Parents of the High School Class of 2017/College 2021

[mamacatnv]

Good luck to her! At State Track this year DD's relay was seeded 15th of 24, so they were in the bottom of the 2nd heat (out of 3 heats) but ended up with a time that got 2nd place so hopefully your DD can pull out a good time too!

We are in the home stretch on the musical, 9 stressful days till opening night. They currently do not have an accompanist, the guy their teacher had lined up jammed a finger so we've been throwing out ideas of people for the teacher to call. I know the first one he tried had to decline last night so hopefully as he goes down the list someone will take pity and accept the last minute challenge. The guy used to do it for our school moved but only about 30 minutes away so maybe he will come?!? I could probably do it but I want to watch my girls instead! DDs told me not to even offer for practice or I will get stuck doing it at performance. The sad thing is they have not yet practiced with the score being played, as their teacher just plays some chords at practice. I'm hoping the actual score will help them find their starting notes as that is currently an issue. I know their teacher isn't the best piano player but he did play from the score at the concert last week and seemed to do fine so I don't know why he doesn't attempt to play more for them at practice. Just hoping they have someone by the weekend so tech week has everything in place.

Today is apparently the first of 4 senior skip days (unauthorized). DD heard they want to do one every quarter which she thinks is ridiculous. She didn't care to go so she is at school and used her job as an excuse. They are going bowling 45 miles away. It was going to be Sky Zone, but they decided last minute it was too expensive and too much work to jump on trampolines. Maybe she'll go to the last one, to me senior skip day would be near the end of the year.

Oh man, I hope they find an accompanist, those theater kids work sooooo hard. We generally attend the spring show and always enjoy it.

4 skip days! with our stupid strict attendance policies most kids end up owing hours to the school for the regular stuff: to tired, overslept and legitimate illness, 4 skip days seems very excessive. DD's class is planning one for the end of the year, they want to go to Dallas (200 miles) to the 6 Flags up there.

DD got her SAT scores, she is 60 point lower than the July tests - we are going with July and now just waiting to see the latest ACT.

 

[mamacatnv]

Good luck to her! At State Track this year DD's relay was seeded 15th of 24, so they were in the bottom of the 2nd heat (out of 3 heats) but ended up with a time that got 2nd place so hopefully your DD can pull out a good time too!

We are in the home stretch on the musical, 9 stressful days till opening night. They currently do not have an accompanist, the guy their teacher had lined up jammed a finger so we've been throwing out ideas of people for the teacher to call. I know the first one he tried had to decline last night so hopefully as he goes down the list someone will take pity and accept the last minute challenge. The guy used to do it for our school moved but only about 30 minutes away so maybe he will come?!? I could probably do it but I want to watch my girls instead! DDs told me not to even offer for practice or I will get stuck doing it at performance. The sad thing is they have not yet practiced with the score being played, as their teacher just plays some chords at practice. I'm hoping the actual score will help them find their starting notes as that is currently an issue. I know their teacher isn't the best piano player but he did play from the score at the concert last week and seemed to do fine so I don't know why he doesn't attempt to play more for them at practice. Just hoping they have someone by the weekend so tech week has everything in place.

Today is apparently the first of 4 senior skip days (unauthorized). DD heard they want to do one every quarter which she thinks is ridiculous. She didn't care to go so she is at school and used her job as an excuse. They are going bowling 45 miles away. It was going to be Sky Zone, but they decided last minute it was too expensive and too much work to jump on trampolines. Maybe she'll go to the last one, to me senior skip day would be near the end of the year.

Oh man, I hope they find an accompanist, those theater kids work sooooo hard. We generally attend the spring show and always enjoy it.

4 skip days! with our stupid strict attendance policies most kids end up owing hours to the school for the regular stuff: to tired, overslept and legitimate illness, 4 skip days seems very excessive. DD's class is planning one for the end of the year, they want to go to Dallas (200 miles) to the 6 Flags up there.

DD got her SAT scores, she is 60 point lower than the July tests - we are going with July and now just waiting to see the latest ACT.

 

[robinb]

Good luck to her! At State Track this year DD's relay was seeded 15th of 24, so they were in the bottom of the 2nd heat (out of 3 heats) but ended up with a time that got 2nd place so hopefully your DD can pull out a good time too!

Thanks! 15th to 2nd? That's AMAZING that they did so well! I talked to someone else whose DD was seeded in the 2nd heat at State because she was sick for the Sectionals meet and had a slow (for her) time and she went on to win the event. I know my DD can swim fast, she just prefers to chase someone to catch and beat them instead of being the one who is chased. She needs to wrap her mind around swimming her own race and not worrying about anyone else. There is a small possibility that the meet committee will change her seed times since her coach messed things up. He's going to email them and make the request. Essentially, he didn't add her times from some invite meets because his email address wouldn't accept the emailed results from the teams because they had attachments with an unknown file type (HyTek files, just like track). He got a new email address and asked for the results to be resent but didn't hear back and then spaced out checking the paper results and hand entering the times. Her best times were from invite meets.

We are in the home stretch on the musical, 9 stressful days till opening night. They currently do not have an accompanist, the guy their teacher had lined up jammed a finger so we've been throwing out ideas of people for the teacher to call. I know the first one he tried had to decline last night so hopefully as he goes down the list someone will take pity and accept the last minute challenge. The guy used to do it for our school moved but only about 30 minutes away so maybe he will come?!? I could probably do it but I want to watch my girls instead! DDs told me not to even offer for practice or I will get stuck doing it at performance. The sad thing is they have not yet practiced with the score being played, as their teacher just plays some chords at practice. I'm hoping the actual score will help them find their starting notes as that is currently an issue. I know their teacher isn't the best piano player but he did play from the score at the concert last week and seemed to do fine so I don't know why he doesn't attempt to play more for them at practice. Just hoping they have someone by the weekend so tech week has everything in place.

Bummer! I hope they do find someone soon! FWIW, your DH is right. You would get stuck doing it at the performance.

Today is apparently the first of 4 senior skip days (unauthorized). DD heard they want to do one every quarter which she thinks is ridiculous. She didn't care to go so she is at school and used her job as an excuse. They are going bowling 45 miles away. It was going to be Sky Zone, but they decided last minute it was too expensive and too much work to jump on trampolines. Maybe she'll go to the last one, to me senior skip day would be near the end of the year.

My DD can't skip a single thing while in swim season. They are not allowed to swim if there is a single unexcused absence. It's been a PITB because some teachers mark her absent when she's tardy and they forget to change it to a tardy.

Good LUCK to your DD!!!

Thanks!

DS got 2 EA applications in yesterday. One is his absolute 1st choice, and the other is another state school. We will be doing 4-5 more over the next 2 weeks and then we will wait. The rolling decisions will come in before the ones that went in yesterday, which have decision dates of 2/1. It's going to be a long 90 days for DS and some of his friends. They are all smart kids that have good grades and scores, and play sports and are involved in extra-curriculars, but our state flagship has just gotten so hard to get into, and it seems like everyone's first choice.

My DD also sent hers to her first choice school *and* our state flagship school. I'm nervous that she didn't have enough practice at the application process before she sent them in.

This Friday is Senior Night for Varsity Football. DS has been playing since 6th grade and will not be playing in college, so this is really it.

I know exactly how you feel. My DD has been swimming on a swim team since she was 5. At least she has the rest of the club season ahead of her but she too doesn't want to swim in college (right now).

 

[v.t.]

It sounds like we are all busy!

Good luck to all those in swim, theater, band, football and, oh yeah, college apps!
We had senior night Friday. Thankfully I was busy organizing band stuff and concessions so I wasn't able to think about it. This weekend we head to San Antonio for the state marching band finals. I have a feeling no matter how busy I am it will hit me pretty hard as they come off the field.

 

[punkin]

I don't understand senior skip day. Niece wanted to skip last week, but she's in AP classes and none of those kids skipped. She's worried about missing class for a college trip.

 

[mommykds]

OMG after nagging my DS like crazy he finally submitted his application for his #1 reach school last night with 2 hours to the deadline to spare! Ugh!

 

[laughinplace199]

DD submitted her application to her #1 reach school. She applied ED, so although she's still working on her other applications, she won't be submitting any until she hears from the first school in mid-December. It's going to be a long fall/winter!

 

[mamacatnv]

OMG after nagging my DS like crazy he finally submitted his application for his #1 reach school last night with 2 hours to the deadline to spare! Ugh!

A kid after my own heart, I'm a huge procrastinator - filed my taxes at 9:50pm on due date (this was the extension due date)
DD skidded in sideways on her first app as well.

 

[AustinTink]

It sounds like we are all busy!

Good luck to all those in swim, theater, band, football and, oh yeah, college apps!
We had senior night Friday. Thankfully I was busy organizing band stuff and concessions so I wasn't able to think about it. This weekend we head to San Antonio for the state marching band finals. I have a feeling no matter how busy I am it will hit me pretty hard as they come off the field.

Best of luck at finals! We have some friends competing there as well.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

My DD also sent hers to her first choice school *and* our state flagship school. I'm nervous that she didn't have enough practice at the application process before she sent them in.

This is exactly the way I feel! The two Early Action applications were the most important ones, but she left a couple of major activities off of them. She's a pro at applications now (for the schools that don't matter nearly as much!). She has one more app (not common app) to do from scratch for another school she really really likes (Virginia Tech). She didn't apply early because at VT it's binding.

Now for an update on DS's financial aid mess: Turns out it is very hard to give back money once it has been awarded (even if you are not supposed to have that money!). The email I got from his school this morning says they did not even consider the parents' income because the student is an independent student as he is more than 50% financially responsible for his child!

HE DOES NOT HAVE A CHILD!!!!! I about fell on the floor when I read it. DH and DS have the same name. One is a Jr, the other is the III. Somehow they got switched by the school or on FAFSA; I don't know which. We are still trying to figure it all out and fix it!

 

[bjscheel]

Well today was the day DD and her BFF went to her 1st choice college and did a Creative Technology discovery day. DD loved the animation classes but was meh on the graphic design session and professor. I think she still definitely wants to go there for graphic design but I wish today's experience had gone a little better in that department. And hopefully a real college course will be much better than a 45 minute intro for 8th-12th graders. They toured a small graphic design company that she said was SO COOL. They also toured all 3 apartment buildings. We had toured two in the past and had picked one as the favorite. She thought any one of the three would be fine but the one we had liked best is the cheapest and newest and also doesn't do shared bedrooms so it's still my personal favorite.

Her BFF wants to do a shared room with her if she goes there. DD partly liked this school because of the opportunity to have her own bathroom and bedroom. BFF is much messier and more of a night owl so I don't see a shared room going over well even though it is cheaper. Not to mention possibility of BFF's boyfriend being a weekend visitor! Maybe be roommates in the same apartment/separate bedrooms but I still think they need to spread their wings apart from each other and so does DD. DD encouraged her to visit more places including the college her boyfriend will go to so maybe she will pick somewhere else. Otherwise they did have fun and did a little shopping too.

 

[laughinplace199]

Well today was the day DD and her BFF went to her 1st choice college and did a Creative Technology discovery day. DD loved the animation classes but was meh on the graphic design session and professor. I think she still definitely wants to go there for graphic design but I wish today's experience had gone a little better in that department. And hopefully a real college course will be much better than a 45 minute intro for 8th-12th graders. They toured a small graphic design company that she said was SO COOL. They also toured all 3 apartment buildings. We had toured two in the past and had picked one as the favorite. She thought any one of the three would be fine but the one we had liked best is the cheapest and newest and also doesn't do shared bedrooms so it's still my personal favorite.

Her BFF wants to do a shared room with her if she goes there. DD partly liked this school because of the opportunity to have her own bathroom and bedroom. BFF is much messier and more of a night owl so I don't see a shared room going over well even though it is cheaper. Not to mention possibility of BFF's boyfriend being a weekend visitor! Maybe be roommates in the same apartment/separate bedrooms but I still think they need to spread their wings apart from each other and so does DD. DD encouraged her to visit more places including the college her boyfriend will go to so maybe she will pick somewhere else. Otherwise they did have fun and did a little shopping too.

Wow - it's great that your DD got to spend so much time there. I hope she gets in and that her BFF understands that they can still be friends without being roommates!

 

[Xcited4Disney]

Haven't been here in awhile. Catching up. My DD17 has applied to 7 (3 were EA) and has two acceptances so far. She has a few more on her list. Two have 11/15 deadlines.

 

[cathyce2]

College apps are becoming a full time job! DD has submitted to the instate schools because their deadlines came first (UF and FSU) but she doesn't really want to go to either of them. Next up Tulane, Wake Forest, UVa and Queens University Charlotte. And she just told me Wake Forest requires an interview! I sure hope she can skype it. I will be so glad when this is all finish and decided and she can relax and enjoy her senior year.

 

[robinb]

WARNING! Mom Brag coming!

My daughter made it to the High School State swim meet! Whoop! Whoop! Her coach was able to fix her seed times and she swam in the fastest heat. It was her 2nd best time EVER which (for me) means that she has some gas left in the tank for Saturday at the state meet. Her next goal is to take down the team record. It's possible, but she'll have to drop a bunch of time to do it. They saying goes in swimming: "If you have a lane, you have a chance."

 

[mamacatnv]

WARNING! Mom Brag coming!

My daughter made it to the High School State swim meet! Whoop! Whoop! Her coach was able to fix her seed times and she swam in the fastest heat. It was her 2nd best time EVER which (for me) means that she has some gas left in the tank for Saturday at the state meet. Her next goal is to take down the team record. It's possible, but she'll have to drop a bunch of time to do it. They saying goes in swimming: "If you have a lane, you have a chance."

Awesome, cheering for her to take down that team record!

 

[3smithboys]

DS heard from his "tied for 1st place" school and he got in! So now we just have to wait and hear about money. We don't think that he's getting money from his out of state 1st choice school now. It's a bit of a disappointment. His test scores are high (ish - I hate to say they are high because compared to some they certainly are not!) and in the range for a merit based scholarship - and his GPA was too based on his weighted GPA; however, this school recalculated GPA's and they said that his was just under for a merit scholarship... sigh... It is posssible they may come back with something later, I guess. Hopefully, today's school will offer him something. That will help make the decision easier!

 

[mamacatnv]

DD just got her ACT results, she jumped from a 30 to a 34 - I about fell over since she dropped 60 points on the last SAT
I believe this got her the "dream school" ACT score she wanted plus a bit of wiggle room

Off to investigate merit scholarships for the schools I think she will get into

 

[mamacatnv]

DS heard from his "tied for 1st place" school and he got in! So now we just have to wait and hear about money. We don't think that he's getting money from his out of state 1st choice school now. It's a bit of a disappointment. His test scores are high (ish - I hate to say they are high because compared to some they certainly are not!) and in the range for a merit based scholarship - and his GPA was too based on his weighted GPA; however, this school recalculated GPA's and they said that his was just under for a merit scholarship... sigh... It is posssible they may come back with something later, I guess. Hopefully, today's school will offer him something. That will help make the decision easier!

Congrats! Must be a relief to know he is going "somewhere"

 

[Poohforyou]

DD just got her ACT results, she jumped from a 30 to a 34 - I about fell over since she dropped 60 points on the last SAT
I believe this got her the "dream school" ACT score she wanted plus a bit of wiggle room

Off to investigate merit scholarships for the schools I think she will get into

That's awesome!! your daughter will likely start getting letters from schools with attractive scholarship offers.

My daughter has a really good SAT score plus good grades and she has gotten several. Unfortunately they aren't for schools she's remotely interested in. A few offers would make the school basically free for us.