Do yourself a favor

What I wish...

Is that someone had shown us the Common Application form back in 8th grade or so, but definitely no later than the first two weeks of high school. If we had known then what we'd be faced with filling out 3 years later, a lot more of what we kept hearing about from our parents, teachers and counselors would have made more sense.

These big blank sections really get your attention: Academics. Honors. Extracurricular Activities and Work Experience.

If you are a parent reading this, it's never too early to show your child the Common App. Think of it as a reality check - what's on this form will determine how they will be viewed, evaluated and ultimately either accepted or rejected by a college, maybe their perfect college.

Think of it as the finish line, and show it to your kid before the race gets started.

School's out!

The end is in sight! No, wait, that's just the start of summer school.

Dual credit classes at nearby college, 4 hours a day, 5 days a week.

I think of it as a practice run for college.

This is way better than dual credit classes offered on my high school campus at 7:00am, which just sounds crazy.

College, so many choices

Parameters

I'm trying to come up with some minimums and maximums for college size, based on the choices a lot of the college search programs ask you for.

Do I want a college that is smaller than my high school? (Will I ever see anyone I don't already know?)

Do I want a college where the football stadium holds more people than the population of the town where I live?

Does this mean I'm a grown up now?

11 weeks.

Summer used to stretch out forever. Now I know it's only 11 weeks. Was it always that short, and I just didn't know it?

Goodbye to all this?

Junior-itis? Or is it just me?

My best friend is a senior, and he - no surprise - has a bad case of senior-itis. He's more than just a little crazy these days, but he's looking at prom and graduation and a summer job and then the rest of his life...

Me, it's just like I woke up in a new world that on one hand feels so much more serious and full of acronyms (ACT, SAT, GPA, ED, EA) while on the other hand is all about just being a kid (OK, a big kid) just a little while longer. Get a few of us together at lunch, and we are one big pile of crazy.

Is it the pressure? Maybe. Or are we just mature enough to know our days as kids are numbered?

Save the manual transmission!

Old school. And I've got it bad.

Must have a manual transmission car. The end.