QOTD: Will you object to your child dropping any courses senior year if this will result in having to provide this on a mid-year report? i.e. it already appears on the transcript sent to EA schools.
S17 registered for 3 one-trimester English electives for senior year. They are really a series and the first is a pre-requisite for the second. The class is small (6 students) and it’s really a cool class. Basically, you write a script, create an environment and all your characters and by the end of the year you have an animated film or video game.
An issue has arisen in the class with regard to one of the students being very deceitful. It’s a small school and the kids are genuinely very supportive of each other so, as I’ve discovered with S17, they are not equipped to handle this. I am happy this has happened because it’s an experience they can now be prepared for before college. Three of the students (S17 included) would like to drop the remaining two courses. S17 asked if he could drop. I am not opposed to his dropping the class but I don’t like the reason he wants to drop this so the deal is I would sign the drop form if, and only if, he brings all parties together for a conversation about what’s going on. Address the issue and don’t run. Yesterday he came home and told me he spoke to the teacher and the 3 other classmates involved and they have a meeting scheduled for today.
S17 may still come home with the drop form and I told him I would sign once I speak to the college counselor to make sure this won’t impact his apps since she would have to include it on the mid-year report (question regarding any thing that has changed since the transcript was submitted) .
Since this is just electives, not a big deal right?
@DMV301 Wow regarding the high school placing a restriction on the number of apps. That seems like a major over-reach to me. What rationale does the school have for imposing this restriction? Why should the school care how many apps a student sends in?
It seems like this would place kids who are chasing merit and need financial aid at a big disadvantage. I don’t understand why the school thinks it is any of their business how many colleges a student applies to.
I have not have a time of time to post but even lurking seem to be difficult with this fast moving but wonderful thread.
Uploaded a picture for my avatar and trying to read at least 10 more pages today.
Empty Nester: I will be an empty nester (except for our German Shepherd, who still needs me greatly) after DD17 goes off to college. Here are my plans with how to spend my time next year: Work more hours at my part time job for college funding; do some volunteer work with local school; visit my two DDs at college; visit my mom more often, who is 10 hours away; get manicures and pedicures regularly; join a book club; work in my yard.
DD is off school today for election day and working on an Honors College supplemental app: YAY!
@HiToWaMom Autoshop for the win! Really, I can’t imagine that a one-semester course is going to impact negatively the perceived rigor of her transcript. And it shows that she’s not a drone. I took wood shop and mechanical drawing back in the day (I was the only girl) and they were two of my most memorable classes.
@DMV301 and @shuttlebus - D’s school does not restrict but “strongly encourages” an app list of 6-8 schools plus an in-state public (easy app, no essay). I know a couple of kids who have pushed it up to 10 but not more than that. They say the average per student is six. I think that average reflects a demographic mix of wealthy families that can afford to apply ED, some kids who only apply to one or two in-state options, and middle class-chasing merit-families that push the boundaries. Personally I think that 10 max is a good guideline for sanity’s sake, but I don’t favor restricting students to 10. Especially if the school is on Naviance, it’s not much more work for the GC to send the basic documentation to more schools.
Another Disney lover here - it’s a glorious piece of American kitsch and I can always find a friend to accompany me. The rest of my family is not into it at all.
Welcome to all of the newbies/delurkers. It’s a fun party, glad to have you here!
RE: High school placing restrictions on the number of applications.
Can they really do that? Not only it’s unreasonable, it seems unnecessary as most students would max out after apps reaching 10 or 15.
How many apps was the school limiting the apps to?
@HiToWaMom I think taking an automotive class would be fun, challenging, and outside the box. I say do it!
Boys soccer playoffs has been so exciting, team won last night after tying with 3 minutes left in game and then scoring in 1st minute of overtime on a header from corner kick. Super exciting. 2 more games to go hopefully. For my younger son this has been a great experience He got moved up to varsity earlier in the year and the intensity and passion that the older kids play with has been eye opening. They never give up. Ever.
We’ve moved into the 2nd semester. Getting closer to ski season. Closer to holidays. Closer to acceptance or rejection letters.
@DMV301 the limit of 10 schools seems pretty unfair. Why should the school be able to tell you how many to apply to. I’m certain this ruling could be challenged and overturned if one wanted to. Seems silly. There are a decent amount of people in this thread that are applying to more than that amount, maybe they have some perspective on how their schools handle that situation?
re: restricting apps at school. D17 was called to the guidance office on 10/27 and asked about her application strategy since she had 10 schools on her common app colleges she was applying to - most for the EA deadline. The GC also had already submitted LOR and transcripts to 3 non common app schools. GC was curious and worried that D17 had not narrowed down her list. It was more of a curious question than restricting apps and she expressed worry about essay fatigue, cost of apps/test scores, and then the struggle to make a decision. She was happy when D explained her thinking and that she was chasing the big MAC schools. D was able to articulate her strategy and the reason why each school on her list would be a great fit - the GC was happy and did her part for all apps. She asked if D would be willing to sit on a panel that is held in the spring for the families of juniors as they kick off their app season.
As parents we were happy by the personal attention at our large school and it was nice to know that the GC were up on these things.
@DMV301 I have heard of similar restrictions. I will say, in the end we will be closer to 10 than the original 15 to 18.
QOTD: we had a similar situation (except the class was dropped because overall schedule was just too much for senior year) but dropped before transcript requests went in. It still went on 3 SRARs and we had to call the schools.
Voted. Will be late to work. Again. May be forced into early retirement before our nest is empty. C’mon Big MAC!!!
@RightCoaster I’m an athlete and not a soccer player but man— that description of scoring in overtime off of a header sounds like so awesome!!! Congrats! What a way to keep that senior season alive!
Looking for some opinions on test score submission and superscoring.
Son just got his ACT score back and unfortunately his composite dropped by one point (please don’t ask for details). His super score, however, went UP buy one point.
** Would you send the new (lower) composite score to schools that super score? Or would you bury it in the backyard? **
This is for acceptance purposes only as merit aid rarely comes from super scores.
ETA: Virginia Tech, for example, only looks at English and Math - in this case his super score would go up by two points.
@STEM2017 I’m no expert, but I would send the new score to schools that superscore. I don’t think seeing a drop of one point on the individual composite hurts enough to nullify the +1 or +2 in superscore.
@STEM2017 I would send the new score in. For acceptance, some schools really do care a lot about the highest score they can actually claim. 1 point is 1 point. I’d take it. It might help.
QOTD: Superscoring:
In big schools, how do they adcoms get the superscored results? Do they run everything thru a computer first so they have it right in front of them? There’s no way they personally are sifting thru each applicants results and tallying up the scores themselves right? I’m just curious.
Quick follow up to my question. I just spoke to Virginia Tech and they said DEFINITELY send in the new score. They understand that kids have good days and bad days but they are looking for reasons to accept, not reject, them. They want them to have the highest possible score. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and send it in.
@stem2017 and ACT2017 I agree math is especially important for an engineering major. I would consider what the average acceptance math Act score is for the program, and if your son would benefit from the boost. I would guess for Virginia Tech, a math score of 30 or below would benefit by the point.
@STEM2017 Send it in to all schools that Superscore. Looking at Portals that show test scores @RightCoaster you can see what they do with them. Some schools enter all the scores received, have an entry for Superscores or Highest and then concordances to the other type ACT to SAT, SAT to ACT, old SAT to new SAT. If the school concords the ACT to SAT then the +1 ACT will look even more when concorded to SAT.
Voted!!! Hope we all survive today and our kids feel good about the outcome.
DS trying to submit a project for Regeneron (formally Intel) competition - hoping he makes the deadline next week - lots of writing to do still - long science paper and 6 or so essays. Over 2 years of work on it. Then back to the supplemental essays – looking like will be very busy through Turkey Day.
Welcome to all the new folks joining the thread - we ha great group here.
@STEM2017 – I agree to send in a higher math score to a college that superscores for engineering/CS
Finding out how colleges superscore and what the AO sees would probably make a good “Ask the Dean” question. I think the AO’s only see the superscores. With the limited amount of time they have to look over apps, the last thing they need to be doing is digging through three sets of ACT’s and two sets of SAT’s to figure out what to pay attention to. As I mentioned in another thread, I envision the poor student interns spending hours entering test scores into some kind of software that spits the superscore into the app. Just a guess though!
@Mom2aphysicsgeek, what a sweet moment – that avatar definitely looks like it represents you. I hope you’ll keep it!