I guess the school does want quarter grades, but I just don’t know if the school weights it because that is usually not until semester grades
@vandyeyes adding my thoughts and best wishes for your continued health and recovery!
@vandyeyes best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Regarding colleges requesting fall quarter grades… I have not seen that with my kids, although my S15 did not apply anywhere ED. S17 did apply ED and this college is requesting that a grade update be submitted by the middle of February, which the schools on S15’s list also required.
I thought that ED schools all wanted first quarter grades. Our HS issues first quarter ‘placeholder grades’, but they are not real grades. A grade is calculated at the end of each quarter and then the semester grade is based 40% on 1st Q grade, 40% on 2nd Q grade and 20% on midterm (or final) exam grade, resulting in grades for two semesters. I recall that my son had to forward his 1st Q grades to his ED school and then his final transcript in June.
@MotherOfDragons: Interesting, your husband’s take on Maryland (College Park, I presume), that nobody would notice if you never came out of your dorm room. My wife and I are both alums; I lived off campus the whole time I was there, but my wife lived on campus all four years and—twenty-ish years ago—didn’t have remotely that experience at all. I also know that the undergrads in my department (which was a pretty small department) knew each other pretty well.
@vandyeyes: Glad to hear things are going well. I’ve had enough family members go through experiences with cancer and such that to hear that your strength is improving daily, well, I know how big a deal that is.
@CT1417 I don’t have any experience other than what I have encountered with S17. Being a homeschooler, I am also the guidance counselor, so I am the one submitting the guidance counselor documents. Maybe the vast majority of other ED schools do ask for 1st quarter grades, but this school doesn’t want anything else from me until mid-February.
So your son’s ED school did not ask for a February report, just a final transcript?
At a local presentation for Tufts, they specifically said that they need first quarter grades from students who ED. That was the first time I had ever heard this request.
@shuttlebus – yes, correct. And to be honest, I recall thinking that it was kind of eerie how silent the entire process was! I paid a $400 deposit after he was admitted in December and then he never heard a word until he was invited to return for accepted student days in April and a local ‘meet the other accepted students’ reception, also in April.
I recall the HS suggesting that he submit his 1st Q grades and then having him go back in to ask if they would submit them as it did not seem very official having him submit them.
This was three years ago, so things may have changed/evolved.
Does this ED school provide a decision in mid-December?
I just went onto our HS’s guidance page to see how they address the subject. They have this timeline and under November it says: “Consider sending first quarter grades (great opportunity to contact college
representative)”, so they are shunting it back to the students.
I will be sure to let you know how it works this year if my slacker applicant submits any of his early apps!
@CT1417 Yes, the school has a mid-December decision date. It is a school in the NESCAC.
@eandesmom D’s HS has not announced commended students’ names. Or I’m looking at the wrong place. 16 is a lot! That’s more like it for your S’s HS.
Anyway, your football team beat us pretty bad last night. It was so bad my D left the game at halftime.
Nothing new application-wise. Completed filling “Colleges I’m Applying to” in Naviance. Will add recommenders’ names. Didn’t get chosen for Scripps’ fly-in program. Bummer, but she got application fee waiver as a compensation!
I thought the common app essay was going to be looked at in AP Lit class, but D says it’s going to be just peer critique and not counting on getting a constructive feedback.
@vandyeyes You are in my thoughts.
My daughter has to do 2 interviews and won’t be interviewing at her 3 optional schools. 1 is 6 hours away and we are only visiting if she gets a specific merit offer, 1 is 10 hours away and we already visited but before she was ready to interview and they don’t offer them locally, and 1 is the school her older brother goes where the interviews are mostly informational and she already knows more than enough about the school. It seems like even great interviews don’t really help from the people we are friends with who have done interviews for selective schools for many years so I’m not concerned about not doing the optional ones and am not putting any pressure on her to do well on the required ones since I think she does better when she is more relaxed.
@dfbdfb wrote
That is very good to hear. My husband is a super introvert, and my daughter is much more of an ambivert (she thinks she’s an extrovert, I see some introverted tendencies like getting tired out by socializing). His introvert’s prospective is that he could see that happening (the room thing). I’m assuming if I’d gone with D to MD my extrovert’s prospective would have been “look at all the people, whee!!!”
They had an Oculus Rift thingie there that they let her play with and she was super digging it.
This week is fall break for them and I’m going to lean hard on her to get the apps done and not have to worry about them anymore. We’ve had some back and forth about her rough drafts of her essays being, um, kind of, meh. Like she’s not really putting herself into it emotionally.
And I kind of get it, because it’s a scary thing to really emotionally commit to an essay and leave it all out there, because it means on some level you’re saying yes to college and change and leaving. We had one good breakthrough with the “where do you come from” essay, where she really let who she was and how she got here shine through.
Now I just have to get her to do that a bazillion more times, ugh. It makes it a lot easier when I keep in mind that all the blowups and avoidance and wackiness that are coming from her occasionally is due to fear of the future and the unknown, and fear of failing. She’s not actually a jerk; she’s scared. Makes it a lot easier for me to take a breath and kind of wade through all the “augh!!! too much! this is all stupid!” freakouts that she sometimes does.
QOTD: Progress report anyone?
Applications complete/acceptances/applications to go: 1 (rolling, not Common App)/1/12
Common App: Complete except for essays.
LORs: Counselor and 2 Teacher’s invited, one teacher complete!
Essays: Common App idea/outline but no words yet :-?? Several supplements to go!
Interviews: None required/requested yet.
Testing: One more round of ACT (22 Oct)
Visits: Only after acceptances.
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): 8
DS/DD anxiety level: 6
QOTD Progress Report:
Applications completed: six
Acceptances: provisional at one, pretty assured at another (lost transcript delayed admission) and highly hinted at admissions from the first choice school
Common App - not doing. She was going to apply to Purdue and Northeaster but those have fallen off the list
LORs-done, will have if needed for honors college and merit scholarships
Interviews-none required yet
Testing- DONE. Took it again in September and STILL awaiting results. No matter the result she will be done–the review books have all been given away lol
Visits-done except for one, will have to also go back and do departmental visits if her OOS first choice doesn’t work out
My anxiety level - ehh…medium I would say. Just ready to have some decisions in hand. I don’t know HOW people wait until April!
DD anxiety - I would see mild to moderate. She is ready to hear from her first choice officially.
Applications complete/acceptances/applications to go: 14/2/1
(I’m only counting submitted on D’s part because we are still waiting for GC to submit everything. Also D still has scholarship supplements to go for a handful of schools that had the supplement as a separate process. She’s hoping to finish the last school today (with all supplements))
LORs: Both teachers done and submitted. (GC still needs to submit his. And D needs to confirm that all schools received the LOR from the second teacher.)
Essays: I don’t even want to count. She has a lot left for the unfinished scholarship/honors supplements.
Interviews: None required unless D gets selected to interview for scholarships.
Testing: D has been done since May.
Visits: 1 in October and no more until after acceptances.
Your anxiety level: 8-9. I’m really worried about merit for D’s top choices.
Her anxiety level: 6. She’s not really worried about the app process as she’s way ahead of her friends and will get everything done, but schoolwork, a job where she is required to cover for employees who quit or otherwise can’t work their shift and her EC’s has her a little stressed.
I think you nailed it! Thank you for that.
“It makes it a lot easier when I keep in mind that all the blowups and avoidance and wackiness that are coming from her occasionally is due to fear of the future and the unknown, and fear of failing. She’s not actually a jerk; she’s scared. Makes it a lot easier for me to take a breath and kind of wade through all the “augh!!! too much! this is all stupid!” freakouts that she sometimes does.”
I wouldn’t say that my kid is being a jerk, but she seems frustrated, irritable, and negative nearly all of the time. Major breakthroughs (awesome ACT score! Great casting for upcoming dance season!) only temporarily lift the gloomy storm clouds. I am pushing her to get stuff submitted in hopes that it will bring down her stress level. I imagine that every time she struggles with a math concept or grapples with her senior thesis topic, she thinks “this is it, there goes my opportunity to attend college X.”
Back in the day, I didn’t much care. I just wanted to leave home!
She did have a local alumni interview yesterday. She dreads and loathes interviews. But it seemed to go well.
QOTD Progress Report - I’m hoping for some movement on applications some time today. More to come.
@carachel2 Good for you, giving away those test prep books. Clarity! I asked my D before ACT results came back if she wanted me to sign up for one more sitting, just in case, as deadlines were about to pass for October. Nope, mom, I am DONE! She was more firm about this than I was.
@BlueAFMom awesome QoTD!
Applications complete/acceptances/applications to go: 1 complete, 1 acceptance, 8 to go.
Common App: I think it’s complete except for her essays. We’ll check today.
LORs: Made contact with 2 teachers, 1 coach, and the GC. Once she finishes the apps it should send the teachers links to fill out LOR’s.
Essays: Rough drafts for most.
Interviews: Set up one, need to set up another this week.
Testing: SAT 2’s this saturday (eek)
Visits: One or two more, then only if accepted.
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): 6
DS/DD anxiety level: 7
QOTD: Progress report: (Great report format. Thanks @BlueAFMom!)
Applications complete/acceptances/applications to go: 0/0/11-13 (15-17 if you count 5 UCs separately)
Common App: Complete except for essays, activities, honors. Same for UC app (Nov 30). Activities/honors done yesterday for non-Common App Nov. 1 EA school.
LORs: 1 teacher invited, he needs to make final decision on which humanities teacher. Need to invite research prof.
Essays: Common App rough first draft done. 1st drafts done for about 1/2 essays for one of two EA schools, but they are far too long. Topic ideas listed for all EA and UC essays. Haven’t even looked at the zillions of essays for January deadline schools.
Interviews: 1 scheduled for late Oct. Needs to email alumni contact for 1 EA school. Others get scheduled after RD apps turned in.
Testing: Done since February, thankfully!
Visits: UCLA Open House, others only after acceptance.
Other: Slideroom supplements not started, but there is a list of ideas for what to include.
Your anxiety level (1-low, 10-high): 6 (Will apps get done?)
DS anxiety level: 8 (Will I get accepted somewhere I love?)
How about something for stress relief: (My sister’s dh has severe dementia. A friend mails her a funny card per week. I love this one.)
(Outside cover) A toothbrush is pounding its head and crying, “I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job.”
(Inside) A toilet brush replies, “Oh, cry me a river!!”
Traveling today (black tie affair last night in DC!) so I’ll post our update once home.