<p>I think a huge number of seniors slack offafter midyear grades, Ed or not. I think it has to be an avalanche of a slack off before acceptances are in jeopardy, especially at nonelite schools.</p>
<p>I think one aspect protecting ED kids from revocation is that, because they have already accepted the school, they save the school having to recurit 4 accepted kids to get the same yield. And revoking an acceptance can hurt a nonelite school for years at an HS.</p>
<p>on line grades are a mother’s best friend. 
Not so much for my oldest who is graduating. She is very responsible and always on top of her teachers. My 11 yo, however needs some prodding and I like to prod way before the grades become an issue.</p>
<p>congrats on the last day of finals!</p>
<p>Rockvillemom - you had mentioned looking into Skidmore. If you are willing to look north you may want to consider a few other schools, Bryant, Bentley, Ithaca and some SUNY’s, maybe Albany. I think these have all been mentioned before. I think of Skidmore as more artsy.</p>
<p>Interesting discussion on ED. If D really falls in love with a school we might consider it, but the financial impact could be tough. I have heard it is not easy getting the schools to let you out of the ED decision, even if you say it’s financial.</p>
<p>I agree with the point of telling your kids to watch what they say about college decisions. To this day, I still feel very badly about what I did my senior year. My guidance counselor called me to her office to say that she got a call from X college and they wanted to talk about my application. This was my safety school. She called them back with me there, they had a few general questions and then asked her if I would consider switching my application to ED (or something along those lines). I was telling the story to a friend after and being a little obnoxious about it, when another girl asked me if I was talking about X college. I said yes. She said that was her dream school. Turns out that she didn’t get in and I didn’t go there. So yes, someones safety could very well be someone’s dream school.</p>
<p>As far as online grades, it drives my kids nuts! They are very responsible, but when I see something that I don’t like, I can’t help being all over them. I hate when the teachers put a 0 in, when the kid is out and misses something. That really drags down the grade in the class and stresses me out until it is fixed!</p>
<p>In addition to the list of ED questions for the parents to answer “yes” to, there’s the list for the child:
*Does my child want to apply ED?
*Does my child want to apply ED because they love this one school above all others?
*Was applying ED my child’s idea?
*Has my child visited the ED school at least once while school is in session?</p>
<p>I make mostly A- on all my grades in Honors/AP Classes. And I’m applying ED at JHU.</p>
<p>Just want to give everyone a head’s up that this year - the on-line common app will not be active until August 1 - this is later than previous years when it was up July 1. You can look at a preview copy on-line to start working on a rough draft over the summer. The main changes I saw was that the EC section and work section have been combined into one and the section for self-reporting your test scores has been expanded.</p>
<p>Levirm: Thanks for your suggestion re: game design at Emerson. I’ve put it on my list and when the time comes, I’ll definitely look into it!</p>
<p>rockvillemom, we were told that the essay questions are unchanged, which is really the hard thing to get done over the summer. The kids can start today on that (but mine at least won’t).</p>
<p>The preview Common App has a ‘green’ highlighted area for religion, does that mean it is new? And I assume this could be a good thing?</p>
<p>(BTW - for those who responded to me about U of Denver…OMG I am drooooooling…maybe my kid will too!)</p>
<p>Common app - the essay questions have not changed - so you can certainly start on those over the summer. Don’t forget about supplements where required. Everything shaded in gray/green is new - yes - I saw the optional religion question - I think that is a good thing. In my view, if colleges want Jewish kids, that’s great. And if they don’t, then we don’t want them, so I think it is a good thing.</p>
<p>Interesting about them putting the question about religion on the application. If the colleges are looking for diversity in their students, I would think answering this could help if applying to colleges with 10% or less Jewish kids. But maybe at the schools already in the 20 - 30% range of Jewish kids it would hurt? It will be interesting to hear feedback after the college admissions round this year.</p>
<p>Mdmom raises the right issue–and I would answer the way Rockville did–it might help, hurt or be neutral, but if it would hurt, then you do not want them anyway (contrary to Groucho Marx’s view that he would not join any club which would admit him as a member).</p>
<p>re: Common Ap, new optional religion question - I just looked it up, curious about wording and context.
Under “Demographics” they give an option to type in “religious preference” leaving a short blank. That’s a shade different than asking one’s “religion.” Also it’s prefaced by a non-discrimination clause. </p>
<p>For context, here’s a piece of the “Demographics” section of the new Common App (“Preview” <a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/CommonApp2011.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/CommonApp2011.pdf</a>)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And that’s it. It’s preceded by some mandatory questions (languages spoken) and followed by more things in the Optional category regarding racial/ethnic identity (Asian, Pacific Islander …) </p>
<p>IN fact it might help Hillel, Neumann House (Catholic), Muslim Student Association, various Protestant chaplains and other organizations do a more accurate count or initial reach-out to freshmen who indicated they do prefer a given religion. Certainly it’s been noted on this thread that Hillel estimates aren’t always accurate, and usually they’re on the lower side of what people intuit about the school.</p>
<p>It also lets a student express a negative perception (for example, “None” or “Atheist” or “Leave me alone!”) or leave it blank.</p>
<p>Paying3, that is all true, but I do not follow your distinction between asking about “religion” and “religious preference.” What answer could you give for “religious preference” that you coul dnot for “religion”?</p>
<p>Someone might be in the process of conversion at the time of application, in which case their “religion” doesn’t equate with their “religious preference.”</p>
<p>They might be from a serious fundamentalist home and wish they weren’t. So instead of having to write what they know is the parent’s religion, in which they’re raised and currently attend, but are struggling away from – that student might compose words to distance themself from it a bit. </p>
<p>Another one: Many kids think they need their family to Belong to a church or synagogue, offically, in order to name that as their religion. They DO “prefer” it so can feel welcome to name it here. </p>
<p>“Religious Preference” could be a student raised without any religious context at all, who has gone to some services and is intrigued enough to think that is what they’d prefer IF they had a religion.</p>
<p>I also think it’s more open-minded phrasing because it allows for the answer “None” without implying that every student <em>should</em> have a religion. </p>
<p>My daughter’s Facebook Profile, on “Religious Views” has only this: “I Like Religions.” So there’s the creativity factor, too ;)</p>
<p>My facebook status says “Pantheist.”</p>
<p>^ Divine cooking at Mythmom’s house, 24/7!</p>
<p>I once said I did not belong to an “Organized religion”–I am Jewish.</p>
<p>There’s always FSM, too.</p>
<p>“There’s always FSM, too.”</p>
<p>OMG thanks for the reminder. DS would absolutely put that one down, I will watch for it.</p>