Parents of the HS Class of 2011 - Original

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
1621

<p>I agree with and disagree with the GC about ED. </p>

<p>I have an older D who’s a jr in college. I have seen such amazing changes and growth in kids when they’re seniors - possibly THE most exciting time for a young adult, even if they’re frustated and going crazy stuck in HS. I think my older D changed more than any other year of her growing up, and I’ve seen and heard this in other families. Yes, they are a very different person at the end of the year.</p>

<p>I personally dislike ED because it is binding. With rolling admissions and EA options, I don’t see the benefit to ED to anyone but the schools - cynically I’ll say it’s a way schools can lock you into a financial aid package with a “take it or leave it” attitude, when really the kids/families are the customers here. And I hear such different things about “ED shows them you really want to get in” and “ED hurts you because they won’t take a chance until they see the regular pool.” Good for kids without stellar stats or hurtful for kids who don’t have stellar stats … how do you advise? I can see avoiding it completely.</p>

<p>But I’ll disagree that ED is only a bad choice. The only absolute negative about ED is that it commits you to a financial package. But I do feel that in individual cases the commitment to the school itself can be very real and lasting. My D had a first choice school from the beginning of jr year. She found others that were similar, and a couple she knows she would have been fine at, but she set her compass for school #1. We were confident it was a reasoned and also a true-love decision, and we let her apply ED. She was admitted, and we let her commit to it. </p>

<p>Spending the rest of the year knowing where she was going, and not having to sweat through the whole rest of the process, was a wonderful experience. I would have preferred EA - the same feeling without the associated negatives. But many schools only allow ED, and that was that for her. </p>

<p>My D2 probably won’t do ED because of needing to audition, etc., and I think she’ll want choices. If she still has her #1 as strongly as ever come fall, and we can get her to an audition early, we might let her try for it. But man is she ever going to do EA and early rolling applications! We want answers ASAP! Knowing they’re in somewhere does wonders for these kids as they plow through senior year.</p>

<p>Another ED story: from my own experience, back before they smartly invented EA, ED taught me something different. I had a first choice that I “really, really wanted.” I couldn’t visit until after the ED deadline, although I had made many other college visits and thought this school fit what I wanted. I applied, then went down there and realized it wasn’t what I thought, and what I thought wasn’t really what was right for me. Got my ED results - deferred. Had to switch gears, do more thinking, more visiting. It was a blow to be deferred, but less of one than being rejected, and the process made me work a lot harder to find the school that truly was the one I really wanted. Applying everywhere RD wouldn’t have forced me to look harder, and my life wouldn’t be the same (I mean that very dramatically). This all could have been accomplished with today’s EA, however.</p>

1622

<p>Around here, most kids apply only to our very good and large bouquet of state schools (including other states, too, where we have reciprocity). </p>

<p>Almost all have rolling admissions, so not only can they have matches and safeties - and reaches, since UW Madison is extremely competitive - but they can also have acceptances as early as October, without having to commit for several months.</p>

<p>My '11D will apply to one or two of these schools as soon as apps open in September. They have what she needs, and although she’d probably go somewhere else if she gets in, she likes these academic and financial safeties. Man, am I grateful! She also understands from watching many, many friends that the ability to get accepted quickly and ride the year with that is a great feeling. </p>

<p>She has a long list, and I don’t know how many she’ll actually stomach the applications for. Mostly it’ll come down to essays, and how many she’ll actually have to compose. I’m glad she gets the point about working on them this summer. Kids don’t realize the apps can be as much work - or more - as taking another class.</p>

1623

<p>OK
I just have to say I am wondering what the hay our GCs do for their salary.
Our student has been in several times, completed with much care a questionaire–as did we–I am talking paragraphs)…and the last several times our student has gone in–these 10 min meetings result in little info/help.</p>

<p>Our student asked about how one gets nominated for a particular scholarship–and she didn’t know–didn’t know the when, how etc–said the “faculty” do it…
Isn’t that something GCs are supposed to know? This particular scholarship was just awarded to a sr and its a full ride…so its not an unknown issue…</p>

<p>And our GC took a look at our students schedule and from comments–I don’t think she knows much about our student at all…
So WHY did our student have to complete the lengthy questionaire back in March is she hasn;t read it? Ours was due next month but we handed it in at the same time so as to keep all the info together…</p>

<p>The “seminars” that the jrs were required to attend–shared nothing new …</p>

<p>sigh</p>

<p>ok- end of rant</p>

1624

<p>I’ll give my own little complaint here. Regarding study abroad, it seems that many colleges consider their J term trips as study abroad. Yes, the students are going abroad, but the J term abroads are usually about two weeks. So when a college says that the majority of their students do study abroad, they are often talking about this and not a whole semester or a year. </p>

<p>At the information session these seem to be emphasized as the whole reason to come to that college when IMHO, it’s almost standard fare for LAC’s now. It sounds crazy but of my kids friends in college or recently graduated, all of them, save the engineering or comp sci majors, did a study abroad.</p>

1625

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<p>If you are in public schools they do WAY too much and have no time to become experts on the college admissions process. We have about one GC per 550 students…that means any given year they’ll each have about 138 seniors, perhaps 125 of them college bound. Our GCs are up on the requirements to get into our state flagship and some other state schools, our local CCs and a couple of very nearby privates. A couple of years ago when Son was having problems with a technological issue on the common app, the GCs office was of no assistance, having never even logged on to the common app web site. The GCs handle class registration and loads of other matters. I think that at this point they’re most concerned with making sure all of the '11s will have enough credits in the proper categories to graduate.</p>

1626

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<p>I would advise parents to not guarantee their student a study abroad opportunity until the student has been admitted to a school, chosen a major and studied the course sequence requirements carefully. At Son’s school, they tend to study abroad either fall or spring Sophomore year. To progress as a Psych major, a student needs to take the big research methods class Sophomore year - it’s a prerequisite for all the upper level classes. Research methods I is offered only fall term and research methods II is only offered spring term. So if a psych major took a semester abroad sophomore year, it would delay graduation by a full year.</p>

<p>So really, Jan terms can be ideal!</p>

1627

<p>I agree that J terms are great but one thing that’s never mentioned is the expense. Study abroad at LAC’s usually cost no more then what ever you are already paying - your aid goes with you. </p>

<p>J terms, or in my older son’s case at his college, May terms, are completely out of pocket and usually cost from $3,000 - $5,000. The year that my son needed to take a May term, required at Roanoke, there were no inexpensive May term abroad that fit into his major. Granted, if he had done it his sophomore year it would have worked out, but he didn’t so had only the ones offered in his Junior year to consider. As you say missypie, all of this should be carefully planned out as soon as the student knows what their major is. And that’s tricky if you don’t declare until end of sophomore year.</p>

1628

<p>Fogfog,
I too have been shocked at the lack of guidance from our public HS’s GC. I believe Missypie must be right that their main job must be to get students graduated. Our jr. daughter has gone in twice to see her GC (after waiting for a couple weeks to get an appt.) The meetings last 10 minutes and our daughter soon realized that she knew more about the process than the GC. At least we have CC, which has taught me so much!! I so appreciate everyone who shares their knowledge and experiences.</p>

1629

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<p>I tried for a few years to get the GCs to mention SATIIs in one of their presentations to parents. But after attending a few of their presentations I realized that they’ve been using the same power point for years, so adding mention of the SATIIs would cause them to have to edit a slide.</p>

<p>As I said, I know the public school GCs have way too many jobs to do any one of them very well, so the only thing that really makes me angry is when they pass on false or misleading information…like telling the parents of Freshman to discourage their kids from taking AP classes until maybe senior year, when the reality is that if you don’t take a bunch of APs you’re guaranteed to not be in the top 20% of the class. But again, I guess if you’re advising for the masses, the majority would not ace the AP classes, so that may be the most effecient advice.</p>

1630

<p>D1 brought up ED because she wants to be over and done with the entire process. Her top choice school is a reach that would be a good fit for her where there isn’t much (if any) admissions edge for ED. I asked if she thinks she’ll be able to get her fall semester grades up to show an upward trend for RD, and she was noncommittal. I worry about the emotional hit that comes with an ED rejection. Sure, she’s sanguine about it now, but it’s a different thing when reality slaps you in the face. We might feel differently if she were applying somewhere where playing the ED card does make a huge difference. So ED looks unlikely for D1. </p>

<p>There are 3 OOS publics currently on D1’s list (OK, one is more on the parental list but I think we may insist :slight_smile: ) that are either rolling or have priority deadlines for merit money. We will be full-pay, but we’ve cautioned D1 that we won’t be able to help with anything after undergrad if she takes a more expensive option for undergrad. She got a little wake-up call about this when she saw a master’s program at Columbia that looked really appealing. It does look great, and the COA for the 12 month program is currently just a hair under $90k :eek: She may want to consider less-expensive undergrad and a promise from us to help with that type of program. Something else for her to mull over.</p>

<p>We are very lucky to have a (public school!) GC who both knows her job and knows the kids. She’s been calling in the juniors for interviews as she starts ramping up to write their letters. D1 said the GC spent 15 minutes with most people, but then ended up spending 30 with D1. D1 said the GC thinks D1 is “interesting”. I choose to take that as a positive, at least for GC-letter-writing purposes. :)</p>

<p>Anyone’s kid asking teachers if they will be willing to write recs for next year? I am wondering if D1 should ask, even though the two teachers she’ll be using alread wrote her recs for summer programs. It might be worth it to give those teachers a heads-up on what schools she’s considering.</p>

1631

<p>Yes, we’re going to nail down teacher recs before the school year ends. D knows she needs to be up and running when school starts, both for rolling/EA and for schools where she has to be accepted first before scheduling an audition. She can’t be waiting on a teacher who’s swamped to get her recs done.</p>

<p>What they don’t tell you before all of this is that it’s the jr year teachers that are your garden for recs. Schools aren’t thrilled with sophomore teachers, and senior teachers have barely seen the kids, unless you can push the app all the way into January (not a good option for us). But how to pick jr classes with this in mind? And our school can’t guarantee teachers. Besides, you don’t know how it’ll work - my D has one of the “best” “favorite” teachers this year and finds they don’t get along well; her math teacher, the “dragon lady,” on the other hand, is her best buddy and definitely will be writing her a rec!</p>

<p>Aargh! This is NOT a science, folks!</p>

1632

<p>It’s doubly hard because teachers who are looking for other jobs are often hired in the summer, so a teacher on whom your child may be counting on a rec may simply disappear. A few years ago, an online high school started in our area and we lost about 4 teachers to it. Two of them were teachers of junior year AP classes, so I’m sure there were some kids scrambling for new recs. (Often, the departed teachers will still write a rec letter, but you have to find them and it’s a bit harder to keep track of.)</p>

1633

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<p>That’s my D1, too. Though it’s the male equivalent of “dragon lady” and they most certainly aren’t best buddies. </p>

<p>What I’m really curious about, and don’t have the nerve to ask, is what colleges D1’s teachers would select for her. Especially the two letter writers.</p>

1634

<p>I’m just jumping in here check in with the H.S. Class of 2011!</p>

<p>I have a senior (class of 2010) still trying to decide where to send his deposit (and even then, waiting on a waitlist school) and am trying to find the energy to rachet it up to assist my junior through this process. </p>

<p>last year at this time, I felt we were much farther along because my oldest son had an early decision school in mind. My youngest is all over the map on his choices and we’re not sure when we’ll even have the time to go visit. He did a few visits with his brother, but they have different taste, so he has many more to go see…</p>

<p>definitely will have some early action schools in mind, but no ED.</p>

1635

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<p>I know I was much further along at this time of year with my '09. He was able to be finished testing by March. He also had a very specific type of school and geographic area in mind, so the list of possibities was much much much smaller.</p>

<p>We’ll start refining D’s list and planning visits once her ACTs come out on Monday. She’s in a demanding EC where she just can’t get away, so summer visits are our only option.</p>

1636

<p>Slitheytove, King of Hearts is one of my favorite movies of all time. Re. my son’s school, GC? What GC? Her job is definitely to get kids to h.s. graduation, not college. She doesn’t know much about out of state colleges. She does promote service academies (unfortunately my son has no interest) but that’s about it for out of state. I picked up my more motivated 2012 daughter’s transcript today and the AP test results and SAT IIs weren’t even printed on it. Now I’m waiting to get that straightened out.</p>

1637

<p>Ds attends a private (Catholic) boys’ school, thus the good GCs. He’s at the top of his class (was one of the five half-tuition merit scholarship winners for his year) so that might explain the interest. The GC is a truly nice guy :slight_smile: We are blessed. </p>

<p>I have no idea what the advising is like at D '13’s coed private school-----I know that there are “guidance” counselors and separate “college” counselors but I don’t know how that all works there. Something to stress about next spring LOL</p>

<p>I’m not sure who S will ask for recommendations. I mentioned earlier that the school has a process in place for recommendations so no trying to find our own way, thank goodness. Hmmm junior teachers… AP Calc is a tough and brilliant teacher. She intimidates everyone! He’s holding onto an A by the skin of his teeth but absolutely loving the class. I don’t know how her writing is. AP Physics, hm. Stereotypical physicist. AP Eng Language----not his passion. AP USHistory, new teacher so probably not. Latin 3, definitely not. He can’t wait to be done with that class. The Wind Ensemble teacher has had him since freshman year (incl marching band and jazz band) but since he’s not going into music, that’s not a core class for him.</p>

<p>Oy, I feel for S making the decision! Would two math teachers be out of line? He has been the “academic assistant” for his freshman geometry teacher this year, working daily helping in the classroom, even making up quizzes and problem sets. They have a great raport.</p>

1638

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<p>I couple of cycles ago I started a “check the transcript carefully before it’s sent to colleges” thread. With my 09 son, there was a mistake in pretty much every version of the transcript that I saw. Other CC’rs reported alarming things they found on the transcripts (e.g. dropped courses recorded as F, etc.)</p>

1639

<p>Apollo6: Some advocate not having the SAT/ACT scores and AP grades printed on transcripts, especially now with College Board’s so-called score choice option. Where you are trying to get them added to the transcript, many more are trying to get them removed. Just so you know.</p>

1640

<p>I think most colleges want an official report of SAT scores from college board anyway, don’t they?</p>