Parents of Class of 2018 thread

[Mickeypooh99]

Our school has every single 9th grader and 10th grader take the PSAT, and every junior takes the SAT. School pays,and it’s during the school day.
My daughter hasn’t applied for any other scholarships other than the one she got from the school..better get on that!

This is how our school does it. I had no idea that not all schools participated! My DS was a commended student. He was so close to being a semi finalist. He just missed the cut off.

 

[VictoriaT]

DS was awarded an AFROTC scholarship! Now he is in a quandary; he was deferred from Michigan, his dream school, but was accepted at Michigan Tech. Michigan Tech offers room and board to ROTC scholarship winners, so it would be a full ride at Tech, and only tuition at Michigan, if he is lucky enough to get in. His gut and mind are telling him just accept with Michigan Tech, but his heart is saying wait to hear from Michigan. What to do, what to do?

 

[Mickeypooh99]

DS was awarded an AFROTC scholarship! Now he is in a quandary; he was deferred from Michigan, his dream school, but was accepted at Michigan Tech. Michigan Tech offers room and board to ROTC scholarship winners, so it would be a full ride at Tech, and only tuition at Michigan, if he is lucky enough to get in. His gut and mind are telling him just accept with Michigan Tech, but his heart is saying wait to hear from Michigan. What to do, what to do?

Congratulations on the scholarship! That's great!

I've heard some deferred kids are starting to hear from Michigan and be accepted. A full ride would be so nice! My DS is most likely not going to go to U of M. He only received one scholarship from there as of now, and it was $1500 non renewing. I think it was regent scholarship. So that's a drop in the bucket. He received the presidential scholarship from Michigan Tech, but our cost is still pretty high. I'm pushing for U of M, but I think his heart is already out of state.

 

[mommy2mrb]

DS was awarded an AFROTC scholarship! Now he is in a quandary; he was deferred from Michigan, his dream school, but was accepted at Michigan Tech. Michigan Tech offers room and board to ROTC scholarship winners, so it would be a full ride at Tech, and only tuition at Michigan, if he is lucky enough to get in. His gut and mind are telling him just accept with Michigan Tech, but his heart is saying wait to hear from Michigan. What to do, what to do?

Congratulations!!!

Kind of same boat. Top two deferred but one of the two that has accepted DD offering so much! Such a hard decision for all the kids in the fence.

We all need a ton of pixie dust!!

 

[VictoriaT]

Congratulations on the scholarship! That's great!

I've heard some deferred kids are starting to hear from Michigan and be accepted. A full ride would be so nice! My DS is most likely not going to go to U of M. He only received one scholarship from there as of now, and it was $1500 non renewing. I think it was regent scholarship. So that's a drop in the bucket. He received the presidential scholarship from Michigan Tech, but our cost is still pretty high. I'm pushing for U of M, but I think his heart is already out of state.

Congratulations!!!

Kind of same boat. Top two deferred but one of the two that has accepted DD offering so much! Such a hard decision for all the kids in the fence.

We all need a ton of pixie dust!!

Thank you The University of Michigan is stingy on scholarships, unfortunately. Out of state, depending where, can sometimes be cheaper and closer (in the case of Michigan Tech- an 8 1/2 hour drive from our house). It is so hard letting them decide themselves, you want to do it for them, but I keep telling myself it is his life and he is almost an adult. We discussed at dinner, read through all the documentation. It is sometimes possible to transfer to another school with the scholarship, with prior approval. He is going to accept at Michigan Tech, and, if by some small chance, gets in to Michigan, will weigh his options at that time. A full ride is a lot of money, and he doesn't want that slipping away.
Yes, pixie dust all alround!

 

[StephMK]

DS was awarded an AFROTC scholarship! Now he is in a quandary; he was deferred from Michigan, his dream school, but was accepted at Michigan Tech. Michigan Tech offers room and board to ROTC scholarship winners, so it would be a full ride at Tech, and only tuition at Michigan, if he is lucky enough to get in. His gut and mind are telling him just accept with Michigan Tech, but his heart is saying wait to hear from Michigan. What to do, what to do?

Congratulations!!!

Kind of same boat. Top two deferred but one of the two that has accepted DD offering so much! Such a hard decision for all the kids in the fence.

We all need a ton of pixie dust!!

Fingers crossed that they hear back soon so they can make those final choices. Other than waiting on the deferrals, it sounds like they have a great problem to solve. Always nice to get fantastic aid and especially to consider if they plan to study past a bachelors.

 

[Kellydelly]

DS was awarded an AFROTC scholarship! Now he is in a quandary; he was deferred from Michigan, his dream school, but was accepted at Michigan Tech. Michigan Tech offers room and board to ROTC scholarship winners, so it would be a full ride at Tech, and only tuition at Michigan, if he is lucky enough to get in. His gut and mind are telling him just accept with Michigan Tech, but his heart is saying wait to hear from Michigan. What to do, what to do?

Thank you The University of Michigan is stingy on scholarships, unfortunately. Out of state, depending where, can sometimes be cheaper and closer (in the case of Michigan Tech- an 8 1/2 hour drive from our house). It is so hard letting them decide themselves, you want to do it for them, but I keep telling myself it is his life and he is almost an adult. We discussed at dinner, read through all the documentation. It is sometimes possible to transfer to another school with the scholarship, with prior approval. He is going to accept at Michigan Tech, and, if by some small chance, gets in to Michigan, will weigh his options at that time. A full ride is a lot of money, and he doesn't want that slipping away.
Yes, pixie dust all alround!

I bet your son gets in to MI. Lots more notifications going out over the next couple weeks. My daughter got into Tech too but they gave her only $4400, which wasn't enough to make her want to be up in the middle of nowhere and be surrounded by a bunch of guys, go figure

My daughter also had to accept a scholarship, even though she did not accept admittance (to Oakland University). Oakland offered her the best money so far, $16,000 a year, which almost covers everything, at least 3/4 of COA. Too bad she really doesn't want to go there. She is really leaning towards MI State, who has given her $8300 so far. She would be in the Honors College and Lyman Briggs College there. She just did a scholarship competition at Wayne State over the weekend. She really doesn't want to go there, either , I think she is just racking up scholarship offers to make her "offer board" look good at school (her STEM school puts all the schools and $$ they offered behind them in a pic that goes up on their website). I don't know if U of M is generous or not? If you live in state and make more than $65,000 I am thinking not. But at least they cost about the same as State. She has the regent's scholarship at MI, and not sure if anything else yet. I kind of want her to go there, but she is balking a little right now. Ann Arbor is closer to our home too, which makes it more attractive to me anyway !

 

[clori]

Our school has freshman go visit a college while sophomores and juniors take the PSAT (only junior year PSAT counts for National Merit) but SAT/ACT etc students are on their own - most take spring of junior year. Seniors get to work on things like resumes, getting recommendations, cpr training etc. that day.

Just heard last night that they switched graduation from Friday June 1st to Sunday June 3rd. DD's family party might be on Saturday June 2nd since it is a combined party with my nephew who is graduating college the weekend before.

DD found out today she got into an honors program at a safety school even though she didn't do the application. It isn't a school she really wants and it is the only school thus far that didn't offer merit but it is about the cheapest. I'm sure after she sits in a class Friday for her top choice school she will be sure she wants to go there though we are crossing our fingers the financial aide appeal works.

 

[VictoriaT]

I bet your son gets in to MI. Lots more notifications going out over the next couple weeks. My daughter got into Tech too but they gave her only $4400, which wasn't enough to make her want to be up in the middle of nowhere and be surrounded by a bunch of guys, go figure

My daughter also had to accept a scholarship, even though she did not accept admittance (to Oakland University). Oakland offered her the best money so far, $16,000 a year, which almost covers everything, at least 3/4 of COA. Too bad she really doesn't want to go there. She is really leaning towards MI State, who has given her $8300 so far. She would be in the Honors College and Lyman Briggs College there. She just did a scholarship competition at Wayne State over the weekend. She really doesn't want to go there, either , I think she is just racking up scholarship offers to make her "offer board" look good at school (her STEM school puts all the schools and $$ they offered behind them in a pic that goes up on their website). I don't know if U of M is generous or not? If you live in state and make more than $65,000 I am thinking not. But at least they cost about the same as State. She has the regent's scholarship at MI, and not sure if anything else yet. I kind of want her to go there, but she is balking a little right now. Ann Arbor is closer to our home too, which makes it more attractive to me anyway !

I hope we hear from Michigan soon, but not counting on it. DH and FIL will be thrilled if he is accepted, making him a third generation Wolverine. I would have liked to have another Spartan, but I digress .....
Oakland is in my backyard, almost. We walk to Meadowbrook for various concerts. I couldn't get any of mine to even think about applying there, even though it is a great school and the new dorms are beautiful!

DS' best friend is headed to Michigan Tech (the only school he applied to), so he will be happy there if it is his final destination. They are both avid skiers, and are not deterred by the possibility of 9 months of winter.

We are lucky to have to so many great schools in Michigan, so almost any school our kids choose will be fine. It's a good problem to have.

 

[mommy2mrb]

DD got email from Boston College today. They are reviewing her (deferred from EA) application and will send decision by 3/20. It’s a bit of a reach, but she’s in the running still!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

My daughter is very happy. She just found out she got into one of her favorite colleges that we toured. She is on the deferred list for one college and if she makes it in, she'll choose that one she said.
But if she doesn't get in, she has a college to go to that she liked.

She also checked her volunteer hours to wear the Rainbow cord for the National Art Honor Society at the graduation ceremony. She has enough hours now so she knows she'll be wearing that which also makes her happy. We paid for the cord today - only 12.00. Very cheap compared to everything else we'll be paying for.

This weekend we begin Prom dress shopping. She plans on going with a group of friends if no one asks her so she needs a dress. Should be fun if she doesn't let herself get stressed out during it.

 

[Kellydelly]

My daughter is teaching herself how to play the saxophone right now . She wants to be in the marching band in whatever college she picks. She was marching with flute in high school, but usually plays the clarinet in band class. I am not sure how she knows how to play a saxophone too but she's doing pretty well! I guess one school only marches brass instruments or something along those lines (Michigan State), so she needs to be able to play one. Good thing I bought the neighbor's kids' old saxophone a couple years ago, it is coming in handy right now ! Anyone else's kid planning on marching for their college?

What is the National Art Honor Society? It seems like our high school has nothing that others do. We just have regular NHS and the volunteer hours are kind of a joke, mainly comprised of bake sale table time. I have not been impressed with how they run the organization.

Can I just say that I am so glad that these days you don't need a date for Homecoming or Prom? If that were the case my poor kid would never get to participate. I am grateful that the friend group thing has become popular. I was lucky enough to go to three proms in high school with dates (well, not sure if they were great dates, lol!). My sister never got asked to go (and back in the late 80s nobody went stag at our school), and in fact my mom made her give me the dress that she bought for senior prom to wear to my junior prom (no wonder we have issues now). My senior just isn't into dating, but she will go with her group of friends, which is nice.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

My daughter is teaching herself how to play the saxophone right now . She wants to be in the marching band in whatever college she picks. She was marching with flute in high school, but usually plays the clarinet in band class. I am not sure how she knows how to play a saxophone too but she's doing pretty well! I guess one school only marches brass instruments or something along those lines (Michigan State), so she needs to be able to play one. Good thing I bought the neighbor's kids' old saxophone a couple years ago, it is coming in handy right now ! Anyone else's kid planning on marching for their college?

What is the National Art Honor Society? It seems like our high school has nothing that others do. We just have regular NHS and the volunteer hours are kind of a joke, mainly comprised of bake sale table time. I have not been impressed with how they run the organization.

Can I just say that I am so glad that these days you don't need a date for Homecoming or Prom? If that were the case my poor kid would never get to participate. I am grateful that the friend group thing has become popular. I was lucky enough to go to three proms in high school with dates (well, not sure if they were great dates, lol!). My sister never got asked to go (and back in the late 80s nobody went stag at our school), and in fact my mom made her give me the dress that she bought for senior prom to wear to my junior prom (no wonder we have issues now). My senior just isn't into dating, but she will go with her group of friends, which is nice.

The National Art Honor Society is alot like the National Honor Society except it involves Art. They have made pottery bowls and sold soup with the proceeds going to the homeless shelter in our area. The volunteers have worked at several school fairs - doing face painting and manning art booths where kids can go and color.
They did one of those paintings that is like a paint by number where you are handed out colors of paint and told what number to paint them on. It was done on canvas and turned out to be one of the teachers at the school who won an award. That was hung up in the commons area of the high school for awhile.

Yesterday they made buttons for the Robotics Club to take and hand out at the State Robotics Championship they are going to. The teacher in charge is trying to get permission from the school to allow them to create a chalk art mural on the entryway into the school one day as a student surprise. I'm not sure if that will get approved - our school is very strict about stuff like that. They don't allow senior pranks or the fancy prom invites on school grounds either.

They also have the NHS at our High School but they don't do as much so even though my daughter qualifies for it, she chose not to join.

She is a flute player but she chose not to join the Marching Band in High School and has no interest in doing it in college. I was surprised at that. She also plays the bass guitar so it will be interesting to see if she joins some sort of music club or band in college.

When I had my senior prom in 1981, we didn't have to have dates thankfully. A bunch of us girls went together and had a blast. Here I am 54 years old and I still have my senior prom dress. I can't fit into it but I still have it. LOL

 

[mickeyboat]

My head is spinning from all the activity in my house for the last month. My girls finished a bunch of scholarship applications, we celebrated senior night for ice hockey last night, and tomorrow they leave with a school group for Morocco. I am so excited for them, but a little excited for me, too, since there will be a short break in the madness.

DD17 was accepted Early Decision to Union College, and when she gets back we will figure out which accepted students day we will attend. She would like to study biomedical engineering. DD18 has been accepted to several schools (U of Maine, UNH, UVM, URI, Quinnipiac, Arcadia and Roger Williams). She is still waiting on Bryant and Bentley. She is also waiting for one more financial package to come in. She would like to study accounting. She needs to figure out which accepted students day she would like to attend. While they are gone I am going to make a spreadsheet of each school and the financial package offered, so we can compare apples to apples.

When they get back they will have to finish their ice hockey season, catch up on school work, do some more scholarship applications, find prom dresses, finish up their honors program projects (DD17 is establishing a school store and DD18 is doing a research paper on the effects of advertising), find summer jobs and make plans for graduation. We also need to figure out what we are doing for vacation this summer, and get ready for move ins. No wonder we are all so tired and stressed all the time. I need a nap after just typing it all out.

We are in the home stretch! Go, Class of 2018!

 

[mommy2mrb]

I graduated in 1981 too. Went with girl friends to prom, so much fun!!

DD will be going with group of friends boy and girls, not a lot of dating at her school. Only 109 in her class.

She took her state DECA test yesterday event is first weekend of March so she is studying a lot to prep.

I signed papers yesterday on our new home in MA and getting condo here in WA ready to put on market in April.

Thankful we have a fun weekend over Presidents’ Day. Seeing Hamilton Sunday and driving down to Portland that night-Tuesday.

When we get back it will be full speed ahead and total crazy town! Happy we already have her prom dress and shoes.

Congratulations on the new acceptances!

 

[Mickeypooh99]

We got an email yesterday from the senior parents advisory committee stating that yesterday marked 100 days until our seniors graduate, and that it seems like just yesterday we were celebrating 100 day for the 100th day of kindergarten. Oh my gosh did that make me emotional. It really does seem like yesterday! It really feels like we are entering the home stretch now.

 

[clori]

Mickeyboat - my daughter wants to do accounting. She is doing dual enrollment and has taken a bunch of business general ed classes.

Are you going to the Paul Scholars dinner Monday We are debating to going due to logistics but it might work out. I don't think UNH is a top choice though. My nephew went to Bryant and dd didn't like the location at all when we visited there even though she was younger. She felt it was too much in the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile her current top choice is similar but she is more familiar with the area. My niece went to URI which she loved but transferred to UNH due to cost (NH instate).

DD sat in on a beginner accounting class Friday. She already knew the material since she has taken intro to accounting classes (high school and dual enrollment) She loved the teaching style and class size (under 30). We are just crossing our fingers that the financial aide appeal helps a bit. Since it is also the school where she is invited to join the figure skating team she really wants this school.

City summer job applications are available the end of the month. It is the last year dd is eligible. I think she will apply. It is only 6 weeks and ends before we go on vacation in August then when we come back she won't have much time. I haven't talked to her about it.

Mommytomrb - welcome to my state!

 

[okeydokey]

We were invited to the High School today for the announcing of this graduating class Honor Court. The best part was that my son was given a note that he had something to pick up in the front office and it was his National Merit Finalist Certificate. This is what we were waiting for, it gives him a full scholarship to a Florida public University. Very exciting.

They also discussed the plans for the Honor Court lunch and the family banquet. It's nice that they do these.

 

[clori]

okeydokey - we don't have anything like honor court here. What is it?

 

[okeydokey]

okeydokey - we don't have anything like honor court here. What is it?

It’s the top twenty students in the school. They have some nice recognition events for them in the Spring, a teacher the student chooses will say a few words about the student, they have a slide show about their lives. This is during the family banquet in May.

They have a separate luncheon at a local restaurants just for the students. They also named the Valedictorian and Salutatorian today.