Parents of the HS Class of 2013 - 3.0 to 3.3 GPA - Page 74

anniezz · 10-23-2012, 04:18 PM

Yay! One teacher rec is in! D asked 4 teachers to make sure that she'd get 2, but this (wonderful) teacher is the one to submit it.

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jkiwmom · 10-23-2012, 05:22 PM

Yea, Anniezz!

My D did come home today with some good news. She has talked to one of the two teachers, and he said he'd be happy to send the rec for her. One down, one to go...

mamaduck · 10-24-2012, 05:13 PM

We are polishing the Common App for submission as soon as SAT scores arrive tomorrow.

One problem we're having is how to do the hours/week for an activity that is 24/7. Specifically, DD was an exchange student for six weeks in Bolivia. Also, should we include the weeks we hosted a Bolivian student in our home?

Joisymom · 10-24-2012, 05:43 PM

Mamaduck - perhaps include in the addditional info section instead of EC section?

reeinaz · 10-24-2012, 06:19 PM

STILL in application limbo, waiting for the school to do their part. Grrr! But, since my son's school has a whacky way of calculating GPA, the GPA of a straight A student is only 3.88, I found out today that his 3.3 converted to a 4.0 scale is really a 3.4. A bit too late for self reporting and the transcript still says 3.3 so I'm wondering what the point of giving us a conversion scale was.

Jane345 · 10-24-2012, 11:05 PM

First acceptance, U of Oregon, one of my son's top choices! Sooooooo relieved. I know there will be some disappointments ahead for him, and for all our kids who are squarely within this thread, but that first offer is still just so sweet. Just what he needed to face a week of mid-terms that start tomorrow. Phew, phew, phew.

HeavyLidded · 10-24-2012, 11:21 PM

Chemusic- thanks for the pep talk. Jkiwmom- thanks for the pep talk

DD submitted a few supplements tonight. YAY!! She has written approximately 12 versions of the common app eassay and scratched all of them. I think she is having some type of existential crisis. Y'know, "Who am I, really?" "Why am I here?" "What have I accomplished?" and is just struggling deeply. I keep telling her that this is only a portion of her application, but she is still paralyzed.

So Sunday will be "Write the Damn Essay" day, since DD would never want to cramp her social calendar and is completely booked for the rest of the weekend into next week and it is due on the Thursday. Her teachers have still not uploaded her letters. She asked them in May! ARGH.

Oh- and 3rdtimearound? I kind of want to hug your DD. Perseverence pays off. She will be accepted to a college and will flourish!

anniezz · 10-24-2012, 11:36 PM

Oh HL, I feel for your D! Similar things going on here - not quite 12, but still some difficulty getting the words on paper in a way that says what she wants.

I know that we have awesome kids, and I hope that they know it... but it's so hard for 17/18 year olds to be able to write something extraordinary in this kind of time pressure, that really tells the story of who they are, and that THEY are happy with!

wow, did that make any sense at all? I think moms have trouble putting words together too!

EliKresses · 10-25-2012, 12:52 AM

If it causes anyone to fret less over his or her own child, my ED deadline is November first and I still haven't finished my Common App essay, nor have I started my personal statement or my supplement essay.

Can anyone tell me what should go in a personal statement though, exactly? I'm thinking about gojng with something anout when I was Senior Patrol Leader of my Boy Scout troop, and what it taught meand how difficult it was to lead without disciplining people and what not. Not sure if it's supposed to be an essay-like production, or if if's just supposed to elaborate on one activity a teeny tiny bit more than before. Any help?

And I think it's my first time posting here... I'm not a parent, and I actually have a 3.43 (withCs and Fs abound), but I feel like I'll fit in, from what I've read. =P

MyLB · 10-25-2012, 06:53 AM

Eli--is this a personal statement for a particular school? Or do you mean the "elaborate on an EC" short statement? All I can tell you is this should be about something that isn't addressed more fully in the rest of the application. I think Scouts sounds great.

Slow progress here, and <hopefully> a plan for being FINISHED. DS was told his second LOR will be uploaded by tomorrow (thanks to all of you wonderful teachers out there!). Tomorrow is a day off of school, I leave town on Monday, and as has been noted, next Thursday is the Dreaded Deadline. Hoping to have DS draft the short EC statement this afternoon after school, do some heavy editing on The Big One tomorrow (I'm off of work as well--it's my birthday!), polish everything off on Saturday (and by "Saturday" I mean "probably Sunday"), and let 'er rip.

3rdtimearound · 10-25-2012, 07:36 AM

New SAT scores this morning. Improvement seen. (relief). I hope all our students see some improvement.

Thank you heavylidded for your kind words.

Congratulations Jane 345. Take a deep breathe.....your child is going to college and accepted at a top choice, fantastic!

MyLB · 10-25-2012, 07:41 AM

Congrats on the SAT improvement and all of the acceptances for y'all's kids. I gotta say DS is about the only human being I know whose scores *dropped* at the second sitting. Oh well. And while I'm whining, he had his first app in to a rolling admissions school on August 2nd. Not a difficult school to get into, and I was wondering why he hadn't heard anything. I finally nudged him to ask his GC and I guess they wait until *all* LORs are in before sending even one transcript out. Grrr. . . . OTOH, maybe when they all do get sent he'll get a bajillion acceptances all together?? (<--I know. As if.)

mamaduck · 10-25-2012, 07:52 AM

Congrats to all on the acceptances and progress toward completing applications. The wait is grueling.

MyLB - my DD went into her 3rd SAT sitting with the express purpose of bringing up the low math score. Her CR and W scores dropped dramatically, but her math did go up 20 points. It was a hard earned 20! Thank goodness for score choice!

MyLB · 10-25-2012, 07:59 AM

Well--all in all he didn't end up too badly, but, really--I've just never heard of anyone doing worse on a second sitting (even back in my day). And he had just finished an SAT prep class. He said the problem was the June test was several days after school was out and he just was not in academic mode at all. Might be something to that. He would not even consider taking them again, so I guess we'll see.

Joisymom · 10-25-2012, 09:35 AM

School transcripts/recs still held up here waiting for one teacher's LOR - despite multiple requests. Really causing a lot of unecessary stress - D did her part getting apps, supplements, etc. done early and this teacher has had - literally- months. If not in by today, going to go ahead with the 2 LOR's she has - but one is not an academic teacher - was supposed to be the "bonus" letter. Guess the other can get sent in late when/if it gets written.

Annie/Heavy - A suggestion for your kids on the essay. Sounds like they might be overthinking it and trying to come up with the "big" idea. Perhaps they can just try writing "small." The essay could be about anything - how they like to fish with their grandpa or how much they love their dog. Over and over again I've heard the Admissions people say they want to hear who the student is rather than hear about some astounding feat or important lesson that's supposed to impress them.

Congrats Jane!

Eli - I think you are asking about the essay on an extracurricular. I don't remember the character count - but it needs to be pretty brief. If you've already focused on an EC in your main essay, pick a different one to focus on. Express what you've gained from participating and if you can add in a little creative flair - all the better.