@SoccaMomma@holychild my S20’s school is doing a grad night trip to Disneyland (we’re in the Bay Area of CA). So they leave at 11pm the night of graduation and drive overnight, then spend all of the next day at Disneyland until midnight, and drive back overnight arriving in the morning. It’s chaperoned and organized which I like but costs $350 which is not so great (they do help sponsor kids who can’t afford otherwise to go).
In prior years they have just done a lock in at a local community center, but asked kids to vote this year on their preference and, of course, they all picked Disneyland…lol.
Our HS does an all-night party after graduation at a local fun zone; I think it’s like 10pm - 5am, and parents of juniors chaperone. So that’s a lock-in since of course they are not allowed in and out privileges. They ALSO do a late-night Disneyland trip the week before graduation; I think the school (along with other schools/groups, I assume) buys out the park and the kids are there after hours, but I could be misunderstanding. They leave in the afternoon (we’re an hour from Disney) and don’t return until 5:00am the next morning.
@SoccaMomma Congratulations!!..that must be a relief to be done with apps early…great choices (DS20 also admitted into UMd honors program and its a strong contender - just waiting for any merit aid.)
Congrats to all here already weighing your kiddos’ amazing options! I guess I’m in the minority still waiting for D20 to get even a single decision. All of her schools say notifications come out in March or by April 1.
We have a lock-in senior party after graduation but the location is a secret so it seems that many kids aren’t sure if they want to pay to go. Trying to convince D20 that she should go, but also balancing that with having family in town for graduation who will want to spend time with her.
@juleval We are still waiting for a first decision as well! My D20 has had her apps done since November and this is way too long to wait. I think it’s driving me crazy more than it is her.
My D’s school also does Grad Night at Disney which I think is so cool! There are no lock-ins that I know of after prom or graduation.
Same @MommaCat - She sent almost all applications in November, with the exception of two that lingered due to a little application burnout. But she is still super busy so I think she is doing ok. I’m going crazy with anticipation.
Can we talk prom? Where do you all shop for dresses? My D20 loves to go to all the formals at school and typically, we look at Macys, Nordstrom Rack, Windsor and JCPenney. I’m running out of ideas this year. In addition to the above, We’ve looked at Dillards. We’ve seen a few cute ones, but nothing like in past years. Maybe because it’s her senior prom, we are being extra picky. Would anyone have any other suggestions – we are open to “outside the box” ideas, too.
@amsunshine we didn’t end up going this way, but we have been really happy with dresses from eShakti, and they have a decent, customizable prom/formal collection. My dd is hard to fit, so being able to order to her measurements has been amazing.
@amsunshine We usually shop at those same places - probably best success at Dillard’s online. The one other spot we have had success for homecoming is the PromGirl website. We haven’t started looking for senior prom yet, but we might try a couple of local boutiques, too.
We did prom dress shopping via amazon. They ordered six each and tried them on at home, and we returned all except the ones they wanted. They preferred that to running around to stores. It was more efficient. Lol
@hs2020dad Congrats to your DS too! And I definitely agree being done early is such a relief for us and him. His December and January were extremely busy so he was glad to get some things off his plate. It’s all down hill from here ;). (Hopefully no senioritis sets in.)
So, I know it’s been discussed but I’m still unclear about grade updates to colleges. DS recently got his 1st semester progress report and emailed the GC about sending them but no response yet. Does the college request them to the student or high school? Or is it an automatic (not prompted) update by the GC? I was thinking it would be the latter since most colleges require it, but he checked the portals and there’s been no update.
I imagine the grade updates are very school specific. Half the schools DS applied to use self-reported grades for admissions and don’t ask for anything but the final transcript.
In our high-school GC sends the semester grades to “all” colleges applied through commonapp - it is automatic and no exceptions (i.e. even if the colleges does not need, the high-school send them anyway). For any colleges applied outside of commonapp - its student responsibility to work with GC and send.
Our GC is very proactive and sends monthly emails to parents and students to let us know what they’re doing and what we should be doing. Re: 1st semester grades, he said…
It’s funny how different things are done at different schools. Our school has no idea what colleges DS applied to…with the exception of the couple that required an official transcript with the application. The kids all apply on their own.
In our DS’s public high school - all student apps are tracked through Naviance (students have to request teacher recommendations and transcripts through Naviance). The commonapp and Naviance are in turn linked. This system works great but one issue is any apps outside of commonapp falls through cracks - Univ of Cal apps, Coalition apps and any college specific apps had multiple issues at our high school (transcripts and/or recommendations not sent on time).
I wish all colleges accept self-reported grades and scores (with expectation that student will send the official transcripts after accepted to a college). The current system puts so much burden on high schools - especially the understaffed public schools. It’s an unnecessarily stressful process for everyone (students, parents, high-schools) - and there is no attempt to simplify it.
I think it’s driving me crazy more than it is her.
Would anyone have any other suggestions – we are open to “outside the box” ideas, too.