Congrats @STEM2017 on the acceptance and scholarship.
@JenJenJenJen it’s a funny thing that happens when your kid doesn’t get into their top school: the next one on her list will then be her top and so on and so forth. I went through it last year with my D16 and she is very happy even though she didn’t get into her top 5.
yearbook Not wasting 300-500 on a page that will end up in a box in a closet. Plus she doesn’t want it so win win.
Class rings were big back when I was in high school (at least at my school). I didn’t get one because I never expected to wear it and figured it would just sit in a drawer or box in the basement.
I did get all 4 years of yearbooks. Was on yearbook staff 2 or 3 of those years so maybe that was why. Back then everyone didn’t carry cameras with them everywhere they went like we pretty much all do now. Yearbooks provide some record of high school years. Kids liked seeing me while I was in high school.
Kids today have a lot of pictures of much of their daily lives. Seems to me yearbooks are less needed now as a result. That being said we bought yearbooks each year for our kids. Its pretty amazing what they can do in terms of production (and again maybe that is coming from someone on yearbook staff decades ago who developed black & white film/prints in a darkroom at school to be placed in a pretty crude/simple and short yearbook). Kids are listed in the index alphabetically with pages numbers on which their name/picture appears. Makes negotiating a couple hundred page book more practical.
My son had no interest in senior pics so we only got the standard pic the school requires for the yearbook and senior class composite. Daughter wanted senior pictures so we had more pictures taken, different outfits, etc. Each one worked. Neither kid had any interest in a class ring.
Never sent out announcements for my son. He decided to take a coaster trip with some friends starting the day we had planned for his party. He wanted trip more than party. Fine with me. Did some dinners with grandparents on graduation day and during summer with other immediate family members. Not sure if daughter will want a party. Will need some type of announcement if she does.
Different people will find value/meaning in different mementos of high school (and other experiences in life). And others in none of it.
QOTD: We did order the yearbook, but we won’t be placing an ad. D2 didn’t want a class ring, and we have only done the free standard sitting for a yearbook photo. I’d like a senior portrait session, but her ECs and health have made free time way too limited. Maybe in the spring…
As for cap, gown, and announcements, they had to be ordered the first week of school! We skipped the official announcements; both girls have preferred the portrait kind you can design online (and they are much more cost effective!)
S17 isn’t interested in purchasing any of the senior year memorabilia offered so far. Students are required to pay senior dues @ $175 which include cap n’ gown & senior class activities. I paid the $40 sitting fee for senior photos which included cap n’ gown & tuxedo poses (I didn’t care for most of the photos, so we kept the proofs but didn’t purchase the overpriced photo packages). I decided to purchase a year book for him @ $70, but didn’t purchase the outrageously priced senior ads @ $500/full page or $275/half page. Junior year he mentioned getting a class ring (@ $200+), but changed his mind since no one else he knew was purchasing one. Hopefully there won’t be any additional senior year expenses – don’t they know I just spent a small fortune on testing, score reports & application fees 
@nw2this - your are right, USC requires one recommendation and accepts many more. I was referring to the UCs when I said they do not accept recommendations and thus the essays play an even more critical part.
Speaking of fraternities, I would love to get thoughts on them from parents who went to college in US (we didn’t). What are your thoughts on fraternities and sororities, and what would be your suggestion for a not-too-social-but-pleasant-and-makes-some-friends type of girl (mine ) about joining a sorority?
@Mom22DDs --re: sororities…what region of the country? I think the south is a whole different ballgame than the rest of the country?
We buy the yearbook every year. The one thing that really grinds my gears is the alarming number of misspellings and typos. It’s ridiculous. And, it’s not just names, though that is bad all by itself IMO. I would be embarrassed if I was the teacher or admin heading that up.
So, someone school me on IDOCS since I was not paying attention when you were talking about it 100 pages ago. =)) Did you scan and send your docs in right away when you received the request from CB (is it triggered by sending the PROFILE?). Our 2nd CSS school, but first request to submit docs to IDOCS. I guess I was OK with doing the FAFSA because I knew D would be admitted to all of the FAFSA schools. With these CSS schools there is certainly a chance she won’t be admitted. Do I wait to send in the scanned docs? Or should I just do it?
I think sororities have a different flavor at different schools for sure. At my small LAC they were pretty mellow and academic/ service oriented.
@RightCoaster Yes. I bought D a modest ring. She is waiting anxiously for it to arrive. She didn’t want it at first. I insisted, and with the senior pics, and she’s now happy I insisted.
RE: sororities. Agree with the above comments. Greek life will differ across campuses and even within a university.
Generalizing here, but Rush is taken more seriously in the south than in the northeast. Generalizing!
I met women I would never have known otherwise. The sorority brought the university down to size…gave me a place to pursue ECs that I found a bit more challenging to break into at the larger university level. Housing wasn’t really provided after freshman year, so the sororities and fraternities provided a housing option. And the whole lifelong connections and relationships.
I don’t know if I would have joined a sorority if I had attended a smaller school or one where students lived in the same residential colleges for all four years. But I am very glad I did.
No Class Ring.
Just cap and gown.
DS has the academic letter but no jacket. What should I do with the felt letter? Any suggestions? :-/ :-/
@payn4ward – I have wondered the same thing about the letter. Older son has it pinned to a bulletin board in his room at home. Younger son’s letter is probably sitting in a pile on a desk in the kitchen, buried under books.
For those of you that are doing a yearbook page, any suggestions about photo collage software or a tutorial compatible with software I currently have? Of course, this is on the parents and I have no clue. We’re a mac family, I use MS office, husband has Pages but we don’t have Publisher. Photos used to have this capacity but no longer. Many thanks!
The half page is “free” so everybody does it.
Aaaaargh!
Re: letter jacket: Freshmsn year, D just had to have the letter jacket with the leather sleeves option and all (they are big here). Then she became vegetarian and environmentalist and the very expensive letter jacket now hangs in the closet unworn. Her school offers all top 10% students a free letter jacket with academic letter junior year and I suggested she get that one to replace the now offensive jacket and she said no.
@payn4ward @CT1417 If you figure out what to do with an academic letter, let me know. I still have mine in a box in the basement. High school classmate was shocked/amazed I still had it. Along with the last school newspaper from our senior year which had baby pictures from the entire class.
Sororities - D was very anti-Greek going into senior year, but now thinks she may want to join one of the historically black sororities. She’ll decide for sure freshman year I guess. But I did already line up all my Greek friends and their friends to write her sponsorship letters if she does decide to try to join. I was anti-Greek too but am very impressed with the strong adult network.
@saillakeerie – I still have the last issue of our school newspaper also. It included the infamous Last Will & Testament pages which were shout-outs to underclassmen and thinly veiled inside jokes among friends. Sr Class awards were probably published there also, back when the # of awards could be printed on 1/8 of a page as opposed to a several page program like we have now.
The boys’ elementary school had each graduating 5th grader provide a baby photo. These were tacked up to a bulletin board and everyone was encourage to ‘guess the baby’. It was very cute.
Class Ring Got one for older child, who really, really wanted it (it was considered a graduation gift) and was so excited when it came in. Well, it was a little loose and, within weeks, was inadvertently flushed down the toilet. Our plumber laughed when telling me how many times he had heard that story. S17 would have no interest in such a thing.
Varsity Letters Both my kids from different schools earned letters multiple years (so one actual letter, with multiple pins) … but there was never a jacket option available! They remain on their respective corkboards in their rooms.
Yearbook Went all out for D’s senior photo, yearbook page/ad, but S has zero interest and would probably oppose the $300 half-page ad on principle (as some others’ kids here). Is this a boy-girl difference?!
Sororities My D has had a 100% positive experience with her sorority, though it is not a live-in one (i.e., you keep living in your dorms with all others). We agree it has been great for her but have required her to pay for all the dues after freshman year.
And, finally – Got disappointing news re a scholarship app today. Even though it was a long shot … hmmph. Onward.
thank you all re: sororities! @itsgettingreal17 - didn’t know sorority admission needed recommendations. Just that might put her off - she had to run around a bit to get individual recos for the many BSMD programs. D is just starting to get interested, and her choices are mostly South (schools in Alabama) or East coast (UPitt mainly), except for USC and UCs close to home. Would love to hear comments on how the sororities differ between these areas, and where you’d strongly recommend joining one.
Varsity Letters - what are they? DD was varsity in an outside club for 2 years, but I don’t think they gave her anything like a letter.
Class Ring/Gown and Cap: DD goes to a small school. Her graduating class is just 20 students, so no such options. We might get the standard orchid garland, but that’d be about it. They’ll have a small but nice graduation ceremony all the same, so we’re looking forward to it.
@Mom22DDs – the sorority LORs are generally written by friends of the mother, although I think some schools will accept a student LOR. For a school like Alabama where rush takes place in August, letters are uploaded by some date in June or July. (I cannot recall but have written a LOR for both Alabama & Georgia.) Each sorority has its own LOR format online. The prospective new members (I think that is what the rushees are now called) provide a packet to the women writing the LORs b/c the LORs ask for a lot of detail. (GPA & SAT, parents’ Greek connections, paragraphs about PNM’s community service, academics, etc, photo of PNM, etc, etc. It is a bit involved.)
You might want to wait on soliciting info about the various schools until you know where she will be attending. I know young women in houses at Alabama & USC, and can happily solicit info once she chooses a school. Certain types of outfits needed for each day of rush, even at the NE schools.