@Kardinalschnitt the essays, etc are not getting done because my son is on the ball. They are getting done because of my ocd/helicoptor/nagging ways. I had asked him months ago if he wanted to do the essay camp which is offered at school every summer for rising seniors. At the time he said it was a good idea. Fast forward to first day of the class and he was complaining non stop (he didn’t even have to get up early- it started at 12:30!). But, after the first class, he actually came home and said it was worthwhile and he was excited to get the essays done and behind him. Phew!
Funny story…when we had 1st mtg with college counselor, S18 looked to me every time he was asked a question. So when they scheduled 2nd mtg, I told him I was staying home for that one. He needed to take charge and be the most important part of their mtg without my guidance. They met for 45 minutes and when he got home I asked how it went and S18 could only remember 2 things from their entire mtg. Literally, 2 things from a 45 minute talk! So I ended up having a phone mtg with cc after all to go over all they talked about. All I could do was shake my head.
@labegg the two AP English teachers lead the essay class and they offer 3 week long sessions every summer with a cap of 10 kids per session. The college app bootcamp coincides with the opening of the Common App every summer and is led by the school’s college counselor with no cap on number of students who can sign up. All of the camps are very popular and a huge help to both the students and parents! I am thankful that somebody else can try and motivate for my son besides my me and my husband.
@VaNcBorder Is that free? Everything at our schools runs in the hundreds of euros. That would probably cost around 800 euros at our school!
Just read your other reply: My daughter has been like that literally all her life; she looks at me every single time someone speaks to her, including her own father! Drives me batty! Dd insisted on doing her meeting without me. I was very cool with that.
@Kardinalschnitt, the essay bootcamp is $150 for the week and the application bootcamp is free. But it is a private school so I would like to think that the school year tution we pay helps to offset the costs of these 2 summer camps.
Our private school charges $175 and it runs in August, but same sort of deal overall. They also schedule mandatory meetings with the GC, student and parents in the spring of junior year to establish the rules for the fall. It gets pretty chaotic down there and no one wants anything to fall through any cracks. My S18 is likely going to a state school that doesn’t require an essay and he’s still going to the camp just so he stays engaged with the process.
I decided not to have D go because significant time is devoted to talking about choosing colleges and financial aid. That worried me because the GC has recommended colleges way beyond our financial limit despite knowing our circumstances. And at a parent meeting I attended, a GC talked favorably about parent plus loans, which greatly concerned me.
It’s all so different from my strategy, which is specific to our unique circumstances, and I was really afraid it would confuse D, despite being a waste of time.
Then they promised an essay completed in that time and I can’t imagine a good essay completed in a couple of days. Started maybe, but not done.
Maybe with D’s summer being so overscheduled, I’ll regret being so fussy when September comes. Jobs, next year’s AP work, camps, SAT prep, college apps. It’s a lot.
The essay bootcamps sound like a good idea. I should try to come up with some kind of practice for S. I haven’t been bothering him too much about college stuff since he’s taking two online summer classes. But SAT prep needs to happen soon!
@VAOptimist, yes I have been looking at the Cyber Service program – thanks for mentioning it! I showed him James Madison – too suburban. And @Aida yes I remember someone recommending Champlain. He had a great talk with their college fair rep but unbelievably (to me!) Burlington is not up his alley (D17 and I loved it when we visited UVM).
@mommdc, yes I see Pitt is listed there. I’m not sure why I haven’t checked it out – must have just gotten lost in the shuffle. That does sound like a good contender.
I agree that 10 is a good goal but we are at 13 and the uncertainty of who will accept his lower GPA along with his decent SAT scores makes me nervous for him to cut too many more. Plus 6 of the schools are on the Common App so I feel like this will at least cut down on the ‘number’ of applications, even if not on the application fees.
Also, 7 of the schools have rolling admissions so his college counselor said that once we get some of those responses in, he can adjust his list to cut some or go ahead and submit the rest of the applications.
We have visited all of the schools that are in driving distance- the rest require flights. We are limited in our time over the summer but know that once the school year starts, planning visits will be even harder.
Having 10 or 13 schools will require a big bill for the applications (and scores to be sent) but also requires you to manage those applications. This year there were a lot of reports of a school changing a FAFSA figure and that change being reported to all the schools on the FAFSA. Thirteen would mean at least 2 ‘pages’ of FAFSA schools (you can only submit to 10 schools on a page). The change was either correct, and then the 12 other schools would get notice of it, or it was incorrect and you’d have to fight with the school that made the change to change it back and make sure the other 12 schools didn’t get the bad information. Some schools asks for additional information or updates when they are reviewing the application, so you have to respond to that. It is a paperwork shuffle.
Making my way over from Parent of HS 2018 thread even though I haven’t posted there for a while. I am interested in the essay boot camp. I was approached by a graduate student interested in offering services for essay writing and review. The fees were above our budget but I suggested he offers a boot camp to spread the word about the services. Does anyone have the curriculum of what is covered in these boot camps? How much should it be priced at for a day session?
We currently have 17 schools on the list. I’m pretty happy with it and so is S. We’re not going to actively try to add schools at this point. He has a couple of safeties and I think he’ll end up with at least a few really nice options. I would like to cull a bit. He’s mentioned that he doesn’t want to get too bogged down in college stuff in Germany (for HS senior year). After our visits, I’ll talk to him, do more research on the list, and see if we can’t get down to about ten.
@snoozn I was able to get down from almost twent to almost ten yesterday. D made it really clear that she wants no fuss getting back and forth from home and college. And D made it clear that he doesn’t want her too far either.
It was hard letting go of the Alabama schools, but not too hard to drop another one when I realized it’s retention rate was 63.
It’s taken D so long to talk about what she wants besides neuroscience. At least she’s sharing now that she loves the environment around central PA and wants to be able to hike and outdoor stuff. She also wants substance free housing but I’m not seeing it much.
All this makes merit hunting tricky, but we have good financial safeties already.
First time poster with my sixteen year old daughter who’ll be graduating May, 2018. She is struggling with her ACT scores. She took it March and June but only improved one point. Has anyone had luck with the in person prep classes making a large bump in score? She’s at a 28, but is hoping to go over 30. It’s just so stinking expensive but hopefully worth it for the increased score. Any thoughts or experiences?