Re: Leadership, my DS doesn’t have any leadership position in school activities except he started a new club and raised money for various charities. He tried for one leadership for senior year, but not selected since he does multiple ECs, so was assumed that he won’t spend enough time. One leadership related award he can show is FTC Dean’s List finalist.
Re: scholarships, we are looking @ University of Pittsburgh. If anyone has any info or did college tour, please share the ingo.
That’s how I got my screen name. My D said I am the father in the Asian Dad memes.
Of course I did tell her that if she had studied for her blood test she could have been A positive instead of B negative.
Early decision: This is kind of a sore topic for me.
I find ED unethical, and refuse to sign off on any applications my children want to send off ED. I hold this position on two grounds: (1) It increases the relative positioning of applicants who already have other advantages, by presenting an option with a higher likelihood of admission most places that is only guaranteed affordable for high-income households that can afford to possibly be full-pay, and (2, perhaps more importantly) it removes the ability of an applicant to judge between multiple offers, and by removing that the colleges themselves are agreeing to eliminate any competition of that sort that would be to the student’s advantage, and that doesn’t pass the smell test with me.
People say it’s only worthwhile if you’re 100% sure of your first choice college and you can afford it; I agree, but would argue that it isn’t even worth it then, because it distorts the market for everyone else to a degree that isn’t healthy even for the ED applicants.
My daughter has her second admissions interview coming up next month, at Muhlenberg. (Her first was last summer, coming up unexpectedly when we toured Earlham.) Muhlenberg, to their credit, is up-front about a lot of things in their admissions and financial-aid processes that a lot of other schools do but don’t admit to, like packaging financial aid packages differently (in terms not just of size, but of loan:grant ratios) depending on how badly they want a student. Well, another thing they’re up-front about is that they really, really want applicants to apply ED, and that they will grill (they don’t use that word) you in your interview on why you’re not doing so if you aren’t. I’ve already told my daughter that she can blame it on me, saying that I’m a college professor who finds ED unethical for some reason, and that she shouldn’t feel obligated to state that she feels quite the same (if not even more so), even though that is the case.
Of the 11 schools in the SOS, 6 have ED but not EA, 1 has EA but not ED, 1 has both, and the remaining 3 have neither. My daughter is quite aware that not applying ED puts her at a relative disadvantage at those 7 schools that offer it, but she’s comfortable with that. She’s also remarked that at some level the 6 schools with ED but no EA are putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage with her, because she’s going to be getting her applications in early and will likely already have heard back from the remaining 5 (the ones without EA still promise an at least relatively quick admissions decision, so an early-submission application is effectively an EA application with them), giving her a chance to fall in love with those schools before she gets a chance to do so with the others.
@srk2017 - starting a club is supposed to require more initiative than getting elected.
University of Pittsburgh gives a full tuition scholarship to about 2% of their applicants (or thats what the letter says). In addition, one may apply for more money to defray room and board costs.
This probably requires almost perfect test scores. They also have other levels of scholarships. None of them are automatic or specified anywhere.
@srk2017 UPitt is fairly high on D’s list and we are meeting with the regional rep next week. I’ll report back afterwards.
@srk2017 We are doing a Pitt visit in July. Can you wait until then?
@CaucAsianDad My D is Asian, I’m white. I always tell her: “I put the ‘caulk’ in Caucasian!”. She use to laugh. >:D<
D will be swimming captain, as well as officers in a couple of clubs at school.
Things I taught D recently:
Dang—and here I got a O-. I can’t imagine what kind of talking-to I’d’ve gotten for that! :))
@dfbdfb love the position on ED and agree. Helpful, if discouraging info on Muhlenberg. It is on S17’s list at the moment though I do not know if it will stay. A live interview will most likely not be possible, it will need to be phone and it will not be an ED school for us either. It is possible, though not probable, S will decide he liked it enough to justify a trip (and interview) pre-application deadline, including ED but I still don’t see ED making sense given cost concerns. I have no issues letting him speak to the financial reality of his life.
Our list (I still have not come up with my own catchy name for the spreadsheet) is far too big at 19. Hoping to slash a few this weekend.
Of that 5 offer ED and EA. 4 Offer only ED and no EA. 3 offer only EA and no ED. Of the remaining 6, 3 have a priority date different than RD and 2 are rolling.
I like your D’s take on it, those ED schools are putting themselves at a disadvantage with her. Well done!
Leadership: D is co-president of the Mock Trial team and VP of a service club. Her biggest EC isn’t affiliated with the school at all, though it is an academic activity, but she is also the president of that. She is going to be so busy with clubs that she needs to get a head start on college apps this summer!
Q: How has essay writing or brainstorming been going for your kids? D is reading a lot of resources on essays but can’t think of a single thing to write about for the Common App essay. So much pressure on one 650 word essay!
@srk2017 I agree that starting a club counts a bit more. S17 helped start both of his clubs though he did not go for the top position in either. I am not sure how that will end up getting worded but both are new this year and he helped get them started.
Things I taught S recently
If you transfer from savings to checking (debit) transfer what you really need. You have a limit on savings transfers. Transferring a dollar here and a dollar there to cover dinner subway instead of $20 to cover 4 for the month so you can delude yourself that you aren’t robbing your savings…only ends up costing you an overage fee.
I am happy to report that the kid can
[ul]do laundry
iron
cook (and far far more than top ramen)
grocery shop
make his bed
clean his room
clean a bathroom
order pizza
order lyft or uber
buy stuff online on his own
travel internationally and not get hit with data charges on his phone
find free wifi
make appointments
basic first aid[/ul]
he needs work on the following
[ul]driving
understanding insurance forms
filling out employment paperwork on his own
budgeting[/ul]
I am four pages behind so will reach tonight to catch up, but just wanted to pass along before I lose the link:
http://columbiaspectator.com/news/2016/06/09/columbia-admissions-drops-sat-subject-test-standardized-writing-requirements
Columbia is dropping their SAT II requirement along with W sections of ACT & SAT.
@texaspg - Yes, my DS spent lot of time setting up the club and contacting several organizations and have them give presentations at school. Now he is trying to expand same club to other schools. Hopefully he can explain it well in the essays (Doesn’t like writing essays though 
)
Thanks for the info on University of Pittsburgh. He does have the stats. He may apply for BS/MD program.
@itsgettingreal17 & @2muchquan - Looking forward to your reports on UPitt. I haven’t thought about looking for regional reps. We pretty much ruled out any campus visits due to time constraints and broad range of schools we are considering. Plan is to visit the schools he was accepted into before making the final decision.
I also agree on ED. I am also against colleges trolling kids to increase their applications.
@eandesmom You’re putting me to shame. I thought I had DS fairly well along in the living independently track, but I’m afraid he’s only traveled abroad with a group (and 3 years ago now) and cooking is pretty much limited to anything frozen he can put in the oven or mac and cheese, which I guess indicates he could probably make Ramen if he would eat that, as well as any kind of basic pasta dish.
He’s quite capable of ordering pizza, although last time he did it, he apparently ordered from a branch the next town over. He showed up to pick up his dinner, and the local store had “lost” his order but was happy to make one while he waited. As he waited, the other store called and asked if he was coming to pick up his pizza. So, now, he has learned to read the search results before hitting “call this number” on his phone. :)]
I’m a no-sheeter as well, but I think you’re all starting to rub off on me. I need to put some fear of staying home with M&D into DS and get this bus rolling!
S can cook mac n cheese, quesadillas, ramen, rice, and a few other oh so healthy choices, do laundry, make his own lunch (yay for me), and a few other assorted things, but he has not done much banking yet (on line or in person) or ordered a pizza. We live rural enough that we are beyond the delivery boundary. He can drive himself to a pizza place and order one to go though.
Congratulations to your D @CaucAsianDad !
@dfbdfb Our older D was accepted RD at Muhlenberg with token merit scholarships. By the time she heard back from them, she has been accepted everywhere else with not-so-token merit scholarships 
Buh bye Muhlenberg!
Two of D17’s schools have ED. She’s above the 75% for each school. Both are known for waitlisting/rejecting highly qualified candidates (Tufts Syndrome). She’d need to receive their highest merit scholarships in order to attend. She knows that applying RD may reduce the possibility of admission and scholarships. So be it!