<p>HMW do you think that I providing my offspring with a similar culturally enriching experience by watching Amazing Race and Survivor with them? </p>
<p>North Minn did you tell us what sport your D plays? I think the on campus apt. can be a good thing since the girls will all have similar schedules and will hopefully be more respectful of the need for sleep and study than the girls in other living situations might be. Anyway that's cool that is feeling so real now. Congratulations!</p>
<p>historymom, well, Amazing Race certainly, just because it's cool. Survivor, hmm - is the, um, scenery as good? I mean, as culturally enriching? :D</p>
<p>And NorthMinn, yes, that's nice news about your daughter! Measured for a uniform, wow. I think my D has only ever gotten to pick her number.</p>
<p>Well they do travel to exotic locales and have contact w/ indigenous peoples so I was thinking more of the geological/anthropological angle Sociolgically Survivor can be viewed as a microcosm of American society no?? It is after all a meritocracy, they vote so that makes it a democracy. In addition it is allegorical to everyone's favorite freshman novel Lord of the Flies so it has literary merit as well. And here I thought it was just a reason to eat pizza and hang out with my family :) it's practically an EC!</p>
<p>^^^Soccer.
The apartment thing has pros and cons. The pros you listed are good. What I worry about is limiting meeting others in regular dorm. Also they are not required to eat in cafeteria since they will have their own kitchen. She will have to work extra hard to meet friends outside of her team. I think I worry more about the extra things all piling up. Moving away, getting used to new friends, negotiating who is buying groceries, who is cooking, who does the dishes, who cleans the bathroom along with the regular freshman stuff of adjusting to classes, managing study time with sport, etc. I know she can do it but I just need time to readjust my expectations!</p>
<p>Ha! We are also a Survivor and Amazing Race family! Have to watch it together...we have bets riding on the outcome!;)</p>
<p>OK, I second the Amazing Race & Survivor thing. Guilty pleasure with my D! Although disappointing that the Minnesotan got voted off so early....</p>
<p>Just when it seemed like the app process was nearing completion...</p>
<p>I tried to peek into a couple of schools to see if they'd received son's apps--most of them require a whole new account (new username/password) in order to check online status of app. This has been a bit of a headache (trying to do it for son, to make sure ACT scores, transcripts, etc. are all there). Had to enable cookies on computer for son so application for scholarships can be filled out online. Been chatting w/the folks at various help desks all morning. </p>
<p>If your student has applied to a lot of schools, this 'next level' of admin work (lining up the scholarship apps to fill out w/all new account info) is something to think about...</p>
<p>It's worth it just to check, though. At one school, son hadn't sent in his college transcript (from summer course) although we thought we had that covered...</p>
<p>Jolynne, thanks for that advice. After reading it, I tried to find a way to check the status of D's application at the first school she applied to without any luck. Is that a feature that every school offers?</p>
<p>Thank goodness, most of the schools to which Son applied consider your application also to be your app for merit aid. It's going to be hard to motivate Son to write additional essays and ask for additional recs for small dollar scholarships at schools that aren't high on his list. We are in the middle of musical auditions, all region choir, etc. I thought I'd wait another few weeks to start nagging him about those applications. </p>
<p>It would be nice to hear from the EA schools before he asks for more recs. A couple are denominationally based scholarhips (Presbyterian schools) and I'd hate to put folks at church through the trouble of writing recs if he isn't even going to be admitted or isn't likley to attend.</p>
<p>ChiSquare--the thing seems to be, although the applicants got a username & password when they applied online (son has saved all these in a Word doc) these are not the same (in the schools we've looked at) needed to check the status of the app. Apparently, to do that you need to set up a completely separate account (which, if student goes there, they'll use throughout their years at the college). </p>
<p>In some schools, to apply for scholarships (if not included as part of the original app process) you need to set up the student account, also.</p>
<p>Foresee some headaches & chats w/tech support ahead. Note: often, tech support will just boot you back to the admissions office. Sometimes if you get a helpful counselor, they can just pull up your student's app & tell you what is missing/what's been received.</p>
<p>Edit to add: that's good your son had most apps/merit apps all rolled into one, missypie! I'm going to go through each school on son's list (sigh) to see if that's the case. Don't want to miss something.</p>
<p>We've got the main essay done and the UC, CSU and Common Apps done, but no supplements and DS seems to have totally stalled. He knows if he wants to go out on Halloween (his favorite holiday by far), drafts of all supplements need to be done by Sunday night. I foresee a lot of nagging in my future....</p>
<p>I am, however, heartened to realize that most of us are way ahead of the game! I spoke with the GC yesterday about how the recs worked for the common app, and she said she had only received one "invite" thus far this year. Spending much time on CC does distort reality on the process a little.</p>
<p>I'm putting my hands over my ears and humming to avoid hearing there is MORE to do once the apps are in!</p>
<p>I agree. Lots of really good students (who probably aren't on CC) are still visiting schools.</p>
<p>LOL, cpeltz. It's not that much to do (checking status, setting up accounts, a few scholarship apps here & there). Not much compared to the process of encouraging kid to write essays, decide on schools, etc. Just a little frustrating when you think it will be all clear sailing. :-) It's much less onerous for those who have applied to fewer schools (unlike son who's applied to a mondo #...for better or worse..)</p>
<p>Only 4 of the 10 schools D applied to are we able to check the status online. For some reason, all four are in Florida. Go figure.</p>
<p>Chi Square...sister!! Sorry the Minnesotan was voted out so soon. Who was it? </p>
<p>I wanted to tell you that I called Willamette to find out the progress of D's file and they were very nice about telling me that it was complete except for school report which I know was on the way</p>
<p>Oh, good to know it's ok to call the colleges ..... Think I'll give them a week first before starting to follow up with them.</p>
<p>historymom, it was Jacquie. OK, she may have been listed as a Californian on the show, but she's originally from the Twin Cities.</p>
<p>Hi everyone - I was wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to communicate to schools that D's HS does not grade inflate (in fact, if there is such a thing as grade DEFLATE our school does it!) An unweighted 4.0 is VERY rare in our district - in D's class, a young man with a superscored 2400 SAT and 36 ACT only has a 3.85 weighted GPA, D has a 34 ACT and a 3.76 weighted GPA, just out of the top 10% since classmates taking less rigorous classes have higher GPA's. It isn't a problem with schools that get apps from students in our school all the time, since the reputation is there, but D is applying to OOS schools that no one from our district has ever applied to. Should we ask the GC to elaborate on the grading in her rec? I read the school profile, and other than the weighting scale summary it really isn't mentioned....</p>
<p>I'd definitely ask the GC to elaborate on the grading in the rec. He/she might not think to mention it; and it seems really important in your daughter's case.</p>
<p>Rachacha, many schools send along a school profile which makes this clear.</p>
<p>I could be wrong, but my take on this process has never to leave to chance. Although the weighting scale is summarized in Rachacha's daughter's school profile, I'd guess that it couldn't hurt for GC to emphasize this again in a letter--it's a positive, which puts her achievements in an even better perspective.</p>
<p>In D's case, unless they round up, she makes a cutoff for some merit awards based on ACT/SAT equivalent but not on GPA...so I think it would be worth the mention.</p>