On mobile so excuse typos and grammar please D's filter is Arabic, so the schools she's looking at include those on the list at thelanguageflagship.org (a new one isn't listed there yet) plus one other known for Arabic w a great IR school and another in DC known for IR with decent Arabic offerings. FYI I don't know where you are from and if this might work, but the University of Delaware has phenomenal success with vet school acceptance by their pre-vet students. Merit aid w high stats is common, and there are some competitive full rides offered. Plus Newark ("new-ark") is a great town with some very nice residents. Ahem ;)

You're not being too laid back. You're dealing with a different family situation (one kid vs youngest of 3 in our case), different state uni system (dd has no viable in-state option for her majors), and different major/course requirements (let me tell you, studying a critical language at a high level in conjunction with strong International Relations limits one's options!). It's all good. You and ds have this :)

8 and I have similar college search parameters. We do not qualify for need-based aid. All of dd's schools offer merit aid, some guaranteed with her stats and some very, very competitive. These are mostly full tuition with a few full ride scholarships mixed in. We have found a few smaller scholarships ($5K range) offered through special programs at the schools with separate applications. Dd has not searched for any scholarships offered from outside organizations. I don't know if she will. The essays she has are proving to be very exhausting: six schools, 20 essays with only *2* overlapping :eek:

Good gravy, that will save dd some stress! I'll have her adapt as necessary. Thank you, quark :)

Dd only has one school with a Jan 1 deadline, the only school that offers ED. The other deadlines are Oct 14, Nov 1 (so many), and Dec 15. All those are early for scholarship purposes---they also offer later regular decision deadlines, but she needs the scholarship money. I would love her to be done by the end of this month. I don't think that will happen because of all the essays still to be written and revised.

State law is that new drivers under the age of 18 (so not someone with a license from another state) are required to take both the classroom and road instruction through a state-certified teacher either at their public/private/charter school or in the summer at a designated school (for those in schooks with not enough sophomores, or those who had schedule issues, or those homeschooled) or through an approved class at a Y or an adult education program. There is no fee if the class is taken during sophomore year or the summer after. If the kid doesn't pass, the fee must be paid for the second attempt. D was away this summer when she could have taken the class for free. We are scrambling to find her a class that does not conflict with her main extracurricular activity.

I'm a bigtime NPR listener and have been since 1980 when I was 14. I listened to the morning news every day in college and in grad school. I stream NPR on my ipad during the day when I'm inside: Morning Edition, Here and Now, and All Things Considered. I also listen to Marketplace but that's APM not NPR. I listen to WHYY (Philly) on the radio in the car. I also play podcasts and use the NPR One app. My favorites are NPR Politics, Planet Money, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, and Code Switch.

My pale-skinned, red-haired dd is literally counting the semesters until she is able to study in Jordan.

Dh and older dd have many GI issues---as do every single member of dh's family of origin. Older dd's life is complicated by multiple food allergies. This summer we did a FODMAP trial for 10 weeks (younger dd, with different food allergies, was away from home). Dd suspected gluten is a problem but not the whole situation, as her symptoms improve but do not disappear when gf for weeks at a time. Let me tell you, following the FODMAP protocol with someone who has soy and rice (!!) allergies is very tricky. The results for dh and dd were marked, once they reintroduced foods one at a time. Dd can have moderate amounts of gluten (like a bagel or some pasta or pizza) once a day. If she has any more, she gets the foggy feeling as well as GI yuckies. She cannot eat any onion without pain. She can have moderate amounts of dairy. Dh can eat all the gluten but no lactose. Beans and broccoli (plus cabbage, cauliflower etc) are forever out :( He can eat well-cooked onion. I am so grateful that dd and dh were committed to the strict diet this summer because I doubt we would have figured out their issues without the FODMAP guidelines. (Please excuse any typos--posting from my phone argh)

We love tacos so much we're having grilled fish tacos (with a grilled pineapple salsa and lots of veggies) for dinner tonight :D

Was it a fulfilled-by Amazon book or a private seller on Amazon?

D's transcript shows both weighted (1.0 bump for AP and uni DE) and unweighted GPAs. At least one school she will apply to uses weighted GPAs in cut-offs for scholarships and special programs.

Because that would make too much sense, silly. ;)

OP, would you mind sharing (via PM if you prefer) the name of the DE school with all that Arabic? I'm wondering if it appears on my dd's short list for college. She will have finished al-Kitaab part 2 before beginning her freshman year, and one of our major concerns is running out of Arabic classes. Thanks :)

College senior dd is living in a (nice) off-campus apartment this year. We'll be paying $35/day for her rent and the grocery money we're giving her. I don't want to think about past years :eek:

We watched a lot (a lot!) of the PBS "American Experience" series and various Ken Burns series during our study of US History. I used the K12 book " American Odyssey" as a spine.

But isn't second-guessing something we do daily? What will you do with yourself? ;) :lol:

FWIW you can easily change the grade/year level for NMSF purposes. We did so in January after dd took the PSAT as a reported 10th grader. I followed the policy in the PSAT/NMSQT booklet by writing to the NM corp and stating that dd was in her "next to final" year of high school. A confirmation letter followed a few weeks later. I was always anti-grade-level acceleration. The plan was to do APs at home with me and take a class or two at a time at the state flagship university a mile away from our house (full pay unfortunately). We had to re-examine that plan once dd shifted away from a STEM path to critical languages/international relations in ninth grade. She's graduating a year early. She's applying to colleges now but is planning on a gap year studying abroad (those applications are being written as well omg). That way she'll have the international experience she craves as soon as possible, she'll gain fluency in her first or her second critical language, and she'll enter college with her grade cohort. All this was driven by dd. She's the one who came up with the proposal to graduate early and to study abroad during a gap year. She is incredibly motivated.

The last two weddings we attended (1 friend, 1 cousin) all parties were 30ish. Dd21, a college senior, has some friends at school who have just gotten engaged. She knows of several girls from high school who married this past year. Dd cannot imagine being married that young.

Congratulations!!!! :party: Insomnia sucks. I used to listen to audio books--on tape, no less!--in an attempt to fall back to sleep.

:party: :party: (One for each lol) (Dd has yet to submit a single application. I am slightly stressed.)

Look for the Net Price Calculator on a college's website. There's usually a link somewhere under Admissions or Financial Aid. You might need your latest tax forms. And a stiff drink or chocolate for after :eek: :lol:

Interesting--thanks for sharing!

Dd's best friend was accepted at the young writers' program at Iowa this summer. She said it was the hardest but best two weeks of her life. I think you and Shannon should look into it for next or a subsequent summer :)

Thereis no math "normal". Pre-algebra can be studied at any grade level when the student is ready :) Dd studied AoPS pre-algebra in 6th grade, the year it was first published. Have you looked at the samples? The pre-tests for AoPS tend to be on the easy side, btw.