@LoveTheBard - Thank you for the advice. My DDs lack of safeties (with the College Counselors blessing) makes me very nervous which is why I am hoping that the nominations at WashU and UVA have a big impact on admission. Are you saying that the admissions committee at UVA doesn’t know that an applicant was nominated for the Jefferson?
I believe that is the case. In fact, only schools in certain cities can nominate for the Jefferson. UVA can pull apps from the applicant pool at large to send to the Jefferson Foundation for their consideration.
Do you not have any in-state publics that can work as a safety? There are a number of good LACS and research unis that don’t require supplements. Perhaps she’d be willing to throw one of them on her list as a safety. You don’t want her getting shut out, so coming up with a few less reachy schools would be wise. Call it a “parent’s prerogative” school. Every list should be required to have at least one.
@Testingearly Please listen to @LovetheBard as it is true that being a Jefferson nominee has no bearing on admission. This is made clear not only on the Jefferson Scholars website but also by Dean J:
Work with your daughter to find a safety that she will be happy to attend next fall.
Regarding Danforth, S17’s school is fairly controlling as regards the nomination, which they restrict to one student. In order for the student to accept the nomination they are required to forego any ED applications ( except to WashU of course). So this year’s student had to switch from his intent on an ED application to one school to a SCEA application. 2 out of the past 3 years, the nominee has received the scholarship, so presumably they know what they’re doing. Good luck to all.
Now I must google the Oxford comma!
@testingearly I would question the wisdom of a college counselor who blesses no safeties.
@snoozn When you are done with the rubber chicken, can I borrow it? I’ll come over and get it for our GC.
GC department this year asked all students write thank you cards for LORs by 10/24 (LOR deadline mandated by GC Dept.) Good life habits I think. They even had cards available to students so that they can just sign the names. DS turned in the thank you cards before LORs are done. ~X( :-t
Regarding safeties - totally suggest all kids have some – that they actually think they’d like and that “works”. What is a “safety”? Not just a college where you can get in but taking into consideration other factors that are important to your family. Lately I find myself thinking about whether DS has enough good, relatively safe possibilities within driving distance or an “easy” plane trip.
Oxford commas & one space between sentences. Not the way I learned but apparently very in vogue.
DS has his MIT interview soon - nervous is an understatement but practicing at school so hopefully that will help some. Just want him to get through it ok - huge, unlikely reach for him in any event. Thankfully he has 3 much more likely schools he does really like - all within driving distance.
On buying the wrong AP prep books - totally guilty here - bought 3 AP Lit prep books last year – DS was in AP Lang!
He never showed any interest in them - finally told me I goofed but didn’t what the “right” ones either!
Writing style is all about personal preference…within the rules. Whether you use Oxford commas or ragged right or you are indenting new paragraphs or double spacing between sentences, I believe the ** most important ** criteria is that you are consistent throughout your writing.
@scholardad - Thanks for the link. I would not have guessed that students nominated for the Jefferson would get denied. I love how much one can learn on CC!! I’ll make sure my daughter lists the nomination under other information on the CA. Looking at Naviance 45% of students that apply from my DDs’s school get accepted. Unless UVA starts protecting the yield like Tufts, there won’t be an issue in her getting accepted. I am not going to hastle her about applying anywhere else until we get past the Nov 1 deadline, but I do have a school in mind I would like her to submit an application to next week.
@Testingearly According to the Jefferson website, if a student is rejected from EA to UVA, they will notify the regional committe and the student will be disqualified. Defering from EA has no impact. On the other hand, when looking at school’s Naviance, UVA has all green dots (good amount) to the right and up of the average line. So even though you can’t say it is a garanteed safely (like Rutgers), it does show a very high probability if historical trend continues.
@snoozn – oh, I know that it is no longer needed to double space and apparently is no longer correct, but I was trying (unsuccessfully) to reference our age and the ingrained habits of the typewriter carriage return. (I think that is what hitting that lever was called.) I can’t seem to shake the habit, even though I have read that it is incorrect. I also write out state names on envelopes. That is a real drag at Christmas when writing Connecticut repeatedly!
@dfbdfb – I like Baskerville but it is not a font I have used. I loved playing around with fonts when I used to make flyers for nursery & elementary school volunteer antics. Optima is my preferred font these days. I just assumed that judgement was a spelling error. And I silently scream every time I see its and it’s misused.
Re: Oxford comma…for anyone who wants a laugh: search strippers, JFK, and Stalin.
Safeties? We have a relative boatload of them, I think. Hope I’m right.
@Testingearly I don’t know anything about the Jefferson nomination (congrats!), but not sure it will add to your CA (and probably not suitable under ‘Additional Information’) for any school except UVa (and could potentially hurt you for other schools). Not sure if it would be better under Honors (just for UVa), or would it be better to have GC make a special note in her Rec (just for UVa)?
UGH all this talk about kids struggling this year and we are in the same boat. DS who usually loves math is having a terrible time in AP Calculus. They have a small class (10 kids) and apparently almost everyone is doing terribly. Ds sits with a 74 average right now and it is killing him. He’s never had even a B on a report card so the idea of a C is really messing with him. The problem is all the kids totally get the info in class and they have no problems with the homework but then they take the test/quiz and they feel like it’s not the same material and when asks questions about why something is wrong the teacher just doesn’t really explain. So frustrating! I think ds is going to try using Kahn Academy stuff first and then if necessary we will get a tutor. I don’t want him stressing about this and I’m annoyed that a bad teacher is hurting these kids who are the top of the senior class. Come on, these are the kids who like math and who want to learn and do the work, teach them!!! Ok vent over.
@curiositycat333 The Calc test came from her college class. They have old tests posted on the website for the course so they don’t mind giving the tests back to the students. I see why high schools protect them. They should just make a website for the math department and have all those resources so that everyone has them then they wouldn’t have to be so protective.
@LoveTheBard The Travel Voucher came via snail mail to my D in a basic letter envelope.
@Testingearly I wouldn’t take a Danforth nomination as any guarantee unless your C is at a very competitive high school where the competition for the nomination is fierce. My D just emailed the GC and asked to be nominated and she replied “no problem” she just needs to hit her back up a few days before the deadline to make sure she did it.
@Collegecue My D17 learned early on when this was happening to her that she just needed ‘extra’ questions from the teacher (since he knew what they wanted to know for the test). She would go to “AM Support” almost everyday for one class or another, usually math. She would do 2-3 extra problems on her homework, given to her by the teacher. No biggie. Helped her immensely, and was little effort and she didn’t end up studying stuff she didn’t need (for the most part). I am trying to get D20 to take the same tack, but it’s not working yet. 
@HiToWaMom More cyber hugs for your daughter. Moments like that will make her a stronger person.
Similar situation here in New York City. All middle school kids must apply to high schools. The process becomes very competitive. Some time in the spring decisions are sent in individually sealed envelopes to the middle schools.
SMART principals immediately forward these envelopes by mail to the children’s homes. SELFISH principals who want to share in the joy of some of the kids hand them out at the end of the day that they arrive. They halfheartedly instruct them to wait until they get home to open the envelopes, with a wink wink.
Well guess what happens? The kids run outside and tear them open in front of each other. I’ve seen it happen many times and its always a disaster. Half the kids are jumping for joy, the other half crying hysterically. Some principals have ZERO tact.
@hadmeathello ds is definitely going for extra help with the teacher as well but he is out for the next few weeks while his wife has a baby so I don’t want to wait until he returns so Kahn Academy will become our friend. I’m not sure ds will agree about it being his friend but whatever, he will be happy if he doesn’t get his first C… Good luck with d20!
@itsgettingreal17 congrats on the Global Scholars Acceptance. Ds got his email yesterday as well. Big smiles from him I’m just thinking show me the money.
@HiToWaMom so sorry for your dd. It’s always so hard to see them upset especially when they work so hard. I hope something wonderful is around the corner.
@TimEnchanter we had a similar experience timewise with UK acceptance and Honors acceptance as itsgettingreal17. Good luck!
@STEM2017 In Philly the High School decisions are sent to the home address. Not sure why it’s done that way in NYC.
@Testingearly – I’m sure you are aware – UVA shoots for 2/3 of the student body from in state. Are you in VA?