<p>I don’t know whether I learned anything about the Admissions process from CrazyU, but I sure enjoyed the book. The author has an eye for detail and a sense of humor.</p>
<p>Off topic: DS’14 went to another College Night. This time I went with him. There were four LACs. Each had wonderful presenters and my son enjoyed learning about the schools and speaking with the Assoc. Deans of Admn. But, what I noticed was that there were 7 girls there for every boy (yes, I counted). I have heard that women prefer the LACs to men and than men have an admissions advantage at many, but I had no idea. Of course, this is only one college night in one town, but I was a little surprised.</p>
<p>There’s a panel tonight at DS’s school with admissions officers from Duke, Penn, Oberlin, William & Mary, and Georgia Tech. We went last year and it was pretty informative since it was geared to the specifics of our school. We’re skipping it tonight since I’m sure it will be a rehash of last year.</p>
<p>Is anyone having trouble scheduling summer college visits? Go2girl and I were heading down to California the last 2 weeks of August…a lot of schools are closed. I may have to rethink our plan.</p>
<p>I read The Gatekeepers several years ago when it first came out and that began my fascination with the college admissions process. It’s taken a while for my kid to “catch up” but it seems like many of the same issues still are alive. The difference, I believe, is the Common Application. If you’re willing to shell out the money to send one more app and one more set of test scores, you can virtually apply to a lot more schools. </p>
<p>BTW, it’s time for an after-dinner cocktail and dessert. Tonight’s virtual menu includes creme brulee or chocolate mousse. The brandy is old, warm and soothing.</p>
<p>Sigh! I spent my evening reteaching myself accelerated precalc - augmented matrices? reduced row echelon form? Gaussian counting principle? Conversion of conics in polar form to cartesian form? Bueller? Bueller?
Why? Why did I do this? Because apparently my son feels I can teach him better than <em>his</em> teacher and he has neglected to ask for help in small bits and pieces, so the whole quarter was “learned” tonight. Yikes! Sure hope the exam is just. like. the. review. sheet!</p>
<p>Where can I find that creme brûlée and brandy? I sure hope you haven’t polished it all off while I was calculating away, because I need it now - especially the brandy!</p>
<p>All I can say this morning is that I really, really wish I could forego teaching today in favor of sleeping. Son '14 got home from his regional track meet in the middle of the night, well past my bedtime (and his). Did not do as well as he had hoped, so the season is over. He also lost his bid to be NHS vice president, but the sponsor wants him to be the treasurer, which he will do. Of course, they also need a new sponsor – too much lack of support from the membership. Everyone, it seems, wants to be in leadership, but once there, no one does anything. No wonder the sponsor is stepping away. The kid who beat Son '14 for the VP spot – he has not done anything to contribute to the organization (got that from the sponsor). He has no ECs in school. But he’s popular, and that’s what counts. Oh well.</p>
<p>Maryjay, You’re a wonderful mom! I’ll admit I wouldn’t have the foggiest how to help my kids on math any more. You probably know this, but a reminder that khan academy is an excellent resource. Not to replace the teacher, or you, but to help brush up on skills missed or not well explained in class. My boys use it a lot. </p>
<p>momreads, I’m so sorry it was a difficult and late night at your house. It’s so hard when the season ends on a note like that. You know so much better then anyone the inner workings of high school leadership positions, how they often turn into popularity contests, how it’s hard to keep sponsors when students are phoning it in, and there’s always a core group of kids doing the lions share of the work. It’s upsetting to see this happen to our kids. I hope you both feel better tomorrow after you can get a decent nights sleep…lack of sleep always compounds stress for me. </p>
<p>Coffees on. I’ve ordered up a nice selection of fruit and guilt-free baked goods to the suite this morning. It’s a blah rainy morning here. A warm blanket and a couple hours to read sounds pretty indulgent.</p>
<p>Can I have some champagne with the fruit? Because Junior year is OVER today! </p>
<p>We are going to do summer college visits, but I have no idea when. Probably whenever d has a day off from work. Gosh, those will be long days. Told d she can’t apply to a school she hasn’t visited, and to get exchange, she needs to apply in September. That kid had better get a move on or she’ll be at the local cc.</p>
<p>Sorry momreads! Hopefully your son will get more out of this experience, and being treasurer, in the long run. </p>
<p>Just checked my son’s scores. He is up in all three but just 10 points short of the target in both CR and math. Frustrating because he is DONE with this test… but the increase is to be celebrated. </p>
<p>Maryjay, I can relate as I have been playing with a beginning programming tool all week in preparation for teaching it to a bunch of kids today. Wish me luck!</p>
<p>Day is off to a good start. Very pleased that DS14’s SAT Subject MathII score increased by 110 points! One week of school to go, second sitting for SAT On June 1st, then a well deserved breather!</p>
<p>Good news /bad news for us on the subject test. Good was math at 780 though obviously 800 would be ideal for an engineer wannabe. Not worth a retake though. </p>
<p>US History was bad news at 700. Hopefully since he is a STEM kid it won’t be held too badly against him. </p>
<p>Trying to figure out summer visits here too. Luckily most every school left except for vandy is in driving distance so we can be flexible around his work and training schedule. </p>
<p>He’s loving the late start option this week. This morning he got up at 830 and left the house at 9 to grab breakfast with some buddies before heading in to school. So nice to see him relaxed these past few weeks.</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone who is finishing junior year this week. I get misty just thinking about it.</p>
<p>Momreads-I do feel your pain. Season over here, too. It is hard. :(</p>
<p>But life is going on…Lots of tests (why???) DS tells me the teachers all want to finish the textbooks so they are doing a chapter a day! So a test a day, too? My kid is showing the wear and tear of this year. But I must say he was amazing in the final choir concert this week on the same day as the end of the sports season. Two solos and 3 accompanist’s parts Gets on stage and is an entirely different person. All the strain just disappears. </p>
<p>Now he has to gear up for SATIIs and ACT. I now think we messed up with the scheduling but we were advised to do it this way. He will have no time to study for these. Oh well. Hopefully the AP studying will be enough prep. Happy Thursday, everyone!</p>
<p>Congrats on being the mom of a senior Ordinarylives! DS’14’s last day as a junior is tomorrow. I just can’t quite wrap my head around it yet.</p>
<p>DS is so very different from DD’12 - she took “forever” to start her college essays. DS told me Tuesday after school that College Counselor “loves his draft college essay.” I was stunned. “What college essay?” Turns out, right after DS and his classmates took their AP English exam, their College Counselor took over the class for the rest of the year. She lectured the students on what colleges like and dislike in application essays and then assigned each student the task of writing first drafts of 2 of the 6 Common App prompted essays. On the last 2 days of class she went over the draft essays with each student and then gave them all revision assignments due the first day of class senior year. Wow! I had no idea. Anyway. I am so glad he seems motivated to work on the essays over the summer. (Our goal in 2012 was to motivate DD to get the essays written without ruining Christmas break )</p>
<p>Congrats to all those with new seniors - we have several more weeks before that happens!</p>
<p>The plan for D14 was to start studying for the June ACT as soon as the AP tests were done. Unfortunately, the workload has not let up yet - I don’t know if/when she will get a chance for ACT prep. She even has essays to write over Memorial Day Weekend!</p>
<p>Wow, glido! How awesome that the college counselor takes over the english class after the AP test!! I think I’ll cut and paste that info into an email to my daughter’s college counselor (or her english teacher). After all, junior year doesn’t end here until June 14th (a month after those AP tests!) … what a creative and useful and productive way to spend these last weeks!</p>
<p>Bringing out evening cocktails. I think we all could use one! A pretty wide selection so enjoy! :)</p>
<p>A big shout out to our first Sr cross overs, OLives & gildo. Cheers!!</p>
<p>My feelings exactly portlandiaparent!!! Our kids are out 6/18 so plenty of time to work on college essays. I’m not digging the special projects. </p>
<p>Congratulations on all the good news for our May SAT scores. S3 was pleased w his subject tests. Not the knock out he had last year, but sometimes you accept goals met and are relieved to have one more aspect of the marathon behind us. One very last SAT on 6/1 and he’s saying bu-bye to collegeboard until APs next May.</p>
<p>Welcome back fog. You knew we were having cocktails tonight. Hope DH & Kiddo 2 (and the house) were somewhat in the shape you left them. I’m sure they were very glad to have you home. Things get done, but no one does it like mom. :)</p>
Thanks!!</p>
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