<p>Shulamit, I agree with Spectrums’s advice on the interviews. I think that a polo shirt and khakis or nice jeans would work. If it’s hot, kahkis shorts would be okay unless it’s a very conservative school. I also think that you can include orchestra on the activity list. I think that most kids include in-school ECs like band, dance and newspaper.</p>
<p>Pamom, good luck adjusting to your empty nest. My H and I are big football fans, so that got us through the fall. I also got more serious about working out and attending exercise classes which had a nice side effect. I also found that it helped to make weekend plans with other couples. It’s nice when you don’t have to worry about picking up anyone.</p>
<p>Spectrum - Happy Anniversary! Your trip sounds great. We took a family trip to Northern California this summer and it was wonderful.</p>
<p>ut-oh…since he has been having so many smoothies and is on a bit of a restricted diet we are talking about getting S2 a blender to make smoothies in his dorm…Linymom I hadn’t considered the possibilities this adds to the mix. Since this kiddo really does need to keep the alcohol consumption little to zero maybe we need to think this through a bit.</p>
<p>spectrum: ^ absolutely. Blenders and college kids…don’t mix (!).</p>
<p>I need to vent a minute. Just came back from the HS (had to drop off a summer assignment for DS) and it turns out the GCs are not in the office until September. Not answering email either, apparently, since I emailed DS’ GC on Monday. The secretaries are there though and assured me that I don’t have to worry, everything will get done. Of course it will! But I would like to get it done sooner rather than later. So we will have to wait until they are ready to provide GPA and rank. Would not be surprised if it’s October. I can wait, but October is super-annoying. This is the down-side to being in a district in which submitting college applications is not a competitive sport. DS will have to have everything ready to go - and just fill in GPA and rank when the school feels like providing it. I’m proud of myself that I’m not contacting my friend on the school board… yet.</p>
<p>I understand your frustration, Linymom, but it will all work out. Our district doesn’t release class rank until Oct. 1 so they can’t send out official transcripts until that date, but they were good about getting things out quickly after that.</p>
<p>By the way, if a college student wants to drink, I don’t think not having a blender will prevent it.</p>
<p>Well the time is almost here. The boxes have been shipped and we are beginnig to pack. Next Wednesday is the day we leave for Colorado. Reality is setting in and I am beginning to realize that my last is leaving. Though I am very excited for her, I am not looking forward to that moment when we leave. Good luck to everyone who is in the same boat.</p>
<p>Yes, the blender is something of a controversy. On the one hand, it mixes up the protein shakes (for after work outs) better than those hand shaker gizmos. On the other hand, of course that’s not the only thing it can be used for…</p>
<p>I did come up with a potential compromise - a single drink blender - made for sports drink bottles. Since it can only make a single drink, it’s not practical using for a crowd…at least in theory! ;p</p>
<p>And don’t worry about class rank not coming out until October…I am in one of those districts where applications are a competitive sport, and had to deal with that delay as well. It is frustrating, no doubt, but it does come out in time for applications.</p>
<p>Congrats and good luck to your D & you! You can help me through it in 2 years when our second and last leaves for college…</p>
<p>Our school does not rank at all, so no added pressure fortunately…are you able to send in common app, everything else and just call or mail in the rank after? I really don’t know how it works, but is it necessary to hold onto an app. just for that info?</p>
<p>Spectrum: thought about you the other day when I heard some crazy person shot some people near Texas A & M…honest to goodness, this world is getting scarier everyday…</p>
<p>Yes Chocchip, not a good feeling as we are packing and getting ready to go. I tongue in cheek asked my son if he might not prefer to go to an internet college. It was good to hear that events weren’t directed at students and that the gunman was killed, but still terrible to hear of so many of these incidents around the country.</p>
<p>Maryversity- that’s a great idea. I bought one for my husband when he travels because he makes protein shakes. Would be a nice idea for a college student. </p>
<p>…and to all the parents taking kids to school, I am there with you. My D-13 is my youngest so I have been down this path. It’s wonderful and not easy to see them go. Best wishes to all of you.</p>
<p>LINYMOM, having your DS ready to go is great. Do you have to wait for the class rank? Our local HS does not calculate class rank until the end of fall semester each year so we just use the one from jr year and update it later. I wonder if the colleges are aware that not all students have a current class rank and use the most up to date one they have. My kids have not finished as early as your DS is, so do not need transcripts before school starts.</p>
<p>Our school computes rank, to my knowledge, only once, at the end of junior year, and releases it in October of senior year. We truly had no idea where our daughter stood in terms of class rank until they told her.</p>
<p>About what Rodney said about WVU - that is a concern of mine, that D15 would be in a school without academic support and with a bunch of unmotivated students. She doesn’t need to be in a super-competitive school - actually, that would be a very bad idea - but I’d like to avoid the complete opposite as well. WVU was on our radar, but now I’m not so sure. </p>
<p>For OOS schools such as Univ of New Hampshire, Michigan State, etc. - which schools are either reasonably priced (under $30,000 for tuition, room, board) or known for giving decent need-based aid? D15 is @3.2 student - she’s not going to get merit aid unless there’s a dramatic upswing in her grades.</p>
<p>I know we have some folks on here with extensive knowledge of University of Maryland-CP so was wondering what you all can tell me about the competitive nature of getting in for an OOS student.</p>
<p>My daughter and son who are Juniors at Delaware acceptances were split down the middle (one didnt get in while the other got in for January). </p>
<p>My daughter’s grades are great-- 3.75 uw GPA with lots of AP classes and Honors, however her SAT’s were only in the mid 1800’s. Got a 28 on her ACT’s. I’m not sure if this is strong enough for Fall admission there. She’s really not interested in the freshmen connection option.</p>
<p>She’ll be retaking both her SAT and ACT in September. We live in New England, not sure if demographics plays into it at all there or if they are strictly numbers driven.</p>
<p>Thank you for any info. Good luck to all who are launching their young adults!!</p>
<p>LINYMOM- I will share your vent…I was helping another student with the college application process- at a different school system than my DD and her school did not have anything ready either-recent transcripts and class ranks…This student is not as ready with the essays as yours, but it still is frustrating to not have the info at hand.</p>
<p>I think the problem is budget cutbacks, the guidance office is mostly closed during the summer where is used to be open some of the time. They are probably up to their eyeballs the first week of school with new freshmen, schedule changes, registration… They probably want to scream when they see seniors coming at them… but still-it would be nice if they were available…</p>
<p>I have missed you guys…been away for vacation and busy shuttling the kids back and forth.
Anyway, it seems that many of you are in the launch-zone. It’s a bittersweet time, right?</p>
<p>I have a few years before I get back on the application treadmill, but I’m keeping my eyes on this thread anyway. You guys are a great resource for more than you can imagine.</p>
<p>Mazel tov to you and your kids. I’m sending out virtual hugs to those of you who are dropping kids off in the next little while, and I’m sending virtual margaritas to those who are entering the application season.</p>
<p>Hi. I would take end of junior year rank and GPA. I think that’s what we used for DD. I was chatting with a couple of friends last night (we were using my blender…). Both have their youngest going off to college next week (one to UD!). We were discussing how the school is so pushy about AP tests, the IB program, early college preparedness, etc… but god forbid you want to get a jump on applications… doesn’t work both ways I guess.</p>
<p>Jayne: Here we are ready to do apps again! UMD is really competitive for OOS (DD got in for freshman connection). My friend from Boston - her DD only got into freshman connection with 1400+ SAT and lowish GPA from very prestigious private HS). And that was two years ago. I’m afraid to count UMD as a “safety” for DS and he’s got 31 ACT (32 superscore). From our large public HS on Long Island, UMD is a harder admit than Miami and Lehigh.</p>
<p>@Jaynebe - Yes, UMD is very numbers driven - both test scores and gpa count heavily. The only SAT scores they look at are CR + M, so depending on the actual breakdown, a total for all 3 sections in the mid 1800’s may or may not be problematic. According to a conversion chart, a composite of 28 on the ACT is equivalent to a 1260, which is within range, so you may want to just send the ACT score. </p>
<p>Her uw GPA is terrific and since she has taken many AP’s and honors, it’s even better. FYI, they automatically convert weighted GPA’s to an unweighted scale since every school has a different range for weighted (some are on a 5 scale, some on a 6 and some on a 7) and I think that’s why some people are surprised by freshman connection admission despite weighted gpa’s above 4.0. If someone has mostly b’s in ap/honors classes, their unweighted gpa is actually much lower than they think and that is what UMD looks at for admissions. The issue about challenging courseload (ie number of AP classes) comes into play for candidacy for honors/scholars programs.</p>
<p>Where are you in New England? It actually does make a difference for OOS consideration. Historically, there has been a large pool of students from the NY-NJ-PA region, and they want to increase their geographic diversity for OOS. So, the further away you are the better.</p>