QOTD1 – Portfolios: DS is planning on doing some sort of supplement/portfolio for the colleges that accept one. He’s got an odd mix of things, and I haven’t looked at Slideroom yet to see if that will accommodate a supplement that has a couple research papers, a couple engineering projects, some computer art, and some computer programs. I guess we’ll find out.
In other news: DS made a Common App account today and linked it with Naviance. He entered most of the basic information for the main tabs: “Mom, when did you and dad graduate?” etc. There are some weirdnesses – like he will have some semester-based and some quarter-based classes next year, and it doesn’t let you enter things that way. But, at least we’ve seen what’s in there and know which are the parts that will take him some time.
I joined the ranks of those of you with a Spreadsheet to Rule Them All – I made one today sorted by application due date and with columns for all the things that have to be turned in along with things that are different for each like score choice/superscore policy, recommenders requested, interview policy, and supplement/portfolio policy.
Thanks for all the wisdom(no teeth), perspective, and kind words. Spoke to college counselor today. She said his tip choice ED school only needs the Math2. So he will push forward, trying to get in without a big hook…
Close family member just left a job as a a top 75 big state school admission officer. The first thing they do is send out all the applications to a company who takes the GPA and test scores and converts that to a number. The applicants are then put in a program with descending numerical order. There is a generally known cut off that is an auto reject. Students close to the number and above get two potential reads. Two admission people will read if they are close or questionable. If a higher is is considered for rejection, a second will read that as well. Most above the threshold only get a single read. The officer will look at how many honor and ap courses were taken. That is the first thing they consider(academic rigor). Then they look at scores and essays…Hope that helps give a perspective to how a larger applicant pool is looked at…
@Ynotgo, I am not sure you are correct about UC system. I have been told by adcom that they have a system that gives a number bed on a combination of A-G weighted GPA and your highest single sitting test score. That produces a number that establishes a numerical hierarchy. Not sure how they handle things after that. I would imagine with 100k applicants at UCLA, and other large numbers, that some level is auto reject…Some really high are probably auto admit as well. There is no way an underfunded school could possibly read more than 20k-30K applications. They need a filter…Last year the OOS kids had a lower average than InState. With the recent audit and fuss, we will see what happens for 17 applicants…
@BigPapiofthree I was mainly talking about the minimum UC GPA of 3.0 for California residents and 3.4 for nonresidents. I’ve heard that applications that don’t meet that minimum or don’t have, for example, a visual/performing arts class, don’t even get looked at as if they were incomplete applications.
But, I agree that with the numbers of applications they are dealing with, they need ways to get through them fast. The CSU system has an eligibility index that combines GPA and SAT/ACT, and CalPoly has the MCA score that also folds in some course rigor and other characteristics into a single number. So, it’s not surprising that the UC system would come up with something similar. And, you may be right that there are some levels that are auto-reject and perhaps some that are near auto admit.
Different UCs have different priorities. Some are more “holistic” than others. Berkeley and UCLA I think are the only ones to look more at the uncapped weighted GPA. UCSB, for example, says their decisions are 50% grades, scores, and course rigor; 50% essays, activities, other factors.
@BigPapiofthree Thank you for your description about how stats are used to generate #s as a filter before there is a reading of the application. Your description definitely fits what I have thought was occurring during the application process with my older kids.
Fwiw, that is why I really dislike the SSAR system used by schools like FSU and NCSU. My kids’ course selection does not fit the drop down menu system that I am pretty positive is used to create a number. I suspected it after Ds was accepted to NCSU but not offered any scholarship $$. He filled the SSAR out by himself and didn’t contact admissions about it. It was one of the only universities to not offer him merit $$ (in terms of merit $$ schools.) Most likely bc he took so many independent study courses that the system counted as non-honors/AP/DE classes. (Classes like the physics behind dark matter and black holes or the philosophy of Descartes, Kant, and Pascal. Ummm, no, your avg non-honors (or top honors for that matter) student is not taking those courses.)
It concerns me bc Dd wants to apply to FSU. Dd also wont be able to classify courses from that menu. For example, several university professors have recommened that she continue taking French with her French tutor in lieu of dual enrolling bc it is better than what she would be eligible to take as a DE student. So a kid taking honors, AP, or lower level DE will get more pts from the system than my Dd who is reading Les Mis, having political conversations, and researching and writing essays all in French (and on par with 300 level courses from what we have been told.) This time we are going to arrange a meeting with an AO officer and see if they can help Dd “work” the system. We’ll see. The system makes me very aware that non-traditional approaches don’t mesh well with their admissions philosophy.
I think that test optional schools are probably more holistic and not so # generating focused. Unfortunately, those schools are also typically not huge merit $$ scholarship schools.
I think at least in some cases, test optional schools are focused on numbers. They know that kids will great stats will still submit them. Kids will less than stellar stats (for the particular school) will likely not submit them. That helps the school’s profile from a numbers stand point. You would disclose the percentage of kids submitting results but that is after people have seen the increased numbers.
@picklesarenice Hopefully your D starts having a better time at Girls State. Next week, DS is off to Boys State and fitting in is his main concern. It’s one of those “love it or hate it” experiences that can be useful either way. Jamming all of that politics into a single week(they are constantly running for office and/or proposing/arguing over new laws), tend to drive the kids to extremes.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Your kids sound fascinating! I would love to have a conversation with them.
I echo your frustration at the college admissions processes inability to recognize kids who who don’t fit the rubric. There was a study released by Harvard earlier this year that admits that the college admissions process is broken. This is where GPA is also not a good measure for admissions. I see kids who carefully take courses that guarantee them higher grades vs. kids who challenge themselves to take classes outside their comfort zone or with the tougher teachers… Life may reward these kids in other ways but not necessarily in this process…
As a general request to everyone - can we try not use acronyms when mentioning colleges or other organizations? So often I don’t know which school they refer to…
@“what???!!” LOL! Maybe you could understand what they talk about better than I can! Ds called me yesterday and was talking about the shockwaves and echoes of particles. I have absolutely no idea at all what he is even talking about. I just tell him that it sounds pretty amazing and bluff my way through my responses.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek My son would have loved to chat with him! Last year my son spentt a whole week talking about the challenge physicists have with absolute zero… I could feel a breeze as the conversation rushed over my head
QOTD1: What makes a good “Why XYZ School?” essay? What makes a bad one? (ok, 2 questions)
I could see this is where talking to individual departments would really be a benefit. What else? Is it enough to comb through their website for an hour? (ok, three)
Re Why X school?
I think it should talk more about the student not about the college. What he/she thinks of an ideal college, what they want out of college, what makes them tick. And conclude that is the reason why X is a good fit.
Or even as mentioned above, I am a geek/nerd/artist/activist/whatever. Take me or leave me.
QOTD2: How many LoRs are you getting? From whom? Are you sending extracurricular/non-school teacher/supplementary letters? GC letter does not count as LoR correct?
LORs: D and I were just talking LORs. GC sends an LOR or (I think) a School Report that has room for comments (separate from School Profile).
We hav 3 teachers: 2 STEM plus English Lang. Probably too many. We have at least one honors app that asks for a community member LOR. Will work out who that will be next week.
Can we branch off yesterday’s test score discussion and talk about the new SAT and how we think they will convert scores? Do you think they’ll use the calculator to convert to the ACT? When we were at USC and I asked, he said they won’t be converting to the old SAT but weren’t sure how they were going to handle it.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Yes, please! I’m curious as well. S took the March SAT to get all testing done with in case he needed a confirming score for National Merit. (So maybe we just played into the evil plan as he wouldn’t have taken the SAT at all otherwise, but so relieved to be done with testing that it was worth it.)
According to all the concordance I’ve seen, his ACT is the better score and what we’ll submit for everything other that NM confirmation if needed. However, I now want to know what SAT scores colleges are looking for.
QOTD2: S is getting 2 LORs from teachers, one STEM (math or physics) and one English. Then he is getting an additional, supplemental LOR from his robotics mentor. So 3 total, but only 2 will be uploaded to Naviance. I really don’t know where the third fits in. Maybe for the honors college apps??
QOTD2: DS will taking LORs from Spanish, English (one school requires), Biology (also coach for Science team), Math (also club advisor), Robotics coach (as community member also), 1 or 2 research mentors. Need to figure which schools gets which letters. Some suggested earlier that for schools who take LOR from GC and teachers only, ask external LOR writes to send a copy to GC so that GC can mention the ECs/research. That sounds like a wonderful idea and we will follow that.
