@hyppymom Your thread is fabulous. I’m looking forward to your review of Wesleyan (colleges of the northeast part 2).
So my daughter interviewed at a couple colleges on-campus, but there are several where they only interview students on campus during their senior year, even if they’re visiting from thousands of miles away and there’s no way they’re going to get there during the school year. ~X(
This means she’s about to have a round of interviews with alums or, in cases where they don’t have anyone in their alum network in Alaska, via Skype. The first one is this Wednesday (because Smith does have someone here), and the daughter is already being overly nervous for something utterly informal. So it goes. I’ve told her the main purpose is to show interest, not necessarily to impress, but she’s convinced she’ll do something horribly impolite without realizing it, it seems.
We are spontaneously making a trip next week and will be within 30 mins of one of dd’s schools that requires an interview. We will be traveling over 10 hrs. But they require a 2 week notice for an interview, so I am guessing she will end up having to done via Skype, too, bc we won’t be heading back that way for a very long time.
@dfbdfb – I am guessing that the Smith alum will be thrilled that there is someone to interview!
Right you are! You just need to be aware that the next thing to obsess over is writing the SECOND DRAFT. Guess what the next thing after that is? 
@curiositycat333, Naviance actually can and does combine schools if the schools choose to use that feature. I was actually not too happy to learn that for some less popular colleges, my D’s typical HS was being combined with a local (public) charter HS with a strong college prep focus. I think AO’s are going to see GPA, rigor, etc. as being very different at each HS. This leads me to wonder if her chances are poorer than I thought from looking at the graphs. I understand the desirability of this feature, but I don’t know why they can’t include a notation letting students know that this data is coming from other HS’s.
@dfbdfb, yep, I second that hair-pulling emoji regarding Smith’s “seniors-only” interview policy. I know both my D’s (introverts without much social finesse) interviewed much better with actual AO’s than with student interns. D still has to set up alumni interviews with Smith and Case Western (in their case due to lack of a campus visit rather than a dumb policy). I need to get on her to make that happen just to get it out of the way.
I think that we stayed at @hyppymom’s Hampton Superfund Inn on our visit to CMU this summer!
Quick question for all of you with kids who were named NMSF. I am helping a local family with some college planning. They homeschool and they have decided to go ahead and have their daughter (should be class of 18) graduate a year early (2017) because she has completed her high school requirements and is ready to move on.
Here is the kicker though–she is taking the PSAT this fall. Based on the SAT score she has already achieved, I think this girl has a very real chance of NMF. If she graduates in May 2017 then she won’t qualify, correct??
I am aware that all the results won’t even come out until September of next year (for SF at least). But she can’t graduate and take a gap year while awaiting NM results can she?
@CT1417 What i do is use the SAT concordance into a 2400 score. It’s what I’d do if I were Naviance. (If it doesn’t our school could put in concordance scores, but I would imagine that would be a lot of work.
@snoozn I can see why it would be confusing if it didn’t tell you it was combining. I was thinking it could be another choice. Show me just my school, or show me the local group of schools scores. I will have to bug the counseling office because maybe they just don’t get anyone requesting it.
So…at long last, I finally looked at the Common App. Oh my goodness…they have made it SO much easier to preview as you go. Three years ago you could not print preview a section at a time, but instead had to preview it all at once. The preview took FOREVER to generate. Picture the ‘spinning wheel of death’ as my boys call that Apple ‘beach ball’. Students were setting their alarm clocks so that they could attempt to file at 6am…downloading different browsers, thinking that Firefox might work better than Chrome or Safari… This is such an improvement.
I decided to fill in the parent and sibling demographic/education info for my son, along with test scores b/c there are so many of those to report. I toggled through the other sections and was reminded of why I really did not like this process. Listing activities, honors, etc. Agh. (To say nothing of the essays. I am afraid to look at those.)
To those of you with a child who has already hit submit—kudos!
@carachel2 – that is a fascinating question but I have no idea. Call the NM folks?
@CT1417 I agree with you that the Common App is much improved. I think that they’ve also reduced the number of characters available to describe activities. Kind of tricky for a few things to fit it all in, but maybe that’s also a good thing.
@carachel2, read on this page “when to take PSAT/NMQT”
http://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/interior.aspx?sid=1758&gid=2&pgid=398
Son17 is thinking he will take the ACT one more time this weekend. Has he studied? Nope. He got the same comp score twice, so I really don’t think it’s worth his time unless he studies for it. But he wants to try 1 more time. I tried to convince him to take it once more in Oct but he says he will be swamped with school,sports,work etc. So I guess I’ll just let him take it and hope he throws a Hail Mary and comes up with another point or 2 on the test. I don’t think it really matters if he improves anyways, it might only improve his chances for admission a bit.
We have a college planning night this week at school. I’ll go just to see what they have to say, but I think I’m pretty well versed in this stuff now thanks to reading this thread. I think we have it somewhat under control at the moment and we aren’t panicking. Son17 is cool as a cucumber about the whole thing.
@rightcoaster - DS13 took the ACT twice. He didn’t study either time. He went from a 32 to a 34. It sort went the same way with DS17. He didn’t study the first time and got a 30. He studied the math only for the second time and got a 32 but really his math score wasn’t what went up it was the other sections that pulled it up. Sometimes they just do better depending on the test.
UA acceptances are up.
@RightCoaster I am here hoping that @MichiganGeorgia theory about the ACT score going up is accurate. While I am happy with my Ds 30, she is not. However the studying probably isn’t going as well as she had hoped. Crossing my fingers for an “easy” test on Sat 
However - we are moving along on the CA - most everything that doesn’t require more than 150 words is filled out for all the schools on her list (plus a few extra “maybe schools”). Invites have been sent to her GC and 2 teachers for LORs. She is also considering asking her boss as work to write one for her this week.
PLUS - she is going to her first interview today!!! It is a school we visited and she is near the top of the stats. So it is low pressure. I am hoping it goes very well and will give her the confidence to reach out to some other schools on the list and request interviews with them too.
Her CA essay is still in a VERY rough 1st draft stage. And I don’t think she has thought about it since then. And no other writing supplements have been touched. However I promised to lay off until after this weekends ACT…
Looks like Bama is handing out acceptances!!!
Nothing here yet. Still waiting to take ACT.
ETA: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19918203#Comment_19918203
In today’s email - Rice fee waiver. D is not applying. Hopefully those of you who are will get one.
D has serious essay fatigue but the end is in sight. She didn’t finish what she needed this weekend due to a bad essay I had to tell her to rewrite. Otherwise still moving along and should be done by mid-month. First deadline is Oct. 15. She’s meeting with the GC tomorrow re: GC LOR. Hopefully everything else gets submitted by the school this week. I’m skipping the parent meeting this week. Waste of my time.
Looks like S got accepted. Does not show scholarship info. Expecting Presidential, but can’t find that online…Assume they mail official acceptances…anyone know?
D17 was accepted to UA today! We just put down the deposit and she applied to the honors college! Right now it is her number 1. Roll Tide at our house! Now to see if she changes her mind when the other decisions come in!
@itsgettingreal17 – I noticed that Rice fee waiver also. Interesting the way they worded the ‘offer’:
"Congratulations on your successful completion of the SAT Subject Test exams. We hope you will give serious consideration to applying to Rice.
As a reward for your hard work on your SAT Subject Tests, Rice will waive the $75 application fee normally required of all applicants. To activate your application fee waiver, follow the appropriate instructions below:"
So…not based on SAT I or AP exams or NMSF, but on subject tests???
@jeepgirl Congrats to jeepkid!