I have a habit of putting all the breaks, no-school days, etc from the school calendar into my google calendar and on the paper FCovey calendar as soon as the district calendar is released. It is formed from the days when I had to arrange summer camps and babysitting way ahead. Sitters are no longer needed but I still do it.
2016-2017 academic calendar is already marked in my calendar as the district/school calendar came out several weeks ago :))
@dfbdfb Muhlenberg as in PA? That would be one heck of a plane flight from Alaska! Good luck to her 
My D has scheduled herself for the summer as well. Sheâll take her Arabic oral final on May 17. On May 29 weâll travel to Ole Miss, do the Croft and Arabic visit thing, and leave her to begin Russian classes on May 31. That session lasts a month. On June 28 sheâll fly to San Francisco to visit her big brother (weâll fly west too, meeting D in the DFW airport for the connection) and then return to Mississippi on July 4 for another session (two poli sci classes). Fast forward another four weeks when she flies to Orlando to meet dh, older sister, me, and her bestie who now lives in TX. After a week of fun, we return home with 2.5 weeks to spare before the fall semeste begins. Essays, anyone? :))
I swear one of these days I will accidentally tag the wrong dbfb ish user name!
Super cool program. Muhlenberg is on our list to look at further, if it works out I will look forward to a report!!! Likely not one we would tour unless accepted assuming S even applies just given the location. Good luck!!!
@WhereIsMyKindle Iâm exhausted reading that! Well except for the 2.5 weeks of well earned fun.
@eandesmom I realized today that D has studied something every summer since sixth grade. All of her own choosingâliterally, she was the one who discovered the classes or programs. She told me that she hates taking long breaks, that 2 or 3 weeks is ideal. (At her age, I was the one counting down to summer break. Heck, I still count down to summer break!)
As was discussed earlier today (yesterday?), we can have totally different kids in the same family. This one, I donât know where she came from. I wish my parents were still living as they would get a kick out of her determination
Good luck and steady pencils to all the SAT and subject test takers tomorrow!
@srk2017 thatâs a bummer about summer (had to rhyme).
My D applied to zero summer programs. She knows what she has to do to be competitive but for some reason she hasnât taken the bull by the horns. Itâs a fine line of me taking control and thus her having mommy do most the leg work. Not sure where to draw the line. She has cheer all summer and we have a few vacations but not sure how that looks on the college app.
@srk2017 sorry for your ds, too. Hope a new direction for summer that he wants to embrace appears soon.
My D was exhausted last summer. She overscheduled herselfâŠfun stuff, but still. A week of travel, two weeks of photography camp and then she worked every single remaining week at her favorite local daycamp. 7:30-5 every.single.day. She was exhausted and didnât feel like she even had a summer break.
This year: out of school the first week in June; SLEEP, SLEEP! Work a shift or two at her current job. Then a visit to Texas A&M. Then a week of nothing to do but sleep, work a few shifts and pack. Then Germany x 3 weeks. Then home for one week to recover and zero work. She hopes to start apps or at least working on a few essays. Then a week on the lakes in Northern MN and then home.
All of August = see her Texas grandma and cousins hopefully, work on aps, sleep, read, sleep, read, work on apps. She will probably start to hone her extended essay for IB and Iâm sure they will have some summer reading. OHâŠand she WILL get her drivers license this summer or ELSE! No competitive programs and no internships. We keep saying no to things to keep her summer more open. We may go see UA, Clemson and U S.Carolina. Havenât decided yet.
Thanks mom2aphysicsgeek
Intense late night cramming taking place at my kitchen table. Afraid to enter the room to suggest that sleep might be more useful eight hours before he has to depart for the test. Oh wellâŠ
Good luck to the test takers tomorrow!
@dfbbdfbb âŠthat Brain Camp looks amazing! When do they find out?
@canypava, good point about the kids seeing first hand the how judging is subjective and relating it to college admission decisions. As an aside, I was surprised how much I missed those competitions now that D is in college. She dances in the student run dance company and has declared a dance minor, but we are on opposite coasts so I am not able to attend performances. Counting down the days until she is home for the summer!
@RightCoaster your DSâs NHS experience sounds terrible and completely unfair, but imo you reacted exactly the right way and set an example of integrity. As for those who lied, what goes aroundâŠ
My D15 also applied but wasnât accepted to NHS because she didnât have enough leadership, and it stung but she moved on. It actually motivated her to seek out some leadership roles where she had been reluctant to do so previously, so I guess it was a good thing. She never appealed or reapplied. She was in the Spanish & Math honor societies, and felt they were a better fit. Both had service requirements.
Just registered DS for June ACT. Poor kid, itâs two days after finals end!
âWell playedâ, says @dfbdfb⊠:))
Actually, Iâve been doing enough international traveling the past couple years (most of the stuff being done on one of my research strands is happening in Europe these days), that even with Deltaâs evil, evil changes to their frequent flyer program Iâve been accumulating miles faster than I can use them. I may send her down first class just to burn some of them off. (Just checked, and I could get her there ANC-ATL-ABE. ANC-ATL?? Thatâs a heck of a long domestic flight!)
@carachel2: Judging by past years, itâs 4 to 6 weeks, generally the lower end. The rumor is they generally get 50ish applications for 20 spots, so weâll see what happens.
Joining in to say hello. Have been reading thread for awhile, but honestly the posts are so fast and furious that I canât keep up. Any comments Iâve wanted to make would be posted 3 days later and completely lost in the current context. Oh well.
Have a DS 14, just heading back home after his sophomore year at Tulane. Now entering the fray with DS17. Both attend(ed) small (about 100per class) all boys private in large Midwest city. DS17 taking SAT2s this morning, after APUSH and AP EngComp last week. Will finish with APBio on Monday. Whoopie!!
DS17 will be looking for a school to support his strong STEM/premed interest, as well where he might look to swimâŠweâll see. Between his own and his brotherâs experience, DS17 has visited a lot of campuses already, but will look to hit a few more this summer.
His school does not rank, nor do they weight GPAs, however the school has a number of ways to âdeclareâ the top studentsâŠschool descriptor, LORs, and Jr. Class Cum Laude induction (top 10%). The system seems to work with a number of kids getting admits to fine schools.
I will continue to read and try to chirp in if I have anything worthy to contribute
@vandyeyes Welcome!
My DD 14 also just returned from her sophomore year at UF, and my DS17 is taking the Math 2 and Physics SAT2âs this morning.
Yes, welcome @vandyeyes!
We are anxiously awaiting sophomore dsâs return tonight. He will only be here for a couple of weeks before leaving for an REU which doesnât end until right before fall semester starts. These home weeks are precious.
I need to sign D up for the Math 2 SAT. Sigh. Iâm so tired for her. I canât remember what other one she wants to do, but I think she needs two for her âdreamâ schools. Whichever they turn out to be-we still have no idea, lol. But itâs right up there with scheduling the termite inspection on things that I donât particularly feel like doing right now.
I DO feel like going outside and crushing our hated enemies at tennis today, though. 
Itâs a beautiful day for a win.
@srk2017 , those summer programs can be more competitive than college admissions. D also got rejected for one and wait listed for one. I think it is best that they get a taste of rejection now, than next March or April. "Success is not forever. failure is not fatal. " The setbacks now can motivate them to new successes. D said that I am too philosophical, but I think it rubs off on her;) She told me the other day, âRelax, college is not the end!â
D will be in all together 6 weeks of summer program and conferences this summer, starting in mid June, with summer concerts thrown in between. 
Thank Goodness due to schedule conflicts, she will sell some of tickets at nice profit
Hi @vandyeyes - I remember you from the 2014 class. Welcome to another round of craziness!
Sorry about the summer programs @srk2017. 
Do many of your children attend summer programs? Are these beneficial for college admission? Totally out of the loop here. Before CC I never realized these existed. Both kids are/were heavily involved in 4-H, which culminates each year with camp and then county and state fair. So much work and time. And then ddâs sport ramped up in summer and qualifications for the U.S. Team were always held around 4th of July.
@eandesmom - I wholeheartedly agree with you, but this blog was directed to other college marketing colleagues so I believe he was painting with a wide brush. I just thought it was interesting to hear his prospective.
Ds was up until 11 p.m. prepping for this morningâs SAT and up at 5:45 to have breakfast and drive into town for the test. Iâm exhausted on his behalf.