Parents of the HS Class of 2017 - 3.0 to 3.4 GPA

In Florida, FSU and UF have early application deadlines of Oct 16. My kids’ high school started classes last week. The GCs are there and ready to start sending stuff, and many of the kids have already asked teachers for recommendations.

@snoozn Thanks for the reminder about WUE. None of S17’s list are currently on WUE. But it’s a reason to keep pushing Colorado State, Fort Collins & to get that app in early. It is WUE, and that could make it a LOT more affordable than Boulder. S17 is very aware of cost and doesn’t want to go to the most $$ school out there.

@“Queen’s Mom” Many schools don’t allow you to apply this early. Most of the schools DS is applying for the applications don’t open till October or Nov. And most school that are accepting this early, don’t need teacher/counselor recommendations just base on GPA & test scores. Also even though school isn’t open we can order transcripts, because it’s all done online through Parchment.

@techmom99 Welcome. S17 is also only taking AP’s in science/math. He’s officially 2E, and struggled with writing. (He isn’t dyslexic… I’m not willing to go into more on this site.) AP US was never in the cards because the brutal writing schedule. Thus he’s focusing his AP classes on science/math. He will take AP Physics & AP Comp Science this year. (Crossing our fingers, he gets his schedule tomorrow.)

Have you toured LIU?

I have a D12 who has LD’s who just graduated from an east coast school in an art degree. Five years ago we went out and toured schools. We looked at both SUNY Purchase and LIU - Post on a college tour. (We live in CA.) I’m not posting where she went, but it wouldn’t be a good fit for a theater/design production major.

LIU was being heavily pushed to us as good for kids with LD’s from DD’s college counselor. And honestly we both disliked it. Only school tour where we both walked away and said ‘nope’. Lots of $$ at the school yet the buildings seemed to be tumbling down, classrooms were old school, and we are unimpressed by the department representative. Honestly, it isn’t the only school out there that is good for kids with LD’s.

SUNY Purchase we visited but never got an official tour. Because we were limited by our schedule we showed up on a day in August were it seemed the only people on campus were some dance camp for H.S. kids. And the main quad was in the middle of a large reconstruction. Most eery walk around a college campus I’ve ever on. DD still applied. On paper it’s a really appealing school, particularly if you live in NY.

Not sure if it has the major you want. But have you looked at Edinboro, a PA state school with a HUGE art program. It was the first school DD got accepted at & also the cheapest. (Under $20K 4 years ago for OOS tuition & room & board.) But it is 2 hours from anywhere. We visited in the middle of January during a storm and DD just couldn’t see herself there. They have a wonderful art program, but I’m not sure about theater.

Curiousitycat -

We did tour LIU-Post. We live a close commute away and have been to the campus many times over the years, for summer camps, gifted programs for my two oldest kids, Tilles center productions, even my oldest son’s HS graduation. My son liked the campus. I believe that they have done work on it in the past 5 years because it looks better than it did a few years ago. I think the department rep, whom my son and I both really liked, is probably new as well since she is about my D’s age (mid-20’s). The rep invited my son to contact her when school begins so that she can set him up to visit with the department and see how the backstage works.

I did look at Edinboro. Thanks for the recommendation but it doesn’t have a tech program. Its theater arts program says that it’s limited to current students only and the other related majors are music, musical theater and music education and none of these are what he wants. My son isn’t an art student. He took mechanical drawing/CAD in lieu of studio art as his requirement. He doesn’t want to draw or design, he wants to build, construct and make things happen. He is very happy to bring someone else’s design vision to life but has no desire to draw anything himself, artistically. He’s power tools and not paintbrushes.

My son visited Purchase and he liked the campus. My daughter said it appeared that the construction may be over or nearing its conclusion. I like the fact that they are considering putting a senior housing complex, like an assisted living, at the campus. That would probably make the out of school season less eery for future visitors, though perhaps a bit confusing.

My son is taking AP Envi Sci (assuming he does the prereqs by the time school starts) but that’s his only AP in science or math. He struggled through honors bio and chem and dropped physics because the math requirements were too much for him. He can barely turn on a computer so AP CS is not in his future. He is really good in history but the AP reading and writing were too much for him. He has excellent comprehension but is a slow reader and 50 pages a night on top of his other HW and life itself was too much.

How is your D12 doing? Does she have a job in her field? Is she attending graduate school?

Thank you,

TM

Thank you for your answers. Our school doesn’t start for several weeks yet, so it seemed strange to me. However, her common App essay is all done. I think it’s pretty good but I want her to run it by her English teacher, which can’t happen until school starts. Also, she asked for recommendations last year and submitted a whole “college packet” to guidance, but those recommendations aren’t ready yet either. I doubt she’ll be applying before October.

@techmom99, about suny schools, I generally think they’re a great value, but with a 27 act score, in musical theatre, have you considered muhlenberg? He may get some money, it’s not terribly far and my oldest (heavy theater in high school) had a lot of friends who went there. This was 6 years ago so things may have changed.

Queen’s Mom -

I did look into Muehlenberg but didn’t think that his scores were good enough. That was, actually, however, before he retook the ACT and went up a few points. A surprising number of kids from our HS go there and my D has friends who loved it. Maybe it’s time to give it another look.

My son hasn’t done any essays yet. I have a feeling that his essay is going to be about how hard it is to write essays…

TM

@snoozn I feel your pain. S still has a LOT of summer homework to get done and while I know it will get done just fine, I am far less sure about the college stuff. While WWU isn’t quite as tight of a deadline for us since S won’t get $$ I want ALL schools done by 11/1 and we’ve got some 10/15 ones. He did work on his 2nd draft last week but I do not think he finished it. I am thinking that I’ll schedule the tutor review session to force a deadline on him. My real fear is this. The parent who was taking the class and acting as a practice counselor, for free, is done with her class. As as she admits, I am as or more on top of his stuff than she is. And from a control standpoint, this makes it easier on me but it removes a leverage point. My hope at this point is this. Before school starts (9/7): Main essay done, common app account at least created, resume done, move schools in Naviance to the apply list. Once school starts request LOR’s. That gives him maybe 6-7 weeks then (during school, with fall play, marching band and work) to get the common app done and all the other essays/supplements. UGH. He has agreed on the essay and firming up the list so I can start to send scores.

I have to admit. I want to just write the resume myself. It’s driving me nuts. My gut instinct is that it will play out based on level of work involved. Schools that don’t have an extra essay will be done first (looks like 6 at the moment). Then the schools that have a common supplement (we have 4 that have variations of an essay on an EC). And then the rest which all have more and unique ones. I am fairly sure that he will use his CA essay for WWU. 2 out of the 4 remaining shouldn’t be horrible, one is scholarship stuff and the other is a “why” essay that I think he can tackle easily. However the other 2…I don’t know. One is Oregon State which at the moment he is saying no. I have a visit scheduled there in September and really am leaning towards making him go. He can decide on the app after that. The other is Ithaca, which has a “why” essay that is going to be hard given that he hasn’t visited, as well as a learning style one that will not be as easy.

As for WWU and the strength of the essay…I’ve no good advice there. Obviously you want it to be the best it can be but WUE and their other scholarships are really stats based and the essay won’t factor into it, I don’t think. Money is limited and goes early so yeah, I’d get that one in as soon as possible, within reason. I believe they start notifying as early as November, though that may just be the admissions piece.

As for EA schools and grades, you just have to send 1st semester when you get them and a progress report if you have it I think if you have quarterly ones. I know for us, our first semester ends after all EA dates. At application time, S will not have any senior year grades to even report, our first progress report is 11/13 and he is supposed to have all apps in by then lol.

@QueensMom we won’t apply till after school starts here so that LOR requests and transcript requests can be in naviance but we will do that almost immediately upon school starting so that the LOR’s can make it in time for the 10/15 and 11/1 dates. I do plan to send scores in the next few weeks though.

@techmom99 Welcome!!! I’ve seen you post before with some math coursework related questions I think. Welcome! There are a lot of theater kids here, maybe not ones looking to major in it but a lot that have it as an EC, including mine. Out of curiousity, what kind of things do they want for a theater tech program portfolio? Many of us here are in the same $$ option, having financial safeties on the list is critical. I’m only allowing schools on the list that at least appear to have the potential of enough merit money to maybe work and S is quite clear on what the budget is.

@techmom99 I would think he’s a shot at Muhlenberg admission wise. It may be a bit of a reach but possibly worth going for. Do run the NPC though, it came off our list as while they will offer merit, it wouldn’t have been enough. We “replaced” it with Ursinus. S17 would like to do some tech work while in college so we have tried to include schools that offer it, although in his case aren’t so strong/competitive that he wouldn’t be able to get work, or to play jazz and appears to offer a much nicer merit package at my S’s stats (3.45 UW, decent rigor, 25 ACT superscored, which they take). You may want to take a peek, it is a CTCL school and those are good fits for the B student in general. .

@techmom99 Good to know LIU-Post looks better than it was when I visited. It was just AS expensive as top rated schools, but a lot more run down than most State school’s. Didn’t give a good impression. Glad to know they have improved things. It might have great teachers, we just couldn’t get past what we saw. I didn’t remember if Enindboro had much of a theater department, it has a great art program and thought it was worth the rec. My DD did theater tech in H.S., as did I for year so I do know what goes into it.

As to what DD is doing? Well… that’s a bit of a sore spot. For one more week she has a summer job, that is in her field kind-of. (She did the same job last year and it counted for her internship.) And after that she has NO plans… Nothing… And she hasn’t really tried. If I weren’t busy with other stuff it would bother me a lot more. (She doesn’t know this yet but I have jobs for her.) I’ve been bugging her to talk to her boss’s to very little response. Although I think most are probably school teachers.

Does he want to stay east coast? Or is that mostly a price consideration.

P.S. if you want CC to highlight/notify a poster put at @ sign before username.

eandesmom -

Thank you for the welcome. I am the one with the math issues, lol.

I started to run Muehlenberg’s NPC but I don’t have the energy right now to get out the tax returns. Some NPC’s ask for less info and I only have the AGI and taxes paid written down on my cheat sheet. I will do it later. However, I don’t think it’s viable because the amount of merit scholarships isn’t that huge. The talent scholarships range from 1 - 4K and there is no way that he would qualify for a full or even half tuition merit ride.

For the tech portfolios, they want things that show what you’ve done. My son has done lighting, soundboard, stage managed and build/construct. I didn’t know about portfolios until I joined CC, so he is behind the 8 ball. We have some playbills, which they don’t want unless you’ve designed the cover. Names of the productions and job description go into the resume. I am hoping that he can use photos of the sets he helped build, though at our school, portions of the sets are often rented pre-assembled. He has a couple of scripts with his notes in it, one for a production on which he stage managed and another with lighting cues. I am hopeful that the schools are looking more for potential than for actual heavy duty experience. He also recently acted in a small role in an indy film that may come out this winter (or may not…). I think that his best assets are his enthusiasm, versatility and problem solving skills.

Like your son, mine is well aware of the financial constraints. He is very good about it, I had to explain to him that sometimes a private college might be as good a deal as a SUNY because he said not to even bother looking at any.

TM

@techmom99 I would assume a portfolio for stage tech, would be pictures of set’s he has worked on. Photo/PDF’s of the lighting design he worked on, or the overall set design. If it was worked on by multiple people, make sure it’s labeled as such. He should probably talk to his theater teacher about it.

@curiositycat333 -

The biggest hurdle is that he didn’t take any pictures of sets before this summer’s performance because we didn’t know about portfolio requirements. I guess he can explain that in an essay or at an interview. He has been in drama club since 6th grade but literally only decided this past semester that he wanted to study theater tech at college. There also isn’t a theater program per se at his school. Drama club is an EC, not a class, so there isn’t a dedicated teacher. The advisor is a special ed teacher and I will have him speak to her when school starts again. Maybe she has a collection of photos from past productions. I 100% agree that things should be labeled to indicate what he did alone and what was part of a group effort, both because it’s dishonest not to do so and because it shows that he is capable of working collaboratively, which seems to be something that most of the programs emphasize.

TM

D17 has gotten two acceptances so far. She got an unofficial acceptance to Ole Miss. The person in the Veterans Affairs office sent her an email with the subject “Admitted Student” which prompted us to go online and check her status. We see that she’s been admitted online but will call it official after she receives the formal letter… She also got an acceptance letter for Mississippi State University. She can get in-state tuition at MSU because she’s a dependent of a veteran. We are still waiting on the others and there are still a few schools she hasn’t applied to yet. I feel good knowing she already has some options.

Wait…I am so confused. I thought we had another few weeks to get applications in. We are still trying to narrow down the college list. If we wait to complete our Common App and other college applications until the end of August, are we screwed?

If you wait until the end of August, you’ll be ahead of almost everyone. Stop worrying.

@coloradomom2015 we have the end of Oct as our due date for a couple of schools that are top contenders. Then end of November for a couple more that need apps by Dec 1st in order to be considered for merit awards. Then there a few that may wait until early Jan depending on if they are still valid contenders at that point.

But this is our first time around…so I’m not sure this is the best way to go about it. I just know that my kid is already feeling overwhelmed.

@techmom99 It’s not too late to start building the portfolio. Most portfolio’s are due till late January or February. I seem to remember SUNNY Purchase portfolio deadline being in the winter. So he has fall to document more of what he is doing. If he talks to the advisor perhaps they can plan on a few projects just to help portfolio building.

Count us on the list of teens who’s H.S. counselor isn’t coming back this year. Emailed to remind her of something, and I got back a belated note on how she’s not coming back but moving to x school in the district and that there will be a new counselor this year. S17 had a good report with her & she really did know him after a frustrating freshman year. I’m very very annoyed. I’ve only mentioned this briefly but S17 does have a 504 he’s 2E and gets a few accommodations, but they are complicated and takes a while to understand. (There’s no good acronyms you need to actually read the 20 page reports.) She understood them & had been a good go between with the teachers. So my email requesting to have the counselor check over his teacher fits for this year will be useless. Never mind the college counselor report. Which is mostly generated after a filling out a form & an appointment but it’s not the same as the counselor who has known you for 3 years.

This morning was H.S. registration, but because of band camp I haven’t heard details yet. Hopefully no news is good news.

We got a new counselor last year. It was interesting. She looks to me like she’s fresh out of college, but we met with her this week (before school starts) and she’s very on the ball about college, much more so than HS class selection, which we are really having some issues with.

@eandesmom, thanks for the info about 1st semester grade reporting. I know I get progress reports (3, followed by final semester grade) online, so I’m sure those can be sent to the schools as well.

D starts school Friday. She’s not where my high expectations would have had her at the beginning of the summer, but I’m pretty happy with where she is. I just read the second draft of her CA essay and can see she’s really been working on it. It’s not near done, but the “bones” are strong and I think the writing is strong. She’s done most of the “drudgery” parts of the CA, but not the more challenging aspects yet! She did finish her AP Physics summer HW. Phew! Now we’ve got a scheduling issue which we’re working with the GC on, but have to get approval from a couple of other people on some substitutions and so forth.

She’ll be taking two concurrent enrollment classes at CU. She can register starting at 12:01 Friday and classes start Monday! I have the class “shopping cart” ready and have been agonizing as the choices shrink. There are only 3 seats (out of 42) left in the renewable energy engineering class she desperately wants to take (because that’s what she wants to major in). There were 4 yesterday. [-O<

@techmom99, I’ve seen a few CC parents talk about [url = <a href=“https://www.zeemee.com/%5Dzeemee%5B/url”>https://www.zeemee.com/]zeemee[/url] which is apparently a site that can help kids submit supplements or portfolios in a video format. It’s not up my D’s alley so I don’t know anything else about it, but you may want to search around CC for more info or just look at the site and see if it might be a good way for your S to show his theater tech work.

@AHS2017Mom, congrats on TWO acceptances already!

@coloradomom2015, no need to worry. I think the few super-early acceptances we’re seeing around CC are from rolling admissions schools (and kids who are dedicated early-appliers!) My D only has to worry about one school before the EA deadlines (Nov 1 is her earliest) because she’ll be dependent on a particular pot of scholarship money that is not exactly first-come first-serve, but it won’t last forever.

@snozzn I would have loved to have gotten DS to take concurrent enrollment but it’s only really available through the JC and it’s really hard to get the schedule to work. Really wish he could take multi-variable Calc. It’s a shame to have him have a year without any real math. But he’s already doing a ton and I know I just can’t expect him to do more. Band takes up a huge amount of time. And then college app’s are a class all on their own.