This thread goes by so fast that I feel like I’m going to be adding to topics from the murky depths of the long-ago past…
On summer programs (that one’s still a fresh topic!)
I’d really like for D to be able to experience living away from home in a college environment, but it’s just not in the cards this year. She is doing a 3 day tech summit for LGBTQ youth this summer. They’ll be at a different tech firm each day and we know two of the days will be Twitter and Pandora. They haven’t said what the other company is, but Google is one of the sponsors so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. The focus is going to be on game design and coding. But perhaps best of all – it’s local, free, and provides breakfast and lunch!
On the various interesting discussions of CC (the good, the bad, and the ugly – cue music!)
Yep, I’d say the atmosphere on CC ranges all over the place. I was so completely clueless with D11 (who had the crappiest GC in any high school anywhere ever) and so thankful I found CC. Truly a font of information. But I was also way too intimidated to post for quite a while. D11 went to a very non-traditional public charter (Locals call it either “the school for quirky/artsy kids” or “the school for slacker/stoner kids”). No AP/IB/honors/advanced classes, almost no tests (very project based). Not exactly Thomas Jefferson High School! But the class of '11 thread was very welcoming and I’ve been glad to see the same here in '17. (I still have to introduce myself in the '18 thread – yeesh!) I think I generally manage to avoid the ickier threads that pop up. Sometimes you can read the title and know exactly what some of the nasty comments will be.
On there being all kinds of kids
So true and of course we’re all better for it.
D11 is my free-spirited hippy child. She was pretty unprepared for college and will be finally graduating next year (pleeeeze let this be true!) after 6 years. As per above, definitely not a typical CC kid.
D17 is my STEM girl. My hardest working kid by a long shot. She’s overcome some huge challenges to get where she is. Where is that? Well, not an Ivy by any means, but she’s on course to get into a strong engineering program. (I also love the fact that until we started visiting actually do-able schools, her “dream school” was Harvey Mudd rather than an Ivy!)
S18 is probably the most “CC-ish” of my three. He’s one of those kids who gets frustrated when things don’t come easy to him because he’s so used to being able to do whatever he tries. Guess what, you actually do have to work in APUSH! (And luckily he has). At conferences his teachers almost invariably mention how funny he is, so perhaps he will drop out and go into stand-up comedy.
And last of all, happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s! My kids are taking me to see Captain America: Civil War. Such a sacrifice they are willing to make for dear ol’ mum!
Phew. Getting my CC fix before bed! Missed a lot. Welcome newcomers. D17 left early this morning for super-sectionals for band, which is downstate (UIUC). Math Team had a competition down there today, too, but I don’t think she was able to do both . She is due back around midnight. D20, the gymnast, had a going away party for one of the other gymnasts at our place, and they (8 girls) just left. 8 girls on a trampoline at the same time…was interesting. I checked to make sure our insurance was paid up.
Happy Mother’s day to all. D17 will get up late and study most of the day for AP Phys on Monday, and English on Wednesday…then it’s all down hill! Well, she will have to start studying for Math 2 subject in June.
Your posts come into my head in a high Cuba Gooding voice. lol.
Anyway, how did you arrange the work at the child abuse center? D17 is a NHS officer but they count any little thing as service, so community service is still her weakness. She was accepted to a couple of summer programs and rejected from a couple, so still has some free time that I would like to see filled with service. I’m not sure where to find service opportunities and the child abuse center sounds interesting. Thx.
@nw2this We found out about the child abuse center through a friend of D17s grandmother, who lives in MI. We contacted them and they had a process to hire volunteers. They get lots of volunteers, so it’s fairly simple. D did it with a friend, and we sent her to grandmas for 10 days. Killed 2 birds with one stone. D drives, so she was able to get around on her own once there. She loved it. You should be able to Google ones in your area.
it was the best money i ever spent. i have a quirky one, and i purposely sent her not so much for the educational part (that fell apart once she was there anyway), but to experience college living and gain some independence.
she quickly learned what were absolute deal breakers FOR HER…she hates a large campus, she hates rural, she hates women only, she hates a lot of things :))
but it was a great way to narrow focus in looking for schools. i’d much rather know all these things before i start forking over big money.
i really wanted to do it again in a small, urban, coed campus this year but it wasnt in the cards.
so her summer plans are sort of loose right now. maybe a j-o-b if she can get one, certainly some beach days. and the obvious–essay writing, portfolio development, etc.
@kac425 You’re lucky your D was able to narrow her focus. I think D17s choice will literally come down to ‘vibe’, and how the school makes her feel. She probably won’t be limited by programs offered too much. Everyone has Bio and Psych (or Math or Physics ). She so far has liked both small and large, and everything in between. I think ‘vibe’ kind of incorporates all the criteria, and it’s so hard for her to eliminate based on one of them.
I think a real j-o-b is really important, and we need to try to fit that in next school year too!
@shuttlebus … That’s awesome! What sport? I was a recruited athlete back in the day but only for smaller schools and they just weren’t a fit. Not to mention that they only offered a small scholarship. Once I put it on paper and realized I was going to be practicing/playing for 20 hrs per week and still would be in a lot of debt then I moved on.
Would love to hear how the process is going for your kid. I find it fascinating. D is not an athlete at all so I have to live out that dream vicariously through others.
@snoozn That’s great that you found a tech summit for LGBTQ youth near you. DC21 is interested in digital art, and there are all kinds of Women in Technology, Girls Who Code, and Tech Trek things for girls near us. But since DC currently identifies as male (but doesn’t seem male in a lot of emotional ways), he feels he is not eligible for such programs. He is going to a one-week sleepover camp for LGBTQ leadership, because he started an LGBTQ club at his junior high, but it does not have a focus other than leadership and outdoorsy stuff.
@shuttlebus I’ve heard that the process for being recruited is very stressful and unclear. Hopefully the team coach can help you navigate through. A friend’s son was recruited by a number of teams for crew, including Ivies. I know they were able to use multiple offers as leverage to get more money at his first choice.
If there isn’t already a cc thread on this topic you should start one!
Btw Happy Mothers Day to all of the Mom’s out there!! Already enjoying a relaxing day here!! ;
@shuttlebus – The Athletic Recruiting thread is excellent and populated by helpful, well-informed parents, or at least it had been when I last looked a couple of years ago. No athletic recruits in my house, but we have a LOT from my HS so I wanted to try to understand the process. The recruits massively skew our Naviance results, but sometimes the data points are blatantly obvious, allowing me to pull out the outliers.
I am happy to share the little I know, but the process does vary a bit by sport and division.
@snoozn that 3 day summit sounds absolutely fabulous!
@shuttlebus we went through the process to some degree for SD14. It was not fun at all, any of it to be honest. I am happy to share what little I do know but we ended up not seeing all the way through as SD chose a specific school over the sport at the end of the day. We did find it much like the overall college app process, there were safeties, matches and reaches and the safeties, who wanted her weren’t where she wanted to play. The matches were ok but the next best thing in her mind and one pretty decent fit for the sport (her #2 choice) and then her dream school, which was a match academically, was a reach for the sport. We are grateful though, had they not recruited her originally it may never have been on her radar and she’s a very happy sophomore playing club for them now.
For us it was an odd, abrupt end to a stressful saga but one we were glad to have over.
Our school sent out an email about an NHS Virtual College Fair happening Tuesday, May 17 from 2-10 pm Eastern. It says, "During this live event, you will be able to chat with representatives from a variety of public and private colleges and universities across the nation staffing “virtual booths.” " All I know is what is on the website; I don’t see a list of colleges. It says parents and students can participate. I registered, and it didn’t ask me for our school’s NHS affiliate number or any proof of NHS membership.
@snoozn , Harvey Mudd can be harder to get in and to stay in than Ivy. I have a friend son who dropped out in one year and got completely messed up afterwards, and the kid never finished college. D will apply Engineering to some schools, but she doesn’t want to apply hard core schools, like Cal Tec or HM. She wants to at least be a middle fish first in any school, with the potential to be the big fish by the time she graduates
Happy Mother’s Day everyone! <:-P Ds took me to an early breakfast and now I’m waiting for my meal to digest so I can take my mother to lunch. So much eating!
I second this. Something to check out when looking at STEM programs is the attrition rate of the department of interest. This can give you an idea of the rigor involved.
@carachel2…Tennis. He’s looked at Div I and NESCAC schools. I found it interesting that many of the coaches were very forthcoming about who else they were recruiting. More than one coach had a list of recruits, their stats, and their scheduled visit dates listed on their whiteboard in their office. Many of S17’s peers have already publicly announced where they will be heading in the fall of 2017.
The high school coach is a nice guy, but has no knowledge of college recruiting. The athletic recruit sub-forum here has been a huge help in helping us navigate this process.
. She is due back around midnight. D20, the gymnast, had a going away party for one of the other gymnasts at our place, and they (8 girls) just left. 8 girls on a trampoline at the same time…was interesting. I checked to make sure our insurance was paid up.