@hesmall : Yes, colleges will request midyear and end of year grades for senior year. And yes, it’s crazy.
We went through a rough patch last year. 1st semester of senior year was decent, with B’s (mostly B minuses) and a single A in orchestra. 2nd semester started off with pretty much 50% absences in Jan, and worsening in Feb - some of which was due to traveling for auditions, some because of practice and lessons, and a good chunk due to stress and self doubt and mild depression. Little or no communication with teachers at school resulted in some pissed off teachers.
[Dropped out of a premier orchestra in mid Feb because of so much travel].
S dropped the AP-Stats course in late February as the schools drop date came close. Luckily the school counselor was understanding and worked with other teachers to cut S some slack. But we had to let colleges know about the dropped class. They asked for the reason for the drop, and then silence. We hoped for the best.
Auditions got done, March came around, and acceptances rolled in. No time now to make up for lost time and unsubmitted HW. It didn’t look like any grade would be better than a C, except orchestra (A, of course). This seemed like rescind territory, until we had a counselor call anonymously to ask about the possibility that he would be without a college after all the hard work - and was told that they didn’t care about the final semester grades unless it was worse than a C. That lifted a huge weight off, and S happily accepted his #1 choice of professor (violin perf) and school on 26th April.
Hang in there. It’s still early days. Try to keep lines open to school teachers - preferably your D does this - at 17 or 18, they’re expected to be “in-charge” whatever that means (mine wasn’t). Make an appointment with the school counselor this coming first week of the semester, and let them know what’s going on. Try to get in HW on time, or let teachers know when you will be gone since you do know the schedule at least a week ahead. Let them know HW submissions will be delayed. Try to reschedule tests. Focus on auditions and practice - that’s the most important thing going on right now.
Good Luck to your daughter and you ! Hang in there, it’s a 3 more months (agonizing, but it does come to an end).
@AmyIzzy still waiting on Frost as well. We requested mid Feb. I’ll have the kid e-mail on Monday if we don’t hear anything by then. He is an EA applicant too. I’m waiting for earlier ones so I’m not panicking over that one yet!
heard from Peabody about my pre-screening today. Auditioning in February! Some of you heard about my Thornton USC problems-basically hadn’t heard back from them about prescreenings yet. Called them yesterday; turns out the forgot to notify me of my audition! Good luck to everyone waiting on frost.
@gram22- Thanks so much for your extremely helpful reply to my question:). I have taken your advice and have contacted my D’s school asking for a meeting asap to discuss how her teachers can support her throughout these next couple of months. Fingers crossed that the meeting goes well!
My daughter finally received the Frost email at 8:05am today and she was invited to audition on February 8th for the MADE/CAM program. Yay!
She submitted her application and prescreen video to New School on 12/31 and received an email invitation to audition last night (currently set up for 3/7 to coincide with City College audition timing.)
So we went from the slowest college to respond to prescreens (Frost) to the fastest one (New School) all in less than 24 hours. My daughter is breathing a sigh of relief and feeling good. No more waiting-just focusing on conquering these final auditions.
So her final line up is:
CalArts 1/12 (auditioning in Chicago)-Performer/Composer Program (vocal)
Miami Frost 2/8-MADE/CAM (vocal)
New School 3/7-jazz and contemporary studies (vocal)
City College NY 3/9-jazz studies (vocal)
As for the senior year absences and potential grade drops, I strongly suggest that students talk to teachers in a proactive manner ahead of time. Not sure if your kids have “free” periods in the schedule (my daughter is lucky enough to have one this year) but those are a great time to make up work/tests ahead of absences if at all possible. As compared to many of you, my daughter will only miss a Thurs/Fri in February and a Thurs/Fri in March (assuming no illness comes into the picture during the next few months!) Teachers seem to cut some slack if students discuss with them ahead of time. The counselor can be part of the email/conversation chain too.
My daughter missed a few days in October for her CCPA audition in Chicago (she was also a finalist for American Idol and had to miss a few days for that during the same week!) It really killed her in a Syracuse University college-level English class she is taking. She screwed up a due date on an assignment and the teacher was firm on using the grading policy (one letter grade off for each day late.) She always does amazing in English, but this really hurt her grade. The teacher had to give her the low 1st quarter grade but told her things she could do in the 2nd quarter to make up for it and he can change the Quarter 1 grade if she really steps up her game, which she appears to be doing. I was close to making her drop the class but glad we had her stick it out.
I also feel that talent is the big determiner for our kids no matter what college we are talking about-so I think the admissions department will overlook a grade drop if the student can explain the situation and is strong enough in talent. However, some schools have strict guidelines on academic money so a drop from a 92% to a 90% overall average could mean a few thousand dollars less per year.
I think we just need to encourage our kids to be responsible in talking with teachers, making up work and being honest with colleges if it becomes an issue. We also want them to be physically and mentally healthy during this grueling process, so we have to prioritize those pieces while also supporting their academic efforts. We decided not to schedule a Math or Spanish class this year since her requirements were met and those were classes that seemed to cause the most stress and that has been a huge help. Hope that doesn’t make me a “slacker” parent but sometimes you have to support what’s right for your child given the big picture.
Congrats to your D @AmyIzzy!! Hopefully we can give you the Royal Tour at New School with my D! Hoping I can coordinate a visit with you all there as well and maybe @DrummerDad18 and his D. You have such a great and spread out audition schedule. That was some fantastic planning!!
Whew - we finally got Frost Notification for Feb 15! YAY! Momma needs some Miami this winter. I will be booking travel today probably. Kid has 4 lined up ready to roll, still waiting to hear from 3. If he could get 1 more I’d be super happy.
My kid is still hemming and hawing about doing a BA if he could assure lessons with a good teacher too. I do not regret having him apply wide as an atypical and multi-interested geeky academic VP applicant.
My S heard from Frost this morning! He has auditions at USC-Thornton, Oberlin and Frost. Just waiting to hear from Peabody. Travel costs are going to kill us but there’s nothing more I’d rather spend $$ on than helping the kid chase his dream.
Along with the rest of you folks, we got that Frost mail today. So we’re on for 2/8.
Which has the added benefit of being the same weekend as the Ground Up music festival hosted by my D’s favorite jazz fusion ensemble, Snarky Puppy.
It’s a nice tie back to when we went two years ago and she met the Dean from Frost at the festival. Their American Music Ensemble usually gets a slot on the side stage at the fest, so he was in the crowd. Now we’ll be back to audition and unwind at the fest after. Looking forward to some sun for sure.
So if I can just tie her to a chair to finish her New School essay this weekend we’ll be done with this phase and onto the next. Congrats to the rest of you and I know we’ll be seeing a bunch of you on the road at USC and Frost over next two months.
@DrummerDad18 – congrats! I am hoping my son gets his New School essay done this weekend too! The prescreening went in on 1/1, but that essay is still out there!
@DrummerDad18 and @“Bay Area Mom 2016” – my S is also a huge fan of Snarky Puppy and Vulfpeck, plus related acts such as Joey Dosik and Fearless Flyers. “Christmas in L.A.” was the de facto theme song in our house this past December.
Perhaps we’ll bump into you at Thornton, Frost, and/or New School (or NYU or Peabody if/when those come through and your kids are applying there).
BU prescreen results came through today and we are going to Boston! So many cold places for us in the next two months. And, thank you everyone for validating my fears of plane changes for Cleveland - turns out Pittsburgh is closer and the tickets were cheaper. So flying in and out of PIT and driving to Cleveland.