@Mysonsdad my S submitted a few days before and received the request Thurs. There is an info page that states that LoRs can be requested within the first three weeks of Dec so they may be dealing with an avalanche of admissions documentation all at once.
Congtatulations @BeeDAre on all that good news at your house! Good luck to those that have received or are hoping for Berkley LOR requests. That is an interesting new twist on the whole process.
DS did receive a âHave you decided yetâ e-mail from the school where he has a great offer. He just is not yet ready to commit even though it is definitely in his top 3.
I think asking a student to reply within 15 days is unfair pressure given that so many schools have not even released decisions yet. That is the whole point of having a national decision day.
Tiger football and soccer are definitely making Clemson a great place to be for a sports fan!
@Undercovermom1, thank you, your are right of course, not expecting LoR request from UCLA. I misspoke. Perhaps I am the only one here hoping for no LoR request from Berkeley. Iâd read they are only sending them to about 20% of applicants this year, and somehow I got it in my head some time ago that they would only be going out if they wanted to see more in your profile, so maybe not getting one is a good thing? But I am probably wrong about that. No matter. It will be what it will be.
Congratulations to everyone who have been receiving offers of acceptance and scholarship money. It must feel great to know that something is sure!
@smilla The mystery of UCB LOR continues. DD submitted her application on 11/25 and did not get it yet. I donât believe they want to read additional information for someone who is definitely in or defiantly out. I support the theory that this is automatic response using algorithm comparing GPA, test scores and something else numerical plus major. But this is UC system and nothing is transparent about the whole process so we shell see.
I showed my son the posts on the UCB board about the LoR requests and his reaction was, âFINALLY something I can use to practice logistic regression with.â So I will let you know if we find anything in our analysis. Of course CC is not the best sample.
@LKnomad: â!â
It is mysterious, thatâs for sure.
I think that it must be more than an algorithm because of the timing. An algorithm can be created to automatically send out a letter if certain requirements are met. If it just based on a numerical combo then the timing should be the same for all students. But students who turned their info early, near the beginning or middle of the month received requests very quickly, even within an hour while student who turned them in later, toward the deadline, have a lag time of days. This indicates a human hand. Maybe it is nothing really, someone logging in the info before the computer algorithm runs. Maybe an app gets a quick read. Who knows.
Yeah, I know that Iâm a bit touched, but I do live right in UC Berkeleyâs backyard. My guess is that UCB is using LORâs as another way to circumvent Prop 209âs ban on using race as a criterion for admission. Just like the essays they can use the LORâs to rank candidates using an opaque methodology that may not be what it appears to be. UCB gets over 60,000 applicants. Do you really think that they have the time or resources to use the LORâs for anything more than that?
This might be a reasonable assumption. They might be targeting ORM kids with high stats. But this is so wrong!
D submitted another application tonightâŠyeah! 3 more to go - 2 high reaches and one safe. This process will be all complete by next weekend or the following weekend at the latest (I am pushing for next weekend but my D is steadfast on her own timeline and at this point I feel pushing would most likely be futile). Then just one scholarship application to complete over the holiday break. Then we are done with the process and just have to contend with the waitingâŠand waitingâŠand waiting.
My son finally started working on a âWhy xxxxx?â prompt that is supposed to be from 20 to 200 words. I keep pushing for more specific and less generic and my son just keeps bemoaning the 200 word limit. 200 words is really, really short. So much more challenging to fit in substance in a short amount of text and keep his colloquial voice. I think he has settled on a bulleted list format with brief narrative intro and conclusion. He thinks he can fit in more details in less space and keep some quirky/less serious things as well. He seems energized by this new direction so maybe things are looking up?
@momofzag â A couple of years ago S14 wrote the âWhy Tulaneâ essay in bullet form. It similarly allowed him to cover a lot of ground, some of it pretty whimsical. FWIW, he was accepted.
DD hit the submit on one of her favs and a reach. She has had it completed but just couldnât hit the submit button. I ask her why it was so hard and she said she just didnât feel like it was ready or maybe it wasnât good enough. I told her she had a lot of good schools if she wasnât accepted. I hope she is ok with whatever decision she receives. I believe she will be. Might have to use the suggested dinner routine.
Congratulations to all!
@sophmore1 your D sounds exactly like my D. Everytime my D is about to submit an application she feels so inadequate and unsure. I keep telling her she is a great applicant for the schools she is applying but it is not an exact science and there are no sure things. Do your best and believe that karma will give you the options that are right for you. It has been helping her hit the button but not with the waitingâŠthat has and continues to be difficult. Not too bad during the week when we are very busy but the more lackadaisical weekend time tends to be hard for her (and as a result all of us who bear witness to the self doubt creeping in). This process builds maturity and perseverance but as with any stage (kids go through) it hard going through but you usually appreciate it afterwards. Our caring thoughts are with your D and all the sons and daughters going through this. We all know they will be fine (no matter what the outcome) but it tugs at our hearts to watch them navigate through this sometimes exciting, sometimes trying and sometimes difficult time. We are blessed to have these amazing kids and they are blessed to have us for our love and supportâŠthatâs what family is all about (and its sad to realize that not all kids have this)!
Congratulations to those that are completing their applications and will be done soon! Also congratulations to all with acceptances! It is great to hear such good news and the excitement that comes with it!
S16 has been overwhelmed with honors and school specific scholarship apps for those he applied to earlier in the fall and was accepted intoâŠand is also waiting to hear from 3 schools that notify mid-december. His list of acceptances at that time will help solidify which schools he still plans to apply to that have early January deadlines. He is more than burnt outâŠand is having trouble mustering the enthusiasm that should come with recent acceptances! Waiting for that sparkle in his eye to returnâŠperhaps a little more sleep would also help with that!
Usually Christmas break would be all about sleeping in and recharging (with some homework thrown in), but this year will be a non-stop marathon for homework, senior project, and last wave of college applications.
During the this weekend, DD read 5 Shadow saga with a couple of Enderâs game series. She does not read SF or fantasy these days but reading genre books seems to lower her stress level, which had been raised a lot after her meeting with GC. She has math exam tomorrow and due on 10 pages essay. Another 14 pages essay due is waiting in few days. Still 6 weeks away from end of 1st semester.
@NYDad513 My D is very similar to yours and has read five or more books to reduce stress levels and regain some of her equilibrium. She also has school exams and assignments but I guess she felt she needed to backtrack a little with reading in order to move ahead with her responsibilities. Your D is definitely a wonderful young lady with many many gifts and attributes and she should try not to let the GC meeting sabotage her going forward. Thatâs where our parental support is so helpful and kudos to you for being there for her!
DD has her DE exams this week, economics and government, and her high school exams and projects next week. Sheâs asked that we not do anything for Christmas (baking decoratingâŠ) until after her exams because she really wants to be part of it but is just too stressed out to deal with Christmas.
Over Thanksgiving break she learned that a good friend that she really looked up to was removed from college by here parents when they found out she wasnât going to class (too late to recover the grades but early enough to get Wâs instead of Fâs) and was cutting. This is the second of DD friends in non related friend groups to go through this and it came as quite a shock. I thought this girl had it all together, was awarded a huge amount of private merit based scholarships which are now all lost. This weekend we also ran into a friend from her homeschooling days who I thought was presuming her dream as a tv producer. The last I heard she had job at the local public TV station and was loving it. Not sure what happened but now sheâs working at a big box retail store with the goal of âsaving enough money to move out and get a place with my boyfriend.â DD and I are having difficulty understanding what happened to these girls that used to be so driven. Iâm not sure if itâs stress of or something else but given the circumstances Iâve agreed to DDâs request and we will be holding off on anything related to Christmas until after the exams.
The moment when your sophomore rats out her senior sister who just tweeted âcanât wait to move outâ after having an argument over being asked to clean her room and sophomore tweets back âYeah itâs tough when the parental units ask you to clean your roomâ
(Yes I know you were busy this weekend with a LAX tournament and caroling for cans with NHS and a 5 hour âlunchâ with friends , whom you had just spent Saturday night with caroling, but if you can find the time to hangout with friends you can take 45 minutes to clean your room!)