<p>Re: Applicant’s level of interest in a school.</p>
<p>Parents and students were told at our college information session this fall that if a CDS has “applicant’s level of interest is considered,” or any category higher, that the student should make sure to show the “love” to that school. Most LACs state they consider the applicant’s level of interest.</p>
<p>mittentigger – how does online PE work? Our HS doesn’t allow it. They don’t allow PE to be taken through the community college, either. The <em>only</em> way to fulfill the 2-year PE requirement for HS graduation is through HS on-campus PE class, playing for HS athletic team, participating in marching band, or through the district’s summer program. The only exception is for athletes that are top-100 nationally ranked, and only in certain sports. </p>
<p>shoboemom – we’re in a similar situation with D liking the College of Creative Studies program at UCSB, and not knowing how to evaluate her likelihood of admission. The stats for overall admission to the university just aren’t relevant. When we visited, last August, my D met with a CCS advisor and talked with her for over an hour, but we couldn’t get a straight answer on whether my D looked like a likely admit. The advisor just kept saying in various ways that their decisions are “holistic”. Not much comfort when they take <100 per year.</p>
<p>If you type in " college data " + name if school ie: college data Duke and then click on the one that says " overview" you will find a lot of info. There is a chart marked by "x"s that tells about tracked interest and other things. This must be similar to the common data set that people talk about (?). I am not a computer person so hopefully what I write makes sense. </p>
<p>I will try to get her to one of the college fairs but it really depends on her hw and test situation. We will end up visiting the schools again. </p>
<p>When my older kid was a senior and I was still emailing guidance ( shame on me LOL) I finally got an email from her telling me nicely to let my kid send the emails. It’s now time to avoid this mistake and hand the job to my kid. The difference is that my older one did not seem to care about me sending emails, why my junior does NOT want me doing it at all. She repeatedly tells me to back off and she will handle it, so I must respect her wishes. I will intervene if necessary but I will not do it behind her back. </p>
<p>Shoboe I am also excited that there is a state school that my daughter will attend if necessary. There are actually 2. Her favorite school so far costs $53,000 which she will need decent merit to attend. This school will be at the college fair which is why I would like her to go. There are two other schools where she may get decent merit ( based on what they have given kids from our school in recent years) but you never know. </p>
<p>Last night she did one small section of the PSAT and then said that making her do this at 8:00 pm when she has yearbook stuff to do is just not fair, and I could tell she was not really trying her best, so we stopped. She has about 5 weeks of studying under her belt ( not heavy studying) and some vocabulary that she learned over the summer. She is used to taking these tests and timing is not an issue for her, so it will be fine. If I had to take a guess I would say that her score will be in the general ball park for NMF but not enough to actually pull it off.</p>
<p>I told D the SAT essay scoring algorithm of length and neatness. She says she’s toast. Length, she can so. Handwriting neatness has been a longtime challenge - years of Handwriting Without Tears (the tears came from me). When I look at some CDS, the essay isn’t really used at D’s choice schools. </p>
<p>Okay, I am a slacker. I don’t email D’s teachers. Almost never. I emailed to volunteer for a field trip in ninth grade and I emailed last year the science teacher about a concern and another teacher about a homework assignment. Uh, that’s it. </p>
<p>This year, I barely know her teachers’ names. </p>
<p>I know I may get slammed for this. Some parents at D’s school thought I was borderline negligent and I should have fought for D’s grades. D has always dealt with her grades and scores and missed assignments and make up quizzes/tests, low course grades (how can she do better). D was adamant that I stay out from the beginning and to be honest, I was more than happy to do so. I told D I already went through high school, didn’t particularly like it and I wasn’t willing to repeat it. Those were her grades, not mine. D was fine with this - every time I threatened to email a teacher, she followed through with contacting and setting up a meeting. She wasn’t very good at contacting the teacher in the beginning of ninth grade but by tenth grade, she was much better. This year, she’s very comfortable in handling the student-teacher relationship, and contacting them for makeup work.</p>
<p>I do get on D’s case if I see a drop in her grades or I think she could study more, but I really don’t want to contact the teacher. I don’t know why. Shyness? Intimidated? Tongue-tied? I really don’t know what to say in these emails.</p>
<p>Last year, I attempted to contact her math teacher about a missing assignment (I think). The response I got was so cheerful and enthusiastic it was unnerving. Never tried it again.</p>
<p>twogirls, usually I stay out of things but a parent was needed this summer to deal with D’s class schedule. D’s old GC had transferred to another school. I emailed various offices and found out the new GC’s name. I contacted D’s new guidance counselor with a request for a schedule change. I got a response that he couldn’t do it with D’s classes. I thanked him and then told D. She was not happy, asked for the new GC’s name and email and went to email him.</p>
<p>I kind of felt sorry for the guy and wanted to email him a warning that D would be contacting him.</p>
<p>@Apollo, Been there done that and I don’t regret being pushy about D13 test schedule. Her school was geared more toward the UK Uni applications and she was only applying to US schools. In hindsight, we all agree that my requests and reminders kept things on course.</p>
<p>S15 has UK schools on his college list so game plan is a little different but still playing it safe by reminding GC when and what SAT subject tests need to be taken.</p>
<p>suzy - I think your approach is good one. Trust between you and your D is far more important than any grade, IMHO. You don’t want to do anything that may harm that relationship.</p>
<p>Suzy100, l would let your daughter handle discussing grade and assignment issues directly with the teacher. BHG informed me last year that teachers frown upon parents getting involved with grade issues, and can affect the student/teacher relationship. </p>
<p>I let BHG vent, provide advise, but leave the issue for her to resolve on her own. She at first had a hard time asserting herself, but once she realized not speaking up only harmed her grade, she had no problems approaching teachers and following up via email. Low-ball grades totally disappeared in subjective courses like history and English. </p>
<p>I read somewhere that teachers cannot give every student an “A” even if deserved, so they “scope” the class to determine which students will not complain about slightly lowered grades for the semester. So, a student who should receive a “B” on an assignment may receive a C+, and etc.</p>
<p>I let my kids handle the communication with teachers regarding grades and assignments. However, the schools’s guidance office does not respond to student requests very quickly or completely without some parental involvement. So, I do email the guidance counselor with scheduling concerns, because if I don’t schedules get messed up…and they do not get fixed without a parent’s involvement.</p>
<p>The few times over all the years of my daughters’ schooling that I’ve had to intervene came about because the kids had exhausted their abilities to manage things and adults were either using adult authority at the expense of the kid or were simply not responding.</p>
<p>These were never about grades but they were also never pleasant encounters and each time I went away licking my wounds. </p>
<p>At the high school level, the girls mostly handled things themselves. My eldest would have left home if I’d inserted myself into her school life. She and all her classmates had an issue with a long term sub teaching AP Bio–he insisted on recording a C on a lab for her that she swore she’d submitted and for which she had an electronic record. She got this cleared up on her own–frankly, with this kid, you just never knew if she’d really submitted the thing–probably because he pulled this with most of the class. My middle D is a sunny person who seemed to manage well on her own. There was an issue with scheduling in her senior year that I tried to help with and got nowhere. My youngest needed some support her freshman year after a cross-country move and literally knowing no one in the school or in the area. I tried to get her some help but I can’t say I succeeded there either. </p>
<p>At this point it would take a lot for me to make contact. I’ve been effectively scared off by a series of negative interactions.</p>
<p>I’ve intervened when the kid has exhausted her resources and it’s a fight worth winning. (The “worth” part depends on the cost, of course.) Mostly it’s been over scheduling. The only time there’s been parental contact over grades, it was more along the line of asking if D was in the right class, and what was going on. We weren’t asking for grades to be changed.</p>
<p>I very rarely intervene, except to email teachers if my daughters were out sick. I receive a response from about half the teachers, usually with positive comments. I am heavily involved in the high school. I think most of the staff know I don’t get involved unless their is a real issue.</p>
<p>My D1 had extreme problems with the head of the science dept. Dr X dropped the ball not once, but twice on paperwork on D1’s science fair project. She won at the county level , but couldn’t move on due to Dr X’s administration error. The following year D1 dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s and the teacher let her down again. We were livid and took it to the county level. The Principal was mortified and continually apologized for his staff. Funnily enough my d2 has never had this teacher. To this day, she still smiles sheepishly at me and asks so sweetly about d1 when I pass her in the halls.</p>
<p>@MittenTigger–Thank you, thank you, thank you for mentioning the Canadian Schools with reciprocity agreements with our state!</p>
<p>I looked at U of Winnipeg and U of Manitoba and had to increase the screen to 200% to make sure I was NOT reading the reciprocity tuition figures incorrectly. Those are definately financial safety schools. Heck, the tuition of $4000 at U of Manitoba is less than our community colleges. Tuition, health insurance, books, room, and board fees total less than a state directional at an average COA of $14,060, except for personal needs & travel. </p>
<p>The University of Winnipeg is similar in costs with a total COA, excepting personal needs & travel of $12,799-$13,459 depending on major. Some programs are only 3 years and others are 4 years, meaning that students should graduate within 3-5 years. What a bargain!</p>
<p>I’m researching all costs and will present to BHG as an option. I’m sure she will agree that both Canadian institutions offer her all the programming she wants and the cities have dance opportunities, too. </p>
<p>Both universities rank in the top 15 Canadian Universities. US residents only need to have a C average and C in required courses.</p>
<p>The CA and site was changed this year along with a connection to Naviance to send LORs and transcripts. The Naviance part is not working and there is weird wording within some of the CA questions that can result in “white” lies.</p>
<p>Hop over to the 2014 forum to read all about it. I hope the glitches are patched before next year.</p>
<p>Sally, I forgot, I wanted to thank you for sharing your D1’s experiences with the SAT essay. My D is also a factual and analytic writer rather than an expansive one and her handwriting is labored besides. She was doing some work for comp sci and said that she had to write something out physically and it was the hardest part of the task. My H is so handwriting impaired that he had to have accommodations to type instead of write from early on–and this was back in the dark ages before computers were regularly available. I am going to tell her (ad nauseum) it’s just not the end of the world and she has some impressive company. </p>
<p>I’m sorry to hear about your D’s rough week and disappointing finish. At least they are a young team and work well together and will have another shot at finishing first next year. And they still go onto state competitions this year? Not too shabby.</p>
<p>I sincerely hope the CA problems get sorted before our kids are up. My eldest applied for admission to college in 2006-7 and they were the second year of the “new” SAT. What a mess that was. The kids graduating one year before her had the hardest time but the 2007 kids were still screwed up with certain subject tests no longer counting and mistakes with scoring the essay and just a lot of uncertainty.</p>
<p>The CA connected to Naviance a few years ago. Schools are all different regarding the connection time ( year of connection). Our school connected CA to Naviance when my older daughter ( 2012) was applying to schools and it took awhile for the teachers to figure out. It was a bit stressful but it worked out. </p>
<p>My older daughter’s year was the first class that had teachers send LOR through Naviance ( connected to CA). Prior to that everybody was instructed to send in stamped envelopes that were addressed to the colleges. It almost seems easier to do it that way!</p>
<p>If you are lucky your school will work out the kinks with the CA before September, 2014.</p>