Piling on about Colgate. I’m LAC oriented and I always thought it would be a great fit for DD based upon my friends who attended, a nephew, and several other recent grads. Seems like a great place for a well-rounded, work hard / play hard oriented kid. She was admitted and their personal note stands out among all of her acceptances. If it were my choice, that’s where I’d go, but she prefers a larger, less remote school in a warmer climate.
Our student guide at Colgate actually made of point of mentioning how dance is very big on campus, because my daughter asked about cheerleading. Can’t remember exactly, just that there are many clubs and activities around dance at the school.
D loved the campus and the students we came across. I don’t know what she was expecting but she said they all seemed “normal”. Personally, I don’t know that it’s a great fit for my D (partly because everyone I know who went there was a recruited athlete), but it was a great campus.
@NJWrestlingmom for D21, normal would mean mainstream kids. And she’s definitely one of those. We looked at the dance options. There are a lot but they are all open to everyone which makes me wonder if any real dancers participate. We will find out more!
It’s a beautiful day here in Chicago. D21 just told me that the winter blues are a real thing and she just feels so great when it’s warm and the sun is shining. Then she said maybe that’s a sign that she shouldn’t go to college in the NE.
Every day it’s a new thing here.
I know you were interested in Colgate and Tulane. Both just announced going test optional for 2021.
And Richmond optional too so D21 is pretty close to a list that is all TO now: Richmond, Wake, Davidson, Colgate, Tulane, Denison, Santa Clara. The only main school not TO yet is BC. I’m keeping an eye on reach schools in her vein to see if they announce TO.
It’s not looking good for summer visits (for anyone) now and that stinks. I was even thinking we could suck up the long car ride and do the Richmond, Wake, Davidson swing but many schools have already called off summer classes on campus. If class on campus isn’t a thing in the fall then all 2021s are at a real disadvantage if wanting to apply ED anywhere. If fall is online, I wonder if colleges will still entertain prospective students at all. Maybe have one student who is still living on campus give an individualized tour so prospective students could still see the insides of some buildings in real life. Or maybe even people from the admissions office would agree to a meeting and/or a walk around of campus.
Right now, she seems to be leaning towards applying ED to one of the three NC/VA schools, EA to Tulane and Santa Clara and RD to Colgate, BC, and Dension. It might just be a matter or figuring out which school is ED1 and which is ED2. If ED1 doesn’t go her way, she’ll need to find more safeties.
I can’t wait to see how other 2021s are going to evaluate colleges and if ED will be used less now. Virtual tours and info sessions have been very helpful but I don’t see applying ED somewhere without getting on campus.
The CADA leadership camp she was supposed to attend in CA this summer was moved online. Bummer. Now her school is saying they likely won’t sponsor the kids to do the online version because her high school was planning on sending the yearbook editors and the student council leadership board but that board didn’t even get a chance to run this spring and the election won’t be until fall. D21 emailed the activities director to see if they would consider still sponsoring and paying for her and her co-editor to do the online version.
My S21 is applying to a lot of the same schools but some of his schools are still not TO. His reach schools still require scores. Are you still going to have her take the SAT or just forget about it? It has been a struggle to continue having him study for the ACT when so much is in the air. I wish they would just all go TO and he could move on!
@kanfly D will take SAT is it’s offered in person. She’s stopped studying for now since the next possible test in Aug is four months away. I hope they cancel these tests well in advance if they decide to cancel them so she doesn’t start studying yet again and then not have a test to take. I’m signing her up for August, Sept and Oct. We will see what happens. If the test is online, she will not bother.
I think, if testing is just online for both tests in the fall, more schools are going to go TO.
@homerdog We are in the same spot. I don’t see how the tests will be as valid if they are not in person. My son is studying for the ACT which will also likely be cancelled. I just wish they would just all declare TO. The uncertainty is driving him crazy.
@kanfly D21 went out for the first time yesterday where she had to wear a mask. Said she felt suffocated and it was kind of anxiety inducing. If the kids have to wear masks to take the SAT, she is out. We’ll just go with no scores I guess.
In the good news category, though, she was just declared a winner in the IATE (Illinois Association of Teachers of English) Prose Contest! About 15 essays are chosen in the state each year to be published. She’s thrilled! Her essay was titled “Make The Day Worth Something” and was written just after my husband lost a good friend to cancer. I haven’t read it but the friend who died was our neighbor and the father of one of D21’s friends. I think D21 was thinking a lot about living in the moment when she wrote it.
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Congrats to your daughter.
Congrats!
@homerdog That is fantastic! You should be very proud of her!
@kanfly Yes we are happy for her. And, honestly, since spring and summer ECs are pretty much cancelled, it was good for her to get a little something else to put on her apps. Fall may end up being a total wash as well for anything new. Yearbook did get printed this year but she’s worried about next year. As co-editor, she’s been working with her other editor and their teacher to figure out what next year might be like. If ECs don’t happen in the fall, that’s a lot less to cover. Normally, they would have their yearbook team out getting stories and photos of sports and clubs and fall would be really busy. Next year’s yearbook could be very different and they need to figure out what that could look like. Right now, she’s just bummed but I told her that it’s an opportunity to make a yearbook like no other yearbook.They just have to figure out what that would be.
@homerdog Congratulations to your daughter - very exciting!
@homerdog Congratulations to your daughter.
And I can understand why she feels the way she does about taking the SAT with a mask on - as if taking those tests isn’t anxiety provoking enough anyway. It sounds as if she has the grades and rigor to bypass using scores with so many of her schools going TO, so this whole covid-SAT testing mess may actually end up working in her favor. Many colleges acknowledge that grades and rigor are more correlated to college success than SAT/ACT scores are, so the fact that more schools are going TO for this year, at least, would seem to work in her favor. It doesn’t work in my son’s favor, unfortunately, since he homeschools and needs those scores to validate his grades/rigor, but for the kid like your D who has clearly shown throughout high school that she is a high achiever (but maybe wasn’t going to be able to get the SAT scores to reflect as much), this might all just swing in her favor. I’m guessing if masks are required, more students will go TO.
You’ve mentioned that she’s shown some interest in adding a reach school or two for consideration in the ED round…which reach schools excite her? (I apologize if I missed the mention of specific reach schools already).
@homerdog The whole yearbook thing must be an absolute nightmare. I was editor of the yearbook in high school and we spent so much time in the summer planning everything for the next year. I can’t begin to imagine how difficult this will be for her and others doing yearbook.
Regarding your comment about taking the SAT with the mask, I hadn’t even thought about it in that perspective! I’m sure it could interfere with their performance. It certainly would for me. I don’t even like grocery shopping with it on!
There was an interesting article written by Claremont McKenna saying that they are concerned with the validity of the SAT/ACT in the fall and are therefore going TO. I don’t even think they will consider those scores. That was the most definitive statement I have seen so far. https://www.cmc.edu/news/cmc-adopts-sat-act-test-optional-policy-for-fall-2021-applicants
My son is still signed up for the ACT but knowing it will likely be cancelled. I just wish all of the schools on his list would go TO and we could just be done with it. It is causing so much stress with the unknown.
Class rank, grades, ECs, teacher recs, writing skills, ability to be full pay, and ED are likely to be the major admissions factors over the next two years.
Few trust at-home standardized testing.
Agree with this. I would add those from ‘known’ high schools, both public and private, may also have more of an advantage than they normally do. Just my conjecture.
CMC said they will accept SAT/ACT from the fall, but not from any home-based tests.
The GRE & GMAT (for MBA programs) announced earlier that at-home testing would be permitted.
Test takers cannot wear any type of head or facial covering.
Test takers must use their computer camera to show remote test proctor a sweep of the room to show noone else is present & that no extraneous materials are present.
@nichols51 Not sure about reachier schools. Vanderbilt was the only one she threw out there. When I look at Naviance and just consider her GPA and her weighted GPA, she’s definitely in the mix of kids getting accepted. Vandy tends to like the ED kids from our school and waitlist all RD kids. Something like four or five kids got off the the Vandy waitlist from our school last year and now attend though. They all reached out with extra rec letters and letters of continued interest. Two families we know actually flew down there to meet with admissions right after being offered their waitlist spot and got their acceptance the next day.
We really haven’t talked about it much or thought about what other schools she might like that have lower acceptance rates. It would change things a bit and definitely make her plan more risky since she’d only have ED 2 left to shoot for more of a high match or match. And, right now, Vanderbilt still wants test scores.
@kanfly the yearbook theme they had picked out, The Roaring 20s, is not going to happen. Yikes on that. Not even close. So, it’s not just the theme, it’s the content that they will need to brainstorm. They will start working with their teacher on it in June.