Even those colleges with the merit tables, you don’t know what you’ll be offered.
High stats DS2022 was only offered $25K/yr from MiamiOH, so still too expensive (above our bar of our State College $30K/yr COA).
Most of the colleges DS2022 applied to did not come through with the expected merit/financial aid.
Left a bad experience for me.
So for DD2024, we’re going after the best FIT for her (after making sure that there’ll be SOME merit/financial aid so it’s not $85K/yr), but we’re not chasing for the biggest package. Will reduce the application hassle and narrow the list down to ~6:
Since there have been a lot of references to applying ED2 recently, are you/ your kids planning on submitting applications early and then revising the application to be ED2 if you don’t get into ED1 or just waiting until you know to apply? I’m hoping for my DS to get everything in as soon as possible so he doesn’t lose steam.
Maybe, if he doesnt get in ED he may chose an ED2 school. The hard part is when you are deferred from ED to regular admissions and that school remains the first choice. You won’t know if you will get in without the wait, and the school my S is considering does take many kids deferred from ED
Can we talk about the summer? In our home, we’re having a bit of a struggle defining how much “productive” time each week our child needs to spend (either at an internship or working) versus how much “fun summer” is permissible. Would any of you share how you’re approaching this discussion with your rising seniors? My view: every summer so far has been “fun summer” all summer long. This summer, you need to do things that help with the college application, and no, working 10-15/hrs a week doesn’t cut it. Go intern/work/otherwise be productive for 35/hrs a week. Am I being too harsh?
this is a very timely topic because I literally had a discussion like this w/D24 a couple of days ago.
In D24’s opinion, every summer should = fun = no part time job, no studying for anything, nothing related to HS or college. Welcome to the real world, kiddo.
We are requiring her to:
get a part time job that’s 15-20 hr/week
continue her 4 hr/week volunteer thing at the hospital
complete 2 online courses on www.modernstates.org and take the CLEP exams before the school year begins in early August
make significant progress in writing a Common App personal statement essay before school year begins in early August
D24 had a cow because she thought that the healthcare professions-related summer camp (1 week summer camp) that she applied to counted as an internship…and if she had an internship, then we wouldn’t make her get a summer job.
Junior year has been grueling so I am approaching this Summer as one where D24 can finally have some downtime. We will do a 2 week family trip. She’ll do some training for her Fall sport. And the biggest focus will be to get the bulk of her applications done as her Fall sport will leave her with little time once school starts. She had a paid internship last year which was great but we had to plan our whole summer around it and I didn’t want to do that again.
I don’t think you’re being too harsh. D24 will work part-time lifeguarding and teaching swim lessons for the first half of summer (it will be 3rd year at this job), she is motivated to work because she likes to have her own money, and she likes the camaraderie of the beach/pool staff (different kids than she goes to school with). She’s heading to an overnight YMCA camp for the month of August to be a “summer intern” there (unpaid), a position which she had to apply/interview for but is now complaining about “working for free.” My thoughts are that being away from home for a month (first time doing that) and taking on some leadership 24/7 at the camp is a valuable experience, and it’s a place she enjoyed attending when she was younger, so I hope she doesn’t back out of this. I think working a summer job is an important growth experience. She also plans to work on her common app essay, at least get a good start on it, but will have to do this in June/July as August is pretty much booked.
S24 is going to a 6 week sleep away music camp so basically I have no plans for him thankfully, he will be totally out of my control which is amazing! When S21 was that age we were in lockdown so there was a whole lot of nothing but the summer before junior year he had to be out of the house during “business hours” doing something productive.
My S24 has taken things pretty easy for the past 17 years…I feel okay asking him to work diligently this summer.
I told him last August that the next 18 months (beginning of junior year to end of senior fall semester) would be the hardest/most work/most intense he had ever experienced and maybe, if he is lucky, the hardest of his life.
This summer he is working 20 hours/week, prepping college applications including personal essay, visiting colleges to narrow down the list, and taking 2 college classes. I told him that next summer can be 100% fun (probably the last one of those of his life), but this summer is for work.
In regards to summer the summer after 9th he did not do anything and just had fun.
The summer after 10th: he completed a online course, Prepped for SAT and did 1 week engineering camp and worked 4 weeks as a tennis instructor for 10 hours per week.
This year the plan is be a bit more packed.
4 weeks summer science research program (staying at a university)
Start working on his essays for college
Finish a online course.
Some volunteering or work as a tennis summer camp coach
Visit few colleges (combine it with some vacation)
We do expect him to work on something productive for 5 to 6 hours a day when he is not away at the camp.
kill yourself now and you can RELAX after you get into your college and before the college begins
BUT then son was accepted into a great free 7week program at his college (where he took 5.5 intensive classes), so there goes the fun summer out the window.
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Learning from older brother, DD2024 WILL be writing a lot of essays this summer.
It was excruciating for DS to write sooooo many supplemental essays while getting A+ in APs and Varsity sport and part-time job during 1st semester of Senior year.
DS could do it, but the same would literally KILL my DD2024.
S24 will be working around 30 hours a week at a restaurant as a bar back. He will also be doing his essay(s) and once August 1 rolls around, filling out the Common App and hitting “submit” to all of his rolling applications that open 8/1. He also has summer workouts for football from 7-9 am M-F that are essentially mandatory, though they aren’t allowed to say they are mandatory per state scholastic athletic rules
My oldest is very good at school. In HS she took the hardest classes and made A’s, and then came close to a perfect score on the SAT. She’s doing great in college.
The second one? She’s actually the smart one, but getting her to put the effort in is like pulling teeth. Drives me crazy. To prep for the SAT she asked us to pay for a private tutor and we did. A week before the SAT she took a practice test and made a 1200. She said it was because her 7th grade math teacher didn’t cover percentages. We all know the test isn’t entirely percentages. lol. Anyway, I gave up trying to help her. I told her we were done wasting money on test prep if she wasn’t going to put in the work. She didn’t even bother to take the SAT.
I asked her to make me a list of 10 schools that she wanted to go to that she could get into and we could afford ($35k a year). She realized she wasn’t getting into top schools or getting scholarships to OOS schools, but instead would be going to our state school because that was the only place that would take her that we could afford. I made her own it.
Fast forward and she now has straight A’s and made above a 1500 on a practice test. Something finally clicked in her head and she did the work. This parenting thing is never smooth and easy!
DD24 and DS24 will both be expected to work. They both want to work, as they want more spending money. DS24 has a D1 sport he will be playing in college and will have to do training, showcases, etc. associated with his sport off and on but will be expected to have a part-time job (at least) and work on his common app essay. DD24 is helping with an app development that someone in our family is working on, but will also work in addition to babysitting and doing volunteer work. She has the harder road ahead of her for her college applications, since she doesn’t have a hook like her twin, so she will work more on college apps over the summer. My kids have actually enjoyed all of their summer jobs, and liked the money even more, so working has been a good experience for them. Also, good practice for “adulting”!
Might be too harsh to expect your kid to work full time all summer. So many high achieving kids are physically exhausted from intense extra curricular schedules and rigorous AP classes. Most don’t get enough sleep during the school year. Many feel burned out before they even get to college and of course there are skyrocketing levels of anxiety and depression. Shockingly, students at high achieving schools are now considered an “at risk” group for mental health issues. Summer can be a time to recharge and also to connect with family. Lots of kids are short on life skills these days too. Most don’t even get a driver’s license at 16. Kids get to college lacking basic cooking, cleaning and laundry skills. Others are clueless about proper dosage for OTC drugs or when to go to urgent care or even how to make a doctor’s appointment. So if your family doesn’t need the income from your teen’s job, there may be other productive and important ways to fill their summer. Part time jobs are valuable, but a full time job doesn’t leave much opportunity for other considerations. And, maybe we shouldn’t be so eager to pull the plug on “fun” summers. Kids need balance in their lives and from my vantage point they have a lot less “fun” during the school year then we did in prior generations. As they say, YMMV.
I hope you don’t do that. One of the beauties of doing our own research is we find the roses growing in the concrete. If you have identified places where your student may (likely) receive substantial merit aid that is not accounted for in the NPC, I’d say that gives you an advantage over parents who don’t have your knowledge and will omit the school from their list. Others parents may skip an application because they feel the school is out of their budget according to their NPC, thus reducing your student’s competition not just for admission but also for receiving merit aid.
I urge you to apply to these colleges your research has given you reason to believe substantial merit aid is possible. The savings across 4 years (and being able to attend a school your student may prefer) greatly outweigh the cost of a couple of application fees.
This should be a personal decision for each family.
With D24 (and my others) I lean toward “fun” summers. I lean toward “fun” all the time. During summers, I make sure they read (mostly for enjoyment) but there are no demands from me that they do anything related to looking good for college AOs.
Regarding work, I’m okay with whatever the kids decide. Want to work and earn more spending money? Go for it. Want to spend summer days wandering, exploring options, and living a life of leisure, but have less spending money? Your choice. One daughter loves being a budding photographer and exploring her creativity. The younger may try to get into a little coding. My college son may take a couple of summer school classes, maybe work. It’s up to them.
Then again, I’m not a big proponent of “life is mostly work with small bits of fun if you’re lucky.” I’m hoping to guide my kids into a life they love, not endure.
Not saying anyone else’s approach is incorrect. The world has enough room for disparate approaches to this subject. This is simply the approach I think is best for my family.
We’ve come down more on the “fun” summers most years. S22 already has a part time job where he works 10-15 hours a week (he’s been doing it since October). He will try to get a few more hours. He is going to do 3 weeks of volunteering and work on his essays and AP work. We’ll take some vacation and are planning a college tour in the Chicago area.
Welcome to the real world, kiddo.
I’m hoping to guide my kids into a life they love, not endure.