Parents of the High School Class of 2017/College 2021

[laughinplace199]

DD is working on applications but hasn't submitted any yet. She's considering applying to one school ED, and it's a reach school, so she knows she'll need to continue working on the other applications in case she doesn't get in.

It will be nice once everything is submitted and we can all relax.

 

[robinb]

I went to Senior Parents Night last night. I knew most of it, but I did take away some things. We need to get more organized. I also need to keep records on applications and deposits.

DD is working on applications but hasn't submitted any yet. She's considering applying to one school ED, and it's a reach school, so she knows she'll need to continue working on the other applications in case she doesn't get in.

It will be nice once everything is submitted and we can all relax.

I'm glad my DD is not the only one! She's working on applications but is not near to being finished. She needs to work on getting her recommendations. She's going to ask her Algebra 3 teacher from last year and her AP French teacher from this year. She's also going to ask her counselor for a recommendation.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

So glad that is over for another 3 years. It was so much pressure. My daughter illustrated my books and used that in her letter. Don't know if it helped but many interviews at school commenter that they loved her letter other classmates were not told same. Daughters school had lots of in school interviews/application nand they were free.

 

[aprilgail]

\
I'm glad my DD is not the only one! She's working on applications but is not near to being finished. She needs to work on getting her recommendations. She's going to ask her Algebra 3 teacher from last year and her AP French teacher from this year. She's also going to ask her counselor for a recommendation.

My daughter worked on her common app essay but every school she applies to requires additional essays- it is endless essay writing! She can reuse a few because they are basically the same topic but one school asks for so many different essays long and short- my daughter says she feels like she is filling out paperwork for a blind date! What is your favorite book, What is your favorite movie, how do you unwind after a long day, if you could talk to one person from the past who would it be and what would you ask them..... And she puts EVERYTHING off until last minute- Questbridge app is due tonight at midnight, she finished it Sunday- she had 3 MONTHS to do it!!

 

[robinb]

My daughter worked on her common app essay but every school she applies to requires additional essays- it is endless essay writing! She can reuse a few because they are basically the same topic but one school asks for so many different essays long and short- my daughter says she feels like she is filling out paperwork for a blind date! What is your favorite book, What is your favorite movie, how do you unwind after a long day, if you could talk to one person from the past who would it be and what would you ask them..... And she puts EVERYTHING off until last minute- Questbridge app is due tonight at midnight, she finished it Sunday- she had 3 MONTHS to do it!!

I feel your pain, LOL!

 

[mamacatnv]

Sooooo, what do ya'll think, am I "old school"?

DD has a friend who works at a local restaurant - its not fast food but its not white table cloth either. Its a taco place with alcohol service and is very popular with the 20/30 crowd. Kinda hipster etc. a bit spendy for tacos but very very popular. This is Austin TX which appears to have a very casual vibe to all things food.

Her friend tells her they are looking for kitchen staff and DD who loves to work in the kitchen is interested. So she gets online, fills out the application, attaches her resume etc.
On Monday, her friend texted her and said "boss is here and if you can be here at 8 he will interview you" so she scrambles around and I said "take a hard copy of your resume with you" following the interview, she tells me that it went well (she has interview #2 with the other manager tonight) anyway, she says that the guy she met with couldn't fine her online app and she redid it while she was there. I asked "did you take your resume with you" she says "no" and I'm puzzled. Last night when she told me of interview #2 I said again, don't forget a copy of your resume. She rolled her eyes and I asked "what?" she says "no one does that, it looks like your trying too hard".

Ok. I'm older and work in finance/accounting, I know I come from a different generation etc but but but...........

 

[v.t.]

Sooooo, what do ya'll think, am I "old school"?

DD has a friend who works at a local restaurant - its not fast food but its not white table cloth either. Its a taco place with alcohol service and is very popular with the 20/30 crowd. Kinda hipster etc. a bit spendy for tacos but very very popular. This is Austin TX which appears to have a very casual vibe to all things food.

Her friend tells her they are looking for kitchen staff and DD who loves to work in the kitchen is interested. So she gets online, fills out the application, attaches her resume etc.
On Monday, her friend texted her and said "boss is here and if you can be here at 8 he will interview you" so she scrambles around and I said "take a hard copy of your resume with you" following the interview, she tells me that it went well (she has interview #2 with the other manager tonight) anyway, she says that the guy she met with couldn't fine her online app and she redid it while she was there. I asked "did you take your resume with you" she says "no" and I'm puzzled. Last night when she told me of interview #2 I said again, don't forget a copy of your resume. She rolled her eyes and I asked "what?" she says "no one does that, it looks like your trying too hard".

Ok. I'm older and work in finance/accounting, I know I come from a different generation etc but but but...........

If only we were as smart as our kids......

 

[J'aime Paris]

I'm super late to this party, I hope it's ok to join in!!

My DD is a senior and plays girls golf. DH was hoping DD could get a D2 or D3 scholarship combo (academics/sport).

Several roadblocks to that...
1. DD has her heart set on going to Marquette, which doesn't have a girls golf team.
2. Other school she's applying to is UWMadison. She's not talented enough to make their golf team.
3. DD has no interest in any D2/D3 school. Says they are too small, or worse yet too far away. She wants to remain relatively close to the Milwaukee area.

DD and DH are at odds over this. He feels she should consider golfing D2/D3 if it can help out with college expense.
DD wants to be a dentist and has her sights set solely on Marquette. It was a struggle to get her to apply to even a second choice!

My main question is about D2/D3 scholarships. I'm not sure how to word it exactly... Are they generous? Would it be silly not to try for one?
If these scholarships aren't much, then maybe it's not worth the argument to get DD to apply. (I'm sorry if this sounds awkward.)


Also, is applying to 2 colleges enough? We've only visited the 2 listed above, and she has no interest in visiting any others. Ugh, teens!
I've read that some kids apply to 10+.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I'm super late to this party, I hope it's ok to join in!!

My DD is a senior and plays girls golf. DH was hoping DD could get a D2 or D3 scholarship combo (academics/sport).

Several roadblocks to that...
1. DD has her heart set on going to Marquette, which doesn't have a girls golf team.
2. Other school she's applying to is UWMadison. She's not talented enough to make their golf team.
3. DD has no interest in any D2/D3 school. Says they are too small, or worse yet too far away. She wants to remain relatively close to the Milwaukee area.

DD and DH are at odds over this. He feels she should consider golfing D2/D3 if it can help out with college expense.
DD wants to be a dentist and has her sights set solely on Marquette. It was a struggle to get her to apply to even a second choice!

My main question is about D2/D3 scholarships. I'm not sure how to word it exactly... Are they generous? Would it be silly not to try for one?
If these scholarships aren't much, then maybe it's not worth the argument to get DD to apply. (I'm sorry if this sounds awkward.)


Also, is applying to 2 colleges enough? We've only visited the 2 listed above, and she has no interest in visiting any others. Ugh, teens!
I've read that some kids apply to 10+.

We went through the same thing with DD and softball. She could play D2 or D3, but she wants to study nursing. We've looked for D2 and D3 schools that have softball and nursing. Many of them are really small private colleges. There are 3 issues with this. 1) She doesn't want to attend a tiny college. 2) Even with some scholarship money, the cost is higher than our state universities. She'd have to get a HUGE scholarship to make it work. That is just not happening at the D2 and D3 schools she's looked at. 3) It is super hard to study nursing and do a sport at the same time.

DD has chosen to put her major first when choosing a college. DH had a hard time with her deciding not to play softball in college, not because of the money (we have a prepaid 529 tuition plan for her), but because he values sports above all else. He had to get over it! My take is totally different. I value her major and career over sports.

As for number of colleges, she is applying to 5 (1 reach, 2 back ups, 1 that doesn't have her major but she loves the school, 1 sure fit early action).

 

[Mickeyluver37]

I'm super late to this party, I hope it's ok to join in!!

My DD is a senior and plays girls golf. DH was hoping DD could get a D2 or D3 scholarship combo (academics/sport).

Several roadblocks to that...
1. DD has her heart set on going to Marquette, which doesn't have a girls golf team.
2. Other school she's applying to is UWMadison. She's not talented enough to make their golf team.
3. DD has no interest in any D2/D3 school. Says they are too small, or worse yet too far away. She wants to remain relatively close to the Milwaukee area.

DD and DH are at odds over this. He feels she should consider golfing D2/D3 if it can help out with college expense.
DD wants to be a dentist and has her sights set solely on Marquette. It was a struggle to get her to apply to even a second choice!

My main question is about D2/D3 scholarships. I'm not sure how to word it exactly... Are they generous? Would it be silly not to try for one?
If these scholarships aren't much, then maybe it's not worth the argument to get DD to apply. (I'm sorry if this sounds awkward.)


Also, is applying to 2 colleges enough? We've only visited the 2 listed above, and she has no interest in visiting any others. Ugh, teens!
I've read that some kids apply to 10+.

I get where your DH is coming from because we've spent NINE years with DS in Travel baseball. I don't even want to add up the cost but I'm sure it would have covered a year of tuition, room and board at his first choice school. However, he's done. He kept busy all those years, stayed out of trouble, made a ton of friends, memories, and gained leadership skills. Now he wants to go to our state flagship, hoping to get in on academics, and there is NO WAY he'd ever make that D1 team. I would hate for him to choose a smaller school that is not the right fit for him, just to force him to continue playing baseball against his wishes. His major and future career opportunities are so much more important. To answer your questions though, NCAA rules say NO sports scholarships for D3, and D2 are limited. Unofficially, so I've heard, if the academic achievements are there and they really want you for sports, they may figure something out.

I feel you on the applications. DS has a first choice and doesn't really want to go anywhere else. It's not a reach, but he's a solid average on their scale, and with the new SAT being such an unknown, we really want him to have several back up plans that he can actually live with.

On another topic, is anyone else still waiting on ACT scores?!? Other test sites even in our same county have had them over a week, and DS's group is still waiting! He wanted to get the applications in this weekend, but really would like to see that score first.

 

[mamacatnv]

Welcome!

My DS only applied to 1 - it was our state Univ at the time. He applied in the fall of his Sr year and knew he was accepted fairly early. It was not a reach school by any means but it was a D1 and he knew he wanted to go onto Grad School as he thought Physical Therapist was where he wanted to go. (He did, he's now a licensed PT)
He had some interest from D2's for football but he stated he "wanted a D1 education" so he never considered anything else.
I'm with your DD on this one, if a highly competitive post grad school is on her horizons, I would seek out the "best" undergrad that is reasonable price wise. (I don't know if there are any true stats behind this, its just what I would do)

D2 offer partial athletic scholarships
D3 does not offer athletic scholarships

http://www.ncaa.org/division-iii-experience
http://www.ncaa.org/about/division-ii-partial-scholarship-model

 

[J'aime Paris]

Thank you Mrs. Ciz, Mickeyluver37, and mamacatnv for your replies!!

I think that DH needs to "get over it", lol! It's more his dream than DD's to play college golf.

DD has her academics as a true priority. Can't fault that!

We will cross our fingers that Marquette offers DD some merit money. She's also planning on applying for their Dental Scholars Award. Their tuition/boarding/expenses are so high!

(UW Madison is a great school, and DD might have to wrap her head around going there if Marquette is unable to close the gap)

 

[McKelly]

My DD came home from school today and her microeconomics teacher laid out how much debt they will be in and what their monthly payments will be after school on X amount of dollars borrowed. She has the grades/ACT scores to get into most colleges - she's now considering the nearby two year state school for her first two years. Smart girl - we'll see if she follows through on that.
We have told her how much money we have to contribute to college and she's not even considering that money. It's almost as if she's not planning on us helping! Weird....

 

[robinb]

@J'aime Paris I also sympathize with your DH. My DD has been a competitive swimmer since she was 4-years old. We started her college search with swimming in mind. She's good enough for some D1, most D2 and all D3 schools. She told me fairly recently that she doesn't want to swim in college. You know what? I'm disappointed. Swimming has been such a huge part of our life it's a real loss for me. But it's not about me. It's about my DD. She wants to be a physical therapist and it's a very difficult graduate level program to get into and she just can't afford 20 hours per week in the water. Yes, D1 and D2 schools do provide academic help but my DD doesn't think that will make up for all the time spent in practice and in meets. I suspect dentistry is just as challenging of a program.

Has your DD looked into "direct admission" or "dual admission" programs?

My DD has also said that she wants to stick close to home. We had been looking at a school in Florida where she could swim and get into a dual admission program in PT. That's now out the window.

 

[Poohforyou]

Dd just submitted her applications to her 4 top schools. She's been working on a mom imposed 11/1 deadline.

She may add 1 or 2 more but she pretty happy right now. One school has rolling admission so she should know in a few weeks. That alone should help her calm down a bit.

Good luck everyone.

 

[AustinTink]

DD has a friend who works at a local restaurant - its not fast food but its not white table cloth either. Its a taco place with alcohol service and is very popular with the 20/30 crowd. Kinda hipster etc. a bit spendy for tacos but very very popular. This is Austin TX which appears to have a very casual vibe to all things food.

Torchy's?

 

[bjscheel]

My DD came home from school today and her microeconomics teacher laid out how much debt they will be in and what their monthly payments will be after school on X amount of dollars borrowed. She has the grades/ACT scores to get into most colleges - she's now considering the nearby two year state school for her first two years. Smart girl - we'll see if she follows through on that.
We have told her how much money we have to contribute to college and she's not even considering that money. It's almost as if she's not planning on us helping! Weird....

Good for her to keep practicality in mind. We visited a community college today. DD liked it a lot and is considering an Associate's Degree in Graphic Design. Possibly not going on to get a Bachelor's. Unlike most here, we don't really have anything saved for college. DD has a good chunk in her savings account that will help a lot with living expenses and books but no 529 or anything. We can help a little each year. She is a good mostly A student with a decent ACT score but not an extraordinary one. She would love to be done in 2 years with little to no debt and then out making money instead of racking up a big student loan. Obviously student loan debt is a big issue these days and I don't want her to be in that boat. But on the other hand there seems to be so much emphasis on the 4 year degree. I know she can decide later whether to go on.

 

[lilia78]

Joining late, my youngest son is in Grade 12 this year. He's an older one in his class so he will be 18 in December. He is currently the top of his class. We are in Canada so we haven't had to worry about SATs or ACTs. We just need to apply with a transcript and sometimes an essay. We live in a rural area and his class will graduate 20 in June. He will apply to the two universities in our province and possibly one or two out of province. Our costs are considerably lower here so between what we have saved, his summer job, we can easily pay for any extras out of pocket. He is our third that will graduate.

Our oldest daughter graduated in 2013, she is currently in year 4 of 5 majoring in environmental engineering, it's a 5 year program because she choose to do the coop program. The coop program allows students to do 4, 4 month work terms. You have to apply for it following your first year and then you have a fairly strict schedule as to when you go to school and when you work.

Our oldest son graduated in 2015, he is currently in year 2 of 4 majoring in math. He is attending Military College. There are only two military colleges in Canada. If you get into it they pay all your costs for college, food, board, classes, food, books, all of it. At the end of college you graduate with a bachelors and then you must spend 8 years in the military to pay back for the training cost. He will also become an officer when he graduates. When he signed his contract it was for 12 years, so he will be in the military until he is 30. After that he plans to retire and get his masters and then become a teacher.

Our youngest daughter is in grade ten, so she will graduate in 2019.

Our graduating son is planning to either study engineering or physics. He is also very sports oriented and is considering doing a walk on try out for some sports. In high school he plays football, volleyball, basketball, badminton and does track. He doesn't get a lot of time off. We also have a farm with both cattle and grain land and since he is one of two kids at home he helps his father a lot.

I look forward to keeping up with this thread as we all go through this exiting time. Off to find the class of 2019 one.

 

[J'aime Paris]

@J'aime Paris I also sympathize with your DH. My DD has been a competitive swimmer since she was 4-years old. We started her college search with swimming in mind. She's good enough for some D1, most D2 and all D3 schools. She told me fairly recently that she doesn't want to swim in college. You know what? I'm disappointed. Swimming has been such a huge part of our life it's a real loss for me. But it's not about me. It's about my DD. She wants to be a physical therapist and it's a very difficult graduate level program to get into and she just can't afford 20 hours per week in the water. Yes, D1 and D2 schools do provide academic help but my DD doesn't think that will make up for all the time spent in practice and in meets. I suspect dentistry is just as challenging of a program.

Has your DD looked into "direct admission" or "dual admission" programs?

My DD has also said that she wants to stick close to home. We had been looking at a school in Florida where she could swim and get into a dual admission program in PT. That's now out the window.

Thank you for your reply robinb!

Marquette has a direct admit program for the dental school. DD intends to apply, but it's highly competitive. They accept 10 students per year, 5 from out of state, 5 from in-state. So there are 5 spaces available to DD out of hundreds of applicants. We are hopeful... but realistic that it's a long shot.
She could also do the "conventional route" at Marquette too.

UWMadison doesn't have a dental program. DD would get a bachelors degree and then apply to dental schools and take the DAT exam. When the time comes to apply to dental school, she may be open to more choices than just Marquette.

Yeah, the golf thing has DH a bit bummed. But it's a lifelong sport that she loves, so she'll never really stop playing. We too have put in thousands of hours on a golf course. I truly believe DD has some great "take aways" from these experiences that will help her moving forward.

Our DD's seem to have their main focus on academic success, with great future careers.
( I guess we did an ok job as their parents!)

Send a little pixie dust!!! Heading out to watch/walk 18 holes! Today is Regionals in Pewaukee!!

 

[v.t.]

Good for her to keep practicality in mind. We visited a community college today. DD liked it a lot and is considering an Associate's Degree in Graphic Design. Possibly not going on to get a Bachelor's. Unlike most here, we don't really have anything saved for college. DD has a good chunk in her savings account that will help a lot with living expenses and books but no 529 or anything. We can help a little each year. She is a good mostly A student with a decent ACT score but not an extraordinary one. She would love to be done in 2 years with little to no debt and then out making money instead of racking up a big student loan. Obviously student loan debt is a big issue these days and I don't want her to be in that boat. But on the other hand there seems to be so much emphasis on the 4 year degree. I know she can decide later whether to go on.

I think that is a great plan!

Send a little pixie dust!!! Heading out to watch/walk 18 holes! Today is Regionals in Pewaukee!!

Best of luck!