I don’t want to clog this up, I will make a new thread soon to get input. Thanks all!
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Which is fine, but this generally reads as “this student really wants to go here” vs a straight up RD. So it’s a plus on that column at the very least.
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Excellent point I hadn’t considered, agree.
So S24 was up late last night trying to optimize his possible class schedule. He is nervous because he was given a relatively late registration window, but still wants to get the best possible schedule. At the point he was thinking of changing his actual course selections to get a slightly better Tuesday/Thursday afternoon schedule or an optimized finals schedule, I was like, “Dude, if you can take the courses you actually want to take, with no classes before 10am, you’re good. Go to bed!”
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D24, who had a very early registration slot, has now mapped out all her classes and their building locations for each day. She’s looked up the time it will take her to get from one location to another (it’s the huge UGA campus), and there is one in particular that will be challenging. She says, “the map says 20 mins, but I can do it in 15!” I believe her. 
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D24’s fall schedule will be made for her by her departmental advisor (this is the case for all first years) and she’ll be notified in August. On the one hand, I’m happy that she doesn’t have to figure it out on her own yet, but my guess is it will be full of 8am classes. Oh well, she doesn’t yet really know any other way, as HS classes began at 7:26, so it will feel like a bit of a sleep in for her, I guess.
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Check Reddit and RateMyProfessor. Maybe one of the classes has a more flexible prof or they are leaving/going to a recitation/discussion period which isn’t as big deal
My S24 did the same at UMd and it isn’t so bad. But that campus is more dense
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Interesting- I got a survey from UTK this morning asking all about my opinion on the admissions process, where S24 ultimately landed and essentially why he picked that school over UTK. They asked how many schools he applied to, how many he was admitted to, how many he enrolled at (thought this was weird), where he is going and then a bunch of questions about what I thought of UTK’s admissions process, outreach, campus (we never visited), financial aid, etc. Anyone else receive emails from schools your kid is not attending?
Yup. We got surveys from 2 of the private schools she applied to.
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Market research - often it’s from third parties the school hires.
They want to know where they went wrong and why. Often times they haven’t gone wrong - but if you swing and miss with most of the folks you made an offer to, you’d want to know - how if possible - you can improve.
They likely do little with it - but it’ll answer some questions.
It’s not uncommon at all.
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S24 is keeping busy at work but chomping at the bit to start. He’s been spending time on a college campus nearby our house doing work, I guess it’s the closest thing for now.
Meanwhile with our new move I’m starting to feel like I’m going off to college. We get our expat buddy family this week and I’m going to have to be social for the next year like it or not. 
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My son also received these emails from several schools. They were all from top private schools, with high yield rates. I am guessing they want to know (amongst other things) who they are losing cross admit battles to, and why they are losing them. These schools are likely looking to improve certain characteristics to improve yield and/or further refine the process of selecting certain types of students to improve yield. These surveys also contain incentives to complete them, such as being entered into a random drawing of receiving a visa gift card if you complete it.
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courcisical.com can also be a helpful site on potential openings of particular classes and sections.
Yes my D filled out several and won $100 Amazon card from one of them.
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AP Scores came in, of course. D24 got a 5 in Lit, and 4s in all the others. She now has so much credit in the social sciences core that I’m wondering if she’ll actually get credit for all of it. She has fifteen credits, and the requirement in the core is 9. I’ll guess we’ll find out in a couple of months–no hurry on this one!
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IB scores came out this weekend. She did decent in all and good enough for the IB diploma. She has previous AP credit, so none of the IB scores would give her credit, regardless of the score. But she is happy to have the diploma just to say she got it.
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S24s scores were better than he expected. Good to know that senioritis was not as bad as we expected!
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D24 got her scores today. 4 in Calc AB, 4 in Bio and 3 in Physics 2. Some questions for the hive:
In looking at the equivalency charts for her school, I’m not sure if it is worth reporting scores. The 4 in Bio would let her get credit for 8 credits of general bio + labs, but her major does not require those courses. Is it worth it just for the credits?
The 4 in Calc AB would allow her to skip Project-Based Calc I and go into Calc II, but I am very hesitant to have her do this, as I think there is a lot of merit toward having a bit of a review and also learning how Calc is going to be taught in the context of her program. If she had scored a 5, I might feel more confident, but… I’m just not sure.
I’d appreciate any feedback, ESPECIALLY from those familiar with Engineering curricula.
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Depends at the school.
My kid came in a sophomore engineer but still took four years.
If nothing else, there might be advantages - like earlier registration if they get to the next level earlier - or credit for a gen ed even if it doesn’t decrease the graduation time. But that gen ed credit might free up space for a minor or two.
It will be school dependent. I don’t think you can get hurt taking credits - unless it advances you to the next class that you’re not necessarily ready for…which is a point you brought up on Calc 2. My kid had to WD after a 5 - but he swore the teacher was bad. He got an A the next time.
We sat in on a student panel at Colorado School of Mines and the kids specifically said - don’t take AP credit in core to engineering classes. Do them again here. My kid didn’t go there and didn’t listen. Others on here disagree with that guidance - but I wish my son had listened.
Talk to the advisor…but nothing wrong with repeating if you’re unsure.
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One of the reasons we didn’t require D23 or S24 to take AP exams in their AP classes is that all they would be able to get at the schools they were looking at was placement or elective credit. Since they didn’t want to skip core science classes, placement wasn’t a benefit.
D20 graduated with almost 30% more credits than she needed (almost all AP credit that was useless for either of her double majors or her minor).
The only time ‘extra’ college credits are useful (IME) is if a student has to take time off for any reason and the elective credits from AP courses help them still graduate on time.
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