Parents of the Class of 2019

[PollyannaMom]

Tried to take DS to get his permit yesterday. They were almost to our number, when the whole block the DMV is located in lost power. They closed for the day.

We tried again yesterday after school, and he got it!!

 

[bjscheel]

DD visited a college with us for DD18 (at the moment she thinks she didn't like it but since it's affordable she says she'll visit again later). She has also spent a night or two at my alma mater for All-State vocal camp so she knows a little bit what it's like. Otherwise we don't plan to visit until maybe a year from now. For her sister we started the summer between junior and senior year. She won't be going far and wide, it will be in-state or neighboring state.

 

[mom2rtk]

We tried again yesterday after school, and he got it!!

Congrats!

 

[bjscheel]

DD is on what I would call her first real date. She's been to basketball games, school events, youth group, and hanging out with other kids with him but this is their first outing on their own and he even drove out to pick her up. This is the boy who asked her to prom. She's so happy and I think they'll have a lot of fun together.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

DD is on what I would call her first real date. She's been to basketball games, school events, youth group, and hanging out with other kids with him but this is their first outing on their own and he even drove out to pick her up. This is the boy who asked her to prom. She's so happy and I think they'll have a lot of fun together.

Has the boy seen your gun collection yet?

 

[bjscheel]

Has the boy seen your gun collection yet?

Might have to do that sometime...though I think DH would rather show his tractor collection- he keeps waiting for the girls to bring home a farm boy but no luck.

 

[StephMK]

Bjscheel-aww, how did her date go?

We're going to two of DS's favorites this summer because both are out of state but able to fit into our road trip plans this summer. He is not looking at any close by and really excited to look so I think it will be fun.

Thankfully, after DD and her reluctance and indecisiveness, he is very focused, has a specific plan of study, and has no issues with location. He just wants a good program and wants to look wherever those programs are. He is enjoying getting all the college mail.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Just thought I'd check in with an update from our SMU visit yesterday. Really beautiful campus. We attended a prospective student event called Springfest from 8:30 to 4:00. It cost $25, but included a SMU t-shirt and very cool well made string bag, and continental breakfast and lunch in one of the student housing dining halls for the student and all family accompanying him/her. I thought it was well done and so much more informative than most of the college tours we've done so far. There was a general session overall introducing the university and its culture and explaining the five "Schools" within the school, then we broke off to an info session for the one of the 5 schools your student was most interested in. This second part was fantastic, with one of the deans speaking and explaining their mindset in the Engineering school, how all freshman start with an intro engineering class in which they build something specified and have a contest amongst all the teams, interning opportunities/local companies the school has a relationship with, who will be teaching, class size, tutoring, etc. He also had 7 current students present which he would ask to add their own input at each step along they way. I know he brought up many things DD had not really considered yet in choosing a university, so I feel it will be helpful no matter where she chooses in the long run. Then the students took us to lunch in one of the dining halls. Next we walked back across campus (only complaint...we cross-crossed campus one corner to the other a lot of times during the day to go to the next thing. I thought we walked a lot during the Stanford tour (and that campus is 8000 acres!)) to go to an auditorium where current students spoke about why they chose SMU, other schools they considered, campus life, how the Commons dorm system works, how the bus system works, etc, etc. After that there were 3 breakout session and you chose two. For example, one was on the tutoring/student resources center. I say this with humor, but the overall theme was if you get in here, we want you to stay and we want you to graduate in 4 years--which I guess you should expect for 66,000 per year. Finally, small groups were taken on campus tours. Fortunately for DD, ours was one of the Engineering school students, and she got a chance to ask a lot of questions privately when walking from stop to stop. Overall, it was a very good visit. She liked the small size of the Engineering school (they only take approx 250 per year), that there are so many local options for industry shadowing and internships, the fact that if you are there they are not of the mindset to weed out but rather to support and keep the students, and the fact that you don't have to declare a major or specialty until end of Sophomore year. I know she had not previously considered this school, mainly because she wants to go to school away from home, but I think she is going to apply.
As a side note, I visited here 30plus years ago, and it immediately went to the no column after the visit. Why? the campus culture presented was GREEK GREEK GREEK. Beautiful girls and hunky young men. I saw very little diversity on campus and felt like I would not be comfortable or fit in. What a difference 30 years makes. Saw a lot of diversity on campus and the only time Greek life was discussed yesterday at all was during the student panel and an alum mom in the audience who went there during my college years said she was alum and greek life was a big deal and could they speak to that. Only one of the panel was in a fraternity. The moderator said it has changed a lot, only about 40% of students participate and some of those are niche oriented like Christian or music, and they have deferred rush now so freshmen can get adjusted to college in the fall and then rush in the spring. They said they are encouraging the Commons dorm bonding experience (all incoming students are randomly sorted into Commons/dorms (think Harry Potter style kind of) and are required to live in that Commons on campus for 2 years and they compete against each other). I liked that--seems similar to the Rice "house" experience.

 

[bjscheel]

Bjscheel-aww, how did her date go?

Very good, she is twitterpated for sure

 

[PollyannaMom]

Those of you who have already been on college tours (just group tours, not interviews) did the kids/parents dress up?

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Those of you who have already been on college tours (just group tours, not interviews) did the kids/parents dress up?

I've seen everything from sweats with hoodie or t-shirt to jeans with nice top to dress and heels. The girls and moms wearing any kind of heels usually did not make it til the end of the tour. LOL. Yesterday DD wore black jeans, a solid color maroon top with lightweight black cardigan, and black converse sneakers. She didn't stand out as too dressy or not dressy enough and was comfortable.

 

[bjscheel]

Those of you who have already been on college tours (just group tours, not interviews) did the kids/parents dress up?

No, on the tours we've done for DD18. And there is generally a lot of walking, so just be comfortable (but not sloppy).

 

[PollyannaMom]

Thanks, guys!

 

[Colleen27]

Those of you who have already been on college tours (just group tours, not interviews) did the kids/parents dress up?

Not the smart ones! In fact, "dress for the weather" was specified on one of the registration forms we filled out when scheduling.

We toured Georgetown in January on a ridiculously rainy, windy day - the kind of day where an umbrella is useless because the rain is coming in sideways. There were two mother-daughter pairs in the information session who were really well-dressed, skirts and heels and dressy coats. Neither lasted 15 minutes into the campus tour.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Well, DD got her license today! She took the test this morning and we went to the DMV this afternoon to get the official license! She's now off at a friend's house. I think it took her about 15 minutes after we got home to head out for her first solo run!

We haven't visited any colleges yet, we've gotten lots and lots of mail, but no visits yet. She did make state in the Science Olympiad. She never thought she would since her helicopter build was a rousing disaster. It completely disintegrated during flight testing, but her teacher said to bring the wreck and her flight log along to the competition. Her partner had a great question during the competition flights, which was if they threw it in the air, would that count as a flight. Well, there weren't any rules against it, and it would count, so that's what they did. They ended up 16th out of 30 because they showed up with the wreck. There were other teams who didn't finish the build or didn't bother to show up. I guess the "throw" flights were the big hits of the groups! They took 2nd in their invasive species tests and she sat for the rocks and minerals test cold with no studying to partner with a friend who got stood up too.

 

[DisMom829]

I've been so disconnected from the boards lately due to health issues (wacky unscheduled gallbladder surgery) and a crazy busy schedule with DS (band & basketball) and DD (competition dance team). DS is 16 now and has his permit. We returned from DW a week ago where he marched down Main Street with the High School band. Such a wonderful thing to see!! That's when it really hit me that he only has 2 more years in high school. Yes, I may have cried a little. We're scheduling college visits. He's interested in being a large animal vet. So we've got LSU and Texas A & M on the schedule. It's crazy to think I'm going to have a Junior in high school and my baby girl is starting junior high in the fall.

 

[Colleen27]

Two more college visits in the books, and I'm more clueless than ever about what DD wants! She loved both Loyola Chicago and Notre Dame, which couldn't be more different in pretty much every way. But I suppose I should be pleased - she's now batting 500 on the schools we've visited, half have been crossed off and the other half she wants to apply to, and she has a list of three options she really likes so far. We've got four more schools she'd like to see, which we can fit into two separate trips (two in NOLA, two in NY), so we should be able to see them all by the end of next school year. Which is good, because she'd like to apply early action to her top choice if at all possible.

The Notre Dame tour, though... That place is like a cult! In a good way, I guess, but wow. We've already gotten a follow-up e-mail from someone in their Detroit alumni group inviting her to learn more. Since she goes to a Catholic high school there will be an admissions rep coming out to her school next fall too. I was really surprised she liked it - she's not a sports kid, and hasn't been impressed by other traditional/self-contained campus settings - but she was impressed by the research opportunities they offer and is very comfortable with the Catholic ethic that permeates the campus culture. That's the one thing that all the schools she's liked so far have in common - they're all Jesuit or Catholic universities.

And tonight we're off to an absolutely ridiculous sweet 16 party for one of her best friends - in a hall, catered dinner, formal attire, DJ, the works. I've told DD not to expect anything like that for her 16th this summer - she can feel free to consider criss-crossing the country to visit schools to be her sweet 16 celebration.

 

[mjkacmom]

Two more college visits in the books, and I'm more clueless than ever about what DD wants! She loved both Loyola Chicago and Notre Dame, which couldn't be more different in pretty much every way. But I suppose I should be pleased - she's now batting 500 on the schools we've visited, half have been crossed off and the other half she wants to apply to, and she has a list of three options she really likes so far. We've got four more schools she'd like to see, which we can fit into two separate trips (two in NOLA, two in NY), so we should be able to see them all by the end of next school year. Which is good, because she'd like to apply early action to her top choice if at all possible.

The Notre Dame tour, though... That place is like a cult! In a good way, I guess, but wow. We've already gotten a follow-up e-mail from someone in their Detroit alumni group inviting her to learn more. Since she goes to a Catholic high school there will be an admissions rep coming out to her school next fall too. I was really surprised she liked it - she's not a sports kid, and hasn't been impressed by other traditional/self-contained campus settings - but she was impressed by the research opportunities they offer and is very comfortable with the Catholic ethic that permeates the campus culture. That's the one thing that all the schools she's liked so far have in common - they're all Jesuit or Catholic universities.

And tonight we're off to an absolutely ridiculous sweet 16 party for one of her best friends - in a hall, catered dinner, formal attire, DJ, the works. I've told DD not to expect anything like that for her 16th this summer - she can feel free to consider criss-crossing the country to visit schools to be her sweet 16 celebration.

Almost every sweet 16 (just called sweets here) are formal catered affairs, dd has three coming up soon. She just told me she got a save the date in January for one in November! There was a live tiger at one of them.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

For DD's 16th we put a bunch of old furniture & a smart TV in the garage with a couple pizzas and coolers of soda LOL

 

[bjscheel]

Sweet 16 isn't a thing here, for our girls' birthdays we just have family and maybe a friend or two for food & conversation in the garage. DD will still be 15 until the end of August.

DD is at prom tonight! We had great weather, fortunately, for outdoor pics. In the interest of her boyfriend's privacy, I'll share this awesome pic I got I was standing behind his dad and talking on the phone at the same time...