Parents of the HS Class of 2021 (Part 3)

Is your son from a small high school? I’m always interested in what drives kids’ choice of schools and the type of school. Mine all wanted big schools because they didn’t want it to be comparably sized to their high school. But maybe that’s not a factor at all for some kids.

Was tuition due or is it due on the first?

Our kids went to a high school with 2800 kids. One is now at a college with 2000 and the other with 3000. College is not high school. People are not from your town. They are from all over the world. If they would have gone to UIUC, they would likely be making friends with more suburban Chicago kids. And that would be “more like high school”.

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@rbc2018 I too find people’s choices so interesting. My son is the type of kid that always found the adults on campus the most interesting. He knows everyone from mechanical to principal to superintendent. (It really got us out of some tight spots when we were knocking on the door one night at 10pm because he forgot to bring home his instrument.) These relationships really opened up so many opportunities in his life that I think he wanted a place where he would be able to really get to know his professors.
@NateandAllisMom tuition is due August 13th.

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I was so happy earlier this afternoon to see they finally did this and to see they went even further than many other schools by requiring everyone to get the vaccine, not just students. A little late for the requirement for students, but better late than never!! Now let’s just hope they can maintain staying in person for the semester.

Of course college is not high school, I have multiple kids in college and I’m a college professor. I had a question for Pnwfamily, which she graciously answered. I never said ‘more like high school,’ I said comparable to high school size-wise. You seem bothered by the question, but I wasn’t asking you. I find kids’ choices and decisions very interesting, and I’m always curious about how different kids decide where they want to go.

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@JennaMA Our pediatrician said S21 could grow til he’s about 20-21? This is good because he’s kissing that 5’10” mark and the laundry room wall has 5’10” Life Goals written in sharply. I think girls stop growing about 2 years post getting their period. D24 already says life is so unfair because of that. But she is almost 5’2” now and has 10 more months to grow ASAP.

I started going to a trainer last Sept. I have ran 3 marathons and a bunch of halves but the running was only ever motivated by the fact I had to pay to run and if I didn’t have a race, I would just dabble. There is always a reason not to run. It’s too hot. It’s too cold. But I honestly didn’t think my body saw any difference unless I was doing 15 mile runs, which sucked. So the trainer is for weight training. I never realized you could get to cardio heart rate weight training! I have lost like 1 lbs, TBH. But I’ve lost 2-3” all around and body fat is down 7% since last Sept.

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I find it interesting how it evolved. My girls early in the process thought they wanted a school larger than their high school and at some point had non-negotiables that were to be found at schools around the same size. What a ride! :ferris_wheel:

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The sport of CrossFit was built around this very concept roughly 20 years ago. Now there’s F45, Orange Theory, and even now with Peloton and Lululemon entering the category.

FWIW, I have a half marathon Spartan Race scheduled in September (first race since the pandemic started) and a powerlifting meet in October. Join the fitness thread here on CC.

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Even this made me tear up :wink:

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I don’t want to click on this. I know I’ll cry.

Both of my daughters went to small high schools, one of them very small (class size of less than 60). So for them, any college would be bigger! When it came time to choose, my D17 really gravitated towards LACs and only reluctantly considered anything larger than 2000 students. My D21 favored medium to large sized research universities but applied to a couple of LACs that had other qualities she liked. The first attended one of the larger schools on her list and the second ended up at the very smallest school on her list. I was glad they applied to a variety of colleges because a lot can change between September and May of senior year.

On another note, I am really impressed with all you shoppers. We leave in three weeks for move in and haven’t bought a thing. My kid is utterly unconcerned and is more than happy to use her older sibling’s now superfluous XL twin sheets, towels from home, etc.

First tuition bill is paid! (due Aug. 1)

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Yes, Midd’s enrollment in fall is up from 2,500 students to 2,800. They’re asking juniors and seniors if they’d consider living on the mountain campus 20 minutes away in Ripton.

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I like your chill vibe!!! It’s nice!!!:clap::blush:

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It’s interesting to me what different kids are drawn to or what is a turn off for them. We took my eldest son to an open house at a largish public university and he was pumped afterward. Took second son to the same place a couple of years later and he was like Meh. Then daughter was interested in different schools entirely. I teach at a medium-sized public and when I ask students what sold them they often say they visited and just felt like it was the right place. Crazy how with all of the research and investigation we do sometimes it just comes down to a feeling.

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I think it varies. My brother grew 3 inches in college. My older son unfortunately only gained another inch and seemed to stop growing at 19. He seems to be stuck at 5’7".

Both my kids went to through a tight-knit parochial school system (K-12) and were essentially with the same group of kids for most of those years. It wasn’t tiny (the high school fluctuates between 1000-1200 kids), but by the time they got to junior year, it starts to feel a bit stifling.

My oldest chose our large in-state flagship (along with 30 kids from her high school and many others that she knew from neighboring high schools). It was not unlike high school because she knew so many people (I remember moving her into her dorm and listening to several dozen “Hey M_____” from all the kids she knew.) She did fine with it - in addition to keeping her close knit high school friends, she met others from different parts of our state and a few from other states. She now has a good mix of friends.

D21, on the other hand, lobbied heavily to go out of state. She had a perfectly fine HS experience but is ready to be in a new place and see new faces. It was a hard fought battle because she too got into a highly reputable in-state university, which would be half the price - but she won and is going off to a large university in a neighboring state. For her it was not major-driven, she waited for the feeling of being in the right place when she stepped on campus.

As far as size, I couldn’t get either of my kids to consider a university with under 12,000 undergrads. They wanted big. And no religion-based universities! I guess K-12 at a parochial school is enough.

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No way am I falling for clicking on this :grimacing: I.am.not.going.to.cry!

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How far we’ve all come! The Common App opens tomorrow, August 1st.

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Whoa. We are still recovering and it’s opened already? Thank goodness I have two more years.

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