<p>I’m laying low until after the applications/recommendations have gone out. I fear if I give too many details the admin at my son’s school might figure out it’s me (if they read this) and I need the GCs good graces. DS is off to a good start this year staying organized, working on his app BUT his GC has been a nightmare, still hasn’t met with him despite several attempts and nothing goes out until she does.<br>
Quick question, one thing I am unclear about, I believe a parent has to sign the transcript release form because he is under 18, GC says no. Am I wrong? I hope I am or else it’s another delay :(</p>
<p>Oh my goodness, my D received an acceptance today from Coastal Carolina! We are stunned, really, since her ACT scores were so atrocious. She still has to go through the interview/portfolio review, but this is huge! She is at her favorite theatre company volunteering today and has a B in math for the first time EVER in high school, so all is right with the world! 
She has a few items to finish up tomorrow for other theatre schools, but we are just going to enjoy today!</p>
<p>Ruby, I don’t think I’ve ever signed anything. I’m sure it’s fine.</p>
<p>Congrats Ugadog - awesome news!</p>
<p>Re previous pageI was not being clear (I blame it on the cold medicine). I was not saying Earlham was not a top tier LAC- I was saying SUNY Binghamton was not fitting into that requested category. I actually always steer kids towards the CTCL (and my D goes to one). I just wanted to add in Binghamton as a fall back.</p>
<p>Great news on the theater acceptance up thread, too.</p>
<p>Ahhhhh, now I see… No worries, Kinderny :).</p>
<p>@Ugadog, congratulations to your D!</p>
<p>@Joiseymom, this is definitely bragging rights worthy news. I know that the essay is what is worrying me the most with my D, so if I got that news, I’d be screaming it from my roof!</p>
<p>No no, HL! You’d miss Halloween!! It’s all okay! Eensy-weensy progress here: DS and I had a two-minute conversation about The Big Essay. He’s allegedly working on it in English class this week. And he <em>finally</em> e-mailed his college counselor to ask about his transcripts. (He had his first application in on August 2nd to a rolling admissions school that he should have heard from weeks ago. It finally occurred to me the transcripts had probably not yet been sent and I’ve been bugging him for weeks to inquire.)</p>
<p>Still hoping to get the essay finished by the end of the month and pull the cord on his common app schools by 11/1. But I guess we’ll see. . .</p>
<p>D has nothing to report in the “Honors” section of Common App. Gulp. I guess she could put it in Spanish Student of the Month but I’m thinking to leave it blank rather than only that…</p>
<p>Joisymom - my son doesn’t have anything to put there either :(</p>
<p>Hi all,
Well down to my last one at home and this forum has been so helpful, so here goes!
Senior D has an 87 avg, is in some honors and will have 4 AP classes when she graduates, high school JV team, no leadership positions, SAT 1000(superscored- argh!), She’s taken both the SAT and ACT a couple of times and is scheduled again but has not seen any real improvement. We’ve done prep classes and all that so we may be looking at the best score. She would like to stay within 3 hours of Atlanta and oh yeah, we need it to be either good aid(merit) or in state. Here is our list so far, Georgia College & State,
Auburn, Berry, Young Harris, Univ. of S. Carolina, Coll of Charleston. If anyone on the board is familiar with any of these schools or has any other suggestions, please help!
We’re torn between going to a lesser (and I do mean lesser) school in state and borrowing ($100K) for 4 years for out of state. We had a completely different search for two older siblings (that doesn’t help the matter). Again, thanks all!</p>
<p>Ugarit, that’s great! My kid who fits in here is a junior but since my senior D is at least sure where she is applying, if not ready to submit anything, I’m looking to absorb your wisdom! It’s so nice to read about your kids’ successes! Anyone got knowledge of Virginia schools for kids with +/- 3.4, weighted? He has a thing about getting one C each year… Last year it was AP World History, year before geometry. Hoping this year he will break that trend.no tests yet but he is signed up for a prep class… I want them to stay in Virginia since we have the prepaid college plan and there are three of them virtually back to back. Any thoughts would be great, as would things you did or wish you had when your kids were juniors.</p>
<p>Thanks for the congratulations, everyone. It does feel great knowing that one school wants her! :)</p>
<p>Pumpkin, Berry gives great aid and expects the kids to work for their education. My older DD loved Berry, but Oxford (Emory) ended up giving more aid. Have you looked at Mercer? Again, they gave really good aid. We got annoyed with Young Harris because they kind of blew us off when we were trying to set up visits.</p>
<p>thanks ugadog for the suggestion of Mercer and Oxford and congrats on the Coastal Carolina acceptance. Is she going there?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Public or private?</p>
<p>I don’t think there is really any secret about the respective levels of the various Virginia state schools.</p>
<p>If I were to rank them here, I’m sure I’d get a lot of angry flames back.</p>
<p>How 'bout we say:</p>
<ul>
<li>Forget U-Va and W&M.</li>
<li>JMU, Geo Mason and VaTech would be a stretch (though there’s always a chance)</li>
<li>Mary Washington and C Newport are in that middle space.</li>
<li>And all the others are strongly in play (Radford, OD, Longwood, etc.)</li>
</ul>
<p>Private schools? Sorry, can’t help you. But some poeple seem to like Roanoke. Might want to take a look.</p>
<p>For sure look at Emory at Oxford, pumpkin5. You don’t say her ACT score but Agnes Scott might be a possibility too, if she is not opposed to a women’s college?</p>
<p>1st round of applications are due 3weeks from today!!! Yikes!!! My S has done all his supplements but hasn’t finished his essay or EC write up. He has done rough drafts but I don’t think he has done any further work. Starting to get nervous!</p>
<p>Joisymom - honors? What are those??? We will be leaving that section blank, too. </p>
<p>Pumpkin - have you looked at Georgia Southern? My friend’s son was looking at UGA, Auburn and Alabama, with similar grades/test scores and visited Georgia southern under protest but fell in love with the school. That is his top choice now. FYI, USC’s priority deadline is 10/15. I’m back to cracking the whip so my son will have it completed by Monday.</p>
<p>Pumpkin, what about Brenau? The dorms are still all women, but the classes are now co-ed, from what I understand. I’ve also been told that they give good aid. We are looking at it due to the tie it has with Gainesville Theatre Alliance.</p>
<p>As for my D, we have no idea where she will go. The theatre process is so different from “normal” college applications. For the most part, it is a two step procedure: first she has to be accepted to the college as a whole then there is an interview/portfolio review for acceptance into the theatre program. She has applied to about 14 schools, which is a bit much for a techie kid and about average for performance. However, her attendance is dependent on financial aid, so we threw a little wider net than most tech kids. We probably won’t know for sure until late April where she is going. (Of course, CMU could make this process really easy and just admit her Early Decision on December 15!! Yeah, yeah…wishful thinking, I know!) :)</p>
<p>I just looked back at S’ honors section from the common app last year because though his initial instinct was to leave it blank, as I recall he had some…and he did.</p>
<p>He had “merit roll” for 3 years of HS - around here that’s anything over a 3.0, and a varsity letter for swimming two years in a row. He checked the “school” level for both as it wasn’t a state competition or anything.</p>
<p>Your kids may have something to put there even if they think they don’t.</p>
<p>Something that was really helpful for S, who was a just-under 3.0 GPA kid, was to list absolutely every extra curricular and every single academic achievement we could think of on a Word doc. No matter how dumb sounding. We made that doc and after a week of adding stuff, a clear pattern emerged (in his case, playing music every chance he got). That list was edited and rewritten and eventually became those sections on his common app.</p>
<p>Heck, he was an avid frisbee player and he wrote that in his EC section. He was recruited to his college’s Ultimate team this year :)</p>
<p>Hi guys
I need advice fast. DS’s transcripts were sent out today but there is a mistake on it. His grade in a P/F course defaulted to a C instead of a P, it’s a schoolwide problem that was supposed to be corrected but the transcripts were sent out yesterday without the correction.
His HS is having a college fair tonight from 7 to 8:30, some of the colleges we sent the transcripts to will be there. Should I dash over there and speak to an admin counselor or leave it alone and let the high school to send a letter explaining what happened?
DS is wrestling and won’t be able to go himself.</p>