@Ballerina2016 : About there was a lot of foment in the world of economists and physicists in 2013, after a trio of economists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Science for their work in economics. This touched off a firestorm of debate and derision from many (read: those at Harvard and Yale) who insist that anything with the qualifier ‘science’ in its name is not a science. One of the winning economists even wrote a letter to the New York Times in defense of the win.
@4kids2graduate Bravo for you D for continuing to do something she loves. It shouldn’t be about whether you will achieve the ultimate distinction in that area…its about passion. Life in general is better when you are engaged in something you are passionate about! That is the message we should be giving our children. Do something you are passionate about and do it to YOUR best ability. If you do then you can always be proud not matter what!
@EastGrad, I actually think the Homecoming Court honor shows leadership to an extent. The process at your school certainly sounds more involved than is typical, perhaps more akin to a pageant. I say mention it if you have space and feel like it’s more significant than whatever else she would place on the CA in that section.
Re: recs, my opinion is that an engineering teacher who knows the student well is preferable to another science teacher with less personal knowledge of the kid.
My daughter hates the self promotion thing too, and is an exceptionally quiet person too. I’m glad she started out applying for scholarships (and getting turned down!) early, so she could begin to realize she really needs to toot her own horn.
Re: coach as LOR, she has one of those too (and hers is also a pro writer like someone else said here.) A coach can speak to the tremendous discipline required for success in athletics.
@4kids2graduate, I loved your comment to ballerina2016 about your daughter’s dance! Mine was in from age 2 through 9th grade (had been doing pointe for a couple years), when she finally had to narrow down her pursuit of major sports to two for practical purposes. She did not continue classes…and I miss it terribly, lol, especially since my youngest gave it up shortly thereafter too. Fall without Nutcracker breaks my heart! 
Ir’s been fun reading the dance stories. For 10 years D took hip hop from an amazing young guy who turned the classes into life lessons, even with the little kids. When it became clear that she wasn’t going to get to competition level, she moved on and took a few other forms of dance, but finally discovered praise dance through her church. She now directs the choreography there, and being in proximity to a church that offers it was part of her college search. I love seeing her face light up as she does something that gives her such joy.
@Cheeringsection : Excuse, but why might you need to call and apologize?
@waitingtoexhale if my son and I missed a communication changing the meeting place or time then we “stood up” the rep. That would require an apology. People are usually quick to acknowledge their share of responsibility if one party allows first that it was their mistake :-"
My D17 will probably end up using her engineering teacher for her science rec. He has known her all 4 years and also supervises the technology competition group she is part of. We also have a complicating issue that the ap physics teacher gave S16 and amazing one of a kind rec he wouldn’t be able to give her. They are equally smart but she is quiet and he stands out. The other logical option is her AP Chem teacher but she’s in class with her brother so we’ll have to see how that shakes out this year. The teacher she has for BC Calc this year and will have for Multi-Var/Matrix Algebra next year gets slammed with rec requests and I can’t imagine she can do a good job on 50+ of them. In our school AP Comp Sci is in the math dept and is listed as a math class on the transcript…but the teacher for that is crummy writer…
Just learned something new today. Apparently GC can see LOR in Naviance. DD actually has 3 people who can write her really good recommendations. So GC told her to have all 3 teachers to submit LOR in Naviance and she (GC) will chose the best two to send to schools. This is going back to that AP Computer science discussion we had yesterday. So for Caltech she will not be using AP CS teacher, but for the rest she might.
That’s sorta of weird it ends up being GC’s choice. That’s not how it is on our Naviance. The teachers have to choose which schools(that you tell them). They just can’t upload it and let it sit,
I am so confused about this Naviance crap. I was told that the teachers who are given permission to upload recommendations (after being “invited”) are the sole recommenders for the colleges designated in the aggregate - no picking and choosing. (ex.: 8 schools, 1 English Teacher Recommendation means that that English teacher submits to all 8 schools.)
One of the college officers told me that a student can go in and designate any teacher, anywhere, and that teacher does not have to be a teacher at the student’s current high school.
I. Hate. This.
Milestone…Transcripts and teacher reco has been downloaded by schools and all posted that they received except for one. Yey! No interviews and D’s major is not difficult to get into at each college she applied (as far as I know), so now we just sit and wait, wait, wait. Ugh. Well, actually, she does still have one more app to submit to VTech - finishing the essay(s). But glad some progress has been made! =D> :D/
@readingclaygirl - And our Naviance is something different, too - not what you or @Ballerina2016 describe. Evidently, there’s some sort of order there, so schools that need one LoR get the first one posted, and schools that need two get the first two. I’m afraid to look to see if any need 3. S has long planned to have his AP English Lang teacher write one, and that’s underway. He now realizes he may need Science or Math for a school he’s really interested in, and that’s going to be difficult. His AP Physics teacher has been at the school 6 weeks and barely knows him. His science teacher from last year is gone, as are two of his math teachers. Calculus B/C has had him for 6 weeks, but I think he’s going to ask her tomorrow.
But then we somehow have to make sure that the English teacher’s LoR goes in first?!? It’s complicated.
So they get to go to college at the end of this. Is there some sort of surprise for parents? (I’m thinking an island, a beverage with one of those little umbrellas…)
@GoodGrief16 Yes…I still get nostalgic when I look at the pictures of the mouse, the angel and the gingerbread man!
@Waiting2exhale In my school you have to tell the teachers what schools to select because they can pick and choose. What you were first told doesn’t really make much sense when you think about it. Some schools need 1 letter, others 2. You may need teachers of different subjects for different schools etc. Very thankful that my college app was not on common app and therefore the recommendations are not done though Naviance. A lot of my friends are complaining. And I know multiple people whose recommending teacher is no longer in the school and they are doing so through Naviance. @cakeisgreat VTech is a great school. My dad is an alumi so I’ve been exposed to the school my whole life even though I live nowhere near there and I would never consider it. I do have a cousin(on the other side of the family) that is applying OOS. Congrats to your D on the progress!
@2manybooks Yes…and many, many free massages!
@2manybooks A lot of my peers are having a beloved former Spanish teacher write recs and she isn’t at the school anymore. So maybe that’s an option for your S if he has contact information.
@readingclaygirl - I’ll have to ask. I know his Physics teacher (standard - had to take it to do AP this year) is off in grad school somewhere, and the others retired. The AP Physics teacher he wanted to have changed schools over the summer. He claims his junior A/B Calculus teacher doesn’t really know who he is, but he got “A joy to teach - one of the best students in the class” on his report card. (Maybe he sat quietly in the corner and caused no trouble? I dunno… )
It’s definitely worth checking out, though - thanks for the idea! I’ll ask him about that.
He’s an odd kid. Very adept with science and math - VERY - yet loves History and English and writing, which don’t come nearly as easily to him. I jokingly suggested that he apply as a math major and transfer into English, but yeah - doubt that’ll work.
@readingclaygirl: I’ll say this as my own sentiment, and with no intention to invoke the CC handle of another parent, “Good Grief.”
@2manybooks: I greatly encouraged my now-sophomore kid to enter college in his intended science major, but make sure that he gets in some serious creative writing time with a noted professor there. I thought my boy had some real leanings toward creativity that had yet been unexplored; he scowled at me. Turns out that he has begun writing a book, and it is incredible. And, he planned for a class with noted professor, then found it doesn’t fit into his schedule at registration. Still, those math and science kids do sneak up on you sometimes.
I recently found that one of DD’s list recommends to send peer recommendation. It seems funny for me but I have to tell my daughter to find someone to write a letter. She’s not preparing her app well up to now.
Anyway, peer recommendation. I understand their logic to ask but I am suspicious it will help them to identify who is better fit for the school.