Thanks, @kbm770 ! Everyone’s kids are great, there are so many cool teens out there doing so many cool things. Wish there was a spot for every kid at every kid’s favorite college. This upcoming generation rocks.
D21 has not changed her mind about applying to any of the places to which she has interviewed - there have only been five interviews so far though. She does feel much more positive about three in particular, mainly because of the actions and feedback from her interviewers/the admission office. One (match school) was so kind and casual and personable with follow-up emails. The letter from the Dean at the reach was a huge plus and that boosted up that college to a possible ED/ED2 contender. Her interaction at another reach was really positive – she enjoyed the completely unpretentious, quirky, and friendly vibe. The other two interviews (one match and one reach) didn’t move the college up or down in her view.
S21 has had in person and online (Zoom) interviews for summer programs. He also had to do a telephone interview for Boys State. I am grateful he had a lot of opportunity to practice, bc it does make a difference for some schools; but for others, not so much. My understanding is that alumni interviews do not count for much, but I will say that when my D16 got into her school, the AO did call the alumni interviewer to let him know that “his student got in,” which I thought was interesting.
@carlson2 My neighbor does alumni interviews and she seems to know if the kids she interviews get in. She mentioned last yr all her kids got in, but the prior yr none did.
@goldenstatecat My D17’s primary EC during HS was ballet. She targeted mostly LACs, with a few mid-sized universities thrown in, and had excellent admission and merit scholarship results. Many of the smaller schools appreciate the time commitment involved and how it translates into potential success in college.
@JanieWalker Wow! You and your daughter are so far ahead of us it’s crazy. Neither S21 nor D21 really has a list. We were going to go on initial visits when corona virus struck. And, neither really knows their major. So, no interviews going on in this house!
Our kids’ school held a webinar the other evening with AOs from a bunch of schools (including a few the kids were to have visited), but it went over broader topics, like how to pick a LAC vs a medium or large school and each school’s application review process. It was interesting, but you couldn’t get a sense of the school atmosphere from the webinar. They told the kids to look on their social media and student blogs to try to get a sense of the school without visiting.
I suppose this is what it’s like for internationals who can’t visit. Given that it’s out of our hands, I’m not worrying too much about it. I told the kids they can always transfer…
What I’m thinking will be difficult for us is not knowing if competitive merit aid (and usual amounts) will still be offered at places where you’d normally get that aid . We went that route with older S (for LAC). As a full pay family, if we have to pay 65k+ for a school (they aren’t leaning toward the large publics with automatic aid, though that’s still open), it needs to be the best they can get into. Which then seems to mean ED. So, I’m hoping we have a better sense of the landscape by fall.
The only reason we are at this stage is because we visited a ton of colleges starting in 9th grade for D21. We started with one that is nearly down the street from where my kids visit their father each week. My daughters enjoyed the info session and tour very much, it made them both feel quite grown up (since we started when they were so young), so we started visiting other colleges, fitting them in during our weekly/monthly travels all around the northeast (we travel and roadtrip a lot for EC reasons and general travel reasons). We live in the northeast where you can’t throw a rock without hitting a college. Also, my kids’ father works in academia as do nearly all their friends’ parents; my daughters have grown up very aware of the idea of college and have spent a ton of time on various campuses during their entire childhoods, with me when they were younger and with their father for his many talks and presentations in various places - so they have both been interested early on in the whole going-away-to-college thing. If we hadn’t started as early (and as casually) when we did, we would not be where we are with this process right now. Nearly all of the impressions from those early visits stuck, and we have been able to fit in multiple visits over the past couple of years to almost all the places D21 really likes.
@JanieWalker That’s great! Your D is really well-situated to know what she really likes and doesn’t. And, I think doing that helps kids to grow toward the college mindset. In retrospect, I wish we would have done that some. We live, basically, in the middle of nowhere (college-wise). But, except for the lack of an ocean, it’s a beautiful place to be if one must be quarantined.
The email DD received from her teacher said if they felt they needed more time or were sick or had other issues, not to attempt to take it on the scheduled date, and after it had passed they then could indicate they wanted to take the June make up date- but that was RISKY, as the June date is not necessarily a given. He highly encouraged the class to take the May test if at all possible.
@homerdog I wrote out a big response that probably should be it’s own post, so I saved it for later when D gets just a bit further along. But you are right, safeties are an issue. It may come down to the flagship with the honors program, which she is definitely not excited about but I think would ultimately be ok with.
One issue is that we aren’t full pay. So when we get away from “full need” schools there is a decent bump in cost. At “full need” schools" my cost is in the ballpark with the state flagship. And I’m willing to pay a bit more for a top 50ish school. But as an example I really like Lewis & Clark and she loves Portland. But I don’t know that I am willing to pay the probably substantial difference between that and the flagship. If we can find a “full need” school that is a safety that she likes it will probably go on the list.
She did have a pretty reach heavy list, but is adding more matches so hopefully we never get to a safety.
@homerdog and @goldenstatecat Every post you share about your DDs sounds like mine too! My daughter started dancing at 3 and switched from the typical dance studio to the world of competitive Irish Dancing at age 11. She also runs Varsity XC and indoor / outdoor track. Running seems to really compliment a dancer. We found out yesterday her North American National Championship was cancelled (as expected), but still a big let down. She competed at her first NANs in 2017 and qualified every year since, but I haven’t been able to afford to send her until this year. She’s looking at primarily East Coast LAC and we will qualify for financial aid, so that’s a key factor in her search.
@Rue4, does your daughter want to continue dancing?
Just going to throw this out there FWIW, even though your daughter is an Irish dancer, and it looks as if she’s looking at very competitive schools and has the stats to do so (and also, with Covid-19 in the mix, may be less-feasable an idea) but here goes:
Duquesne University in Pittsburgh has a group of students (I believe on full rides or at least full tuition) who are musicians and dancers who form a touring/ performance group called the Tamburitzans that travels all over the U.S. They perform authentic Eastern European music/dances, wearing elaborate authentic costumes. I attended a performance and it was amazing. Got to talk to some performers during intermission and some actually have a background in Eastern European folk music or dancing, but many in ballet or other forms of dance. Wouldn’t be the way most students would want to go through college but an amazing experience for those who do. Looks like a very bonded and motivated group of kids. They have to spend a chunk of their summers learning the next year’s music/choreography and spend weekends studying on the touring bus. At any rate, she/you might enjoy seeing what they do on YouTube!
Wow, @inthegarden, that’s so cool and very unique! She’s going to continue if it’s feasible from where she ends up, but won’t be selecting a school based on the ability to continue to compete. Most dancers at our studio travel up to 2 hours to get to class (thankfully the main location is 25 min for us, but we do travel 2 hours each way on weekends in the months leading up to Majors). Right now U Richmond, W&L, Davidson, W&M, Wake Forest, Vandy, Tulane and Rice are on her list. We live 25 min from UR (and the dance studio is 15 min from campus), so that’s a consideration. She absolutely loves Irish. Most competitive dancers retire after HS graduation. I think we had 4 college dancers this year (most at UVA- which is too big for DD).
We have officially toured the VA schools, attend Tulane’s regional presentation in our area, missed out on NC schools scheduled over break and had plans for Vandy when she was supposed to be in Nashville for NANs in July. She was also supposed to be in Houston in June to compete at HOSA Internationals and I was going to meet her and visit Rice and then detour to Tulane on our way home. Not really getting much out of the virtual sessions we have attended.
A small silver lining for us has been that D has really enjoyed the virtual tours/information sessions at a couple of safety schools. I think it helped her focus on the programs, the professors, the students, rather than things like how charming or updated the facilities are, since they are generally not as bright and shiny as the reach schools. She’s a pretty laid-back kid anyway, but we’ve both been really impressed with the quality of the presentations and the enthusiasm of the staff and students. We know that it’s not the same as being on campus, but she’s genuinely excited about at least one place she hadn’t previously given much consideration.
Parents of AP testing kids - did your kids do the “practice test” today? My daughter did it and her photos (she plans on handwriting the exams) uploaded immediately even with her little brother playing Fornite with his buddy online at the same time.
Are they anticipating issues due to volume of uploads on test day or are the concerns related to individual internet connections?
@3kids2dogs I’ll have to ask! D did an APUSH one last week. It had a timer and was in the new format but I don’t know if it was some sort of CollegeBoard official practice test?
My husband started a call right before her timer started and, even though they were in different rooms, he was loud and during the test she was moving around the house trying to find a quiet She said it was so rushed that it was nuts. Her teacher suggested having a second window open to write their essay and then cut and paste it into the exam when they were done so that’s how she handled that.
D21 and D23 each did a practice run on their AP Calc exams. They will use their phones for that one, handwriting their answers and taking/sending photos. Neither had any problems. D21 will do a different practice exam early next week for a different class; on that one, she’ll use her computer.
Gosh I am hoping there are no internet issues due to the volume of uploads on test day. No one in this house wants to have to do the make-up exam in June. If there are issues due to volume of kids uploading exams on test day, then the make-up exam might end up having the same problem anyway.
