@inthegarden My info about Gettysburg is a bit dated from when my older kid applied to college 4-5 years ago. Then it still had a work hard/play hard reputation.
Forgive me if this has been discussed upthread but if Gettysburg is within driving distance, might Dickinson or College of Wooster (marching band included bagpipes) be options? We especially liked College of Wooster for both its kind and down to earth students as well as its generous merit scholarships.
Hugs to your daughter. It’s hard to keep grinding away at test prep and essay writing when you’re home alone and your friends are living it up on social media.
@NJWrestlingmom Hugs to your daughter too. Not fitting in socially is so hard. I was that kid in HS and yes, she will find friends in college!
@inthegarden I’m so sorry about marching band competition season being canceled. That stinks. Crazy that around here sports seem immune to COVID - football will happen even though schools are 3/5 online. Will they still do halftime at the football games? My daughter loves marching band and their band doesn’t compete anymore (long story), but she still loves it. They do one travel event to a college every year and a trip every other year, but no competitions.
It’s really interesting to read how many different versions of what returning to school will look like across the country. There will definitely not be a level playing field with some kids having f2f instruction while other teach themselves at home virtually (and so many combination in between)- plus some having access to activities and sports, while others have nothing. I can not fathom how admissions officers can compare these students!
@inthegarden We are mentally prepared for marching season to be cancelled here as well. Our district will be announcing officially back to school policies here shortly, but I know in my heart of hearts is probably not going to happen. I’m absolutely gutted that my son worked so hard in band these past 3 years and finally made section leader for his senior year and he won’t be able to march, let alone lead. It is what it is I suppose. I’m President Elect for the band boosters and it’s a mess. We have a zoom meeting with our new band director on friday to decide on alternative budgets since no football games and no marching season will mean no concessions which means ZERO fundraising. For a Title 1 band program like ours it’s a huge setback. I’m trying not to let my boys see me too anxious but my heart really breaks for these 2021 band seniors. At least Class of 2020 had a normal fall and got to experience all the Senior band activities and accolades.
This is going to be a big problem for lots of activities. I help run our local kids wrestling club. We had a big tournament we rely on for funding the weekend before everything hit the fan. The first case in our state was diagnosed that morning. By the next weekend pretty much the whole state shut down.
Conversely our athletic booster club had a big fundraising tournament scheduled for the following weekend which we didn’t have and isn’t rescheduled. So there is a $10,000 hole in the budget.
Fortunately both organizations pretty much run their budgets so they can take a hit like that and not have it affect operations. However, neither is equipped to take 2 hits like that. We will see what the fall brings.
Concessions is going to hit a lot of student organizations, that is a pretty common source of funding at least around here, and the different organizations are always trying to get more slots to work. If games are canceled or crowds limited, that is going to be a big drain on everything.
I’m starting to think that, in some cases, remote learning will be better than f2f. D21 wants the f2f for the social aspect and to see her teachers but her remote classes weren’t that bad (lots of Zooms with teachers - synchronous classes) but I worry that being in school, in masks, social distanced will just be so distracting to real learning.
It’s not just Covid and return to school policies that make life difficult for AO’s. Just the simple fact that schools have different graduation requirements is a nightmare. For example, I’m shocked that some schools (states) don’t require a PE class. So in some states students can pick up an extra academic elective which makes their transcript look more “aggressive”. I know many kids that would love to replace gym with Accounting, but that’s not an option.
@eb23282 Very true, but the school profiles have denoted that, and AOs have been familiar with the structure and graduation requirements for the schools they cover.
I guess my head is just spinning looking at all the ways districts are assuming they will handle a return to school. I keep reading that “all kids are in the same boat” with disrupted schooling and no access to SAT/ACT. And while that has been true to a degree so far, despite the varied way the end of the year was handled (grades, P/F, new material taught, nothing taught, etc.), it appears there will be great iniquity come fall. Many AOs have stated that they intend to evaluate the end of Jr year based on how Jr year started (curriculum paying a major role) and how Sr year continues their academic story. Sr year may start as a disaster for many learning how to balance a hybrid approach. Some kids were able to take the ACT in June and a few will likely get July. Will SAT happen in August? Not everywhere. Prior to Covid our kids knew the expectations and how to best set themselves up for success- now the game, the rules, the options have all changed. How admissions for '21 plays out will be very interesting. My '21 kid has a solid foundation and had positioned herself well, so she has done all she can and will make the best out of what will be available. My '22 is more of a “late bloomer” and this was to be her year. While she has a strong GPA, she has yet to establish activities, leadership roles, won’t likely build relationships with Jr year teachers for strong recommendations since we will most likely only have 1 day f2f and 4 virtual (asynchronous), and will struggle with distance learning. I know most will be resilient in the end, I"m just feeling glum today about the future.
Yes…we’re thinking through this now for our D23s (doesn’t apply - yet - to S21), and I was once thinking I wanted f2f for the D23 with the more rigorous schedule, but since there is no hybrid option for us (have to choose 100% f2f or 100% remote), I’m starting to lean heavily towards the remote option. We have 2 days left to decide…aaaack. I was just thinking through additional layers last night in terms of how the remote student deals with shifting to remote and potentially to a different teacher if sent home to quarantine due to exposure, and it just seems less disruptive to the routine and learning to do remote. They’re adding more synchronous and keeping kids on a schedule (same as the schedule at school) this time…things they didn’t have in the Spring.
So, thinking out loud about deadlines. Suppose you have a high match school that is on the list, desirable but maybe 3rd/4th preference, admission is competitive. It offers EA but that decision doesn’t come back until mid Jan, after nearly all RD deadlines have passed. Except for alleviating stress going into March, and perhaps showing interest, is there a point to applying EA? On the other hand, the only reason not to apply is simply a matter of getting the supplement done. Just imagining a situation where push comes to shove at the last minute, do you let this one slide to RD (while expecting 2-3 Dec decisions), or press on to get. it. done. Yes, I am anticipating the procrastination!
@evergreen5 I’m anticipating the procrastination too, and have started trying to map things out. But this would be an added kink.
Are there EA schools that don’t share decisions until mid January? I had assumed most gave mid December decisions.
Edited to add, I found the list. Wow, not as clear-cut as I thought. Hard to figure a reason to push a kid to apply EA with those later dates, unless you’re worried about loss of momentum, and a kid not getting around to some of those as RD applications. Or perhaps there’s more financial aid, the earlier you apply, especially at state schools?
I read this week that a big school (forgot which one) is canceling early applications. I hope (1) not many on our list do that; (2) they give decisions in December; and (3) not too many schools require a bunch of extra essays. I know that they in theory have more time but my son is doing a lot (including online classes this summer). We are going to apply pretty broadly I think unless EA happens for him at one of two favorites.
@Zinnia203 It’s worth adding a column to the deadline planning spreadsheet.
And to maximize prospective stress, let’s imagine a possible ED2, but then the ED1 defers to RD, followed by a hunt for sketchy deferred-to-RD acceptance stats. (The things I think about. Just trying to suggest more virtual tours for now. And trying to motivate others to start their essays, which could make my earlier question moot lol.)
@Acersaccharum I popped in here bc I have some IRL friends with kids in this class and was interested in seeing other people’s experience – and saw your post about Denison and Kenyon. My kid just graduated from Denison (phenomenal experience, and is employed in his dream job) and we visited Kenyon a lot, with both my kids visiting multiple times, and 1 kid looking at for athletic recruiting. Denison and Kenyon are in the same athletic conference so we went to Kenyon for multiple competitions. Lastly, we know several graduated and current Kenyon students. So, while our experience is just one slice, we’ve seen a lot to compare.
Kenyon was the first school both of my kids visited, and they fell in love – it’s gorgeous! But as they each moved through their process, they saw different ways that Kenyon was not a fit for them so neither applied. We didn’t know much about Denison, except its (outdated) reputation as a party school, and it rose to become his top choice. What my Denison student loved (and we did too) was there is not a single dominant “type” of student – it is a diverse student body, including economically and politically. Our first visit, we saw sorority girls making posters for recruitment, students wearing hijab discussing politics, and a bluegrass band playing. There’s artists, kids living on the Homestead – the organic farm – and lax bros and girls. While it leans liberal, the emphasis is on dialogue – my go-to example is when Jim Obergfell and Reince Preibus visited campus on back-to-back days, the Democrat and Republican clubs went to events for both, and there were no protests or attempts to silence anyone. For my kid, Denison was the “just right” school – 2200+ students, gorgeous town of Granville but still 25 min from big city opportunities, and innovative, cross-disciplinary academic offerings. Kenyon is a wonderful school, but was not “just right” for him. Feel free to message me with specific questions or follow up!
@mm5678 we have done a lot of research over the last year or so and have finally narrowed it down to 8 schools. Because of what is going on now, she decided she wants to stay much closer to home so eliminated schools down south and Florida from the mix and only focused on Northeast schools. She also wants a more University experience so has regular colleges and a mix of some art schools. We were planning to visit several of these schools during spring break and summer but of course everything was cancelled so we did a lot of virtual tours. Her final list is UPenn, Northeastern, Uarts, VCU, Pratt, Mass Art, Kutztown, and Temple.
Upenn is an outlier as she is a Philadelphia public school special admissions student. They have a special arrangement with Upenn that the select about 100 students per year from these schools ED and are given a little bit of an edge then regular admissions. I also work there so she would be considered a legacy on top of it. They have a great BFA progam with a focus on animation and also a Digital Design and Engineering degree program if you want to go that route. Northeastern she absolutely loves and highly recommend taking their virtual info session. The best one we have attended by far. They seem to have a great animation program. Of the art schools she likes Uarts the best as she has taken course there for the past three years and would be very comfortable attending. Kutztown is our safety state school which seems to have a well regarded art department and a major in digital art. Temple is safety if nothing else works out with her art and she needs to move in another direction. This would come into play if her art portfolio is not up the standards these schools require. She is working on it now taking a four week virtual program with Uarts.
This isn’t news to me, but the fact that so many EA schools don’t extend offers until after the RD deadline perplexes me. I have no doubt that ED schools would increase their yield if they notified students a couple of weeks earlier.
I can say with a lot of confidence if Tulane would notify D that she was admitted, at least 1/2 of the competing apps would go in the garbage. She would probably take Brown over Tulane, but if she still had a few hours left on her essays she might decide to not bother, especially given Brown’s acceptance rate. Her RD list might get cut from 15 to 4 or 5. And you never know if one of those may rise higher in the list over the spring. Really it would be in everyone’s best interest to notify them a week or 2 before the RD deadlines hit.
question for those of you whose kids are into CS and coding. My law partner has a son going into 9th grade and he was trying get a local grad student (CMU) who might be willing tutor/teach online to his son for extra money. He has totally struck out. I was wondering if any of you had a lead on someone that might fit the bill for him.
D21’s EA schools also notify after RD deadlines. I swear it’s just a way for kids to show interest without using ED so she will have those apps in for the EA deadline even though the timing on the answers is not very helpful.
The one thing that maybe makes them helpful, and we found this with S19, is (if you get an EA acceptance in Jan or Feb) you can go visit an an admitted student before RD answers come in and start getting excited about those EA acceptances. It’s hard to visit many schools after RD acceptances because you’re basically left with April to get out there. Having a few EA acceptances you can get behind before RD decisions start coming in March is helpful in that way. Even if this year is wacky and kids can’t visit, they can at least start digging into those EA acceptances in Feb and getting excited about them. Then, after RD decisions come in, you only have those to visit and compare.