My father still talks about his freshman Physics class where his final grade was a 38% which was an A-
Seems like no one has learned anything in that particular example.
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I got a B in college calculus (33%).
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Not necessarily. Different colleges (and especially countries) treat exams differently. In the UK, where everything is based on end of year exams, 70% is an A (a first) in arts subjects. It is extremely rare to get a score as high as 80%. In my math exams, you took four 3 hour papers (back to back over 2 days) and could answer up to 7 questions on each. A first (A) required you to answer at least 13 questions correctly in total (so <50% of the maximum score), a second (B) required you to answer 6 questions correctly in total (so <25% of the maximum) and for a third or pass (C) you needed to answer 3 or 4 questions correctly in total. I certainly learned a lot that year, but the questions were a very long way from plug and chug.
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I love the imagery of a longer ramp. It also fits my S23 very well.
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And here I thought I was the only one 
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I took the Chemistry For Chem Majors series for no reason other than as an incoming freshman from a tiny high school I thought I was smart 
. (Big fish, small pond.) The average “B” on any given test in that class was around a 50%. I struggled through 4 semesters. In the fourth and last semester, which was the second semester of organic chemistry, after the final exam, the professor called me up. She asked if I was a chemistry major. I said no. She said something a long the lines of, “ok if you were a chem major I was going to give you a D for the class to make you rethink your chosen field. Since you’re not a major, I’ll give you a C. Just don’t take anymore chemistry.” To this day I don’t know what my final exam grade was but I’m guessing it had to be in the teens.
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I have a similar story, but a different subject: When I took a semester of Russian as an undergrad, I did well that semester except for that specific course, in which i struggled—to put it mildly—due to a number of personal issues that were weirdly connected with that specific class. At the end of the semester, the professor told me that he would pass me, but only if I promised to never, ever take Russian again.
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This is basically us too.
Good music schools…. Has she considered St. Olaf?
Thank you for the suggestion! St. Olaf is one of my secret favorite schools I’ve ever researched along with Rice. My D doesn’t have the stats for St O and it’d be hard to convince my husband to send her a plane ride away. U of Puget Sound is a plane ride but it’s only 2.5 hours from my hometown with friends and family close by. I really wanted her to like TCNJ because it’s medium sized with music ed and in state but she hated it. She’s happy with the 5 she originally applied to, it’s me who wants to add one more. DH likes Ithaca too when I told him about it especially because Susquehanna is so rural and small and the other schools are big state schools he’s afraid she’s going to just party like his brother did at one.
My D has some of the same schools on her list. East coast to west coast. I know a faculty member at UPS who is just fantastic as a scholar, teacher, and person. We don’t live in that area, but have connections to it too. And one of her friends decided to apply too. I wanted her to consider St. O and Macalester, but each got a no from her.
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All of the faculty we’ve interacted with at UPS have gone out of their way to be friendly and helpful. It seems like such a gem of a school. My D’s fear is that the music program is too small, she really wants to be surrounded by a large cohort of musicians. We’re planning on streaming the wind ensemble winter concert so she can get a better idea of the size.
Is she applying to Oberlin? My D is applying, but not to the conservatory.
She’s not applying to Oberlin or any of the bigger names in music schools except Ithaca. Here’s her list: Rowan, West Chester, UDelaware, Ithaca, Susquehanna (admitted not auditioned yet) and UPS (verbal offer after recent audition). We have budget constraints and she wants music ed and not a strict performance degree. I don’t think she’ll thrive in a very competitive conservatory but more of a collaborative program. Where has your D applied?
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Her list is so long! Ithaca is on it as are several others in NY and PA. Plus Oberlin and UPS. She has a range small to medium, safety to reach. Mostly SLACs. She’s interested in anthropology (maybe) and is hoping to be able to do theater without being a major. This process has been quite the learning experience. Times are so much different now than when I was this age, simultaneously easier and more complicated.
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It’s very wise of you to acknowledge what kind of setting your daughter might need to be able to thrive. We went through this with my oldest (music program) and she only lasted a year. It was too stressful for her. Trust your gut!
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Our d applied to 9 schools and she can see herself at all of them but definitely has top 3. We only let her apply to schools she really liked!!! We have told her from the beginning it all comes down to cost. Once she has all the final decisions we will revisit, look at program, housing, study abroad, internships, safety etc. Any colleges that don’t offer freshman housing on campus and any colleges that offer bridge programs will be scratched off. 17/18 year olds don’t realize how difficult and a burden it will be to pay student loans off in the future!! We dealt with this with my eldest. She had her heart set on a college that barely gave any $. In the end she went to a college that was a little further down the list but was able to study abroad and graduated debt free. She went on to get her MBA and bought a house on her own. As an adult now she said she wishes she went to the other school but is glad she had zero student loans. Now debt free except for small student loan for MBA and house loan. As a parent I need to remain very objective to help my d navigate the decisions she will have. Out of the 9 so far we have one acceptance and one defer. The defer is her no 1 and the acceptance is her no 2.
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I started the FAFSA and am a little confused. First I set up the account for my son, then I read online that I needed to set up a seperate account for myself as well which I did. Then when I click “parent” (tried this both from son’s account and my own) I received the following error message. Anyone know what I’m doing wrong?
Thank you. My D has a 504 plan an anxiety disorder so I’m trying to be mindful but letting her have agency. I hope your D has regrouped and found the path that’s right for her!
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Well that’s weird. I set up both accounts (mine and my son’s) and I logged in as the parent first to do the parent part and it worked just fine. Maybe log in as your son and do the student part first?
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