Parents of the HS Class of 2013

<p>BEYOND FRUSTRATED!!! So, I check Naviance and the counselor did not submit any Common App transcripts :mad: . Check facebook this morning and one of DD’s friends, who is applying to 2 schools that DS applied to, has a message he was accepted at both already. I KNOW he applied after we did because I was talking to his parents and they were going to wait a couple months to apply. The one school gives out merit aid on a first come, first serve basis so I told them to apply ASAP–a week AFTER DS applied, grrrrrrr. The GC will only talk to the kids about this but she WILL be getting a phone call from ME today. It’s been almost 3 weeks!!! The Common App schools for DD are her TOP schools, we NEED those IN, like 2 weeks ago!!!</p>

<p>SteveMA: I can feel your frustration!</p>

<p>about ACT—my DD says if she did not get an email telling her scores are in, she shouldnt bother looking at the website. Is that true? Or, is she just not wanting to see them?</p>

<p>^^just not wanting to see them. :)</p>

<p>Steve-does the school have a stated turn around time?</p>

<p>Steve-Isn’t it possible the transcripts were submitted but Naviance wasn’t updated? Our school doesn’t use Naviance except for comparing your scores/grades to other students who have applied to those colleges within the last 3 years. I am sure D2’s GC office regards me as a pain, but this is important stuff so I did call/email pretty frequently and also plied them with expensive chocolates.</p>

<p>SteveMA, how frustrating!
I seriously wonder if some of our highschools understand the connection between date of application and aid $$.
Yeah, definitely call.</p>

<p>drmom2013: don’t recall getting any email from ACT about test scores being available. You have to check the website to see if they are up or they will eventually send you the paper report.</p>

<p>SteveMA: how frustrating! I would be call the GC to see what is up – maybe they didn’t update Naviance to reflect the transcripts being sent. I know our HS didn’t update DS’ transcript request until this week and transcripts were sent during the summer.</p>

<p>Steve…Go in with Chocolates or Cookies…make it personal…be super nice but Go In There…face to face is always better…explain how the merit is dependent on the app being in first come first serve and that you are sure that the school wants to see the kids get their first pick schools…just be Calm and Nice…then if you don’t get what you want…go to the principal and make an appt to get this issue resolved…
and Bring Food :)</p>

<p>Oh Steve - I would be down there this morning, sitting outside the GC’s office THIS MORNING. If they GC won’t see you, I would wait and see the principal. - TODAY. </p>

<p>This is just too important to make a phone call and hope your words are taken seriously over the phone. </p>

<p>Good luck! I would be FURIOUS!</p>

<p>Carimama – I told S’13 that once he has the UAH scholarship in hand, I don’t care what he does. I’m wondering at what point he’ll decide he’s had enough. Sounds like our kids have similar lists. IIRC, GATech uses the high number on the standard conversion chart published by ACT/SAT. On the app, they just ask for Math, English, and the English/Writing score. Again IIRC, they take the Math/English into account for admissions, the writing comes into play for scholarships. He still needs to polish his essays, so he’s not ready to submit yet – he has the Oct 1 goal though, so he better get on it!</p>

<p>Carimama - I looked it up on a past thready . . . they also said that GATech rounds up. So your D would have 765 in Math rounded to 770, and 695 in English rounded to 700. You can just use the chart for the Writing score.</p>

<p>Steve - That is so frustrating! We are at 2 weeks tomorrow but dd says she will take fixed LOR to GC today and tell them that Oct 1 is deadline for one of her schools - they have everything else. I hope your schools give credit for having the app in - even though you are waiting on transcripts - especially for the merit pay.</p>

<p>As far as waived app fees - DD is also getting 3-5 offers a day but so far none to the schools she is applying to! Watch - those will come in after she applies! Oh well!</p>

<p>Carimama, I found this on an admission blog and it may help with how Tech “super duper” scores, but it’s just my hunch… you are correct in that a google search brings up many variations of the tables. I really do believe it’s in your student’s best interest to send all scores and not try to choose the best ones because you never know what THAT school considers most important. The schools really want to take the best. Just one of the reasons that it is so wrong for anyone to compare students in the spring who both have 30s and one was accepted and one was not.</p>

<p>“we are focusing on the subscores that match the SAT scores. As such, our focus is on the English subscore, the Math subscore, and the Writing subscore, as these match up with the SAT subscores. If you have both SAT and ACT (with Writing) scores, we will then use whichever test has the strongest scores. In addition to these three subscores being a good match to the SAT subscores, there has also been research showing that these three subscores are the best ACT score predictors of student success in college.”</p>

<p>Oh yeah, forgot to comment on that. Same thing here, lots of waived fee emails, but none to schools he’s interested in – except MAYBE Rice. </p>

<p>Ashmuoh – is the typo incorrect information about your D or just a grammar error? If the latter, I’d let it go!</p>

<p>I can’t believe the FFB would only talk to student! If there’s an issue, sometimes a parent needs to get involved! This stuff is too important to leave to a 17 year old solely. I hope you get some answers soon!</p>

<p>Ok Cromette - I have to ask - what is an FFB? I have worked it over in my mind, trying to make it somehow represent the position of Guidance Counselor or College Counselor and I am at a loss… : - )</p>

<p>Mommydearest - it wasn’t even a grammar error - just an extra “A” in a random spot??? BUT…my dd is a perfectionist and she could not “let it go” HA! Her teacher told her yesterday that it is done so she should have it today! But I agree with you! Some times being a perfectionist gets in the way!!!</p>

<p>After reading this thread for weeks, I feel for my sanity it’s best that I just jump in and “join the fun”! I have a Senior daughter this year, and I have a literal circus in my home. I’m in the middle of a HighRisk pregnancy (Due late Nov) and I’ve been on bedrest for 8 weeks now with another 7 weeks to go before I can be back on my feet. I have an 8 year old with High Functioning Autism and a 5 year old who just started Kindergarten. I’m a Stay a Home Mom and prior to being bedridden, I ran the ship! I took care of all things “school and kids” and DH worked. The fact that this happened my daughters Senior year, as the kids say now “I can’t even”. My DH is a department director at a technical College and works a split shift, so all the school events that happen (Senior info meetings), We are missing! My parents live 20 minutes away and are a tremendous help, but there is no way my shoes can be completely filled at this time.
My Senior DD is an IB Diploma candidate (there are no words for all involved with this program! especially this year), serious musician (has studied her instrument since 3, and been featured soloist with all our Orchestras), wants to go to school “out of State”, can’t make up her mind, and the word deadline has no real meaning! The schedule is insane with IB, Orchestra schedule, College apps,testing, NMSF app, (btw can I launch a formal complaint against the person who thought it would be neat to provide just 6 boxes and a couple of lines for the activities, honors, and Volunteer section?). Between the stress of this pregnancy, my two little ones, and my Senior I am losing my mind!
My daughter is a tad young for a Senior, she started school at 4 and also had a skip (she just turned 16). There are several other kids in the same boat, so she isn’t odd, but lately I’ve been wishing we could get two years back. It was the correct choice academically, but everyone is driving , she isn’t, and per household rules we do not let her in a car driven by a teenager. You can imagine the problem that this presents now that I cannot drive and her Dad is at work.
I have one million questions for all of you, but I don’t want to be a newbie board hog so I’ll just put a couple:</p>

<p>1.How are people affording all these College visits? We are not destitute, but because of our family situation Money is tight. My daughter was able to visit two East Coast schools just by chance because she attended a month long music institute near Boston this summer. There is no way we could afford to pick up and visit these other Colleges on her list.</p>

<p>2.Why do they ask for LOR from just 11 and 12 grade teachers. (except I did see one school on her list allows a recommendation from a 10th grade teacher if it was an honors or AP class). If you apply EA, a 12 grade teacher may have known you all of 2 months. My daughter wants to use her 10th grade honors English teacher, who is also her EE adviser, for her Senior EE (for non IB folks this is a thrilling 4,000 word research Essay that must be completed, (more hair pulling work).</p>

<p>I have one million more questions. I’ve been winging this mostly. We cannot afford a personal advisor, so I’m relegated to books, the internet, and lurking on CC. Senior Daughter’s GC has her hands full (there are over 600 students in daughters class!). DH helps when he can. All of this is very different than his experience. He grew up in India and graduated from IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) he did his Masters here (but without giving away his age that was a looooooooooong time ago lol) I’m no spring chicken myself, but I went to school in state and applications were NOTHING like I’ve seen coming across my screen. I’m glad to join you and forgive my long post. Being on bedrest my world has become this lap top!</p>

<p>An fbb is my super “smart” phone correcting GC for me. :)</p>

<p>TVenne
Welcome. My DD’13 is an IB diploma candidate also. </p>

<p>What state are you all in?</p>

<p>TVenne: Welcome! Wow, you have your hands full! Most importantly, sending lots of good thoughts for the rest of your pregnancy. About visits: D2 is my youngest & a lot of our visits have been worked into other trips (i.e. visited Elon on the way to vacation & College of Charleston while on vacation.) Our “big” spring break trip was arranged with the help of airline points, Hotwire and working in some extended family visits. Not having anyone younger made it logistically possible. Lots of kids apply before they visit, so don’t fret.</p>

<p>ACT oddness: even though scores were already released yesterday morning, D2 got her paper scores in the mail yesterday. We don’t remember them ever coming that quickly; Anyone else get them?</p>

<p>D pushed the button for Lafayette last night & is requesting the transcript today (her GC doesn’t want them to request the transcript until the Common App for the school is done; apparently they’ve had issues in the past when they’ve sent them before the app was done.) She was motivated yesterday; she made herself a list of everything she has left to do for college apps (during math!) and is trying to cross off one thing a day. DH was ready to start riding her but I’d just told him in the afternoon that she was fine and to hold up until after our visit to Rhodes this weekend.</p>