Thank you, @youcee we’ll keep the honors/Regents benefits in mind when evaluating options. I wish the UCs released admissions earlier!
@youcee , it is unlikely that @carlsbadbruin 's son would have difficulty entering the CS major at UW by regular admission if he is not offered direct freshman admission (which is awarded almost exclusively to the top instate applicants): “4.0 UW/4.75 W GPA, 2240 SAT (770M/760CR/710W), 800 Math II/750 Physics, lots of AP courses and has taken college math courses through Linear Algebra.” Still, if any OOS student has a chance for it, it would be this applicant!
@carlsbadbruin , your son might enjoy this recent news item from Washington CS:
Good luck!
@eandesmom @snoozn I would assum AO’s would notice/ignore hacked spam mail better than a retired teacher’s FB friends would.
I receive tons of spam emails from nigerian princes and predatory bogus conference organizers.
(http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/dr-madhukar-pai/predatory-conferences-academia_b_12467834.html)
Occasionally, friends’ emails (hotmail, aol, etc) get hacked, and I receive unusual emails with just a link (Do Not click the link.) Once an email said that the friend was robbed in Philippines and asked to send money to help him return to US. The email was not written in good English.
I wrote on his FB, I am not sending any money even if you are detained in Philippines.
Other friends of his also commented on his FB that they were about to comment the same 
He has no friends to bail him out :))
Sorry about the hacked email though @eandesmom 
@eandesmom You meant to tag @paveyourpath not me 
about demonstrating interest.
S17 did Zero, zip, zilch, nada on following up after interviews, AO visits, etc.
I could almost have written @paveyourpath’s post only if S17 wrote to the AO about the conflict with AP Psych test! I hope one of the kids in AP Psych wrote to the AO though, so he won’t feel bad about low attendance. There were twelve other kids with the same problem!
We will know soon if not following up with AOs was a bad idea. 
@payn4ward – the things is, I don’t know if we ever will truly know if following up with AOs helped or did not help.
We would need identical candidates with identical stats and know that both candidates were evaluated by the same AO…
College admissions will remain a bit of a mystery, after satisfying a certain benchmark.
@chillkitty NINETEEN applications?! That’s impressive, all those supplemental essays…wow. My D17 is applying to five schools and I thought THAT was a good number. Maybe I’m wrong but it’s probably too late now.
@JenJenJenJen The last one, McGill, was a bit of a cheat since it did not require supplements or LORs. At least 7 on her list are lottery schools, so even though she has strong stats and should make the first round of cuts, who knows? As for all the extra supplementary essays, let’s just say she became very skillful in repurposing essays.
@payn4ward My D17’s college counselor instructed all the kids in her care (there’s another college counselor at her high school) to write thank you emails after interviews. At some point, it becomes meaningless, don’t you think? If the kids are just obeying orders and dutifully checking off that box, it means less, is what I"m saying.
@chillkitty Ah, yes, that sounds a lot more manageable. :)>- My kid saw that two of the colleges on her list had very similar supplemental essay topic (besides the tired ol’ “why you wanna go here” one) so it only took her a short amount of time to rework the essay she’d already done for one of them – her ED one – for the other. That was a relief!
@JenJenJenJen I agree with your D17’s counselor that a Thank You note (in any way, shape, or form) after an interview is an absolute necessity. Especially if the school is high on their list. This is a life lesson.
ETA: I will acknowledge that MOST thank you notes are immediately discarded, some without even being read. Nevertheless, they are necessary, IMO.
Re: updating information: If I was doubting if it mattered for schools with no interviews and no personal contact, I do not now. Dd did update schools where the admissions and scholarships are competitive, even if the schools have zero direct contact between admissions and applicants. She just received a really enthusaistic email from a school where she wasn’t expecting to hear back. She is beaming!
@Mom2aphysicsgeek If schools only knew how far those little nuggets go to get kids beaming! So happy for her!
Went to a Christmas/Holiday Party this weekend in my town and many of my son17s classmate’s parents were in attendance. So many stressed out people in terms of of college admissions. Lots of horror stories. Many stories of kids doing cruddy on sat/act tests and now the hope of attending “XYZ” college are basically flushed down the toilet.
Lots of despair over that. I guess one of the benefits of joining this site is that it has greatly tempered my expectations, and it has been amazing to read about so many “superstar” kids with amazing stats/EC’s. I can now put it all into perspective and realize son17 has a good application strategy and that he was fortunate enough to take the ACT one last time and squeak out a good score. His final score certainly opened some doors for him, and while it wasn’t a perfect superstar score it should be decent enough to get him considered for all of the schools he wants to attend. I’m really glad it worked out for him.
I tried to avoid talking about college stuff with the people I socialized with, having to change the subject repeatedly.
I’m not that stressed about the whole thing, but it seems like people really get hung up on “name brand” fancy pants schools. I’m not that way at all, and I try to tell my kids all of the time, it’s not where you go to school, it’s what you do while your there that will set you up for success in the future.
Anyways, my take away from the party was basically people were losing their minds with EA/ED results looming in the next 2 weeks.
Update: nothing new here, just waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. I can’t imagine how long it will feel like when a few of son17’s RD choices send out acceptance notes. Will feel like forever.
I’m making a conscious effort to keep my college talk to a minimum these days. Especially at the dinner table, it is my go to subject. From DS’s prospective, there’s no new news, so what’s the point? :-/ :-@
D had an interview this weekend and I guess it went well as she didn’t give the standard “fine” answer and seemed somewhat enthused afterwards - about as enthused as I see her unless it involves melted cheese in some fashion. She went over her short answers for the app and basically has it ready to submit now. I told her to wait until she gets her grades from her 2 college classes because she can self-report them. She has 2 other RD apps ready as well. That leaves just 3 more.
Now to start counting the scholarship essays she needs to write. She actually has to apply to 3 scholarships for her grade in her Advisory class.
Funny that all this talk of demonstrated interest. We played the game for all 3 children. It definitely got child 2 into her reach school. She made a real connection, and after the fact, the AO told her that she really believed in her and admitted her with numbers well below average.
S17, worked really hard to establish a good relationship with the AO of one of his top two schools. He attended two of her big presentations, met her two years in a row at his High school, and had a one on one coffee with her. She encouraged him to apply ED, and gave him a good feeling of support. Yesterday he submitted his ED2 application to the school. He emailed her to let her know of his actions and express his hope. It immediately bounced back. In the last month, she left the school. Not sure why, but S is so bummed. He thought he had a real chance with her, and now all the effort of demonstrating interest, and really getting to know each other, it is gone. What a bummer. Now he is just another one shot in a game of 15% acceptance…oh well…Thought I would share…
Blergh. Made the mistake of clicking around on a few other threads here (I’m looking at you, Stanford applicants!) and am now breathing into a paper bag and second-guessing some essay decisions we made on the Common App. I think I’ll just stay here from now on…
I’m glad I don’t have to endure braggy, pushy parents and other annoying college talk issues like @RightCoaster and others. I don’t actually know any local class of '17 parents, so no problem there. Family and friends are supportive and aren’t second-guessing D’s picks. Though admittedly my immediate family is getting tired of my college talk!
I did know quite a few parents of D11’s friends, but only one kid was chasing tippy-top’s (didn’t get in). That Mom could be a bit braggy, but didn’t talk about it much. The kids in her social circle went mostly to the in-state flagship and small LAC’s (some better known than others). A number of her friends didn’t go to college and don’t plan to.
There are some advantages to not being a super-star!
@picklesarenice, no second-guessing allowed! Try to remember CC is not the real world and put down the paper bag. But do have some chocolate or wine. Better yet, have both!
My problem with quite a few of D’s college-specific threads is that they are ghost towns. At least I don’t need a paper bag…
I am #1 in second guessing myself =))
D emailed AO from one of her reach schools to meet for coffee since she could not attend when AO visited her high school, and AO said that she wont meet with perspective students for coffee. D could not attend the visit because she had a college exam that day. (she does dual enrollment)., so it was a real reason. I found that response rather strange myself.