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THIRTY. DAYS.


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He did DO physics and algebra 2 last year and it went fine, but calculus and comp sci have been a disaster.  

I *so* wish we would have signed up for DE math, but right now he needs both of these credits, and there’s not really any other option for finishing up by the end of May.  And I don’t want to send him off to college without calculus exposure.

So I have had to go back to the beginning of both courses and watch all the videos so I can drag him thru the courses.  The courses seem easy enough to me, and I love the structure of them, but he is struggling to grasp and apply the concepts.  He is used to independent study, but I just think he needs more practice of each individual concept and tons of review.  (And he’s been distracted by the phone and computer so I don’t think he’s giving this near 100% effort.)

I am so ready for this semester to be over.  It just makes me sad to end our journey this way after so many happy homeschooling years. I envisioned being weepy at the thought of him leaving, but right now I just feel relieved that I’ll soon no longer be his teacher.

He’s a good kid, and I love him, but I’m ready for the next chapter.

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8 minutes ago, JazzyMom said:

He did DO physics and algebra 2 last year and it went fine, but calculus and comp sci have been a disaster.  

I *so* wish we would have signed up for DE math, but right now he needs both of these credits, and there’s not really any other option for finishing up by the end of May.  And I don’t want to send him off to college without calculus exposure.

So I have had to go back to the beginning of both courses and watch all the videos so I can drag him thru the courses.  The courses seem easy enough to me, and I love the structure of them, but he is struggling to grasp and apply the concepts.  He is used to independent study, but I just think he needs more practice of each individual concept and tons of review.  (And he’s been distracted by the phone and computer so I don’t think he’s giving this near 100% effort.)

I am so ready for this semester to be over.  It just makes me sad to end our journey this way after so many happy homeschooling years. I envisioned being weepy at the thought of him leaving, but right now I just feel relieved that I’ll soon no longer be his teacher.

He’s a good kid, and I love him, but I’m ready for the next chapter.

 

I think it could be a bit of senior-itis too.  My son is taking two DE classes and he was also recovering from a concussion so he dropped the third....but IDK there is just something in his demeanor where he's just more apathetic towards his schooling than previously.  🙂 He has one acceptance that he's very happy with, so I think he's just got a bit of senior - itis.

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I'm definitely ready to push this baby bird out of the nest, however, I felt that way with the older ones too. I believe them driving me crazy at the end is my/their way of making sure I am ready form them to leave... something I could not imagine feeling at the start of senior year (at least for most of them.)

With the others we knew where they were going before the start of senior year, and I thought that was the case with this kid too. However, another school was mentioned frequently during the application process, because a close friend was going to go there. In the end, they both decided to go to the school my kid has always wanted to attend.

Still, there are some things that just leave things unsettled this time around, like uncertainty about major, etc.

I always thought I liked surprises, but I have discovered I am definitely not good at college surprises.

For all of you waiting, I hope your spring brings happy surprises.

 

 

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Just 6 days for the "beginning-of-our-end." Emory announces March 20, and the other 4 roll through until Ivy Day March 28. I have zero expectation on DS's two Ivies, but Emory, Duke, and Georgetown are (very slim) possibilities. In my mind, I am already anticipating him signing at U of South Carolina, which would be an excellent choice given his major and the Honors program there.

And for those with challenging little birds - oh, the senioritis here!!!! DS seriously puts more thought into soccer team strategy than his classes right now.

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3 hours ago, linders said:

Just 6 days for the "beginning-of-our-end." Emory announces March 20, and the other 4 roll through until Ivy Day March 28. I have zero expectation on DS's two Ivies, but Emory, Duke, and Georgetown are (very slim) possibilities. In my mind, I am already anticipating him signing at U of South Carolina, which would be an excellent choice given his major and the Honors program there.

And for those with challenging little birds - oh, the senioritis here!!!! DS seriously puts more thought into soccer team strategy than his classes right now.

My dd is a sophomore attending USC as an OOS student. She loves it there!!

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1 hour ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

My dd is a sophomore attending USC as an OOS student. She loves it there!!

So glad to hear that! We are just an hour drive away and have been to the campus many times for swim meets - enough that DS wasn't even thinking about college there (too much "my own backyard). But the Darla Moore School has an excellent rep, and we have loved every Honors college event.

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3 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

My dd is a sophomore attending USC as an OOS student. She loves it there!!

University of Southern California?  My ds applied there and would love to get into their AI research program!

Or, since the other list was all east coast schools maybe you mean University of South Carolina?

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16 minutes ago, Calming Tea said:

University of Southern California?  My ds applied there and would love to get into their AI research program!

Or, since the other list was all east coast schools maybe you mean University of South Carolina?

South Carolina.  Our college searches are merit scholarship driven and she is attending there as a Top Scholar. (Even full-tuition scholarships are not enough $$ for our kids bc room and board is still so much.)

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7 hours ago, linders said:

Just 6 days for the "beginning-of-our-end." Emory announces March 20, and the other 4 roll through until Ivy Day March 28. I have zero expectation on DS's two Ivies, but Emory, Duke, and Georgetown are (very slim) possibilities. In my mind, I am already anticipating him signing at U of South Carolina, which would be an excellent choice given his major and the Honors program there.

 

DS applied to Emory, too....I don't think it's one of his favorites right now, but it's possible he'll get nervous about going too far away at the last minute and decide on Emory (if he gets in. Big if). And Hamilton's the same day...I think that and tomorrow are the only days we're expecting more than one on the same day. He has a lot of reaches out there right now...I'm hoping for the best but bracing for a disappointing couple of weeks (for DS. He already has some great choices, so I know he'll end up just fine....but a whole bunch of rejection right before you have to pick a school would be a bummer). 

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5 hours ago, kokotg said:

DS applied to Emory, too....I don't think it's one of his favorites right now, but it's possible he'll get nervous about going too far away at the last minute and decide on Emory (if he gets in. Big if). And Hamilton's the same day...I think that and tomorrow are the only days we're expecting more than one on the same day. He has a lot of reaches out there right now...I'm hoping for the best but bracing for a disappointing couple of weeks (for DS. He already has some great choices, so I know he'll end up just fine....but a whole bunch of rejection right before you have to pick a school would be a bummer). 

 

I don't know...I mean if they're reaches, then even one acceptance is amazing, right?  🙂

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40 minutes ago, Arch at Home said:

I am so sorry. How does he feel about his acceptances? How many more decisions does he have yet to come?

 

Right this second, he claims he hates all of his acceptances so far 😉 . There are still 10 more out there, all coming in in the next two weeks. He'd never have admitted it, but I think he was feeling pretty confident about Grinnell, based on his stats and transcript and how he did everything he could to demonstrate interest. He's hitting refresh on reddit and seeing lots of kids with much lower stats who got in, and he just wants answers...it's super frustrating for him that he can't have any, because that's how getting into college is these days. Could be any one of a million different things that made things not go his way. 

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7 minutes ago, kokotg said:

 Could be any one of a million different things that made things not go his way. 

Oh, I know. Wholistic review and developing a cohesive, diverse cohort means that there are so many things out of the applicant’s control. Hopefully with time he will see options in what he has. In addition, 10 is a lot of decisions that could go his way. 

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53 minutes ago, kokotg said:

 

Right this second, he claims he hates all of his acceptances so far 😉 . There are still 10 more out there, all coming in in the next two weeks. He'd never have admitted it, but I think he was feeling pretty confident about Grinnell, based on his stats and transcript and how he did everything he could to demonstrate interest. He's hitting refresh on reddit and seeing lots of kids with much lower stats who got in, and he just wants answers...it's super frustrating for him that he can't have any, because that's how getting into college is these days. Could be any one of a million different things that made things not go his way. 

Waitlisted isn't rejected - a lot more colleges are using the waitlisting to protect their yield. So tell him not to give up hope! 

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13 minutes ago, SanDiegoMom in VA said:

Waitlisted isn't rejected - a lot more colleges are using the waitlisting to protect their yield. So tell him not to give up hope! 

Last year only 12 kids got in off the waitlist (although the year before that it was almost 100). He accepted the spot, but I'm hoping he'll get good news from one of his other favorites (or find a new favorite amongst his acceptances) so that this doesn't drag on into the summer.

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2 hours ago, kokotg said:

...and he just wants answers...it's super frustrating for him that he can't have any, because that's how getting into college is these days. Could be any one of a million different things that made things not go his way. 

(I'm saying this tongue-firmly-in-cheek) There was that offer of the admissions file-with-notes from the Grinnell hackers . . . 

I hope he gets good news soon!

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@JazzyMom Well, it wasn't the whole year, just this final semester. In the fall, she also took one semester of DE chem (that counted as a year of science), a one semester programming class, and a one-semester Norse mythology class. All except programming were her picks. (Strangely, she's got more homework & less free time this semester with three less classes & no need to drive to the college campus twice per week.)

Graduation-credit-wise, she needed one more Science credit (taking the Chem meant she ended up with three), one English, and one Math. She took an 400-level English Lit class this summer so she didn't have to take English this school year. She took a DE Psych class last year to give her four credits of Social Studies, so no SS this year. She theoretically could have done 2nd semester Chem, too, but for scheduling & other reasons is glad she didn't.

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I seriously feel like this is one of the longest months of my life.  Oddly, my ds is non-plussed and hardly thinking about it. ??  And he's not even super busy.  In fact in the beginning of hte month he was the opposite of busy, still having headaches from his concussion so he was just listening to audio books a LOT. ...now he's busy catching up on his projects...but is coasting through his two DE classes...so...it's very confusing.  Wish I could just put it out of my head like that!

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26 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

@kokotg Good luck to your ds today. Two decisions tonight?

Just one....we thought Grinnell was going to be tonight instead of last night. It was Colby today, and it's another waitlist 😞 . This one doesn't sting nearly as much, though....he applied on a whim at the last minute because they kept e-mailing him about their amazing financial aid, and he wasn't especially excited about it. 

He also just found out about some additional scholarship money at Hendrix which makes it an official full ride, including room and board and even books there. But he has really serious concerns about the math department there (and really good financial aid elsewhere....just not quite THAT good)....so a lot of thinking to do and lot more decisions yet to hear. 

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4 minutes ago, Calming Tea said:

12 days till my ds hears from two of his reach schools, and 14 till he hears from his top choice 🙂 and 16 till he hears from some other reach schools.  

I have been subtracting 3 from your countdown Dd is waiting on two decisions coming out on 3/28.  The waiting is starting to get to me!  We've been so busy lately that, up until last week, we hardly had time to think about it.  But now...  Ugh!  I hate wishing away the last remaining months of our family's homeschooling journey, but I wouldn't mind if March could move out a little faster!

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@kokotg  It’s amazing that he has a full ride offer on the table!  We keep getting additional perks from the schools ds was admitted to (honors programs, guaranteed admittance to major, etc.), and today when another perk came, ds said, “I really want the full ride!”  Haha...  so far this month, we haven’t been shown more money (other than the 1/2 tuition scholarship he got at the first of the month).

Earlier in the year, ds was getting email after email enticing him to apply to certain schools because deadlines were approaching.  He stuck to his original list and didn’t take the bait.  It stinks that your ds was encouraged to apply, then waitlisted...  I don’t like that game.

Anyway, glad you have some good acceptances and really good financial offers.  I hope more good news is on the way!

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15 minutes ago, Calming Tea said:

We suddenly got a cache of letters this week from Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Dartmouth asking my son to apply (they must think he's in 11th grade because of his age...) but we wonder if it's a good sign for the other reach schools he applied to...

DD was interested in some of the Ivies only because her major is offered at most (maybe all?) of them.  One reached out to her via email last year, encouraging her to apply.  I didn't think it was much more than marketing (it came shortly after SAT scores were released).  She did more research and did end up visiting that school and ultimately applied.  She put a 2nd Ivy in the mix, visited, and applied to that one as well.  Oddly, the one that has heavily marketed to her did not offer an interview, but the 2nd one (that she never heard a peep from until she showed interest) did.  Who knows what it all means, but it just goes to show we can't read too much into anything when it comes to the top tier institutions.

Of course, @Calming Tea, I hope for your son's sake it does mean something!

 

Edited by Nancy in NH
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11 minutes ago, Calming Tea said:

We suddenly got a cache of letters this week from Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Dartmouth asking my son to apply (they must think he's in 11th grade because of his age...) but we wonder if it's a good sign for the other reach schools he applied to...

I think it is because a lot of applications were withdrawn on Monday.

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23 minutes ago, kokotg said:

UGH. Waitlisted at Kenyon, too! He's getting super discouraged. Thank goodness he heard from Macalester before the wave of bad news hit. This is not a fun process.

Sending hugs your way - this may be us next week (next decision that we know of is Franklin & Marshall on Monday evening). Based on what I'm reading it's been a very very brutal admissions year.

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23 hours ago, Nancy in NH said:

DD waitlisted at Holy Cross and Trinity--the two schools she threw on her list as a backup (with a backup major) if she didn't get in where her major is offered.  She has some good options and still two more decisions to go, so moving on...

 

Waitlists are so frustrating! Hope the last two bring better news!

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Williams tonight! I'd love for the waitlist streak to turn around, but not holding out much hope that Williams will be the one to do it (you know, unless it breaks the streak with his first outright rejection 😉 ). But fingers crossed anyway!  Anyone else expecting any today?

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1 minute ago, kokotg said:

Williams tonight! I'd love for the waitlist streak to turn around, but not holding out much hope that Williams will be the one to do it (you know, unless it breaks the streak with his first outright rejection 😉 ). But fingers crossed anyway!  Anyone else expecting any today?

Yes, Franklin & Marshall @ 7pm. She only applied because I liked it, and there was no application fee for apps before Dec 1 - goosing their numbers I'm sure! We never did a visit so there's no "demonstrated interest," so even though it's a target as far as her stats go I'm not overly hopeful. I actually think she would like it if she gets in and visits so we'll see!

Good luck! fingers crossed for you!

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12 minutes ago, kirag714 said:

Yes, Franklin & Marshall @ 7pm. She only applied because I liked it, and there was no application fee for apps before Dec 1 - goosing their numbers I'm sure! We never did a visit so there's no "demonstrated interest," so even though it's a target as far as her stats go I'm not overly hopeful. I actually think she would like it if she gets in and visits so we'll see!

Good luck! fingers crossed for you!

Kenyon was our one like that....they rate demonstrated interest as important; he interviewed but didn't visit (and didn't apply for a STEM scholarship they kept e-mailing him about). Good luck!

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