I’m issuing a formal " I’m sorry" to all Flute players who may read this thread . and offer he following warning.
Under no circumstances should any Flutist use my poor example for your Common App submission as I do not want to feel responsible for your ultimate college rejection if you follow my example word for word. You’ll have to come up with a better activity description than Non-stop Flute playing. I apologize for any confusion and if I could edit my post today, I would. But I can’t. It was all in jest.
Hey, don’t knock the imaginary non-stop flute player. My kid doesn’t have a single EC that does not involve playing his instrument! It would be great if he were winning Grammys and concerto competitions and playing at the Kennedy Center, but it’s all pretty pedestrian stuff even after attempts to fluff it up a bit.
Oh well, this is why his schools are mostly academic safeties and low matches. Someone should take him based on his GPA and test scores even if they aren’t impressed with his music ECs, don’t like his audition, and don’t want him in their music program. (He won’t be too thrilled, though).
D got an email from a prospective school that implied that they knew they were on her Common App Dashboard. Does anyone know if Common App gives school that kind of access already?
@eh1234 not knocking the flute player at all! Music makes up chunks of my kids activities, all 4 of them. And nary an award to go with them, including the one who was a digital music major. Which is ok with me.
@peachActuary73 I remember that happening with S17…so yes, I think once you add a school they have some kind of visibility. Not sure.
For the official class of 2019 record. I like kids that play music. Awesome skill to have. It takes a lot of dedication to actually get decent at playing anything, so hats off to them. My kids actually play instruments but never joined the band. They took years of lessons until they were in 7th and 8th grade. They liked doing it, and still play from time to time.
@peachActuary73 Yes. I think there was a button allowing the school contact you. I don’t think CA sends all the content, just the student contact info.
@eandesmom@payn4ward Wow I wish I knew that. With the way we are staggering submits, I’d hate for a school to interpret (albeit accurately) that they are second string.
I noticed that son19 got a few bits of mail from schools on his tentative list on common app too, that he usually gets nothing from.
Your kid might see a note asking if they’d like to communicate with a school and If so click a yes button. I don’t know what happens after that. They probably just know you have added them to their common app college list and get their contact info.
S19 is in marching band and concert band. He percussions non-stop. All the time. With actual drum sticks. With his fingers on any surface. With his arms in the air. With cutlery. With pens. With chopsticks. Non-stop. He should seriously reference on the Common App how much he desk drums while studying. Do you all think that “Lead Desk Drummer” should be a separate entry or under “Music?”
He is getting lots of emails and mailing from the schools added to the Common App dashboard. Specifically about applying. But we visited those schools so I figured it was more from that. Maybe not!
Checking in from the road, 2 colleges in on our college visits list.
Yale was a washout, in the literal sense. Solid rain from the momen we left the car to the moment we drove away from campus, some of it fierce rain. My husband does not deal well wit rain. We missed the first tour and had to hang about until the second, by which point DH was in a nasty mood. So we sent the kid off on his own for the tour and we went back to hang out in the car. Kiddo still loves the place, unfortunately. 5% acceptance rate, kiddo, don’t love it too much.
Today was Wesleyan and we all had a great tour. Our guide was a wonderful bubbly film major who was honest and genuine and fun. They started with the brutalist art buildings which I still hate 35 years after I first saw them, but kiddo thinks they’re kind of cool. My one negative about the tour was that nobody on the tour was at all interested in the athletics building but we still got dragged to see it in 90 degree superhumidity.
Kiddo is enthusiastic about Wed now, and on the way back to the hotel he was brainstorming which monologues to record for their arts supplement.
Brown tomorrow, Tufts Thursday. We also squeezed in a scenic steam train and riverboat trip today, which really was too much so we are all dragging exhausted.
So glad to be reminded of the clam fart kid! @peachActuary73 - I don’t think it would necessarily indicate that schools are second string just because you will wait until later to submit. I’m sure a lot of kids are re-taking standardized tests this fall, waiting for recommendations or transcripts etc. The colleges may like that they are on your daughter’s dashboard this early.
Thanks for the reviews @ninakatarina. That stinks about the rain, but it must be fun to see your kid get excited about colleges.
Fun fact, well maybe. The site and buildings for Wesleyan were formally the college that is now Norwich University.
I took DD20 (didn’t drag along S19) to Dartmouth today. The quarter system is definitely a little wonky, especially for a winter athlete. The campus is beautiful and bustling with the summer term in session. The program options seem limitless and similar to Brown’s open curriculum. The option for internships during off session quarters seems like a good option for many students. Their study abroad options seem strong and faculty seem to participate in those programs. Of interesting note, their application “strongly recommends” a peer recommendation, something I had not seen anywhere else.
@MAandMEmom - Sounds like a good visit. I saw that too about the peer recommendation. The only other school I’ve heard of doing that is Davidson. D17 had one of her good friends from drama write hers.
@elena13 the info session speaker (rising senior) was clear that it should be someone no more than a few years older and not a younger student who could be viewed as a mentee.
@MAandMEmom - I think they also listed siblings as possible writers? We were thinking about having my daughter write one for my S19. What do you think?
In my opinion @elena13 I would say that siblings should be avoided if at all possible. They didn’t mention siblings but they did mention students a year or two older are always good options. Maybe a leader of an EC where the student could speak about your student’s possibility of a future leader/captain/etc.
