<p>I hope BB&B doesn’t do that soo–I have been holding onto all BB&B coupons since we sent off K1 to school—because I was short coupons with K1 and want to have a full complement of them for K2.</p>
<p>BlueI–like you I am not excited about those essay topics…and I am not saying a word…
Enjoy the tour. We are a party of 2…DH stays home and keeps the fire burning so to speak…will shop for Easter meal etc…we fly back Fri night.</p>
<p>K2 has an athletic event on Saturday -out of town- and will roll in tired, dirty and cranky Sat night–at which time I will be rushing to wash anything that needs to be packed…</p>
<p>As for us–we fly out Early Sunday–
see school on our own…drive…
see next school Mon am…then d.r.i.v.e. a long way…
see school Tue am…then drive to school for pm visit…then drive…
see school Wed am…drive…see school pm…drive
see school Thurs am…drive see school pm…drive
see school Fri am…drive…fly home.</p>
<p>It’s a compressed schedule though necessary because of where we live. The longest driving legs are 7 hrs and 4 hrs…</p>
<p>In other news, K1 let us know that through a mishap–K1 is now sporting stiches in a shin…sigh…
praying for no infection because K1 didn’t seek medical attention right away–and just dropped by the ath. trainer to have it taped. The trainer looked at it and said-“i can see the muscle…this needs stiches”…</p>
<p>The Cheryl’s cookies I sent K1 for Easter are already gone… Maybe I need to send a “get well package”?</p>
<p>Has anyone met with their student’s GC yet? I have yet to finish the parent questionaire.</p>
<p>go2mom: There are alternate dates for AP exams. I know that at dd’s school the only reason they will let you take it on a different date is if there is a school conflict, ie you are on the tennis team and you make it to state playoffs. I would think mock trial would qualify!</p>
<p>We leave Sunday, seeing one school per day from Monday to Friday. Lots of driving! </p>
<p>Met with GC back in February. DS has had two one on one meetings with the GC and two group meetings, the most recent of which was today. Our junior packet isn’t due until June and has three sections: student, parents, and one teacher. </p>
<p>Poor guy has a cold and unfortunately has a soccer game in today’s cold and rain. Hope it doesn’t get worse! I wish they would cancel but since it’s being played on turf it will go on unless there is thunder. I am not looking forward to being out here in this weather. </p>
<p>fog - Ugghh! Fingers crossed that K1 has an abundance of white blood cells fighting off any infection. Sorry about the stitches. That is a compressed itinerary, but you’re not a rookie and hopefully K2 will get the information he needs to know if he wasn’t to explore a school further, as well as continue with the overall list of ‘I like…’ & ‘I don’t like…’ so we know which direction to go when looking at other schools. Sometimes the thumbs down is just as valuable if they can articulate what they don’t like. Drive safely!</p>
<p>Congratulations go2girl on the big win this weekend!! Whoot-whoot!! Good luck at Nationals. Those events are always so exciting. I hope you can go with her.</p>
<p>Thanks to all for the heads up on the mangos! I’m not a fan of fresh so I was surprised how addicting the dried ones are. I have very little sugar anywhere else in my diet so this doesn’t bother me too much. I will have to be more careful with the Costco ones however (ie, no eating from the bag!). The bags I get now are small so portion limiting by nature.</p>
<p>We don’t get ‘the questionnaire’ until next fall. Hopefully it hasn’t changed much in the last three years because I plan to get a head start using S2’s template. It reminded me of the questionnaire we had to fill out in third grade when they were evaluated for the GT program. We all swore it was to evaluate if the parents were creative and literate, lol! ;)</p>
<p>DS filled his questionnaire out last month… it was late and I had to sit and watch to make sure he did it! Then he forgot to show up at both scheduled GC meetings, so I’m getting cc’ed when they schedule the next one. Love the kid on the couch… love the kid on the couch…</p>
<p>Weighing in with random comments after reading a day’s worth of posts.</p>
<p>Gold Sperry’s are these like the Sperry Topsiders we wore in high school? (Also known as boat shoes, at least back then. Brown leather, white soles .wore them until they split.) Next someone will tell met that Tretorns are back in style! We have yet to tour a college in the rain and I don’t know what I would wear then. </p>
<p>Question about registering for Subject Tests: do you need to declare which test you will be taking when registering? For some reason, I thought you could decide when you appear for the test, as long as the specific exam is offered that date.</p>
<p>Meeting with GC and the Jr Packet: parents and students are required to complete separate packets and the packets must be submitted prior to the GC/Parents/Jr planning meeting in Feb. Both parents and students are allowed to update the info provided in the packet, but the GCs want the info prior to the first meeting. Given how difficult we both found it to complete the packet, I can only imagine how my son will struggle with the app essays.</p>
<p>We are further along on the testing and visiting college process than some, so the GC tailors the meeting to address where the family is in the process. The GCs write their LORs during the summer so they want the Jr Packet info in hand before everyone departs in June. The school really encourages EA and ED, so they try to be ready for students looking to apply in the fall. They encourage students to request LORs from teachers now .which reminds me .</p>
<p>SeattleMom–we would be in the same boat with missing appointments or deadlines if my son had not set up his college email account to come into my computer also. Layers of reminders at work .</p>
<p>FogFog—that sounds like a grueling week of visits. We hope to hit six in four days but the greatest distance between two schools is an hour and a half. I fear that none of us will care after the third school.</p>
<p>Looking forward to hearing comments after the first rounds of tours. Hope all connections are made for everyone on the road the next couple of weeks.</p>
<p>I’m beyond the time to edit…I forgot to add, I did check the forecast for places we are going to be next week and I’m seriously bummed that it’s not going to be nearly as warm as I thought, and there is rain forecast. I mentioned to DH that I would have to pack my wellies and S3 would need something other then his sperrys (yes, he wears them too, but not gold ). S2 has goretex hikers he wears on wet and slushy days that keep his feet dry. He was hesitant when I suggested them in August before his first year but he wears them rain, slush, and snow (they rarely have over 4-5"). It’s a lot better then sitting with soggy feet all day. I should go on and get S3 a pair if we can hit REI or EMS before Friday.</p>
<p>DH (dear husband) will be picking up S’14 at the airport tomorrow and heading to PA to see Bucknell on Thursday and Swarthmore on Friday - Engineering programs. I’m excited that S will be starting his Spring Break soon, but sad that I won’t be able to see him until Friday night. He’s already seen WPI, Columbia’s PreEngineering-day, and MIT. We plan to pack 8 in during the 2 week break, and there are more on the ‘look-see’ list. Luckily DH and I are doing ‘divide and conquer.’</p>
<p>Even I can see that they are Ugly, but I just love the way they make my feet feel. Maybe I should invest in some gold spray paint to make them more fun? The Speerys look v. fun.</p>
<p>I’m glad I’m not the only one counting down until the 28th. Are they ever posted early?
Smiles,
PS</p>
<p>You crack me up PS!! Just tell us they’re not tan…then we may have to have an intervention. I have my ‘fun shoes’ and my ‘comfort shoes’. Sometimes they interchange and sometimes they don’t. Crossing fingers that the gold sperrys are both.</p>
<p>My kids have been taking SATs since Dec 2008. :eek: This is the 7th round (3kids, ouch!), and the previous 6 have been released as scheduled. Tbh, we were so out of character for first time parents with our oldest we didn’t even realize the release date and I just randomly looked it up over holiday break thinking they should be coming out soon. They’d been out a week.</p>
<p>I’m a sneaker person myself - they’re comfortable and that’s how I like to be!! In the winter/bad weather I used to wear a dressier type hiking boot - I think it was made by Candie. Unfortunately, I wore the boots out so much that the bottom rubber kept coming off. I glued them multiple times and then finally, I threw them so I wouldn’t fall and break a leg or ankle. I really wish I didn’t bc I have never been able to find something I liked to replace them. I can’t believe I’m writing about shoes!! </p>
<p>DS still hasn’t made a decision about visiting any schools during Spring Break :(</p>
<p>@ PS - WPI is on son’s list of schools, how did PSson like it?</p>
<p>I’m finally catching up on all the posts as it’s been really busy lately! I brought DS11 home for break last Friday, then went to opening night for the musical DD14 had choreographed. It was a great show and the little kids (over 30 all under 6th grade) did a wonderful job! I’m so proud of her and the director who we’ve known for years.</p>
<p>Luckily she didn’t have rehearsal the night before as it was NHS induction night for the new members and new officers - she’s the president for next year! I’m very happy for her as it’s something she really wanted to do.</p>
<p>Today was a delayed start due to snow. It was sleeting when I drove her to school and pouring rain since I returned home. So any snow remaining in the driveway is a heavy, sloppy mess! I think it will stay there for a while and hopefully will melt soon. At least the delay means they don’t need to make it up in June. They’ve already used 5 hurricane/snow days this year.</p>
<p>Hopefully by DD’s spring break it will really feel like spring! I’ve got to schedule the visits and interviews for the schools we’re planning on seeing. For one school, we could do an interview either before or after the tour. I’m thinking it’s probably better to do one after the tour. Any thoughts or advice? It would be her first interview and is at a school that should be a safety for her. I’d like her to have the experience before we see another school that she’s very interested in and will be more a a reach for merit money for her. She’s never really interviewed before but is very comfortable talking with adults and people of all ages so I’m not too worried about how she’ll handle herself during an interview. But I’d still like her to have some experience before the more important one. That one would be a couple of days later so we’d have time to talk and go over things during the driving between schools.</p>
<p>I have made my peace with shoes - ugly shoes = comfort, cute shoes = pain.</p>
<p>DS is studying for the April 13th ACT with a lot of prodding. This is his first time other than the Duke TIP 7th grade one. He seems to need more motivational speeches from us this semester. I am hoping that he will get a good score and not have to take it again. I am trying to help DS decide if he should take advantage of the four free ACT score reports to send to schools. In the past, we did not take advantage of free score reports for his SAT and SAT subject tests (other than sending SAT to National Merit Corporation). Since there are so many SAT and SAT subject tests to consider, I thought it might be best to wait until application time and choose the best ones to send and just pay for them. I prefer not to pay the additional $11 per school but think this might give him the best chance to present his best scores. Does anyone manage the score reports this way? For ACT, I am thinking maybe he should just put some safties down for the ACT free reports. Do you manage ACT and SAT free reports differently?</p>
<p>Hi, just spent some time catching up. Thanks, CT, for the info re: the schools we’re touring next week. Given what you said, I’m comfortable lopping off Cornell & Syracuse and doing them in the summer because both will probably still have students on campus, vs the other small LACs we’ll be visiting. I just hope that the weather cooperates. It’s been so cold, snowy and rainy here.</p>
<p>Fog, I’m so impressed with your stamina. You’re doing quite the trip. I’m worried that I’ll be flagging w/ our schools and they all average in driving distance around an hour or two apart. Over Feb break we took planes from one place to the next and that wasn’t so bad because my S did homework at the airport and I got to read the paper and my book. It actually was fairly relaxed.</p>
<p>AvonD: thanks for commanding the ship again. You did a great job with our trip for our class of '11 kids.</p>
<p>BlueI: thanks for the SAT2 info. We’re trying to decide how to handle SAT2s here. I really wish we already had the March SAT info in hand bc it would be so helpful right now (he could begin studying for his SAT2s). If he needs to do a retake, we were thinking it would be best to do it next fall in Oct so that he could spend the summer studying whatever his weaknesses are. He just doesn’t have the time to devote to it right now bc his APUSH exam, finals and Regents are coming up. He already has the World History SAT done and is going to take the US History SAT since he has to study for the AP. the other SAT2 he’s considering is the Lit, as he’s going to major in English. But, I took a look at it this week and it’s so hard, especially for my kid bc our high school doesn’t offer any APs in the English dept until senior yr (AP Lit). he’s in honors english, but i know he hasn’t covered the stuff that’s tested on the exam. I’m thinking he’s better off studying it over the summer and taking it in the fall but what if he also needs to take the SAT in the fall. how much can you push off to the fall of senior year? how do you all advise handling this?</p>
<p>With my S’11, he finished the SAT in 2 takes (Jan, March), and then took the Bio in May and the US history in June, studied for the Math2 over the summer and took it in the fall. Not so sure that S’14 will be done w/ the SAT…we’ll see next week.</p>
<p>S’11 begins spring break this weekend. it’s the first time my kids have an overlapping spring vacation in years because S1 went to a private high school while S2 is in public. Sad that we’ll be away most of the break visiting colleges but we don’t leave until tuesday morning. This weekend we’re spending with my mom celebrating Palm Sunday as if it’s Easter bc she’s leaving for a vacation on Thursday. My S’14 will see a college 15 mins from her house on Monday and then we’ll all come home, and S2 and I take off for the other colleges Tuesday am. </p>
<p>4beardolls, how you manage sending the scores in part is determined by which schools your kid applies to. some don’t use score choice, for instance UPenn and I think Cornell. for those that do, it’s probably best to wait so that you only send the best scores.</p>
<p>Have any of you been setting up interviews during your spring break tours? Have you been doing the scheduling or having your 14ers do the scheduling? A couple of the schools we’re planning to visit require phone calls to schedule the interviews or the tours themselves. While I’d love to hand it over to DD to call, she’s in school during the hours the admissions offices are open so it would be so much easier logistically for me to call, especially since I know the time frames we need to operate within. Do colleges frown on parents making these arrangements? Or do they understand the limits of kids in school during the hours their admissions offices are open?</p>
<p>Oh my, been offline for a few days and just now catching up. Finally got DS14’s ACT results and they’re good enough that he’s done, except for (probably) one more SAT Subject test. Still not sure what he wants to do about that.</p>
<p>We visited 5 schools over February break and may visit another 3-4 over April break. He loved Lehigh best out of the schools we have visited so far. No interviews so far. The boy is pretty shy so I think they would be tough on him. For Lehigh though, they’re BIG on demonstrated interest, so I think he will need to do one eventually. He’s got good numbers for Lehigh, but they take a more holistic approach, and numbers alone aren’t good enough. And he really needs merit money for us to be able to afford it. We tried their NPC and their need-based aid won’t be sufficient for us. (So then we also need to find out how need-based aid interacts with merit aid as well.)</p>
<p>Hope everyone has a great Spring break however you are spending it…</p>
<p>My s’s SAT scores will be available Thursday, which will be helpful to have before we leave for our college visit trip next Tuesday…I used a site Goseecampus.com to put together our trip, kind of a handy site, I like the printout of each leg/college of the trip and times of our info sessions/tours etc. It connects you to maps, etc of each school…</p>
<p>Enjoying the bonding we’re already having in planning the trip…and I’m happy to have the opportunity to visit (albeit briefly) with several dear friends on our Northeast trip, as will my son with his friends. We’re visiting 6 colleges in five days, considering adding a 7th, (my friend offered to actually drive us) but not sure as it will add to the stress/rushing. </p>
<p>Decided against renting a car the whole trip as it was much more expensive, we’re flying to get there to start with. So doing a train and a bus, and a car rental in Boston to see Tufts and Brandeis. Big challenge will be traveling with just a backpack as we’ll be arriving and headed straight to each college tour ;)</p>
That is a compressed itinerary, but you’re not a rookie and hopefully K2 will get the information he needs to know if he wasn’t to explore a school further, as well as continue with the overall list of ‘I like…’ & ‘I don’t like…’ so we know which direction to go when looking at other schools. Sometimes the thumbs down is just as valuable if they can articulate what they don’t like. Drive safely!</p>
Good luck at Nationals. Those events are always so exciting. I hope you can go with her.</p>
). S2 has goretex hikers he wears on wet and slushy days that keep his feet dry. He was hesitant when I suggested them in August before his first year but he wears them rain, slush, and snow (they rarely have over 4-5"). It’s a lot better then sitting with soggy feet all day. I should go on and get S3 a pair if we can hit REI or EMS before Friday.</p>