S got a big envelope from UCLA yesterday and one from Columbia today. They’re sitting on the table unopened and will be until I put them into the recycle bin.
@itsgettingreal17 …D says to go to psmobile.pitt.edu/app/academics/testScores
Your daughter should have all of her info to log in. I just looked and it does indeed look like they converted her ACT scores to new SAT scores and then has a “high math” “high verbal” and then “high total.”
Volunteer hours: Not required for high school (Cambridge AICE program), but being in Florida, the Bright Futures scholarships do require some amount of volunteer hours (100?).
High school diversity: I may as well toss in our numbers…
White: 67%
Black: 14%
Asian: 5%
Hispanic: 11%
American Ind: 1%
Multi: 2%
Large suburban school, with a bit more than 2,400 students in grades 9 thru 12, about 600 per grade.
@STEM2017 I crossed off Rose Hulman after looking at their demographics.
As 2muchquan said, they are whiter than wonder bread.
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=883
Our school must be a true exception.
** Community Service Hours ** 100 hours required for graduation
and DS has recorded NONE! :-&
One of the worst scenarios materialized. DS could not fit a mandatory Technology class into his senior schedule. Best option so far seems to be a $300 on-line class from the district. :-&
Had I known about the option, I would have signed him up in the summer. :((
I’m sure he did not mention it intentionally. ~X(
@whataboutcollege I got so much college mail with my name spelt wrong it wasn’t even funny. And the St Rose thing- I had gotten that too. I vaguely remember the email but I don’t think it meant much beyond a quicker decision and maybe a fee waiver. I don’t know I didn’t apply. Another note about St Rose- it’s local to me so its demise has been noted in local newspapers. They are really hurting for money and no one I know who got accepted there(about a half dozen people) are going because the tuition is expected to rise so much with decreased merit
@readingclaygirl This is the first one for us. All have been correctly/nicely addresses. And the first one has to come from her current first choice… not sure what kinda of a sign is this 
@whataboutcollege None of the botched names were from places that meant anything. It stings more when a person/place you care about spells it wrong!
Mail for S17 that came today was a postcard from one of his top choice schools inviting him to an information session in our area. We visited last spring & it’s a large state school. Don’t know yet if they we be visiting DS’s H.S. or not this fall. The question is if he should go to ‘show’ interest? I don’t think we have more questions at this time & I’m not sure it’s the type of school that cares?
@dfbdfb - While D17 might like the way the weighted 4.0 looks, an unweighted 3.9x on a 4.0 scale is more impressive and will carry more weight (no pun intended) for reasons that @eandesmom stated. Since the maximum weighted GPA tends to be nebulous and not at all consistent across schools, I’d go with the unweighted.
@eandesmom Admitster seems to ask for the most info about ECs and rigor. However for my kids data that one also showed the most optimistic numbers. Not sure if that means it is more or less accurate. I don’t think any of them take into account admission rate…which I think is probably a big factor.
volunteer hrs our school doesn’t require any for graduation. However most kids do the minimum (50?) required to qualify for the states A+ scholarship (cc and in state schools). And most of the school clubs require some sort of volunteer hours to be active members (NHS, HOSA, FBLA, etc). I do hope no one ever asks for formal documentation because most of my kids slips are crumbled in the bottom of her backpack as well.
GPA D goes from 3.65 to 4.15 when weighted which she feels substantial to me. So I hope that most schools take the weighted into consideration. I’d also really like to round that 3.65 to a 3.7 because it seems that’s the cutoff for a lot of automatic merit considerations.
demonstrated interest I asked about Wake Forest interviews earlier. Im trying to get this demonstrated interest importance across to my D but I’m just not sure she’s listening. If interest, or lack thereof, is a deal breakers for WF or any other school on her list then I guess it’s not meant to be. For my kid, just writing the essays and completing the app is showing interest. I can only push her so much.
@STEM2017 the Rose-hulman NPC asks you for like 3 pieces of information. One of which is “Whats your EFC?”
Then it calculates your “need” and completely ignores it.
@stlarenas – Re: demonstrated interest.
Son interviewed at CMU last week. The only reason I traveled to Pittsburgh was the CMU interview. According to my son, they have a 500 word essay that asks about the interview. Today’s mail brought a full page letter from Dean of Admission thanking my son for interviewing with XXXXX…
Now, it is obvious that this letter is automatically generated to every student who interviews, but clearly they track this. I sat in the admission office while son was interviewing and heard the receptionist say to more than one late arrival…please stop by at the end of your tour so that we can give you credit for attending.
But then today’s email brought one from CMU…we are honored you are considering CMU…
“We welcome students and their families travel to Pittsburgh to visit campus between now and October for information sessions, campus tours and to participate in admission interviews.”
Ironic.
I have no idea if Wake tracks interviews as closely as CMU as son is not looking at Wake, but I had heard from prior years’ applicants that the interview matters. Have you looked on the Wake forum here on CC?
@CT1417 My S17 also interviewed this week at CMU, but alas no letter from the dean so far. 
I do remember hearing at an info session last spring that they track demonstrated interest.
@longwood – the interview was last Friday and I think the letter arrived in today’s mail but cannot be certain as I was away all week. I am sure that your son’s letter is on its way.
You attended an info session in the spring and an interview now. Are you near Pittsburgh? I had wanted to visit during April break but they blocked off a couple of days for Spring Fling (or spring carnival—confusing Hopkins & CMU at this point). Also, I think I recall reading that they did not offer interviews until the summer after Jr year. Annoying as this meant we visited campus when school was not in session. Will have to return if he is accepted b/c I want to get a feel for the student body.
Heavy something from Columbia that I did not open, since everyone else commented it went in recycling.
@CT1417 We are not near Pittsburgh but it’s drivable (one way) in a day. We did a first visit over S’s spring break, and school was in session for CMU (no interview then). It really does make a difference to see a school when students are there.
QOTD: No service hours required, but you do get a special award for volunteering 100 hours in a year, with 1/2 being at the same place and you must write a paper reflecting on your volunteer experience. D17 has received this 3 years.
Filling out applications: no, I’ll have D17 do this. I hope to get the opportunity to review things, and hopefully her CC will too! No applications have begun as far as I know.
FAFSA: I can’t imagine a child filling out this on their own with all their parent information. Since we are on FA for high school, we do this every year and it’s hard enough for me to do it!
Thanks for the Smith report! We just got a big mailer from them with our spring tour guide on the cover. Interesting that there’s not a larger gap between ED and RD. I had thought there was, especially since they have ED 1 and ED 2. It’s my first choice and where I would go to school if I could go back in time!
@CT1417, it sounds like CMU is seriously tracking interest! Last year, DD did a CMU campus visit while competing at ISEF in Pittsburg. Since so many students visited during that week, CMU didn’t offer formal information sessions and tours. Essentially, DD visited without getting the “credit”. :-w
@stlarenas, We visited Wake Forest, and had a sit down with the rep for our area. She stressed the importance of interviewing. They do really like demonstrated interest. They understand that many can’t visit. They do offer Skype interviews. I strongly suggest signing up right away. Even before applying. They have the student fill out a questinairre. My S seemed to enjoy it. They did not ask anything that tripped him up…
@carachel2 I found your post about converting the ACT to the new SAT as the most interesting information so far about this application cycle. I had obviously wrongly assumed with the ACT being the unchanged data point that schools would be converting to an ACT score.
Do you know if their conversion matches the SAT concordance tables? (Compass Prep has the easiest to use chart.)
http://241nkd2yuifs2cob542atybb.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/SAT-and-ACT-Score-Concordances-2016.pdf
Dd has 1 SAT score (the new one), so she has all of her eggs in that one single basket. I really would like to know how schools are going to see it.