@motherofdragons Read all the way through to the bottom of the email to see if an app waiver fee is mentioned. S17 applied to Swathmore’s fly in program. He received a rejection which was a long read. He read the first sentence and was done. I read the entire email and in their closing paragraph they offered a waiver of their app fee and how to apply the waiver on common app. On CC I learned that not all students were offered the waiver and that in previous years a number of the rejected that applied were accepted. S17 decided to apply because their supplement was only a 150 word “why Swat” essay. Their funny emails to him asking where his app is will now end as he submitted his RD app yesterday. I’ll miss their funny emails.
D17 school doesn’t rank, or have a weighted GPA. Reading all the stories here makes me thankful! If a student takes classes outside the school system, they appear on the transcript but off to the side and are not included in the GPA.
@dfbdfb My Dd’s experience will be similar to @itsgettingreal17. Rejection will be in terms of scholarship $$. She got one package already and it was lower than she was hoping. But when I looked online, it looks to me like they gave her the NMSF scholarship which is half tuition. They give full tuition for finalist. This scholarship ride with her, though, is intense.
@Gator88NE I feel bad for that kid. I would not put my son in the position of gaming the system, being #1 and getting some Bs junior year probably just because he thought he had room to slack off. He might graduate #1 in his class but he won’t have earned the respect of his peers.
S17s school doesn’t calculate GPA, doesn’t rank, doesn’t determine the top 10% of class, does not provide groupings of where the class falls in the grading scale. It is truly a no GPA calculation / no Rank school and it’s wonderful because everyone just decides what is best for their child.
The kids have an art or music grad requirement. Best stress reliever my son had was his art classes. 2 credits required to grad with art / music classes being worth .5 each.
For merit aid, the previous classes of 110-115,kids are offered ~9 million in merit aid each year. The colleges do understand the no GPA/ no rank policy and I’m guessing the colleges have a formula for that too 
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I think it’s worse than applying to Stanford or an Ivy in some ways as the odds for some of these scholarships are lower, some at 2% or less. And the wait is so much longer with multiple steps in the process. It has me so anxious!
@itsgettingreal17 The school that Dd interviewed with an adcom yesterday only offers 2 large merit scholarships. That is beyond reach! Incredibly unlikely, but it is zero if she doesn’t try. She didn’t go after scholarships like that where she really didn’t stand a chance at all.
A private counselor suggested putting videogaming into CA activities. S added 6K MMR and high Elo rating, etc, that means nothing to me. Basically he is a pro gamer?!
Anyone thinks this is good or very Bad idea? 
@Gator88NE I know! DS was getting good at Chinese too! We need more Chinese teachers at schools!
D17’s HS ranks by decile for top 50% and quartile after that. There is also a Val & Sal (1 each) determined by GPA. D was Sal of her middle school, and is in top 10% of her HS class, but won’t be in contention for Val or Sal of HS. Weighting is done for honors, AP and DE classes, and there is definitely gaming of the system among a small pack of very competitive kids.
First interview for D this evening! I’m probably more nervous than she is. :))
@payn4ward Hm, I’m not sure about the gaming as activity unless he is also designing games. I’d be wary.
@hadmeathello I think my D is also dropping UofMich from her list. Same reasons.
@mtrosemom D just finished a Grendel paper and did not care for that book!
@thermom Good luck on the interview!!
@Fishnlines29 My D would have been a 4th gen at UofM (kind of by sheer luck, as I’m the only one on my side of the family, the rest on Ws’). I really didn’t think she’d go, but I was curious at what the offer/interest would have been.
@Gator88NE I see you’ve set down the chopper for now. Refueling or on standby?
JOTD:
A guy walks into a bar, orders 12 shots and starts drinking them as fast as he can.
The bartender asks, “Dang, why are you drinking so fast?”
The guy says, “You would be drinking fast, too, if you had what I had.”
The bartender asks, “What do you have?”
The guy says, “75 cents.”
@carachel2 – being risk adverse if I could swing it financially - i’d put deposits down but I have a kid who vacillates bt I belong at X high level school or community college so we don’t feel like he is ready to make any decisions – & of course no idea yet of where he’ll get in.
Not applying to Umich or a number of the very large universities with great engineering/CS programs (No UC’s either).
But am applying to GATech, Northeastern, Cornell & UMd - so certainly some larger schools in the mix.
Anyone applying EA to WPI who did not see campus or interview? Though DS has good stats, seems showing interest through visit/interview are important so best to wait for EA 2 I think.Thoughts??
D’s HS does not rank, but provides un-weighted and weighted GPA on the transcript. I told D to enjoy and experience all those electives and she did. During 9th and 10th grades, she took 10 credit worth of electives (in addition to PEs) each year. I am sure this put a big drag on her weighted GPAs. She then loaded up all APs junior and senior year. I don’t know if any other kids are gaming the system (I had never paid any attention in this espect until joined CC :)). I don’t think it impacted her that much anyways since her weighted GPA as of Junior year is very competitive (according to Naviance graphs for high ranking schools). And her weighted GPA will only increase after Senior year grades are added. GC has already told me that she will have the most rigor box checked.
OK. google is my friend.
I’m going to read this old thread
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/628881-video-games-on-college-application.html
What does everyone think about attending scholar events after the student has been accepted but before scholarships have been awarded? Do you think it’s important to attend?
@itsgettingreal17 I would think those events are important to attend. I can imagine the school would want to grant scholarshps to the most qualified but also most likely to attend? Given all the candidates are strong in all espects, they most likely have other options. So I think showing interests are important.
@payn4ward , I would put that on. DS20 is a major gamer, and he probably will do the same when the time comes. He will have Java and other programming classes to go with that for his dream to work in Activision!
@SincererLove S17 earned much more gaming money than real money by selling/trading the rare items he amassed playing games :)) He is worth a lot in gaming world. Glad FAFSA doesn’t consider that info =))
My nephew is a ranked e-sport gamer. He made good money in college by going to competitions and tutur other people (more than enough to pay his own college costs). He is taking a gap year from college now to play in esport tournaments in silicon valley. :)>- He said esport age limit is about 24 yeard old. so he still have a couple of more years to compete 