<p>^thanks mathmomvt – I will check out the garmin – good tip about the lifetime map feature. And I agree – there’s nothing like a good old fashioned multi-fold map that I can turn upside down so I can tell whether to go right or left :)</p>
<p>ecouter - re: focusing question. That’s a tough one for me. I tend to focus on the wrong things and my priorities get all mixed up - even as an adult. Like now, I’m focusing on my DS’ college selection when I should be working. 
What works best is to have a schedule/to-do list/calendar and stick with it.</p>
<p>ParentSparkle - re: tours without parent. Hmmm…I’m going through this with my oldest. I can’t imagine not being there with him! I’m self employed, so I’m able to work my own hours, so that helps. I do know that at our last college visit there were some students there without parents. I think if he’s responsible and knows what he’s looking for, he should be fine. </p>
<p>re: GPS - I also have a Garmin Nuvi brand. It’s handy and portable. Haven’t had too much of a problem with it. I sometimes wait too long to turn because it zooms in as it gets closer and I think the turn should be further away based on the pre-zoom scale. But I also use it with the annoying verbal directions off so I’m just using the map portion.</p>
<p>29happymom26 - I’m sorry! That’s got to be frustrating knowing you have a perfectly capable DS and others suggesting that it’s his race that will allow him his choice of colleges. </p>
<p>We are visiting our “local” (45 minute away) state flagship university tomorrow. The schedule looks to be an all day affair! We’ll do the information session, tour and dorm tour. They also put in two interviews with students - engineering & honors college. Something interesting I just found out. I mentioned before that my son was wanting to go into automotive engineering and I didn’t think this college would be good for that. A friend’s son is a junior at the university and will be interning at a car company in Italy next summer. That would be right up my DS’s alley! So maybe it would workout!?! I’m excited to see what they have to say tomorrow.</p>
<p>Two weeks until school starts for us (8/20)! Cross country started last week. AP homework still sits untouched! :)</p>
<p>DD emailed her GC last week to find out about her 3rd AP class/her complete schedule… DD was told that the “system” was down/ a new system is being installed and to email her again in 1-2 weeks. Isn’t that nuts? Especially when students have AP homework that needs to be completed by August 29th? So I took the bull by the horns and called(more like bugged) the school secretary this morning, I explained the situation/dilemma to her and asked if she knew how we could find out dd’s schedule… approx 10-15 seconds later, she gave me the info that I was seeking… She was able to go into the old computer system!!! Why was the GC not able to figure that out last week? So frustrating!! She was added to the AP World class and has to read Hiroshima or Sidarhtha(pls excuse my mispelling)… along with her other AP assignments… She now has even less time to get this work done. 
GRRRRRR!!!</p>
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<p>NewHavenCTmom – I feel your pain. There have been times I felt like saying, “Can I speak to someone on commission?” I’m joking, but you want to say – show me some hustle, people!</p>
<p>DS’14 back at school today! Junior year has started :(</p>
<p>Wow! Back at school already? DD doesn’t start for another month. He must finish early as well.</p>
<p>DD is getting ready to start her summer AP work for three of her classes. She’s pretty organized but doesn’t like to do the readings too far in advance because the teachers give quizzes on the material at the start of the year.</p>
<p>Wow! Can’t believe school has started for some already!</p>
<p>DD is (supposedly) starting her summer reading as I type this…after “Mom, where’s the book!” (In the bottom of the basket of books in her nightstand!) We spent last week on vacation and the day we left she found out that she had summer work for AP Spanish! Since she’s going from Spanish III to AP and skipping IV, she wasn’t in the class last year with everyone else so she didn’t know about the AP Spanish homework. She just happened to overhear a friend talking with someone else about it and asked! Luckily he emailed her the assignments and she’s actually started on those.</p>
<p>However, she hasn’t touched ANY of her APUSH work for the summer. Too busy until now with one musical in mid-July, followed by a week of CityLab camp and then vacation, not to mention trying to fit in driving lessons during the summer and another play that goes on in 2 weeks. So tomorrow will be APUSH work all day with a break for a much needed haircut and to stop into somewhere to pick up a job application. I think all her “free” days for the rest of the summer will be spent reading APUSH articles and writing essays about them. Not the way I’d choose to spend the rest of vacation but she’s made her choices. Just hope there are enough “free” days/hours for her to get it all done before school starts!</p>
<p>We leave Friday to bring her to spend the weekend at UMass Amherst volunteering for Special Olympics as part of HOBY. We’ll stop and do a college tour (Holyoke) on the way on Friday and hopefully visit another (Smith) on the way. We saw UNH on the way home from vacation and her brother is at UMass so she’s seen that already along with a couple of smaller LAC’s in the area. One would be a good fit if it wasn’t in the next town! </p>
<p>My hopes for visiting nearby colleges this summer to get an idea of types of schools didn’t pan out given her busy schedule but her fall looks like it won’t be as busy so we may be able to take a few Saturdays to see some schools within a couple of hours drive. We’re definitely looking for merit aid but she would like to stay within a few hours of home and given that New England schools seem to be the most expensive, that does limit her somewhat. However, she loves small cities and would like that or a college town so at least she knows that much - campus versus city is for her. She’s a skier and likes outdoor activities and as a theatre kid would love somewhat easy access to NYC to see shows, so we’ll start from there and see what we come up with!</p>
<p>Do you all know this already? I went to register S’14 for the January SAT (yes, it’s way too early, but I feel itchy to do something about this whole college thing). I couldn’t, because I didn’t have a recent photo! Yes – you need to upload a photo when you register (it’s new because of the cheating scandal).</p>
<p>I’ll have to wait til I get home. Just thought I’d let everyone know.</p>
<p>Photos will also be needed for the ACT. D14 registered for the September test a few days ago and was not asked for a photo, but they will be required for all tests after that. According to their website:</p>
<p>“All layers of test security, except the photo requirement, will be in place for ACTs first 20122013 national test date in September. Photo upload capability will be available in August. Registrants for the September national test date are encouraged (but not required) to provide a photo. Photos will be required for test dates after September.”</p>
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<p>Always something new in response to cheats or other negative actions and publicity. What’s next? :eek:</p>
<p>How does that help? Wouldn’t a student planning on cheating just upload a photo of the kid who was going to take the test for them?</p>
<p>@Mathmomvt I was thinking that same exact thing.</p>
<p>I think the idea is maybe that they send on the photo to the schools (on request?) so the school can confirm that the kid who shows up is the same kid who took the test? I can only see them checking if there were some reason for suspicion. I can’t imagine someone at any reasonably large college checking every kid against his/her testing photo!</p>
<p>Or possibly they will match the photo with an official document such as a license or passport and also verify the name. But even that is not foolproof.</p>
<p>I don’t see how the extra photo helps in the matching with official ID scenario. They would already be matching the face of the person who shows up with the official ID. Having another totally un-authenticated student-submitted photo doesn’t help with the at-the-door identification in any way I can think of.</p>
<p>College board does say they’ll ask for photo ID to match it to the photo uploaded, so if someone were to cheat, they would have to create a photo ID with their photo, which would match the uploaded photo, and the test taker’s name. A lot of work for a few extra points.</p>
<p>But I agree – the proctors at most SAT places are not TSA agents – if someone really wanted to cheat and went through the effort of manufacturing fake ID, I guess they could slip through.</p>
<p>Woo hoo! DD had her first daily double water polo practice at 5:30 am and I didn’t have to drive her because she got license last week! I feel so… liberated!</p>
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<p>That’s a great feeling and a big change in the family schedule. Our D got her license last April and it has been a wonderful spring and summer.</p>
<p>Congrats on the driver’s license, pacnwmomof2! My DS has been driving since December and it sure has cut down on me running him around so much!</p>
<p>School starts for youngest DS tomorrow (private school) and DS14 next Monday (public)! Still waiting for AP homework to get finished!! </p>
<p>Our tour last week at state flagship went well. DS commented that it seemed to be a friendly campus! The student we met within the engineering department was very friendly and had a lot in common with DS. He was able to give good info on program and scholarships from personal experience. Tour guide was … hmmm … bored with his job? He was knowledgeable, but seemed like he had given a few too many tours this summer to have the excitement that we had seen at another college. He was very honest about things that some may have tried to hide. Nothing major, just little things. I would consider this definitely a safety school for DS - both academic and financial.</p>
<p>So, has anyone else started doing college tours? What type of classes are your kids signed up for this year? We have such a quiet group in this 2014 thread! </p>
<p>Hope everyone has a great year!!</p>
<p>DS’14 doesn’t start until after Labor Day, and is off on a camping trip organized through our synagogue right now. </p>
<p>His classes for this year will be AP English Language, Honors US history, CAD Design and Fabrication, French 4, Engineering & Design 1, and an integrated AP Physics and Calculus class (which will cover Calc AB and Physics C mechanics). English and Phys/Calc are 2-semester classes, and then he has CAD and History first semester, and French and Engineering 2nd semester.</p>
<p>We haven’t done any college visits yet as I’m not a fan of summer visits (I’d rather see the school “in action”). We’ll probably visit 1-2 Canadian schools during the American Thanksgiving break, and then will do some more visits during February or April vacation. Nearby schools can be visited during random days that we have off that the colleges don’t. We’re really just beginning to make a list of financially feasible schools that seem to offer relevant programs (engineering, bet you guessed from his class schedule!)</p>