@fun1234 we are applying ED too. Our school recalculates GPAs for Seniors and it is based off the last 6 semesters, this is how they establish a senior year ranking too. We will send a transcript over in the early fall with all of the new stats, gpa/rank classes for senior year. We then have to submit 1st quarter grades, so we have to remind counselor to do this. We’ll get 1st quarter grades in November too, so they’ll get sent in late. Decision due back by mid December. Just in time for ski season 
I am a mother with 2 DS’s – (proper grammar??) - DS 2017 & DS 2018 - DS 2017 → very STEM – EE & CS. He has high grades and good ACT score - has one SAT 2 to go (Physics) and won’t take the SAT unless he is NMSF - on borderline it seems. We live in NY and are underway visiting colleges & trying to fill out our own profiles with important info and things to follow up on. So far mostly Common App schools - smaller private ones seem to be a better fit so far for DS 2017. Have to learn more about how to best “show interest” to the schools looking for love!! DS has a rough draft of the Common App essay - seeking feedback from a guru (I am not one but DS would not take my advice anyway most likely). Feel like we need a couple more “safeties” – good engineering/CS schools - preferably in Northeast / MidAtlantic that have high acceptance rates & good programs. Thinking WPI, RIT, maybe Lehigh so far – he’s very hands-on & likes hardware & software. He liked GA Tech, Rice & Tufts (dreams about MIT, Stanford etc. - likely won’t apply ED anywhere) & we’ll visit RPI, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern & Case. I liked Northeastern & USC. Not chasing merit or financial aid (I am amazed at how much our CC group is mastering how & where to go about this for most benefit& managing kids’ expectations) but finding a good fit is very important & once we see where he is accepted, I think visits before committing may well be important - he’s smart & very techie but now wants some liberal arts (of his own choosing) but he’s not a 24/7 worker - needs time for his own “projects” and forays into things he becomes curious about.
I discovered CC about a year or so ago - it has been extremely valuable. We are checking out the College Essay Organizer - it claims he has 17 essays to write (egads!). I need a lesson to set up “fake” Twitter etc. accounts if those are useful. And I am way behind in learning to use bold & underlining! I started a thread I though would be small but has turned out to garner a lot of posts - we are all waiting on September now: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/1849640-national-merit-cutoff-predictions-class-of-2017.html#latest
Drinking - I honestly don’t think I could get DS2017 to try alcohol at this point - he is 17 but is a total geek & scientist who worries about his health (no chronic health issues) & has a bit of anxiety generally it seems. He honestly seems “young” to me. But need to think about this - glad we have another year!!
Hello to everyone who recently joined / delurked - quite a strong participant group now!!
From the UMD Application page:
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All applications must be completed by Aug. 1, 2016, as our existing application platform will be taken offline after this date. Starting in mid-August 2016 for freshman applicants to the Fall 2017 semester, the University of Maryland will begin using The Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success’ application.
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Bummer.
Intro:
Mom of one D17, we live in Texas. Horrible planner for college, just did not realize how much it really took these days. When you add that in with the layoffs (one layoff, one plant closing) that have hit my engineer husband and my three years of grad school = doughnut family with no need and not a mega huge college savings account.
SUPER glad I/we found CC and have learned how to start figuring this stuff out. We are (mostly) good for our state schools but we have a D who wants to go OOS and hence the chase for merit. She is a great kid…a little quirky perhaps: Loves to be around her family, loves to read, loves to teach herself interesting things like calligraphy, has recently killed about $40.00 worth of succulents (with a combo of leaving them out in the rain and then frying them in the Texas sun) and I’m still finding flutters of sticky notes with German notes on everyday household items like the fridge, light switch and towel rack lol. She is in the IB program at school, worked her tail off to raise her ACT score this spring/early summer, loves photography and German (currently in Germany right now); works at a locally owned sandwich shop and wants to study either bioengineering or pre-OT. Summer goals are to finish apps, GET A DRIVERS LICENSE, read some books, hang out with her both her Grandmas and…that’s pretty much it.
QOTD:
I’m not naive enough to say “my kid will never…” but honestly, she is SUCH a picky eater that I cannot imagine her liking the taste of alcohol unless it was hidden in a snowcone or a jello shot! I do not want her trying alcohol for the first time when she goes off to school so I’m currently torn between having her drink a little at home with us or just waiting to see how it all plays out.
OK - time for me to stop lurking. I started doing so a few pages back after a random search about colleges and disabilities led me to pages 570 and onwards. I was surprised to see how many other parents are dealing with Ss and Ds with chronic health issues (D17 has a double whammy of an autoimmune disease and a chronic pain condition causing widespread musculoskeletal pain and fatigue etc.) Hadn’t realized how much there is to think about with respect to things like campus layout, hills, access to medical facilities, etc. until we started visiting schools (and until I started lurking on this thread!)
We, too, are in the proverbial donut hole (likely full pay) and are hoping for some decent merit. D is a bright, high achieving, high stats humanities kid.
As for the QOTD, yes, we have invited D17 to try alcohol (and happily spent the last two summers in France where it was absolutely no big deal – nor is it in our house). She’s not much of a party animal, so I’m not too worried.
Have I forgotten anything?
Intro: Father of 2 and husband. DS14 & DS17 both attend(ed) relatively small (100 per class) high achieving all-boys private school in OH. Both good students, DS14 landed at Tulane with one of their full tuition merit scholarships, studying biomedical engineering with plans for med school. DS17 has good grades (4.0 UW), ACT 34©, leadership position at school, extensive external STEM research, a national level science competition qualifier, and captain/state qualifier of his varsity sport. He hopes to go ED to his favorite Ivy, but will do some EAs as well. Unfortunately these all will be full pay for us with no merits likely available at these institutions. If nothing sticks mid-December, then he’ll join in the chase for merit over Xmas break.
Neither of my kids drink…thus far…couldn’t get my DS17 to take a sip if I tried…calls the stuff impurities to his body/soul…smile and nod again.
I think today is national delurking day! Welcome everyone :)) :-h
We received an elegant book ( larger but thinner than the Yale book) from WillIams today. Seems like summer will be the book season :))
I appreciate everyone chiming in on medical disabilities and the college search. Dd seems at peace with the idea of staying local, but I keep worrying that it will be a poor fit. @Momtoaphysicsgeek you’re right that it’s a tough spot to be in. I’m so glad to know that we’re not alone in thinking through these issues!
Quick intro: I’m a mom of four daughters, all homeschooled since K. Our oldest D15 is an artist, so her application cycle was completely different (portfolio prep, entering as many competitions as she could find.) We’re in VA and so lucky to have the #1 public art school/ #2 in the US here as in-state. She is happy and thriving - hoping we can figure out a similar result for D17. I’m too lazy to figure out what class our 12yo and 4yo are in.
Our transcripts have 1 letter grade per course per year and weighted GPA. No ranks here. They also list absences which I’m thinking will out my daughter who has struggled with a bad case of mono this year and had a ridiculously high number of absences though I guess from the other years they’ll see that is not normal for her and she did manage somehow to keep her grades up. She wasn’t planning on mentioning this in her apps but I guess we’ll wait and see how things go with attendance next year as she still has some remaining medical issues.
We have left each child home alone during their senior year for a few days. My college aged son got left home when we both wanted to take the other child on a college tour trip which involved 2 nights. My other child was left at home during the move in days when her brother went to college last year. She was originally planning to go with us but had a test she felt uncomfortable missing especially at the beginning of the school year. We know our neighbors well and set very specific rules. We didn’t have any issues and I did plenty of checking around when we got home 
It seems that I only delurked a few days ago but might have been longer … I barely can keep up with all the reading here, let alone commenting. But here is my
REINTRO: I’m a stepmom to two sons who have graduated college and flown the nest successfully. Everything in the admissions process has changed since then. In hindsight, I am glad that we were so ignorant and lucky that it all worked out for them.
Our youngest is both 17 and a 2017 HS grad as well as an amazing student. Grades are great, test scores are good, NMSF a possibility, lots of ECs but only little leadership. I hope that community service hours and a certain uniqueness of ECs can mask that fact. We live in the deep South and DK absolutely wants and needs to leave the region. This is fine for us parents but we have to watch the option for merit aid a bit due to DH’s retirement on the horizon. We do have some 529 savings but nowhere close to four years at a private college. DK knows this and is searching far and wide. USC (Los Angeles) is on the list as well as a few others that give automatic merit for NMSF.
RE: Alcohol - We are social drinkers and will allow our child to try wine and beer at home. Whenever we offered in the past (Christmas or New Year’s or brother’s engagement), the answer was NO. But I know for a fact that there was some exposure; luckily no driving afterwards.
WELCOME to all the delurkers. Make sure you plan on reducing your work hours during the day or quit TV at night in order to keep up with this thread
@lemetz Yep, a familiar face!
Just random comments, after saying SORRY for all the medical issues these students are living with AND to express my dismay at the ACT essay scores. No ACT-takers in this house, but those scores look ridiculous. I have heard that many colleges are simply saying they will not be looking for the SAT or ACT essay score this year.
@BigPapiofthree – Re: 7 APs being low…that really varies by school. Our HS is a very good public with great admission outcomes, but students really can’t take APs until Jr year. First English AP is Sr year. My son, who is two years ahead in Math, will only have taken seven APs by the time he graduates and he is absolutely taking the most rigorous curriculum possible. My point is context matters. (Our school does not offer AP Physics until the calculus-based courses but does offer ‘regular’ and ‘honors’ algebra-based physics. In other schools, that would represent two more AP courses.)
I love this line, as I think it is so fitting: “I consider him generically outstanding, in a time of needing to be extraordinarily outstanding. Time will tell.” My thoughts exactly (about my own son).
@picklesarenice – my son would LOVE to attend Stanford, while I would prefer to have him on the NE Corridor Amtrak line. Our flight out to SF was delayed nearly four hours in Feb, due to SF weather. (I would have expected NYC weather delays in Feb.) The good news is that his odds of being admitted are so tiny that I won’t need to worry about cross country travel! It is pretty though.
@RightCoaster – I am surprised that the smart private school student who is not so good at Lax was recruited. We have SO many athletic recruits at our HS, to the point that they completely distort ED stats on Naviance. Lax is a perennial (boys and girls) but also FH, soccer (M&F), football, squash, tennis (M&F), rowing (club sport, not HS), swimming, diving (M&F), XC & Track…just about any sport you can think of except basketball and volleyball. I pop onto LaxPower dot com occasionally just to see the new recruits—some as early as 9th grade.
@fun1234 – For most high schools, the only grades available as of the ED app deadline are grades through end of 11th grade. IIRC, Common App asks for detail on Sr year courses. Colleges generally want the Sr year 1st Q grades, but for our school, that is an informal report as we only award semester grades. 1st Q grades are just a placeholder. If admitted ED, final transcript is required in June. As with all else, this will vary by school.
@Dave_N – love this line also: “As an aside, you swear you raise them all the same, but they each bring themselves to the party.” While the environment influences greatly, you cannot change the DNA.
I must go back and reread as I am sure I have missed much important info, like UMD-CP going to Coalition App!
Introduction :-h
The Original “Florida Man”(see meme) or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Coalition App
Dad of two, DD14 (beginning her 3rd year at the University of Florida, Industrial Engineering) and DS17 (beginning his 2nd year of grumpy, argumentative, moody, teenage angst X(). DS attends the local public high school (about 600 in his senior class) and is in it’s magnet program (Cambridge AICE, very similar to an IB program). Grades and test scores are great, EC’s are fine.
I found CC, back when I started researching colleges for D14. It’s here where I learned about the horrors of “holistic admissions” (so, you’re accepted or not, based on how the AO is “feeling it”?) and the even worse horrors of “chance me” threads…
I spent several days building a BOD/SOS for D14. I created a custom cover with the logos of 8 different colleges of engineering, included admissions and scholarship info, ran the NPC for each college, pulled info on dorms, honor colleges, distance, etc. D14 took one look at it, said it was “cute”, and never looked at it again. ~X(
DS17 is getting an old yellow manila folder with “1994 Taxes” scrawled on the cover that’s going to include 3 blank pieces of paper and an old Chinese takeout menu.
S17 plans on aerospace engineering (he was playing “Kerbal Space Program” when I ask about possible majors, go figure). He’s very bright, enjoys STEM, but also loves history and the social sciences. We’re looking at engineering programs in the southeast (UF, UCF, Georgia Tech, etc), but are toying with the idea of applying to a few lottery schools. Being firmly in the donut hole, any OOS schools will require some level of merit aid.
Intro & Drinking.
Mother of two boys, classes of '14 & '17. Oldest is halfway through his four years at Cornell, where I also attended. Younger is avoiding Cornell, probably because of the fact that they accepted his brother and me. (Much lesser students than S17. One could say slacker students.) He claims he does not like the location. We are looking all over the country at private schools with single-digit admit rates and large publics, as some of the best CS departments are at the large publics.
I would call the HS mid-sized as it is twice the size of the one I attended. 325 or so students/grade, SW CT, plenty of rigor and upper level courses (both Physics C courses, multi-variable calc). Five NMSF and 15-30 commended each year, so not an academic powerhouse, but very, very solid. The top students have a vibrant peer group, with decent academic ECs in addition to the dominant sports culture. The teams win county and state championships in many sports every year.
Son has the stats to be admitted anywhere, but could as easily be shut out of everywhere he applies. Another white boy from affluent suburb, with college-educated parents, looking to study CS. (Theoretical CS & Applied Mathematics, but I can’t define those terms.) Focused, driven, intellectually curious. A bit of a procrastinator (gets that from me), so he has done absolutely nothing about looking at college essay prompts. Is supposedly conducting CS research for a college prof this summer, but I can’t tell when he is on Slack or playing chess online versus conducting research. (Graphs and charts are generally a giveaway as research but he claims to be reading textbooks on his phone. Why read on the phone when he has access to a laptop and a desktop? Or a bunch of college textbooks he had me purchase.)
He has a smattering of local, state & national awards, but not #1 in anything. That is NOT a criticism, but more the recognition of the reality of his playing field, college application-wise. A few leadership positions, ECs that support his academic interest…as I said, on paper, there is not a lot more he could do, but it is all a crap shoot. He will be NMSF, but again…so are many. (Insert shoulder shrug here; there must be an icon for that.)
An anecdote that describes him: he returned from the Physics subject test in June and spent the rest of the afternoon just looking up physics topics that interested him. Not trying to verify his answers, just reading up on things that he was thinking of AFTER the subject test.
Drinking: I am in the camp who thinks it is better to experiment at home in safe conditions, be that among friends in a contained location or with parents. He wants no part of it, and I will not be shocked if he never drinks OR if he does decide to drink socially. I think he might consider it a waste of his time. (After watching a particularly bad movie many years ago, he commented ‘Well that is two hours of my life I will never get back’.)
If older son drank before college, it was very limited, and even now, I do not think he drinks much. VERY anti-Greek, which makes me so sad as I feel that the Greek organizations bring the university down to size, and those women are among my closest friends to this day. But, it is his college experience, not mine!
Intro
I’m the mom of 3 kids, my S17 is the youngest and his two sisters have already graduated from college. They both went to state schools, S wants to do something different, but like most of you we need merit aid. S is likely NMSF, which I am trying not to count on too much, but his score is over all the ranges posted for our state.
He wants engineering, maybe mechanical. He is pretty easy going and not very picky about colleges, except he would like a school with a sailing team. Sailing + Engineering + Merit narrows the list down fairly quickly, and most of his safeties and automatic merit aid schools don’t have sailing. Temple was one of his safeties, but it looks like that is likely off the list. He needs a smaller list, but I was hoping he’d narrow it down based on what he wants, instead of having the schools narrow it for us.
He is homeschooled, and I have been homeschooling over 20 years, but I guess I am done after this year. So I also have to figure out what I want to do next! He is going to a 6 week summer program starting next week, so I will get a taste of what it will be like to not have any of the kids around.
Drinking We offer S small amounts of wine if we have it with dinner, and he always accepts. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he drinks some in college. He went to a sailing regatta with friends a few weeks ago and was surprised at how freely the booze flowed after the races, since we rarely drink.
@dcplanner It seems odd to have attendance reported on a transcript? Are you sure that’s the official transcript sent to colleges? I see a transcript on my schools portal. But that is different than the transcript sent to colleges, that is done through a company called Parchment I’m my case and it looks different. You might want to figure out how you request formal transcripts & request an official transcript and see if it’s on there.
Intro
Mom to two “e’s”. S17 and S19. Bonus mom to 2 more, SD14 (stepdaughter) and SS11 (stepson). I seem to be the only stepmom, or at least the only one using the acronyms and mentioning their bonus kids? They aren’t e’s though lol.
SS11 graduated from a local LAC with a degree in music technology and business last June and is off attempting to be an entrepreneur while he lives at his mothers. SD14 is a rising junior STEM major at an OOS public school where she can also play for their very good club soccer team without the pressure of D1 sports.
S17 is my rising senior. Very much a B+/A- kid with test scores that match. Medium sized public high school in a decent school district. Late ADHD diagnoses spring of sophomore year likely did not help his test taking skills which is the reason for both the gpa and test scores though he does show a nice upward trend. Heavy with music and theater EC’s, 500+ hours of community service, student government and environmental/political clubs etc. Medium decent rigor (comparable to most kids we know but not all), 2 AP’s and a DE last year, 3 AP’s senior year. We will be full pay but like so many, cannot afford full pay and are also targeting 35k or less all in. In our case, full pay will be on me alone as my H paid for his kids. Sadly, his income counts but the skids tuition does not but that is the way it is. We will be hunting what merit exists for the stats we have to work with and are also looking for non major music money. Luckily, S’s instrument is somewhat in demand so that helps. Current thinking is something in the sustainable/renewable/alternative energy field. This could take a few forms so we are looking at mechanical based energy engineering, environmental studies/science/policy, energy science. energy resource management and basically anything related! This has been harder to find than expected on the energy side of things.
S17 prefers a smaller school but is looking at all sizes, LAC’s, directionals, less popular flagships, basically anything that has the chance of enough merit to be affordable and offers some of the programs he is interested in. Ideally there would be one that offered it all but I’ve yet to really find it in an affordable and stat appropriate location. He is focused on areas that are not too warm…no sunny beaches, dessert or humidity. Focus is PNW, Rockies, Upper Midwest, Mid Atlantic and East Coast. Current list includes WA, OR, CA, WY, OH, PA, NY, VT. He does not want to remain in our large PNW city He may well have to compromise at some level.
S19 is incredibly bright and…incredibly stubborn. Disappointing grades freshman year simply due to not turning HW in. I expect very high test scores. He’s been very focused on theoretical physics for a few years but as of today has decided he wants to be a screenwriter. Also heavy with music EC’s but has sports and scouts as well. He will be an interesting ride for sure. Highest possible rigor for course load. He will be more flexible geographically speaking and fully intends to go to grad school. Studying…something.
Health Issues
I am so saddened to read about so many very serious health issues with 2017 kids! I feel like a jerk whining about S17’s fractured wrist. Major props to all the parents helping their kids with these issues, finding new docs as they age up and finding proper healthcare near the colleges of choice. The college search is hard enough without all that and my hats are truly off to all of you.
QUOTD
The E’s have a bio father that is a drug and alcohol addict. As a result they are hyper aware of their risk levels. S19 is emphatic that he will never try any (whish we don’t feel is realistic but he is excited to learn about substance free dorms and honors housing) and S17 really has no interest though he has tried it (sips). We will be going to Mexico for S17’s graduation trip and plan to have him try it in a safe environment. I do know he has been to parties, and didn’t care for them at all. Pot (which is legal here if 21) is more prevalent in general. I worry more about that and we discuss it quite a bit, many of his friends are older (rising sophomores in college) from both theater and music and that element is definitely out there. We have a contract and an agreement and I am realistic. At present I am not concerned, he’s given me no reason to be but given the overall climate he is in, it is something I plan to stay aware of and discussing.
Ok, now I can go read the 5-6 pages I am still behind!
**Intro **
I am the mother of DS14 and DD17. When DS14 started to look at colleges, I read the book Crazy U, One Dad’s Crash Course Getting His Kid Into College. In this rather entertaining book, one of his first advice was not to read College Confidential L-). Well, being the contrarion, I started to read CC and was hooked ever since.
DS14 had perfect test score and GPA and good EC’s in HS and ended up with a full tuition scholarship at Vandy.
DD17’s stats is not as high as her brother but has slightly better EC’s. It’s looking like she might just miss the cutoff for NMSF. We are a full pay (but not easily) family so really need to come up with a good college list in order to maximize her chance for merit $.
With only three years apart, I noticed not only admission has gotten more competitive, merit scholarship chances are becoming even worse.
This whole college process… The more I know, the less I think I know! @-) :-/