<p>Has anyone received instructions regarding Welcome Day II for waitlist? We were told we had to go on next Wednesday, but have not received specific information. Also, is the application website not working?</p>
<p>@alove74: We are on the wait list too (after appealing). The only thing we saw was the statement on the status page that Wait List students were to come to Welcome Day II on May 2. We received no further communication via email, mail or the status page.
Also, my daughter said that she could not log on to the application site today, so the above information was viewed a few days ago. Hopefully they will email more specifics, such as the time they are to arrive and what if anything they are to bring.</p>
<p>If you find out more, please message us or post here and we will do the same!</p>
<p>To those attending Welcome Day I, those currently enrolled or who are alumni…is this type of communication (or lack thereof) typical of NCSSM???
T</p>
<p>@taben: Have you seen a letter in the mail from NCSSM? The specifics for Welcome Day 1 came in the mail this week. I would be on the lookout over the weekend. If there is nothing by Monday, you need to call.</p>
<p>Sent from my ADR6350 using CC</p>
<p>Hi! I’m a finalist from District 8. Has anyone else taken their Spanish/French online placement tests?</p>
<p>@aks1996: I did not take the Spanish/French test (never had either and going for Latin), but my friend took it and struggled. She will be in Intro Spanish in the fall.</p>
<p>Sent from my ADR6350 using CC</p>
<p>@taben1112. I spoke with an admissions adviser. Welcome Day II is scheduled from 8-4pm on May 2nd. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>My son is also a finalist, but I have to say that while we were initially on cloud 9 when we found out, reading some of the threads on CC has cooled off my enthusiasm quite a bit. Shanidar’s posts particularly made my heart sink. I’d love to think that he’s in the minority in feeling disappointed in his experience, but he brought up some very valid points and there were a few others who seem to share his point of view. LutherSetzer, I also appreciated your posts and Youtube videos immensely, although they again left me with a pit in my stomach. Regardless, I am grateful for the input as it has prompted us to take a closer look both at the school and at our own specific situation to evaluate the “fit” of the school a bit more critically.</p>
<p>We accepted the invitation and are going to Welcome day tomorrow, but we have lots of questions… For instance, we’ve pinned down a 2 yr plan at our current charter school and tried to create one for NCSSM to compare. I’m hoping to be able to discuss it with an advisor. </p>
<p>We’re in district 13 and our son will be finishing up Algebra 2 which means he will go into Pre-calc next year (barring any hiccups on the test tomorrow), although he has had 3 years of French, it sounds like the online assessment test is a bit quirky, so he might have to repeat that 2nd year which would be disappointing. And not having had either physics or chemistry, I’m assuming he would be in the lowest classes as well. I can’t help but wonder if that will affect him negatively next summer when he applies to college when by comparison he’s set to take 3 APs (AP Physics, AP Language and Comp, and AP US History) this coming year at his current school. </p>
<p>For the ones who have had experience with the academic advisors, in your experience, do you feel that they are responsive to parents/students wanting to discuss these things. I understand the communication can be spotty like in any other educational institution and that it’s important to be assertive, but once you do get in touch with the right person, is there an atmosphere of genuine cooperation? Are the advisors approachable, open? Do they welcome a parent’s desire to be involved in guiding their child (and/or being an educated sounding board for their child) in planning these next 2 years and beyond? Or is the general attitude one of politely keeping parents at arms length? Does the administration would prefer you back off and not ask questions?</p>
<p>I have spoken to a parent in our district whose kids go to NCSSM (the child simply said he loves it there but did not expand beyond that). Beyond, making sure her son’s has adequate spending money, she’s not involved in any way in his class schedule. She has no idea knowledge of a 2 year plan and feels that the whole thing is handled perfectly fine at the school without her involvement. If it’s a matter of personal choice, that doesn’t bother me, but if parents are in fact encouraged, in subtle or not so subtle ways, to stay out of their kid’s life, that concerns me. </p>
<p>Any thoughts? (besides pointing out that I might be “slightly” over-protective? :D)</p>
<p>@LutherSetzer, Thanks! That is precisely my worry. </p>
<p>Although his current school does not have the renown of NCSSM by any stretch of the imagination, it does offer the AP classes he’s interested in and would be logistically able to take (AP English, AP Calc B, AP Physics, AP Chem, AP Econ, AP US History and AP Stats). Moreover, he is very happy there socially and while he may not be surrounded by extremely motivated peer, he has found a group of 10-12 peers who do want to excel and with whom he competes/collaborates. </p>
<p>The big draw is the impression that by going to this more rigorous/notorious school, he will have many more college options at the end of two years; that he will look more interesting and competitive simply for having attended the school (provided he keeps his grades as close to straight A’s as possible). </p>
<p>He’s not worried about having to work hard to keep good grades, he’s excited at the idea of meeting new kids and creating deep friendships with very intelligent self motivated kids his age and he’s willing to leave home to experience that, but I have to say that he’s not chomping at the bit to leave home for its own sake (the way I was at his age). He’s game for it if that means many more colleges will want him and/or if his going there results in better offers from colleges.</p>
<p>Thanks LutherSetzer, it’s a great thing to keep in mind. A friend of ours, a very successful attorney in Manhattan, shares your views about the fallacy of attending a prestigious college whole heartedly. He made a very good point that it might be much wiser to save that money for grad school should the child decide to go that route. </p>
<p>Still, I wonder if attending NCSSM opens more local doors now that even in-state colleges have become more competitive. If I remember well, UNC Chapel hill only accepts 30% of in state applicants. Yet, many NCSSM grads end up there. Would they have ended up going there anyway? I wish I knew more alums so I could ask them if they felt they would have fared better by staying in their previous school or if attending NCSSM give them a boost.</p>
<p>Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!</p>
<p>How did you all feel about Welcome Day today? I felt it was amazing, even though the early start time was unnecessary. I bombed the Chem test, but felt I did really well on the math test. Just a wonderful day for me.</p>
<p>Sent from my ADR6350 using CC</p>
<p>@evan</p>
<p>Welcome Day was…polarizing. If you went out with the mindset that you were going to love it, there were enough things to reinforce that and make you leave happier than when you came(which is what I assume you were closer towards). If you went out thinking you would rather have dental work(what I was closer towards), then there were enough things wrong to let you leave angry.</p>
<p>I’ll start with the good things(feel free to add to this if I miss anything). The current students were all nice and friendly, and there were some staff there who were a bit lighthearted and fun. Everyone was willing to answer questions, and many students were out to help. There were very few times when I wasn’t close enough to a student to ask a question. The tours were very detailed and showed a lot about the dorm life, which is pretty tough information to get. Although I wasn’t there much, the club fair seemed vibrant and accessible, if a bit cramped. They walk everyone through the registration and the staff gives a lot of good information. Overall, it was a very friendly, fun environment, which is what everyone says about NCSSM.</p>
<p>I have a bit more to say about the bad things. First off, the lack of AP Physics B is inexcusable and is a huge hang up I have about the school. You’re telling me the supposed top school for science and mathematics, the crown jewel of the University of North Carolina system does not offer one of the most basic AP courses that even my home school has? The online program offers it, why can’t the residential program? When I asked, I was told it was due to a lack of faculty to teach the course. Really? All of the physics teachers there and not one can teach the course? You can have chancellors make 6 figures and more bureaucrats than the average bureaucratic national convention, but you can’t hire someone with a masters degree that can teach Physics B? Physics B is the foundation you need for the higher physics classes. Their version of honors physics to AP Physics C seems like a bit of a jump to me. Basic algebra applied physics straight to calculus applied physics? Seems like jumping straight from Pre Calculus to multivariable calculus to me.</p>
<p>That was my rant, but anyways I was struck by what seemed like a large degree of disorganization. I can’t tell you how long I stood in the frigid air outside just waiting for someone to tell me where to go. All of the student ambassadors seemed cut off from each other, just kinda winging it. Cell phones, or, god forbid, walkie talkies, that difficult for supposedly the “brightest” kids in NC? I can’t fault NCSSM too much for this. As Luther said, this lack of communication seems common of bureaucracy in general, academia especially. I thought starting early was a good idea. I left at around 4:30 and I didn’t get home until 8(we did stop and eat dinner though). People in the mountains probably didn’t get home until 9 or 10.</p>
<p>Also I found it weird they tried to measure the breadth of my precalc knowledge in 15 questions. If I had forgotten a few obscure topics they covered and known everything else, I could have been placed back into precalc. I don’t think this happened, but still, risky. Physical science was simple, Chemistry was hard. I’m sure everyone in the last 10 years will tell you that as well, since they reuse the tests.</p>
<p>@Quacoh: If you look under the course catalog in FOCUS, you see that AP Physics B is being offered to NCSSM residential students, even though you have to take it through NCSSM Online (look on page 111). I do feel that AP Physics B should be offered in the classroom.</p>
<p>The Precalc test was kind of in the middle for me. I knew how to do most of it, but I blanked out on some. I do feel that 15 questions is kind of low and I heard that their tests are not multiple choice, like the one we took today. It helped to my advantage that I took Precalculus with a teacher who did not use the multiple choice format and taught me everything by hand (I only picked up my calculator once). I actually got lost when we went to take that exam. I was supposed to go into Watts to take mine, but I got lost and switched groups by accident and went into Hill.</p>
<p>The Chem test was all out hard. Most of that looked like it was AP Chem (or even higher) because I never saw most of that in my life. Physical Science was common sense. Were you in the lecture hall with 105 people to take those two tests? If you were to walk in, I was on the left side of room in the third or fourth row.</p>
<p>I hated that they did have the people who arrived to stand in the cold waiting for the line to move. I was the second or third person there, so I got to stand inside while registration was getting set up. I was kind of mad that all of them just said “Good morning” or “Welcome to NCSSM” without saying where we were supposed to go. I’m glad I went to an Open House and saw the campus beforehand, so I knew where the gym was.</p>
<p>Also, my parents were mad that the tuition grant was taken away a few years ago when the Republicans took out. My dad said that the man on the Board of Trustees said it was stupid that they took it out when they were paying $4 million to have people stay in NC and get about $18 million in return in taxes.</p>
<p>Thought I’d chime and give an update after welcome day. We went this morning heavily leaning toward staying at our home school. Our 2 yr plan (thanks LutherSetzer for the idea 
at our current school allows our son to come out with 8 APs, a (projected) fantastic GPA, top of his class standing and solid extracurriculars. But we left NCSSM feeling very differently. </p>
<p>We grilled people with questions non stop all day. Faculty, admin, parents, alums, kids, and more kids. Everyone was willing to talk to us and share their own experience which was wonderful and very generous of them. And by the time we left, we both came to the same conclusion. </p>
<p>Yes, he would get more APs in our home school. He absolutely could get more credits by using dual enrollment and other such avenues. And yes, we can see that him simply attending NCSSM is no guarantee he’ll get more offers (or better offers) than if he had stayed put. In fact, if his GPA goes down a bit, and because he’ll be with other kids that will be much more gifted than him, he could fare worse. </p>
<p>But it turns out, he’s not wanting to go to NCSSM solely for a better transcript. That’s not where the real value for him is. He realized while he was there today that he wants to go there for the other intangibles NCSSM offers.</p>
<p>He’s willing to accept that NCSSM <em>might</em> not make any difference in terms of where he ends up college wise because he feels that he will have gained something he could never have in his current school: the unique experience of being surrounded by brilliant peers and what that does to you in terms of motivation and stimulation, incredible friendships, and the many exploratory options that will be offered to him in the form of mini terms, seminars, clubs, etc. </p>
<p>Clearly, there are drawbacks like a potentially overwhelming amount of work, stress, rigid rules and restricted freedom, with no guarantee of better college offers, but he feels he’ll gain more than he’ll loose. Fair enough. For us this was a fantastic day. We both feel at peace with our decision :)</p>
<p>Any advice for those attending Welcome Day II…in terms of things you wish you had asked, items to bring with you, etc? I don’t think day II will be as extensive in that the club fair, etc. does not take place, which is ashame. But we are on the waitlist and II is our required day.
T</p>
<p>@quacoh: Did welcome day, when all is said and done, sway your decision to attend NCSSM? We know two poeple who went. One is calling SVSM Monday to try and get their slot back for the summer program because they are not going to attend NCSSM. after all They actually enjoyed welcome day but said that academically they did not think it would meet their needs as well as they thought…and they want to graudate with their current class and friends who they have been with since 6th grade. Another said they will go…Welcome Day made just made it even more apparent that it was the school for them.
Will you still attend?
T</p>
<p>@Luther</p>
<p>According to NCSSM’s course catalog you can exempt the basic physics requirements and jump straight into AP Physics C: Mechanics by passing a placement test. On welcome day we were told that this was for students who had prior Physics experience(which I assume was meant to mean AP Physics B, but I’m not sure). While I could self-study and likely pass the knowledge portion, there is also a laboratory portion of the test, which I don’t think self-studying would prepare me for. Even if I did manage to pass both parts and be placed, I’d have to drop a class since it is a 3 trimester course, whereas their version of honors physics is only 2 trimesters. This is coupled with the fact that I have no previous background with physics, so it’d be a sink or swim kind of experience, which I don’t really want to have to deal with in my first trimester.</p>
<p>Also responding to what evanb said, the course catalog does list AP Physics B as being able to be taken online, and the current students seem to also think this. This is directly conflicting to what I was told by the registrar we talked to about course registration, but this isn’t the first time NCSSM has given out conflicting information. I guess I’ll have to see when I get there.</p>
<p>@taben</p>
<p>I think so. My home school is very limited in both academics and opportunities, so it’d be very difficult for NCSSM to be worse in those terms. I also like the atmosphere of NCSSM, whereas my home school can be very anti-intellectual, Welcome Day showed how NCSSM is much more academic focused and intimate. From one day I could see it was an infinitely better fit than where I am currently, even with its problems.</p>
<p>@taben: I feel that Welcome Day really sealed in the deal for me. My school is very limited in all aspects. Also, the new Common Core standards will destroy my school because many of the teachers and students at my school do not care like they should, so I kind of want to leave that. I would rather go to a school that has been following and tweaking the same curriculum since it was founded than one that is transitioning to a new one while it is currently going through some problems of its own (if you can follow my little rant there). </p>
<p>I wish that I could’ve done some things like the club fair and the other optional sessions, but I had to leave because I had to get home and work on my project. I’ve seen the school through Open Houses and a program that I did there for a few summers.</p>
<p>I am glad that they sent out a schedule this year, even though it did slightly change. According to the juniors that I talked to who were competing for Student Ambassador slots, they did not tell them that they were taking pictures for their IDs. One of them said that she came to NCSSM in sweats with bad hair and she is embarassed about her ID. She said that IDs really “make or break” your NCSSM experience. She and a few other juniors laughed it off with the incoming juniors.</p>
<p>@Luther
Apparently until this summer you could attend SVSM the summer before your junior year at NCSSM because you were not yet student of NCSSM (but could not attend the summer after junior year). The rule was that an NCSSM student could not attend SVSM.
I wonder, at times, if the change is to force the hand of students sooner regarding NCSSM. Meaning, you can’t get NCSSM and SVSM, attend SVSM to feel out being away from home and with other gifted kids, THEN decided, at the 11th hour, whether you want to go to NCSSM. If you want NCSSM, you have to give up SVSM.
So, if you turn down SVSM once you become a Finalist for NCSSM, you really lose everything if you later choose not to go to NCSSM.
@Quacoh and @Evanb…glad you two are still on board for NCSSM!
T</p>
<p>I think you actually had until early May to notify SVSM. But I believe that folks get so excited about NCSSM when they click on the site and see FINALIST that it is hard to not start planning on attending that very minute.
Given that some waitlist folks are not notified until almost labor day that they have a spot at NCSSM, clearly people change their minds. It is just ashame that for some they do so after giving up SVSM. I personally think SVSM should be available for anyone not a current student at NCSSM…meaning, post junior year.
T</p>