Parents of the HS Class of 2026

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
4551

That is awesome news! I recently listened to one of the reps from Franke on Your College Bound Kid. It was a multi part interview IIRC - did you hear it? Sounds like an awesome honors college!

D26 plans to apply to a couple honors colleges, but its kind of dependent on how many additional essays there are and whether she feels she has a chance or not.

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4552

I think so! My kid’s school counselor was not involved for this particular application, as there were no LORs, official transcripts or school reports required to submit the application. I do not know whether the same is true of all schools that accept the STAR, however.

4553

I did! I was pretty excited about that interview because the Franke honors college dean said that they definitely take into account the rigor of classes that a student has taken, which helps D26’s situation for sure. :slight_smile: She’s been really worried that her C- in honors physics last year would do her in.

4554

One class, especially physics, should not be the be all end all - and I’m happy for your D26 that it won’t be! Physics is HARD. At our school most do not take it. So I think the fact your daughter challenged herself with that is awesome :slight_smile:

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4555

Honors programs/colleges vary so wildly at the schools on D26’s list that she’s having a hard time wrapping her head around them.

At one school, it’s required to apply to the honors college to be eligible to compete for their full-ride presidential scholarship (if you’re invited to do so). So she’s going to try. The honors dorm is supposedly much nicer, too.

At another school, there are minimal benefits – I think you get to register for classes one day early? – but otherwise it seems like a lot of extra work. She had to write a 150-word essay to apply. She did that, but halfheartedly.

And at yet a third, the honors college is a living-learning community. You pay a fee to join (after you write an essay and apply and get accepted) – and then you get to live in apartment-style housing where you have a single room and share a bathroom with only one other person. Since the freshman dorms at this school are terrible, this seems enticing.

In other news, we’ve been waiting for D26’s school to say something about national merit. No official word, but a friend of hers who is a junior congratulated her at school today saying, “Oh, my mom said she saw your name on the list.”

Well, I cannot find said list announced anywhere – and I follow all the school’s socials. It’s not in the local paper or in the city newspaper. So where the heck did they see it??

I finally found a random Reddit post where people are posting lists by state, so hooray, her name is indeed listed. I’m sure there are several more commended scholars, but they’re not on this list.

D26 and I are cracking up – did her friend’s mom see her name on a list someone posted on Reddit? :rofl:

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4556

There was a 1-hour Q&A session this evening w/the college counselors for 12th grade parents this evening. Here’s some highlights that I thought were interesting:

  • What are the benefits of a liberal arts college? (I didn’t take notes on this because my older kid attends one so we already know the benefits of LACs :slight_smile: )
  • our HS’s counselors are recommending that students plan on completing their apps 10 calendar days before the actual due date. Don’t submit on the actual due date. The Common App and many colleges’ websites (if you’re applying directly through the college’s own online app) lag, are slow, and even crash on the deadline date.
  • Counselors recommended to have the list of schools nailed down by the end of this month.
  • Remind your students that the counselors won’t be available during fall break and winter break. So if you need their feedback on essays, make sure to hit them up before winter break so you’re not panicking on 12/31.
  • FAFSA opens on 10/1 this year. A lot of schools that give out auto merit scholarships do require submission of FAFSA even if you don’t qualify for any need-based aid, so be aware of that.
  • Advice on prepping for college interviews & how to answer open-ended questions like “so tell me a little about yourself”: Dress business casual. Counselors usually have another teacher (who student doesn’t know) do the practice interview. do your HW on the college. Treat it like a conversation. Be prepared to ask a question. PRACTICE. Practice answering common questions like “Why do you want to attend here?” or “What do you enjoy studying in school” or “What are your strengths?”
  • This year’s group of seniors have lists that are far too reach-heavy. Students need to have more target schools on the list. Too many lists which are 99% highly selective/unlikely + 1 or 2 in state publics w/nothing in between. You shouldn’t apply unless you can name 5 specific reasons why that school is a good fit for you and prestige isn’t a good enough reason. Goal is to have options to choose from in the spring.

Plus they talked about how to structure personal statement essay:

  • should communicate something about the student that can’t be found in other parts of the app
  • should have values - does it reflect meaningful personal beliefs or priorities?
  • should have insight - does the writer show deep thinking or unique perspectives?
  • should have vulnerability - is the writer open and honest about their experience or emotions?
  • craft - is it well written, organized, and engaging?
  • 2 popular styles: narrative (follows clear storyline w/a beginning, middle and end); and montage (series of short, loosely connected anecdotes or snapshots).
4557

Re: this item -
Head counselor showed an example of a HS Class of 2023 student, who had stellar stats. 3.9 UW GPA, 1510 SAT. He applied (they didn’t use his real name) to 30 schools.

All but a couple were highly selective/unlikely schools. He got rejected from all of the highly selective schools. He pretty much applied to every Top 25 college/university. Rejected everywhere. Got accepted to Univ of Alabama and the in-state publics he applied to. Kid did NOT like anywhere he got accepted to.

Counselor flat out said, “Don’t do this.”

Talked to D24 about it this evening when she called. She said, “Oh yeah, I know that guy. He spoke at the ‘ask last year’s seniors questions’ thing in January and he said, ‘Don’t do what I did. That was dumb. I should have listened to the counselors’ advice.'”

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4558

Every once in awhile we get a kid or parent posting here on CC with the same story. I don’t think I’ve ever commented unless I have something very specific to offer – but I’m always torn between feeling terrible for the kid but also wanting to yell at them a bit, lol.

I think it’s very hard for tippy top students to understand that there are tens of thousands of students with stats just like theirs – and better – who are all applying to the same top 25 schools. And there are only so many spots. My D22 got a very nice waitlist letter back from Northwestern saying something like, “Your application was outstanding. But we got 60,000 applications for 2,000 spots. Nothing personal.” (Paraphrased obviously, and I don’t remember the exact numbers – but it was pretty much this.)

It often just comes down to luck. So yes – don’t do this!!

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4559

1 of D24’s classmates didn’t follow the counselor’s advice. Kid applied to the Top 25 + ASU. Got rejected everywhere but ASU, where that student is currently attending. Student is happy at ASU, but the entire senior year, that student bragged incessantly about her super high GPA & test scores and how she was bound to get in to a Top 25 school. March was a sobering month for that student.

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4560

This was one of the points that the counselors made at the presentation last night too. “Yes we know you have a 4.6 gpa [this is basically the highest weighted you can get at our school] and a 1600 and fabulous ECs but so do thousands of others. You’re smart enough to understand statistics and that applying to 10 schools with a <10% admit rate does not mean you will get into any of them”. Hammering home the importance of targets (which they define as around 50:50 chance) and likelies/safeties. They spoke about 1 “dream”, 2-3 reaches, 4-5 targets, 3-4 safeties (or something like that). The presentation last night was to parents, and it seemed there were a number of parents who needed to hear this too.

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4561

Congrats!

There were 6 from our high school - none of them kids I know. i know a couple of C26’s friends did very well on SAT and thought I might see them on that list (I have no idea what their PSAT scores were) but no - maybe because of the cutoff being higher this year (the number of NNSF this year is a bit lower than the last couple of years), maybe because I don’t think our school is one where students really prep for PSAT - more emphasis on actual SAT. I seem to recall the school usually includes the NMSF and commended list in the weekly news email, which goes out tomorrow.

4562

Thanks! There are 5 at our school – out of a class of 120-ish students.

D26 had a bit of an advantage because she prepped in spring of 2024 to take the June 2024 SAT. She did well, and then clearly she retained the info to take the PSAT that fall, lol.

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4563

Your understanding is spot on. Registration for Architecture students usually isn’t a problem. They’re such structured programs.