High School class of 2011

[geffric]

older son was different.. when to College that changed lives conference.. he loved Cornell College and Beloit.. looked at small schools, mostly liberal arts, no football , he did lots of overnights, sat in classes.. looked at..
Knox College, Roanoke, Bradley, Cornell, Beloit, and Earlham ( wouldnt look at Lawrence. I am not sure why)

applied to Cornel, Beloit and Roanoke.. went to Cornell College ( IA) and loves it..

 

[geffric]

bump..

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

I'm doing overnight at my top choice this week. So excited

 

[ctinct]

DD is very stressed already. AP calculus is kicking her butt. The teacher is not very personable according to dd, but she is willing to spend extra time to help the kids, which is a big plus. It's tough for dd because she has never had to ask for extra help before. One bad thing is the teacher has told the kids the majority of them will probably receive grades in the high 70s range. Gonna kill dd's gpa...she is #2 in a class of 300+ (very close to being #1). The thing is, those grades do not jibe with the AP results. Last year there were 14 kids in the class, and 12 of them received a 5 on the AP test. That is great! However, I wonder how many of them got low grades on their report cards. Doesn't seem right. Oh, and the teacher informed them that from Jan.-May, they are required to stay after for an extra class once a week. It's not a problem for dd, but some of the kids have jobs and/or sports, and they did not know about the extra classes when they signed up for AP.

On the application front, she has started working on them. A couple of the schools, including state school, have early action. The rumor for the state school is that earlier apps get more aid, but that may have changed. Until this year, they were rolling admission, which may have accounted for "the early bird gets the worm" aid. Anyhow, she has files and checklists set up, and seems to be on top of things. I hope so.

 

[ctinct]

I'm doing overnight at my top choice this week. So excited

Good for you! Is it your first visit? It is really, really good to visit. I dragged my daughter to 15 schools, and some I thought she would love, she didn't, and vice versa. She did not even want to visit the school that is now her top choice. And, she warmed my heart recently when she said that despite her complaints, she was really glad we had visted so many places. I hope this visit is everthing you want it to be. Good luck.

 

[armomof3lvsdisney]

Good for you! Is it your first visit? It is really, really good to visit. I dragged my daughter to 15 schools, and some I thought she would love, she didn't, and vice versa. She did not even want to visit the school that is now her top choice. And, she warmed my heart recently when she said that despite her complaints, she was really glad we had visted so many places. I hope this visit is everthing you want it to be. Good luck.

My son's top choice was not on his list either. My friend and I took my DS and her DD to two different visits on the same day. The campuses were only 20 minutes apart. One of the schools was on both of their lists and the other was only on my friends daughter's list. But we tagged along, and now it is his number 1 choice. I think it's so important to look at a variety of different schools. Small, large, public, private, and so on. Because sometimes what they thought they would love they end up not liking at all.

HSMndLKfan92 Have fun, I can'ts wait to hear about your visit.

 

[geffric]

we are going to U of Wisc in October and then it is time for some overnights..my biggest fear is that he will be there just for fun and still not have any idea where he wants to go..

 

[agnes!]

DD is interested in one particular major - music production/business. She wants to be a performer, but she also wants to be able to support herself and know the technical aspects of the business. The problem is that this field of study is called many many different things at different schools including audio production, music business, recording industry studies, etc., etc. The other issue is the way that some schools have this major organized within the college/university. Some have it attached to the Music Department/School of Music so the major is basically a Conservatory-approach with a production or business overlay (which she is not interested in), some have it only music production with little business, some have only audio/technical degrees with little business overview, a few (like Belmont and MTSU) have a stand-alone program where the student can learn music production *and* music business while also getting a Liberal Arts background The approach to this particular field (whatever it is being called!) varies widely from place to place...there are universities that have this major, there are colleges that have this major, there are trade schools that have a Sound Technician certification and so on. We are going back to Nashville to tour Middle Tennessee State University and to see Belmont again (they have two Preview Days in October) plus there is *one* in-state school she really likes that has an Independent Major so she could design her own, so she's up to at least three schools she's going to apply to.

And I am so proud! DD this week got a rough draft of her Common App essay done (it's good too!). She had already filled out almost all her Common App a while ago, so there's progress.

agnes!

 

[johnsontrio]

we are going to U of Wisc in October and then it is time for some overnights..my biggest fear is that he will be there just for fun and still not have any idea where he wants to go..

Glad I'm not the only one.. We are in a major holding pattern here. Waiting on the ACT results from September 11th, a lot of scholarship money is riding on those results and that will give DD a few more options to consider. She isn't making much progress on her applications, I think she underestimated how busy she'd be this Fall. We have a swim meet Thursday, Homecoming Friday and another meet on Saturday. Sunday is her second day of orientation for the job she wanted. She needed to get in while they were hiring even though she really doesn't have much time to work until after November. A boy asked her if they could go out sometime and told him "Sure, after swim season ends." He asked when that was and she told him November.

Meantime, I'm doing everything in my power to distract myself form the lack of progress and direction in the college search. Everyday she gets 5-10 packets and applications in the mail. Today I am cooking spaghetti sauce for 120 people for the Parish School dinner tomorrow night and the weekend is jam packed. I am praying that DD ACT results are in the batch that get posted on Monday the 27th.

 

[johnsontrio]

DD is interested in one particular major - music production/business. She wants to be a performer, but she also wants to be able to support herself and know the technical aspects of the business. The problem is that this field of study is called many many different things at different schools including audio production, music business, recording industry studies, etc., etc. The other issue is the way that some schools have this major organized within the college/university. Some have it attached to the Music Department/School of Music so the major is basically a Conservatory-approach with a production or business overlay (which she is not interested in), some have it only music production with little business, some have only audio/technical degrees with little business overview, a few (like Belmont and MTSU) have a stand-alone program where the student can learn music production *and* music business while also getting a Liberal Arts background The approach to this particular field (whatever it is being called!) varies widely from place to place...there are universities that have this major, there are colleges that have this major, there are trade schools that have a Sound Technician certification and so on. We are going back to Nashville to tour Middle Tennessee State University and to see Belmont again (they have two Preview Days in October) plus there is *one* in-state school she really likes that has an Independent Major so she could design her own, so she's up to at least three schools she's going to apply to.

And I am so proud! DD this week got a rough draft of her Common App essay done (it's good too!). She had already filled out almost all her Common App a while ago, so there's progress.

agnes!

I graduated from MTSU with an AD in Nursing and a BS in Psychology back in the 80s. MTSU was easy for the student to navigate and get registered, etc. I enjoyed it and it has really grown since then. I lived off campus so I can't comment on the dorm life. A friend's DD just started in the Nursing program there and went through Recruitment and pledged AOII, she loves it so far. Good luck with her decision. Keep us posted.

 

[geffric]

good luck on the pasta sauce.. i have a few tomotoes left and been thinking about making some sauce and then lasgna..

i hear what you say about busy.. DS is finishing his eagle project,and helping others with theirs,then he has a few more merit badges and his Eagle book, is in a rock/ska band and has 2 gigs this weekend plus working Sat and homework and really he needs to go some apps.. he is done with ACTs so he just needs to find some time that isnt takn up with gf, hanging or other activites..

 

[maddiel]

Hi!

I am a mom with a daughter in grade 12 and I've been reading this thread with much fascination. It's a very different process here than in the US, but I think a lot of the emotions are the same

High school in NS is only a three year program. It's very unusual to write exams like ACT or SAT unless you want to apply to an American university. There is one high school in the city (maybe in the province?) that offers AP classes. The IB program has become very popular in recent years - DD is an IB student. So she doesn't even have a gpa....

Halifax is a university town and unless something shocking happens, we anticipate her living at home and attending one of the local universities. Fortunately, her current first choice (University of Kings College) is a local school. It's a small liberal arts school that is affiliated with a larger university. She got a postcard from them today inviting her to their open house, but she's been on the campus for other events over the last few years. We'll encourage her to look at other options as well - her school has a big post-secondary expo coming up next week.

M.

 

[geffric]

I just got an email form U of iowa and he qualifies for a big scholarship.. if he will just get his act in gear and apply.. ..they get off at noon today and have band practice for hours.. maybe i can get him to apply..

after all he doesnt have to see his brother.. maybe he can just ignore him and the rest of our high school that is there

 

[johnsontrio]

Sometimes you have to accept that the answer is the answer... sigh....

We received the Sept. 11th ACT results and had improvement in the two areas that needed to come up but had almost an equal drop in the Science section, so the composite remains unchanged. She is still 2 points away from tuition assistance at Bama and it is 36K a year without merit money. DD was devastated and cried for a couple hours. After regrouping over the weekend, we are now trying to get a plan together. The PhD that prepped her for the ACT was shocked and dismayed that the results came back the way they did and has urged her to take a full practice test every weekend and retake them in Oct. and Dec. She thinks she is prepared for it but had test fatigue. I'm not sure any of us want to go through all that but we are considering. She, of course, doesn't want to put a lot of effort into it to be so disappointed again. I am trying to find other Southern colleges that fit her criteria and offer out of state tuition assistance for her scores and GPA.

Yesterday, her dad and I visited an OOS smaller state school that DD and I visited during the summer. Unfortunately, I had a better impression of it the first time we visited and I am no longer sure it is an alternative for DD. It is the only application we have completed. I was really turned off by all the smokers on campus and how slovenly the students were dressed. DD is all for casual, but almost every student was wearing sweats and the tour guide admitted students go to class in pajamas. This is also the second tour guide that admitted to their own academic problems at school. I can't help but wonder if this is the best you can do for tour guides, what's going on with the rest of the students there?

We are at a point where there are many more questions than answers. How is everyone else's college application process going?

 

[disykat]

We're a little confused about submitting the common application. Does anyone know if your references have to fill out separate forms for each school or just one for the common app? It appears to want them all separately.

We were hoping he could do it all in one fell swoop and the only separate thing would be the school supplements. But it appears you submit individually to each school - including doing the school forms separately?

 

[johnsontrio]

We're a little confused about submitting the common application. Does anyone know if your references have to fill out separate forms for each school or just one for the common app? It appears to want them all separately.

We were hoping he could do it all in one fell swoop and the only separate thing would be the school supplements. But it appears you submit individually to each school - including doing the school forms separately?

Sorry, can't help you here. None of the schools we are looking at use the common application. A few are going to it for next year though. I'm sure someone will be along soon with your answer.

 

[LisaNJ25]

My oldest is a senior this year.. he will also be 18 next week Where does the time go.

The kids decides this year to play football, he hasnt played since 8th grade.

College wise we will be happy to get him into a school that he will earn a trade. He is more of a hands on kid and not the greatest student.

 

[smartkim]

My DS's ACT score did improve 3 points between June and September but he really needs at least 2 more points to receive a decent scholarship. He's going to take it again in October and as soon as we receive that score, we will apply to colleges. We can't do the common app either because the schools he wants to apply to don't use it. Has any of your kids done an essay to go with their application?

 

[johnsontrio]

My DS's ACT score did improve 3 points between June and September but he really needs at least 2 more points to receive a decent scholarship. He's going to take it again in October and as soon as we receive that score, we will apply to colleges. We can't do the common app either because the schools he wants to apply to don't use it. Has any of your kids done an essay to go with their application?

Not an essay but she does need to write a personal statement. They give her 3 choices. She is writing hers on the following and I am paraphrasing so forgive me any errors... You are assigned a group project that is due in a week. Your group includes students with other cultural backgrounds. Explain how experiences in your past will help you work together with this group to get this project completed. She hasn't started working on it but from discussing it with her she has a good grasp on what she will write.

What is your son doing between the previous test date and October in order to improve his score?

 

[Aunt Flancy]

I am totally lost on all of this. My oldest son is a Sr. and has a long list of schools he is interested in and another list of possible majors. Nothing definite. We have only visited one local school. How important are the visits as far as getting in? Financially the visits might be a problem, several of the schools he is interested in are out of state. We messed up and missed the last ACT so he isn't taking it until October. They did do a practice test at school one Saturday and he made a 27. He has always tested well, but never been very enthusiastic about homework. He likes to just slide by without putting in too much effort. He hasn't done anything yet as far as applications are concerned either.

I guess that is my vent for tonight. This is just all so new to me and I don't know where to start.