<p>On the subject of LORs, S2 went into school before classes started and stopped into see a teacher he wanted to ask. I had warned him not to wait until the mass of Sr’s hit the school and started asking. I don’t blame teachers for only committing to X # of LOR’s! To do one well it is a lot of effort. If a student asks soon enough, they shouldn’t get theirs rushed because 20 other students asked at the last minute.</p>
<p>His teacher gladly said yes, however asked that he give her a signed statement saying he would participate fully the entire year in his ECs. I had never heard of this before, doubt it’s anything more than a ‘promise’, but it makes a student think twice before bailing once they get their acceptance letters Dec-April. S2’s EC has had a problem with Sr’s who do slack off a great deal in the spring… during their competition season. I’m sure the teacher is asking all the students to do this. S2 is well thought of. I assured him he wasn’t being ‘targeted’ in any way. </p>
<p>This does remind me of a young member a few weeks ago in another forum on CC who disliked their EC, however had decided to stick it out until Jan/Feb and then quit everything after everything had been sent to admissions. Hummmm… not the best way to go about it.</p>
<p>It is shocking that Srs aren’t given priority. This summer when the schools schedule was a mess --the principal removed all of the jrs for a few of the APs in order to get the Srs in…and there was still a waiting list. Seems alot of kids wanted the AP history courses. Frankly since this is a private–I think they need to rethink their offerings and offer more sections. Looking at the courses -there are way to many unwieghted regular history courses for the jrs and srs…and thats when they should be offering honors and aps…</p>
<p>Hopefully your student will play the I AM A SR card…it is now or never.
Hope he can get something worked out</p>
<p>As a parent of a student in a competitve EC–I ahve resented the Srs every year who quit the moment the apps are in…or as soon as they get the accpetance letters.
A showing of poor integrity in my mind.</p>
<p>Smae as the “padders” who have lots of ECs and they are a km long and a mm deep.</p>
<p>blueiguana, I feel your pain and agree that it must be very frustrating for your son not to get the programming class he wanted. However, if it’s offered at the local college this fall, it makes sense that it will also be offered second semester there too. In our HS, C++ is a half year, dual credit class. In fact, my son took it second semester after taking Basic first semester. To colleges THAT might look like a more rigorous schedule because it would prove he’s not planning to coast second semester.</p>
<p>We have long had a chart of schools–there were more than 40 of them–when our kiddo was researching chocies–
I had included things like scores, relevant sports/EC options etc</p>
<p>Now for the apps</p>
<p>What are the things we should rememebr to inclue for the apps process/chart.</p>
<p>Brainstorming here for us all to benefit.
School Name
Address, phone, fax email etc</p>
<p>? Admissions rep for region and contact info?
? Test requirements–reporting, and dates kiddo took tests
? Mid 50% scores and kiddos scores
? EA/ED dates and column to be checked done
? RD Dates " "
? Coach/team info</p>
<p>Thanks for the support guys! S2 wrote a nice email to GC. Said he understood the overcrowding and knew she’d get a lot of requests. He explained his concern that colleges want to see a full schedule. He pointed out the possible swap from teacher 'XYZ’s class to the one he taught during son’s open block would not affect any other classes.
We’ll see how it goes. We know another student that this affected. He is a sophomore. Sorry, you have another two years.
Kathiep- I wonder how that would look on his transcript… I PLAN to take this class second semester? If it’s not through the hs, but the college he doesn’t have a ‘transcript’ showing the intended class to include with his applications.
If he ends up taking the class first semester, he will probably elect to do an independent study with a teacher for the second. It’s not unheard of and I doubt they would deny it with no class to give him. He would submit a study/research plan for approval to the teacher and admin.</p>
<p>On the applications I’ve seen they ask for student to list classes taken as well as the senior year schedule. For some apps it’s just a check off list where there isn’t even an option of saying when it was taken so whether a class is was taken in 9th grade or will be taken in second semester senior year, it’s the same check. The transcripts after all, don’t show the first semester classes, just the ones completed. Every school we’ve visited talked about senior year schedule - first AND second semester.</p>
<p>If a school won’t pay attention to what a kid plans to take second semester, I say it’s their problem. I think the only issue is if you really want them to see a grade in a class before they consider the kid’s application. Then it’s important that the class be 1st semester.</p>
<p>But my D did change her schedule to put her 1-semester Econ course in the fall instead of the spring, to give her 5 academics, and save Art for second semester. Part of this was to “impress” colleges, I’ll admit, but it also was to make her year more enjoyable.</p>
<p>So far she’s really enjoying her classes; at our HS, it’s only senior year that you can take a full load of selective, interesting classes with pretty much all capable peers. Several people have asked her why she has a hard load (by CC standards, it barely qualifies). It amazes me how many people think senior year is for “fun” only, even people who are planning to go to college. Part of this is because within our state system, you pretty much know where you’ll be going and you can hit that mark junior year and coast a bit. But I’m proud that both of my kids have wanted a more “meaty” senior year; next year, after all, they will be in college, and presumably a college-like experience is what they like. D1’s last semester in HS was her hardest ever, and she couldn’t have been happier. She also started college (where the academics were light-years above the rigor our HS could ever provide) at the top of her game. </p>
<p>I continue to believe that a busy HS kid is a happy HS kid. It doesn’t all have to be national competitions and curing cancer, but just a busy, invested, full life. Some of it can just be purely social. I think they really do have this kind of energy, and being busy is a great habit to be in when you start college (see the threads on kids having a hard time adjusting to freshman year).</p>
<p>I was noticing those adjustment threads too…and feel for them, and yet some of the kids I want to say to them–Write out your schedule to see where your time and commitments are now… make a plan, work the plan, get involved… GROW!</p>
<p>Is it because the kids having a hard time–are not busy enough in college (dont have a routine down–classes, sports etc?)
Do they have alot more time on their hands and freedom to fill with social/hanging out and then dont know what to do with the free time?
Or…Is it about having too much to do–they don’t know how to organize their time?</p>
<p>Just asking and wodnering what places we can allow for growth this year…</p>
<p>I ask this because as for me–when I went to college–I had no clue how to do laundrey, how to organize my time, how to study etc etc…I just didn’t know what to do to be successful–
My first introduction to college life was through all the sophmores and juniors in the dorm I got wedged into (pvercrowing) and I learned about Happy Hour! Lets just say thats not the best first lesson! Ha ha Sure it was fun–however it undermined alot of other things I needed to learn!</p>
<p>Yes, there is a big difference between being an overscheduled kid who left to his/her own devices doesn’t know what to do with him/herself, and a kid who knows what his/her interests are and will go find them and get involved … I have no magic answers. Sometimes a kid who’s just biding time in HS and seems unmotivated and disconnected will really blossom in college. Who knows? </p>
<p>I recall that one of the most important things in my life at college was a really strong dorm/house culture. I’m sorry to hear that at so many schools now there aren’t houses, or anything that bonds a reasonable number of people artificially together at least at the beginning. My D sort of had a cluster with her floor, but nothing was organized officially, and I thought it was lucky that she did as much as she did. </p>
<p>Our house had resident “heads” - not just RAs who were students, but also a grad student/staff couple who made it feel like a real family, who paid attention to us and planned lots of things, as their responsibility. Also we automatically had a team for any intramural sport, a group for an outing, etc. I do like that system for getting people involved right away. There was a nice combination of pulling all of the first-years into bonding activities and also blending with older students to learn the ropes.</p>
<p>My D and I are sitting down tomorrow and making our own chart. She’s got a paper draft of the Common App basics, and we’ll doublecheck her activities lists, etc., and try to start a calendar for getting things done. I can really see why so many people near us just do a few instate publics … trying to juggle all of the different systems and paperwork is daunting. We’ll just take it one at a time. She does have her rec’s set up, thankfully.</p>
<p>I’ll contribute our row descriptions for our Excel schedule. Columns are labeled with the name of each school. Cells have dates, numbers or Yes/No answers. We have a separate schedule for status of apps/essays - see below. Hope these help.</p>
<p>College Deadlines and Requirements<br>
Username
Password
SAT Code/CSS Profile
ACT Code
Federal Code (FAFSA)
Website
Website Login
Website PIN
Application Available</p>
<p>Early Action 1<br>
Set up interview by
Application & supp forms
President’s Scholarship
Scholarship Supplement
CSS/Profile
FAFSA
IDOC
Decision mailed
Financial aid letter rec’d
Mid-Year Report
Financial aid materials
Reply date
Regular Decision<br>
Set up interview by
Preapp Data Sheet
Application
Apply Bright Futures
Housing App & fee
Research paper
CSS/Profile
FAFSA
IDOC
Mid-Year Report
Financial aid materials
Decision mailed
2010 Tax Return
Reply date</p>
<p>Common Application<br>
Supplement<br>
Application fee
Transcript from HS<br>
Profile from HS
Secondary School Report
SAT IIs from HS
IB scores from HS<br>
AP scores from HS<br>
SAT or ACT allowed?
Submit all SAT scores?<br>
SAT from CB
ACT from ACT<br>
SAT IIs from CB
AP scores from CB </p>
<h1>/Type recommendations</h1>
<p>Recommendation-Mr A
Recommendation-Mr B
Recommendation-Mr C
Recommendation </p>
<p>To keep track of apps/essays, Colleges are listed in Column A - color coded for urgent deadline (pre-Nov 1) and post Jan 1. Essay boxes list name of essay being used if in process or marked not started in red if not started.</p>
<p>College Deadlines and Requirements<br>
Applications Essay Additional Essay(s) Other</p>
<p>Just a reminder…make sure that you print preview everything on the common app. even if it lets you add characters, sometimes they don’t show up. double check everything or you may end up having submitted something other than what you intended.</p>
<p>WOW
FLMathMom You are organized! I may have to shift my format because right now I include</p>
<p>School Names w/ address and ph/fax info</p>
<p>and then across the rows–each column is</p>
<p>Visit date
Varsity or club (related to sport)
Mid Critical Reading
Kiddos CR score
Mid Math
Kiddos Math
Kiddos SAT2s scores
Mid Writing
Kiddos Writing
ACT range
Kiddos ACT
Acceptance %
Major/programs related to kiddos interest
% Yield
% Out of State
Letter to coach y/n
Online Recruiting questionaire Date
Date of fax for pre-read
Updated online questionaire info
Common App y/n
Kiddo done
Supplement
Kiddo Done
EA date
RD date
GC Request date
LOR dates
ACT sent
SAT2s sent
FinAid forms due date
Admissions Name/contact info</p>
<p>college4three - If you have another computer or want to tell us the name maybe one of us can try it or you can contact the Common App technical support folks. If none of those work, you can contact Admissions.</p>
<p>You know the classic CC dilemma–go for the higher prestige school, or for the full ride? D1 is mulling a modified version of that. Her top choice is a wonderful school that would be a great fit for her. However, it’s a reach and it’s expensive. We can swing it, but there wouldn’t be money for fun extras like a summer program in France, let alone helping with grad school. Her second choice (or one of her second choices) is a school that she loves which would also be a good fit and which offers a significant National Merit scholarship. That would free up money for some fun extras, or for help with grad/professional school. It’s a less selective school, but more a match than a safety.</p>
<p>The dilemma? She’d like to apply to the top choice ED. She could be deferred or denied, but if she puts in the ED app it has to be with the understanding that she’s willing to make that trade. She has time to mull it over; she could even change her mind after she’s submitted ED by having her application converted to RD. </p>
<p>On the good news, she’s really happy about that match school. She says she now feels much more relaxed about the entire app process.</p>
<p>You do seem to be in a win-win situation - even with that darn ED commitment issue, since it sounds like that school uses ED more sanely than most. It’s a hard decision for a family to make. I would have her do as much research on these two schools as possible, maybe visit again if that’s feasible. Play some “what if” games: pretend each school is the only one on earth, or pretend she’s already going to one or the other, and look for regrets or other feelings. </p>
<p>My D hopes - as do we - that she gets into one of her more selective programs, but they, too, have the highest sticker price. I wonder what she’ll really think when she’s faced with a less “elite” choice that provides just what you’re saying: a summer program or two, maybe help with grad school or rent as she gets started (we’re talking mega-differentials). That’s going to be up to her, but it’s going to be rough. We’re hoping to get as early answers from everywhere that we can manage, so she has time to think about it concretely. </p>
<p>The only thing I can say from CC and from the experiences of people that I know is that many, many kids are extremely proud of the tremendous experiences they have had while also getting a terrific financial deal. Sometimes there’s a small feeling of “what if” they’d gone to the more elite school, but that usually fades, UNLESS there’s a tangible difference in what they were actually able to do.</p>
<p>On the other hand, many kids also felt the financial sacrifices for the “better” school were completely worth it … again, though, I’d say only if the “better” school really WAS better. My H worked full-time throughout college but happily paid all of his loans and put up with the strain because he knew going there completely changed his life, in a way that wouldn’t have happened with his other options. Yet he was extremely happy to go to his instate medical school, never would have paid 4X as much at an elite private, because he knew he could (and did) have the same opportunities and training and be able to pay it off quickly.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your D for having great choices and especially for feeling so good about it.</p>