Parents of Class of 2018 thread

[gemini2727]

Hi All!
Well this Junior year thing is really getting to full gear. I can't believe it is almost half over. We have so much in the coming months for school - Gym Night - it is a HUGE thing in our district. Practices 2+ nights a week and then it is a weekend in March of competitions. Jr. Prom, Jr. Class Trip, Sr. Prom, plus taking ACT for first time and SAT for second. Oh and throw in we are going to Disney for Spring Break. It will be June before we know it. My son has one college that is basically his 1st-5th choice and then basically 1 1/2 of another LOL. One he was interested in and I am sure he will apply. It is the polar opposite of his first choice. The other, we went on a visit and said he was "not really feeling it" during the info session, and after the campus tour, felt a little bit better, but I am not sure he will apply. We would like to visit a few more and would like to fit that in before they break for summer. Every now and then I peek at the 2017 Parents thread just to see where they are. Seems that all the kids there are waiting for acceptances. I can't imagine.

I'm watching the 2017 thread also. Even though my 2018 DD is my second going through the process, I like to be reminded where we'll be in a year. It all goes so fast!

 

[mnrose]

Ack. We really need to get off the dime with DS. He's getting TONS of mail from colleges now, but has not a clue where he wants to go (other than Stanford, which, unfortunately, is completely unaffordable on a good day...even if he somehow could get in...LOL). Fortunately, DD (his twin) seems a bit more focused and has a first choice (reasonable one where she should be able to get in handily) and it's affordable. DS is by far the better student with massively great test scores, and here he is, kind of wandering in the ozone about his future. Sigh. I know the motivation has to come from him, but man, is it frustrating to watch.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I won't even look at the 2017 thread. I'm so not ready. I don't even want to think about next year. Then my youngest is graduating in 2020. It's all happening so fast. I had a nightmare the other night that DH and I were looking at houses to buy, and we found the perfect house. Except it only had 2 bedrooms. I said the boys won't want to share and he said they are grown and don't live with us anymore. I started crying in my dream, and then I woke up with actual tears in my eyes. I'm not usually that dramatic. I can laugh at myself now, but obviously this is on my mind.


My DS will hardly even talk to me about what he wants to do. He is very responsible, and he has plans. I just kind of freak out when he mentions them. It always seems like he's thinking about colleges that are too far away, or joining the military. Both these ideas scare me. He doesn't want to stress me out. He is an Eagle Scout, member of various clubs, takes AP classes, takes college classes, has had a job 2 years and been promoted from dishwasher to cook, scored 99th percentile on the PSAT. He has things in order with minimal help from his parents.


Youngest DS still needs my help more, but he's growing up so fast.

 

[PolyAddict]

Our caboose of 3 girls is a 2018er... I am sooo NOT ready for this! She will still be 17 when she graduates. I will be watching this thread to keep myself in the loop.

 

[BLAZEY]

Wrong thread.

 

[StephMK]

Mickeypooh99- awwww, I can really relate to that. DD#2 graduates in 2018 then DS, the last one, in 2019. I'm not ready and it makes me sad to think this chapter is almost over.

DD is struggling hard to focus on college plans. She doesn't really have a strong idea of what she wants to study so she is having a hard time thinking about college. She could go to the state school like her sis did and has no interest in visiting schools.

She has great grades and a few activities but not a great test taker and nothing that makes her stand out so she has to stay in budget. It bugs her that DS not only has a better plan for his future but will likely have more opportunities.

I finally got her to look around online with me at career interests and options but she didn't really like any of the options. I'm not sure how to help her! Any suggestions? I may email her school counselor.

 

[Aliceacc]

@StephMK , both my older kids have hated looking at colleges, I'm not sure why. I think it brings the far distant future way too close too fast.

But the reality is that I'm not going to pay for you to move away and attend a school you've never seen. So if you don't want the local community college, you're going to have to bite the bullet and visit some schools.

My son had a clear idea of his major-- though he changed it before classes started in September. Luckily, he made the switch while still deciding on schools, and his top pick had both majors. He loves the school he decided on.

With my daughter, I was actually the one who suggested a major of Fashion Merchandising. She loves clothes, and can pick 3 ordinary pieces from 3 different stores, and end up with an outfit that looks great. She's excited about the idea.

But we've still seen just 1 school-- last weekend. Fortunately, she loved it. So we have at least one we know she can apply to.

One thing that made the idea of visiting a school more appealing was the offer to include a friend, and to also include a visit to a nearby mall-- and to find a hotel with a pool. While the friend couldn't come, the other 2 aspects sweetened the pot enough that she agreed.

And talking to her guidance counselor is a great idea. He or she should be able to suggest some schools that suit your daughter's temperment, your budget, and her projected SAT scores.

 

[CT Disney]

Hi Everyone!!
I had no idea this thread existed until I stumbled on it a few minutes ago! My oldest kiddo (DD) will be graduating next year. So much to learn and research! I will have to read this thread...and maybe the class of 2017 one too to see what's ahead of us. Until then just wanted to say HI and I'm excited to join you!!

 

[gemini2727]

Hi Everyone!!
I had no idea this thread existed until I stumbled on it a few minutes ago! My oldest kiddo (DD) will be graduating next year. So much to learn and research! I will have to read this thread...and maybe the class of 2017 one too to see what's ahead of us. Until then just wanted to say HI and I'm excited to join you!!

Welcome to the thread! I'm here for my second child, and it is quite the education going through the process, for the first time especially!

 

[DawnM]

My son has been stressing me out! UGH. He seems to have pulled it together in the 11th hour and is getting nothing below a B after all. I was quite worried for a bit. And one teacher told him she would remove three zeros because he was sick for a week and there would be no way to make it up before she left on maternity leave. SHE FORGOT! Thankfully, after I emailed her, she remembered, and changed them.

He is now saying he wants to stay home and go to school locally. That would be great, if the local 4 year school had exactly what he needed, but it doesn't. It has a program that would lead to it, but it isn't known for that. However, there is a state school 1.5 hours away that DOES have what he needs. I am hoping that a visit to the school will encourage him to at least apply (it is harder to get into, but would be great.)

Sigh. I guess we can only do so much.

Oh, and he was just officially diagnosed with ADD, so we have some challenges that now have a diagnosis, which may be helpful.

 

[CT Disney]

Just perused this whole thread! We have already toured a bunch of colleges. If you want to hear our impressions of any of these let me know:

UNC Chapel Hill
Elon
Wake Forest
University of Virginia
William & Mary
University of Richmond
University of Connecticut


Our DD is ranked very high in her class and is really, really academic. The whole situation actually stresses me out. The top kids in her class are within tenths GPA-wise of each other and this just puts so much pressure on each...and...every...test. Yikes!

We are having trouble narrowing down her college list. DD wants a college with an undergrad business school. Although she is ranked at the top, our school system rarely sends kids to top or ivy schools. It just seems like any top school will be a long shot and thus she will probably apply to many of them, hoping that one will stick.

Tours scheduled for the spring:

Villanova
Boston College
Northeastern

Looking forward to taking this journey with all of you! Junior year really is an adventure!!

 

[dvcfamily41801]

Just perused this whole thread! We have already toured a bunch of colleges. If you want to hear our impressions of any of these let me know:

UNC Chapel Hill
Elon
Wake Forest
University of Virginia
William & Mary
University of Richmond
University of Connecticut


Our DD is ranked very high in her class and is really, really academic. The whole situation actually stresses me out. The top kids in her class are within tenths GPA-wise of each other and this just puts so much pressure on each...and...every...test. Yikes!

We are having trouble narrowing down her college list. DD wants a college with an undergrad business school. Although she is ranked at the top, our school system rarely sends kids to top or ivy schools. It just seems like any top school will be a long shot and thus she will probably apply to many of them, hoping that one will stick.

Tours scheduled for the spring:

Villanova
Boston College
Northeastern

Looking forward to taking this journey with all of you! Junior year really is an adventure!!

Wow! I could have literally written your post. Our son is the exact same as your daughter! A few of the colleges our son is interested in, we were told "don't like our district" which is a bit frustrating.

We have a few that are on your list, so would love some feedback on UNC Chapel Hill and UVA. We also have Boston College and Northeastern on the list. We live 45 minutes from Villanova and did a tour last September. Was super shocked because my son's first choice, is Penn State University and second choice is Nova. Could not be more opposite. He is looking to major in Chemistry and possibly go on to Pharmacy. We toured Pitt in November, and we were surprised that he "just didn't feel it". He knows a ton of people there and even hung out with them the night before the tour, but still was not sure about it at all. We thought for sure we would leave with Pitt being competition for Penn State, but not even close. I give him credit for not letting friends already going there, influence the decision. Again, could this change in the next 6 months - possibly because he said, he would like to go someplace that he knows people. Which would leave Penn State and Pitt as the only options LOL. He said a lot of his friends have not even started looking seriously or anything. Our first tour was a year ago at Lehigh University. People say that we still have time, but with our schedule the next 5 months are going to be crazy. And that is without one college visit.

I am going to need some major therapy during this process.

 

[Vicki926]

We still haven't toured anywhere. Lol.
She's looking at Ramapo, Seton Hall, TCNJ, UDel, UConn, Rutgers, and York, but I think her first choice is Ramapo, she's heard very good things about their nursing program, but we shall see, when we look a little more in depth. She's started a spreadsheet with NCLEX pass rates and such.

ETA: My daughter was number 3 last year(out if 330), this year she's 6. I told her to stop looking at her rank. It doesn't matter. She knows what her path is..she's not competing against anyone in her class anymore. She's not taking APUSH, APMacro, AP Music Theory, etc. just to have AP classes to get her GPA higher because that's not right for her path.
Taking Dynamics of Healthcare, Anatomy and Physiology, or Medical Terminology make more sense, even though they're not weighted. She does take APLang (because she likes it) and APBio(because that relates to her intended major-and she likes it), next year will take AP Calc and AP Psych both because she likes them and they make sense ..and AP Lit for herself. But there are kids taking 5 APs this year and next year-and that's right for them, and they carry .02 more weight than honors classes, so she'll probably slip down in the rankings and that totally fine.

 

[dvcfamily41801]

We still haven't toured anywhere. Lol.
She's looking at Ramapo, Seton Hall, TCNJ, UDel, UConn, Rutgers, and York, but I think her first choice is Ramapo, she's heard very good things about their nursing program, but we shall see, when we look a little more in depth. She's started a spreadsheet with NCLEX pass rates and such.

ETA: My daughter was number 3 last year(out if 330), this year she's 6. I told her to stop looking at her rank. It doesn't matter. She knows what her path is..she's not competing against anyone in her class anymore. She's not taking APUSH, APMacro, AP Music Theory, etc. just to have AP classes to get her GPA higher because that's not right for her path.
Taking Dynamics of Healthcare, Anatomy and Physiology, or Medical Terminology make more sense, even though they're not weighted. She does take APLang (because she likes it) and APBio(because that relates to her intended major-and she likes it), next year will take AP Calc and AP Psych both because she likes them and they make sense ..and AP Lit for herself. But there are kids taking 5 APs this year and next year-and that's right for them, and they carry .02 more weight than honors classes, so she'll probably slip down in the rankings and that totally fine.

Matt wants to look at Delaware. How awesome would THAT be? I have been saying the only way for me to get over the day we leave him at college , is if we head STRAIGHT to the airport and I board a plane for Disney. I'll save you a seat on the plane.

 

[mrsv98]

Well, I finally got DD to focus a bit and we are taking our first college tour next month! We are going to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and at the very least we will get to walk through the museum!

Monday, the whole Jr class takes a PSAT and then there is apparently an app that will give them instant feedback. Should help focus a bit for the real thing in April. We are still going back and forth with her counselor over next year's schedule. The school of course wants the kids to take as many AP classes as possible, but we want DD to avoid a nervous breakdown! I think it will shake out at 3, and that is fine. She will end up (assuming she does well on all the upcoming tests) with 6 AP credits, an excellent start to college.

 

[Vicki926]

Matt wants to look at Delaware. How awesome would THAT be? I have been saying the only way for me to get over the day we leave him at college , is if we head STRAIGHT to the airport and I board a plane for Disney. I'll save you a seat on the plane.

Perfect!!

 

[CT Disney]

We have a few that are on your list, so would love some feedback on UNC Chapel Hill and UVA.

She loved UVA...it was her favorite of all the schools we've visited thus far! She really liked the campus and the whole layout. She also really liked the energy of the students. There was so much going on on campus that day and the kids seemed to have a happy vibe about them. She really liked how the administration talked about the school's academic rigor. Our tour guide at UVA was outstanding...she was a senior and she just seemed ready for the world. Intelligent and well-spoken. Honestly, she really brought the whole UVA experience to life. We asked our daughter what appealed to her most about the school and her answer surprised us: She said that she really appreciated the history of the whole place and that she'd love to study in the place that TJ founded. (TJ is Thomas Jefferson for those that don't know...apparently he and my daughter are on a nickname basis). The only negative I'd have for the UVA tour was that they didn't show us a dorm room...makes me wonder what they're hiding

UNC Chapel Hill...we liked it, but didn't love it. And I can't really put my finger on why. It has a great location with a lot of stuff to do around campus. I think for us, the campus just seemed so huge, and some of the dorms seemed so far away from the academic hub. The school seemed "less polished" than UVA if that makes any sense. During the pre-tour info session they spent a lot of time talking about how difficult it is to get in from Out-Of-State (which we are). Ultimately, we're not sure if she's going to apply here...she's on the fence.

ETA: My daughter was number 3 last year(out if 330), this year she's 6. I told her to stop looking at her rank. It doesn't matter. She knows what her path is..she's not competing against anyone in her class anymore. She's not taking APUSH, APMacro, AP Music Theory, etc. just to have AP classes to get her GPA higher because that's not right for her path.
Taking Dynamics of Healthcare, Anatomy and Physiology, or Medical Terminology make more sense, even though they're not weighted. She does take APLang (because she likes it) and APBio(because that relates to her intended major-and she likes it), next year will take AP Calc and AP Psych both because she likes them and they make sense ..and AP Lit for herself. But there are kids taking 5 APs this year and next year-and that's right for them, and they carry .02 more weight than honors classes, so she'll probably slip down in the rankings and that totally fine.

Class rank has been a little sticky for my DD...she has been ranked #1 since freshman year. But...our school stopped "officially" ranking last year. However, at Awards night at the end of the school year, they still give out an award for the Top Student in each class. So, my DD has gotten that award for the last 2 years. So, essentially, she is the only person in the class who knows her rank. She really wants to win the award again this year...once you've held the top spot...it's tough to lose it. Plus, she would be able to put the award on her college applications and let them know she's ranked #1, even though the school doesn't officially rank. Luckily the AP courses are the ones she wants to take anyway, so the whole rank issue hasn't affected her course choice.

 

[Vicki926]

Class rank has been a little sticky for my DD...she has been ranked #1 since freshman year. But...our school stopped "officially" ranking last year. However, at Awards night at the end of the school year, they still give out an award for the Top Student in each class. So, my DD has gotten that award for the last 2 years. So, essentially, she is the only person in the class who knows her rank. She really wants to win the award again this year...once you've held the top spot...it's tough to lose it. Plus, she would be able to put the award on her college applications and let them know she's ranked #1, even though the school doesn't officially rank. Luckily the AP courses are the ones she wants to take anyway, so the whole rank issue hasn't affected her course choice.

Yes, my daughter's close friend is number 1, and he's so stressed about keeping it. It almost harder to be number 1 and have to defend it, than be number 3 or 5 or 10. LOL

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We haven't toured any colleges - I mentioned it last night and she about freaked out. She said she's not ready to think about college. She doesn't know what she is interested in or what she wants to do but maybe science she told me.

I also brought up the SAT/ACT testing because she really needs to get the first one taken. She told me she just got back her PSAT scores and wasn't happy so she wants to wait until June to take the SAT for the first time. It'll give her more time for practice.

I also told her because she's thinking about maybe going into science, she should take the ACT too. That way she's got that under her belt if she makes up her mind and wants to go into a science field. I got the eye roll and then she left the room.

Getting her to deal with college stuff is going to be tough.

 

[Aliceacc]

OK, I know you can hear the sound of my rotors.

My almost 17 year old daughter is barely a B student, has a history of anxiety attacks and really does not want to think about college yet.

So, for better or worse, I've taken the lead just as I did with my son.

I have a Word document titled "Colleges to consider." All the schools on it have her major, Fashion Merchandising.

There are columns for cost, 25th percentile SAT scores in math/critical reading, distance from our house, size, and whether or not they have suite bathrooms (which she would much prefer over common bathrooms. Probably not a deal breaker, but a factor that matters to her.)

Most of the schools are within 3 hours, none more than 4.

Now that midterms are over, she's going to have to start thinking of SAT prep. I've gotten her 2 books--both I recommended upthread-- and we'll work on getting her started.

She'll take the SATs in May, and get her Common App essay done this summer-- it's already roughed out. And her applications will go out in September. Since I think all are rolling admissions, she should have a list of choices by Christmas.

I'll be happy to share her list with anyone who wants it. And, since I love a project, I'll be happy to scout out a similar list for some of your kids if you want.

I know the typical Disboard kid is an A student who knows what they want and which schools offer it. But, as a teacher in a college prep school, I can tell you: kids like mine are legion out there. Lots and lots and lots of kids go to their college placement offices with no idea of where they want to go. And the college placement counselors name a few schools that should be a good fit, schools that other students from their school with similar stats have done well at.

But there are lots and lots of schools out there, just waiting to be discovered. When the threat of a snowstorm lessens, we'll take a couple of road trips and see some of them.

You know the saying "There's a lid for every pot!"??? I'm absolutely OK with helping my kids-- and yours, if you want-- to find the school that is the right fit for them. It worked for my son, who had similar stats. He's attending a small Catholic university in PA that his guidance counselor had never heard of. His grades are good, and he's happy.

I'm a math teacher, not a guidance counselor. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter who finds the school that's a great fit for our kids, as long as it's found. So I say that those of us with kids who aren't sure of their path, help them to find it.