@thinmints and @CaucAsianDad Thanks for your responses. The 7th grade Latin is odd because it just kind of sits there on top of the transcript, since S wanted to take Spanish all along. So his transcript shows 6 years of a foreign language (not sure you get xtra brownie points for that). Whatever. S, though, is mortified that he received a C+ in Advanced Algebra/Trig this past year, even though the other students in the class (well, those that remained, as 1/4 of the class dropped out during the 1st quarter) got mostly B-s and Cs. But everything else on his transcript looks solid, just a few Bs and everything else As and A-s. UCF is still his top pick ā if he gets an acceptance, together with an OOS tuition reduction offer, he might be done with college selections by the end of October. Then the celebration can begin. :D/
Texas!
@suzyQ7 The school will set it up for you. We logged on to Naviance yesterday and there was a big box in our college list saying type in your CA userid to match it up and hit enter. Before you do that you must relinquish your rights to see your recommendations etc. since once it is matched up you cannot change that. We are required to relinquish our rights and most schools want to know you never saw the recommendations that gives it more weight apparently.
@nw2this yeah the NPC was an eye opener, and we didnāt know about it until I started lurking on here. What you think youāre going to pay for your kids to go to college and what youāre ACTUALLY going to pay-wow.
@nw2this florida- homeschool.
Mamelot and all who replied re UCF: thanks! I spent another hour looking around on the website, but I canāt figure it out. This is one of the things that scares me about DD even thinking about going to a large, bureaucratic school.
It did also look like the film school (1) requires portfolio by December (and yes, it doesnāt look like it canāt be a safety vis a vis film production per se (which is reason, other than NMF scholarship that sheād be interested in going there) since film program has its own application process), and (2) doesnāt allow a lot of room for non-film classes - another one of these schools where broad education is limited to a couple of āgen edā requirements in the first two years as if thatās just a nuisance to be able to say the students are getting a college education, rather than film school training, which is not our ideal (although, if itās free, there could be worse options!). Weāll see if thereās time to figure it out in time for applying, but my guess is that there wonāt be. I actually sent her SAT scores there (1600 on old SAT) to UCF just to try to use some of her free SAT reports, but they havenāt contacted her, so I guess theyāre not really into recruiting top academic students.
@Lea111 SVADās film production major culminates in the BFA degree which is a professional degree (as opposed to the BA/liberal arts degree). So right away thatās going to limit exposure to other subjects or preclude double majoring or even minoring in something else. If you are looking for the BA, there are lots of great options - the trick for you is finding one thatās affordable. USC is pretty generous with NMF money and Northwestern less so but both offer top film programs in the context of a university curriculum. BU and Syracuse are two additional well-respected programs (both give out scholarships, not sure about NMF). All of these are expensive private uniās, of course.
You and your D will have time to explore UCF a bit further. SVAD highly recommends meeting with one of the academic counselors and that was very helpful for us in terms of learning my Dās choice of major. (We also learned that the majority of kids admitted to the film major enter after freshman year so even if your D isnāt accepted directly she can still apply to the film program). Finally, they offer the BA in Film Studies so perhaps there are options for her to take some production courses on that track.
Thanks, Mamelot. I PMād you.
I have seen people mentioning Northwesternās NM scholarship, but every time Iāve looked on website, it appears to be just $2000 a year?
http://undergradaid.northwestern.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships-grants/northwestern-scholarships.html
Of course, since itās quite possible that DD will go to Northwestern or Chicago or some other place that offers a relatively small NM scholarship (we have these on the list), we would make sure she fills out the forms for NMF = $2000 a year at NU or $4000 a year at Chicago is nothing to just throw away. But itās also not the kind of thing that would make the decision between colleges, when there is that much differences in college costs to begin with, and weāre already talking about something like $240,000 total.
USC is, I think, in a different ballpark - so far as I know, it still gives 50% tuition for NMF (someone correct me if my info is out of date). That amount could actually shift our decision (if she got into USC film school too!!! - so not a safety!!!). (Same with a lot of other schools that donāt give NM scholarships, but may give big merit scholarships - Kenyon, Davidson, etc. Going to a school like that on a merit scholarship could save a big chunk of money for MFA in film or some other grad school work, if she wanted it.)
Am I missing something about Northwestern and NM?
@Lea111 yes, NU is just a couple grand. The tippy-top uniās simply donāt give out much. UChicago is probably the most generous at $4,000!
I pmād you back. Someone who studies in a liberal arts environment has a great basis for artistic and creative endeavors later on. Like the BFA, the MFA is a professional degree and doing a BA now and MFA down the road may work very well for her.
The CC film threads (under the āMajors - visual arts and filmā category) are a great resource so be sure to check those out. And hereās something to consider: Iāve read that while the BFA gives you technical expertise, it doesnāt necessarily give you material for your stories. Having exposure to different ideas and fields of study, on the other hand, can enrich a bright and creative person and provide lots of material. FWIW.
Hi all ā I know it is a challenge but may I please ask us all to stick to the topic of the thread I started months ago:
"Does anyone have predictions, with a rationale or support, for the state cutoff scores on the PSAT for the class of 2017? Some predictions are here http://blog.prepscholar.com/national-merit-semifinalist
but I do wonder if they are likely to be accurate?
Thoughts from the Forum?"
We have all learned a lot and gone beyond sine hen but lease keep to the theme of PSAT & MNSF for class of 2017 - we will learn our DCās fate soon!
Of course, you may start other threads for other topics or jump on Parents of HS 2017: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/class-20xx-community/1479899-parents-of-the-hs-class-of-2017.html#latest
Thanks so much!
@CA1543 The link youāve posted is overly optimistic, and shows that it was written in January. We now know that the top three percent, or Commended, cutoff is 209, so some of the state cutoffs they are predicting are too low. The problem with the PSAT this year is that the numbers are just too clumpy. There should be four or five scores between the 97th and 98th percentile, and I suspect there may be only one or two. I also think this may vary widely by state.
I really think they made a mess, and wonder what itās going to look like when they announce the winners. Some of us believe picking the ātop one percentā in many states is going to be an impossibility, because a difference of a single point is likely to go from the 98.5th percentile to the 99.5th percentile, or something like that.
They donāt pick the top 1 percent. They know how many students should be awarded SF based on the stateās contribution to total graduating seniors, and they choose the cut-off that is closest to that number. So the percentage is a result, not a determinant.
Perhaps due to clumping there will be a lot more SFās than usual - theyāve always gone over the 16,000 since Iāve been keeping track but maybe this time itāll be even more. We probably wonāt know that till the annual report in two years LOL.
Does anyone know what the cutoff score for the new SAT? I think I qualify as a semifinalist, but Iām not so sure about finalist.
Nobody knows anything.
This thread is 353 pages of guessing.
@MotherOfDragons I resemble that comment. Very much.
@17scotts, that information isnāt yet available from everything thatās been posted so far. Which version of the SAT did you take and what was your score?
And 353 pages of hoping!
My daughter received an email last night from her GC, asking her to meet with her today regarding national merit. She has an SI of 218 in AZ. Maybe we will find out something today.
@zeeke007 keep us posted!!
@Mamelot New sat / 1560. Thanks for the help!
@17scotts you should be fine. Congrats!