@curiositycat333 Boulder is on the common app so he should be able to reuse an essay or expand one of the OSU insight ones to work with CA topics. Not sure about UofO.
I wish he’d look at Colorado State (also on common app), it’s is so much closer to feel to Cal Poly and OSU I think it would be a great option for your S. Boulder will be more like U of O.
OSU Insight is a bunch of short answers. Very different than a traditional college essay. Until this year you could double up the UC Essay and a Comman App Essay. NO more it’s again a short answer Insight type Essay, but different than the OSU one. OSU is 8 very short answers, UC is choose 4 out of 8 questions but slightly longer answers.
UofO’s essay is very broad & any of the common app essays will work, so that can get doubled up. But U of Colorodo @ Boulder also requires an additional “why us” essay. Since that was a school thrown on the list by me, because I thought he would like it and we haven’t seen it I don’t know how he will write that.
This morning I realized, that I honestly figure if he gets into either OSU or/and or UCSC those are the schools he will most likely end up at. (I have a soft spot for UCSC since it was where I went to school.) One of the main things UCSC doesn’t have that he wanted is a Marching Band, and I think he’s a lot less sure this fall than last spring that he want to continue marching band in college. UCSC also doesn’t have as extensive an Engineering program, but the programs they have look to fit his interests and they have a interesting looking applied Math program I think he would really like. I think OSU is a high match school for him, so unless he totally bombs the Insight Questions he’s likely to get in. UCSC is more of a gamble, maybe a low match. All the UC’s are just a gamble with the high number of students who apply.
For Colorado State, I’m hoping they come to our school and give a presentation and that I can convince him to attend. It looks like very little extra work on top of the Boulder application. But as long as I’m not trying to push it for EA I have time still to convince him. It’s the only extra school I’m pushing at this time. I am a bit disappointed he doesn’t have ANY smaller LAC types schools on his list. I think the reason why is I had a bunch of friends who ended up at smaller LAC (best friend went to Reed) and I regretted never having applied to any myself. I have to remember he is his own kid, with his own needs. It’s just his is very much like me in many ways so I do tend to think that what 'I’d like he would too.
@curiositycat333 - I’m a north Denver local, about a half hour from CU Boulder and 45 minutes from Fort Collins. I will warn you as a semi-local that CU Boulder, while it has an excellent reputation for academia is VERY overcrowded. Most kids move off campus sophomore year just because of the crowded dorms. Between CSU in Fort Collins and CU-Boulder, both D17 and myself agree CSU is a much more relaxed, comfortable environment. CU-Boulder has a gorgeous campus, but CSU is making a ton of improvements, including a new football stadium and a new chemistry building. If CSU isn’t coming to your school, find your admissions rep (should be available on the website) and give him/her a call. I’ve found our rep to be super-helpful and responds right away when we have questions! If you have questions about either Boulder or Fort Collins from a local’s perspective, let me know!
As far as reusing essays, I don’t think that’s an issue on the Common App. That’s what D17 planned to do, anyway. She’s applying to both CSU and CU-Boulder on the common app along with Purdue and her top two schools (Creighton and Drake).
Speaking of…both Creighton and Drake told D17 they’d waive her application fee and she can use the Common App. Anyone know how that works? Is there a code she’ll need to enter or…???
Oddest thing just happened. Was checking his online transcript for his exact weighted 9-12 GPA. And it’s GONE UP since last June. Seems he is now recorded for a whole grade higher for spring semester of AP Bio. I wonder if the teacher found more work, or gave him credit for the 5 on his AP. We will take it… His UW total is a 3.12 and UC GPA a 3.5 !!! We will take every point.
@coloradomom2015 Well S17 is mostly applying to University of California all those schools have exactly the same problem.
I’m convinced it a good fit, It’s a bit of a hard sell. I think it’s just many more kids apply from our school (in S. Cal) to Boulder (9) than Fort Collins (2). Really wished there was time to fit in a visit to Colorado i know it would make a huge difference. Add to that the cost CSU is in the WUI. Both Cal Poly & OSU are both in the same type of school and he loved both of them. But what I know and what I can do to convinced him are two different things.
How about some inspirational videos of CSU?
The upbeat student view:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEIMcGaDojw
This one is a bit more parent-oriented and lower key:
S17 got his fall schedule. He has a conflict involving two AP classes–2x per cycle there is a 30 minute overlap in these classes. He was told to work it out with the teachers. Perhaps he will miss the last 15 minutes of one class, and the first 15 minutes of the next one. Not good. Apparently this happens every so often–ugh!.
Did a whirlwind college tour focusing on areas of the country that my son is not so familiar with. The trip hasn’t narrowed the long list down very much–3 came off the list, and he really liked Purdue (as did I). There are several in the west that I’m pretty comfortable with even though he hasn’t laid eyes on them yet. He’ll likely apply to a lot of schools and see what he gets into, and then we’ll look into additional trip(s).
I too have done the spreadsheet (with probably too much information), and am trying to get him to use it to narrow things down, but he hasn’t made much progress yet.
Can someone fill me in on what is appropriate to ask admissions counselors and what is not? What is their role in this–to help the student, to screen students for the school? Would you ask their advice on how or whether to address difficult issues (like LDs) in the application process? I’m not clear on how much information it would be appropriate to disclose to them.
@Hankster1361 Admissions counselors are often the person (or one of them) who makes the decision if your child will be accepted. Your student should always be the one asking questions of them, unless it’s in a large group question & answer. (And in that case you want to keep he questions general.) Almost any question about the school or admission process is game, but you want to consider that you show your best side. Most schools claim they do not take LD’s against students, but you don’t want the admission councilor first recollection of your child to be their LD.
As I’ve mentioned before my DD’s was advised to include LD information on the supplemental section in the Common App. To not build the main college essay around it. I would keep an LD on the down-low at the beginning of the process, unless you really have a question that needs to be addressed for the child to attend. Perhaps he/she needs a very specific accommodation.
Most colleges & universities have on their web-site a Disability Resource Center and you can often direct specific questions at them. This maybe a better approach because you may get more accurate pictures. Just like you are trying to put on a good face, the admission officer is trying to sell you on the school.
I have a D12 who has LD’s, who just graduated from university after 4 years. She was accepted at about 1/2 the schools she applied.
@curiositycat333 I am familiar with the OSU short essay prompts. I do think if one is creative it could be pulled from a longer essay or be used as a starting point for one. Not all of the prompts but some. Ah…they 'why us" essay. Those are a challenge in absentia. S17 has two. One, Goucher, I think he feels he can speak well enough to after a very long conversation with the adcom at the CTCL event. The other, Ithaca, not so much. I hate to see Ithaca fall off for that reason alone but will not be surprised come app time, if it does. OSU is likely to fall off entirely which I think is a mistake but we will see.
I am with you on the LAC, I think I would have loved one but it never occurred to me to even look. I’ve zero regrets about where I did go and those friends are a huge part of my life today, but I do think it could have been fabulous in a very different way. You may want to check and see if one of the NACAC National College Fairs will be in your area, I’d suspect that CSU will be there. I know your S is pretty hung up on things being “real”. I will say, and I love Boulder, that it is very full of wealthy OOS kids and in my opinion less “real” than Fort Collins. Just a personal opinion mind you. I can absolutely see why CSU was DS14’s 2nd choice, as you know she is at Cal Poly. Very similar feel. What you hear from other kids though, does matter and I can see the battle there.
YAY on the uptick in the GPA! I am annoyed, they’ve done some updates to our software and gpa/transcript doesn’t show. All we can see is the gradebook which rounds up and is misleading. I did see it online before it dissapeared, and it did update in Naviance but am frustrated it isn’t there to actually “see”. I am amused though as technically S only needs 1.5 of total credits, 3.5 of required credits to graduate and is registered for 7. He will go “over” by 5.5 credits.
@coloradomom2015 I think you would need a code for a fee waiver on the common app? Not sure though, all the waivers we have gotten so far are to schools S is not interested in AND he hasn’t even made a common app account yet to have a clue. I imagine it won’t even show up until you get to the payment screen to know…
@Hankster1361 that is a good question. I would think that your GC might be the best person to advise on whether to address LD’s in the application process itself, but the adcom to answer specific questions about what support services are available or not. In my opinion, adcoms do both, screen and help but at the end of the day, probably screen more than help if that makes sense. Others may have a different opinion though.
@curiositycat333 and @eandesmom --thanks. I did intend that the student ask the questions. The approach so far has been as curiositycat333 suggests (to show the best face). My question stemmed from other posts I have read from time to time where people seem to have a relationship with their adcom and that raised questions for me.
I asked the head of guidance today whether my son’s LDs should be mentioned in his application. His advice was that if anything needed to be specifically addressed, he should do it in his supplemental statement and not in the main essay. My son is dyslexic and dyscalculic so he does extremely poorly in math, so much so that I took him off the academic math track after geometry and put him into accounting for his third math. Since we plan to have him register at the LD office at whatever college he attends, he is going to mention it in his supplemental.
@coloradomom2015 – It’s odd that your D didn’t receive a code – was she verbally told about the fee waiver or did she receive an e-mail? Is she eligible for other type of fee waivers? S17 received application fee waivers (via e-mail) from 2 different U’s. He was given a code that he added to the General Questions section for each College on the Common App.
WRT to foreign languages, we had the opposite experience at our school. They were trying to force her to take a 3rd year of Spanish. She had already taken 1 year of latin, 2 years of spanish, and passed Japanese 3 in a CC. Plus there was no school that she was remotely interested in that required 3 years of the same FL (she wants to major in CS).
They eventually acquiesced.
Since we’re on the topic of the CU-Boulder supplemental, here it is according to the college essay organizer site:
I have given D permission to half-ass this one (even though I think it’s a decent question) since she is auto-admit into the CoE from her HS engineering program. Perhaps the fact that CSU doesn’t have an essay will encourage some of the dithering students out there!
I am really back and forth now between worrying about everything and then plunging straight to a relatively zen-like state (though that never lasts long).
@techmom99 and @Hankster1361 several apps have a supplement for specifically this kind of thing (tell us whatever else you think we should know kind of thing). I don’t know that all do though.
@snoozn I want a zen like state. I was updating my spreadsheet with the final 16-17 tuition numbers that finally updated (from posted 15-16) and there is no zen involved. Sigh.
The head of guidance told us that there is a supplemental portion or 250 extra words over the 650 common app essay.
D17 did confirm tonight that the bump in GPA is because AP Bio teacher did give a grade bump for A 5 on the AP. )(YEAH) I though our district didn’t allow that. (Since you have to pay for the AP Test.) But I’m not about to complain.
@techmom99 Yes that is the supplemental I was talking about. DD did fill it out. I don’t remember the details.
Yes, there is definitely that option on the common app as well as some college specific apps.
That’s outstanding on the .5 @curiositycat333, our district doesn’t do that since the AP scores come out after grades are in. At least not as far as I know. Then again, no 5’s here, only a 4 on AP Lang. I can’t recall what he ended with for a grade there and if a .5 would’ve helped or not lol.
@endesmom I didn’t think the district allowed it either. His grade was changed. Totally surprised me.
He does well in classes where grades are based mostly on tests and less on homework. The reason his SAT’s are so high, he will get commended for his PSAT. Yet he doesn’t get top grades. It’s why this college search is so frustrating, he doesn’t fit into the the scattergram very well.
I honestly believe that large lecture halls at a large university where you are graded mostly on test will serve him well. We will see.
I wanted to share my application story because I think it could give some hope to someone else in a similar situation. I graduated high school a part of the class of 2015.
My final grades for all 4 years were as follows:
A’s: 2
A-'s: 7
B+'s: 4
B’s: 4
B-'s: 3
C+'s: 2
C-'s: 2
Clearly, I was a very average student. The majority of my A-'s were in classes such as gym and health, classes not typically counted in college admissions. My SAT score that I submitted to my colleges was a 1670. The colleges I applied to were as follows:
Temple University
UMass Amherst
Keene State College
Roger Williams University
University of New Hampshire
University of Rhode Island
Marist College
Quinnipiac University
Emmanuel College
Boston University
Northeastern University
I got accepted to every school except Northeastern and I am now a sophomore at Boston University. I didn’t have a magical number of EC’s, I did 2 clubs and cheerleading for 3 years of high school. I only had 40 community service hours. My application was nothing special. I just want those people out there with similar looking scores or grades to know that there is hope! A lot of the time on CC it is kids posting with 3.8 GPAs and 2010 SAT’s. It can really make a B student nervous. Put effort into your application and show a lot of interest in the schools you really like and you will be okay.