<p>I will admit up front that the admissions process at our house would not have gone as well had there not been some BTDT parents here on CC and at the guys’ schools. I kept my ear to the ground for quite a while before we ever embarked on admissions stuff, and the prior planning helped make senior year itself somewhat less crazed.</p>
<p>Both my kids were very focused on what they wanted to study, so their searches centered on schools that were excellent in those areas. They both had a pretty good sense of what those schools were, fed by their teachers at their HS programs, some research on CC, etc. There were a couple of schools that I tossed out as a “whaddaya think of this one?” but they were pretty savvy about what they wanted and were definitive about what they didn’t want. As parents, we worked the logistics of visits, and they were able to see all of the schools that they were seriously considering. Part of this was done while on family vacation, some on school days off, and with S2 in particular, a lot were within a couple of hours’ drive. They made trips on their own so they could experience the solo travel issue for themselves.</p>
<p>S1 considered about fifteen schools, had a final list of ten, but only applied to seven (dropped a few after excellent EA results). S2 considered close to 30 schools, had a final list of eleven, actually applied to eight (dropped three after getting one of his top two EA). Neither were trophy hunting and only applied to schools they had a) visited and b) could see themselves happily attending. Our flagship was an admissions and financial safety with very good chances of merit $$, and both were comfortable attending there. </p>
<p>Both my kids knew I had a lot of info about colleges and the process, and were eager to ask for advice. It was much more collaborative and cooperative than I expected the process to be. It was a bonding experience for us, and yeah, a lot of our conversations senior year were about college, but not just about the administrivia. It was also about how to deal with roommates, learning to advocate for yourself, balancing a campus job with classes, stress management, identifying helpful resources on campus, learning banking and health care issues, and all those other Life Lesson 101 things you realize you didn’t get around to in the first 17 years. </p>
<p>I knew from CC that having testing done by the end of junior year was a good thing to do, so we as a family) made sure that each guy had time to prepare and did not have conflicting plans on the tests days. VERY HELPFUL ADVICE, both in terms of reducing stress senior year and in knowing what the numbers were so the list of schools was indeed a feasible one. </p>
<p>We learned that the GC’s request for a personal statement was an excellent launching point for developing essays and figuring out what combination of topics would cover everything my sons would want to include in their applications. S1’s research class junior year had the kids write resumes as part of the process of finding mentors – this was a HUGE help in assembling all those activities and awards, getting the documentation all in one place and seeing how all those seemingly different activities shared some common, non-obvious threads. As a result, I taught S2 to write a resume before starting any of the essays.</p>
<p>I will admit: I got a big wipe-off calendar for the entire school year and we both entered deadlines, school holidays, competition deadlines, etc. on it. We found that helped with reducing the nagging. I printed labels, made copies, sat with each kiddo as the apps were submitted or packaged for mailing to make sure everything was in order. I taught them how to send things certified mail, introduced them to FedEx and how to write a resume. They asked for comments on essays, but I did not see them until they were written and had gone through several drafts already. </p>
<p>I made their favorite foods, let them take the occasional mental health day if needed, made sure they had down time to think/recharge/nap, and kept them in clean clothes. </p>
<p>I was more involved than I expected, but I had one kiddo whose first semester senior year turned into a continuous science research competition, and another who was taking seven IB classes, was the debate team captain and was spending 25 hrs/week with football, plus the IB Extended Essay and TOK paper. If my printing labels got them an extra hour of sleep at night, I’m guilty.</p>
<p>I had the sense I wasn’t too overbearing, intrusive or nagging when my kids told me they were online with their friends giving them some of the same advice I had given them.</p>
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