Parents of the HS Class of 2021 (Part 2)

That sounds fantastic and things are in good order ! Same here, albeit a different path. Look forward to the next phase (in many respects lol) and seeing where they all end up. Certainly not the norm in terms of admission cycle but I find when kids take the lead from hopeful & positive parents, brilliant things happen. Congrats in advance !

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Yeah, it has been an adjustment for the Professors everywhere I think. Hers have done a really good job, other than having one she really didn’t enjoy the class but hers seem to be handling the technology to remote pretty well. I’ve heard a lot of parents complain about professors doing nothing, having their classes be completely asynchronous or just being completely checked out. Hers are all synchronous. The only real complaint are that there are kids who clearly have issues with remote due to covid and that learning environment which is fine, but there are plenty that are just taking advantage of the situation as well. For instance, last Spring they made it that any class, even if within your major, you could take pass/fail and after finals you could change. She knew a lot of people that took classes they earned an A- in as a Pass. Then this semester the University announced regular grades, but after some pressure, at the end of the semester same thing was being pushed. Not everyone was on board with it. The ultimate result was students could take any 3 classes pass/fail during the year and they have until May to make the change. And again, in one of her classes same thing. A friend told her he was at a 92 which is an A- and because he doesn’t want to hurt his GPA he’s taking it Pass/Fail. This is not a student impacted by covid like the thousands that truly are. He just doesn’t want to hurt his GPA. The problem with that is he’s also assuming he will get A’s in every class going forward and he may one day wish he had taken the A- if he ever ends up with a B+. The rule wasn’t put in place for students to take advantage of, but for those who truly need it. Furthermore, an A- is certainly not a reason to take a course Pass/Fail. I wish they had some other requirement put in place that only allowed for certain grades or courses but it is what it is. Employers down the road won’t know if they’re hiring people truly affected by covid, or people that can’t do the work.

My other daughter is in Engineering and said it was hilarious to see her Professors try to figure out the tech and how awkward it was for them using it vs her Professors in Business classes (her minor) who were very comfortable using it remotely and savvy. Probably because they use it often for those types of presentations. Too funny. Different school and one that was in person.

In my mind, it’s very relative to this thread. Both @homerdog and my D have been accepted to Santa Clara, but @homerdog and her D cannot visit Santa Clara U right now because there’s a 14-day quarantine on outside visitors to Santa Clara County. And no one is allowed on campus.

As I mentioned upthread, if you can’t visit a CA campus, then it’s going to be very difficult for OOS parents and students to come attend a CA university, unless if course it’s Stanford. :grinning:

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I wasn’t referring to just your post, but the ones above it. Since the thread was only reopened this morning and was already veering off into tangential subject matter that is being discussed on a separate thread, I was just pointing out it might be wise to discuss those issues on that thread.

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Ok, so we were discussing the # of schools our kids applied to and lamenting challenges around the possibility of visiting before they decide. And, that COVID is making all of this difficult.

My D has recently proposed the idea of taking a gap year. She cited 2 reasons–
First, remote learning has been pretty terrible and she may need a break before going back to school. For a kid who loved school, this period since march has been incredibly sad and disappointing. And second, she doesn’t want to choose a school based on what is, or may be, happening with COVID.

I was initially surprised by her idea as I thought she would be excited to go, but I understand where she’s coming from. Are any of your kids entertaining the idea of taking a gap year?

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My kid is entertaining gap year idea, but I am. I think it is wise to wait till covid issues settle down and at least go to college in person.

I meant to say my kid is not entertaining gap year idea.

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I thought I heard Stanford just halted move in? Someone I know just mentioned her daughter and friend rented a vrbo to quarantine and then hit the message? Maybe I read it wrong. With COVID-19 surge, Stanford frosh-soph students can't return to campus after all | News | Palo Alto Online |

Not really. We think next school year will be close to normal.

If the vaccine doesn’t work out, then she probably will or take classes from home. I don’t think being cooped up in a dorm room by herself would be healthy.

It’s “snowing” here in the DFW area (well, white stuff is falling from the sky, that counts right?!?)
while I’m curling up in front of a fire it got me thinking about S21’s graduation party. I’ve been looking at outdoor venues that can accommodate social distancing
it’s also S21’s 18th Birthday the week after graduation so we’ll have double the celebration
here’s my question: should the cake be decorated (and party decor in general) for the college he will attending or the high school he is graduating from lol
chime in with your vote!

If he gets in to TAMU, the colors are the same as our high school colors so I could do a half/half cake with both logos lol.

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I honestly wish D18 would have taken a gap or a year off, including next year if Amherst leaves Seniors home again as they did this past Fall. She is always one of the youngest kids in her class and since she plans on taking a gap after a graduation, why not now? No dice so far.

D21 is so excited about going away to college she can hardly stand it. Both could live safely with family in two much more interesting places than where we live. I told them to make the offer to friends if they won’t take it. My mother is 80 and she would love the company if they can vaccinate, follow safety protocols and don’t mind eating good Mexican food on the daily :taco:

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I think most do college colors.

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Kudos to your daughter for having enough sense to bring it up now! I haven’t mentioned the idea to my kid but it is in the back of my mind depending on how things shake out for him.

My daughter’s friends keep sending her pictures of Austin right now. I’m sure it’ll be gone when she returns in a week hopefully but funny how everyone reacts as if they’ve never seen it.

Yes, my D19 is a sophomore at Stanford and we just got an email from college yesterday that winter move-in is halted. It doesn’t affect her anyways as she is taking a gap quarter for winter and possibly spring as well if the situation continues as she isn’t interested in online classes.

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LOL, it’s such a Texan thing
my social media is all flooded with pictures and videos
even though it’s not sticking and our temps are above freezing, it’s still fun to watch!

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Yes, we talk about gap year all of the time. D is up for it if school is not very close to normal in the fall. S19 took a gap this last semester and is no worse for the wear. Had a great in-person internship and will go back this spring now that sophs are allowed on campus. D21 is not worried about taking a gap if she needs to. I just hope that schools will be as generous as most were this last school year and allow kids to make decisions about gap years further into the summer if fall plans are not set in stone by May 1.

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6 inches out here. Took D out so she could practice driving in the snow, got up at 5 this morning to get stew going in crock-pot. Yep social media with all the snow pics from all over Texas. Fun day here.

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I think it’s a thing anywhere that doesn’t get snow often. I’m in Virginia and the minute it starts snowing everyone is posting pics of accumulation on their deck furniture :grinning: But yeah, I’m seeing lots of snow pics from my DFW and Austin peeps. Fun!

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No snow in Ann Arbor. The city is behind they’re average snowfall total. And very little to no snowfall is expected in the coming days.