@hadmeathello that is not the cbhp deadline, it’s ours 
We had a strategy with regards to Harvey mudd. The price calculator suggested that we’d be full pay, which (to us) is not worth it for basically anywhere other than MIT (and I recognize that this is provincial thinking, but it is what it is). Hmc has merit aid, though, and this was our exploration of whether any of that largesse would flow our way. We feel it would not, now, so she won’t apply. No harm, no foul.
I’m hoping he monetize it too $-) $-) :)) but he is not yet interested. He is just content never having to pay for games, people sending games to him to beta test etc.
The topic came about because I thought S17 was the national champion on one particular game (S19 mentioned it once) but it turns out he is only 93rd in nation and 2nd in the state, so less important EC at this point, I guess. I-) I-) =))
He does have good grades, good test scores, good ECs to negate the impression (reality :)) ) that he spends hours and hours playing games. X_X
@MotherOfDragons That logic makes perfect sense.
@MotherOfDragons My D also got rejected from the HMC fly-in earlier this year. It was really the only one I cared about because otherwise she’d not get to see the campus. She’s a high stats URM and female so was a bit surprised. I guess she was rejected for either not having any AP/IB classes (high school doesn’t offer them) or they figured she could use her own money to come visit. Either way we decided to take it off the list because we thought like you - she might get in with all the info of the Common App but how likely would they be to throw money her direction. If she was someone they wanted enough to give merit aid too she probably would have been accepted to the fly-in.
My thought is that HMC’s pool of accepted students has such incredibly high stats to get merit aid you have to be a super-duper star.
@itsgettingreal17 I agree with @whataboutcollege re: scholar events. It’s tough when the event is at a school that is not at the top of your list, but you’re not yet willing to give up on a potential large scholarship (aka payday). I’m just now coming to grips with this as well. Several more schools are coming off the list that I had expected D to apply to, and where she would have been competitive in the scholarship competition (tOSU, KY, Tulane).
If I didn’t attend an event, I would treat that as essentially taking D out of the running, and removing it from the list. Which is OK. Leave it up to D. Who knows, you may be surprised, but at least your expectations are set.
@MotherOfDragons I agree too that logic makes sense.
Gaming the system- at our school you kind of have to. Our Val and sal have GPA’s over 4.7, that’s not possible on campus, they have to be taking electives and foreign language at the local college to get that high. My daughter took 3 college classes over summer and three this semester to get her GPA over a cumulative 4.0 by college apps. She takes a full AP load at school but she’s had her share of B’s, even C’s in AP Euro… so she had ground to make up.
Alumni interview for Bryn Mawr yesterday went awesome, interviewer was very nice and seemed genuinely interested in my D’s interests, reasons for looking at BM, etc… D thought it went well.
@dfbdfb, My D15 was accepted to all of the schools she applied to, but, as many mentioned here, was rejected by a some of the significant scholarship competitions she needed to attend. She only needed one though, and having a large “yes” list and varying amounts of merit aid made that process easier.
I think my daughter will have a significant percentage of rejections, probably at least a third? She’s reaching on some, but that’s her call, she’ll have to deal with it. We also have ample safeties, so I think it will be ok.
@CA1543 @hadmeathello @Fishnlines29 and anyone else whose kids are dropping Michigan because of other more desirable public options, do you mind elaborating or stating which alternatives? Mainly USCar, Bama, etc. bc of NM$? And does anyone have a view on Michigan vs Maryland, particularly with regard to computer science?
No ranking at DS’s school which is great because it allows students to take classes like band, chorus, journalism/newspaper, etc. without worrying about the subsequent decline due to lack of weighting.
DS has now submitted 5 applications, including his ED application. I must admit committing to a school ED makes me nervous, especially because this school doesn’t have a big early admissions bump, but he says he’s sure it is his first choice. I think my in-laws were hoping to convince him to apply to an Ivy early instead for the prestige factor, but he’s just not interested.
Despite our school not ranking. For a higher GPA, many kid to drop electives like art, sports to take the max number of AP courses junior year and/or take summer school. Our school implemented a 7th period (@ 7am) and to take 7 periods one must be used to fill in courses like pe, sports, band.
@jmel15 UC GPA sorts out things such as athletics, PE, marching band & health. But band, orchestra, dance & other classes can be UC approved classes. (It depends on how your school does it.) Yes I do agree a consistant with a cap of # of honors would be useful. At our school top GPA is not quite 4.4 because freshman are allowed no +1 courses, sophomores only 1-2 AP’s and 2 coursed that are ‘honors’, and while we offer 26 AP’s a student can’t possibly take them all.
@CT1417 In our district it depends on where the summer courses were taken. Our district does offer a handful of summer courses the most famous one is senior econ/politics to allow for extra room in a students schedule.
@phoenixmomof2 Our school doesn’t put that percentage on the school profile anymore. But I do think councilor letters to colleges often list what percentage a student is in…(Basically the information is private.) We don’t have valedictorian. We do something similar, two students get the honors to talk at graduation. They write an essay that is teachers OK, then picked by student, in a contest of sorts. 1) Anyone from the school at large 2) Must have a GPA above ~3.35 I think this is better because it’s a student who wants to speak at graduation.
@MotherOfDragons 
Sorry about the Harvey Mudd fly in program. It is a great program but a) it’s one of the hardest schools to get into b) it’s one of the most expensive schools in the country. (According to our counseling office.)
@payn4ward I wouldn’t put video gaming down unless a) He started/belonged to a club at school b) He did some project like writing mods for the games c) he won some sort of game/contest.
@payn4ward - I haven’t read the thread you linked, but my initial reaction would be that it’s a good thing to add (for a STEM major in particular), especially if there are other “real world” EC’s to balance it out. Many people of older generations do not realize just what is involved in the gaming world. While there are downsides (temptation to get obsessed being one of them), a lot of skills applicable to the “real world” can also be gained. My S20 picked up some major social and management skills when he ran a minecraft server in early middle school and later a website with boards for a rather obscure hobby. The risk would be that some people are ignorant of any of the positives but probably not those in the STEM world.
I’ve also encouraged him to keep track of any tech type courses he completes online. Those things probably mean more in the tech world than other professions. Also any references from local tech professionals who are aware of his skills and aptitude.
I would love it if my S20 were making money at it. We aren’t there at this point, and I don’t think I want to encourage him to invest any more time to get there. We are still working on the balance part, lol.
@DMV301 – for us - UMich seems just too big, class sizes are large first year or so and as we are on East Coast, location is a factor. But it is a great school for CS! Maybe a grad school possibility. UMD - while large is geographically more favorable for us, honors programs could be good. Nothing at all against UMich though!!
@DMV301 As much as I have had a ton of input on ‘the list’, in the end these are choices ‘she’ is making. I’m not sure what D thinks about UofMich will help you much. Honestly, the fact that the honors dorm at USCar now has an all you can eat cafeteria is a real factor for D. No kidding! She liked MichSt better. USCar better. Pitt better. She knows UofMich is a great school, but it came down to fit and feel I believe. Obviously, UofMich is very stingy to OOSers, so that may have had an impact as well.
We are midwesterners…not many right coast schools make it onto our list, so can’t help with Maryland I’m afraid. CS I assume would be strong at either school. I would hazard a guess it is better at UofMich. I did CompEng at UofMich and it kicked my behind. But, I got through it.
Yay the 2nd LOR shows ‘In Progress’ on Naviance finally. What does that mean? You’re thinking about Submitting but haven’t clicked the button?
Princeton SCEA app sitting in CA ready for review and submit. Sitting on it for 24 hours to make sure nothing else comes to mind.
@payn4ward are the scholarship lists useful?
Does anyone here use them and if so, what do you think of them?
We are “making” DC apply to Michigan 8-| Just want to make sure we have not overlooked other similar possibilities that might be more palatable at this point.
@DMV301 What do you mean you are ‘making’ them apply? And, what do you mean by ‘palatable’? Financial? Fit? UMich was the only school I almost made my kid apply to, because I was so interested in how it would turn out, and I wanted a reason to say ‘no’. But, it’s not about me…so in the end it’s off the list.
I may have missed it…are you in MI?