Our school does not rank, but if a college requires some type of rank it will certify a range, like top 10% or 25%.
@ShrimpBurrito , “oil slick hair” does not sound very conducive to summertime fun on the water. Will she get banned from the beach? Would California fine her for environmenal pollution? LOL
Oh and re: transcripts. We had mtg with GC a few weeks ago and saw S18’s transcript. I thought the grades were organized by semester, but only the year end average of both semesters was listed. That actually worked to S18’s benefit, except that the school also had 8th grade marks on there due to accelerated courses he took in 8th that the state schools need to know he took. His 8th grade academic performance was much worse than anything since. GC swore up and down that no college will care about 8th grade marks, and intellectually I know she is correct. But it still makes me nervous.
@vistajay our high school transcripts also show all pre-high school, high school credits and college really don’t care about them and they don’t factor into our high schools GPA
Our school also includes middle school grades for accelerated courses on the transcript, but not in the GPA. I think you don’t need to worry @vistajay though I know it’s easier said than done! I would put the silver lining spin on it, it gives him a nice “upward trend” in his academic performance, and colleges really like to see that! 
We also don’t appear to rank although I know there is some behind the scenes ranking of some sort that happens as @my2caligirls said to get the top 9% for the UCs. I know they sent home a packet of information about it to all the juniors in the top 15% indicating that they “may qualify”, D got sent to pick one up, had no idea what it was, and was wierded out by the “list” the registrar was using to cross names off as they picked up the packets because her name was “near the top”. Her name is near the top on no list ever that is formed alphabetically and she’s not used to seeing it there! 8-} But she had no clue what it was so didn’t pay any attention beyond that.
So that’s about all the info we have on rank, but we figure she’s probably got her UC eligibilty. With that we were finally(!) able to convince her to willingly apply to UC Riverside (and possibly also Irvine) as her in-state, close to home safety! <:-P Such a weight lifted to have that available. I don’t think she’ll end up there, but just having the safety valve is a big relief to me. #:-S
Well, it looks like our HS is one of the few on this thread that does rank, at least for the top 50 kids. and the grades from middle school do count in that GPA if it was a HS class. The middle school administrators stressed that point very forcefully when signing the kids up for accelerated classes. It may still be the case that colleges don’t care.
I believe we only rank top 10 - they sit in the front row at graduation, then the rest are seated alphabetically. I’ve heard anecdotally that there are always last-minute surprises thanks to some of the weighting of dual enrollment and off-campus college classes.
My daughter’s class is the last that will have weighting of honors, AP and college classes for GPA purposes. The honors and AP classes still get a more forgiving grading scale, but are not weighed more heavily than other classes. I am not sure how I feel about that (I have an incoming freshman). To my knowledge, they will still rank under the newer system.
I asked the guidance counselor how they would determine any ties, assuming that they have two 4.0 students sitting before them, where they took radically different courses. They said, if necessary, they would go to who got the highest ACT or SAT score.
Something about that doesn’t sit right with me. We are not in the running for anywhere close to top 10 for either kid, but my oldest was top 10 percent at least the last time I checked. Not sure how this will affect her younger sister.
Our high school also ranks and counts the middle school classes that carry over in the GPA/ranking formula. Since D got half As and half Bs in these classes, if the colleges drop them her GPA would actually go up a bit.
Did a tour last weekend of Alabama and Vanderbilt. We were all pleasantly surprised with Alabama. The dorms were the best we’ve visited so far. The sorority houses near the stadium were really impressive (first time D18 ever said she wanted to be in an sorority). They followed up instantly with two handwritten notes from the guide and info presenter. A well-organized system. D18 would get a masters degree there essentially for free (I’m sure we would be fee-bitten quite a bit but the big chunks would be on scholarship). Very attractive.
Vanderbilt has a beautiful campus. It was like walking through a garden. They had several student guides and that allowed the kids to talk one-on-one as we were walking around campus. D18 loved that. However, for some unknown reason the school just didn’t click with any of us.
I watched one of those (how I got into college X) videos last night and one of the pieces of advice the young lady had for her followers was to stay off of those “toxic CC threads.”
I thought about that for a while & finally came to the conclusion that I’ve learned most of what I know from all of you “toxic CC parents.” You people are as impressive as your kids!
Sometimes I feel so dumb as compared to all of you, but (after 3 years of reading posts and asking lots of questions) a bunch of it has actually filtered into my brain. When I talk with other parents about the college process at my D’s school, they all think I’m a genius!
@LMHS73, I would not have known about merit aid importance and the difference of competitive merit VS auto merit.
I have learned much more than that. But this knowledge allows D21 and I to chart the path that best fits her. And no taking her to tour schools that don’t offer big Auto Merit.
I, have not had much luck espousing my acquired knowledge…I am looking at you mom of D19, Texas A&M is NOT a full ride for NMF!
My D also attends a school that ranks and that rank is included on the semester “report cards” that are available online. The kids “in the know” game the system though (take easy classes at local CC to pad rank) so I find it annoying.
I agree with the advice to kids to stay off of this website! Luckily mine knew I was on CC, but neither made an account or even browse here.
@droppedit, if your D ends up at Alabama, there is a process of getting letters of rec for each of the houses that she should go through. There used to be a long thread about that in the Alabama forum, may still be. Competition there is fierce.
@bearcatfan, I would not like that system for breaking a tie either. I wouldn’t like that system at all!
Happy long weekend everyone!
Our school does not rank anymore. They found it too stressful for the kids as usually .01 GPA separated the top 30 or so. So now they do the cum laude system. It has helped keep our 18 in the game, so to speak. He would not have been close to the top in the old ranking system as he has a couple A-s on his transcript, but in the new system, he wants to be summa cum laude, so he knows he needs to maintain a 3.9 GPA (school doesn’t weight honors/IB courses, either). Much more achievable to have a 3.9+ than to have a 4.0.
He finally went through his giant list o’ colleges last night and made some initial decisions on which to apply to. It’s still a fluid list, but right now he has (in alphabetical order):
Cal Poly SLO
Colorado School of Mines
Georgia Tech
MIT
Stanford
UIIC
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
UW, Seattle
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Virginia Tech
It seems like a good mix of schools and hopefully has one where he can safely lock in at least one admission.
Oh, and fun news on the side, he has been receiving lots of recruiting emails for XC/Track over the past couple weeks. At first they were from schools we had never heard of, but most recently, he had two schools we actually knew, Kenyon and University of Miami (FL), one of which is a Division 1 school, so that was fun! He’s not interested in those particular schools, but has said that if one of the schools he is already interested in contacts him, he would listen, but he’s an academics first, athletics second guy.
My sons’ school does something weird with rank. There is a weighted and unweighted rank. Certain awards are based on unweighted rank, so that kids in lower tier classes can get the award for being ranked first or second for freshman, sophomore or junior years over someone in all Honors or AP classes. But senior year awards like valedictorian, salutatorian and Top 10 are based on weighted rank, and the school reports weighted rank to colleges. Kind of a hybrid system, I guess. Seems weird to me, but there is not much angling for rank. There are some dual credit classes that happen on campus that are weighted the same as, and require about the same effort as, AP classes. As far as I know, though, no one takes classes at community colleges around here, so the school has never had to figure out how to weight them. Very few kids trying to gain admission to super selective colleges; most will go to the in-state options. Not as much gaming of the system, so class rank is not so controversial or stressful for most kids at my sons’ school.
DD’18’s junior year report card came in. She did well. I can see the stress melt away. She knows that she can only control what she can control - SAT score is in, GPA is set, essay in in pretty good shape. She is a lot less stressed than our earlier two. She leaves for a two-week college visit trip in a week. This got real, fast.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what type of tour/visit to take? Some of our colleges offer big preview days, but also other tours in case you can’t make the preview/crash days. Any thoughts on the benefits of either?
We are leaning towards the preview days because more is offered in the way of talking to faculty and actually seeing inside more of the buildings. My sister said when her daughter did these they also sometimes offered free t-shirts, application fee waivers and the like.
@bearcatfan we’ve done both preview days and regular tours and found that it really does depend on the school and your child. For example, my son went on one Preview Day and found it to be great with a bunch of kids he thought could be his “tribe”. It remains on his list. Another school he did a Preview Day and he found it not to his liking, too much of a dog and pony show he thought. However we went back for a regular tour as it has a lot of what he is looking for. This time he found it to be more personal and really enjoyed it. It remains on his list. (Take this all from a viewpoint of a kid who enjoys not being the center of attention.)
@bearcatfan We’ve done both and I’m not sure I would do a preview day again. You do get some extra info and possibly some access to professors, but the crowds make it a far less pleasant experience. I felt like we got to see less and ask fewer questions than we would on just a regular tour/info session.
Just a gentle nudge of advice from a mom and SAT prep teacher:
The Common App essay prompts have been out for ages. This summer is the time for Juniors to get those essays written!!! There’s no good reason to wait until school is back in session–with tests and quizzes and papers and projects, not to mention all those extra curricular activities. Remind your kids to get their essays written-- and their applications ready to go-- before Labor Day.
@bjkmom - S18 has a goal of finishing all his apps this summer as well as his Eagle Scout requirements he still has and apps for a couple scholarships. We are working with him to set up a schedule so he can stay on track.
He really wants to apply early to as many schools as possible as it seems it is an advantage in admissions these days and as a very typical applicant with no hooks he needs any advantage he can get.
“Our” master plan this summer is to visit colleges. One has already dropped off the list because, upon reading the website more closely, the program is split between two campuses that are 25 minutes apart. I will call tomorrow to confirm this, but now it looks like we are down to “only” 9 visits. 8-}
Master plan also includes Common App essays, as well as looking into other essays/applications the colleges want. Nursing often has other essays/application requirements in addition to general admission. I have a sheet where we will also start filling out pertinent information including NPC, application requirements, deadlines, etc. One sheet per school, ideally, just as a quick reference.
Teacher applications are also secured - all of them have said yes, and a few even gave personal phone numbers/emails if we need them over the summer. She is thinking her calculus teacher who has a BSN, and her anatomy teacher. But again, we have to look at which college requires what kind of application material.
Oh, and she will learn how to do laundry, too. 