@snoozn, D is also taking AP CS next year. I agree with @curiositycat333, it depends on the contents of the regular CS. If the contents are similar, your D can take the AP test without taking the AP class. Also having one period in study lab may not be a bad thing as she can get all caught up and have a great senior year.
Quick question. Should you even apply a college if you are outside of mid 50% on some stat? D wants to apply Cal Tech for CS, but she has a 760 on Math 2 when the mid 50% is 790 to 800! And they have so many essay prompts. Oh, no retaking for her on anything!
@CT1417 I think it’s a big advantage to have an interview with an AO rather than a local alumnus. From what I hear and read, alumni interviewers tend to have an air about themselves, like “prove to me that you’re good enough for MY alma mater.” Whereas AOs do well to balance the buy and sell aspect of interviews. Plus if your DC makes a good impression, they’ll have a direct advocate during the selection process, as opposed to alumni notes. JMHO.
SUNY Binghamton boasting on Instagram that they had 32,000 applicants for the class of 2020, up from 29,000 the year before. This is NOT a favorable trend for my son. The school is quickly moving from a “match” to a “reach.” Praying for a solid ACT result. He’s worked too hard to get rejected by a SUNY.
ETA: By the way, I thinks it’s a bit crass for the president of a university l to be boasting about this, basically saying “We get to reject so many more of you!” It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
@STEM2017 – I know, and I agree with you 100%…I am hoping that the interview will be conducted by the AO as it is scheduled for that part of October when the AOs are all on the road visiting high schools. There is the chance that it could be an alum conducting the interview, as the location is a business.
The interviews are scheduled for one day only, and looking at the NY-CT schedule, only one town per day, so I am going to cross my fingers that he ends up with an AO.
Here is the registration link in case anyone else is looking at Rochester.
@STEM2017 – I agree with you about the boasting, but sadly, # of apps is another metric.
A friend attended an admissions info session during reunion at Cornell a few years back. I am going to have the figures wrong, but I think apps had just hit 40,000. The speaker seemed almost embarrassed by this figure, wondering how they could possibly process that # of apps.
Cornell does a poor job of marketing & recruiting (entirely decentralized), and the following year, the # of apps dropped. I am guessing that someone noticed the drop, and doubled down on increasing the # of apps, as the figure increased the following year.
@snoozn I’d have her take a class that’s not a repeat-who knows, she may really like one of those engineering classes? D17 took IB Comp Sci and AP Comp Sci, she said the IB one was more theoretical, but that there was a ton of overlap. She’s doing a somewhat lower-level application design class this year (because that’s all that’s left) and she said they’re doing database something or other and that she’s “done this every year since freshman year so I’m sort of zoned out and doing my own thing” until they start doing stuff she doesn’t know how to do. Unless you know your kid wants to do CS and only CS, then yeah, maybe stick with the AP Comp Sci.
I did a commissioned painting of some Colorado mountains last year-the whole time I was painting them (from a photograph the client gave me) I was like, wow, these mountains are so beautiful! I don’t know if I could deal with the high altitude, though. I think I’m a beach/ocean girl at heart =) Give me sea level any day.
@disshar about the UA app-yeah, I thought I might have been overthinking it. I have a notorious tendency to take something fairly straightforward, come at it from the wrong angle, and needlessly complicate it. I can also break things that are supposed to be unbreakable. I’ll let D17 figure it out and stay out of it. The only reason I was roosting on her is that she doesn’t feel like she “needs” to apply there, and I am absolutely not ok with her blowing that opportunity off.
@SincererLove that math score is super good, I would not be scared off from applying to CalTech with that number. However, I’d also look at that school like it’s a lottery school, as well, since the competition is so insane. As long as your kid is sanguine about not getting in, why not apply? From my pov it’s not a ridiculous reach.
We’ve been watching the Olympics all morning. I need to un-ass us from the couch :).
@SincererLove CalTech is a reach correct? I think it would depend on the rest of her stats & what she has done outside school. I’d say if she really wants to apply let her, but make sure she knows it’s a reach and don’t depend on it. My guess is that won’t be the breaking point. The question is has she does anything outside of school in the C.S, world that will make her notable. IF there is I doubt the SAT II would be a problem. Although if it’s what she really really wants & has all the other needed stats can she try the Math Subject II again in the fall? My S17 didn’t find that test very hard, got a 780 but most of his schools won’t even look at it.
My question is why Cal Tech for undergrad? If she has the stats - the top school I’d recommend is Harvey Mudd. (I do have inside info about CS depts, & know adults/young adults who have attended Cal Tech) Has she toured Cal Tech, does she know how it’s different from other undergraduate programs? Does she LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to study & program.
I don’t think schools will see it as a repeat, it’s a sequence for many schools. But if your D would prefer something else than do that. I just can’t see it hurting her app to do AP CS.
@MotherOfDragons, @curiositycat333 , so many kinds of lottery tickets with our limited time and resources, D needs to decide which kind to buy. She doesn’t have her heart set on any school, which is a good thing. I will have her look into Harvey Mudd to see that is a better lottery for her. Thank you!!
@srk2017 thanks for the link to the article! I’ve heard many times that students shouldn’t write about their mission trip experiences. But what if it was really meaningful? Who’s to say if it was or was not for the right reasons!? To judge the student intentions?
Similar to high cost summer camps and semester schools, some folks are totally engaged and not just building a resume. It’s a shame that some will be dismissive of their experiences. And not think them worthy.
Hopefully if the narrative is strong, true passions will be revealed if admission officers are able to take a deeper look.
Interesting article. I’m sure the trips are meaningful but I can’t stand the thought of kids doing them just because it looks good.
We’ve had a few non-profits "suddenly "start up JR year complete with one of the founder kids saying the whole cliche “I never realized how good I had it…” On their endorsement/website video. It made me cringe.
Serving others is always a good thing. Doing it just so you can crank your admissions process and essay is not the right spirit and we have not allowed that at our house.
It’s much better to package the kid you have than to package the kid you think colleges want. The mission trip thing really bothers me as there is so much need all around us. I would much rather see a student find a way to make an impact here at home through sustained community service efforts than a brief mission trip abroad. For example, I regularly work with low income students and the poor level of education they receive is astounding. Bright, well off students can make a real difference by tutoring and mentoring some of those kids.
We have never played the calculated EC game at our house either. My job in helping my D put her applications together is to help her best show ad coms who she is and what she cares about most, which is only a few things and it shows in her community service and EC’s and every essay. Interestingly, my favorite essay of hers so far is the one for Kentucky about the road not taken and it’s about her decision to quit an EC. Ad coms will either like her or not. And that’s perfectly fine
I think the question becomes, what if the kid you have to package is the kid that did the mission trip because they wanted to, it did make a lasting, quantifiable impact on their life that is present in everything they do and what they want to do with the rest of their life?
I completely disagree with gaming the system in any way. EC’s, AP’s, mission trips for the sake of looking good or anything that is done with that in mind versus true passion and interest. How do those kids even know what they really want or who they really are?
I’ve got that kid. Granted, he’s not going for ivies or anything close to very selective. He chose to do a church sponsored mission trip (in this country lol, low budget and fund raising to make it happen) summer before junior year that truly changed his outlook on a lot of things and has carried over into just about everything including what he wants to major in, EC’s at school, club involvement, causes he supports, overall social justice involvement, you name it. Because of it, he is making small lasting differences as a matter of course and interest, not because it looks good but because he wants to. To not mention it at all leaves out a pretty big part of what makes S, S. He will be including it in his essay and I support it and I like how he has framed it up. If that somehow hurts him and is seen as forced or cliche…well it’s not the right school then. I have to believe, given how pervasive it is, that the genuineness of it will be apparent.
@eandesmom Those aren’t the mission trips that the article and most have s problem with. It’s the week in third world and developing countries type trips. Sounds like your S has a story to tell that includes a local trip. He should tell it and it will probably be well received.
@itsgettingreal17 no, it’s not and I know that. I just worry about it being lumped into the “don’t write about a mission trip” or “oh brother, not another mission trip story” bucket . It wasn’t local but it was in this country and definitely educational, eye opening and life changing for him.
Thanks for the article, @srk2017 – If kids in Flint, Michigan, of all places, can’t think of a local community that needs help, this mission trip thing has really gotten overblown.
Thank you!!