Sorry for the re-post. The one just above was submitted yesterday, but never made it through the gauntlet (I figured, due to the shortened USCar mascot name), so I posted an abbreviated version earlier today, before the original finally made its way through!
@ridwell Yup… both U of California and Cal State schools don’t look any any applications until all applications are in. They look at the stats of their entire application pool before making any decisions. But they do have a Nov 30th deadline. (And you can’t even apply to Cal State till Oct 1st & UC till Nov 1st.) They don’t have EA/ED. Deadline is absolutely FIRM.
I don’t think any of the UC’s it makes a difference when you apply. But some Cal States if you apply earlier you ‘might’ hear earlier. I’ve heard and seen that Cal State acceptances start coming back as early as December but other students don’t hear till March. Depends more if you make the first cut I think, and many schools then start processing the applications in the order received.
Agree with what @curiositycat333 said, and also the travel schedules for adcoms from private universities doing hotel ballroom talks seem to run through October for colleges with a Nov. 1 EA/ED date.
Note that the U of California computers do some processing on applications as soon as they are received. Students who apply to Berkeley may be randomly (?) selected to be asked to provide an optional letter of recommendation even before the Nov. 30 deadline. (UCs don’t normally accept a LoR.) It seemed clear last year that this was some sort of automated process. As far as I know, Berkeley will be doing the same thing this year or may be targeting these requests to students with mid-level stats (not likely admits or likely rejects, but I expect that is difficult for a computer to determine, since Berkeley admissions are holistic.) It is possible that a higher percentage of students who click Submit early for Berkeley get LoR requests than students who apply at the deadline.
Oh, California schools. Well, there ya go. For the rest of us, it’s getting late. 
I assume they’re still doing it - 2 years ago about 10% of UC applicants were asked for additional information such as proof to verify an EC. I think there were 2 other types of requests, but the EC verification was one our son had to do.
All this talk on languages lately, and I see this class listed in the “Class Visit List” for Tulane: “Beginning Kaqchikel Language”
I’ve heard of French and Russian and Arabic, but this one? Uh, no.
We have distributed our app submission to October (BS/MD, couple of EAs), November (UCs), December (rest). Need to crank up on essays starting Saturday.
I didn’t see a QOTD, so here is one
QOTD: Who is taking SAT or SAT IIs (which SAT IIs) on Saturday?
DS is taking one SAT II and that will be the last one.
Claims like these (that one language is the “closest” to an old language, or that one particular dialect of a language is just like some older form of that language) are, by their nature, always false.
(The only case when they’re not false is the trivial one where the language being referred to is itself an older form of the language. So yes, it is clearly true that Middle English is closer to Old English than Modern English is. Hopefully it’s obvious how that’s non-interesting, though.)
I suspect that what the Icelanders are basing that on is a visual cue based on the writing system—both Icelandic and Faroese are written using an alphabet that contains an eth (the ð character), which was used in non-runic Old Norse (and Old English, FWIW) spelling. Spelling is, however, simply an imperfect reflection of speech—and the fact that Icelandic uses ð for the same sound that English uses th for is just a historical accident, and not anything reflective of the languages themselves.
In reality, all languages are in a constant state of change as speakers speak them, and so as long as a language has native speakers, it’s constantly becoming more and more different from whatever languages it’s descended from—and as far as we can tell, over any interestingly-long period of time, short-term differences between languages in rates of change even out so that they’re all equally different from their ancestor languages. Now, one language might have its changes concentrated in, say, the phonetic system while another has more changes in syntax or such, but that’s a completely different sort of issue (though, really, quite hard to demonstrate anyway).
So it’s actually the case that Icelandic and Faroese are just as different from Old Norse as their siblings Danish, Swedish, Nynorsk, and Bokmål are (and all of them are just as different from their earlier ancestor Germanic as English, Dutch, Frisian, and German are—and all of those are just as different from their even earlier ancestor Indo-European as French, Russian, Hindi, and Albanian are).
Oh, and @rtidwell, why not take Kaqchikel? It’s a reasonably widely spoken language in Guatemala, and could be quite useful depending on what one is planning to do with one’s life—and certainly no harder for an English speaker than any other non-Indo-European language, like Arabic.
<linguist pedant=“” mode=“off” for=“” good=“” now,=“” i=“” think=“”>
I think we really need to petition the CC admin folks to see if we can add to their rating system. I found the new FB ‘like’ options annoying at first, but I now think they are brilliant in that they allow one to differentiate one’s reaction. Very helpful for our JOTD especially.
QOTD: Daughter taking Physics SAT II on Saturday. Last test. Studying for it has interfered with CA essay. I don’t like it. [-(
DS taking SAT II in Physics also this Saturday - hoping to get past this - hardest thing is getting him not to answer a few questions he really would have to guess on - he hates leaving things blank but hard for him to embrace point deductions for wrong answers!
D is taking SAT II Bio. Basically has had to learn everything so not expecting a stellar score.
@CA1543 - My S’s strategy is if he can quickly eliminate two answers, he will take a chance and answer and so for all the tests he has taken he never left a single question (3 SAT IIs). He is taking US History which is not his strong subject and he said he will probably skip some questions for the first time. He has been competing in Science Bowl for a while, I guess those skills come handy.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek - That Sciences Po would be affordable surprises me; I looked at their dual degree programs at one point that charged Sciences Po tuition for the first 2 years of study, and while cheaper than their US schools, it was over 10,000 euros/year for tuition. And then there’s room and board.
If she’s willing to start out her undergraduate studies in Europe, that opens up a whole bunch of options for her, though (e.g., free tuition at German universities and the relatively affordable Dutch LAC-type colleges cropping up throughout the Netherlands)
@dfbdfb Thanks, I enjoy your linguist pedant mode. Informative, and easier than taking a class.
QOTD: No tests this weekend for DS. He’s leaving on a field trip with some of his engineering program members to the SF Bay Area today through Saturday. Going to several tech companies plus the Exploratorium, Computer History Museum, and SF Museum of Modern Art. (Several kids are skipping the trip due to the SAT and a band event.)
He’ll miss one class session of each of his UC classes. I think/hope that will be OK, since he’s done the first homework set for math (due during the trip) and the CS homework (due next week) seems understandable, he says. (Not understandable to me at all!) I hate it when he gets behind due to missing a class, but hopefully he’s learning/learned to handle that in preparation for college. He used to be terrible about that.
A big hacking competition starts today. I got him an external laptop battery backup and a couple backup batteries for his phone to make a hotspot. So, perhaps he can hack on some of the 6-hour each way bus ride. Small screen though. I’m expecting no applications progress from now through Oct. 8, though.
Guidance/help/suggestion,
While this is Child 3, this will be the first time we fill out the Fafsa/CSS Profile…things changed drastically, and now we must pursue aid. I do not know the first thing about it I know it all goes live October 1st. I guess now I need to learn.
I am looking for insight and help? Beside tax returns for 21015, what do I need to pull together. Is it true you declare assets based on day you fill out…Do you need to print out online statements? Should money be moved from accounts to others for any advantage? Any and all advice and info would be helpful? How hard is this all to do? I am a bit stressed about all of this. Our HS, has not done much in aid support…
Question (not a QOTD, just a plain ol’ question): Would it be appropriate for D to ask her English teacher to take a look at her CA essay? If it makes a difference, she will be getting a LoR from this teacher. H and oldest D are supposed to help critique but they aren’t doing much. I want her to have more than one person (me) look at it. She is guarded about who can read it because it’s pretty personal.
Languages
At one school D and I visited there was a pretty funny flyer. It said “Learn to speak American…” at the top, with a picture of a politician who shall not be named in the middle, and at the bottom, “Take a class in Quechua, Nahuatl or Navajo!”
(I really don’t remember exactly which Native American languages were named, but along those lines).
@dfbdfb, figuring out the credit requirements for double majors etc. is such a great idea that I’m embarrassed I didn’t think about it for D. She wants to double major in EE and CS if possible. We did have a general idea that it ranged from pretty easy at some schools to pretty hard at others. D also prefers schools with minimal gen ed requirements. But I never even thought of a spreadsheet to figure out the actual hours. (And thanks for Scandinavian comic link – I think my Norwegian friend will have to help me understand some of the humor!)
@CT1417, now I want a minor in Viking studies! I’m very into genealogy and my Mom’s ancestry is all Scandinavian. I haven’t actually found any Viking ancestors but “Norwegian and Danish Farmer Studies” probably wouldn’t fly.
@mamaedefamilia, I’m glad St. Olaf has such devotion to the Norwegians. Through them (and inter-library loan) I was able to check out old Norwegian village books that trace families back to the 1700’s.
Viking aside: We just finished watching Season 1 of The Last Kingdom. (Some serious Viking eye candy there.)