<p>Prayers for little Ben, what a scary ordeal.
Maryjay, hoping it’s not mono …speedy recovery.
lindz congarts on license, if you are anything like me, welcome to “moms with another thing to worry about”
I thought we were done with college visits this past spring, but now I think S2 wants to visit some larger univ . We thought he wanted a smaller LAC like S2 but fell in love with Cornell this spring, much to our surprise ( will attend a summer program there), so now we feel he may need to visit some other larger school options…probelm is when, we are in CA and he wants east coast…more to figure out.
Academic awards are usually announced ahead of time but not this time I guess, and so I missed the one time S2 gets 2 awards, Maxima on national Latin exam and AP Bio award (ironic since he hates science and labs…he plans on being a classics/german studies major!!)
S1 sent me an excited text that he is done with freshman year college classes…now finals and home in a little over a week …YAY!!! As much as I’ve missed him, it has gone by pretty quickly.
Really looking forward to this summer having entire family home at least for a little while</p>
<p>Fog, thanks for the update on little Ben and his family. Keeping everyone involved in my prayers (those Dr’s & nurses need wisdom & stamina!). The family is lucky to have such a good friend in you to ask for support in their behalf. </p>
<p>Maryjay - So very sorry to hear about your son. I hope it’s not mono! I love Vandy and had had it on a list early on for S3. Great size, wonderful college town, good fin-aid. He’s never showed much interest, and as I said earlier has looked more towards LACs, plus he already has a couple of reaches. I’ll be living vicariously through y’all in the visits there. :)</p>
<p>S2 had to make the difficult decision today not to go to the beach with his fraternity brothers after he finishes exams on Friday. This is obviously a week they plan a long time and he had paid money towards. His internship has been sending information later then planned (temp housing, drug testing, security clearance) and there’s no way he can complete everything before he leaves. He’s trying to focus on finals and stressed so this was the best decision. He’s thrilled about the opportunity with the internship so the trade off is well worth it. He contacted a brother he knew had not made plans to go to the beach due to finances and offered him his spot so he doesn’t feel bad about loosing the money.</p>
<p>Hi All</p>
<p>Last missal till I am back in about 2 weeks - unless I figure out my tablet hahah</p>
<p>ok Ben update</p>
<p>Ben is out of a 15 hr surgery. They have 2 flexible nails in the breaks in his rt arm, & 2 pins in his rt ring finger. They have a splint on his lt arm & have attached all 4 fingers on his lt hand. It’s all about the blood! (Amen). Blood flow into the lt hand will keep the fingers alive & they will recover. W/o the blood the fingers will die. It is lower than they would like. They will keep him sedated till the AM</p>
<p>I realize this is a college apps thread, and yet hope we are more than SATs etc…and can share the things in our lives.
Appreciate your indulgence. Cannot imagine the pain my friend/widower is feeling right now… Thank you for hearing me…I have not been able to think of anything else all day…</p>
<p>K2 and DH are on their own the next 2 weeks. </p>
<p>No one is irreplaceable…even moms… so I know things will get done even if they are not done my style.</p>
<p>Leftover steak, roasted potatoes, pasta, salad fixings etc in the fridge and most of the laundry is done.</p>
<p>xoxoxo to all</p>
<p>PS For most of my life completion of tasks was most important…now it’s relationships</p>
<p>xoxo</p>
<p>fogfog–I almost can’t bear to read the description of the poor boy’s care. Hope the blood starts flowing.</p>
<p>Where are you going for two weeks? How long can they last on the leftovers? Whenever I leave town for a weekend, the boys plot out just how many outside-of-the-house meals they can squeeze in. Two weeks would force them to do laundry. </p>
<p>Safe travels!</p>
<p>Lillypod–which program at Cornell Summer? Tell him to head down College Ave to the Nines for pizza and further down to Eddy St to Souvlaki House if he likes Greek. If you want to send a treat to him, Insomnia Cookies delivers warm chocolate chip cookies (and other varieties) late night. </p>
<p>Am not sure what other east coast schools he plans to visit, but Dartmouth is one where there are actual Dartmouth students on campus during the summer. (As opposed to HS summer programs or grad students who never leave.) I believe Dartmouth still requires the students to study on campus one summer and then not be on campus during a school year semester. My son is not looking at Dartmouth so my memory may be off.</p>
<p>speedy recovery to Ben, and to Maryjay’s S</p>
<p>college visits - over the summer definitely will visit RPI as son is participating in a summer program. Hopefully, will also visit RIT and Champlain. Still on radar to visit Drexel, Quinnipiac & WPI.</p>
<p>blueiguana, very mature decision by your son! </p>
<p>fogfog, I too have been thinking of Ben and hoping for a good outcome. Thanks for the update.</p>
<p>Maryjay, I hope your son recovers fast. My S14 did get mono at the end of sophomore year and it is really tough!</p>
<p>Fogfog - thinking of little Ben. Hopes and prayers going out to him.</p>
<p>CT1417 he is taking a humanities course “genius and madness in literature” it was the only college credit humanities course that he was interested in and was 3 weeks long as opposed to 6 weeks. He decided to apply once he visited Cornell and wanted to get a better idea of what it would be like living there before he decides whether or not to apply ED. Thanks for the tips on the places not to miss while he is there, and I definitely will treat him to Insomnia cookies as he will be there for his birthday.
Dartmouth was the only other “larger” school we visited, he liked it ; not sure where it would be in his list at this time.
Happy to hear that little Ben is out of surgery.</p>
<p>Lillypod—it is not difficult to like Ithaca in the summer! I hope he has a wonderful time. There’s a fairly significant population on campus during the summer months so it should provide a feel for the school.</p>
<p>fogfog - best wishes for a speedy recovery to little Ben. Our oldest grandson is just 5 and I can’t even begin to think about those kinds of injuries to such a little one. Being young is on his side and hopefully he will be strong and surprise the doctors with his recovery.</p>
<p>fogfog - thank you for the update. Amazing what they can do medically these days!! Praying that blood flows to the fingers and he is able to keep them all.</p>
<p>Maryjay - also hoping it’s not mono. My DS14 also had mono - beginning of Junior year. He forged through and didn’t miss much school, but the whole cross country season was out! Hope he gets to feeling better!</p>
<p>lindz - what is your DS interested in? We visited Vandy over spring break. It just wasn’t a fit for my DS. I was disappointed - love Nashville, loved the campus. If he’s interested in anything medical related it would be wonderful!</p>
<p>We are planning to visit some schools - would like to visit Michigan, Northwestern, Case Western, Purdue, UIUC in one trip, then the Texas schools in another trip - Rice, UT Austin & Texas A&M. I haven’t even started planning either trip yet! The big hurdle will be getting little brother taken care of while we’re gone. DH will have to take him to summer care at his school and be sure to get there to pick him up by 5:30. </p>
<p>DS has one AP test this week - English Lang, and two next week - Biology & APUSH. I have no idea whether they will continue with lessons or do movies after those are finished. He gets out Friday before Memorial Day, will be exempt from finals and is allowed 2 or 3 parent permission days before finals start, so his last day may be next Thursday or Friday! WOW! I’ll have to have him check and let me know!</p>
<p>Son '14 took the BC exam yesterday. Had little trouble with it, he said. Let’s hope for a big score! His day did not conclude until 9 p.m. or so, as he had track and field practice and then the NHS inductions (he was already a member, but had to help set up). Has AP Language Friday, an exam that does not thrill him (not an English person) but should do all right. He’s looking forward to the weekend … and some much needed sleep.</p>
<p>Many schools have been emailing my son with ‘invitations’ to on-line chats, and most of them seem to be next week. Has anyone’s child participated in one and gained anything from participating? Is there any value, other than demonstrated interest? And, do they not realize that these students are busy right now and don’t have time on a school night to chat? I suppose there will never be a day when HS Jrs have free time. Thanks!</p>
<p>fogfog - been thinking of Ben since yesterday and hope you figure out your tablet so you can update us!</p>
<p>Maryjay - hope your S recovers quickly! These kids are under so much stress right now that it really does affect their immunity. </p>
<p>Both kids have their first test tomorrow in AP Lang, and then two next week. Since they have taken most finals due to the Seniors’ schedule, and aren’t finished with school until the first week in June, I have no idea what they’re going to be doing for the next three weeks… I keep giving them pep talks about how if they can get through next week, they can finally relax! They are so ready to check out. I’m already dreading all the nagging I am going to end up doing to get them to do all of their summer work for next year’s courses…so that they have time left to work on college apps…</p>
<p>Coffee’s on!! Tea on the sideboard with fruit, guilt free scones, and veggie/egg wraps. </p>
<p>I’m rising late this morning as I was ‘trolling’ the world of Craigslist late into the night (a first for me) looking for furniture for S2s apartment. I think I’ve found some really good things locally that will suit a college apartment (kitchen table/chairs, end tables, etc. nothing upholstered as I’m terrified of bedbugs and other skeevy things).</p>
<p>Fog, continued prayers for little Ben. Safe travels. I hope you can get some connectivity while you’re gone, if not we’ll ‘see you’ when you get back.</p>
<p>CT - I remember on-line chats for several schools with S2 but they seemed to be in fall of Sr year. I assume schools that track interest might keep track. My guess is those that are making contact now will also be doing this in the fall so I wouldn’t sweat it.</p>
<p>It always seems odd at the end of the year when I realize how different the kids schedules are as far as release dates (I don’t know why as I know many go back earlier in August). It will really be apparent next year as they graduate and the dates will probably span a good three+ weeks. Here we are later, which I think puts the kids at a disadvantage for summer programs (some start dates before they actually end school), summer jobs, etc. After Memorial Day the kids are toast anyway. I know I am!</p>
<p>Wish we could have exemptions for finals here, but no go. Maybe seniors are but definitely not juniors. </p>
<p>But now that I think about it, it should be relatively light finals week for my DS. Physics, maybe astronomy. That should be it.</p>
<p>We have progress here, folks! DS tells me that he has snagged his two letters of recommendation for college apps. And tomorrow he will ask,a third teacher for,the now infamous junior packet. One more thing to cross off the list. Hooray!</p>
<p>Teacher recommendations were the subject during our conversation en route to school this morning. My son really does not know which teachers he will ask for recommendations. He has loved his two math teachers the past two years. Loves his AP Bio teacher. Could get nice recs from his Spanish and business teachers. May even ask his AP English teacher for a rec, since she will have him his final two years in HS. He will need to make his decisions within the next few weeks, as I want him to gear up for application season. The earlier a teacher knows you would like a recommendation, the more time he or she has to plan out what he or she would like to say. </p>
<p>As for exemptions, our school grants them to all students with A’s and four or fewer absences or B’s and three or fewer absences. Son '14 told me this morning that if he has a shot at an A for the year in BC Calculus, he will elect to sit for the exam and forfeit an exemption. </p>
<p>If some of his friends knew this, they would have him committed.</p>
<p>Grrr… I cannot convince my two to ask for recommendations…they keep telling me that it would be “weird” to ask this school year, but I know that at least one of their teachers has already made the offer to write LORs, and at least one other teacher caps the number she will write. To me, that means “ask early!” They do know the teachers they intend to ask. Finally yesterday, I sent them a Google calendar invite to sit down with me on Saturday to make sure their resumes are up-to-date to give to teachers, and perhaps have them draft emails to the teachers. They knew better than to decline my invitation. ;)</p>
<p>Fogfog - don’t know if you’ll see this, but you have my prayers for blood to nourish little Ben’s fingers as he heals. Have a good two weeks away.</p>