There is something on twitter about needing a slash before the question mark in the makeup key
@dadof4kids We are having the same experience. So far weâve done UChicago, Lafayette and Duke. Both Lafayette and Duke were pretty tedious. UChicago was better because the AO was a grad and was incredibly passionate about the school, his enthusiasm was infectious. Weâre signed up for a several more but Iâm not sure if the time spent is worth it. My kid is also losing interestâŠ
AP Gov hung on second question here. Had to reload page (which they say not to do as it will cause errors) But with less than 15 minutes to go didnât really have a choice. Who knows whether that cleared his first submission? What a mess.
@dadof4kids S has done a bunch of virtual info sessions. Most were pretty vanilla, though one school only talked about STEM and not much about school as a whole - which he found annoying.
The most valuable came from the area-specific sessions, not the generic admissions info session. For example, he attended one on âMathematics, Computer Science, Physics, Actuarial Science, Engineering, and Data Scienceâ that was led by department heads, and that one gave him good insights into those specific programs (which are of potential interest).
No appeal process. He tried to contact CB after he had issues with the first test submission but they do not answer. He sent his answers to his prof before the time to submit was complete as he finished the exam with 10 minutes to spare but the prof said nothing he can do. He feels very good about his answers but it does not matter it seems he will have to retake both in June.
Apparently reddit has many people with the same issue he said. I wonder if they will get it fixed for tomorrow? It does not seem that they have a handle on what went wrong.
@kartaqueen CB said not to call. If thereâs a problem it says go to cb.org/requestmakeup.
@dadof4kids Weâve done several virtual information sessions and tours â all LACs â and Iâm actually surprised how different theyâve been from each other. Weâve been impressed with some D wasnât expecting to like and really uninspired by places we thought would be super impressive. Some of them really get that you have to lead with what makes your school different/special. Those that have focused on whatâs generally great about LACs? Not helpful.
@kartaqueen I am so sorry for your boy.
@kbm770 do you mind sharing which ones you thought were helpful?
I feel like we arenât seeming to find that. I think there has been some, but most of the things they go over, and frankly most of the questions, are things that apply to 95% of small LACâs, and are questions I could have answered.
Regarding virtual visits vs actual visits. D21 visited a lot of colleges in person over the past few years, and recently she did a few virtual visits to some colleges she has already seen in person to help narrow down the list. Unfortunately, in spite of the admissions officesâ excellent efforts, it is very difficult to get a feel for the campus and vibe if you are not actually on the campus. As @3SailAway mentions though, an opportunity to talk with students is extremely helpful. D21 has done a couple of student chats and found tremendous value in those. She says she gets a real feel for the culture and student life that way (she can get academic info from the website, itâs the vibe and culture info she now wants).
My d hates the virtual tours. She watches a lot of You Tube videos but in person is just so much better.
I believe it was @lindagaf that once compared off-season college tours to going to the zoo when the animals werenât home! While I appreciate the joke, I believe there is some value to visiting campuses during the summer or school breaks if you have a kid who is really sensitive to their surroundings and for whom place matters. You can also get an idea of the neighboring community. The visits can make your kid engage with the process by imagining himself or herself on campus. My opinion: the information sessions and campus tours tend to replicate whatâs on the website, and the skill and personality of the presenters can have an outsized effect.
Before COVID, I found a lot of value, as did my D17, in student blogs and vlogs. Swarthmore and Oberlin, for example, sponsor a number of student bloggers who write about diverse aspects of college life and can be really helpful in reconstructing that elusive student vibe. Vlogs, like campus tour guides, can be helpful or can distort oneâs impressions. Donât like the vlogger? Chances are, it will turn you off of the school. That said, I have advised my kids to look at whatâs happening on the margins of the screen. What are the students in the background doing? Are they interacting with one another? How? None of this is perfect - even the live college tour has its limitations. But more data points are better than fewer. These student-driven perspectives can offset less engaging official virtual tours or information sessions. For some kids, it might make sense to try these first and do the official sessions later?
Finally, and this is a great starting point if you can convince your kid to bypass the attractive buildings and quads - go to the individual department pages. Pull up a list of course descriptions. The range of courses and the descriptions should make your child excited about the prospect of that school. Pull up past catalogs. How often are those courses offered in real life? If your kid is interested in a niche major, how many faculty support it? What happens if one of them goes on leave? Or gets sick? These days, it might be helpful to check out the demographics within a given major. If itâs top heavy with older faculty, that could be a concern in the days of COVID as those folks might be more likely to offer online courses.
Iâm also paying much more attention to location - how easy is it to get there or return, not just by air but by car. Are there nonstop flights? Are they likely to continue? Will a long, crowded, shuttle ride from campus to airport be required to come and go? What is the availability of off-campus housing? How scarce or expensive is it? Access to major medical center, etc? If we are very lucky, these considerations may be less crucial a year from now. But I like to prepare for the worst to be pleasantly surprised than the reverse.
@mamaedefamilia You bring up some great points in regards to finding different ways to look at these schools right now as we donât have the benefit of actually seeing them in person. My D hates the virtual tours as she says they all blend in to each other and say the exact same thing. There is no catch or nothing unique in why one would want to attend. She was fortunate enough to see all the local schools that she was interested in already. She has also taken off the schools that were further away from her as she now wants to stay closer to home. Initially, she was very interested in a few schools in Florida and now they are completely off her list. She has narrowed it down to schools within a couple of hours from us that is an easy drive or train ride away.
S21 has a virtual prospective freshman session with Texas A&M this eveningâŠweâve already toured campus multiple timesâŠthis is more for Q&A on any changes to the admissions process in light of Covid-19 and also since this is the first year they are doing away with their Academic Admit policy and putting everyone outside the top 10% in holistic review.
@dadof4kids Letâs see⊠We both enjoyed Bowdoin, where they focused on what seems to be their core tenets, using education to create social good. That really appeals to our D. (Interestingly, they didnât tout the outdoorsy, active environment, which is likely a huge draw for many, but which wouldnât be compelling to her.) She also really enjoyed Knoxâs (pre-recorded) presentation, with a heavy focus on both service and experiential learning. From a program standpoint, there are plenty of LACs that also have this focus, but she kept these on the list because she liked what they put at the forefront.
She also liked Grinnell, which was less memorable, but focused on their open curriculum and collaborative (not competitive) environment. She also appreciated the vibe during the student Q&A there. We had a personalized campus tour at Kalamazoo. The school itself isnât a fit, but the tour guide â who couldnât have been more different than our D â really tailored his focus and comments on her areas of interest. Left a great impression on us both.
Amherst, meanwhile, was super bland. Small class sizes, close relationships with professors, close to Boston, blah, blah, blah⊠WiFi glitched after about 15 minutes, so we left, having learned nothing new. Reedâs was well done but didnât resonate with our D. Mount Holyoke spent 30 minutes talking about how to apply. As in, here are the deadlines, we consider your whole application, etc. In their defense, they had just started doing online info sessions, so maybe theyâre better now?
It seems like weâve done nothing but virtual tours, but it has been so easy to do, 1-2 a week. Of course we wouldnât have toured all of these in person, or even necessarily considered all of them, but we find it fun, which Iâm sure itâs not for all kids! (Trying to imagine D23 sitting through even one of these is painful.) In some ways these experiences are not all that different than in-person sessions (especially summer visits!). We visited Davidson last summer, for example, and our D fell in love. Yes, the campus is gorgeous, but what sold her was that the AO and tour guide both talked about the Honor Code and commitment to community service in depth. If they had focused more on D1 athletics and Greek life? She would have been far less interested.
Apologies if this is way more than what you were asking for!
Thanks, all, for your thoughts and suggestions for DD. I reached out to her bff and got her on board to help me plan a zoom surprise b-day celebration and then bffâs mom will allow her to bring over take out and surprise DD with a socially distanced picnic dinner. I hope that will help lift her spirits. I also got her to agree to a walk yesterday. I was contacted by her APUSH and AP Lang teachers yesterday and told that each selected her for their Student of the Year. They both requested a photo of her for a slide show that will replace the end of year awardâs ceremony. They are not sure when that will happen, or in what exact format. Iâm supposed to keep the news secret. I told her I need two pictures as I knew sheâd freak out of I just picked on my own. I said they would be seen by friends and family. I think she believes it has to do with her b-day.
She has agreed to watch a few virtual school presentations and has been less than thrilled with the format. Now, two were âsafetyâ schools she wasnât totally excited about anyway. Some have definitely been much better done than others! Personally, I have like Q&A with a student panel.
@kbm770 â just fyi, my D18 is a sophomore (welp, as of tomorrow, rising Junior!) at Davidson so feel free to PM with any questions! She loves the college, the community, and the weather!
She also considered Grinnell, Carleton, and Mt. Holyoke, among othersâŠ
@Rue4 â wow, congrats to your D! What an honor! Glad you have the bday celebration coming together!
Happy to report that D took the AP-BC Calc today and successfully uploaded her workâŠthat is 3 tests done, 2 next week and an essay that needs to be uploaded by sometime later this month for seminar.
@Rue4 So glad to hear that things have turned around! So many ups and downs during this crazy time. Your D was clearly overdue for some âups!â
@AlmostThere2018 Thank you! Davidson is such a terrific school. I may well take you up on your kind offer, especially as itâs increasingly less likely that sheâll be able to re-visit when school is in session. Whatever âin sessionâ even means these days!