWmom. It’s amazing how much you learn being the “invisible” driver or the parent in the kitchen. Those opportunities are fewer these days with DD as she mostly drives herself everywhere. Still have it with Spyguy though, and it’s a treat to be a fly on the wall. Oh, how different the conversations are between teenage girls and boys!</p>
<p>Working on spreadsheets today, too. Am becoming a data freak.</p>
<p>Momreads: Some of those dorms are fantastic. It’s like Dorms of the Rich & Famous. (without Robyn Leach)</p>
<p>Agent99 - I remember being so sad when I realized DS turning 16 meant not needing a chauffeur any more! We had the best time the summer before his sophomore year. There were three of us moms that would take a large group of them to do things. One of the moms was a girls mom, the other two of us were boys moms. So she’d gather a carload of girls, we’d have a carload of boys and off we’d go. And these kids were all just friends - no relationships to deal with. Now all he does is stay in his bedroom and play on the computer. I guess us moms were the instigators of the social gatherings for the shy boys! haha</p>
<p>Congrats to your DS, as well, momreads!</p>
<p>Just bought D14 her first prom dress…somehow it feels like it’s the beginning of the end!!</p>