DS has declared that he’s done since he got in at his EA. He’ll withdraw an application too. Such a relief stress-wise and will free up time for summer internship apps, scholarship apps, and his research project. DS has actually been able to enjoy the Holiday Break with his siblings. And we’re not stressing over him stressing.
Has anyone started planning graduation parties? DS’16 will be graduating 2 weeks earlier so we’re considering a joint party. We’ll have 3 more graduating in our family - a sister’s twins from college and another sister’s D from grad school. We considered a combined party but that may be too much. Right now just thoughts rambling in my head but I’ve got to start planning in earnest. I did book for the accepted student days though. Yay me!
We did a grad party in mid August for our D, like a sendoff to college. So many people had them in June that it cut down on the competition. Plus we have a pool and it’s much warmer in the fall (we’re in the northeast). We’ll do the same for our S this summer, which works out doubly well since his bday is mid August.
D has a few RD apps to get finished, as her ED reach didn’t work out. Fingers crossed she gets those apps done, but has some EA acceptances so I’m not going to nag on the additional apps. Wishing everyone with apps to complete luck in getting them finished!
@taverngirl grad party in Aug is a great idea! My DS graduates May 7 and we will be competing with the colleges around here, then in June the other high schools graduate , so we’ll be competing with them, was trying to decide when to plan. August seems fitting.
My D is drowning in scholarship apps. Its really only a few essays but the prompts are giving her so much trouble.
She was accepted into her program of choice at all of her schools. We picked really well. She has it narrowed down to 2 schools that come within $3K of each other after merit scholarships. She has a clear favorite but says she’ll be happy at either. Its just a matter of seeing if she gets any of these additional school specific scholarships.
Regarding graduation parties. I have 2 college kids and 1 high schooler graduating this year. I have no idea how to handle it. By the time the high schooler is graduating, one of the older ones will already be doing their ‘summer stuff’ abroad. Hmmmm. Not at all sure how to handle all of that.
My daughter has decided against a grad ceremony but we are going to have a party in our home. I picked a date that was open on our calendar and made invitations this morning. We are moving 1,000 miles away this summer- could be June, July, or August at this point- so mid-May after D19 comes home from college it is!
I doubt we will do a graduation party. 600+ in graduating class and parties every weekend starting in early May. Graduation on May 31st… We are taking a family vacation in August and taking kids and their friends (including our German Foreign Exchange Student who is coming over to join us)… that will have to suffice I guess for a party.
D20 had agreed to finish her apps during a day this week but really is so burned out after a heavy schedule all first semester and her EA apps that she has said she is done applying. She’s decided that the schools she has been accepted to are sufficient options, so 2+ schools originally on the list (both reach and low likelihood of acceptance) have just been crossed off. She needs a break before school begins so I am backing off. This leaves a couple of scholarship/honors apps before the 1st and even these just feel like a lot to her.
Wondering if schools that only offer RD/ED are really starting to take a hit in the number of applications they are receiving . My D was 9 for 9 in the EA round which she did not expect at all. She had 5 she planned to apply to in RD but now is thinking she may only do one of them. I might make her do 3 just to compare merit offers but the two extra ones have no supplemental essays. Wondering if in the real world outside of CC and her pretty well ranked high school, a lot more people do RD. I feel like most kids we know got so many EA acceptances that they aren’t applying to many RD schools. Most kids just seem so burnt out by the whole process at this point.
Most kids here do RD. I have found that CC generally reflects a certain niche. Not to say that average stat children who primarily RD are not being represented, just that its not typically what I see.
Twin A is finishing up one RD app to a school she had previously shunned, but has now decided she’s interested in. She did finish the SSA for IU this past week, which is a load off.
Twin B has been pretty lazy about keeping up on things. Her apps are done. But one app submitted early (for a 1/15 deadline), was missing a document. She decided to punt on this application and just withdrawl, as her other acceptances have made this late application irrelevant to her. I need to get her to finish some outside scholarships for her first choice school.
I’m frustrated because we missed one general scholarship application for Purdue which was due on 12/15. Honestly, we were ready to do it and aware of it at the time, just not the due date. Their portal seems to direct applicants to use Scholarship Universe. But the Purdue SSA is not listed in SU. You actually have to navigate to different part of the website to find it. We literally looked all over SU and only saw scholarships for D20’s school that were due in March. So we thought we had it all figured out. Nope. I honestly think that general Purdue scholarships are a long shot. But I would have made her apply anyway. Not sure what to think. I guess if that’s the only ball we drop during this whole process, then I should consider myself lucky.
Edited to add: You all have me thinking hard about when to plan our open house! I’d love to do mid-July to avoid all of the other party conflicts. Or maybe even early May?
My D20 is burnt out on apps as well. She just made the decision to not apply to the last 3 schools (all reach). One was Stanford which she knew she had very, very little chance of being accepted to. Also, it did not fit her desire for an LAC and she finally recognized that. She agreed it would make a better choice for grad school (go for it, girl!). The other two were colleges she had not visited and when I re-did the NPCs recently, the amount they would give her for financial aid would not meet our needs (so again, good choices on her part). She did send in her last application on the 26th and she has finished to scholarship applications. She is completing the third today but I can tell she is sick of essays. She’s a STEM kid who hates writing so I have been impressed that she has made it through as many essays as she has. Unfortunately for her, she has several more to do in the next two weeks. Poor kid.
Not where we live (CA). Most in-state RD applications were due by 11/30 or 12/1 so most kids are done with any college applications by this date. For example, D20 applied to 12 colleges, 1 ED, 3 EA and 9 RD but did not find out about her ED decision until 12/13, a couple of weeks after all apps were due. If she did not get into her ED college we entertained the idea of submitting an EDII application but luckily did not have to make that choice.
My D20 also just eliminated one of two RD apps (as deadline is looming). It was a reach we had not visited, and she was only meh about it anyway. She has several EA applications still waiting a decision, and two acceptances (which she is good with if nothing else pans out.) Plus, she’s pretty superstitious and thinks 8 (applications) is a better number than 9.
The absolute best part of ED was that my D20 did not have to finish her last 3 apps. She was beyond burnt out by Dec 15th. We really, really underestimated the number of essays that would be required for honors colleges and/or scholarships - and that she would need to submit them before hearing from her ED school. Any newbie parents reading to get tips on next year - really look hard at the requirements and due dates for schools on your list.
I am so glad DH made DC submit all the applications EA and RD all before November 15. He just wanted to get them submitted. I had suggested that DC do all the EA and then wait to do RD after the EA acceptances. It would have been a nightmare trying to get DC motivated to do more applications in addition to scholarship applications. DC has 10 EA acceptances so far (yes we cast a wide net in the hunt for merit scholarships). DC is still waiting for 5-6 more schools. However, we have 3 affordable in state acceptances and one school that DC really likes with great merit that we need more money to make it affordable.
Where we live (also in So Cal), fewer and fewer kids are doing ED. I think people are becoming more savvy about merit $$ and are less likely to sign a binding agreement early in the process. Many of the EA/ED applicants in our area are legacies or athletes.
Can we talk Prom!! When do people start shopping and prepping for that? What did you do for graduation pictures and how much did you spend (ball park).
@holychild My D20 actually found a prom dress a few days before Christmas. Total fluke as we were not looking for one at all but it fit amazing and she loved it. Plus it was on mega clearance making that normally $350 dress down to $50.
@MBNC1755 That is the dream (prom dress for $50) WOW! Prom dress shopping not on the radar right now (that I am aware of) but we had already booked a cut/color/style for prom because our hairdresser books her year each December so we set that up at the last ‘regular’ appointment.
@holychild We did graduation pictures at the same time as senior pictures. The sitting fee was $45 (I think, it could have been $35) and then we chose individual pictures we liked so we didn’t buy one of the expensive packages. I think we spent under $150 on actual pictures…but I also sent the link to grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc and each of those people picked out and bought their own pictures so that was an expense I didn’t bear.
For just under $150 we got (3) 8x10 pictures (different poses, including a cap&gown shot) and a set of wallets (16). It definitely was not cheap, but we were very happy with how the pictures came out.