<p>Re: super reach</p>
<p>RTR, Emory University extended its deadline to 2/1 (tomorrow). Your son still has time to apply if he wants to have a shot at a super reach.</p>
<p>Some kids do turn out to be late bloomers,become more motivated, responsible, organized,etc. than they were in h.s. but many including my S2 (who barely even qualifies for this thread due to woeful SAT) remain the same kind of kid (grade-wise)once they get to college. </p>
<p>He was accepted to two “directional” state u’s. His choices were limited to instate publics so he chose the two that he felt likely to accept him and that he would be happy to attend. He did prefer one over the other though. Privates were not an option.</p>
<p>I don’t regret him not applying to the flagship. He would have been rejected (see-woeful SAT) and even if by some miracle accepted, would have been in way over his head. He was happy with his choice then and now as a soph. loves his sch. and does not wish he were anywhere else. </p>
<p>He is still the B- kid he has always been. Going to a sch. that was “just his speed” was the right choice. He’ll never be a Dean’s List kid (he did make honor roll last sem…whoopee) but his self-confidence/self esteem has really grown since going to his college which has been a joy to see. He/we now believe he is totally capable of success and will earn his degree there (the jury was out on that a couple of years ago).</p>
<p>If they are happy and making positive strides as both students and people, the school name on the sweatshirt doesn’t really matter.</p>
<p>PCP: Interesting tidbit about Emory extending their deadline; that’s two years in a row…
RTR’s son is looking for large and rah-rah though…</p>
<p>MaryAnn C- a friend’s d goes to Elmira. The d’s dad passed away this week after a yearlong battle with cancer. She tolde at the wake that her professors at Elmira have been wonderfully supportive all year.</p>
<p>I think S applied to the right schools for him. He is planning on studying in a rigorous major. He is in this thread because he has not been a motivated student, has not worked to his potential. While he has shown improvement senior year, I’d be leery sending him to a reach in his major where all the students are used to working at that higher level. He could make a go of it, but he could fall flat on his face. I don’t want to be one of the parents here in the fall posting ‘my son is on academic probation’.</p>
<p>He can always transfer up if he shows he can follow though on working hard and making the grades.</p>
<p>PackMom, I agree with you entirely and followed a similar path w/ D1, whose boarding sch gpa was barely 3.0 (no honors, 2APs, but great SAT and a stand-out athelete). During the application process I often reminded DD and DH that it’s not just about getting in, the ultimate objective is to get out - - namely to graduate. So despited the wonderful letters from Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, et al, D applied ED to a less-hightly ranked (but still top tier) LAC where, w/ the ED bump, she was pretty much assured admission. D1 is now a junior; her grades, while inconsist, are slightly better than in HS – and there’s never been doubt that she will graduate. No regrets!</p>
<p>D2 has a weaker academic profile, but again, it’s difficult not to be seduced by flattering letters from “reach” schools and well-meaning friends who urge, “apply; if the school admits her, then the school thinks she can do the work.” But I know that, if admitted, the school is taking a chance on D2; she will be in the bottom 25% of the enternig class and likely to strugle. I also know that school need to put butts in the seats.</p>
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<p>This is something I am really hoping to see in my daughter. After a brief period where the sky was the limit, she settled into a more realistic view of where she would be successful. Her high school has been challenging and she has come home some days feeling like the dumbest one in the room. I’ve had to sign off on a few academic notices. I hope she finds herself in place where she is supported AND challenged by her classmates and also has time for a life outside the classroom. The middle 50 sounds about right.</p>
<p>"Going to a sch. that was “just his speed” was the right choice. "</p>
<p>Hoping we can find one, and perhaps most importantly, one we won’t resent paying for ( a URM with money, ADHD, and some athletic ability, meaning I think he could be courted at schools NOT his speed)… Thinking of paying for advice.?!?..yikes!.</p>
<p>Yesterday son told me he was voted "smartest not smart kid " among his facebook friends…</p>
<p>“smartest not smart kid” LOL, Shrinkrap, that describes my S2 pretty well too.</p>
<p>“courted at schools NOT his speed”</p>
<p>^^ This was a definite issue w/ D1, and thankfully NOT w/ D2. It’s really hard (for parent and child) to ignore those “y’all come” letters.</p>
<p>Mary Ann - the super reach for my son is a top 20 NESCAC school that would have been a great fit if he had the done the work to get the grades that he was capable of. (Did that make sense???) </p>
<p>Anyway, my ds has improved tremendously this year and may actually end up with a
3.25. This makes me more optomistic that he will do the work that needs to be done in college!</p>
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<p>S1 jokingly calls his physics partner “the dumbest smart person”, and she calls him “the smartest dumb person”. When I heard of this, I told S1 to tell his partner that if the world is divded into only two camps, the smart and the dumb, then for all practical purposes, you two are just as smart and just as dumb as each other, and that given the daily flunctuation in neural activity, you may be smarter than her today!</p>
<p>Pack, I actually think your son deserves a sincere “whoopee!” for making dean’s list, even at a lower tier school–it showed he would not reduce his effort to the lowest common denominator. Congrats!</p>
<p>Maryann, congrats on Elmira! His “yes”'s are really piling up! I agree that PC and Marist are clear reaches, although not impossible.</p>
<p>Desult, it is interesting that your son’s pursuit of big sports sends him to Tulsa, rather than OU or OSU, which have much bigger sports, but its smaller size compared to those 2 may keep him from getting lost.</p>
<p>One very common theme on this thread–boys who can’t be bothered with school busywork, but who will work diligently to master complex videogames. I think of videogames as a curse–probably the way our parents’ generation thought of TV, which took over our study time much more than radio took over theirs.</p>
<p>What do girls waste time with–Twilight books? Justin Bieber videos? Taylor Swift fansites?</p>
<p>yabeyabe: Facebook is the biggest time-waster ever according to both my girls…
my younger one keeps deactivating her page when she is overwhelmed with schoolwork and reactivating when she is done…</p>
<p>It’s to this generation of teenage girls what the landline was to ours…another time-waster for another time…</p>
<p>2nd place: updating itunes…if only one could make that a career!!! we’ve changed the password 100 times in the last year…</p>
<p>And what place is wasting time here? Oh wait, this is productive!!!</p>
<p>^^yea, Shrinkrap…try and make me feel useless…if I’m still on here after Sept 2011 then I’ll agree with you that we are “wasting time here”!!!</p>
<p>Well YOU only have 3,623 posts ( compared to my 3,626) so I don’t mean you!</p>
<p>yabeyabe2, thanks for the “whoopee”. Believe me when I say we were literally whooping for joy here at the PackHouse. This boy had a horrible first sem., was on academic probation last Spring. His comeback has been nothing short of miraculous for us.</p>
<p>Man, I have to post even more. Y’all are way ahead of me!</p>
<p>S was deferred from Marist. There still may be hope???</p>
<p>Maryann, perhaps your GC can call Marist and learn something? It might help (assuming it is true) if you said he will definitely go if admitted.</p>
<p>Marist’s Common Data Set or admissions site may give the accepted after deferral number from last year.</p>