Dd2 is at a conservatory which has classes end before Thanksgiving, finals right after Thanksgiving, and then two weeks of "Intensive Arts". What a weird schedule! So dd2 is facing two finals today and one tomorrow. She certainly didn't put in a lot of study time -- over Thanksgiving she studied approximately 30 minutes TOTAL for all her exams. She spent her freshman year at a very academic LAC and 30 minutes would have been just a drop in the bucket of her studying. It's funny how different educations can be, depending on the school and major, etc.! (Just to be fair, dd2 isn't a sloth -- she put in kazillions of hours practicing for her juries! But at her school the academics aren't the focus.....)

Three out of four kids are away at the homes of significant others -- a good but bittersweet development. We get the whole gang, including significant others, for Christmas, so our house will be full to overflowing in a few weeks! But college girl didn't come home this break! So our Thanksgiving table had lots of adult friends but only two "young ones" (under 26)! Times change!

My youngest both attended colleges where students were autmoatically signed up for classes -- 1) There was ONE major and all classes offered for your year are mandatory! In other words -- every student in the same graduating class graduates with the same set of classes. 2) An arts school where most classes are required. Dd is has to decide about her one elective class, but she is automatically signed up for all the others. I know -- I think the business of pre-signing students up is weird, but at certain schools it makes sense. I think the parenting of young adults consists of asking the "right" questions!

Lots of students work for a year or two before starting grad school. This is not unusual, and if that is what ends up happening with your son it's FINE! (Keep breathing!) Your son's school sounds amazingly disorganized and unsupportive. I'm sorry! Taking the subject GRE should have been discussed with students last spring -- so they could spend the summer studying! It sounds as if your son may need to find a job for after graduation and jump-start the process next summer. Before he leaves campus this spring, he should make sure that he has a plan of action about which schools to apply to and who will write the recs (in addition to GRE studying). Contacting profs after graduation is much more difficult. If it makes you feel better, my niece just graduated last spring with fantastic grades and unbelievable internships from a tippy-top LAC in biology. She was unsure which subfield she wants to head into, so she found a job in one area she was contemplating. She is working this year and is currently in the process of sending off grad school applications. Taking a year or two off between college and grad school is not a sign of anything wrong -- just that a student needs to figure out where he/she is heading before taking the plunge!

i"m glad they now recommend not using a sibling. Back in the day they just said to use someone who knows you well and writes well. Yup, Davidson has a lousy reputation for accepting homeschoolers. I even know a hs'er who got into Williams who didn't get into Davidson (and had geographic diversity points for Davidson but not Williams)! One of the more amusing threads I've ever seen on College Confidential was the "hs'ers with 2400's who were rejected by Davidson" thread! There were a surprising number of posters on the thread!

Suggestion -- don't use a sibling! Many years ago dd applied to Davidson. Her stats were extremely competitive, and she got a full-tuition scholarship from a pretty comparable school, so we were not out of our tree for expecting an acceptance letter from Davidson. She used her brother as the peer rec on the grounds that he could write very well and knew her extremely well (just a year behind in school and in lots of activities together). We were surprised by the rejection, and we have always wondered if her using her brother as the peer rec was part of the reason why.

He should be talking to -- His academic advisor Any profs he has done research with Anybody he has had biology internships with Those in the field will be the best source of information. Those in the field will know things like "good rankings but the profs never let the students out of the lab" and "this school rarely graduates students in less than 7 years" and even "this school is great if you want to go into academia, but if you are interested in industry you might want to look at this slightly lower-ranked school that has incredible industry connections." He has hopefully made many connections in his field over the past few years in college. Now is the time to make use of them!

I'm sorry! My dd2 didn't fit into any of the standard boxes when she used the Common App, and enough of her schools had conflicting and mutually exclusive document requirements that she thought she was going to lose her mind! She ended up calling many of her schools and asking if she could send the extra info (including some recs, repertoire list, music resume, etc.) by snail mail. Every college she asked agreed that that would be fine. The Common App is horrible for any students who don't fit in standard boxes and/or who are applying to different enough schools/programs that the documents required are too varied for the Common App to deal with. We had fun noticing all the assumptions that were buried in the Common App. Have a glass of wine. Take a walk. Someday you will laugh at the absurdity of the whole process -- though I know you are NOT laughing now!

i'd call the college and ask about merit aid for transfer students. I've heard that merit aid for transfer students is hard to come by, but our experience (in the performing arts in conservatories, not at a "regular" college) was that the merit aid offered was on par with what dd received from similar schools during her first round of applications as a "regular" applicant.

My husband is a computer geek, and I think he enjoyed monkeying around to get the "real" signature on the form.

We always did course descriptions for ALL the classes. I cannot imagine providing a description for some classes done at home and but not providing it for others. IMHO there should be some logic behind which classes you provide descriptions for and which you don't. For example -- provide descriptions for home-brewed classes but not for classes taken at a community college OR provide descriptions for all classes taken at a place that doesn't provide an external transcript. If he's going for a full-ride scholarship, I'd just provide descriptions for ALL of them. Do look up course descriptions online for classes fairly similar to the ones your student did. Sometimes looking at other course descriptions can help you figure out how to phrase your course description in a more professional "impressive" manner.

I'd be VERY careful about this. That said, the job market is not great right now, and there is a LOT to be said for having a job lined up and waiting for you. I know too many young people who have graduated with reasonable majors from reasonable schools who have been looking for a job for the past six months. A ready-made job has a certain attraction!

And if the Common App won't let you upload another document, do ask the college if it will accept a hard-copy. Dd had problems fitting dd into the Common App for a number of reasons. When she contacted the colleges, they said to just mail a hard-copy of the problem document to them.

My kids (all in STEM-related majors) would buy their textbooks used if possible and sell them at the end of the year. Then they would turn around and buy an older edition of the same textbook for their permanent bookshelf. The money saving involved is huge. I went to a top engineering school, and one of the odd perks was actually getting to use textbooks the profs were writing before they were in textbook form -- I would just have to pay the cost of the Xeroxed bundle. The prof would occasionally even discuss additions and changes to the text. It was always rather strange later to see the textbook that I thought of as a bunch of sheets of paper in solid form with gorgeous color pictures! This happened twice, and it was rather fun to be remotely involved in the formation of a textbook!

Colleges care about what the student does outside of academics. Interesting EC's can help a student gain admittance; interesting EC's can also help gain serious merit aid. Unless your student is DESPERATE for credits, I would join the crowd and say "extracurricular". Colleges are concerned that hs'ers don't know how to interact with others. Reenacting would not only break the "homeschoolers are always alone" stereotype but also be a great essay topic. (My oldest wrote one of her college essays on the question "aren't you hot?" that people always asked her when they was her in the heat of a Virginia summer dressed up as in the Revolutionary or Civil War era! The prompt was something about a question you are routinely asked.....)

I replied via homeschool2college! If you have any more questions, please ask! Dd went to W&M last year and lived at home, so I have a pretty good window on life (particularly as music major) at W&M. Dd can't say enough good about W&M! She loved the school but really needed a conservatory to pursue her dreams. She is probably the only student last year who transferred while loving the school she was at!

My kids attended a SMALL but highly ranked LAC (~1700 students total). Everything was done with pencil and paper.

You can google college interview questions. Supposedly open-ended questions are the ones that stump most kids -- like "how would you spent a day if you had no commitments" . (I have read articles where interviewers lament that questions that should be "gimmes" are so hard for our programmed teens!) Also prepare him for WEIRD questions. My son was asked (at an interview for a full-ride scholarship at a top-20 LAC) what item at Walmart would best represent him..... Sometimes there is no preparation that will help! (FYI, my son attacked the question but still won the scholarship!)

I actually gave rankings. I know a lot of other high schoolers, and through Civil Air Patrol my dh interacts with many more. I talk with their parents; I have feedback from my kids' teachers. I had enough grounds for comparison that I felt my rankings were meaningful. The rankings I gave were also supported by their test scores.

And parents don't have all the answers. My ds2 dropped out of college to pursue his dream career. He has ended up living the dream -- for the past 2.5 years he has been doing what he was going to college to learn to do, but he is getting paid to learn it and do it! And his paid education has involved not only making awesome connections but also having meetings with CEO's in which he is the only rep from his company.. Yup -- he's living out his dream. Did dh and I approve of his dropping out of college? Of course not! We voiced our opinion and he went on his merry way. We have since told him that we are SO glad that he followed his dream and didn't follow our advice. And our son with the great education in a STEM field is the one who has had trouble finding a job..... Parents can definitely sound cautionary notes, but we can't know for sure what will and won't work out. Our kids need to have the freedom to follow their own star (as long as it doesn't impinge too much on our pocketbook)!

One confusing thing is the sheer variety of jobs available in any one career field. For example, given a background in computer science you can work in a stress-filled money-rich financial investment firm in NYC or a small laid-back tech company in the boonies or a nerdy geeky firm in Silicon Valley or a smooth Ivy-filled consulting company in a large city or a local hospital or a customer-focused firm in a medium city. All with the same basic background. And some of it is the luck of the draw. Good job offers are hard to find, and even if you have a vision of where you'd like to end up, the hiring folks at the companies you are interviewing at may not agree. And you can end up in a place you never imagined, despite your degree being in a reasonable field for your aspirations. Sometimes life happens, and you make the best of it.

I hate to see any part of the college process spilling into the freshman and sophomore years. Yes, students in the early high school years need guidance on what classes to take, but that IS the schools' job. I can't imagine random colleges honestly giving meaningful advice to thousands of high school students on the basis of the students' posting stuff online. It isn't going to happen. Nope. I agree with the earlier comment that this is about data mining. Students do NOT need to have the college frenzy flooding into their early high school years. YUCK!

It's so wonderful to talk about actual PLANS instead of "what ifs".....

And after months of looking, he gets an offer!

Suggestions for a young adult who is looking for a job? His academic credentials are super-strong, but he just can't interview. Suggestions would be REALLY welcome!