As a general rule, I always read “optional” as “required” My sense is that it’s always an opportunity to make the student stand out or to at least not fall behind. In the case of LORs, try to find a teacher who really know the student and is willing to write a LOR that emphasizes what’s special about that student. You know other students will be doing the same. The LOR is just part of the overall package, but sometimes that little bit extra might make the difference.
As a word of warning to any parents with older kids who will be graduating college this year or in the next few, get to graduation early to get parking and to be ahead of the traffic jam that I guarantee will happen on and near campus. My older son graduated this past weekend. We got on campus early, hit no traffic and got a good parking spot. We had a breakfast on campus to attend, I’m really not an early bird. But it really worked out. I overheard plenty of people talking about traffic and parking. My understanding is that there was plenty of parking, but much of it required a shuttle to reach graduation. Not that big a deal, but if you are someone who gets annoyed waiting in traffic, plan to arrive early.
About LORs – are there some teachers who write them over the summer? Since D will not start applying until this summer, she will not have a portal (or whatever) to which the teachers can submit the recommendation now.
Is the best we can do is ask for the LOR now and then follow up with the teacher at the beginning of the school year to have them submit it?
I don’t know why this LOR situation so confusing for me.
^ Confuses me too. If D starts applying this summer, but her GC doesn’t start sending out her report until mid-September, does that mean the app is not complete until then? From reading last year’s PowerPoint to seniors, they don’t begin to send stuff from the guidance office until then. What about schools that only seem to require transcripts and test scores? We can send those on our own, I think, through Parchment and the College Board. Then, can we consider those apps complete, with no GC input?
@ShrimpBurrito The gf wants to be a HS English teacher. They’ve decided to prep together over the summer with the idea that if she makes NMF, then they have the option of going to NMF schools together if that sounds good to them next year. And if they’re not together next year, then each will be well-prepared for their individual futures.
They’re holding it fairly lightly, which I think is wise.
The gf says that her parents have given some possible indications that they might try to control her college choice / attendance through money. Not based on affordability or quality, mind you. It seems a bit capricious on their part, more about just plain control.
Anyhow, when S explained NMF to her, she asked if there was any way her parents could stop her from going to college if she got a full ride through National Merit. He told her “No, not really,” and that seemed to light a fire under her.
She would be first-gen college in her family, and I think there are some tensions / insecurities about the idea of her going to college at all, much less going “away” to college.
S has to apply this year, so if she wants him to apply to places like UCR or any of the CSUs, he needs to know in the next few months. At the moment, though, UNM, Tech and maybe Oklahoma are sounding good enough for both of them. S sent her tons of pics and updates during our tours, and if S goes back for second visits at UNM and Tech, we may offer to take the gf with us so she can see them, too.
@my2caligirls In one of the twenty admissions books I read, they recommended that anything listed as Optional, wasn’t. Treat it as required. Especially for competitive schools.
Hi fellow 2018 Grad Parents…just popping on here for support as I think I’m in for a bumpy year. My D is a good student, awaiting recent SATs she took both her ACT/SAT very early in the year so hoping to see a significant bump w/ a year of Hon PreCal Trig and Calc under her belt. She is applying to United States Coast Guard Academy (thus the bumpy year ahead comment) as well as a few major universities: Pitt, Northeastern, Boston U and Rutgers. She is being recruited for a D3 sport but her heart is at the Academy and if not the Academy then a large research university. So I think the D3 route is not going to happen. Her stats are good and hopefully will be excellent once this next round of test scores arrive. Pitt’s application opens up in July and is rolling admissions so hoping she gets accepted there to take a bit of the pressure off early on and we’ll be playing the goverment DoDMERB game of medical appointments all fall/winter. Her eyesight is on the brink of being a rejection so we are prepared for playing the Medical Waiver game after that (sigh). She had two major let-downs already in the past month: she was nominated for and waitlisted to The Governor’s School of Engineering for NJ (did not get an appointment) and then again Waitlisted to the Coast Guard Academy AIM program (has not heard, June 5 is the latest date they will let her know). She is instead attending a Drexel University enivornmental science research program as well as Girls State. Not looking for advice…just happy to be here with all the other parents who are in the same boat. Buckle up!
@KimV2015 I do think that if a school app just requires the transcript and test scores and you check all the boxes for what is “required” you are complete. Always nice to get some of these easier ones submitted and an acceptance in the bag!
I can’t believe your year is already over @glido ! We’ve got 4 weeks to go still and they will, sadly for D, be hard charging weeks. She’s doing the last of her AP/IB testing today with day 2 of her Spanish IB test #:-S But none of her classes have let up, she’s got major papers, presentations, or projects she’s working on for all of them.
She’s definitely ready for the year to be over, and looking forward to some time on the couch this summer. Heck, she’s even looked pretty happy about the idea of spending time on college apps this summer! @-)
5 AP exams finally completed. A week and 1/2 left of school and he is pretty much done. Hopefully, it’s all smooth sailing to senior year. Except SAT subject tests on 6/3 and ACT on 6/10. But yeah, he is done with junior year!
S has almost a month left, but SAT was one and done in March. We’ll probably see him fall behind, formulate a plan to catch up, and implement the plan. Of course it would be easier to not fall behind in the first place, but he’s not there yet.
My son has two weeks left, but since they’ve finished their APs for five classes, a lot of the stress has let up. He is signed up for both the SAT and the ACT in June. Hopefully, we’ll get the scores back from the ACT he took at school on April 19 soon, and hopefully the score will be high enough to skip the June tests. Crossing my fingers (but not holding my breath)!
S is done with all but a couple of smallish projects. The odd thing is, several of his classes were largely made up of seniors and they are all out the door already. So he’s got one class where he’s the only one left in the class for the next week and a half and a couple others where it’s cut the class down to just a handful. I think he’s glad to have a chance to take a break after the last month of testing stress, but it’s also really changed the dynamic of the class. Like, he had more to say about what he did in class with those teachers than… well… ever. And some of it has to do with not having lesson plans and such, but still. I think it’s really about the personal interaction.
It’s a shame that students don’t really get much one on one time with teachers… and when they do, it’s pretty eye opening. Teachers just don’t have the time, even with state legislated class size restrictions. On the flip side, he’s getting a chance to realize that his teachers are like, normal people… when they aren’t teaching Some of that just comes from growing up I guess… Makes me kinda wonder if he wouldn’t be significantly better off with a small college (or good student/faculty ratio) even if that meant foregoing some of the NMF money.
Chiming in with our situation. D18 is basically done with junior year. I love @mstomperOf course it would be easier to not fall behind in the first place, but he’s not there yet. Same with D18. It drives DW crazy.
I also like @NamePosterMakes me kinda wonder if he wouldn’t be significantly better off with a small college (or good student/faculty ratio) even if that meant foregoing some of the NMF money. D18 will put in the effort on classes where her teachers are involved personally. She likes the teachers and wants to impress them, which leads to extra effort compared to other classes. On the opposite side was AP Chem this year. Daily complaints about the teacher and class. Total drudgery. D18 now hates chemistry. On a positive note, another top student officially complained (in writing) about the AP Chem teacher this year and the Science dept. head asked D18 for her opinion. D18 wrote up a reply agreeing with the complaints and added her own perspective (I told her to only cite things that she had documentation to back up). No negative repercussions so far.
@Pri930 I think being waitlisted is more frustrating in a way because the kids sit around and continue to wait which put off applying for other summer programs (which were either full or past date by the time she heard from both GSET and Coast Guard). However, I look at it like a wake up call for the college application process; she understands now that despite having high test scores, great ECs, and excellent LORs…you can still get rejected/waitlisted. I think it was a soft blow to her ego that has made her rethink adding more safeties. After the rejections we ended up visiting Pitt and she fell in love with everything about…it’s a good match for her and takes a LOT of the heat off. She’s also finally opened her mind to visiting Rutgers (in-state for us) which was a total no-go prior to the summer rejections. Trying to see the silver lining ;). Plus the Drexel program looks fantastic…and she applied just under the deadline!
Last day of school for my D18 is 6/8 and then on 6/10 she’s off to Guatemala for 2 weeks with her volunteer group. I’m going to miss her.
Thankfully, a few classes aren’t doing much like her BC class, where they’ve had their AP test and final already. OTOH, her AP Lang class is still going strong with homework, projects and presentations.
Today was an interesting day for her. She got excused from classes and her other volunteer group, had a “prom” for about 15 kids at her high school with severe disabilities. It’s really quite a wonderful heartwarming event for these kids.
Some of that just comes from growing up I guess… Makes me kinda wonder if he wouldn’t be significantly better off with a small college (or good student/faculty ratio) even if that meant foregoing some of the NMF money.