Our state school requires four PIQ's (personal insight questions) while the two private schools my son is applying to ask for a few short essays besides the common app essay. One has like 5-7 and the other one only two. I like the PIQ's because they are direct and clearly state to answer them directly. As if you were answering an interview question. My son is applying to a special program within the university and it requires five more short answer questions, up to 250 words each. It feels like this process is never ending. The Cal State application, on the other hand, was super streamlined. No essays, very few places to input much of anything.

For something - not sure if it was for college or a scholarship but I wrote an essay about a mentor that inspired me. It was my band director -- in my essay he was "the devil" and I talked about his crazy personality and how he worked tirelessly to inspire kids normally falling through the cracks to stay in school, being a father figure to so many that did not have dads in their life. However it was florid and overwrought and most definitely cringy! However he was so proud of it he framed it and put it on the wall of his office., lol.

Still not done here… son applying to UCSB College of Creative Studies… which has five short response questions (each max 250 words), recommendation letters and sample of work. Die Jan 30th. Daughter has two dance auditions coming up as well - last one beginning of February. Nothing like dragging this out forever. I can’t wait for this to be over!

We just basically finished the college application cycle. My son applied to a couple of highly rejective STEM schools, which not only do not accept SAT scores, but one also did not have AP scores show up from the Common App. Even though the deadline has passed I am going to have him call to see if they literally don't want them, or if there is any way to report them, but I find it highly frustrating. The other is test optional, but again for some reason the scores didn't show up. Maybe it's a Common APP glitch? This is on him for waiting so late tbh. Both schools make it very easy, however, to submit resumes, portfolios, outside research, certificates from outside schools, etc. But for the first school -- no test scores. All of those activities (and what average high schooler has a resume??) really aren't things that are always accessible, and they are often be paid for through expensive programs and connections. They can be gamed. Test scores can't be gamed. Sure, they can be studied for, and money poured into tutoring, but money is already being poured into pay for play summer programs. You know what scores are accepted by both? Aime scores, Physics Olympiad and Chem Olympiad scores, USACO scores. Tests which are not accessible everywhere. The school my oldest went to didn't even have a physics teacher for two years. They had no math team. They did have many AP's however (though not many science ones), and you could take the SAT at the school. With the pushing of "holistic" admissions, this feels like it's the opposite.

Just for reference, I have twins in their senior year in high school, and they have very little interest in the school senior events. We are having a summer trip to celebrate, and we have senior photos, but most of the swag (rings, jackets, etc) get forgotten and are so overpriced anyway. Mine might celebrate with their friends, but since our school is so large, any school event is just filled with people they don't know, loud music, and winds up being just draining rather than enjoyable.

could it be that right now you are building a lot of muscle from swimming first, and the weight loss will come after? Muscle weighs more than fat, so you might be initially building all the muscle, and then (I have read) that muscle burns more calories or something like that.

My son only had two applications due but the stress and the procrastination made it feel like it was 10. Of course there was last minute drama submitting the first one and realizing his school counselor had not submitted the letter of rec and the school profile yet. Turns out he put in her email address wrong. He emailed her and she did it the next day even though they were on break. He needs to get her a very nice thank you gift! My son really kept his options narrow -- stem focused, not wanting to go out of state, not even wanting to go far within the state -- so that really narrowed it down to a high reach and a very high reach. Then come to find out the very high reach (Caltech) is becoming quite ridiculous in how few scores they are taking. Like, there is very little information on how to report AP scores or if they are even considered, and they won't take SAT. Harvey Mudd takes them but for some reason even though they were loaded into the Common App, they didn't show up on the preview version... It is very frustrating. Especially since there is plenty of opportunity to upload resumes, external research, etc. I feel like the goal posts keep shifting, and what is considered achievement suddenly isn't good enough, under guise of equity and fairness. Grumble grumble.

I am just guessing, but if you are using recent medians, then I would assume they are slightly skewed higher as the only ones submitting scores now are those with high scores. In other words, I would personally agree with your strategy 🙂

I am so sorry! Fingers crossed that the right job will be found. We have not experienced this, but my sister's husband did -- he got a pretty high level job with a firm based in Texas (they lived all their lives in Florida). He commuted for two years to get kids graduated from high school. Finally moved in the summer to Texas with my sister and thought everything was great. In fact, thought he was headed to a VP position within the year. Instead, after a couple of months in Texas, he was laid off. It was crazy. Restructuring. Hugs❤️

I took APUSH back in 1992/93. It was our teacher's first year teaching an AP class -- he was a great teacher but got REALLY behind. He handwrote notes all the information he didn't get to cover before our exam -- pages and pages covering the cold war, vietnam, etc. It was hilarious. He got better at pacing after that.

Congratulations!!

Congratulations!

My husband told me last night and I cried on and off all evening. And I, too, rarely if ever cry over celebrities.

Executive functioning was the most important for my two -- ability to keep track of assignments that were coming in from all different directions - on their Canvas page in all different places (each teacher follows different Canvas templates) or verbally or things passed out in person. Also then turning things in have been all different methods. My kids were not prepared but it was also 9th grade during Covid, so it got a little easier when it went to in person. Writing was from scratch and this was an honors class at a above average high school. They learned how to write a thesis during ninth grade, and the amount of writing was pretty low. It jumped up in 10th grade honors, and then really jumped in APEL 11th grade. Timed writings were slowly introduced in 10th grade but it was more like timed writing that was then brought home and edited/polished. 11th grade was timed writing every week.

I am so glad for this to be her last year! It's just so much!

I think it would be best as an activity, except as mentioned above if he needs a fine arts credit. My daughter is all in on ballet - started out in 9th grade at 12 hours per week and is up to 15, 10 months a year, with four week intensives in the summer. She has no option to have it as part of school anyway, and since she doesn't do very much besides ballet it would look very bare to not have it highlighted as the most important extracurricular.

Just fyi - the nice thing about 529s for those with younger kids is that you can roll over up to 35k into a Roth IRA for the child if it is not used for education. This can only happen if the 529 is 15 years old. We unfortunately have a Coverdl Ira which is not addressed by the new law that was just passed. But who knows - maybe it will be included down the road.

I wrote a little on the college application thread about our tour of Harvey Mudd that we took yesterday. I'll copy and paste for anyone else interested: We did do a tour yesterday of Harvey Mudd. We are too late for interviews unfortunately, and while there is Early Decision 2, he's not going to do that as the tuition is so astronomical we would not want to be locked into that! Yikes. But he will apply. It was definitely SMALL. QUIET. The five campuses, while together made up a more normal size campus (with around 6600 students total), still felt slightly disconnected from each other with the side roads cutting through. I myself would never have liked it. But my son REALLY liked it. The things he most connected with were the honor code (which was very much emphasized), and the collaboration/groupwork between students. The tour took us through the academic classrooms so he saw all the labs and the makerspaces where kids were working. And one of his favorite things was how QUIET it was. (of course it was Friday, so that might have been part of the reason it was so quiet) It seemed to definitely be a school for a particular type of kid. The absolute funniest part of the whole tour yesterday? We were the ONLY ones. So the assistant director of admissions gave the who spiel in a mid size auditorium to just us. It was actually quite awful, because the whole time my son knew this was the person who would be reading the applications, that this was his chance to connect, and he instead he pretty much couldn't come up with any questions or even good answers to softball questions (like do you see any humanities fields on this list that you would be interested in studying for your humanities concentration?). He was so nervous, he said he was just trying to do the "active listening" that he'd learned in AP psych -- triple nod and constant smiling. Lol. So basically we both just nodded and smiled the whole time. Except when he put the cost of tuition up. Then I stopped smiling! So yeah, it was an interesting trip for sure!

My daughter applied to I think 12-14 law schools. Accepted to one, waitlisted at a couple, rejected from the rest. She did get accepted off the waitlist however, and she's there now and so grateful! But it was such an anxious year!

I have one kid that has a supplemental application due for dance, and then two auditions. She's not really putting much hope in them, she most likely is just planning on college and dancing on the side, but the work is still there to be done so as not to close any doors! My son, well, he's still got a lot of work ahead. It's a little bit overwhelming to be honest, since he's been going non stop with school and extracurriculars and just feels so behind on apps. On the other hand it makes my heart glad to see him so happy and involved in what he is doing now, vs where he was a few years ago. He's surrounded by his tribe and doing things he loves. It's just so awesome to see! We did do a tour yesterday of Harvey Mudd. We are too late for interviews unfortunately, and while there is Early Decision 2, he's not going to do that as the tuition is so astronomical we would not want to be locked into that! Yikes. But he will apply. It was definitely SMALL. QUIET. The five campuses, while together made up a more normal size campus (with around 6600 students total), still felt slightly disconnected from each other with the side roads cutting through. I myself would never have liked it. But my son REALLY liked it. The things he most connected with were the honor code (which was very much emphasized), and the collaboration/groupwork between students. The tour took us through the academic classrooms so he saw all the labs and the makerspaces where kids were working. And one of his favorite things was how QUIET it was. So definitely a school for a particular type of kid. The absolute funniest part of the whole tour yesterday? We were the ONLY ones. So the assistant director of admissions gave the who spiel in a mid size auditorium to just us. It was actually quite awful, because the whole time my son knew this was the person who would be reading all the applications, that this was his chance to connect, and he instead he pretty much couldn't come up with any questions or even good answers to softball questions (like do you see any humanities fields on this list that you would be interested in studying for your humanities concentration?). He was so nervous, he said he was just trying to do the "active listening" that he'd learned in AP psych -- triple nod and constant smiling. Lol. So basically we both just nodded and smiled the whole time. Except when he put the cost of tuition up. Then I stopped smiling! So yeah, it was an interesting trip for sure!

Second Love Letter, my daughter and I like Play Nine (though my son finds it boring!) The Mind is kind of silly, Crew, Set, bananagrams, Qbitz, Hanabi, Casino and cribbage (card games).

Phew! I remember all the discussions on this board about it - I had been planning for this moment for years 😂

My son liked using the Pomodoro method -- of course during the break you wouldn't want your son to go use screens because he'll never come back! But it makes the tasks seem less overwhelming which makes people procrastinate more. But both my son and my oldest daughter did best with a study buddy (or they call it body doubling now?) Being at the table physically working makes it easier to focus and stay on task, even if I am actually just surfing these forums. Especially if it's a task that's particularly irksome, my son will ask me to sit with him. So, writing college essays, lol. My younger daughter never has this issue, she just is amazing now at executive functioning. She works ahead, plans constantly, and always keeps track of all assignments. My son and older daughter, not quite as much.

My oldest daughter is ADHD, and the passage of time thing is definitely a red flag. She used to get lost in thought staring in the mirror brushing her teeth. Not just for a little while, for 45 minutes. She will always struggle with procrastination as it is baked in. Taking away things that she loved to do wouldn't have worked -- she was always LEAST productive when she had the most free time. She's read a ton of books (Driven to Distraction, Delivered from Distraction, Atomic Habits, books by Dr. Barkley, and learned a ton from the youtube channel How to ADHD. She's also on two ADHD meds. So, better, but still not perfect. Is there something that can lock down other windows on the computer to make it more limited?

Well, ever since I started homeschooling my mathy kid, knowing we planned to move back to California in high school, I had been aware of the multitude of discussions about the geometry requirement of the UCs. So when my son first tried to submit his application last night and it did not let him due to one math missing, it took him completely by surprise. After all, he’d inputted 11 different math credits from 7th grade on, all the way through Diff EQ! So he had to put geometry under 7th grade math, and we put a little note that he had actually taken it in sixth grade. Thankfully it was at least taken officially through AOPS so we have a transcript, if they really care. But I wish I could relive that sound of disbelief when my son saw the red “1” for a missing math! It was too funny.