<p>My son just got back from his Birthright trip. What a fabulous experience he had! He travelled with a group of “DC Young Professional”-- all college grads, all living in DC.</p>
<p>In his only somewhat biased opinion, he thinks it was better taking this trip at this older age, as compared to at 18 or 19. While still highly regulated, as adults, the participants are given more freedom and the staff is a tad less heavy handed. Plus, he felt that the participants as a whole appreciated the whole package so much more, as a factor of their maturity. One of the Israelis who accompanied their group is going to be in DC this fall, and plans have been made for him to stay with my son while he is in DC.</p>
<p>One of my good friends from the decade in which S3 travelled the country playing soccer always marveled at the “only 2 degrees of separation” in the Jewish community. She could never quite understand how Jewish people would tend to pick each other out in all sorts of situations–and then commence playing Jewish geography–and quickly discover that there were people they knew in common.</p>
<p>The most recent funny situation: S2’s girlfriend was born in Israel, and moved to Connecticut when she was a young child. She went to a Jewish overnight camp…where she was friends with my daughter in laws sister. My daughter in law’s family is from Boston.</p>
<p>I wish they could do birthright both times. One benefit of doing it early in college with the school Hillel is to make friends that will be there the next few years. As a college grad, it can be even harder to make new connections. It’s a great time to do that then too.</p>
<p>Mumof2 we are from Florida so scores are out on Saturday. He is waiting on CompSci and Cal BC. He is very excited now that the days are approaching.</p>
<p>good luck ddahwan and to everyone waiting for AP scores! Yeah, now that it is July, D2 is leaving for college NEXT MONTH and it is becoming very real, especially since she got her dorm assigment last week. I really don’t want to rush it though, well miss her so very much!</p>
<p>Hi all,
I’m back on this thread after a long while of hiding my head in the sand due to my anxiety over this whole process. I so appreciate the support you all have given each other, though I’ll never be able to catch up on all the posts prior to this, it’s been great to sift thru some of it, and get bits and pieces from those of you who’ve seen this through and whose kids are so happy with their choices.</p>
<p>Recap: my son just finished his jr. year with a less than stellar performance at his public HS in MA, B-‘s to B+’. These are all Honors, and 1 1/2 AP courses. I think the UGPA is 3.2 (hope it hasn’t gone down!) Actually the PreCalc says C + but that may be a mistake because they took off for absences, including field trips, that should have been excused–hopefully that one is getting fixed.
SATs 2nd try: CR 640, M 760, W 780. Another one of those boys with Exec Dysfunction, ADD etc, not the most motivated in terms of study habits, school refuses accommodations.
Does he even have a shot at Elon, the first school we looked at and that is still his fav?
No hook, he has been on the crew team since spring of 9th grade (but sadly, got demoted from fast boat to barely rowing as the other boys outgrew him :(. He also applied for and got into this MIT Leadership training program but of course is struggling to complete his project, so I don’t know how that will look. I am feeling sad for him as things do not seem to be getting easier in terms of performance.
When we went to the Elon orientation, they talked about needing (?) a 3.5 gpa for admission–but is this based on Elon’s own weighting scale? I hope so, because with Honors and more APs next year, maybe it’s not as dismal as it seems.
Thanks so much for any feedback!</p>
<p>Hi, I absolutely think he has a good chance at Elon, especially if he applied ED. The ED acceptance rate is usually around 80%! They do recalculate GPA - adding 1 point for honors and 2 points for AP. So, a B in an honors class is worth 4 points, rather than 3 points. A B in an AP class would be worth 5 points. Do this recalculation just on the solids - math, science, English, social studies and foreign language. Exclude classes like art, music and gym. That will give you an idea of the GPA they will use.</p>
<p>I believe so. S2 applied for and received FA for his freshman year - when we had 2 in college. The award matched what the net price calculator predicted. Since he applied ED, they could have given him nothing. So, at least for us, ED had no negative impact on FA.</p>
<p>Hi all. I’ve been working way too much, but I just had to catch up here!</p>
<p>Nikki, I would definitely keep taking the ACT. My son’s first was 29, but he kept doing practice tests and got up to 32. He will be heading to Miami next month (!) with a nice merit scholarship! Have you considered Maryland? My son got into College Park Scholars and got some merit money there which I think brought the cost down to what you are looking for (I think). I don’t know about the biz school as he is in engineering. </p>
<p>As far as English ACTs, DS did get his score up eventually but not to 32! So he will be taking English at the U! His English professor grandma (retired) is horrified that he only needs a few liberal arts type classes, but he is thrilled at the prospect of almost all math and science classes!</p>
<p>For those I’ve known on this thread for years, the update on my DD is that she is happily working at her URJ camp again and getting ready for senior year at UD. </p>
<p>Hope you all have a fun and safe holiday today!.</p>
<p>Rockvillemom, I read your post about Elon recalculating GPAs for honors and AP classes. I had not heard of this or seen on websites this at other colleges. Is this common practice?</p>
<p>Yes. Most colleges will recalculate GPA as they need to have one common system to measure applicants by. High school students will have transcripts that calculate GPA on all different scales - 100 points, 10 points, 4 points, etc. And they will have different systems for honors and AP classes. So, the typical college will do something like Elon, where they ignore the grades from art, gym, music and other electives, and recalculate using the 5 solid areas of study. Some may add additional weight for honors and AP, some don’t, but give a higher internal mark for academic rigor when evaluating the applicant.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about it too much, as most schools are not very transparent about their system. But it makes sense to recalculate the hs GPA so that all applicants are being evaluated on the same system.</p>
<p>rockvillemom – I was heartened by your post about Elon recalculating GPAs – I had heard that some schools do recalculate for honors and AP classes (which makes sense). And if I remember correctly from our info session at Elon, they also super score the ACT (which not a lot of schools do).</p>
<p>Hi everyone! I have a rising senior who ended up junior year with a 2.84 GPA (but with 3 honors classes). His super scored ACT is a 23 and I’m going to have him take it one last time in September. He also has a learning disability (504 plan from kindergarten through high school) and I’m also looking at test optional schools. I’m not Jewish, but I’ve been following this thread with interest – so much good information and everyone is friendly – hope it’s ok I’m here.</p>
<p>I went through this process once before with my daughter, and like rockvillemom, I swore it would be better the 2nd time around. She applied ED to one school, and had no other apps prepared, so when she got deferred, we had about 11 days to do 12 apps. What a nightmare! She finally got in off the WL at Emory and is very happy there, so it all turned out ok.</p>
<p>Today was the day my son was supposed to get his ap score, but it said score delayed. Has anyone else had this experience? When did the score arrive?</p>
<p>Welcome Classof2015! There are several non-Jewish parents here on this board too. I’m glad that you have found it to be helpful. That’s good news about your D- that had to be stressful. I’m not sure what colleges your S is interested in. Near Elon is Guilford College if you are planning to be in the area. As I recall, one family here found it to be supportive of students with learning differences. I’m not sure about Goucher’s resources, but it’s another one that’s been mentioned. I think both are test optional. I’m sure others on this board will be informative.</p>
<p>Rockvillemom, thank you for explaining the GPA.</p>
<p>Next question for you… Do the colleges know enough about the actual high schools that they understand say MCPS Red Zone Schools from W schools? That a preIB, IB, or AP class in a Red Zone school is not the same as say at RM? That even the goal in these classes are not the same?</p>
<p>Thanks Pennylane! I will check out Goucher and Guilford. He is also interested in Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Lafayette, College of Charleston. I think he would definitely benefit from applying ED somewhere (Elon or Gettysburg) for the admissions boost because his GPA and scores aren’t that great.</p>
<p>My business partner (who is Jewish) went to American and keeps telling me to have him apply there, but I don’t think S would get in. My partner jokes he would never get in if he were applying today. </p>
<p>S also likes Hobart William Smith, Sewanee and Rhodes.</p>
<p>If he likes Sewanee, he might want to check out Berry College in Georgia. It’s about an hour and a half away from Emory, so an easy drive if you want to visit your daughter. The school, admittedly quite conservative, has the largest continuous land holdings of any school in the country, is extremely wealthy, and simply gorgeous. It’s also noticeably less selective than Sewanee with an extreme gender imbalance. Not sure about the LD support though. </p>
<p>Here are some other schools he might want to check out:
-Lynchburg College (good LD support)
-Roanoke College
-Hartwick College (very close to SUNY Oneonta which may provide curricular and social benefits)
-Juaniata College
-Christopher Newport University (VA public)</p>