We also have plan to not be too far from the kid. This is mainly due to his health as he gets sick very very often, especially with his asthma and liver issue.
Wife and I talked about selling the house and move, if he does go out of state to somewhere that is at least 8 hours of driving away.
We plan on moving too soon after D24 graduates. Weāre moving mainly for better weather but also hope to be closer to D22 and D24.
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Iām the weird one here. Love my DS24, but itās time to fly the coop and I can tell heās ready. Iāll just be beyond thrilled if he earns enough in his first job out of college and manages his income well enough to be able to support himself after college with only occasional small gifts from the bank of Mom and Dad. And if he moves to another area, well, we can fly and stay in a hotel to visit him or visa versa.
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Iād reach out to the teachers and ask them if they would be willing to write him a positive LOR. If they respond āyesā, then I would follow up with either a bullet point brag sheet or a sample LOR that they can cut and paste if they want. In my experience they almost always cut and paste my sample LOR. I hope that helps. Getting LORs can be tough.
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Add me to the list of those struggling with what to write. My kid is bright, does not always work up to her potential, has no school-based extracurriculars, and has had a lionās share of social drama and social anxiety. She nearly didnāt even go to prom.
The brag sheet is a series of questions, the first being āWhat would you say is your childās most outstanding achievementāā¦Iād like to just say āsurviving high schoolā, but methinks thatās not what theyāre looking for 
Most of the bragging Iām able to do has to do with her balancing part-time jobs and schoolwork. Hardly exceptional, but itās what I have. 
There is an area to include anything youād like, and I am going to write about the fact that her dad was battling recurrent cancer for the first half of her high school career, and the stress of that combined with our enforced isolation during the treatment and worst of covid really impacted her ability and willingness to connect socially in a new school. The counselor can choose to do with that info whatever she thinks is best, but it is not something that she is aware of at this point.
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I think a lot of us struggle with these kinds of things. S24 is a phenomenal student and a really nice kid but it is hard to think of āoutstandingā achievements. In fact, I think it is ridiculous for a HS student to have to have an outstanding achievement. Itās so unrealistic.
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Brag sheet question - our parent brag sheet asks about a studentās biggest challenge. One DC developed some issues in high school leading to a 504 and other health related struggles. I am questioning whether to include that information in the brag sheet. On the one hand I think it is useful for teachers to get a full picture (of course they are aware of some of the issues), but on the other hand, I am not sure dc wants to include the health related issues in the applications. So will teachers think it is okay to write about in their letters if I include the information in the brag sheet?
So my understanding is not to include anything negative in brag sheets. Overcoming adversity is fine but learning issues and mental illness should not be on their forms since you donāt want the guidance counselor to include that in the letter. Most guidance counselors should know what to include and what not to but if you donāt know them I would not include anything negative
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We didnāt do the parent brag sheets for S23. It just didnāt feel right in his case. Weāve also never met or corresponded with 90% of his teachers, including the ones that did his letters. Our son struggles to talk/write about himself, so we did help him brainstorm what to put on his own brag sheet. I think that helped cover all bases.
For example, he wanted our opinion on the adjectives he used to describe himself. He had some major health issues during high school, so we reminded him to mention that. He is also totally self-directed and weāve never signed up for his online grade portals or told him to do his schoolwork. Thatās kind of unique so we encouraged him to mention that heās independent and does well in school on his own initiative. Thatās the kind of thing that we might have put in the parent brag sheet. But by us pointing some of this stuff out to him, he was able to incorporate it into his. He had great success with his apps, so Iām sure the letters were at least good.
So if you arenāt feeling the parent brag sheets, you might consider skipping them.
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If my kid were to mow the lawn regularly without being asked, Iād consider that an outstanding achievement.
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Iād expect the red sea to be parted before I expected that from any of my kids.
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I donāt think people give enough credit to regular work. My 25 has a weekend job throughout the school year. She does not need to and attends a prestigious prep school. My 22 did the same. It definitely grabbed the college counselorās attention.
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Good to know. S24 has had a part time job since October. Heāll work additional hours or get a second job this summer. Iām glad that some schools still value that (he has other ECs, of course).
A part time job is absolutely a valid and worthwhile EC.
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After many hours of studying, volunteering and participating in ecs this year, D24 got to celebrate at prom last night. She will spend the weekend at the beach with friends, and it was so nice to see them dressed up and having so much fun together. When the stress and tears of college app season happen, I will hold on to these memories for sure.
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Dropped my baby off at the airport this morning to see her off for her school trip to France. Itās much quieter in our house now. A preview of college drop off!
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Does anyone know if an AP US Government teacher would be a good rec for humanities?
DSās English teacher left the school in February for another job and she wasnāt very engaged anyway before she left, so the current teacher hasnāt worked with him in class for very long. They know each other from a class a few years ago and a club, so he can ask this teacher, too. The AP US government teacher already agreed. DS is working on sending him a resume (which he asked for when he agreed to write it) this week.
Who is writing the other one? Although that isnt a core class it is a humanities class and if he did well and the teacher knows him, seems reasonable, esp if there is no better option.
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I donāt see any issue with getting a LoR from a history teacher. That is a core course.
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Yes it is. US Gov is basically a history class. Regardless, here is MITās list of appropriate recommendations.
And for that matter, for all of those who say CS should not be used, here is the STEM list. MIT requires one from Math/Science and one for Humanities.
ETA: D22 was a pointy humanities student. She did not apply to MIT but her two recommendations were English and APUSH. Not an issue.
Also, the recommendation doesnāt need to be for a class where you have stellar grades. It can be from a class where you had to work really hard, got an A- or B+ and the teacher knows you and admired your efforts. Sometimes that can yield a much por interesting and personal story.
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