<p>Just to show that there are really excellent, caring, and nice GCs out there…my D’s GC told us early this year when we were in her office to check the transcript, "In all my years of being a GC, there have been 3 students who I think of almost every day because they inspire me and remind me why I do this job. You are the third of that group. And I intend to include that in the LOR I write for you.</p>
<p>I got tears in my eyes (but you guys know I’m a crier). Still, this woman is excellent at her job (not saying that just because she likes my D…she really is outstanding at her job). I hope alwaysbelieve’s D’s GC finds (or is forced to find) another job real soon.</p>
<p>I support the GCs being totally honest in their letters. If they’ve observed problematic behaviors or personality traits in the student, they do have an obligation to communicate the bad with the good. But there’s an appropriate way to do it that doesn’t cut the kid into mincemeat. What that GC wrote is inexcusable, imo.</p>
<p>Blue Iguana, like you I was surprised to hear about transmission of scores on disc and certainly questioned it (WHAT??! Thats CRAZY!!!) but was told that each college decides how it wishes to receives the scores and some want it by snail mail. Now, it would be helpful to know which colleges use which method but I dont know how to figure that out.</p>
<p>Yes, objective statements are fine: “Morgan spent 6 weeks in the alternative school freshman year, and has received in school suspension three times since then.” Not fine: “Morgan is one of my least favorite students.” Jeez, that’s not even informative - the GC could hate Morgan because her mom broke up the GC’s marriage.</p>
<p>Yeah! I am so excited I was just over at Naviance and saw my S’s green box indicating his acceptance to Xavier! I already let you know about it earlier but it is so cool to see it recorded on Naviance. Looks like 2 other boys were also accepted there so far.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all for the early acceptances! No one I know in our area has heard from any schools, except a couple recruited athletes. Because the schools that many kids here apply to don’t have rolling admissions, many are just getting started on their apps!</p>
<p>I have a question about sending SAT scores. My dd is waiting until after Dec 15th when she hears from her early action (single choice) school to submit her other applications, due at the end of Dec. I was hoping she could wait to request her SAT scores then too. Does that seem appropriate, or an unnecessary gamble just to save a few bucks?</p>
<p>^ If your daughter finds on the 15th that she will be sending out some more applications at the end of the month, I would proactively send out those scores ASAP at that time. I would contact the schools to see how they receive their scores and if they recommend rush. You may be wise to call one or two of the prospective universities in advance and ask this.</p>
<p>Call me silly, but I have to think that if a school says they accept December scores, and those scores are not released until the third week in December…with massive amounts of applications being submitted in those last few weeks, holiday mail slowing things down…you would THINK that College Board would be prepared for this and express ship the scores during that time, knowing the 1/1 deadline. If this were not the case, and it was a consistent problem with receiving scores, schools would not accept December tests…
But, that’s just common sense… ;)</p>
<p>We are in the same boat, waiting to hear from ED school mid-December. For better or worse, I am waiting to send the scores. I think that if the schools get the scores even by mid January, it’s still okay. They expect that info comes in more slowly from outside sources (HS, CollegeBoard) than from the applicants themselves.</p>
<p>I wish there were a way to stop the insane amount of mail coming to my poor boy! Couldn’t they just change their college application ‘status’ somehow to ‘Thanks, but I’ve sent out all of my applications’. He got a huge envelope…the irony is just killing me…from USC today. They have an absolutely unbelievable aerospace department…that’s not in our budget, we are not CA residents. So the marketing is just plain mean after a while.</p>
<p>I know this happens in much more aggressive forms, where students are ‘courted’ via mail and email marketing…personalized letters. They apply, receive more personalized information, and are turned down…only to receive more marketing crud from the same school. Marketing obviously didn’t get a call from admissions, eh?</p>
<p>This is nothing like that, but I can’t help feeling like I just want to toss it so he doesn’t have to look at it. Don’t get me wrong, he’s thrilled with his choices, but if money weren’t an issue there would be about 4-5 more schools he would have tossed on his list.</p>
<p>So, I’m voting for an ‘off’ button on this marketing avalanche.</p>
<p>When D took the PSAT as a sophomore, she said that she was interested in fashion design. Consequently, she is getting mail from some very cool looking design/art schools. Not considering them since she’s long since changed her mind, but they certainly send more interesting materials than the normal colleges.</p>
<p>Also quite interesting that two of the schools that she visited have sent NO mail to her…we indicated a strong interest at the time, but they have sent nothing (and no, they weren’t Ivies.)</p>
<p>Definitely agree on the mail and the phone calls. U of Montanna was one of the most recent. He never expressed any interest in it, got a bunch of mail from them and several phone calls. 10yo D was wondering why they kept sending stuff and calling. I told her they offered him a horse and wanted to know what color he wanted. I told S he should just answer the phone first time they call and let them know he has no interest so the calls will stop. </p>
<p>Of course, we hear nary a peep from the schools he has applied to.</p>
<p>The administrative admissions people at WPI were hands down the most welcoming people we met during our 8 college visits. They have a large, comfortable reception room that my husband and I spend most of the day in. We got very chatty with one woman in particular. As we left, she warmly said that she hoped we enjoyed our day and would welcome our son at their school. Maybe it was a line, but it felt sincere.</p>
<p>Just recently my son emailed them to be sure they had all his EA ‘stuff’. The only extra they asked for was his Q1 transcript which we scanned and returned by email. In addition to receiving a reply from the admin handling his file, he received a very warm personal email from the admin we met during our visit. She said she was very happy our son decided to apply. </p>
<p>Call me crazy, but if my son ends up at WPI, I think I could call this woman if he got sick and she’d bring him chicken soup. Not only is WPI a good fit for my son, it is a good fit for me.</p>
<p>We have a related dilemma to the score sending question. D is waiting for EA news on Dec. 15. If that news is not good, she has two more apps ready to send. Unfortunately, we need to get requests to the high school by December 1 for all Dec 31/Jan 1 deadlines. Oh well, I guess two more application fees are drops in the bucket at this point, but it is a bit frustrating. On a positive note, we have been very happy with our GC and the whole administrative side at the HS. Everything is electronic, expectations/responsibilities are clear, and there just seems to be a “client service” feel to the process. It’s a huge school with a ton of applications going out, so I truly appreciate the staff.</p>
<p>MOSB…D has the same type of counselor. Amazing at her job, kind, straight forward, etc. She really is a gem. </p>
<p>Same GC called me today because I left her a VM yesterday and just wanted to say congrats to our family for D’s acceptance. But (and I find this so weird…) she already knew last night because my D had posted it on her FB and she had a parent email her wanting to know why she thought her S had not heard any news, because my D did. I didn’t ask for details of that conversation, but it was a nice reminder to me to speak to my D about not being too forward about celebrations (which I don’t feel she is) because her great news, could cause stress to someone else.</p>
<p>MSM…"On a positive note, we have been very happy with our GC and the whole administrative side at the HS. Everything is electronic, expectations/responsibilities are clear, and there just seems to be a “client service” feel to the process. It’s a huge school with a ton of applications going out, so I truly appreciate the staff. " </p>
<p>FLMathMom, My son and I were just talking about WPI yesterday when he got the same e-mail regarding first quarter grades. Their interface with the admissions information is really nice - you can see the dates when each piece of the application was entered so even though son may have just gotten another e-mail saying that they haven’t gotten his grades, I can look at their site and see that, yep, they got there today! </p>
<p>Yesterday he got two pieces of mail from the same college saying that he really should apply - hurry! I went to the common app site to see that not only was the application submitted but they had actually downloaded everything a few weeks ago!</p>
<p>Shhhhhhhhhhh. Just sneaked a peek at son’s Georgia Tech online account and he’s been accepted (his first). They were not supposed to post until 5PM. So now I have to decide - Give him a big smile when he walks in the door from school or pretend I didn’t look.</p>