Thanks so much!
Is there a U of AL automatic merit chart for 2021-22? Does anyone have a 2021-22 chart? Maybe I am looking in the wrong place. I appreciate an auto merit chart as we are searching for merit for d. I just saw one for 2020-21. It is possible the critieria could change?
Speaking of Alabama, we watched âJust Mercyâ (based on a true story) last night. Great movie, and very educational on the state of systemic racism in our country.
Another recommendation for any other locked in families/kids, âInside Billâs Brain: Decoding Bill Gates,â Netflix 3 part series. Fascinating, and very well done.
With everyone on âlockdown,â weâve been doing a lot of movie watching at night.
It is possible, but the current criteria are likely a good guideline. I recall they made some minor changes to their criteria and awards for this yearâs applicants. However, you might not find out any changes for class of 2021 for another couple of months (expecially with all the other things going on right now.)
@amsunshine thank you!
@havenoidea Inside Billâs Brain sounds good-thanks for the tip! Iâd be interested in other Netflix family friendly (teens are 19/17) to watch. I think my freshman college son would enjoy the one about Bill Gates.
Ok-so it sounds like auto merit for U of AL is still the old one? Any other auto merit colleges announce for next year? When does that usually happen. Based on last yearâs charts, we have a few on the radar for D21 and hoping for similar criteria to qualify.
We have been tivoâing a series on the History Channel - The History of Food in America. Itâs actually really good! S17 has even been watching with us! Theyâve covered Kellogg, Post, Birdseye, Coca Cola, McDonaldâs and a bunch more.
Teacher here. My kids are in hs so itâs more manageable for me to teach from home because they can be independent. However, many teachers have younger children and are really struggling to teach and help their own kids with distance learning at the same time. I have colleagues who are completely overwhelmed trying to keep up this pace, and in my district we had no break in February. This break will help us teachers take care of ourselves so that we can sustain this through the remainder of the year if need be.
So true @CTCape. Iâm lucky my youngest is a very self-sufficient high school junior! My co-workers are dying trying to work and keep up with multiple kids under 7 or 8 years old.
@homerdog My husband works at a university so we have been talking about this a lot as we now both work from home! Some universities are making contingency plans for the fall, so if online learning does need to continue, it will be more robust and better executed that what it being cobbled together now. But I agree with @roycroftmom I think itâs far too early to make informed decisions about remote vs in person learning for fall 2020.
@mamaedefamilia just thinking out loud but would I really want to pay top dollar to send my kid to OOS school for online learning as a freshman. Local state U or even community college probably more economic opinion especially for freshman year
S got his March SAT results today. Very lucky he was able to take the test before the school closed and he is happy with the score.
I hear you on this. But only if your OOS choice doesnât include any merit/aid tied to entry as a freshman. Transfer scholarships are few and far between. While the local/community option might save some money first year - it might make the last three years so much more expensive that you end up paying more money in the long run.
@3kids2dogs ah very good point. Like I said I was thinking out loud. I guess it would have to a cost benefit analysis I.e. can I save more doing freshman year local and cheap and bypass the OOS merit money for other 3 years.
Very selfishly, I do hope the great majority of this yearâs graduates start their freshman years somewhere, whether online or not, so that admissions wonât be so brutal for our 21s.
@burghdad I hear you! It will be interesting to see how this plays out. TBH, I am not confident that classes will be back to normal in the fall, but I also tend to keep my expectations low in order to manage disappointment. I am reasonably confident that college campuses will be functioning normally for Spring semester 2021 through a combination of more effective medical therapies, expanded capacity of the health care system, some herd immunity, and possibly even a vaccine.
It will be interesting to see how well colleges and universities adapt to online teaching. It is likely that elite schools with resources will be better able to invest in training and equipment to ensure high quality on-line courses. They will also be better able to provide technology to students that need it. Smaller seminar style classes can adapt more readily to videoconferencing. Itâs not the same as face to face but itâs not all that different, especially for Humanities classes. However, even math or physics problems can be worked in real time through interactive tablets or other technologies. Large lectures and lab-based classes are likely to be more of a challenge. What is lost or gained through remote format is likely to be related to the studentâs choice of major.
With all that said, you donât get the residential experience with online, or the dense social interactions with fellow students that might later translate into alumni connections, or the value of life experience in a different part of the country. And those benefits are why many parents are willing to pay a premium. With an economic downturn that is likely to be prolonged and substantial, many are not going to be able to afford that premium. For all of these reasons, I suspect that public universities will see a surge of in-state students matriculating in fall 2020 and that elite institutions will be diving deeper into their waitlists to get to full enrollment.
@3kids2dogs is correct that taking classes elsewhere for a semester or a year would mean a loss of eligibility for scholarships that are available to incoming freshmen.
Thanks for helping me see a (tiny) bright spot to all of this. Our state forces everyone to take the writing too. But now D just wonât ever take it. Her score wouldnât be that good, because her effort into the writing section would have been minimal.
Off of the top of my head, Occidental requires it. There are probably others, but I donât think any that I have considered for D21. So thatâs just one less thing to worry about.
Re: keeping the kids occupied during spring break.
I have had 2 college kids, D21 and D25 at home for 2 weeks without any outside responsibilities. Both colleges and our home school district started spring break early and abruptly.
Their brains are turning to mush, and if they donât kill each other I may step in and do it. 2 weeks with no responsibilities is just not a good thing for anyone. My work has been extra busy, so I havenât really been taking the time to force them to be more responsible. Plus honestly they all have been pretty stressed for different reasons, so Iâm trying to let them take some time to process whatâs happening and to just relax.
But I think it was too much âjust relaxâ time. Wife and I talked this morning about how we are going to start some routine next week. They donât need to be up at 6:30 like a regular school day, but maybe everyone out of the showers and ready for the day at 9:30 or 10:00. Iâm hoping their classes will provide some daily responsibilities too.
I donât know if Occidental is a specific concern for someone, but they do not require the essay. I donât know of any college, except for the UCs, that still requires the essay. (I think UCs will be dropping the essay, but their wheels may move too slowly for that change to occur by this fall - weâll see.) At the moment, Duke and UMN ârecommendâ it. As far as I know, there are no others, but each collegeâs admission website should be checked individually, as there have been lots of changes in the last couple of years.
@burghdad, This crisis has really sealed the deal for my introverted D. We were looking at BAMA and MS State. We live in remote west Texas so everything is far from us. BAMA is a 13 hour car drive. D has decided she wants to attend Texas Tech since it is our local school. Wished it was farther than 8 miles but what ya gonna do. She will get their top merit and live at home after first year on campus.
and yes @dadof4kids
D is getting a very mushy brain, Needs structure ASAP. So ready for classes to start back on Monday 0930 to 1000 is what I told her when she needs to be logged on and start working. She will easily stay up till 0300 and sleep till 1pm if allowed. It is hard because I am a single mom and work (in healthcare, so âessentialâ).
Woot! S21 hit his target score (well, my target score for him) on the March SAT. Puts him well in range for all the schools on his list. The challenge now will be keeping up the grades to match. Heâs the social type, tough to keep him motivated when heâs sitting home by himself. But thatâs next weekâs problem. For now we celebrate, heâs done with the SAT!