I am dying here tonight – I should have been on CC instead of bugging D to finish up her EA apps. She finished essays and we hit submit on 2 more tonight, both with an added resume. The both had a spot for uploading resume and her GC had them all make one for this purpose – so I never gave it a thought. She uploaded it for both – and it adds nothing to her application that is not on the activities and honors list - just all in one place. Both schools should be easy matches but she is really going for merit $.
She was in a hurry since she had plans with friends. She promised she would finally hit submit before going out tonight - ughhh. Now I regret not reading more about it. Oh well.
@paveyourpath – OK, now you have me curious. Why does your child’s school not calculate GPA? Are performance reports of some sort issued?
My son will continue to follow what he has been doing since his first interview this summer. IIRC, one school (Yale maybe?) notes on the interview page of their website that interviewers cannot accept resumes (and maybe transcripts also), so he did not bring these to the Yale interview. But the resume has been happily accepted at the other few interviews he has completed: one on campus with Ad Com, one on campus with college Sr working in admission office, and one off-campus with alum but coordinated as a day of interviews by admission office.
Other than UMD-CP, I don’t think my son needs to upload a resume for any school, but since he has only completed one app, I can’t really be sure about that. UMD is not on the CA and may not have an activities section, so the resume is not redundant.
I really don’t think it will hurt. It’s just not needed. Like when we accidentally sent subject tests scores to schools that don’t look at them at all.
@paveyourpath D17 has had the MIT and UChicago interviews within the past couple of weeks. No resumes exchanged hands. D15 had 14 interviews and just brought a good demeanor and pleasant attitude with her.
Maybe the best bet is to ask each interviewer at the time of contact of setting up the appointment if they would like to have you bring a copy of your resume to the interview. That way it pushes that decision on to them and it’s one less thing for your kid to worry about.
@CT1417 Many schools don’t calculate GPA and S17’s school just happens to be one of many across the country. The reason the school provides to the colleges as to why they don’t calculate GPA is because having small graduating classes (115 students), extremely rigorous coursework and highly academic student body, the calculations of a GPA would be extremely close.
Now not calculating a GPA does not at all mean the student’s do not get performance reports. Just like schools who do provide GPAs, there are report cards issued. The kids have transcripts with the courses they have taken and the grade they have earned same as kids who get a GPA calculated by their schools. It has served no disadvantage as the schools the students have been accepted have been highly selective colleges. It’s a college prep school so colleges know the strength of the curriculum and in my personal view, GPAs don’t add much value to a student’s application because the colleges have to recalculate or discount the GPA because there is no uniformity across the students from schools from all over the country.
@paveyourpath – got it! Somehow I missed that grades were issued.
Comparing GPAs is almost impossible, given the different scales and weighting. I have even watched GPAs creep up in our HS as more students try to take AP courses at a younger age and as the school started offering some of the AP-light classes (APES & Human Geo are the ones coming to mind at this late hour).
GPA is only useful when a detailed school profile is issued AND the AO has the time to analyze the school profile, assuming he is not already familiar with the HS and its profile.
@chillkitty It seems the interviewers have a different approach perhaps in different cities. In the instances I mentioned, the MIT interviewers specifically asked those 3 students to bring their resume. 3 different interviewers. I saw one of the emails because when the mom of one of the students mentioned it, I asked her if it said activities resume as opposed to just resume. Your daughter’s experience was obviously different and that is wonderful for her but , as I said earlier, when the interviewer specifically asks for a resume the kid has no choice but to show up with the resume. There is no decision to push onto the interviewer as the interviewer had made their decision by telling the students to show up with the resume. Having to provide the resume was, in my opinion, more stressful for those students because it pretty much sets the tone, at least in their mind.
Ah, @paveyourpath I left out the option of not ‘having’ a GPA! Silly of me! (That’s news to me, too.)
I’m sure you were all watching as the Cubs took down those Dodgers tonight (sorry those from Cali! :D). I don’t see a glow out my window, so I think the city is still intact. Glad I didn’t have to wait another 71 years for it to happen!
Amazingly, 1 EA app completed today…the hard one. I think 1 of the 2 remaining is a realistic goal for tomorrow as long as homework doesn’t get in the way. This is the last week of the quarter, so things are slowing down a bit…so if we go over a day or two we should still be good. Can’t WAIT to see 11/1 in the rearview mirror!
USCar Top Scholars dinner tomorrow night. Should we bring a resume? =))
We just discovered yesterday that the school district hasn’t sent the four transcripts we’ve requested from them. (The one we asked the actual high school to send, on the other hand, did get sent.) D17’s going to go to her high school’s office right at the beginning of the day Monday to ask those four to be sent right away, and fortunately there’ll still be a week for them to get to the earliest-deadline schools, but still: ~X(
Been following along and celebrating with you all re submitted apps, Eagle Scouts, Senior Nights, SATs/ACTs, uploading resumes, etc. Wow and congrats to all!
DC finally submitted EA #1 tonight! <:-P
That one took sooooo much time. And finessing. And rethinking. DC is exhausted but will turn to second (last and final) EA mañana.
Annoyed SATs are taking so long to score (and determine NMF confirming scores). CB gets sleazier by the day.
We learned something interesting at our house last night - D’s school took off rank from her transcript in naviance.
.
Some back story…I was invited to be on a committee to address this issue this summer so I saw the ugly inside of the issue at her district. Ds school is very competetive and there are dozens of kids who all have basically the same GPA (thousands of a point difference). The kids and parents have figured this out and have started adjusting their course work to make their GPA more favorable – taking studyhalls and no languages/gym/or non AP electives (art,music,health,social sciences), then getting the language requirement or gym requirement at community college in the summer or night where it does not impact GPA.Others have simply not taken any electives (music, art) and instead had free periods so that their GPA is not diluted by classes.D did not play the game and is not in the top 10% even with a GPA that would clearly put her there.
This is a hot button issue at our school and many parents are fighting to keep the current system (especially those that can pay and/or are home to transport their kids to these off site courses that won’t drag down their GPA). I could see both sides but with so many schools not ranking anymore it did seem to put many kids in our district at a disadvantage.
Last night when submitting applications we noticed in Naviance that there was an email message to students/parents that rank will not longer be sent to the schools. We were floored and are waiting to see an official letter or parent meeting to explain how this will play out for the kids this year.
We are happy - although we have already self reported her Rank to all of her schools and it is too late for Pitt where she is already accepted. She will likely not be attending Pitt–with not one penny in merit when there are so many other schools that will award her $ – but Pitt was her #1 choice. She had visited 3 times and loves the school - in talking with the AO on our last visit they said that it was highly unlikely that she would receive any merit $ b/c her rank and her application would not even be sent to the scholarhip committee.
@novicemom23kids --you guys are in PA, right?
The Pitt rep on CC always seems to be reassuring that schools that don’t report rank don’t hurt a kids chances for merit aid. But you are saying your D isn’t in the top 10% because of all the kids gaming the system with outside courses and such?
We are in Texas and the rank issue is making all of us crazy. We had no idea until late sophomore year that kids and parents were doing this. Taking some classes in summer school (where the grade doesn’t hurt or help your GPA) and then taking AP “lite” courses as electives because they are weighted. We happily let D take electives like orchestra and wood shop–only to find out later they are the main reason her rank dropped like 3 places!
Also, if a class isn’t essential to your graduation plan, you can GPA exempt it–it doesn’t help or hurt your rank. Dual credit classes don’t help or hurt either.
We are lucky that Ds school is competitive but definitely not highly competitive. The rank thing irks me because we know of a few in the very tippy top 10 who have played the numbers game but who have shockingly lower test scores (the kids talk and test scores are overheard) —and yet these kids will get auto admit into the two main state flagships even with a 25 ACT (which is a score that would most certainly get you put in the denied pile if you were not an auto admit).
Honestly I would contact your AO for Pitt and tell him your school has changed their policy and is not ranking–I think your daughter’s chances might be better for merit there!
D has a few kids in her classes who were bemoaning their lower ACT scores. She talked to them about how to self-prep and gave them a “rah rah” pep talk. Two of them have some financial struggles so she even gave them her log-in information to the ACT online prep program. So essentially they can prep for free.
Neither of them have logged in at all. The ACT was yesterday.
We went out last night to celebrate DD’s last standardized test, regardless of outcome. We saw some of her anxiety related to this process melt away a bit and I wished she could enjoy a cocktail Afterward, she went to a friend’s to sit around a bonfire, roast marshmallows and talk about life. She came home happy and satisfied. I wish more moments like this for her this last year of HS.
Today will be another day of essays though as we press forward to 11/1!
GPA: We naively fell into the GPA game as well…transferring to my DD’s school/town Sophomore year. Fortunately, it isn’t crazy competitive but there is some gaming among the top 10 or so. I certainly see why so many schools have stopped ranking.
@novicemom23kids, as far as I know, Pitt’s scholarship committee hasn’t even started meeting yet.
If your D is instate and has leadership and community service and gets invited to apply to Stamps and Nordenberg Leadership scholarships, make sure she does.
I think requirements are a bit different for those.
In our district you can only be ranked highest if you get the highest grade in weighted classes (honors, AP, DE).
Our school does do rank but doesn’t have valedictorians and hasn’t for years. I think because it is too hard to figure with so many kids taking dual and concurrent enrollment classes at the CC, etc. I also think they don’t want class choices to be so influenced by gaming the system which obviously some families will have more resources for than others.
The weighting thing is frustrating because they don’t weight AP classes if you don’t take the exam (and get at least a 3), but they do weight one honors class that doesn’t have an exam (I don’t think they weight the others). OTOH we aren’t running into many schools that consider weighting. In fact in some cases the message essentially is that you are better off taking easier classes as long as you keep the 4.0 – for merit scholarships. Forget the whole “strength of schedule” that the kids are told is most important.
Yep, same here. I refused to game the system and the girls took (and are taking classes) that engage them and that they love. As a result, D17 isn’t in the top 10%. I was really mad about it at one point, but I’ve made peace with it.
Homecoming dance was last night, both girls looked beautiful (ok I’m biased) and had fun. I seriously love the whole getting ready part of going to formal events-so much makeup, hair, and shoes that will make your feet wish they weren’t attached to your body by night’s end :D.
@novicemom23kids I would check with the GC to see whether they report decile on the school report. Even for schools that don’t rank, they still usually report a rough rank. I think it is definitely worth reaching out to your Pitt AO rep to report the change in policy and see whether it makes a difference for merit aid.
GPA game the same in our district. Summer and on-line classes for electives, etc. Our school does not rank so it helps a little.
We did not play the game, and S17 took 4 years of orchestra (no honors in orchestra) and more than required PE.
S17’s GPA got hit for language too as Chinese program was canceled after 3 years in middle school. He had to switch to Spanish 1 in 9th when his classmates were starting honors spanish 3 from 9th grade and took AP Spanish later. S17 is now taking Spanish 4 honors as the only senior in the class.
After S19 got a B in PE in 7th grade, I joked to him, no more PE for you, your GPA is going to get hit! =))
At our school - unweighted GPA, no ranking, bar chart on school profile shows numbers of students at each GPA - scale of 100 so gives colleges an idea of where the student is but no distinction bt AP and regular courses is shown. Courses taken outside of school are only pass / fail credit no matter what grade student receives - so not factored in. Top 15% of students - around 40 get into rather selective colleges.
The kids have transcripts with the courses they have taken and the grade they have earned same as kids who get a GPA calculated by their schools. It has served no disadvantage as the schools the students have been accepted have been highly selective colleges. It’s a college prep school so colleges know the strength of the curriculum and in my personal view, GPAs don’t add much value to a student’s application because the colleges have to recalculate or discount the GPA because there is no uniformity across the students from schools from all over the country.
Afterward, she went to a friend’s to sit around a bonfire, roast marshmallows and talk about life. She came home happy and satisfied. I wish more moments like this for her this last year of HS.