@CT1417 – Well, Stanford is one of the schools we are visiting (on the first day of their quarter). Most of the UCs (except Berkeley) are on the quarter system. I’m used to semesters and think quarters go by too fast. Something to think about when deciding between acceptances, I guess. DS will likely take some quarter-based classes at UCSB next year, so he can see what he thinks of quarters. Some people like them, because you take fewer classes at once, I guess.
Wow, Easter Monday? I guess different regions of the country are different. But, our spring break is usually in late March, and we don’t get a long break in Feb or April, except for a 4-day Pres Day weekend.
Re: Testing at local or other HS. S took the Feb ACT at a school about 40 minutes away, because that test wasn’t offered in our town. It didn’t seem to make too much difference to him, other than having to wake up earlier. There were some kids from his school at the test. But, he is pretty good at blocking out people as distractions. Other ACT dates appear to only be at the rival high schools in town. Our school is the SAT location, I guess. He always wears a watch, so uses that, though I don’t think with a countdown.
Re: Easter Monday: Tulane messed up our plans for a visit since they have that day off, and we eventually left Tulane totally off the schedule for Spring Break. There’s only so much you can do, but it was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle figuring out multiple visits in a short time. Some Honors Programs only do info sessions or tours on certain days, certain Schools in the university may only do info sessions on other days. It’s kind of crazy.
We never had Good Friday off as a holiday. My kids typically had to go to another school to take standardized test except for the PSAT and now the district mandated ACT. Our school is to small to host tests. It did not phase them, and now I feel fortunate. I never even though about another school environment being stressful.
LOL @2muchquan It is one of those being aware of the culture of the area things… Tulane is also going to be closed for Mardis Gras (the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.) It is definitely a huge cultural factor.
Our kids go back to school shortly after New Year’s and the only other longer break is for Easter (Fri to Mon).
I’m glad we will have a few days off.
Growing up in Germany we used to have 2 weeks off for Easter, Pentecost, a week in the fall and 2 weeks for Christmas, had 6 weeks of summer vacation. I liked having frequent shorter breaks.
We do not have Good Friday off, or Easter week on either side as a general rule. Our district does a full week off for Presidents week and spring break is always the 3rd week of April, not tied to Easter at all.
Public schools in Georgia don’t have Good Friday off. Although it’s usually the last day before spring break and everyone leaves that day anyway, so school is deserted.
D17 had me change the date of her ACT to June 11 (thanks @Mom2aphysicsgeek for the link). She decided she didn’t want to take it after 2 months of brain drain (summer break), or to keep doing the Magoosh study thing all summer long to be ready for it.
She can’t take it at her HS (not offered), but we found one close by. I hate the unknown, so I’ll probably tell her to look it up on the web (it’s a small “academy” school) to make sure she knows where it is. She says this is useless because the car just tells her where to go and she goes-she says she never knows “where” she is in relation to anything else because she doesn’t have to. This totally freaks me out I’m constantly countermanding my car’s nav :)).
So, I just sent her a google invite a half an hour ahead of when it really starts, in case her car decides to take her the scenic route.
@2muchquan I should probably share why I find it so humorous. One of our many moves had us in our new house on the Monday before Ash Wednesday. The movers refused to deliver our furniture until Wednesday. Totally a foreign concept before that move!
That’s funny, but honestly something like that could take a school out of the running because you only have certain times when you can visit. If you miss an opportunity, it may be out of the running forever. Not because you’re ‘mad’ or anything, but anything can happen.
It’s kind of like the annoying tour guide at a certain school that turns your kid off, and he then decides not to apply.
D and I are meeting with her GC on Monday for our Post-Secondary meeting. Any good questions I should ask? I have a couple (that may apply to some of you, anyway. Others are kind of specific to our situation):
A couple of schools we are looking at have scholarships that require nominations from the HS. How do we get those nominations turned in?
How do you submit transcripts for schools not on the CA?
Do you have a common form used for Teachers who are writing LORs? Like, a brag sheet or resume?
Well my son was planning to do a practice SAT essay today since he is taking the test tomorrow. But I thought he need a break, not another practice essay. So we took the afternoon off (we homeschool) and went to see Zootopia instead. Much more fun than an SAT essay!
@2muchquan Do you have Naviance? At our meeting, our GC gave him a tour of the parts of Naviance he should fill out and when (the Brag Sheet before school starts in fall). Also, when he can start writing essays for the UC and Common App prompts (over summer but in a separate document).
There’s even a parent question on the Brag Sheet for me to fill out. (“What would you want the admissions office to know about your child that they would not be able to learn from their transcript and the college application? Possible topics may include discussion regarding greatest strengths, most unique characteristics, significant family events, personal obstacles, etc. (We recommend a half page- one page thoughtful response).”)
She also gave him an idea of the timeline for when to ask for LoR. He asked about whether specific teachers are good at writing LoR. She said the ones he is thinking about are all good writers, but there are definitely some teachers who aren’t.
She looked at his “Colleges I’m Thinking About” list in Naviance, and told him when to move them to Colleges I’m Applying To, plus some about how the Common App connects to Naviance. She checked in with him on test scores and us on finances to make sure that was a good list for him.
We also talked about summer plans and classes for him for next year. She brought up the main local scholarship he might be eligible for, plus suggestions for where to find more to apply for.
When does the CA essay need to be done and does anyone from the school review it? (Our counselor has a strict schedule if the kids want a non-parent to do a review)
How many schools do you recommend that D apply to (some schools have limits. Ours does not but the counselor suggests no more than 12.)
When do we need to request LORs
Do you have suggestions for good websites or other places that have scholarship that might be good for D
@Ynotgo@mtrosemom Thanks, these are great ideas! Really helpful. We do have Naviance, so all that makes sense. I need to update the “Schools I’m thinking about” this weekend to make sure it’s the latest list.
We are very fortunate to have a really nice GC who worked in College Admissions in her prior job. So she knows her stuff, and we are on a first name basis (well, of course my D is).
@srk2017 - He is a theater performer, so he competes in Duo Interpretation. I had never heard of such a category, until he joined the team! How about your S?
DI - involves a 8-10 minute presentation, and his partner had to drop out a few weeks ago. They had been doing really well, always making the finals, so he was pretty disappointed. Thankfully, a member of the team, who does well in the Humorous Interpretation, learned the presentation as quickly as she could. S was pleasantly surprised they made the finals first time out, so they have been working really hard to get better, and hope to have a chance at making Nationals. We will see. I was shocked he wanted to join Speech in the first place, as they have to be at HS every Saturday at 6:45 am to leave for the competitions, and they are gone all day! (another reason he can’t take any tests till speech is done, as tests here are almost only on Saturdays.) He’ll take the school set-up ACT in mid-April. But the speech team banquet is scheduled for the night before! :-w
Tulane is also going to be closed for Mardis Gras (the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.) It is definitely a huge cultural factor.