@dfbdfb I am going to share that one with ds! He spent all of last yr doing neutrino research with IceCube. 
Hope @WhereIsMyKindle @MotherOfDragons @itsgettingreal17 's kids feel better soon! Being sick away from home is awful
Confession: I had to Google “neutrino.” I thought it was one of those giant river rats. Maybe I should be studying for the ACT.
@2muchquan – I had not seen the Penn restrictive ED policy, or whatever it is. It appears that they have taken language from Stanford’s SCEA and are using it with their ED. Someone commenting that they are competing against Duke & Chicago for merit awards, but I didn’t think Duke had an EA option, so that does not make sense.
Penn is not on son’s list due to the CS dept, so I do not follow it, but I am curious what is behind this change? They fill more than 54% of their freshman class via ED. I wonder what the issue is they are attempting to influence?
@MotherOfDragons – agree with @CA1543 about the traffic. Our April break week tour had us in morning and evening rush hour in cities up and down the east coast from Boston to Baltimore. While I know to avoid rush hour, it was impossible because of the timing of info sessions, tours, lunch, and attending lectures. We had to move on to the next city at 4 or 5 in the afternoon. Just brace yourself.
Hope all the kids not feeling well are on the road to recovery soon - no fun - especially in summer to feel ill. Just wisdom teeth pain for DS17 so far at our house - oh yeah and some sea lice (super yuk) attacking DS18 who is a lifeguard.
Love the neutrino joke @dfbdfb! @Stem2017 – Nutria’s are a real problem indeed - good to be worried about them: http://www.fastcoexist.com/3015655/louisianas-giant-terrifying-swamp-rats-set-to-invade-rest-of-america-thanks-to-climate-chang
The termite going after a tender bar @2muchquan - strikes a bit close - we are fighting termites currently - ferocious little devils - ate some of our palm trees recently.
Beautiful day with low humidity here - plan to stay outside as much as possible - heat returns with humidity as of tomorrow!
^^ Nutria, neutrino, whatever .
We had a very nice visit to Buffalo on Monday. We’d taken the general tour back in March but took another one with the coach. One-on-one is so much better than the herd tour! He spent 2.5 hours with us and offered an overnight visit, which DS will definitely take him up on. He could see himself there even if he didn’t make the team; his times are borderline for being on the roster but he would still go there and give it a shot.
** Flyers **
The paper ones have slowed down but yesterday we got brochures from Wells, Geneseo, and U Buffalo. The last few emails have been from
Wells
SUNY (a general SUNY email about what makes a good essay)
St. Josephs
Penn State
Macaulay
St. John Fisher
U Tampa
Marist
Not counting the coaches’ emails from various schools. Those are the only ones he’s interested in.
I thought Neutrino was a calorie free sweetener.
Another thing about Virginia driving that I heard when scheduling our school visits in NC & SC (we ALMOST popped up to URichmond) is that speeding is a HUGE no-no. Big fines, and maybe worse? Be careful.
It sounds like Penn is no longer allowing open Early Action applications (read Chicago, MIT, Caltech) when someone applies ED. They must have had issues with people pulling out of ED agreements because they got in elsewhere EA.
BOTD: Why can I never find the “LOGIN” link on the friggin’ ACT site?
@texaspg – I agree, but still think it is unusual. I guess we will wait to see if any of the other ED schools tighten their policies.
Hi I saw the mention of high merit EA schools on the Penn thread. I was wondering besides Chicago, Pitt - what are some of the other high merit EA schools?
I got tired of waiting and created a login and entered the kid’s basic info n the common app and UCAS (uk common app)
UC and Cal State don’t open until later.
I thought she had onehad one week between swim lessons ending and school starting. Found out today that is not so. Job ends Aug 26, school starts Aug 29. Yikes!
On Olin - Yes it is really small; ~350 kids. I have a friend with a D who is at Olin and a S who will start Olin this year. The soon to be sophomore loves it and the soon to be freshman is really excited about the school. They share classes and facilities with Babson and Wellesley.
Sorry to hear about the sick kids, especially away from home. I hope they recover soon.
@2muchquan, I totally agree with you about the ACT login. It seems I have to click through 4 pages or so to get to it.
I am one of those parents waiting impatiently for the release of the SAT scores. My fingers are crossed that S gets at least a score concorded to his old SAT score, but I’d really like him to be higher than that.
With EA all the power is in the hands of the applicant. With ED all the power is in the hands of the college.
I have a suggestion…
What about EAEC (Early Action Early Commitment)?
- Apply to as many schools as you like by Nov 1 (EA).
- The schools must give you an answer, Yes or No (no deferrals), with Fin Aid by Dec 1.
- You must commit by Jan 1 (EC) or the offer expires.
- Everyone else jumps in the RD pool
This way everyone has a little power.
Anyway, there are much smarter people than me working on this but I’m not a fan of ED.
So can I get the “batch #” from act.org, or do I have to call. Boy, they could reduce their call volume by providing this information online. I see the ‘Order Number’ but I’m guessing that’s not the same as the ‘batch #’?
I agree that the ACT log in is ridiculous
We are paralyzed here really until school opens. All LOR’s have to go through naviance and can’t even be entered into the common app with their info or somehow it will lock up? GC did say that if we do end up applying anywhere non common app prior to 9/7 that we can get a transcript…but it has to be through naviance and I need to let her know. UGH!
@MotherOfDragons so sorry to hear about D18 not feeling well! I like the once a week college talk idea, I do try to minimize it but anything is more than S17 wants to hear most of the time! I feel your frustration on the tours and trying to decide what to see now versus post acceptance. We currently only plan to see one in the fall but that could definitely change…will likely wait for the EA decisions to come in first but who really knows.
@WhereIsMyKindle I am so sorry about the reaction, that has to be so frsutrating
@mcdmom so glad the tour went well and I love hearing that a kid is willing to take that chance if the school fits best. My SD chose the school over the sport and plays club for them (which at the D1 level is still quite competitive), but wouldn’t have found the school had she not been initially recruited. It’s been the best possible outcome.
@2muchquan - I called. I don’t think there is any way to get the batch number online.
@MotherOfDragons Hope you D gets better. Like your idea of choosing pre-planning the college talk. I’m not sure one day a week is going to cut it in the fall, but I could see scheduling ahead of time that we will talk about colleges during set times say 3 times a week during the crunch time.
@VickiSoCal The UC Application will open Aug 1st… although it can only be submitted in November. I think Cal State you still have to wait for October.
My son would kill me be if I opened a Common App for him without discussing it with him. I am really trying to let DS do all the work and keep track of al the applications himself. Mostly I’m looking around for other schools to put on his to be considered list. I’ve also been collecting data such as what schools need what, but I fully intend to have him do that work himself once he start the process. But since I’ll know it, I can hopefully keep things from slipping between the cracks.