Virtual honors orientation starts at 7am today for D21 (time zone difference!) and she was up until 1am finishing up the senior video for PROM tonight (she’s the class historian). She will register for classes in two weeks after general orientation. I’ve left selection to her figuring they’d walk the kids through at orientation but she’s overwhelmed trying to figure out all the gen Ed requirements, particularly after she bombed the math placement test (but will come in with Calc AB credit) so I offered to help this weekend, after graduation Saturday.
No job lined up for summer yet. She did some online applications but didn’t consult with me before submitting so she put availability as 7-5 “so I can walk home”. No fast food restaurant will hire you for that kid! She’ll probably have to redo them or find a babysitting job. The late graduation really throws a wrench in things. She’s really only employable for about seven weeks. Not sure she will find anything.
Knight’s Audit is very helpful at putting all the requirements in one place. They used to have a checklist that you could print out, but I can’t find it. Everyone bombs the math placement test- makes you wonder who they are making it for!
My Schedule Builder is the best thing ever- it will show you every available scenario for the classes she wants to take. Make sure you uncheck online if she doesn’t want them- it cuts down on the number of scenarios she will see.
The schedule builders for schools are great. My daughters use them and then I saw my son using it. It helps them see where they may have put too many classes on one day, or separated them out too late, or starting/ending too late.
Mine really wanted one class so he is not thrilled but he will have a class at 430-6. It won’t be great in November after the time change and he’s going to class in the dark, but he understands that there are tradeoffs. Same reason why he registered for an 830-10 am class. He found out for Physics (which he may still drop once his AP score comes in) that there are 2 formats they’re teaching it in. So the 830 one is in person and there were of course lots of spots in that one (the other in person was closed). The remote sections which have better times all meet 4x a week vs his for 2x week. He wasn’t thrilled about 4x week and it ruining anything else he might want to do but the format is that in person they will actually work in groups and with outs on worksheets, etc. the at home one has a daily quiz and iclicker stuff. Which is fine, but it’s a real time suck. I remember my daughter had daily quizzes in her physics course (same class even the same book) at her school and it was a crazy course, but that was only 2x/week and it was really difficult even then to stay on top of the homework and reading. So, a 4x week class wow, no break really. So he went with the in person. Some kids of course will want the remote, but not him. But that’s the bottom line, kids need to do their research and figure things out and the best options. People are complaining about remote classes but right now his are all in person. So it is possible. Meanwhile it’s my daughter in Texas with one online class! But then she told me that class is always online, even pre covid and it’s only a higher elective so she doesn’t care.
Things move super fast and easy at community colleges, it seems. D has had her orientation, registered for classes for both fall and spring, and knows she’ll graduate in August- the two semesters of classes plus a summer practicum/internship. She has two online classes and two in-person for the fall, and one online and four in person for the spring. The class schedule couldn’t have fit into her dance schedule better if they’d been designed together, and the dance company is upping the trainee hours from 21-25 per week. They’ve also offered her a job at the front desk of the studio for a second year. Her life has been far from conventional, and I guess continues to be so, but it seems to be working like a well-oiled machine at the moment. Catch me next month, it might have changed. Ha!
For us parents, the dead car is going to the junkyard on Saturday. It was a crazy breakdown- the mechanic was shocked at the damage and what happened. We haven’t decided if we will buy a nice (for us) car or a junker car or just have me drive my husband around in addition to the kids- that one is cheapest but with my husband’s hours probably an insane choice. This has pushed my D into wanting to get her license as soon as she turns 18 late in the year. She’ll be able to afford a car and insurance if she wants to (though she had planned to save all her $$$ for an apartment), so we will see how that plays out. I’ve only been driving my husband for two days and already I’m tired of waiting for him. He has a habit of always being super duper late for everything… I mean, this guy was late to our wedding. Ha. Anyway, he’ll tell me he has to leave at 7 and I’m in the car until 8. He’ll ask me to pick him up at 8:30 and I’m in the car until 9. It’s such a frustrating time suck on my part.
So sorry about the car and all the time waiting for your husband. Maybe it’s time you just show up late for everything too. So if he wants to get picked up at 830 but he’s never out before 9, just come at 9. If he’s waiting for you, oh well. In the am, don’t rush to be ready at 7. Or start doing something in the house while you wait for him and then when he is ready it hasn’t been completely dead time for you. I sometimes do that if I’m waiting for my husband but he’s pretty structured so it’s rare that I’m waiting for him for anything but maybe 5 mins and then he is the one waiting for me when I’ve started something, lol.
If your daughter is going to got to school in LA, I would not have her buy a car now. I would have her save her money for a later date. Not worth it.
She’s not going to LA anymore- we live in the twin cities and getting around from where we live specifically is very hard without a car. My husband checked if he could take public transit to work and the 18 min drive was a 90 min commute, but more importantly the thing told us to drive ten mins first to the closest bus stop. I lol’d- we are originally from Philly and you can get a bus from anywhere to anywhere basically anytime. As for his behavior… he is who he is, I guess. If I showed up at 9, he’d take that to mean he could work until 9:30 or 10. I could bust myself in the morning, but what I would really prefer is to have that extra sleep.
Happened to see Jeff Selingo was doing a live Insta this morning and got him to answer my Q surprisingly. He said they do suspect significant multi-deposits and do expect to see more movement on waitlists in the next 1-2 weeks. He said it will be interesting to see which types of institutions have movement. I also follow a consultant outfit on Twitter who said their clients have heavy last minute April deposits after deposits through 4/1 were already above normal. So, there’s a shot for the WL Bar if anyone is still there. They had some interesting data indicating that TO did not deposit higher than test-submitters.
Thank you, info for the thirsty. [edited] Feels like an awful lot of highly-selective colleges have closed waitlists recently, so his perspective is interesting.
Double deposits still don’t pass the smell test as a reason for increased yield, but I guess we’ll see.
Listened to another interesting podcast this morning - one my favs (SCOIR) - about the cycle. Winners: URM/Low income working with programs/savvy advocates, ED full pay, lucky few on the WL at schools who use the WL as high yield for ratings and accept less RD. Losers: many applicants RD, including very high stat, high test scores will all the boxes checked for selective schools but also URM/low income with no good support / unfamiliar with app process. Sadly, they did not get into WLs.
I still find this so fascinating and I’m curious about the '22 cycle. Jeff said he thought it would be less crazy since people can travel and will apply to less schools and maybe fewer will reach crazy high TO.
Jeff’s answer was limited but he didn’t hesitate to say yes on the melt/multiple deposits. Said with confidence. But seemed legit curious about where the openings would turn up (I’m guessing between flagship publics vs. privates). I also asked him if he thought there would be extra '21 transfers / lower retention and he said yes due to poor fits.
The podcaster was very critical of the high use of early round this year (60% at some schools) and encourages schools to get back to student v. business and ratings focus.
WL bar people, was thinking that maybe those reservations I just made for orientation for one kid would generate a WL acceptance. But, alas, the plane tickets are changeable and the hotel and car cancelable. Or, maybe that S asked for a fancy shirt from the school bookstore that shipped this morning, what was that rule, that we need to cut off the tags when it arrives?
That reminds me, for other S, I never did mail back the t shirt to amazon for School A that he didn’t commit to. Gotta get on that.
Don’t decide about not going to four year college when you are emotional and lot of things are going on. Things will get better-it is bound to get better with time.
and then you can decide. Hugs to you in the mean time from CC community.
I reread my post and it does come off as an emotional decision in the midst of a stressful time, but it was more than that. She can consider transferring to a four year after her CC graduation, and she would still have three years of GI bill to pay for it, even. I think it’s more she is realizing that her goals don’t line up with the four year colleges she could either get into now, or that would accept her as a transfer. She’s actually amazingly clear eyed about her prospects, her future, and the reality of her options. Luckily for her, the GI bill will be there for around 7 years after she graduates CC next summer… so she has lots of time to figure it all out.
@milgymfam, maybe doing that trainee program is exactly where she needs to be right now. Any chance she would want to go to a program like Butler University next year? Aren’t they strong in classical ballet? Or Utah?
