<p>Puma, what a great experience for both your kids to be part of that dinner. One of the reasons my D is looking at small LACs is for that kind of personal relationships with profs. I realize this isn’t for everybody, but for kids who enjoy that kind of learning/living environment, it’s so nice when they find it.</p>
<p>amandakayak - We should all take a pointer from your son by stepping away from our computers and go do something just for the fun of it!</p>
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EmmyBet, that makes a lot of sense.</p>
<p>I don’t want to discourage anyone who has bigger plans, but I’ve just kind of let it be known among our circle of school-friend-parents and the GC office (we have a small school, so many of us know each other quite well) that I’ve gained an awful lot of knowledge and experience that I’d be happy to share with others next year.</p>
<p>I’ve already received 2 calls from Moms of a Jr and a Soph, and I have a hunch I’m going to get more. Sometimes informal word of mouth is the best advertising, right?</p>
<p>Kajon - I agree - it’s definitely time for a FUN BREAK! Our poor kids around here are up to their eyeballs in research papers, college apps, and some still taking SAT or subject tests.
It’s time to run, swim, kick a ball, throw a frisbee, or SOMETHING. We’ve instituted a 24 hour “no college talk” rule for today 
I’ll let you know how it goes!</p>
<p>puma12- i like your idea of a 24 hour no college talk rule…won’t be today though as D has to finish her last supplement! and then we are putting together a list of scholarship stuff!</p>
<p>I think maybe you are on to a non-profit business idea, not sure what is out there right now besides “college counselors” who target the other end of the spectrum. Our HS GCs facilitate a panel discussion called “College apps - a Parent’s Perspective” which is just that, people tell their little vignettes about their experiences from recruited athletes to merit scholarships to below avg student who (in her own words) stalked college adcomm to gain acceptance to a reachy school. Like a little CC in a bottle. It’s maybe attended by 100 parents (out of a possible 800) but I thought it was the most useful of all the programs GC puts out.</p>
<p>Our school also offers a yearly parent panel discussion, but the PTA sponsors it. It’s one of our most popular programs. We also try to include parents of kids with different experiences - athletes, top students, kids staying in-states, kids going to service academies, etc.</p>
<p>I started out as a parent volunteer and then became an independent counselor. Most counselors do pro bono work - I’ve worked with lots of low-income kids and I know others do that too. I also give free talks and offer low-cost workshops, and I’ve just submitted some short-course proposals to our local community college. </p>
<p>When you’re offering free services, I think the hardest part is getting the word out to the students who would benefit most and who have the motivation to follow through. It’s not easy to reach students directly through the school counseling office, because the school may see your intervention as unnecessary or as encouraging students to bypass them.</p>
<p>One thing I’ve found to work is to focus on big scholarships - for example helping students with the Questbridge application or the Gates Millennium Scholarship application. Those are so long and involved, and it really helps for students to have one-on-one support. After you’re working together, you can talk more generally about the college list, financial aid, etc.</p>
<p>Puma - Most of the schools my son is applying to have formal or informal meal or dorm living arrangements between students and profs. For example, Rice students live in colleges which are a group of dorms which share a dining room and social facilities. A prof and his family live in a house within the college (5 yr commitment) as surrogate parents. They eat with the students and attend their athletic and social functions. Their RAs are grad students. </p>
<p>Many of the other schools on his list are quite small. We saw profs and staff eat in the dining room with the students. It is one of the questions my son asked in info sessions or in interviews as it is important to him. </p>
<p>The IB program in his current HS has about 125 - 200 students per grade. Since the teachers need specialized training, there is a small core group that teaches them. Thus the students develop very close bonds with their teachers.</p>
<p>At ShawSon’s school, they actually have a formal program which provides funds for kids to take their professors out to dinner. It is a small, elite LAC and he talks with all of his professors regularly. One, who has become his advisor and will be an advisor for an interdisciplinary major, agreed to meet with him one hour per week outside of the freshman seminar he was leading in fall of freshman year, because ShawSon had a conflict with his office hours. I met the advisor this year at Parent’s Weekend and he really knows my son pretty well. I have been very impressed in general with professors’ willingness to work with and meet with the kids and in particular how well they’ve done with ShawSon (who is of course, tired from all of the reading and writing, but that will be higher education for him). </p>
<p>I attended/taught at three of HYPMS and that level of contact just wouldn’t have happened easily at any of those schools. I began college having been employed for two summers writing software in a field that was started by a very famous professor who was both at the research lab in my hometown and at my university, so I got a job writing software for his department at the university right away (I’d never met him). As a result of being pretty advanced because of that work, I got attention from professors, but that was because I was working in a very small department and doing stuff for their grants. They never would have given me and our a week just to talk.</p>
<p>While searching for scholarships today, I found some for music:
[The</a> ASCAP Foundation: Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.ascapfoundation.org/scholarships.html]The”>http://www.ascapfoundation.org/scholarships.html)</p>
<p>and nuclear science or nuclear engineering
John and Muriel Landis Scholarship which you can find at the American Nuclear Society’s web site [ANS</a> : Honors and Awards : Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.ans.org/honors/scholarships/]ANS”>http://www.ans.org/honors/scholarships/) along with other scholarships</p>
<p>D submitted 4 CA apps tonight! Woo!</p>
<p>She wrote in her Nov ACT score but will have to wait to order it until it becomes official. I’m assuming that is OK for schools with 11/15 EA deadlines? I’d really like not to pay for her old score nor have the schools see it, to tell the truth. We’ll update it on the first app she sent, but I’d like the adcoms to see the Nov one fresh if at all possible.</p>
<p>She has to fill in a state school app yet but it’s basically copying out of the CA. She asked to take a break, which is fine.</p>
<p>Somewhere between 4-7 essay supplements to do now, depending on her stamina. Most aren’t all that hard, a couple of hours’ work at the most, and a couple she could stretch until Jan or even Feb 1. I think she’ll make it all right. I’ll bug her a little about the 3 that she needs for theatre auditions (she started 2 of them yesterday). After that it’s all hers. And she made a date with her acting coach for this weekend. A good day!</p>
<p>A good day - I’ll say! Congrats on all the work accomplished! That is truly amazing. Honestly I feel like I can see my son’s eyes starting to glaze over between all the school expectations, plus juggling six applications, interviews, EC’s , etc. Soon, he’ll say - anywhere I get in is fine mom!</p>
<p>Well, I had a great day (insert sarcasm here). Was prepped for a crown and had an old filling re-drilled and filled this morning, then spent 4 hours working on the CSS Profile this afternoon! Blech! But it’s done! I submitted the Profile to my daughter’s ED school, and also filled out their required financial aid request form. I still have to photocopy our 2009 tax return, paycheck stubs, W-2s, etc. and mail them with the financial aid request form - I’ll do that on Saturday, and get some sort of delivery confirmation or tracking for my own piece of mind.</p>
<p>After doing all that work, I have a feeling that we won’t qualify for anything. H got a huge bonus this year, which was GREAT, but the timing wasn’t so great for FA purposes. Oh well, as they say, it’s a good problem to have!</p>
<p>I know you cannot change the info once it’s sent to a school, but does anyone know if you can change the CSS/Profile data later on before you send it to other schools? (kind of like creating an alternate version of the common app) I’m just thinking ahead, if D doesn’t get accepted to her ED school, I’ll need to send the CSS/Profile to other schools in February, after our taxes are done and the info is no longer estimated.</p>
<p>Yay EmmyBet! It’s amazing how good that submit button feels, even if it is virtual! What’s even nicer is when you check on the app at the college website and it shows that everything is in! </p>
<p>My poor son - Today I went out for lunch with my husband and he said, “Son really should apply to X school”. Of course, this school is one that has been sending him e-mails on an almost daily basis but is a reach. I just didn’t think it was worth the application fee just to increase their yield. AND, I think their EA deadline was just yesterday! Son was surprised when I mentioned it to him because this school was on his long list but he already has a few reaches. How many reaches is two many if one is applying to 10 colleges?</p>
<p>EmmyBet: Hooray for your daughter (and you)! Must say I’m jealous as S2 is so close and yet so far away from that submit button. </p>
<p>kathiep: Well, I’m not sure what the mix should be for 10 schools, but I have read that if you are applying to 6 you should have 2 reaches, 2 matches, and 2 safeties. My son has 10 on his list and here’s his mix: 2 reach, 3 match, 5 safeties (including one financial safety). From the 5 in the safety category, 4 might come up with some decent merit aid – she said hopefully.</p>
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<p>Yes you can, see posts #8 & 14 in this thread:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1008800-css-profile-scea-applicants.html?highlight=profile[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1008800-css-profile-scea-applicants.html?highlight=profile</a></p>
<p>Do we have to request college board send AP scores to admission office?
My friend said they sent AP scores to admission office last year directly from college board.</p>
<p>We only sent SATs and ACT but our school transcript does include copies of AP scores from college board. </p>
<p>Do we still have to request CB to send the AP scores to college admission office?</p>
<p>Hi - no - you do not need to have CB send AP scores. AP scores are generally not part of the admissions process. You can self-report them if the application asks for them, but that’s it. You generally wait until July after graduation and then send all AP scores to the college you will be attending. You will notice that when you send AP scores - you get a copy of the report - and it shows they went not to admissions - but to the academic dean or equivalent. Again, further confirmation that they are not meant to be used as an admissions item. They go to the academic dean because they are used for placement purposes and to be exempted from intro classes.</p>
<p>FlMathMom, Thanks for posting the link to those music scholarships!</p>
<p>EmmyBet, that sounds like a very, very, VERY good day! Nice to hear about your D’s wonderful strides.</p>
<p>Oregonianmom, I would’ve needed some serious medication for the day you’ve had. I’m not good with dentists, and then the Profile on top of that??? I get queasy just thinking about it. But I do envy you being done with the Profile. I’m so not. :(</p>