My D21 had the meningitis shot a year or two ago. She was competing in an Academic Challenge (quiz bowl type) match when she excused herself. Twenty minutes later we found her passed out in the restroom. That shot is no joke!
Iām sorry your son isnāt feeling well. Hopefully it will only be a few hours.
My S21 just had the meningitis B vax too. He had a double whammy with his second meningitis A shot the same day. I was worried, but he had no symptoms at all. In fact, the afternoon of the shots he had an 8 mile run at track practice and a 12 miler the next day. I think we got very lucky.
He was super fatigued after his second Covid shot. I have never spent more time thinking about vaccines and side effects in my life.
1 Like
Certainly didnāt mean to imply that someone with anxiety or depression wonāt thrive at college (and definitely didnāt say that). It is a concern though and something that needs to be considered when choosing which college to attend. Certain high stress schools close rooftops during exam season, for example, because even the most diligent student is under a huge amount of stress particularly where there is a scholarship involved.
As far as grades go, I was not talking about kids with a few Bs or a C who used to have As. I was talking about a precipitous drop (and that is not Bs or a C) which would trigger a rescission of an offer of admittance to a top tier college. That is not senioritis. The students with those grades are concerned, and rightly so, about the consequences and their admitted college would be as well. That is not judging them - it is just a fact that colleges do rescind offers for Ds, Fs. and more than one or 2 Csā¦
Hope as feels much better and soon.
Rotten to feel miserable especially after a shot.
Butā¦ at least itās another thing off the to do list!!! 
1 Like
Just one personās opinion regarding grade slippage, some minor or minimal amount of grade slippage is OK.
But Iāve tried to instill in my kids that to ward off any chance of rescission and/or if they desire to get off a schoolās waitlist, then they should finish out their HS career like theyāre finishing a run/race. Borrowing this run/race analogy, their āfinal kickā should be as strong or stronger than the rest of the race. Itāll feel great when you ābreak the ribbonā and cross the finish line.
And when I see students here on CC posting a āWill I get rescinded?ā thread, Iām always a bit disappointed as I would be with my own kid.
2 Likes
S21 wants to be exempt from finals so thatās all the motivation he needs to finish strong.
4 Likes
@MommaLue, yes, hope your son feels better by tomorrow!
Yes, weāve been disappointed (to put it mildly) with our Spanish teachers here! The expected level is so lowā¦so much so that my D has agreed to work with me in Spanish this summer so that she may ramp up to a reasonably high-level class next fall. Strictly speaking she has had enough years of Spanish to pass through the language requirement for her college without even testing but I think sheād be doing herself a terrible disservice to do so. As a humanities or social science student in college, being truly competent in a useful language kind of goes with the territory, whatever field she goes into, and she doesnāt have a strong desire at this point to start at ground zero with a new language. Fortunately, I love Spanish and welcome a reason to brush up on it myself (as well as have a project with my D before she flies off).
Allās good on the vaccination front here! D has already had all the required and recommended vaccines (including men B) except for the last HPV booster. Got that scheduled ā¦so glad CC got me moving on this! We should be able to get the health forms submitted before June 1. Isnāt it great checking things off the list?!
D has suddenly become a social whirlwind (well, with her best four or five friends who are all vaccinated), making up for lost time. A picnic, A haircut, an outdoor prom, a few times hanging out face-to-face, a shopping trip, a sleepover, a rehearsal (in person) for a scene from Hamlet for the AP lit classā¦heady stuff for a kid who has been all-virtual for more than a year. I havenāt seen this bouncy kid for so long! she was kind of sheepish when she asked me (yes, asked) if she could do things with friends basically all weekend, starting this afternoon. Iāve never been happier to say, āof courseā 
(She said sheās pretty solid now with calculus after working a lot with dad all week). Everything on the up and up. Her graduation will be in person at an outdoor stadium, the graduation dress that arrived yesterday actually fits (The two ordered before didnāt). Two mass vaccination clinics specifically for teens will be held on our community in the next weeks so soon there should be even more easing of restrictions.
Are any of your kidās schools trying to offer in-person pre-orientation experiences? William & Mary is tentatively planning for the possibility of offering the 3-5-day outdoor adventures and community volunteering choices in August that they did before Covid. That would be so fantastic!
4 Likes
At my sonās school, you have a choice as a senior - finals or a senior project. If you choose the project, you finish class two weeks earlier than those seniors taking finals. The project must be approved by faculty back in January. The two weeks in May are then āfree timeā to work on the project. Projects can be anything like painting and repairing school bleachers to creating a marketing video for the admissions office (itās a private school). Projects were due and presented today. S21 is on his way home now so Iāll see how it went, but as of today, he is officially done with high school! (He was mostly done already since his project was not that time consuming).
10 Likes
Considering my kids are not wearing lulu to workout in nor is anyone else in my suburb, I guess itās bo surprise they are fine sticking it in the dryer!
@123Mom123 why do you have the need to wash comforters every week? I can understand washing sheets weekly but comforters? Iām surprised you donāt wash your towels daily lol. Pjs who cares, but towels ick! Hah. Unless your son is OCD I donāt see any kid washing laundry that excessively and a boy for sure. But I bet you have a damn clean house.
@VirginiaBelle Youāre so right. Mental health issues should be addressed more seriously than ever before and there should not be a stigma with them. A kid at a heavy hs died by suicide a few months ago. Top academic student, football star, popular, headed to MIT. But had history of depression. Covid didnāt make these kids depressed but it may have made it harder on these kids for sure to get help or deal with their issues especially when isolated or not being able to use their outlets as they did in the past. I have a kid with SAD and while itās less of an issue than when he was 10 or so, you can bet that I will always worry about my kid and whether heās ok. Especially when I donāt hear from him for extended periods of time. But I agree, anyone sending their kid to college wirh known mental health issues has to do a ton of research and put mechanisms in place to make sure itās the right fit for the kid, as well as availability to resources. Donāt wait until your student is in too deep to realize thereās a problem. Additionally, donāt have unrealistic expectations for your kid. Maybe they had all As in high school but college is harder than they anticipated and they fail a test. Theyāll be harder on themselves than you will ever know. Iāve seen so many parents shocked that their straight A high school student now is getting Bās. College is hard! Some are much harder than others and a lot are harder than high school. Just be there and be supportive. Theyāre already hard on themselves. Cās get degrees too!
@JennaMA thats a horrible thing to call Ivy day where you are but any psychiatrist will tell you thatās not something that causes depression or suicide unless itās the shame of not being accepted into an Ivy League, which considering how low the odds are that is ridiculous. There are two main reasons someone dies by suicide. 1. History of Depression/depression and 2. Shame. Like someone who stole money and got caught and would rather die than go to prison and face the shame of all their friends and family etc. You often hear of these types of people. If a kid felt enough shame that they might die by suicide on Ivy day then thatās coming from home not school and is terrible because those kids are just setting themselves up for something bad later on. Also, trust me, getting into an Ivy is by no means the be all to end all.
1 Like
My son had an awful time with AP Stats this semester. His teacher was not the best. Heās probably finishing the class with a 72-73 and I am A-OK with that. Heās never had less than a B in any class ever in his 4 years of high school, but this year has been like none other so Iāve definitely cut him slack on this. Class rank was frozen after the 1st 9 week grading period of the spring semester so itās not affecting him there. Heās not taking the AP Test either because again, his teacher did a terrible job and he basically had to self teach himself all semester to even make a barely passing grade.
7 Likes
Same with my kid. She just couldnāt figure out Ap stat this year. She said her teacher was really nice but could not figure out how to teach online. She will finish with a 70 something too and we are more than thrilled. She was a straight A student until this year. We also told her to not bother with the tests. Her mental health was our number 1 concern this year. What a doozy!
7 Likes
What the heck? Our AP Stat teacher is meh, too. S21 has a B right now and I just said, āJust keep the B.ā Sheās a great math teacher to D24, though, but thatās just freshman advanced math. I wonder if itās a virtual thing. She seems like a solid and nice teacher. Our class rank was frozen around Feb, I think. None of the public schools in CA tie financials to ranking and S21ās school doesnāt really care, so Iām not too worried other than, āLetās just finish with no more than a C, please?ā Weāre just all over virtual anything except for my daughter who is looking forward to taking virtual PE (not offered by district, but is free and GC said she can get district PE credit) if she canāt take in-person PE since we will likely miss some days during this summer and they have a strict attendance policy.
2 Likes
@srparent The peer pressure - classmates constantly talking about grades and colleges, comparing after every single test etc is enough to depress even the most resilient kids. Kids are worried that a single B or C will ruin their chances of getting into a top school. Imagine having that kind of thinking/fear from Freshman year. Often the pressure is not coming from the parents. And if the kid is already high performing the pressure to constantly maintain perfection takes a big toll on mental health. The Ivy hype is very real and not going away any time soon. The whole system is in dire need of an overhaul, where mental health needs to be taken super seriously and not just given lip service.
12 Likes
I think people need to teach their kids to abstain from that rat race from a young age. We are super proud of our daughter who is heading to LMU, but we were equally proud of her when we thought she was heading to CC, and equally proud of her compared to her sister who is at Haverford/going to Oxford next year. More importantly (probably much more), sheās equally proud of herself. Maybe itās the ECs my kids chose, because gymnastics and classical ballet will knock you down all.the.time and you have to force yourself back up, but my kids havenāt spent a lot of time worrying about their peers accomplishments and comparing themselves. Iām no perfect parent (by a long shot)- there is a lot of nature in there- but we arenāt just not into pushing them, weāre vocally anti-that. My daughter was telling my husband the other day that the reason she thinks she doesnāt have body issues (common in ballet) is a combo of her personality and how we raised her, but most importantly it was that I always actively spoke the opposite into the world- that her body is put together how itās meant to be and can do amazing things, and none of those things are affected by other girlsā bodies or successes. She said that had I been silent but accepting of her the whole time, it couldāve ended up differently.
19 Likes
Kudos to your excellent parenting. It is even more special as she acknowledges the value that your teachings have brought to her. As we know peers/friends can make a world of difference too (positive and negative).
3 Likes
For sure. This particular daughter happens to be mostly a loner, so her sister (her best friend) and me are the largest influences she has. My older daughter is the biggest people person, so has had to wade through more typical peer stuff. I definitely understand the importance their friends have on their lives.
We have a 2 day, 1 night in the dorms orientation over the summer and then a week-long orientation/social bonding events between move-in and the start of classes.
2 Likes
Same with the mental health priority. As went to Bs but sheās out enjoying life. After a huge push to do well in the DE course finals last month, the last month or two of high school is just coasting. We donāt have valedictorians and she wouldnāt be in the running if there were.
Thoughts about waitlists from a former director of admissions
Itās behind a pay wall.