@LoveTheBard - yes, checked South West. It’s my DS’s favorite airline 
Probably because of Easter, fares are higher.
I realized I never responded to @thinmints’s query about Grinnell…sorry.
She really enjoyed her visit to Grinnell – she loved the kids and the vibe, even though she found the physical campus and the location less compelling (she was particularly amused by the gigantic “Jesus” sign in the middle of a cornfield, not far from both an adult store and a gun store). She had some pretty serious reservations about whether or not it would be a good academic fit for her intended major(s). Their art history offerings are relatively scant, esp. in the areas of study that interest her. Two medieval/Renaissance scholars have recently retired and likely won’t be replaced for at least another year or two. Their art history focus is more on Chinese/Asian and Latin American, if memory serves.
So, it looks like Grinnell has slipped down a few notches…Too bad, she really wanted to love it there. Close, but probably no cigar.
To quote @Dave_N, onward and forward!
We had an interesting phone msg from one of D’s schools yesterday. It was an AO who wanted to know if we had any questions about the financial aid package and wanted us to know that they have extended admissions office hours. Finally, left her direct line number and again, “please call if you have any questions or would like to know more about your financial aid package.” Is this a school’s way of saying “if you’d like more money, please let us know because we might give you some”? It seemed a bit odd.
Oldest D’s alternative public charter HS put on a pretty good graduation. Each year the kids vote on one male and one female teacher/staff member to speak and the principal speaks as well. Any kid who wants to can perform at graduation if they pass muster with the graduation committee. It’s worked so far that they’ve never had to cut anyone due to time constraints. D danced for her graduation, so of course I loved it. Black gowns for everyone and stoles which are reused, so the current student’s name and grad date are embroidered along with those of previous students who wore the same stole.
Visibly honoring top students: I think schools can’t win for losing on this sort of thing. Parents of academically-but-not-athletically-oriented kids often whine complain that athletes get regularly honored but academically gifted kids don’t,* and in response schools come up with things like certain GPAs or class ranks getting pictures posted or wearing different graduation robes—which is a problematic approach in part because of the arbitrariness of the border that has to be created, which creates a problematic competitiveness in a situation where competitiveness may not be called for.
- FWIW I’m not convinced this is true, or at least not to the extent some people think it is—I think that in many cases we tend to overnotice things that we think slight us or those close to us, even when they don’t.
My D17 would like her academic accomplishments to get more notice, but I’m being more and more glad that her school is so low-key about them (as it is about athletic accomplishments, too). No val/sal, ranking is done (required by the state, actually) but not publicized, and the only honors at graduation beyond the graduation itself are the students who earned a 3.5 GPA or higher (as mandated by the district, with gold cords and a very, very brief please stand and be applauded), and the few students who have spent 13 years at the school (since it’s a K–12, with green cords and another brief—but usually longer—stand and be applauded).
(Any student who wants to speak and submits their speech for approval by the end of March gets to do so, and they all get to pick whatever robe color they want—some even paint mural-type designs on their robes, with the designs subject to school approval for taste and inoffensiveness.)
@LoveTheBard – I’ve been there many times and never saw the Jesus sign and surrounding stores…so funny! Now, I will be on high alert! It sounds like she is giving everything careful consideration. That is all you can ask!!
@sdk0625 I am so sorry. That is an overwhelming amt of stress. 
No real words. Your dd’s mental and physical health are far more important than anything else. There are many, many paths to the same outcome or even different successful ones then their original plans. (CC is really a place full of hooey.)
At our high school all kids who graduate with a 90% unweighted or higher get gold cords, are seated in the front part of the chairs AND they are all given their dipolma before the rest of the kids. Also we have a Val and Sal. It’s very obvious… ugh.
@Dave_N, did someone at USC (Cali) tell you that your D was competing directly with that other student and only one would receive the award? I wouldn’t be surprised if both students are awarded the Trustee scholarship because it’s possible that one or both would decide not to attend. I’m not sure what their capture rate for scholarship students is, but in general it’s about 30%. I mean, USC is AWESOME (Fight on !!), but it’s not for everyone and many of the scholarship kids get lured away by other offers. It’s also possible that one of the students would get the Trustee and the other would bump down to Presidential. Anyway, my general impression is that USC uses the scholarship interviews more to confirm that the students are genuine and represent what their application indicated, but that was our experience for Presidential, which may be more laid back (at “only” half tuition, LOL).
Congrats to all who continue to amaze me with their success in the BigMAC awards!! Wowza, what did you put in their wheaties!!
@sdl0625, So sorry you are tackling such big bumps in the road. Even without these challenges many of us are feeling incredibly stressed, so I can only imagine how tough this must be.
Regarding the different color robes indicating higher GPA’s or rank, that is just wrong. However, an hour after graduation it probably won’t seem all that important, and by the end of freshman year it hopefully will be forgotten among all the wonderful new memories made at college :)>-
hang in there @Dave_N and @sdl0625. it’s all going to work out! Just have to get thru the next month and all will end well.
Regarding robes and GPA and all that, I have no idea what our school does. Son17 is in the lower tier of the “good zone”. He finishes on the top honors list every term which is either all A’s or gpa over 4.3. But it’s a competitive school, and I’d say 120 kids out of 350 make the top tier of honor roll every semester. I think Son17 falls on the low end. So I doubt he’d get a special robe. I don’t think he’d really care one way or the other. He’s already told me going to the graduation is going to be boring an waste of time, ha.
Regarding robes and cords and such: Our kids will wear the same color robes, and there are Honor Cords. The Honor Cords are based on GPA, but also have requirements in each subject (attain a certain level math, a certain number of English credits including a number of AP credits, etc).
My daughter will be the valedictorian, which is based on weighted GPA. There was a minor concern earlier this year that she may not get to wear the Honor Cord. She is taking a light load at high school this year, because she is also taking 14 credits per term at the community college. Her college courses won’t appear on her high school transcript. So that left some kind of gap on the Honors Cord requirement. I think that D and her counselor got this resolved, but even if not, D doesn’t really care about the Honor Cord. Imagine the talk that will create, if the valedictorian doesn’t wear the Honor Cord. There will surely be people saying that she should be disqualified from val.
D’s HS does same color Cap and Gown. I THINK they might have different color tassels for honor roll - our school doesn’t rank.
@srk2017 wow that’s a lot and yea for kayak!
Oh no @sdl0625 Poor kid! hugs to your daughter, that’s so rough, we went through a similar rough patch and things are looking up now, so hang in there!
@snoozn interesting about the phone call, i haven’t heard that one but maybe they’re just trying to be “warm and fuzzy”
@LoveTheBard Well, at least she figured that out about Grinnell!
Question. Still newbie here. My D17 has been offered a real full ride at Texas A&M between the school, b/c she’s a natl merit finalist and a private foundation. She applied to Stanford, Rice, Dartmouth, Vandy and many more. She applied Regular Decision. We are low-income. She’s had 5 alumni interviews. If she hasn’t heard anything except you didn’t make the final cut for a scholarship from Emory and Wash&Lee, is that a signal that they’re not interested? Or not interested enough in her to provide good financial aid? She’s got all the other stuff a kid like her would have, great SATs, 3 out of 400 in her class, etc… We’ve heard nothing else. I’m getting an ulcer!
I go back and forth between liking and not liking our school policy on rank and recognition. But it is what it is and I’m proud of my kid so… Top 2% wear a completely different colored robe and sit on the stage at graduation. They also have a huge district wide celebration and get to invite a favorite faculty member (can be from any grade).
Athletes get a big signing day but most merit awards are not recognized. So I’ll be fine with how it all goes down.
Kids will walk out of the ceremony and never care again so it doesn’t really matter.
@Momtaro, at least for Stanford and Dartmouth, you should not expect to hear anything, one way or another, until the date they release all RD decisions. Dartmouth is March 30, Stanford is March 31. You will hear then about the admission decision and financial aid.
Thank you so much!
@soxmom Thank you so much!
@LoveTheBard, yes D is a NMF so she will qualify for the 1/2 tuition regardless. It is probably not enough to be able to attend, though.
@jmek15, D gave me the impression that one candidate would get the trustee and one would not. I did not ask directly. I just concentrated on trying to not make any faux pau’s that would eliminate D. (I chewed with my mouth closed and did not accept 17 glasses of wine at dinner. At the cocktail hour, I drank a beer to signal my need for the scholarship $) I hope you are correct; I’d really like both candidates to be awarded the highest award. C’mon USC, you met your multi-billion dollar fundraising goal early 
On the pseudo-question of the day, D’s high school awards a stole for NHS and some cords for 300+ hours of community service. I know this because I have to buy them. I don’t remember if they have anything for honors, perhaps a stand and be recognized moment. They award the diplomas alphabetically. D’s class is large, around 1000, so it is a running joke at the school that you get to meet several classmates for the first time at graduation practice and graduation. There is no class rank. There are two speaking slots filled by application; anyone can apply.
To me, the coolest thing is that graduation is held at a mid-sized sports arena that has one of those circumferential video displays and you get to see your graduate’s name go around the arena a few times during the course of the ceremonies.
@sdl0625 Sending you hugs and good thoughts that things are looking up soon.
Hang in there!!
Sons school doesn’t rank and has no Val/Sal…
Interesting that there are so many ways that it is done, everyone has their traditions
great article in the WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-worse-than-waiting-to-hear-from-colleges-getting-interrogated-about-it-1488987872
For those of you with kids in private school, have you been asked to make a senior gift? The parents who head our class gift set a goal of $250,000. There are 140 seniors in the class. The amount puts me off.