Oh, thanks for sharing about your S19. It almost made me cry. We will get through this!
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oh and PS @ScouterMomof3 , DS19 made it through his Eagle Scout too, and learned some hard but good lessons along the way. It was a lot of pushing, as I recall, but outsourcing some of that (to the leader and his advisor) was effective.
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Similar with my S19. He was on an IEP from age 3-graduation and barely graduated. Went away to live at a dorm at a tech school. Had a 3.0 his first year. Then the pandemic hit and he had a bad roommate situation which resulted in a brief voluntary inpatient mental health stay and him taking time off of school after not passing an online class (he does not do online well). He started seeing therapist and got back on meds for a bit. Then he went off. Hes in a much better living situation now but he texted out of the blue âhow do I get back on my meds?â which was a HUGE step for him. He called and made his appointment. He admitted it took him 5 minutes of staring at his phone to get the nerves to make the call but he did it.
He is working almost full time and pays his own rent and other bills (I pay health and car insurance and his phone is on our family plan yet). He hopes to head back and take a class again this fall after some time off. It has been a long road but I strongly believe that if he would have stayed at home, he would not be where he is now.
All my kids have unique stressors and have to deal with too much split family drama. They sadly have a bit of an evil stepmother and the combo of it all has each kid dealing with it in their own ways (albeit not always healthy thus the recent suspension). This is why I try to encourage my kids to leave the nest after hs graduation. Not that I want them gone, but I want to give them space to figure out their own lives.
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S23 doesnât totally understand the financial part of my jobâs possible tuition benefit so I have been creating a list and narrowing down some schools. If I had to rank them thus far, here is what we may be looking at. Open to any opinions or experiences with any of them.
- Shenandoah
- Gonzaga
- University of Redlands
- Salve Regina
- University of Puget Sound
- Stetson
- Loyola New Orleans
- Western Colorado
- Xavier
- Jacksonville U
- Lawrence
- Baldwin Wallace
- College of Wooster
- U of North Florida
- Gustavus Adolphus
- DePaul
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Son accepted to his 2nd Oregon state school that is part of the OHSU program. So glad to see him happy and looking forward to the fall. So glad to see something to look forward to after the last two years. I do not post often but appreciate everyones posting and support.
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My cousinâs son went to Stetson (from CO). Very positive experience and they said itâs a beautiful campus.
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Iâm from the class of 22 thread and yâall will not believe how much growth occurs in the next year with your sons (and daughters). I keep telling myself itâs good that my son didnât peak in high school because there are MANY that do!
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That is good to know @murray93 - thanks for the positive note.
Not much to report here except that my kid remains in this gpa range. She had to choose her senior schedule and her guidance counselor told her that she didnât need to take math. I reacted pretty negatively to that, we had an exchange - I (obviously) donât think much of the guidance office at her school - they seem to do little to nothing as far as helping these kids with college plans. (We are in the second half of junior year and so farâŠnadaâŠas far as meetings or materials/info from her school. They give them naviance and pat themselves on the back for a job well done.) I told D23 that her guidance counselor considers sending her off to community college a success and if thatâs what she wants-maybe she doesnât need math but to check out her colleges to see what they need. D23 told me I was wrong. But then a few days later she told me that she signed up for statistics, that UNH, her #1 recommends 4 years of math. SO I AM VERY PROUD OF HER - for checking it out and advocating for herself and also for signing up for stats because I hate math too, and I DO understand why she would want to have no math at all for her senior year. But Iâm glad that she gets that no math senior year is a short term winâŠwhere as getting into the college she wants could be a long term win.
I havenât made hotel plans yet but I am hoping that the last weekend in March we can go on a quick weekend trip to Providence and Boston, so she can see Johnson & Wales in RI and Suffolk University in Boston.
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@Poochie21 So awesome she was able to make that decision!
My son is not taking math his senior year but he is fortunate that his 8th grade geometry math class counts on his hs transcript so it still shows 4 years of math thru pre calc.
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Yes - @2plustrio - she doesnât have anything like that on her transcript. Sheâs only taking algebra 2 this year, has never been accelerated in math in any way soâŠher 3 years would really be the bare minimum most colleges seem to request/not even enough for many colleges. Algebra 1, Geometry, and now Algebra 2.
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My sonâs class choices (and his GPA) may limit his post-grad choices and he knows it.
But for math, he has geometry, algebra 2, precalc, and a tech college math.
Science he has biology, chemistry, and physics. He has had his 3 credits of history. He will have 4 years of English (the only core class he is taking senior year).
Heâs taking mostly electives his senior year: Choir, Band, Auto Repair, Leadership, and an internship elective.
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Just wanted to say hang in there!! I appreciate everyone being frank about some of the tougher issues they are facing!
A few weeks ago we had a college counselor help us refine my Daughterâs list.
We were going to go to some schools in Oregon but my daughter could not find anyone to take her work shift. She takes her job very seriously which is good in a way but in my wifeâs and my opinion it should be a lower priority than school, college research, and her dance (which she loves and is an outlet for her).
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That is a big win that your daughter checked it out, and adjusted her course selections accordingly! Yay! My son and I are visiting UNH on Presidentâs Day. I donât know if he can get in, heâs struggling right now, but it might motivate, and be an example of a larger school to think about size.
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OH @TS0104 - please post impressions of UNH. I am not sure if I should tack it onto this Boston trip or do it separately. D23 was one and done with prom dress shopping, I feel like she might be the same with colleges. Sheâll see something, like it, and then anything else is just overload.
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D21 is at University of New Hampshire, I am happy to answer questions, too.
It has been a great experience for her so far. Her professors have been excellent and she is very happy with the course options she has had access to freshman year compared to her peers at other colleges.
Beautiful campus in a very traditional New England college town with Portsmouth close by and Boston easily accessible with the Amtrak station on campus. All of the dorms are within about a 10 minute walk of the center of academic buildings - manageable.
Easy drive if going to the Boston area for other tours. Just 15 minutes from 95 if headed to Maine to see some of the colleges there.
For those who need it - They have academic supports and take mental health seriously with lots of resources. They spoke extensively at orientation about requesting accommodations and the process. RAs and Hall Directors seem much more available than at other schools.
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We didnât make it to the UNH tour, unfortunately. Got there in the evening so got a glimpse of it at night, but S is going through some stuff and just couldnât get to the tour the next day. It looked really nice, and the town was cute; we had a great burger at a place called Hops and Grind which had a lot of students there and was right in the middle of some student housing. Drive to Boston was easy, thatâs where we flew out of the next day.
We might try to go the second weekend in March. D23 wants to go see Suffolk University in Boston and I told her that Iâm probably not going to do multiple trips up 95 so we should just fold it in if possible.
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I was not over-invested in my kidsâ course selections for next year and let them pick on their own. But when I went in to see what they selected, my DS23 was signed up for âemployability skillsâ a âwork co-opâ (which he says is for the local grocery store), and open campus.
I am so sad. Why did we even have a junior meeting with his counselor if they did not listen? Perhaps I should put more of the responsibility on my kid for screwing up his schedule but we have been taking about going to look at colleges. We did not talk about co-op or open campus at the junior meeting. The counelor knows we hope he will attend college and complete a four year degree.
My son is easygoing and does not look like much when you talk to him. I can see how he will say âyesâ to any suggestion to shorten the conversation.
I have asked the counselor to meet to re-do his schedule and I also emailed the principal and have asked for a different counselor to work with my family going forward. I might be overreacting but I am so very disappointed.
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What is open campus ?
@ScouterMomof3 , I know that a part time job is looked upon favorably in college admissions, so this may be the same (does your S have a part time job already, or is going to get one over the summer? ) Itâs hard when you feel like the school counselors arenât doing a great job. I know that our Course Selection book spells out what colleges like to see on a HS transcriptâŠlike 4 years of the 4 core subjects, stuff like that. Maybe you could discuss that with your son if you have that info. But electives are fine. (I also donât know what the open campus means though).
Itâs hard not to be skewed on this forum by all the 4.0 kids taking as many APs and Honors and ECs as possible, but there ARE absolutely college choices for kids that just take regular classes, electives, etc.
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