<p>Congrats to everyone on NMSF and all the acceptances. DS school is driving me crazy, they won’t send any transcripts until mid Oct when class rank is determined. They won’t tell students about NMSF status until I don’t know (my guess is Sept.11). Last yr they forgot to submit the paperwork for the NMSFs. Most of the kids in the school apply to state schools in Maryland and to get merit aid have to apply by Nov.1 so they are going to have a mad dash in Oct. They also want 4 wks notice to send a transcript and you have to pay $4 per transcript but provide a stamped addressed envelope and mail it yourself. School has naviance.</p>
<p>I guess the Alabama and Pitt apps are just going to have to wait until mid Oct.</p>
<p>Purdue loves female students and is generous with merit aid to the students they want to attract (such as females in STEM). Another interesting option would be Smith or Wellesley’s programs. Smith’s is entirely on the Smith campus. Wellesley cooperates with MIT or Olin, I believe. I tried to get my D’13 interested in engineering or computer science early in high school by enrolling her in summer programs but she just didn’t bite. Your daughter should have many great opportunities.</p>
<p>I guess there is no harm in asking. I will let you know how that request goes, tomorrow. :)</p>
<p>By the way, these courses were taken at another district that marks them as pass/ fail on the high school transcript. That way, the kids get credit, but the courses do not impact gpa and class rank.</p>
<p>Perazzi, normally I would think that your S would not be able to bypass your districts policies, but since the classes taken in middle school for high school credit were taken in another school district with the understanding at the time that they would be listed as pass/fail, I think you should inquire if they can be listed as such. After all, perhaps he would have made other choices if he knew they were going to be included in his high school gpa. In our district, grades earned for courses taken in middle school for high school credit can be waived only at the end of the course. If the grade is waived, then no credit is earned and the student has to retake the course for credit. </p>
<p>Conratulations to your S and others on NMSF!</p>
<p>First off … Congrats to all the NMSF awards!!! Looks like D missed the cut-off for Florida but made the commendation level. </p>
<p>Thank you ALL for the great tips and suggestions. It’s helpful not only for me, but for D. I showed her your responses and it’s helped drive home some points I have been trying to convey to her, specifically that the list was very top-heavy. :). Before this, she had been reluctant to even put any in-state schools or non-top tier schools on her list. </p>
<p>Thanks for the info on University of Alabama. D was not sure until she heard the details of the scholarship. Now she’s actually excited about the possibility because with room and board may still be attainable!! </p>
<p>Yes, as was mentioned, I agree that our best approach is one of two paths: safety or match schools with big merit based aid or lottery schools with outstanding need-based aid. </p>
<p>Time to keep studying and try to bring up her CR score. And hopefully have a fabulous ACT score in September. <em>fingers crossed</em></p>
<p>Just had the big Senior College Night meeting where the GC goes over the details of college application mechanics for the HS. Much we knew, but a few new things for us. All LOR and transcript requests must be handled through Naviance. Fortunately, no cost for transcripts unless they have to be sent by mail (excluding FL schools, which are for no cost). They request at least 2 weeks notice for LORs, but S’13 has already submitted request. They estimate SAT can take up to 4 weeks to get to school from date of request (unless rush), so they suggested going ahead and ordering them. GC is dealing with a large class (with a fairly demanding and involved parent base) and she was very organized. I appreciate that kind of effort.</p>
<p>And welcome Caramama. Always nice to have another Florida parent on board.</p>
<p>Galaxyfigment: Not entirely sure what you were asking, but the scores considered for NMSF are the PSAT scores from junior year (October 2011). If you are asking how people know that they have qualified, it is because schools have told them, or they have seen posts in the thread referenced in post # 11453</p>
<p>Galaxy: TN’s NMSF cutoff dropped 4 points to 210 per a post in the NM forum here on CC.</p>
<p>carimama: glad to be of help. My D1 is at UA so feel free to send me a private message if you’d like any info.</p>
<p>Congrats to all kiddos who are finding out about NMSF! Our school hasn’t notified anyone yet but I know there will be at least 3. </p>
<p>Perrazzi: that stinks about the transcript. D has 2 classes from MS on her transcript but they’re only P/F and they’re not included in the GPA or class rank. How odd, although the longer I spend time on CC the more I realize that there is no “normal” when it comes to procedures for schools.</p>
<p>^Thank you blueshoe, Yes, son was told quite clearly that these grades would not show up on his high school trancript. They would be pass/ fail only. </p>
<p>RobD, I believe Xiggi went to a school district that had a similar policy too. So, it is not unusual to get pass/ fails. I will take it up with the registrar tomorrow, but I am not optimistic. </p>
<p>Ultimately, I think it will probably be a lot easier to just note it on the college application and paste a link to the district website, describing the pass/ fail policy.</p>
<p>“HS administrations, in my experience, are astoundingly “tone deaf” to what would be fair in their GPA calculations and class rankings. While advocating for weighted GPA at our HS (which does not weight at all) an administrator responded “But that would devalue the work of the students who don’t take honors and AP classes!” End of conversation.”</p>
<p>^^^Wow-I could have said that about our district. Where we are kids actually avoid AP and Honors to protect rank, which limits what can be offered as well as their preparation for college. But hey, as long as they make the top 5% in the paper, no one seems to care. Now that the state flagship has started to turn away some of those ‘valedictorians’ there has been a big uproar. No one really seems to get why our students are rarely (ok-next to never) admitted to highly selective OOS schools.</p>
<p>perazziman- We went through this with our D '10 because they changed the policy to letter grades on transcript when she was in high school. They did agree to go back to pass for high school classes taken in high school because that was the policy when she took them, so it didn’t hurt her ranking. She did want them to see her A’s so sent middle school report cards and had the situation explained by GC. </p>
<p>S’13 and S’16 have to go with their grades being placed on the transcript, because that is the policy they started with.</p>
<p>When S’13 was in middle school the only HS course he could take was honors Algebra I. It is on his HS transcript and is calculated into his GPA. Now kids can take Spanish I and Geometry at our middle school as well – those will also be on the transcript/GPA.</p>
<p>I’m curious, which HS classes can your kids take in middle school?</p>
<p>^^^For us, math & foreign language. For most accelerated math, the strongest math kids start with Algebra I in 7th grade & Geometry in 8th grade although I know of one student who started that path in 6th grade & had 3 years of HS math in MS. Students get the option to take the 1st year of a foreign language in 8th grade. D1 took the first class in the science path in 8th grade, but that option was taken away when D2 was in 8th grade due to the changes in the TN state graduation requirements that begin with the 2013 graduating class.</p>
<p>In middle school, my son took 2 years of Spanish (which counted as Spanish I), Algebra I, Communications/Speech, and Health, which all counted towards graduation. I dont’ believe that the grades are calculated into HS GPA, but they are listed on his transcript. </p>
<p>At our HS, weighted GPA is used for rank. Dual credit taken at the CC is not included in rank, dual credit taken at HS is. Crazy.</p>
<p>Spoke to the registrar, says this is a different school district. I explained how the child was told these would be pass/ fail and would not show up on the transcript. She says policies change. </p>
<p>I asked her what the rank would be if these were not on the transcript. She says she cannot help me with that. Then rattled off stuff about how it would not make a big difference anway (That I know is not true!). So, time to make a note on the college application and move on?</p>
<p>perrazzi, so sorry they are not willing to even entertain what would be fair to your child! My S transferred in his hs years as well and had some of his honors courses downgraded to nonhonors. He ended up just outside of his school’s top ten percent, so he might have moved into it with them. Water under the bridge for him…he is happy and doing well at his college! I’ve heard many schools now give less weight to these classes and your S probably has a great upward trend in grades! Good luck to him!</p>
<p>MommyDearest, D took three years of hs foreign language and algebra, geometry, and earth science in middle school. Algebra II is also available and I’ve known some kids that have taken biology. There are also a few very advanced that get special permission to go beyond that.</p>
<p>Perazzi, I’m sorry it didn’t go well. Depending on the amount of damage those courses did (and whether you think just making notations will help), you can always go higher to take care of it. If you have questions, please PM me…and we’ll figure it out. ;)</p>
<p>But blueshoe’s right…if there’s an obvious upward trend, there really shouldn’t be a problem.</p>
<p>Mumto3: we got our official letter from the school yesterday. However, I followed the post updates on the NMSF thread on cc & knew that S13 had made the cut 3 days earlier than notice from the school. Schools can notify the media on September 11 so everyone will know by then. </p>
<p>M24boys: meeting last night at HS for college apps: they request 3-4 weeks for transcripts (and they count only days we are in school) and 2-4 weeks for counselor/teacher recommendations. They did say that it is o.k. to send piecemeal to most schools. However, I know from cc that Pitt for instance considers your application complete as you hit send…</p>
<p>Congratulations to everyone on making NMSF!!! Love that we have such a strong group here :)</p>
<p>Jr locked up his first teacher for LOR. She had a line of 50 people an hour before school started yesterday and her limit is 5 LOR’s per school. Luckily, she had already told Jr that she would do it, so he was one of the lucky ones.</p>
<p>On the EC front: the kid who beat Jr for Senior Class VP decided to get himself in a world of trouble over summer and has since been asked to leave the school. So, Jr went to talk to the ASB adviser about the open position as he only lost by 2 votes. I guess they need to have a “formal meeting with the powers that be” about filling the post. My issue is, is that this same kid was already on probation last year and in my mind should not have been aloud to even RUN for an ASB post. Am I crazy in thinking that it is only right for them to fill the post with Jr?? Or am I just being a crazed Mom…and it wouldn’t be the first time…</p>