Got DS’ transcript in the mail from the HS today along with a list of his classes (but not order or teachers).
The problems I’d reported to his GC earlier were fixed. The only new problem I found was that the Discrete Math class he took at the community college wasn’t counted as math, so it shows him needing another semester of math to graduate. I emailed the summer GC, and he actually emailed me within an hour on a Saturday! He said S’ regular GC will fix that in the fall, and I’m sure she will.
Ranking wasn’t included on the transcript we received, and I was hoping to find out. I don’t know when the official ranking for reporting to colleges happens. Probably after including any summer coursework.
S say they saw the new Star Trek today at his summer program, and it was “sooo good.”
@4beardolls - my daughter interviewed when we visited the campus. I am sure they arrange interviews off campus near your home as well. The interviews are more for your child to ask questions rather than for the school to access whether they will make an offer. UR is one of those schools with a definite character, so I suggest a visit. It is filled with quirky math and science kids who participate in some creative outlet. Science/math kids who dance or sing or play a serious instrument. That kind of thing.
@4beardolls , does your D want to retake any subject tests?
On D’s transcript, her freshman weighted GPA kept increasing year after year. For example, right after freshman year, it said she had 5.33, now it said she had 5.45. ??? Also on our Naviance on the graph, it is still showing her sophomore PSAT score compare, not her junior PSAT. I asked GC about it before, it is still the same though.
Thank you so much for your insight. My daughter has been doing science research every year in high school (ISEF finalist) and she has been trained in ballet since 5 years old. So I guess she fits the bill! #:-S
I am not sure it’s possible to visit due to the distance and cost (we will try though). I understand it’s important to interview if wanting to be considered for merit (which she is). So this is going to be a challenge. We will also try to find if they offer local alum interview.
@SincererLove Unfortunately, DD does not want to retake Subject Tests. This will change her college list somewhat.
@MSHopeful and @2muchquan my understanding of the NCP waiver is a bit different.
Most schools do not ask for NCP info. Schools that are FAFSA only will not. CSS Profile schools may or may not. You can find out which do online as it shows the version(s) of the Profile form they want. Ones that require the NCP Profile are the only ones you can (and need) to request the waiver from.
For our profile school list I think we are 50/50 with ones we will need to request the waiver from.
We took a look at Minerva last year. While D likes out of the box thinking (like Olin), Minerva was so out of the box you couldn’t even see the box.
@paveyourpath it’s ok about BU-she won’t apply anywhere ED (only EA), so if she can only apply RD there, she will probably hear from her top four faves before she applies to BU. On her list it looks like only Olin and now BU would be RD, all the rest can be EA. Except Richmond, but Richmond has a Dec 1 for the big scholarship so we’re treating it like a quasi-ea.
@Dolemite damn, girl. That’s some serious frequent flyer miles you’ve racked up!
@geogirl1 , yeah, quirky science+creative is D in a nutshell and why U Richmond made the Binder. Well, half the nut. The other half is all business :).
She’s working on her summer homework for her AP classes. Stats had six pages of stuff to do, Lit had a lot, as well.
@eandesmom mshopeful is looking at very competitive schools, and most of those require NCP info. Example, she listed Columbia, Penn, and Georgetown and those require NCP info. Most schools that require it make it very difficult/nearly impossible to get the waiver.
Son is going to be quite unhappy with me. He received an email from Wake Forest which said "I encourage you to apply… You are one of the students selected to receive our personalized application. This application is available to you now or you can wait for common app when it opens Aug 1. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the link to see what this so called ‘personalized’ app was all about. No risk because it’s not on the list and he has zero interest so I clicked on the link and it opened up to an application that had my son’s personal information entered (name/ address/ DOB/ name of school he attends/ city of school/ gender). I kept clicking on next but I filled nothing out. I was actually surprised that the pages kept advancing since most don’t permit you to advance without entering information on each page. Made my way to the essays, and I was done. Now there is an email thanking him for his interest and letting him know he can return to complete the application later but he should now log in using his username/ password which they’ve created for him. Why?? That is so annoying. I know I should have avoided the temptation to click that link but I like to read all the different essay prompts. Oh well, what’s done is done. Now I have no one to blame but myself for their stalker behavior. We’ll have to request they remove him from the list.
@itsgettingreal17 yes. My point was only that FAFSA has nothing to do with NCP info and one can know ahead of time which schools do require it. The explanation given seemed to link FAFSA in with it. FAFSA will still be required but has no relation to the need for a waiver.
As an aside I had not updated our spreadsheet after the last bloodbath to see where we where on this as we would also need a waiver. Amazingly and by sheer dumb luck, he apparently slashed all NCP profile schools and only left regular profile options on the list. One less thing to hassle with.
@4beardolls - I am sure they will set you up for an interview near your home. DD picked URochester because she wanted to travel abroad and many engineering schools made that difficult. UR encourages it. She studied in New Zealand the fall of her Junior year. URochester also helped fund her DADD-RISE internship this summer. She is in Berlin working hard and pulling her hair out on a fluid flow computer model 5 days a week and having wonderful travels throughout Germany and Europe over the weekends.
Applications:
UCs - probably 6. 2-3 reach, 2-3 match and 1 safety
Cal States - probably 3. Other than SLO, they are safeties. SLO is probably a match.
Santa Clara
UW
As far as college visits, I find visiting the campus helpful. It gives us an opportunity to check out the type of kids who go there - how they act, dress, hangout, etc. We also like to check out the surrounding community and where kids tend to live after their freshman year. It gives us perspective on what feels like a better fit from the non academic standpoint.
For Naviance, our school district enters the total unweighted GPA. All test scores, applications, admission, enrollment, etc. must be entered by the student so I take that data with a grain of salt.
@eandesmom@itsgettingreal17 Yes, unfortunately only 4 of her schools don’t require NCP info (2 UCs, Howard (which doesn’t meet full need but she could potentially get a full ride scholarship) and UChicago). And as @itsgettingreal17 pointed out, they are pretty difficult to get. She hasn’t seen her dad since she was 6 but I do get child support (garnished and sent directly to me thru the state - I don’t know his address, I only know he lives in AZ) and I know there is a big possibility we won’t get waivers at most of the schools. So while I’m hopeful I’m not overly optimistic. But it definitely doesn’t hurt to try, that’s for sure! I want her to add a few more merit schools for this reason. She could get merit at Tulane or Fordham and maybe I can convince her to check out American in DC.
I know the FAFSA-only schools don’t require NCP info, but I worded it that way since CSS schools also require the FAFSA. Sorry for the confusion. Unfortunately she isn’t interested in many FAFSA-only schools and most of them aren’t meet full need anyway (UChicago is the exception but super selective so not likely anyways). So that’s why I think she needs to add some more merit schools but she refuses to look in the South which really limits our merit options. Sigh.
QOTD: Haven’t finalized the list yet, but it’s hard to find a true safety in engineering. Will probably end up with 6-7 apps, but will see what he thinks after visits in August-Sept.
Wow, this thread moves fast! Thanks for all the welcomes.
@HiToWaMom – the Scripps campus is very quiet, serene and peaceful. It’s consistently ranked as one of the most beautiful campuses in the US because it has lovely green courtyards with fountains and trees. It is definitely not a busy, bustling campus.
Ha, @longwood, that’s pretty much what I said to my D – if there are all these campuses on the West Coast that you like just fine, there really doesn’t seem to be any reason why we should send you somewhere on the East Coast where it would cost extra to fly you back and forth all the time.
@Ynotgo, D has not yet taken any classes outside of Scripps, though I believe she’s registered for a class at Pitzer in the fall. She may major in sociology, in which case she’d have to major outside Scripps – either at Pitzer or Pomona; which one she would choose would probably depend on the requirements. She’s thinking of majoring in either sociology, psychology, or possibly gender/feminist studies.
@BeeFriendly, I agree with your take on Scripps. One of the things my D’15 likes the most about going there is the consortium aspect. For example, students at all schools can eat at any of the dining halls, and there’s an app created by a Mudd student (of course) that shows what’s being served at each dining hall. So D and her friends will go to the Scripps dining hall on Mondays for tacos, and Pitzer on Fridays for pad thai. She likes to go to Mudd for breakfast because they have custom-made smoothies.
Our campus visit list:
UC Berkeley (yes)
Stanford (sort of yes)
UC Santa Cruz (yes)
Claremont consortium, of course – Scripps/Pitzer/Pomona (yes). She won’t be applying to Mudd or CMC.
Reed (yes)
Lewis and Clark (sort of yes)
Catching up on replies from the times I read on my phone:
@BigPapiofthree Thanks for the information on establishing residency in Texas, but there is no way I will move back there (did my graduate work at A&M) or even buy property in the state. Sorry, Texans! I mean no offense
@eandesmom and @MotherOfDragons another DVCer here! Kidani for us. We’ll be there in eleven days with our two girls and youngest’s best friend who now lives in Texas (lol), springing the big points for a 2 bedroom
Non-professors teaching One kid had a grad student teach a winter session class, but that’s it. American makes a big deal out of their adjunct faculty coming from government/NGOs to teach a class or two. I think that’s a different situation entirely from an abd grad student.
I think there was something else…
Safety/match/reach Chasing Big MACs here!
Admissions safety and financial safety: 3
Admissions safety and financial match (lol): 1
Admissions match and financial reach: 3
@paveyourpath or you could “let it ride” and see if your kid gets in with the app done that way, lol.
Ah, UR=Rochester for @geogirl1 . Now I have to go back and look and see why U Richmond is in the BOD. It may be because their mascot is a spider.
Just finished my last quiz for comp sci. Only thing left is a powerpoint presentation due on Aug 1, then I’m off school until Aug 22. Girls start back Aug 4. My last year in college will happily be all art studios and/or art history classes.
Ah, D just reminded me (via text, because it’s SO hard to come down one flight of stairs) that she picked Drexel all on her own and thus has fulfilled most of my “to do” list for her this week.
@MSHopeful gotcha, I was clarifying for 2much or anyone else reading that might have been confused.
I would agree, the fact that they’ve been able to garnish implies at least the state knows where he works. Schools may lean on you through that route. I had hoped that the fact our state has been unable to garnish him for several years and the combined proof of that with the amount of arrears would work in our favor for a waiver. I am grateful that apparently we may not need to even try. In your case yes, big merit shopping for sure. I am so sorry.
