This is a small rant, hopefully it is ok. My son is getting loads of offers of free and streamlined applications to some very 1) expensive and 2) highly selective schools.
He would be a typical high stat applicant for any of them, but they are way out of our budget. He is starting to think about applying now, as there is no cost. My worst nightmare would be if he actually got admitted.
He had been satisfied previously with schools we had in our range, and I am really annoyed that these schools are doing this. Especially when we all know they are just trying to stack the applicant pool so they appear more selective.
Started looking more at Common App. What does S19 put for Future Plans? What a weird question. Asks them basically what they want to be when they grow up. I think heāll just be honest and say undecided. What about GPA? Do most kids report unweighted? Weighted? Donāt report it? Itās not mandatory. Why would you bother when it will be on transcript?
Recently saw something about this on CC. Our kids also received stuff like this, indicating they were āspecial,ā āeliteā, etc. My understanding is that these are meant to do exactly what is happening with your son. They encourage applications where one was not necessarily in the works, perhaps sparking interest where there was none (or where none was wanted for financial reasons). If the schools do not meet your criteria, including financial, donāt get sucked in. These are not āspecialā invites and mean nothing in terms of possible scholarships, aid, or other special treatment.
@BrooklynRye I have discouraged him strongly from applying. It is tempting to him I am sure because he doesnāt need my credit card to pay for the app, and there is some magical thinking in play that if he wants it enough, the means to get it will appear. Life just doesnāt work like that.
On a good note: He got accepted to and got nearly full tuition at University of Nebraska Lincoln last week.
We are getting those too @elodyCOH
Luckily they arenāt schools with her preferred major or location anyway.
There must be a Murphyās Law that no schools we are actually interested in are going to bother with fee waivers or streamlined apps.
Just curiousā¦if a school gets notified when a student adds them to their common app, are they also able too see the other schools a student has added?
@elodyCOH I can understand your frustration regarding those expedited apps from highly selective schools. S19 had a little more luck in that regard. We disregarded those apps from highly selective schools and are focusing on schools where he is above the 75th percentile and that also offer merit $. Today, he received his first acceptance from an expedited app he sent a few days agoā¦so far so good.
@homerdog S19 is only using ApplyTexas or the particular schoolās application. On each, he reported the gpa that appears on his transcript. His school only provides a weighted percentage out of 100 and the studentās rank. His counselor said just report it as it appears and she will send info to each of the collegesā¦ The counselor also said that some schools will recalculate the gpa and some will simply use whatever gpa is on the transcript.
I think itās new that the common app asks for GPA, and from DSās perspective thatās unfortunate. We have a school with a wonky GPA system. Basically they only have āweightedā GPAs but they are way less weighted than most. If you get 100% in an honors class thatās a 4.0. In an AP class, itās 4.1. If you get 99%, itās a little lower (like 3.95 or something for a regular honors class, and a slight bit more for an AP class). My sonās
GPA is 3.975 which puts him currently 2nd in his class of about 250-300 students, but with so many kids having 4.5 and 5.0 and so on weighted GPAs with the same grades, I feel like listing his GPA anywhere without the explanation of how itās computed doesnāt give him as much credit as he should be due. So Iām thinking he should not list it on the common app. Seem right to you? Heās had all high As in honors and AP classes but has a GPA below 4.0 which doesnāt reflect that anywhere else. Heās applying to very selective schools (I think MIT is his #1 choice) and he doesnāt want them to dismiss him on first glance because his GPA looks āweakā compared to other ways of computing that are more common.
@mathmomvt I would report the GPA since the Common App specifically asks for it to be reported. Your school will submit a school profile which will explain your schoolās grading/GPA policies to the admissions offices.
Just to clarify, there is a spot for GPA but itās not a required field. And @mathmomvt, thereās a space right above it for rank so that would make it very clear that your Sās GPA is amazing in the context of your school.
Our school reports weighted and unweighted so Iām going to report unweighted because I think most schools really look at that and then separately look at rigor to determine their idea of a weighted GPA.
@mathmomvt I agree with homerdog. I had a similar ques last week. Our weighted GPA also looks disadvantageous. I only know how 3 of our schools use the transcript, and it varies. If I knew then what I know now, Iād have made sure to ask on visits and info sessions. We are leaning towards leaving it blank, as the school profile explains the GPA rules. If the opportunity comes up to ask more (we are attending a couple of school traveling road shows), we will.
@peachActuary73 what did you ask admissions people about the transcripts? Donāt they all āuseā them the same way - to look at classes and see grades?
S19ās guidance counselor just called - theyāre working on schedules and his classes wonāt all work unless she can get him into an online version of the VA required economics/personal finance class. Hopefully sheāll be able to do that, because picking between other courses (or band) would be tough. Gave her his cell phone number so she could call him once she found out about the online availability.
Then I called him to give him a heads up to answer any numbers starting with his schoolās three digit prefix. Heās not the best phone talker. Conversations over the phone feel like Iām talking to a rather slow zombie - told him he needed to beef up his phone talking skills before he goes to college if he wants any care packages!
@homerdog Iām referring specifically to GPA usage, and it was volunteered, or another parent asked. We never thought enough to ask. So, if they use the transcript GPA, weighted or unweighted, or even recalculate? Do they use all classes, or just Core? Also, does the same methodology apply to automatic merit and scholarship consideration?
@parent2one I laughed at your description of your sonās phone skills. Mine just gives me a series of grunts, hmms, and OKs. I hope your son gets his EPF course - my S19 took his in the summer and spent maybe 6 or 7 hours on it in total.
His GC reached out to him by email yesterday to tell him itās not possible to take advanced orchestra, AP music theory and astronomy and asked him which music class he wanted to drop. Hilarious since he wants to major in music and is only taking science because he needs a 4th one for an āadvanced diploma.ā Looks like heāll be taking oceanography. Glad his GC knows him so well, lol.
GPA: Some of the more popular colleges have info. from the GCās on Naviance (for example, some explicitly state that the school uses our weighted GPA and does not recalculate). Most of our instate schools report high average GPAs so I suspect they use a weighting system that must resemble the one used in our school district.
another CA question. And this is such a small detail but it will help with character count. Should descriptions always be in past tense? Or only if the activity was something they only did in the past and not senior year? Is it ok to have different tenses for different activities?
For example, one time things are easy. S19 worked on an event last summer and he can obviously use past tense for that. What about a job that lasts through senior year? Heās a soccer ref. Should he say āenforced rules of the gameā¦or enforces rules of the gameā? If he uses present tense, then he will have some activities in past tense and some in present tense. Does that look inconsistent when an AO is looking at all of the activities on one page?