<p>Anybody ever heard of "The National Society of High School Scholars? I think it is simply one of those “pay us to put your kid s name in a book” organizations. </p>
<p>@29happymom26 I can agree that PSAT/NMS is a huge help for merit aid, with the caveat that this isn’t helpful at the elite schools. My S14 did not have the best gpa (about a 3.5) but his NMF status helped get him generous merit offers at many of his schools. I won’t say it is entirely fair to the kids who excel in the classroom but not on test day. But schools that don’t encourage studying for or even taking the PSAT are doing a disservice to their students. </p>
<p>Is there a good way to align visits so you can see more than one school in a day?</p>
<p>@crowlady – With S14 we were totally unaware of the importance of the junior year’s sitting for the PSAT. With no preparation he just missed the CA cutoff. Later, with some preparation his SAT scores were well above the cutoff. Had only we discovered CC earlier!!</p>
<p>Methinks that colleges simply like to brag about how many NMF’s matriculated at their school. Otherwise there’s no real reason to put so much emphasis on the NMF designation – really no different than SAT scores.</p>
<p>so far we visited Purdue University loved it and Michigan State University beautiful campus. going to visit Penn State this week and Rutgers University.</p>
<p>@kandcsmom… we saw a couple of universities on one day with D14 by scheduling a 9 a.m. To the first one and a 1 p.m. To the second one. did that for Villanova and Haverford and I think we did that for Northeastern and Boston.</p>
<p>How are siblings handling all this college talk? My DS and DD’20 are showing more competitiveness with each other than I have ever seen. DD seems to be trying so hard to be part of the discussion even though the search for her is still years away. I try to spend time with just her and focus on her interests but the college search is a hot topic when we see friends and family. The two of them have always had a great relationship so I am surprised by recent behavior. </p>
<p>I have three kids, each two years apart, D16 is the oldest and then S18 and S20. Things are changing in our household too but I don’t think college has much to do with it. S18 has always been very precocious, mature and tall for his age. For many years D16 and S18 were mistaken for twins. Since we home schooled they were also both functioning on about the same academic level so the big kids were very close and the youngest just did his own thing. When D16 went to public school it was a huge change in our household, for the last two years it’s been D18 doing her thing and the boys doing theirs, this was great for S20 as it forced him to reach a bit both academically and socially. Now that S18 will be attending public high school with D16 they have been ‘re-bonding’ over summer assignments, working out schedules and planning transportation. S20 is kind of left out but he hasn’t shown any interest in making plans for high school, let alone college. </p>
<p>@3scoutsmom,</p>
<p>My wife tells me that stating the obvious is one of my many annoying habits, but here goes anyway:
Your home schooling three kids is nothing short of heroic.</p>
<p>My boys go to a fancy-pants nationally-ranked private high school here in CA. One of S14’s classmates was home schooled until he entered high school. He’s a great kid, and is headed to Amherst next month. He has a younger sister who’s graduating with our kids in 2016. Their mom says that although she would definitely do it the same way if she had to do it all over again, she was SO happy when their daughter entered high school, and her career as a home schooler was done!!</p>
<p>@AsleepAtTheWheel Funny, when D18 started high school she considered herself ‘dual enrolled’ - public school during the day and homeschooled nights and weekends 
</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say homeschooling is “heroic” I will say it’s not for everyone but its worked well for us and allowed us to give our kids a truly unique educational experience. We started off on the private school rout when the kids were young. At one point all three kids were in different private schools in three different towns. S20 was in a Montessori preschool, S18 was in a private pre-K/K and D16 was in a private elementary school. Between the time it took to drive them each and pick them up, the amount we were paying in tuition and the amount of family volunteer time required at each school it was just way too much, homeschooling was our best option.</p>
<p>We have gone 24 hours without a single post on this thread.</p>
<p>The ‘Class of 2015’ thread has been much more prolific than the ‘Class of 2014’ thread, but if they’re any sort of guide we can expect more than 10,000 posts here over the next year, or about 30 posts per day. . . I came to College Confidential last year when we were facing all sorts of technical glitches with the new Common Application. No one at my kids’ school had any answers, but I found the solutions here. Along the way I discovered that there were lots of other kids and parents going through the whole gamut of emotions that we were going through. More than anything, I’ve been touched by the depth of the love that so many parents have for their kids. . . It’s going to be a roller coaster ride, with highs and lows, but we’ll all go through it together. Buckle up.</p>
<p>We just got a mailing from Vanderbilt for their “Road Show”-- S16 signed up to attend It’s a nice stopgap if a kid can’t make a campus visit for whatever reason. I wish more schools recruited in our part of the state, but sadly…no. It’s a several hour drive for most things, almost more of an investment than a campus visit in a way.</p>
<p>AsleepAtTheWheel, I welcome a busy board. I hate even talking about school with people in my daily life. Either they last looked at colleges in 1986 and just sailed right in, or their son/daughter wants to go to the local JC and transfer to Nearby State U after that. Which may be the exact right thing for that kid, but there’s a definite disconnect when you start talking about Common App, APs, and whether the GPA hit from staying in band is ameliorated by the extracurricular value.
My son is reaching the point where he refuses to tell anyone what schools he’s thinking of, because they just look at him like he’s sprouted a second head. Ah, the joy of small town life…no one ever bloody LEAVES. It’s like Brigadoon.</p>
<p>I left! I usually say “escaped”. I now have conflict with my father over my children since what they aspire to and value is not necessarily the same as what he sees teens around him doing. Nevermind that he does not have the highest opinions of those teens!?! Keep encouraging yours to dream big. </p>
<p>So do any of the parents of the class of 2016 have kids on CC? (I don’t, my D rolls her eyes if I even mention CC)
Any other parents check the class of 2016 thread?</p>
<p>My D does not have time for anything anymore. I am her secretary, so it is my job to check CC to make sure we are up to date on everything. I make her testing schedule, her dental schedule; her volunteering schedule, you name it. If she does not take classes somewhere, she is working on her homework, or her SAT preparation, or her internship assignments, or her volunteering. I do not remember last time she was able to spend time with her friends in person. I guess it is just texting, Facebooking and snap chatting these days. Even now, during the summer she gets about one hour of free time before she goes to bed.</p>
<p>Seal, I refer to myself as my son’s roadie. Same thing-- and now D16’s schedule is gearing up as well (all those lectures about “just get out of the house and DO SOMETHING!” finally clicked).
The thing is, even if the kids didn’t have those schedules…all their friends do, so they wouldn’t be able to get together anyway. We noticed that phenomenon when we were homeschooling. Mostly, they interact online while doing three other things.</p>
<p>Wow. We must live in another universe out here. I honestly can’t imagine either of my sons’ summer days being so full of the aformentioned activities that they would have only an hour of free time or would not have enough time to get together with friends. And certainly, that’s not true of their friends either. And some of these friends are headed to Ivies, MIT, Cal Berkeley, Williams, Northwestern, etc.</p>
<p>Sorry I haven’t been around. I have been working on my Master’s trying to get it done before the end of the year so I can be the class of 14.’ I am also trying to be an example to my kids. They see dad studying almost all day I hope something will rub off. </p>
<p>@AsleepAtTheWheel I have had many students in my school who have told me they spent their whole summer studying.</p>
<p>We have summer AP class assignments for both, ROTC camp for one, band camp for the other, private music lessons and the practice that goes with, an online class, practice for yet another band S16 is in, and somewhere in there D16 also wants to get a job at McDonald’s. Mmm…yeah. I’ll pencil that in. </p>
<p>I believe that some lucky kids can get into elite schools without putting any effort. But I think it is an exception, not the rule. My D was able to juggle 25 hours per week of sport training and getting straight As without much effort until the end of the middle school. After that, she has to put long hours to achieve same results, and 25 hours of training had to be reduced to 6.</p>