<p>Barnard women have full access to courses at Columbia (they share a course catalog) so the opportunities for science and research are quite expansive. The core curriculum (9 Ways of Knowing) is more flexible though. You’d definitely get the political atmosphere there, if you are very interested in that. My D has gotten involved with Columbia Democrats and went on a weekend trip to canvass for Obama in Ohio just before the election. Another thing that my D and her friend observed when talking this week about their experiences is that Barnard students take on controversial subjects more openly. Her friend described Wellesley as very Politically Correct and “polite”. My daughter feels that Barnard/Columbia is more “in your face” about issues.</p>
<p>FYI - The newly revised and improved Comman Application 4 (CA4) will be available online August 1, 2013. The link is <a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/CA4.aspx[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/CA4.aspx</a></p>
<p>Countdown for the Class of 2014 Common App submittal deadline (for most selective schools) is in 366 days or 1 year and 1 day (December 31, 2013). :D<br>
RD announcements are on average 90 days later. :(</p>
<p>Essay topics are to be announced in early March 2013. Get ready for a busy and sometimes stressful year (parents and kids!).</p>
<p>Happy New Year to everyone. :)</p>
<p>Do you know what is changing in CA4? Say, compared to whatever version it was for the class of 2011?</p>
<p>Wow! One year from tomorrow we’ll be finished with the college application process! It feels like we’ve hardly scratched the surface in researching colleges, much less choosing which to apply to! Definitely spring break and summer trips to look forward to!</p>
<p>Welcome to the new posters! We’re going to have an exciting year ahead of us!</p>
<p>DS has a rock band and has been asked to play at the Mayor’s (family friendly) New Year’s Eve party! So excited for his band! Can this be listed as an EC? 
He and his friends are having fun with the band, but they all know that this is not their future. I wouldn’t mind if DS ended up in Nashville or Austin for college and continued to mess around with it for fun.</p>
<p>Thanks for the countdown for the Class of 2014 Com App deadline, AvonHSDad. I am all of a sudden feeling a little stressed. Happy New Year to all parents of 2014.</p>
<p>AvonD (Cptn) - Do you hear me screaming? Arrrrggghhhh!!!</p>
<p>My favorite countdown of all was the one to 5/1, commitment day. We didn’t think we’d ever get some of those kids off the boat (of indecision) to shore…but the band kept playing!! :D</p>
<p>mathmomvt – new for Common App for this coming app season is they’re dropping “topic of your choice”. That’s what I heard (can’t remember where but it was on CC).</p>
<p>Yeah, I heard that too – that stinks!</p>
<p>I don’t know – I think the “significant event” prompt is pretty broad – but I wonder why they dropped topic of your choice. Too many kids wrote about their favorite ice cream? Not sure…</p>
<p>My S’11’s common app topic was firmly in the “topic of your choice” realm (a not-particularly-significant experience he had as a camp counselor). I liked the idea of just being able to tell a relatively mundane story that lets your personality/strengths shine through. “Show don’t tell,” as they say. It feels like a lot of the other topics are much more likely to result in an essay that feels more “forced” and would be harder to write as a story.</p>
<p>They claim CA4 “will have a modern, simplified user interface and will offer many new features long-requested by members, counselors, and applicants.” </p>
<p>Am I the only one who is scared? ;-)</p>
<p>NO COUNTDOWNS YET CRAZY MAN!</p>
<p>j/k, I’ve been thinking about how fast time is flying (again) and peeking at the 13/17 board. Yikes!</p>
<p>I also read about the “topic of choice” being dropped. I think that’s too bad. The main effect on kids is to force them to write yet another essay in some cases. I hope that the other changes are around calculating the actual essay length before it’s submitted (rather than cutting it off) and robustness for lots of submissions at deadline.</p>
<p>Hi all-- I’ve been lurking on this thread for the past few months or so, but I finally decided to make an account and actively contribute. I went to an all-girls college a LONG time ago so I don’t have much experience in the whole college scene, and my H is out of touch as well. Luckily, D1 seems to be on top of things… I hope! She’s very academically driven and has always done well, but I’m starting to worry she’s doing too much and won’t be able to make it out of this year alive! D1 (and her younger sister) go to an all-girls high school-- for middle school, both went to a co-ed public school. Now, there are less than 60 girls in her grade and it’s a very competitive atmosphere; plus, teachers blatantly down-grade everything so it is nearly impossible to get an “A”. I’m worried about her and the effects of this bizarre grading system-- D1 is much more competitive than D2 and way more knowledgeable about the whole college process than I am (sad, I know!) and she takes it personally every time she receives a “bad” grade. “Bad” in her eyes, that is. PLUS (sorry about my virtual rant here) her school got a new college counselor who literally hates her. Any suggestions on the down-grading or the college counselor bit? D1 baked gingerbread for all of her teachers before winter recess and received a very nice thank-you note from the CC, but in person she is very brusque and cold.</p>
<p>On another note, D1 mentioned a few weeks ago that the college counselor talked with their grade about the changes in the common app. She mentioned a new word limit on the essays-- apparently the new website will require students to copy/paste their essays into those types of text boxes that cut off the word count…?? Can’t confirm this, but that’s what D1 heard.</p>
<p>Sadly, I think many of us have less than a year of countdown time (those of us who need scholarship apps turned in anyway!). Ugh! I can’t even get my kid to make a reasonable list of schools. Registration for her senior year classes will occur sometime next in the next couple of weeks, and I can’t even get her to look at the course book. Half the time I think maybe I should just accept the fact that she’ll be at the local community college and living at home because she never got on the ball enough to do anything about visits and applications.</p>
<p>doctormom413: welcome to the board, the more the merrier so they say!
Regarding the grades…I’d try not to worry too much…at this point you have to go with whatever is in place, you’re unlikely to change the institution’s approach to grading policy and you’re probably not going to opt to change schools at this juncture. For what it’s worth, my DS14 school has a similar grade deflation in place, but I am aware that many of the most selective colleges are completely aware of this. One visiting adcom specifically even commented on this to my son. I think perhaps the only real pinch occurs with the larger public universities and, particularly with some gpa cutoffs for merit aid. We have a family friend whose child went to Miami of Ohio and was a NM finalist and lost out on some merit aid due to a gpa cutoff.
Anyway, the point is, that we all have to deal with whatever institutional policies that are in place for our kids, be they positive or negative.<br>
Again welcome aboard!</p>
<p>Just a quick tip from the Class of '13—start a file folder now of your '13 tax information, starting with your '12 returns as those will be needed for any Profile schools, etc. If you put all of your financial statements in one file, keep it by where ever you pile up your mail :D, this time next year you will have everything you need to do your estimated FAFSA and CSS. If your kids are applying ED to a CSS school, you will need that file all the more. If you are really organized, use an accordion file formatted in order of the questions asked on the FAFSA :D. I’m not that organized-everything is just in one pile.</p>
<p>Keep your quarterly statements for your investment accounts, 401k’s, any dividends you receive through the year as well as a current pay stub. You can use an online tax software for free if you normally use an accountant to get your taxes 'done" enough to file the FAFSA under the “will file” tab–same with the CSS.</p>
<p>If your child works, you need their tax info/pay stubs too.</p>
<p>Hello all. I am new to this wonderful group. Apparently I have a lot of catch up work to do to go back and read what I have missed.</p>
<p>I have a DS '14 just signed up for the January SAT and the February ACT. He barely made the 99th percentile cut-off with a score of 211 on PSAT. He was a bit disappointed as most likely he is going to miss the NMSF Ohio cut-off which is normally 1-2 points above the national 99th percentile score. Anyway he feels much better now and is getting ready for the upcoming SAT and ACT.</p>
<p>Happy New Year to you all!</p>
<p>SteveMA, thanks for the timely advice. I just have one (not so smart) question about your statemetn “starting with your '12 returns as those will be needed for any Profile schools, etc.”. What is a ‘profile school’ and why they would need 2012 returns?</p>
<p>CSS Profile is a more in-depth FAFSA type form that some schools require–usually any school that meets 100% need but a lot of other schools as well. They want to know your 2012 AGI among other things so you will need your completed 2012 taxes to fill that out. Also, be aware that if your are applying to a school that uses the CSS Profile, they often have earlier dates for submission of financial information. If you are filling EA/ED that is often in NOVEMBER. Our son is applying to one Profile school and their deadline is 2/15.</p>
<p><a href=“CSS Profile – CSS Profile | College Board”>CSS Profile – CSS Profile | College Board;
<p>Some of the schools on this list only use the profile for international students though.</p>
<p>Wow, AvonHSdad–reading that countdown made me want to throw up! 2013 is going to be a very busy year! </p>
<p>SteveMA–I’ve read some of your other posts on merit-aid schools and it really gives me hope! We spent the weekend running figures on EFC’s for a host of schools–it’s all over the map and makes the process all the more daunting. Made me think of the debate going on in Congress right now on what wages really constitute “middle class.” </p>
<p>D14 is studying for the February ACT. She took the SAT and did well in December but feels that the ACT could be a better test for her. She has finals at the end of January so I’m a little concerned that if she doesn’t get her hours studying (and doing practice tests) in now, she’ll feel uprepared. </p>
<p>We will be taking a trip to Boston over spring break. If anyone has any suggestions for some mid-sized universities in the vicinity (we will have a car), it will be greatly appreciated. Right now we know we will be looking at Northeastern, Boston U and Brown. D14 is toying with studying chemistry or chemical engineering but would love to do a double major in something like science/ethics/philosophy. I had Lehigh on our original list. Does anyone have any experience with that school? I’m not sure their merit awards will be large enough (we would like to get the total cost to less than $35K/year).</p>
<p>Happy new year!</p>