Class of 2011 Official Thread

Parent Cafe
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<p>There's an essay fairy?! Send her to my house ... PLEASE!!!!! I got my daughter to start the common app before school began (all 11 schools use it, thankfully). She finished everything but the activity info & essay. Once school started, she chose 2 teachers for recommendations & gave them the forms. The recs have been finished & sent. The activity info is pretty much finished (I reminded her of some other things to put in & NMS and AP honors have just come in). </p>

<p>Unfortunately, she just can't get herself motivated to do the essay. She has decided that she has nothing to say that anyone will want to read. She knows better, but has convinced herself otherwise.</p>

<p>She spent the night at DePauw last week & had a great time. She told me she is really looking forward to college now. I thought that might translate into doing her essay ... no such luck. Next week, she flies to Memphis to visit Rhodes. MAYBE she'll finally get inspired to do the darn thing after that.</p>

<p>Mom has always been there to help. Maybe that's the problem. But this one is all hers. I know she can handle it ... I'm just waiting until she figures that out for herself. In the meantime, I would be willing to pay that fairy to stop by our house ...</p>

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<p>kelsmom:
I too have kids who were reluctant to get off the start line with the essay. Although they were forced to write two essays in English class, both kids hurried through them just to get them out of the way, and then felt they were totally unsatisfactory. (Plus, after reading them, I did not get the impression anybody had bothered to tell the English teacher what should be in a college essay.)</p>

<p>Anyway, I can't remember how son #1 got his done, but for son #2 I finally told him he could not audition fo the school play until his essay was done. It did force him to get a first draft on paper! He is a good writer - he just couldn't think of an idea (or just didn't want to do it I suppose). Once that was done it was easy for him to look at it a couple of times, get some other opinions, and finish it off.</p>

<p>Here are a couple of links by Carolyn that I found very good (and they're not too long):</p>

<p><a href="http://collegehunt.blogspot.com/2005/06/telling-your-story-admissions-essays.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://collegehunt.blogspot.com/2005/06/telling-your-story-admissions-essays.html&lt;/a>
<a href="http://collegehunt.blogspot.com/2005/06/telling-your-story-admissions-essays_13.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://collegehunt.blogspot.com/2005/06/telling-your-story-admissions-essays_13.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>

That's exactly what I did, and looking back I want to kick myself for not putting more effort into it. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>I just came back from Bryn Mawr's Fall Preview Days where I had a really good time. Everyone (current students and prospectives alike) was SO NICE! It's not my first choice, but I'd be more than happy to go there if I don't get into any of my reaches.</p>

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<p>Congratulations to everyone whose kid has finished his/her applications...I'm really jealous....and already acceptances are arriving for some of you! Yikes! We're extremely behind, and so without further ado....</p>

<p>Screen name: HeliMomNYC (hovering over kid since 1989....)</p>

<p>Kid male or female: male</p>

<p>Home state: NY</p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: Northeast, Midwest, not-too-south South </p>

<p>Specific preferences: His: not too hot. Mine: not too far away. or too expensive. or drunken. or sports-obsessed. (<em>looks at list below and laughs</em>)</p>

<p>Academic interests: Are video games an academic interest?</p>

<p>Schools on child's list of possibilities: Cornell (hah), UVa, NYU, William & Mary, Michigan (father alum), Penn State, UNC Chapel Hill, Binghamton, Wisconsin (Madison), and Fordham</p>

<p>Schools visited: All on above list except UNC, Madison and Fordham, which was just added recently. S hasn't seen Ann Arbor since we moved away from it when he was four years old. Will visit MI, UNC and WI if he's accepted.</p>

<p>Senior year courseload: AP English Literature, AP Logic & Comp, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus, Physics, and PE.</p>

<p>Grades and tests and stuff: School doesn't report GPA or class rank, but it's an extremely competitive urban public HS and he's a laid-back-don't-kill-yourself-studying kid. GPA maybe 3.4 uw. NM semi-finalist, hopefully finalist, who knows? SAT score lower than predicted by PSAT: 680/670/730. (Kid got tired.) 3 SAT IIs (Am. Hist, Math, Bio), all in the 660 range. 3 AP exams (Am. Hist, Psych, Bio) 5/4/4.</p>

<p>ECs, not so much. Couple hundred hours community service, couple of clubs at school. Yikes.</p>

<p>So that's us. Hope nobody minds if we share the board with you on this journey. Posting will give me something to do besides yell at kid, study scattergrams obsessively, and tear out hair. Thanks!</p>

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<p>haven't posted since page 1, post 15 (Jan 06).....spent a good part of the summer touring, or should I say shopping, with my S. In fact, it took the whole summer to pin down his preferences, but he is pretty clear now on what he wants in size, campus life, academic opportunities, etc.</p>

<p>Here's what I reported way back when on his list:
Bowdoin, Colby, Williams, Conn College, Vassar, Skidmore, Penn, Brown, Davidson, Colorado College, UC Berk, Wesleyan, Trinity, U Colorado, Vanderbilt.....the list obviously morphed a bit since that January 06 time frame, dropping a few & adding some more based upon some web exploration & discussions with his GC & friends.</p>

<p>This summer we visited: Vanderbilt, Emory, Wake, Berkeley, Stanford (just for grins), Conn College, Trinity, Skidmore, Boston C, Tufts, Brown, Colgate, Williams, Bowdoin, Colby, Bates, Middlebury, Vassar, UVa, Richmond, & Dartmouth. Couldn't get to a few like Kenyon, Denison, Chicago, & Northwestern. Had previously visited Penn, U Md, Dickinson, Wesleyan, & Davidson.</p>

<p>So what its down to now: Middlebury (this surprised me a bit), Dartmouth, Williams, Vanderbilt, Trinity, Skidmore, Denison (maybe), Colgate, UVa, Emory (maybe), Northwestern (maybe), & Tufts. Not the most balanced list, but it will have to do!</p>

<p>Plenty of sports recruiting interest, but unfortunately from schools that are not highest on his list, so he will likely not be getting tip help from his reaches. He's resolved to go for his best fit regardless of potential sports involvement. I must say that the whole sports recruiting thing adds a significant level of complexity to the process.</p>

<p>Another observation as the summer progressed....the lightbulb periodically flared as we progressed thru the list, and both he & I would react favorably to a visit to put it near the top of the list immediately after the visit. Often, given a bit of reflection time, the first-reaction charm would slowly wear off...this happened with a few that moved into #1 spot, like Bowdoin, where S loved the school, but realized after seeing many others later that 1700 undergrads was just too small. In all, it was a long process, but I'm glad we went thru it, as S now has a profound appreciation for the nuanced differences between his listed schools.</p>

<p>He's way behind the 8-ball on applications. Started working on a bit of the main essay, but not much. Deciding now whether to go early to Middlebury. Retaking SATs this coming weekend....fingers crossed, but of course he won't know his scores before the 1st pre-app commitment paperwork is due. I'm dusting off my dice now.</p>

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<p>entomom - I'm a little skeptical of the student who says he was admitted to Wisconsin. He says he was admitted three days after going Complete, which would be an astounding turnaround. And he claims to have been admitted to the Business School, but freshman cannot be admitted to that school. He's the ONLY one to claim an Accept so far. We'll see.</p>

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<p>Hi Roscoe,
I'm unfamiliar with the usual timeline for Wisconsin, seemed fast to me too. However, LEDad reported on the official acceptance thread that his son got in a few days ago, so it looks like some are coming through. My D is still waiting on her GC recc, almost a month after he promised it would be done, so I'm not holding my breadth!</p>

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<p>Last night S scrapped his essay and whipped out a new one on a totally different subject, in a totally different voice. He just sat down and started writing. I love the new one! So maybe there's hope for the procrastinators out there.</p>

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<p>PapaChicken:
Oh my gosh. You have to win some sort of prize for the most campus visits. Yikes. I feel like a real slacker now!!! I think that initial thrill and then the later second thoughts are normal. I think I've felt that with almost every school. You have to just try to remember what you liked about the school in the first place.</p>

<p>If you want any info on Denison let me know.</p>

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<p>"So maybe there's hope for the procrastinators out there."</p>

<p>I'm still waiting for Essay version 1.0.</p>

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<p>Papa Chicken, we visited Denison last February and found it to be very friendly. We visited Kenyon that same day, and it just didn't have the same friendly feel (although the classes seemed excellent). Also visited Northwestern --- no merit aid & just a bit too large for our D (she doesn't want large classes), but we LOVED it!!! The place is beautiful, the kids are nice, the whole vibe is great, and Chicago is terrific. </p>

<p>And for those of you whose kids are interested in Wash U and haven't been there, it's also wonderful. Again, too large for D, but just a great place. The surrounding area is excellent, the campus is gorgeous, the dorms are all in one place (and they are so nice), food is good, etc.</p>

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<p>I just discovered this thread, so I thought I'd join in, even though the party's already started. And I'm very impressed at how far some of your kids are in the process. So far, no apps submitted from our house, and still working on the essays.</p>

<p>Screen name: blackeyedsusan (originally from MD, where this is the state flower)</p>

<p>Is your Senior male or female: Male</p>

<p>Home state: Texas </p>

<p>Preferred geographic location for college: no preference </p>

<p>Any specific things looking for in a college: suburban or urban; research university</p>

<p>Child's possible academic interests: computer engineering, computer science or electrical engineering </p>

<p>Schools applying to (in no particular order):</p>

<p>Stanford (EA)
Univ of TX - Austin (auto admit; top 10%)
Rice
Cornell
Carnegie Mellon
Johns Hopkins
USC
Vanderbilt
Wash U
MIT
Princeton</p>

<p>Schools we've visited: Tulane (before they did away with their engineering program), Tufts, Brown, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Penn, Vanderbilt, Wash U (twice - once for regular visit, once for engineering open house); Stanford, Cornell, USC, Carnegie Mellon (for sleeping bag weekend). Whew!</p>

<p>Senior Year Courseload: AP Calculus BC, AP Physics, AP Literature, Economics, AP Computer Science, Journalism II, Advanced Photography (independent study) </p>

<p>SAT: 760 CR, 750 Math, 740 Writing (2250)
SAT II: 800 Math 2C, 740 Physics, 720 US History, 700 Chem
PSAT: 214 (not NMSF in Tx) </p>

<p>EC's of Note: Editor-in-chief of newspaper, photograpy awards (including national recognition), summer research in computer science (2005- at MD Anderson Cancer Center; 2006 with a computer science professor at Rice University)</p>

<p>Hopefully we'll survive this process! Good luck to everyone!</p>

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<p>Hi and welcome BES! Don't worry, though the party is almost over for some, most of us are just arriving! And your son is in at UT for sure, that must be a good feeling. My D just visited WUSTL a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed the campus and the students, she's definitely planning to apply there too. She is also interested in Rice but won't be able to visit before applying, so any information from a local is always appreciated. Your son sounds like a great kid and he's obviously spent some time putting together a very well thought out list. Hope the essay fairy visits you soon, keep us posted!</p>

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<p>Hi BlackeyedSusan! My son missed the NMF cutoff in Texas, too. (215 - dang, one question more correct, and both your son and mine would have made it!) My son is also looking at Rice (his sister attends), but if not, is probably headed to Trinity or UT (top 10%) / Tech /or maybe, but not likely, A&M.
Scores 690CR/ 800 Math / 730 Writing (2220). Took it a second time on the 14th and is hoping for a better CR score! SAT II: 780 Math 2C / 800 Chem. Very few ECs, but a really great kid. 6th/460 at solid public HS. I KNOW we will survive the process, especially this time, since DS's aim is lower. I took my screenname when beginning the process with DD 4 years ago - she was aiming at mostly more selective schools and I had never dealt with the whole college app / college paying thing before. Now I should change my name to "fairlyrelaxedmom", but I don't know how. Good luck to all!</p>

<p>edit: Entomom. You can P.M. me if you have any questions you think a parent might be able to answer about Rice. DD is a junior there (studying abroad in Chile now), and I've visited campus several times and communication with DD flows freely about her experience there.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the welcome. If I knew there was an essay fairy I wouldn't have been bugging my son so much!</p>

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<p>I'm pretty sure the essay fairy will make a frantic express stop on November 28th... :eek:</p>

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<p>The essay fairy finally came visiting this week. I think he finally has a good enough essay. (It could use a better last line, but it's very close.) Yay!</p>

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<p>anxiousmom -- please let us know what you think of Trinity U after your visit; I have a son who's a sophomore that I think would be a good fit for a smaller school. I'd love to hear more about it. Also, is your daughter happy at Rice? Everyone I've met who goes there seems to really love it, and they're all so friendly too.</p>

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<p>Yay, we had a visit from the essay fairy, too. Not on the topic I would have expected, but on something meaningful to him. Now all he has to do is get the supplemental one done -- 13 days and counting. Oh, and I share the NSMF frustration; my son's 218 was enough in California until this year when the cutoff shot up three points to 219.</p>

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<p>Would you have the essay fairy PM me so I can send him/her my address? Based on her sister's performance two years ago I expect my yonger D to write and rewrite at the last possible moment. The two of them have a combination of their mother's perfectionism and their father's tendency to be a slacker (Is that slackerhood or slackerness?) There will be a series of running back and forth with the essays asking for critiques, all of which will be rejected because she knows she's supposed to write the essay herself. Last to be rejected will be my suggestion that she send a particular version of the essay because the hour is late and this one looks pretty good to me. (OK, I'm tired, and the sentences are all complete.) There will be one more version written and then a mad dash to the mail box across town with the latest collection time.</p>