D19 wanted to get a job, but in our area a teen pretty much has to commit to the entire summer and she cannot do that. So instead she’ll be in a four week art program in July, developing her drawing skills and adding materials to her portfolio. She also plans to work on her college essays. Just cannot talk about any of this now as she is in the midst of exam frenzy. (Plans to watch Lady Bird for movie night last night were immediately vetoed.)
@Orangefish My D16 had trouble getting a job as a 19 year old last summer last year even with a full summer commitment! It is tough around here and seems to get worse every year. She started a job in CO a few weeks ago and is just going to stay out there and work. S19 doesn’t seem too keen on getting a regular job but it’s all DH will talk about at the moment. It would be nice to having something on the college application besides music, since “watching every trending video on YouTube” and “re-watching the Office” aren’t really ECs.
S19 is getting paid to play bass on a bunch of classic rock songs with some other kids at a private event today. I’m sure he would love to turn that into his “job” but I don’t know how often it’s likely to happen.
@eh1234 Ha. Sounds like our house when I tell D19 that while watching nearly everything on Netflix shows a commitment and deep rooted interest in an activity, it will unfortunately not do much to help with her applications.
Literally 10 minutes ago d19 and I were talking about the college essay topic about an activity and she said a lot of people would probably write about Netflix
I am a really good student. Although, my brother is a sophomore in high school and he is struggling. He has a 2.7 GPA and took the ACT and SAT early. He got a 15 on the ACT and 880 on the SAT. What schools could he get into? I tried to tutor him because I have a 4.7 GPA and got a 35 on the ACT. Any tips for him, we want to go to medical school together eventually. I’m hoping we can get his GPA up to about a 3.1 by his graduation. Hopefully, he retakes the ACT and SAT. Hoping for a 20 on the ACT and 1000 on the SAT.
Summer plans are just now shaping up. I am breaking all of my rules, sigh. In general I don’t support visiting schools in the summer or for remote schools, before acceptance. I am also anti ED.
However. S19 would really like to consider ED and after a lot of discussion, we are open to the idea as he can get out for $ reasons, or any other and drop down to the RD round, it is a “friendly” ED compared to most. However, if accepted he’d have two weeks to visit the school (in Jan) and that sounds super stressful and pricey last minute travel. He’d hear from 4 EA schools before the ED results come in. So, it is semi low risk. There are 3 schools he would not hear from and would just have to withdraw apps and he says he is ok with that. His list continues to narrow, we are down to 8.
But I am not comfortable with an ED without a visit so off we go in August to see 2 schools and this will let him interview as well. I just pray July brings good AP news for the physics test in particular as that will bump his grade up. It’s 50/50 though whether he pulled it off.
Other than that he will have a 1 week mission trip, “some” work at his unpaid internship (but I have no idea what kind of hours that might entail) and he would like to find a paid job, though he hasn’t done anything about it it yet. He’s so crazed with AP tests, the internship and band stuff (parade and trip to Victoria) and then a youth group retreat that really I don’t see him looking for a job until after memorial day.
@Acersaccharum I haven’t been active on any threads really, pretty heads down around here but starting to make summer plans and such.
This is why we have this thread, it’s just a different vibe and group. I enjoy the main thread but cannot always relate.
@eh1234 – good to know that it’s Not Just Us running into the employment challenge for the summer! Your post reminded me about my own summer plans years (decades ~cough cough~) ago when we would stay at school and secure a summer sublet in order to get a summer job and skip the go-home-for-summer plan.
D19 received an email from one of the in-state safety schools, urging her to submit her application in July. (!) Haven’t thought it all the way through yet, but it might be a good thing to do just in terms of taking some of the stress off.
I’m waiting until the exam stress is over before starting to plot out summer visits to schools. She wants to interview at Muhlenberg (and the school encourages it) and we have some possible drive-by visits in the works, too.
I have not ever looked at the regular thread but I can only imagine. I just can’t even. S just took the APUSH and we have fingers crossed for a 4 but I very much doubt it. I don’t think he studied enough. He is working on the Khan Academy review for AP Calc as I type (I think.) I have much higher hopes for a good score there.
We visited Knox College and St. Olaf 4/30 and 5/1. I was prepared to love them both and I did, but Knox stood out to my son and I based on first impressions. He loved the diversity and the history of the campus (Lincoln-Douglas debate site, building that was used in the Underground Railroad.) The students and staff we met were warm and wonderful and it just felt “right” in many ways. My only hesitation is the tiny CS department (three profs) although we met with the department head and were very impressed. Also the theater opportunities are just less with such a small student body.
St. Olaf was gorgeous like a postcard and everyone we met was amazingly friendly and lovely. It seemed more “upscale” than most of the other colleges we visited (Allegheny, Knox Earlham), even a bit more so than Wooster. St. Olaf sadly also came across as a bit of an affluent white kid bubble based on our morning there (but still holding out hope that this could change with another visit!) I wanted to love it the most because of what I had read about the school: full of music, strong academics, extremely safe campus with a nerdy vibe. All of the people we met were so NICE but the feel of the place was just not as warm as Knox.
As I have read many times over, you just have to see for yourself. I can see why Knox and Allegheny are described as “run down” compared to the groomed and matching loveliness of St. Olaf and Wooster but I liked the variety of historical buildings at the older schools and that felt more “authentic” to me. So Knox and Allegheny are now tied for first with S but he is staying very open to all of his list until the offers come in!
This summer S is going to a 2 week French immersion and then a cybersecurity camp at WPI. Hopefully that will be “enough” to look right. I have come so late to this game that planning summer activities to burnish my son’s college application never even occurred to me before I started on CC. Lesson learned for D22.
I need to stay off the main 2019 thread. I’m considering unbookmarking it because so much of the discussion there makes me want to hit my head against the wall. I really just can’t relate.
S is taking the SAT again in June, and since i think this will be the last time he takes it, I decided it might be a good idea to use the free score reports. I asked him what his four favorite schools were. The only school he named was Pitt. I am very worried about his focus on Pitt. I think it is turning into his dream school, and it is a reach for him. I am praying that he will get in, and that he finds other schools that he really likes in case he doesn’t.
As for looking right on applications, he doesn’t. In addition to an average GPA, and OK SATs, he has almost no extracurriculars. He joined Science Olympiad this year which was his first non-sports related EC ever, but he has spent almost no time on it. I asked him about it and he said the lead kids do everything. Kids at his level (whatever that means) don’t get to go to any competitions. I think his total involvement was maybe an hour or two after school, on and off, for a couple months. Maybe 10 hours in total. He said he’s not going to do it again next year. And so, I have been trying to figure out how many ways you can say basketball and working out on the common app. People say that schools want ECs so they know you aren’t on the couch all day. My kid is never on the couch, but he isn’t into easily labeled activities either, except for sports. He’s really just into his own thing. Lately he’s been working on a nutrition and exercise program with an ex-NFL football player that goes to his gym. Its been a very interesting activity for him, but not easy to translate into an EC for the common app. He hasn’t gone to an organized summer program since middle school and even back then it was just basketball camp. He has played in summer soccer and basketball leagues, but that’s just more of the same.
Did anyone else notice that the scores for the June 2 test are not scheduled to be released until July 11. Kind of odd.
@me29034 Have you thought about having your S describe his exercise and activity program as his application essay? You find it interesting, it shows a lot of initiative, your S’s relationship with the ex-NFL player might be an intriguing angle and it sounds like an accurate and interesting way for your S to explain his unique interests to admissions. Reading your mention of it made me curious to hear more about it. Just a thought.
@me29034 I’ll echo @fwtxmom – that sounds like a really interesting essay topic for your S and would help him turn what some colleges might view as gaps [I’m <em>not</em> viewing them way] into opportunities for self-created activities.
@me29034 I also concur. That is an EC. My S19 only does science olympiad and he is “tired of it”. His only non computer game playing activity is “magic the gathering”. But there are also other little things here and there, and in the end, though he never lead, or has ton of volunteer hours, or cured cancer, he will be able to show who he is. We are on the cusp between this group and the main group. Last month was aiming for straight B’s this semester. but might pull off some grade increases. Yes, decent SAT scores, but that frustrates me even more. I worry he will flunk out of college with his lack of EF skills. The HS teachers coddle and sometimes I wish they didnt and other times I am grateful
I continue to skim the main thread because I pick up important tips sometimes, but I have to water it down considerably for my needs. For example, I am encouraging D to request a LoR from a great teacher because she probably gets lots of requests and will limit the number she agrees to. I might have waited until the beginning of next year when most requests are made, but I realized that the high-achievers are probably already jockeying for position!
We are also dealing with a dream school situation over here. For admission, D might be okay, but I consider it a reach because of merit. I have to admit the fit is great and finding another school will take quite a bit of effort, so I am having an inner struggle over that. I have not made a spreadsheet, but I think I need some kind of graphical display to help D clearly see and understand her chances. Please share any strategies that work with your son.
Great advice from @fwtxmom and @BorgityBorg! Aside from her sport, D19 has next to no EC’s. She has taught, volunteered and coached within her sport, and it takes up 20+ hours/week, so I am hoping that as an applicant she looks “committed” and not “one-dimensional”. I agree that the essay will be key! I also think there is a spot on the common app to describe anything you feel needs additional explanation.
We plan to use June free score reports to send to schools and the NCAA where I am sure she will meet the minimum. It also buys some time for me to convince her to look seriously at the safeties. I should note that she plans to take ACT again in Sept.
@Acersaccharum For your D, I would think that she’s got a bunch of different types of ECs within her sport. Teaching, volunteering, and coaching, to my mind, require significantly different (and useful!) skill sets than participating directly in the sport – that’s where I’d think the essay could draw that out a lot more than a line on an application.
I know I had some success gently suggesting to my own D that her SAT scores were at a level that were unlikely to gain her admission to some of her reach schools by showing her the 25-75% percentile ranges from the Common Data Set as well as the overall admissions rate. We just said that she had plenty of great schools on her list. If she wanted to test again to try to get a higher score, we’d be fine with that, too, but we were also fine with the schools on her list where she was safely above the 50th percentile or higher where a higher test score probably wouldn’t have much of an impact. Of course, we are not aiming for merit, so our situation may be different than yours.
Thanks all. I have thought about the exercise and nutrition program for an essay. It’s really a big part of his life right now. He’s got a couple basketball related topics he could write about too. Maybe it will make up for the small number of ECs.
@me29034 I agree with other posters that it’s more than just the sport. My son does one sport (diving) in HS, too, and no other ECs at school. He will be Captain of the team next year so that is a plus, but he also coaches, works at our summer pool as a lifeguard and participates in the sport year round. I believe colleges do value commitment to something special rather than loads of clubs. Have seen tippy top academic kids without sports be disappointed with some of their acceptances and surprised about rejections. I think sports are well-perceived by admissions. Think of all of the great skills gained from participating in individual and team sports - commitment, drive, focus, motivation, functioning as part of a team, resiliency, etc.
We’re facing some EC issues next year. DS19 is very active at school in academic ECs and has been since Freshman year including leadership positions , but two of his favorite ECs, Academic Team and Historic Preservation Club , will no longer have a team sponsor as one of the teachers is going to grad school and will not have the time and the other is moving . He plans to volunteer at a military museum near here next fall. He will have a lot of things to list on his applications, but I’m afraid it may look like he’s slacking his senior year, which is not the case at all. He’s very disappointed because he really enjoys both of these ECs.
I understand about the main thread @me29034 . DS19 is more appropriate for this group because of the schools that he’s targeting and his test scores. It gets old being told if he would just study the " right way" he could improve his score considerably or that his school clearly has grade inflation because his standardized test scores are not consistent with his GPA.
Where do I find the “main” thread?