@STEM2017 I don’t think you’re crazy for having S borrow $5,000 a year. Our D wants to go to a LAC 2/3 of the way across the country instead of our state flagship which is 45 min. away and one of the best flagships in the country, so we said we’d split the difference between the LAC and the flagship with her, which means she will have to borrow $5,000 a year to come up with her 1/2. Since she wants to go to medical school, we figure she should be able to pay it off.
Gaps & Gowns, etc
Royal blue for boys, white for girls. Girls wear white dressed under the gown and boys wear shirt & tie. Usually VERY hot outdoors so no jackets. The blue and white is a beautiful combo against the green field with white folding chairs. We hope for sunny skies as it will not be quite as pretty inside the auditorium.
Cords for a few honor societies, but cannot recall exactly which ones. Val & Sal each make a speech; I cannot imagine sitting for 14 speeches.
Award ceremony on a weeknight in late May. The only people who know about it are those invited to attend. A lot of Juniors are recognized with Book Awards, and a handful of other awards are given to underclassmen. Scholarship award ceremony takes place immediately before the regular award ceremony and consists of local awards. Need-based to those going into teaching, or health care, or who served as volunteer firemen.
The final issue of the school newspaper includes post-graduation plans and is distributed at graduation. I cannot recall if graduation program includes NMF, etc or if those names only appeared in award ceremony program.
@Dave_N — was not at your session of Trustee but wondered the same thing for those one or two majors/programs where only one student was called up and escorted out! My son was with the Engineering pack, so no special love. Was feeling very overlooked since the CT admission rep didn’t even come on stage and give a shout out to CT.
I do not know the answer to your question, but have seen it written that they want an even distribution of these scholarships across the disciplines. I do not know how they ensure that exactly.
Here is something I had posted elsewhere. From memory, so may not be correct.
There were 171 students at program Mon & Tues with slightly more in attendance on Thurs & Fri. Some speaker quoted that up to 60% of students will be awarded the scholarship (assume he meant full Trustee) and up to half of the students at the session will enroll (or, half of those offered scholarship will enroll—this was the facts & figures being tossed around). So….if 350 interviewing, and 200-ish offered scholarship, it must be that half will enroll as I believe they have 100 full tuition scholarships listed.
Even after a day and a half there, I am still vaguely confused about the honors program. I understand Thematic Option and also understand that one can be designated a Viterbi Fellow, and there may also be honors within Viterbi, without having to be a Fellow, but I am not 100% certain of that. If you understand Honors @Dave_N , please let me know as I am still foggy.
At S school, everyone wears red cap & gown, Val, Sal, and class president sit on stage and give speeches, everyone else is in alphabetical order. Some kids decorate caps, some don’t, no big deal either way. The are honor cords–Silver for 90+ gpa, gold for 95+, and an added blue for NHS. IB diploma kids get a white sash, and military kids get sashes for their branch. It all works, and the kids are happy. The program has each kid’s pic with their diploma type (IB, Regents, Advanced Regents, Advanced Regents with Honors, etc.), plans after HS, honors, etc., its all very nice…
@CT1417, it is a little confusing, isn’t it? D is not in engineering, so I don’t know anything about Viterbi. D will enter with more AP than can be applied, there is a 32 hour limit, so she was looking to Thematic Option since she likes to read and write. It would more than fulfill her core requirements.
@chillkitty I agree with you. My D isn’t athletically inclined, but she is academically talented. She will graduate summa cum laude and will wear colors at graduation reflecting this achievement. I don’t see this as any different than an athlete making varsity and wearing a varsity uniform instead of a JV uniform. Frankly, it is a major disappointment to me that our society is so eager to recognize athletic achievement, but if your talents lie in the academic arena, you’re supposed to be modest about it and blend in instead of being recognized.
I guess ours is very PC. Everyone wears the same black cap and gown. There is a asterisk by your name for honors. Another notation for 200+ volunteer hours. Students line up and receive their diploma alphabetically. Val is nominated by students, they have to have a min GPA ( pretty high - but forget). Top 5 give speeches to faculty and one is picked. No Sal, school doesn’t rank.
University of Rochester decisions are out earlier today for most after delays. DS got in but he has no interest. Not a Big MAC school. Few kids from this thread got in, but I guess everyone is waiting for merit outcomes. They will send 5hose next week.
There will be a sports banquet at the end of the year and trophies will be given to the top athletes; there will be a special evening to present the awards for academic achievement. We will proudly attend both to celebrate S17’s accomplishments but I am glad that on graduation day we will all be celebrating the end of their high school years and the beginning of the next phase of their lives.No Val/ No Sal. They all know what they have accomplished and what others have accomplished and it’s just a nice afternoon to graduate and wish each other well.
@cleoforshort Yes, we have been asked to write the senior gift check.I didn’t bother to note the amount but we received an invitation for a cocktail reception which promises an update on the senior gift. Guess I’ll be finding out soon but I never bring my checkbook to a cocktail party. 
@paveyourpath You are a wise woman.
@Dave_N --no, I did not think your D was Engineering since she would not have been one of only two leaving with her advisor!
I just think that they haven’t really explained the honors program properly. Perhaps it will all be made clear when letters arrive at the end of March.
Best of luck to your D.
@Momtaro - First of all, welcome!!
Just as a follow-up to your other questions, I believe that all of the schools you mentioned are need blind. That means that your eligibility for financial aid is completely independent of the admissions process and merit aid/scholarships.
Not qualifying for Emory Scholars of for Washington & Lee’s Johnson scholarship is not indicative of whether or not your kid will get in to those schools – or any other schools – nor whether or not he/she will get FA if accepted. For some of those top scholarships you need to be at the tippy top of the applicant pool.
Using Emory as an example, there were over 8,500 Emory Scholars applicants this year (and probably over 20,000 applicants to the school). Out of the 8,500 applicants, there were 100 finalists (i.e., <1%); Emory’s overall admit rate is ca. 25%. Not getting Scholars is in no way a bad sign for admissions.
Hopefully you have some safety schools in there too, since many of the schools you listed are reaches for everyone.
@LoveTheBard Thanks. Yes she’s already been accepted to her safety school with full ride, but hasn’t accepted b/c she’s waiting to see what happens with all the others.
Best of luck and welcome, @Momtaro. Sounds like you have a pretty incredible D!
We have a friend who is low income and was accepted one of the most well-regarded LACs in the upper Midwest. The school is mostly need blind, and she received a very generous aid package. The caveat is that she is a top athlete in her area, and she applied early decision. However, that that should not have affected her actual award, as the school does not offer merit aid, except a small NMF award, and gives only need based aid.
We’ll be looking to hearing more about you and your D’s journey!
@morningside95 Thank you. It’s been a long journey. One way or another I’m glad we’ll have an answer soon.
@Dave_N I love the way you ‘handled’ the scholarship dinner at USC!
Haven’t been on this page for about 10 days and there are over 500 posts to read! Yikes. In advance congratulations to all who received good news, sorry for those with disappointments and feeling it with you for those (like S) who are still waiting to hear from most schools.
@Fishnlines29, truth be told, I was paired with an absolutely wonderful faculty member. Everyone on that visit was incredibly kind and accommodating.
Graduation: All boys school with two distinct events…
Senior Awards Night where all recognition is presented to recipients.
Graduation where they all where the same rented tuxedo for the ceremony. Diplomas are presented alphabetically.
Can’t believe I’m talking about graduation. :-S
Graduation - no robes - white dresses or blue blazer/khaki pants. Seating is random - diplomas are awarded in a separate ceremony after the main ceremony. Cum Laude society members are listed and asked to stand - no other recognition for academic honors. There are a few big awards announced at graduation, the rest are given in separate ceremonies the prior week (day?).
I’m driving son17 out to UMass later for a Model UN conference. He’s at a DECA competition in Boston right now.
I’ll have him in the car for a few hours so I am going to try to see where his mind is at regarding school choices. Several of the schools release decisions during the next week.
I’m going to try to talk to him about the significant merit award opportunity he has been offered and what it really means. I don’t think he has a good understanding of it all. We have his education funding set aside for him in a 529 and some cash. If he didn’t have to use all of the cash it could be a significant opportunity for him to start his adult life debt free and with a nice rainy day account already in place.
It’s a weird situation ( a good but weird situation) we are in. When he applied to schools I did not expect him to really receive any merit $$ from the schools he applied to. I thought they might give him a little bit, 5-15K per year max, if that. I think the remaining schools on his list will probably not offer any more than that, just a guess. One school he has been accepted to has awarded him an amount that equates to a significant reduction in tuition costs, but it is not as highly ranked/regarded as the other school remaining on his list. It is a nice school that has what he wants to study, and its not like it’s a rinky dink East North Whatever State University or Jim Bob’s College. He’d be a bigger fish in a small pond, which he might enjoy for a change. I think he could succeed there.
It should be an interesting discussion. I’d look forward to hearing his thoughts.