The Senior went back to school today (yes, he is already out the door over an hour). He is NOT where I hoped he'd be be in the application process, which would be done. With the one acceptance in the bag, some pressure is off, but still, it would nice to be finished instead of this process continuing to drag on.
He was the only family member who stayed healthy throughout the break, but he spent almost all day every day working on either homework or the applications. The homework load is just ridiculous. All four of his academic classes gave piles of work over the break. Final exams start Wednesday, and he needs to bring it on these to make up for the triage system he has applied out of necessity to homework submission. There is an article in the local paper today focusing on our district and one other in the area that switched this year back to traditional scheduling, and how that has resulted in a dramatic increase in homework as kids (and teachers) learn to juggle more classes in fewer minutes per day. Now as a college professor, I have limited sympathy for whining about homework loads. My students are woefully unprepared to manage college-level intensity. But as a parent on the ground, I do agree, this has been ridiculous this year. The BC Calculus class that my oldest took when he was a senior, was blocked, 90 minutes a day for the entire year. This child is taking the same class, not blocked, 45 minutes a day for the entire year. The teacher is still trying to cover the same amount of material in half the time.
Anyway, except for Christmas and the one day we went to see Book of Mormon, the Senior has worked constantly. The current count is 4 of 7 applications submitted. The Common App was supposed to make this easier, and perhaps it does, but each school that he is applying to requires one or two additional essays. I feel like that back in the pen and paper days, it was easier to say done, even if it wasn't perfect. In the computer era, it is really easy to worry each essay to death. First Choice College had the most difficult essays, and he got it in on New Year's Eve. Two more submitted this weekend, including last night. (I had to miss the premier of Downton Abbey in order to be available for last minute proofreading, computer troubleshooting, and credit card submission). I am hoping he can get the next one done in the next day or two. All but one has a deadline of January 15th, so that is the end in sight. I couldn't care less about the final two on his list, but I think he does. The last one, which doesn't have a deadline until Feb 1 / March 1 (conflicting information) also has difficult essays. I also don't want this hanging out there this long. It is time to move on to summer job searches, etc.
Getting there, getting there . . .
