<p>D1 has been encouraged, pushed, not pushed - all with little result. She has not yet finished a single essay for the Common App or any of the supplements, though I admit her almost-finished ones are pretty good.</p>
<p>Report cards arrived today, and while I knew her GPA would go down a bit this semester, was not prepared as to how much it did - from 96 to 84. Her two biggest reach schools will come off her list as they are now certainly beyond her grasp, and we don’t have money to blow on fruitless applications. We will add one more state school instead. Money was always going to be an issue, but even her favorite state school is no longer a sure thing. A downward swing just doesn’t look good…</p>
<p>She was always the passive type, but in the last month or two it’s almost as if she’s digging in her heels to not succeed. She is not depressed, nor is she goofing around and partying. She’s a bright girl, but if this can or might happen in college, then I probably wouldn’t feel comfortable sending her to one of the more competitive schools anyway. As others have mentioned previously words like regret and sabotage come to mind. I am disappointed for her, but it’s her doing.</p>
<p>“Though the responsibility and decisions have always rested with my children, who both graduated with honors and are gainfully employed in good jobs in their fields, I have to admit I continued to offer advice through the college years. I sent emails about internship or job opportunities that I became aware of through internet searching and also offered advice and a second opinion on their course registrations every semester”</p>
<p>-I am glad it worked for you. I have trouble focusing on my own list/daily schedules, I have to have Outlook reminders and yellow stickies and ask everybody to remind me about my own responsibilities. No, I had no idea about D’s deadlines and opportunities, I am glad I remember what she has mentioned, I was good enough for me, my H. does not have this luxury, he is asking me, if I am fortuante enough to keep her next adventure in my head. I am glad she keeps informing us while in Med. School. And it is getting to be more and of higher significance. I believe that she got herself trained well by now, she does not wait for any pyush coming from us, it will not coming…</p>
<p>I thought I’d follow up on my initial post. Turns out the “delay” was really soul searching and figuring out what he really wanted to do with his education rather than mere procrastination. He thought he would be going into business and economics but when he started doing his essays he felt curiously devoid of any passion. After some discussion and thinking, he now thinks that his real passion is with engineering and the alternative energy segment (which makes more sense to me as the kid is a whiz in math and all of the sciences). Once he worked through that roadblock, the essays are now flowing. We decided to push and the push came with the push back that turned out to be fairly meaningful. We assured him that he will likely change his mind again (or several times) once he is in college and that is a good thing. All in all a very positive outcome for all of us!</p>
<p>"Once he worked through that roadblock, the essays are now flowing. We decided to push and the push came with the push back that turned out to be fairly meaningful. We assured him that he will likely change his mind again (or several times) once he is in college and that is a good thing. All in all a very positive outcome for all of us! "
Excellent! So glad to hear that he is now meaningfully inspired to work on his apps! Best of luck to him!</p>
<p>Glad to hear it. My son has worked through a few majors before his current choice of Mech engineering but this one really suits him. Good to work through some of this if you can before entering college especially if the school you find yourself in ended up not having your newly discovered major.</p>
<p>Glad your son is on track! As for his switching from business to engineering, I just want to mention that the two are not exclusive to each other. My son took an engineering degree with a technology and management (business) minor. The first month of his engineering job, he went to a meeting with not only engineering specs for a project worked out but cost basis and projection calculations. He made an immediate great impression.</p>
<p>Trust your gut. I felt that my DS1 was more ready to attend college than to deal with the application. In his case he was nervous about making the big decisions. I did have to “nudge”. It did not mean that he was not ready to succeed in college – he’s doing just fine as a freshman without me pushing or nudging or really having any clue about his day-to-day life. I’m too late for Dec 1 deadlines, but for any later deadlines maybe try something like this. I asked my S: Do you want me to nag you about your essays/applications/whatever or do you think you have it under control. That allowed me to raise the issue while explicitly “not nagging” ;-)</p>