Parents of the HS Class of 2017 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
16941

Its my understanding that the honors program at Kentucky is competitive. A lot more applicants than spots. And I have heard of NMF kids not making the honors program (pretty sure its kids on CC). Only significant difference I believe is not living in honors dorms.

Now maybe kid with 1600 SAT, 36 ACT or 228 PSAT and 4.0+ GPA ranked in top 5 of large class will not have to worry about essays. And kid with lower GPA and class rank who got 210 PSAT will need to worry. Not sure.

Info from Kentucky website on honors college application:

"How can I be a competitive candidate, and demonstrate my enthusiasm for the Program to the Admissions Committee?

We at the Lewis Honors College review and consider every aspect of a student’s application. This includes test scores, grade-point average, class difficulty, extracurricular involvement, and most importantly the responses to the essay questions. We do not consider students based on geography, ethnicity, or gender. The baseline to apply for the Lewis Honors College is a 28 ACT and a 3.5 GPA (unweighted); however the average in the program is currently a 32 ACT and a 3.89GPA. The essays carry a large amount of weight in an admissions decision because they are strong indicators of a both a student’s effort and enthusiasm. Students in the Lewis Honors College increase their depth of thought, cultivate opinions and ideas, and are able to successfully articulate those opinions in an organized and coherent manner. While these are all skills that students will build on throughout their undergraduate careers, the admissions committee looks to see that applicants have already begun honing those skills in high school. Furthermore, writing abilities are becoming increasingly more important when students are considered for graduate school, as well as the job market. This is true for all fields, including the STEM field (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). Therefore, a demonstrated commitment to practicing and developing those skills early on will allow students to reach their highest potential through completion of the Lewis Honors College curriculum, and be confident to pursue opportunities following graduation. The application process for admission to the Lewis Honors College is incredibly competitive. For the fall 2016 incoming class Honors received over 3,600 applications for roughly 500 spots."

16942

@Ynotgo When you went to a college presentation at a local hotel recently, what would you say is acceptable attire for those? We are going to a single school presentation in a week - we’re pretty much jeans and shorts 100% of the time, but I’m thinking that might not be socially acceptable…

16943

Re: kids travel

With any luck son17 will be admitted to and will attend 1 of 4 schools in Boston metro area and if worse case comes he can uber, take t into town, or even ride his bike home. I don’t think he will bring a car to school, there shouldn’t be a reason to have one his first year.

FAFSA- not filling it out. Vibes to the rest of you that have to deal with all that.

Re: Apps status

As of today it is all filled out and done! Scores have been accepted at the schools already so this weekend will be a Common App party.

He has 7 schools- 3 total safeties that take early action, 2 matches on paper that take EA, and has to wait untl Jan for 2 others RD. In the end, he decided not to ED to any schools, he is looking at all options. I think he wants to see where his friends decide to go, alot of them are looking into Boston based schools too, and I think he’d like to have a built in friend or 2 at school. His top school choice did not end up officially recruiting him for lax, but the coach said if he gets in on his own merit there will be a slot for him at try out time next fall. He is still waiting to hear from another school on where he stands regarding recruit status. His paperwork has been with the coach and admissiions for a few weeks. So we are just rolling with the flow right now.

16944

@youcee I’m the person who doesn’t notice clothing. Overly dressy would have been out of place, I think. Probably shorts would also be out of place. Jeans and a t-shirt is probably what DS wore. We don’t live in a location where people dress up much or are preppy. William Baldwin looked kinda grungy if I recall correctly.

16945

In past years, and currently, the UK Honors Program is on the small side and therefore competitive. Yes, super smart kids, NMFs, have been denied admission to the Honors Program.

According to this article (see following link), participation in the Honor’s Program has nearly doubled in the last five years, from 750 to 1400 students.

In 2015, UK received its single largest gift, $23m, to establish an Honors College at UK (Lewis Honors College).

http://uknow.uky.edu/content/largest-single-gift-uk-history-focused-enhancing-student-experience-honors

I don’t know enough about the current Honors College at UK to give you any concrete inside info. Clearly, it’s on the move, expanding and improving. There is a new dorm going up right now which will house the new Honors College students. The linked article says the UK president’s goal is to have the Lewis Honors College be one of the best in the country. It’s not there yet, in other words.

When we were considering UK, I exchanged some private messages with parents who have students there, on the Patterson Scholarship. Not all of them were accepted into Honors, and the students are VERY happy. The take away message for us was to not get hung up on Honors for the sake of saying you are in Honors. It’s important to look at what an Honors program or Honors college at University X will offer (and require!) versus what University Y has.

For sure, UK is up and coming. You’re definitley NOT walking into a “finished product”, but I really like UK’s trajectory!

Many other big public universities across the country are feeling the strain of budget cuts (Illinois, oy!). At UK, you look around and see investment and growth. Currently, they are willing to pay great students to commit to UK. That’s not going to last forever.

Go Wildcats!

16946

Thanks @Ynotgo If I’m too out of place I’ll just sit far, far way from my son just in case.

16947

Excellent reply @saillakeerie. Yes, that is what we had read. I have read so many things by now, it is hard to keep them all straight. (The disadvantage of not being a spreadsheet person!)

@itsgettingreal17 My advice to all kids for all applications is don’t think that the rules don’t apply to you. If they aren’t going to put in the effort of applying well, it probably isn’t worth applying. Just bc a school is lower ranked does not mean other top kids aren’t seeking admission.

16948

Same as @STEM2017, location to airports and availability of flights is key to us. A couple of wonderful colleges didn’t make the list because of location.

16949

@youcee Casual wear is ok for the presentations at the hotels we went to…however I think my D felt a little uncomfortable at the one she came right from lacrosse practice. There were lots of kids in school uniforms and parents in business casual. The next one we went to D decide to change into a casual blouse, nice shorts, and sandals.

However I am really starting to come around to the “if the school doesn’t like what my kids wears, reads, does in her free time, etc…then it probably isn’t the right school for her” mantra. There are much more important things to stress about - like getting those darn essays written :slight_smile:

16950

Had my son gone to Minnesota it would have been easier to get him from the airport (shorter drive) than it is currently. And Minnesota would have been cheaper by enough to cover several round trip plane tickets per year. Didn’t work out that way though.

16951

@Midwest67 There is a new BF in my Ds life and I am so worried with how this will affect her decision in 6 months. I know better than to underestimate the power of young love.

16952

I think the AO can appreciate a kid coming to a presentation in lacrosse attire because it shows they want to be at the presentation and time did not permit a change of clothes. Brush hair and the kids are fine. That’s my view.

16953

@stlarenas Hang in there. I could fly D from Lexington to see her BF twice a month, and still not touch what we would have paid at her other choices. Not saying I’m going to do that, lol, but just to help put it in perspective.

All will be well! Or not. Who knows!

16954

@Mom2aphysicsgeek In our search, I definitely saw schools where the honors college was automatic for certain students, in which case, I’d have no problem with a quickly done application. Obviously UKy isn’t one of them.

16955

@fun1234, every admissions office (re-)calculates GPA differently, and most don’t actually tell you how they do it. ~X(

Kids traveling: All of our daughter’s schools are some hours of flight time away (to the extent that she already knows she’s not coming home for Thanksgiving—realized that on her own). As a result, our main worry as far as that sort of thing goes is access to the nearest major airport, whether it’s commercial or university-sponsored shuttles. Interestingly, of the ones that are solidly in the middle of nowhere, the smaller schools generally do a better job of that, it seems.

Significant others: I’m actually quite happy that my daughter has had one boyfriend where it, put simply, didn’t end well. =(( at the time, of course, but it’s made her just cynical enough that the relationship that appears to be developing now is unlikely to affect her ultimate choice of where to go to school. :D/

16956

@rightcoaster - I don’t know if I would put much emphasis on the built in friend at college thing. Yes DS13 has roomed with his best friend from high school for the last 2 1/2 years but really they don’t have a whole lot in common anymore. Both of them have other friends that they hang out with more. Plus he gets together with other friends from high school that don’t go to the same college on school breaks.

16957

Got you beat @saillakeerie , I was taking a Personal Computing class in college (we were programming in AppleSoft BASIC and machine language on an Apple II) when the IBM PC was announced. My professor said it would change the world. I thought why would anybody need anything other than a Apple II ?

16958

So let me confirm. The reason many people push for EA is to have some decisions in hand before holiday season?

That’s the reason I gave my D last night when she asked why she has to do EA for her non-top choices. She thinks it’s not worth spending over hundred dollars just to get the results early, especially if EA doesn’t generate any other benefit.

Do colleges look at EA applicants more preferably than RD? This sounds like a very basic question, but when I was explaining EA to D, I started to wonder why I’m pushing for EA.

By the way, she is applying ED to her top choice.

Please enlighten me.

16959

So, not only do I program but I also juggle a little bit. Girls loved it back in college. It’s also served me well in the recent college application process. A little while ago I felt like I was throwing lots of balls (read: school apps/essays/visits/etc.) high into the air. It looked hard, but it was not that bad. Now, I feel like there are a few less balls, but they aren’t going quite as high into the air. My hands are going faster and faster. I can tell I’m gonna drop one. Or a few. I’m no longer in control as much as I would like to be. It’s just a question of which one(s).

(Snap, snap…)

16960

@HiToWaMom I did some research on this with the same thoughts you had. I did find a few of the schools on D17’s list have significantly higher admit rates for EA than for RD. Most of them don’t, though. But might be worth looking into for your D’s schools.