<p>Evenso I know that does not mean much. However, this uncertainy until next March (or is it April?) for RD decision is very hard on me. </p>
<p>BTW, what weight does the GC's recommendation letter has? In the recent parent/teacher conference, I talked to GC about how DD worked on staging crew rather than her ACT preparation and how she started a recycling program by herslef etc. I said that only by his recommendation that schools will know things like this. He said he is using languages such as "such a student comes once every 20 years" in D's RL. </p>
<p>Double BTW, does school admission call HS GC? In the same conference, GC said xx school will give her an excellent package. I did not press for details at the time but it sounded like Adm and GC have talked.</p>
<p>You definitely need to chill out and have a glass of wine (even though it's the am)....If apps are done, it is what it is....Whatever control you think you want, need, have over this process, there is a time where you need to say, "It's out of my control"..Maybe you need a hobby....You are also going to drive your child insane (if you haven't already)..based on what I have read of your posts, your daughter has a better set of stats than 99% of the applicants...It truly is out of your hands now.....</p>
<p>I think there are many people here who are like me and won't open a chance thread. It seems like the GC at your child's school has given you plenty of information...why would anonymous people on the internet do better?</p>
<p>Recs are very helpful. The way I see it, the transcript tells me how a student fulfilled the requirements of the courses. The recommendations tell me how they went about doing that and what their style is.</p>
<p>We'll call a GC if something is unclear. It sounds like your child's GC was making a prediction based on experience with the process.</p>
<p>Thanks, Dean. Hope his prediction comes true. </p>
<p>Since the Math II event, I have really, really stepped back. For example, I did not even ask for ID to log on ACT to see her score this time. All I do now is pretty much handing out credit card and doing some coaching about interviewing.</p>
<p>Dad II, my son left a tent early on Sat. morning (Boy Scout camping trip) to take the SAT, then returned immediately after the test to the camping trip. (Actually three of his camping friends drove with him to the SAT site that morning.) I can assure you there was very little sleeping going on Friday night. You are mistaken if you assume that every other kid who takes the SAT/ACT is going to bed at 9pm after doing a last minute review of a practice test. </p>
<p>The question about contact between gc and adcom always makes me wince. Our guidance counselors told me that they never, ever, speak to adcom even if they call with a question because it would be "a violation of our privacy rules"!! It is a wonder any kid from our schools ever goes anywhere other than state U.</p>
<p>Relax now. It is all out of your hands. Even if admissions/scholarships/fa do not work out like you think they should, it is OK. Trust me. Your daughter is bright and energetic and will make her way.</p>
<p>
[quote]
such a student comes once every 20 years
[/quote]
</p>
<p>A statement like this means astronomically more imo than an attempt to explain why an ACT should be higher. Drawing attention to the supposed weakness, the supposedly low ACT, will imo tend to dilute the strongly positive message.</p>
<p>Imo, the GC sounds like he knows what he is doing.</p>
<p>Adad, I did not mean to ask GC to explain her less than perfect ACT. I just want GC to use his RL to show DD is very involved in all aspects and will do things to enhance others before her own. I guess the statement GC used expressed what I want him to.</p>
<p>However, I am not sure about how much "comes once every 20 year" will impress adcom. Another D's teacher used "best student in his 30 year education career". Another teacher has tears in her eyes talking about how much she likes D in her AP class. </p>
<p>There are 1,000s HS out there and there will be many of this "comes once every 20 year" students, I am pretty sure. At the end of the day, it is still the scores and GPA that counts.</p>
<p>Yes, there is little in the admissions process that will allow a college to conclude that an applicant is nearly nonpareil, matchless.</p>
<p>But that kind of distinction is unnecessary. DD's goal, I trust, is to be offered one of hundreds/thousands of places at her top schools. Remarks such as you are describing will imo help in a significant way towards that objective. There may be hundreds of students across the United States who can credibly be said to be 'the best in twenty years', 'the best in thirty years', but there are not tens of thousands of such students.</p>
<p>Your GC sounds like he's done his best to write a stellar recommendation. The waiting is awful. You may get pretty mixed results like we did. Three rejections (one of which was his first choice), one waitlist, and four acceptances. But my son had four great choices and seems to be very happy where he is. His application wasn't perfect, but it was pretty darn good. There are few perfect kids out there.</p>
<p>DadII....while college admissions comes with anxiety and it is something you have no control over for your child and so I know what that feels like, having had two children of my own go through it and now one of mine is applying to very competitive graduate programs, I do think you need to chill and step back a bit. </p>
<p>From all I have read about your D.....she has very high test scores and GPA and rank. Check! She's got it, no problem in that area. Her scores and grades won't keep her out and in fact, they put her in the "considered" pile. Granted, at highly selective schools, many will make this "cut" of high achievement. Trust me, as I have posted many times on your threads, a point this way or that way on her test score is NOT what is going to make the difference. She is ALREADY in the "plus" pile on that count. </p>
<p>What IS going to make a difference are things like you just revealed....how her GC and a teacher are writing recs stating she was the best they had in 20 years, etc. While there will be other kids in the country with such a rec, there won't be tons of them as 'the best' means, well, the best in that school, for whatever reasons. Believe me, statements like that on a rec are going to propel her more than another point on the ACT!! Her scores are already well in the ballpark. You come across obssessed with the scores. Scores alone don't get you in. Comments like you mention that the recs state about her, are precisely things that tip her more into the "in" pile! I read my D's recs and guidance counselor report as they shared them and she also got "best in my career" and "best ever in the school" which astounded me as there are lots of super kids who have gone through the school. But I feel quite certain that such comments on a rec definitely were on the plus side of the equation when so many students already have good grades, rank and test scores. You seem to think so much is about the scores. If that is what selective colleges went by, then they'd take the top scorers off the pile. But they don't. Some kids get in with a 32 ACT and others are denited with a 35 ACT. It only matters to be in the right ballpark. After that ,it is these other things that tip one into the "in" pile at a selective school. </p>
<p>If your D has an appropriate college list that is well balanced, she is going to get in somewhere. There is not more you can do and just believe in her and know that very talented kids do get denied at top schools but if they really are super (and your D seems to be!!), then they will likely get into some of their schools. You'll have to wait and see which ones those are. There is more than one school where your D can be happy and will thrive. If she likes her list of schools, she is all set. If she is pining away for one highly selective school, she is surely in the running, but it is very chancy at the top schools and if she is denied at some, it won't be due to not being "good enough," but simply the difficult odds. That's the nature of the beast.</p>
<p>I think the impact of phrases like "best in my career" or "best in 20 years" depend a lot on the credibility of the letter writer. I know of an english teacher who uses these sort of superlatives all the time. D's friends who interviewed at a top 10 school said the interviewer there actually joked about this teacher's crazy over-the-top hyperbole. The GC in question sounds like a level-headed type, though. Should be a big help.</p>
<p>While I agree that the hyperbolic rec writer will be dinged, if the kid is coming from Unknown High and has the resume to match the rec, I wouldn't underestimate the power of of a calculus teacher saying "in the top ten kids in my 22 year career". If that is combined with the math departmental award, a history of taking courses beyond the school's highest offering and making A's in those courses, plus some outside "wins" and awards , I think it can be very persuasive. Especially for a girl with a math rec that says that. ;)</p>
<p>Remember folks. They aren't reading that rec in a vacuum. They are reading it in context.</p>
<p>I think I remember at least one college, maybe more, whose teacher recommendation forms have a multiple choice check-the-box: one of the best in this year's class, the best in this year's class, the best in several years, the best in my career. To some extent, recommendation letters are like grading olives: "extra large" means pretty small, but "super jumbo" does mean really big. There is a professional patois for these things, and epithets like this are part of it. Your GC was trying to assure you that your daughter was going to get a super jumbo grading. Congratulations.</p>
<p>As for what it means . . . it's probably hard to say. Depends on the college , the school, the GC, and the relationship, if any. Obviously, if a GC tells the same college that three kids are the best in the last 20 years, or if the GC is 24, the designation may not carry that much weight. If the GC has been sending recommendations to the same admissions officer for a decade, and has never been so effusive, that probably really means something. But, in any event, it will mean more than if the GC merely said she was extra large.</p>
<p>One question for the experienced ones. Where do you stop in terms of listing of awards etc. DD's list is very long.</p>
<p>For example, she just received the "most improved" award for her XC runs. With her less than 5 ft height, she wanted to do XC for the challenge. From last season (her 1st XC season) to this season, she cut her time by over 4 minutes. </p>
<p>Is it worth while to submit awards like this to schools to which her application is already in?</p>
<p>DadII,
DS left a lot of school-level award stuff off the resume and left it at one page. He wanted to make the big things really stand out and have room to write about some of them (and he is fortunate to have earned some very nice awards). At this stage, with EA apps submitted, the only thing he would contact a college about now would be an award which is in an area outside of where he's already won things, or a really big award in his area of strength.</p>
<p>DS took his SAT-II World History test while at a major competition in another state two time zones away. He still survived! :)</p>
<p>I also think your D will have great results for admission. You need to keep in mind financial safety if you will need help with that, as most people do.</p>
<p>Dad II - Yes. we played with the sites. The reach, match and safety are not accurate. Certain schools are always reach for everyone (HYPMS and many others). Once D's scores and grades hit top 25% they all showed as match. We used that as an indicator that the school would at least read the application. It was used more to see who offered programs in interest area.</p>
<p>I am playing out my neurosis here. My daughter still has two supplements to finish and they should go out today. </p>
<p>She is not agonizing. She will hear from Stanford on Dec 15 and two other schools will inform her whether they are going to interview her for special scholarships that week.</p>
<p>My daughter's GC is an airhead that just moved over from the middle school two days before school began because her predecessor was fired for not getting the Secondary School Reports in to Yale and other Ivys last year. She doesn't know her and we already were notified by Stanford that they did not get the Secondary School Report yet. Deja vu. If it was not sent, they will get it from someone much higher up in administration that has known her for years.</p>