@itsgettingreal17 - Computer Engineering
@nw2this I think Ohio State’s application deadline for merit is Nov 1.
@KingCharles101 if you are premed and don’t qualify for merit at those schools, is your family willing and able to pay the OOS costs for those schools? What are your instate options? Are you retaking the ACT?
@itsgettingreal17 - By the way, I know all about having some safeties and I have TRIED LIKE HECK to get him to add more schools. My D15 had 10 schools, 3 safeties (only one in-state). I also met with S’s GC last spring to solicit his help. My S has a DREAM school (I know, I know) that he has a really good shot at (looking at Naviance, etc). And he’s totally hung up on that one and one other (match). Thankfully, he’s applying early to 3 (plus one rolling) with notification dates in mid-December, if disaster strikes, he could throw together a few more applications if need be before January 1ish.
For now, he has 6 - 2 reach, 2 matches, 2 safeties.
@Ynotgo I think there is a calculation for ELC based on test scores and GPA. Our older son wasn’t ELC at his school, but still ended up with the top merit scholarship. But there are enough stresses in this process, too bad you have another minor one.
Done with visits? Yes, we are! Maybe (but only maybe—the nearest school my daughter is applying to is a 5±hour flight away) an admitted student visit or two, but no more visits just to check a school out.
Widely available fee waivers: Macalester has an automatic fee waiver if you apply before 15 November, no matter whether you’re applying ED or RD.
Targeted fee waivers: Miami (Ohio) sent my daughter a fee waiver. It dropped off my daughter’s list a year ago, though, and so they’re unlikely to get a nibble off of it.
Deposits: Alabama’s tuition+housing deposit totals $500, of which only $275 is refundable. I’d say Florida’s $25 non-refundable housing deposit is looking more like a bargain every moment.
Same California eye-glaze-over disclaimer… 8-| … really, save yourself, stop reading now!
@youcee Yes, that probably what the folks at UCOP meant when our GC talked to them. I found the calculator here and he qualifies under the “statewide context” even if the school didn’t list him as qualifying under the local context (ELC): http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/admissions-index/index.html
The calculator gives an estimate because the statewide context cutoff changes a bit each year, but I put in a GPA and ACT score that were significantly lower than his and it said he was still in the top 9%.
Interestingly, I first put in his GPA and ACT, because his ACT is higher than his SAT. Then I added his old SAT scores, and it switched the highlight to the SAT score and the “UC Score” box at the top went to a higher score and changed from “ACT” to “SAT.”
I then noticed that if I move the ACT “English with Writing” slider up to a high score considering the new ACT writing percentiles (like 32 or 33), then it goes back to using the ACT to calculate the UC Score. Maybe their calculator expects that the ACT writing percentiles would match the percentiles for the rest of the ACT (like the rest of the word except for the ACT folks did).
Yeah, that’s the calculator I was thinking of.
I finally decided to look at what son will need to do for these early apps as well as the NMSF app. This did nothing to alleviate my panic…He has a LOT of work to do!
For anyone who has a child applying to UMD-CP, did your child use his regular resume or create a special activity resume? It appears that the UMD app does not have an activity section the way the CA does, but instead asks for an activity resume to be uploaded. Son has a very full one page resume but it includes academic info, honors and awards in addition to activities. Should he ditch the academic info, honors & awards and instead expand the activity section?
@CT1417 Yes, I’ve read somewhere that the resumes uploaded with applications should omit the sections covered elsewhere like coursework and honors that fit elsewhere on the application.
S had a 2-page resume that included scores, coursework, and honors. He recently made a 1-page version that deleted all that and contains only science/engineering activities and computer science activities (including CS languages/tools). He removed the math activities and “other” section to make it fit on one page.
I think it came out stronger than the 2-pager, because everything in the two remaining sections was something he really wanted to keep. I wasn’t advocating for the slimmed down resume, but it convinced me once it was done.
@fun1234 Has your S ever tried story-boarding to brainstorm an essay? Many kids - especially boys - benefit from that technique in getting their ideas down on paper. Also the mantra for college essays is “show - don’t tell” and story-boarding will help generate an essay that shows.
@dfbdfb Let’s be clear about the $25 housing payment for UF. Its not really the amount that bothers me, that’s not the the point. Its not a deposit in any sense of the word. It’s a fee to hold your place in line for housing just in case you are lucky enough to be graced with an acceptance. If you are denied - tough luck.
I will happily pay a true housing deposit if he is accepted.
I’m not trying to start an argument with you, but requesting a payment for services after they’ve been accepted is very different than paying a non-refundable “place holder” fee before acceptance.
In any case, I paid the $25. And I’m glad I’m anonymous on this thread! 
Thanks @Ynotgo. Of course, this will now be something else added to his to-do list! Son has his resume down to one page, but the font is really teeny tiny. He called it a technical resume, until I intervened and insisted he add some of his non-tech activities in order to make himself look a little well-rounded. (As in, he has left off the four years of XC and Track, Debate, etc, thinking tech schools would not want to see those things!)
@CT1417 Kids aren’t “exempt” from PE. The classes for sports/marching band are
@Ynotgo I didn’t even know there was a list the schools sent. I guess since my S17 isn’t in the top 9% I didn’t even think of it, although he does easily make the statewide cut. (Still trying to get him to put down Merced as a safety.) For our school the GPA level for that top 9% is so high most of these students would probably meet the statewide cutoff. But I could see student who gets good grades, but tests poorly could slip between these cracks.
This sounds like something that would happen at S17’s school this year, the person in charge of the college & career center went on maternity leave last spring & never came back. We have someone new who doesn’t didn’t know she was taking over & is slow to get things rolling. I asked them about our Naviance error and it’s district wide. The automatic SAT upload software didn’t know how to handle the new SAT & it’s still being sorted out.
@curiositycat333 If he makes the statewide cut, you may not need to pay for the Merced application as a safety. I’m not absolutely sure on that, however. Remember that you have to calculate using the capped UC GPA (8 honors semesters only) in the statewide context calculator.
How do we know if they made the ELC cut? I have not received anything, but would be shocked if she didn’t.
@curiositycat333 --there’s a class for sports & marching band? As in, during the regular school day?
Always interesting to learn how other high schools are structured. We have this eight day rotation where one of the seven classes is dropped each day. Science lab and gym alternate and I think the students in non-honors/non-AP science do not meet for lab as often as the honors/AP, so they may have one extra free in the eight day rotation.
So the four major academic subjects, foreign language and then an elective. Some students double up on the elective, especially if they are in Chorus or Orchestra so that they can enjoy the electives offered. It makes for a very tight day when taking seven classes, primarily because there is no time during the day to meet with a teacher, if needed. Clubs generally meet before school b/c athletics dominate immediately after school. Some clubs meet at 5:30 so that they can work around the athletic schedule.
Bottom line: everyone is stuck attending gym year round for all four years. The years my son took seven classes, I wished PE could be dropped, especially on the days he was dismissed from school early in order to get to a meet on time.
@VickiSoCal We received a letter from the school indicating he was likely to make the ELC cut. We also got some UC postcard that didn’t say anything about ELC, but someone else posted that it indicated they had made the ELC cut.
@ct1417 At son’s high school he has a 6 day cycle. Technically, no one is excused from phys ed, not even 3 sport athletes. My son is Varsity Soccer with a 6 day practice or game schedule. He also takes seven classes and has several days with NO free periods. For gym class, he is usually, unofficially excused to get lunch. I think athletes ought to be excused from gym during their sport season.
@STEM2017 – I agree with you about excusing athletes, at least after freshman year. Freshmen are required to report to an actual study hall during a free period, but everyone else is free to go to library or whatever.
Older son swam and that team had three morning practices (one on Sunday) and five after school practices. And since the school does not have a pool, they had to take a bus to the Y, which meant they could not stay after to speak with a teacher for even a minute. The two morning practices precluded morning teacher meetings. The devotion to athletics is really a bit much. It will all be over soon…
@CT1417 Good point about freshman. Son’s freshman year Phys Ed was combined with Health class. Important class for kids entering adulthood.