<p>My older daughter leaves on a birthright trip on December 26th. She’s really looking forward to it. This is her third attempt. We’ve learned that students have the best chance for getting placed on a trip organized by their school. I’ll report back after she returns. </p>
<p>Good luck trying to get your kids to complete applications during the summer. I tried, but didn’t have much luck. My daughter did complete her resume, firmed up her list of schools, and met with her GC over the summer. Once school started, it was hard to get her to focus on essays and applications, but she did submit 5 applications before the end of October, thanks to some nagging from me. She also completed all her testing in June. I think that this really helped. We had firm scores so we could finalize her list, and she had more time for applications in the fall. She took the SAT in March, and ACTs in April and June. Fortunately, she didn’t apply to any schools that required subject tests if you submitted ACTs. Her friends are really jealous that she’s finished while some of them are still completing apps and waiting for their first acceptance.</p>
<p>college4three - think Brandeis would be too intense academically for my son - he’s looking for a more casual atmosphere with sports and Hillel probably of equal importance to him at this point. I think he’s pretty happy with our list of Elon, Muhlenberg, Susquehanna, Towson, JMU and College of Charleston. I think that might be it. We’ll see what happens after he finishes the first semester and takes the ACT again in February.</p>
<p>momjr - I’ll let you know how it goes - but I have found that S2 is much more flexible and easier to deal with - so I really think getting at least 2 - maybe 3-4 done by Labor Day weekend is doable.</p>
<p>Slithey Tove - in my experience - high schools don’t send out first quarter grades. My son’s hs sends out mid-year grades after the first semester concludes - but that is not until February. Do other schools actually send out first quarter grades? My thought for S2 was that we would fax his first quarter grades to the various schools ourselves if he does really well - but I have never heard of our large hs doing that.</p>
<p>RVM, Tufts asks ED applicants to fax in their first quarter grades. As you say, it’s not a common part of the application process. That said, I think that the same cautionary tale applies to first semester grades, which everyone does send in as part of RD.</p>
<p>RVM - Not a regular poster here but thought I might add something about first quarter grades. When my S1 applied ED to his dream school (2009 HS grad) his GC offered to fax his 1st quarter grades (he did very well) along with a note from her. I think its probably best if the info comes from the school not the parent. I would imagine your GC would send them if you asked. Never hurts to try!!</p>
<p>Also thanks again for the info you all provide - it is great! My S2 is also a junior and is considering several of the schools discussed here. In addition, his older brother is also very academic and is at S2’s idea of the “perfect school”. Unfortunately, I"m afraid he will compare every school to his brother’s school which will probably be a big huge reach for him and not a realistic option.</p>
<p>^^dwhite: while my older daughter is not at your S1’s school, it was down to the wire with that decision in 2008; when she chose the “other school” my younger daughter declared right then and there, “I would have chosen otherwise”…</p>
<p>I tell this story because this past year when my younger daughter started and completed her search, she was ALWAYS looking for a “Vandy look-alike” since she loved that school back then and knew she wouldn’t be a viable candidate…</p>
<p>From what I have read on other websites (and I tend to agree) there is a spectrum that kind of goes like this: (not my idea btw but I do agree)</p>
<p>Duke>Vandy>Wake Forest>Furman>Tulane (not sure about this one)>Elon</p>
<p>This is on the selectivity spectrum not necessarily "fit’ all the way around…</p>
<p>net-net: D2 will be attending Elon next fall…</p>
<p>My son had three colleges ask him for his first quarter grades this fall. We decided to send them off to them and any other college that he had not heard back from. I figured as long as we were asking guidance to send three, why not just include stamped and addressed envelopes for the rest? He has a challenging set of classes and is doing well so I thought there would be no harm.</p>
<p>Rodney I think your selectivity is just a little off. I think it would go</p>
<p>Duke> Vandy> Wake>Tulane>Elon>Furman but I’m no expert on the Southern Colleges. Just looked up the numbers for the last three on college data.</p>
<p>our high schools automatically sends out first quarter grades to all schools on every students list. This is the only quarter from our high school colleges see; usually it’s by semester.</p>
<p>The Elon vs. Furman comparison is always an interesting one. For those not concerned with Jewish life - I think if you are interested in Elon you should check out Furman as well. However, I personally do not see Furman as a fit for Jewish students. Interesting side note is that Elon’s ED apps were down about 14% this year - while Furman’s were up tremendously - I think it was over 50%. Any guesses as to why? </p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback on first quarter grades - I guess we’ll just wait and see if any schools request them - and then see if we can get GC to send! Our large public hs is not exactly known for being cooperative with parents.</p>
<p>^^RM: yea, I didn’t consider the Jewish life question when I posted; agree about the Furman discussion…</p>
<p>I still think the drop in ED at Elon may be a result of the EA option; there are 20 kids at my daughter’s school waiting for the EA result who LOVE Elon but just did not want to commit if they could possibly get a non-binding decision three weeks after the ED…</p>
<p>I would imagine that any school that has both an EA and an ED would not see a large population applying ED…</p>
<p>I don’t really know enough about Furman to compare, but I have read on CC that it is a more academically “intense” environment; not sure it is a good comparison though…it is half the size of Elon…more like a LAC</p>
<p>I do remember last year, BobbyCT’s daughter was deciding between the two schools and chose Furman because she felt that the students were more “serious”…(his words on CC not mine)…she also felt that Elon took chances with students that she didn’t feel belonged there (see the 2014 ED results thread…)</p>
<p>Rodney - Thank you and yes I have seen that same list! We did tour Duke and Wake with S1 and will see Wake again with S2. In addition, we will visit Elon and Tulane in the spring. I have heard many great things about Elon (on this forum and first hand) and am really looking forward to visiting. Congrats to your daughter.</p>
<p>About Furman - although we are not Jewish, we do want a school with diversity and I really don’t think Furman offers much of that.</p>
<p>I too thought/hoped that relying on EA and rolling schools would mean senior grades would be irrelevent, but am beginning to think that even if my D gets a few hoped for EA acceptances, we may still be seeing one or two deferrals which she will want to pursue. And that will mean not only keeping up, but perhaps even getting up her senior grades. </p>
<p>So far she is doing really well first semester of her senior year (we sent 1st Q grades to all her schools and she is still doing very well). She also had a number of health problems in her first two years which caused her to miss school and do poorly on tests which she adamantly didn’t want to mention in any of her applications. Her Junior year she improved slightly and took H and AP courses which many schools will compute to raise her GPA higher than her own schoo didl. If she does well again first semester, I may have to revisit that discussion with her as well.</p>
<p>To quote Michael Corleone, “Just when I thought I was out, they keep pulling me back in.”</p>
<p>dwhite - my older son is a very happy sophomore at Wake Forest - so feel free to PM me if you have any questions.</p>
<p>mhc48 - I am impressed that your daughter did not want to mention her health issues. I generally hear quite the opposite - students use the optional info section of the application or ask their GC to address various health issues, concussions, etc.</p>
<p>In terms of senior grades, I think you should assume that they might matter. Some ED/EA schools ask for 1st quarter grades, and all RD school ask for a mid-year report. The kids can relax a bit second semester.</p>
<p>I can answer some questions about Furman (I live in Greenville and our Rabbi is the Jewish “chaplain.”) It’s a very intensely academic LAC. An absolutely beautiful campus. A handful of Jewish professors, including one of my best friends. Very few Jewish students. The students are much more conservative than the faculty. I’m guessing that it’s more selective than Elon but I’m basing that on the high caliper of students from our area who go there. I don’t think it an option for most B students and would not work for any student looking for a Jewish presence.</p>
<p>The son of a good friend of mine applied to the program that combines Columbia and List College…what do you guys know about that program. He is a very strong student so not really the subject of this thread, but I figured this was a good place to ask!</p>
<p>Re: List (Jewish Theological Seminary/Columbia jt program)</p>
<p>List is a great program for a student who really wants to be there. Every student I’ve known who has gone there has loved it – but it is definitely a self-selecting student body. (My info may be a couple of years old – if there have been recent changes I might not be aware of them.)</p>
<p>It is a very intense program – They have a major at JTS and a major at Columbia. (there is also a joint program with Barnard for women) It requires considerably more credit hours to complete than a typical college program. The official position is that it can be completed in 4 years – but it is not easy to do. Most kids I’ve known there have taken courses over summers or an extra term to complete. It requires the students to achieve at least a certain level of Hebrew proficiency. As I said, every student I knew who went there loved it, but they worked really hard.</p>
<p>So the students need to know what they are getting into and really want it. Any prospective student should definitely visit – I know they did very good junior and senior visiting days (at least as of the last I spoke to a student applying, which was a couple of years ago).</p>
<p>They have their own dorms and the kids share kitchens (I believe they have to adhere to at least a certain level of kashrut). Definitely a close community at JTS and then they also have everything Columbia has to offer.</p>
<p>FYI – the Joint program is with Columbia School of General Studies, not Columbia College – I don’t think that affects what courses they can take – its just where the program is.</p>
<p>edit – just also thought to add – though JTS is the seminary for the Conservative Movement, List does not require students to be Conservative or to adhere to any specified level of observance (other than the kashrut requirement in the shared kitchens) – I’ve known of both Orthodox and Reform students who attended – but I’d say there is definitely a fairly high level of observance or at least religious awareness among the student body there which is why many of them choose to attend there.</p>
<p>If one is looking at student SAT/ACT scores, Tuane would come before Wake in that southern list. But, from what I see all are fine schools, on par with one another and mostly a matter of fit.</p>