@3kids2dogs yeah. I hear you. Follow up question for anyone who wants to give their two cents. Maybe D bags the leadership camp and dance plans but lists Special Olympics coach in the activities since she was selected and started and just say what she did for those first few weeks and what the job would have been. And then don’t answer Covid question.
Thank you for that amazing resource! My evening will be busy! D21 can’t get to it until tomorrow because of her job, but she’s excited, too. Thanks again!
I told S not to answer the COVID section. All kids had things cancelled, so I think it is expected that activities list will be light for this period of time.
Hi everyone! I am late to the game, but stumbled across this forum while doing research over the weekend. I hope you all don’t mind me asking a few questions and chiming in here and there.
These conversations have already been helpful in my thought process - for instance we were not considering Bama until their generous merit based scholarships were mentioned. A few subtle hints and D21 submitted an app. I also now have a much more realistic view of her chances with a couple schools she really likes. One is basically a zero possibility and the other is a big reach. As a parent, I’m being careful not to project too much and let her lead - delicate balance for sure.
D21 got her ACT score today as well - 34! But, is confident she can improve math. So, we have a Sept 12 spot. In addition to Bama, she also applied to Clemson. The rest (save one) will be CA, but she has not started on essays. I keep saying now is the time to get started, but being candid or introspective is hard for her. Brainstorming ideas has not yielded much.
The school she would be excited to get an acceptance from in UNC-Chapel Hill. OOS admit rates clearly make it selective. With a 34 ACT, 4.0 unweighted, 4.93 weighted, varsity sport, 3s and 4s for APs, standard run of academic honor societies, and a couple ECs, what do you think the chances are? I’m guessing not great. But, I think she will rank very high in her class. Definitely top 10% (our school only announced Val, Sal, and Top 10%. Rankings are not given after top 2). I am trying not to get hopes up, but she very well may be within reach of Val or Sal. And just maybe she can squeak another point out of the ACT. They won’t announce Val/Sal/10% until after fall semester, so it will be past app deadlines. Do other schools already have rankings? How do you know what to put in that blank on CA?
Also saw the July ACT results today. Weren’t really good enough to stop testing although the 36 in English was unexpected. Will try to sign up for a Fall opportunity to do two parts over again.
Welcome @HereWeGo2021! I like your user name.
Congrats on finding this site. It’s very helpful. And the threads move along rapidly at times and provide nuggets of helpful info and resources.
I don’t have experience with guessing odds for UNC OOS but wanted to welcome you here. No doubt others with more experience will chime in soon.
No for S on the Covid section. If anything it gave him more time to volunteer with Covid relief. I believe that I have heard on podcasts not to put anything if you weren’t affected in an unusual way - had to watch sibs, work to support your family, illness, etc.
Our school only gives weighted rank.
@privatebanker thanks for the info on U Mass. It’s very intriguing. I’ll have to dig around and see if I can find out the 2019 admitted stats for CS and bio. In general he looks pretty good for admission. If fewer international applicants, then might help him out OOS full pay.
only weighted GPA is on our transcript and rank for all students, not in deciles.
We’re also torn about the Covid section. If anything, our D may mention that her hospital volunteer work was cancelled as soon as it started because it would have been a huge part of her summer and senior year, but I think that’s it. Her other cancelled activities were mostly what she’s done before. @homerdog I think the Special Olympics coach role, at least, is worth a mention.
Thanks to those of you that replied with your insight on applying TO to a reach. It all helps. D21 's hasn’t been able to take the SAT yet and like @socaldad2002 mentioned, I’d want schools to see that standardized test score as maybe the great equalizer if they question anything from a school that has hardly ever sent any kids out of state, much less to top tier schools.
I’m growing concerned since the next two SAT’s we have her scheduled for are to be held in school buildings that the districts have gone to remote only during those dates. I would love to pull the trigger and have her apply ED somewhere, TO and get accepted and be done with all of this, but not sure what we will do yet since that magic 8 ball I misplaced it somwhere back in the 1980’s 
@homerdog The advisor we are working with said to use the covid section to tell about the major activities that were supposed to happen, but were cancelled that can’t make the activity list because they did not take place… My D will list how her internship was cancelled, along with competing at HOSA International (where she was also going to be presented a top state award), and she could not compete in the Irish Dance North American Championships. So, some pretty big events were cancelled. She won’t list lots of little school based things that didn’t happen that everyone missed out on.
D21 and I are headed from CA to NC next week with D19 to move her back to school/dorm, and we are going to drive to visit several schools thereafter, in NC/SC/PA. We’re fully aware there are no formal tours but she’s contacted the schools to check if they are restrictions to walking around campus and so far, so good, so it’s a go.
Haven’t decided about the COVID section. D was selected for a leadership position on her summer activity that she’s done for the past several years and about which she wrote her CA essay… activity was cancelled this summer but I think that will get mentioned elsewhere.
Re: UMASS. I grew up in the area back when it was ZooMass and you had to take an exam to get the Chancellor’s scholarship. I deliberately threw the exam because I didn’t want to go so close to home and to a party school. It’s SO different now. Repeatedly gets best food award, has a great honors program and some beautiful new buildings. (Still lots of brutalist architecture if that’s your style though!) The town is pretty small, and while the 5 colleges are pretty diverse in population, surrounding area is very white. Also liberal. My nephew lives in Amherst and refers to the area around campus as “behind the tofu curtain”. D21 will likely apply there because it’s the most ethnically diverse of the New England flagships, it fits the big state U idea she wants and we have family nearby.
Last night, instead of putting the final touches on her personal statement, my daughter decided she hated it. Completely started over with a new idea. This is going to be a long couple of months…
If you want to travel to PA, you’ll need to quarantine for 14 days if you’re coming from CA or NC. You may want to scratch that visit off your list.
Still no July ACT results here…
@eb23282 agreed. I think that’s why we’re finally scrapping the VA/NC trip. Hubby can’t come because he’s a teacher, and won’t go back to school ignoring the quarantine period. D21 doesn’t want to miss the first week of senior year - even though right now it’s 2 1/2 days in person! We’re going to wait another week to officially cancel the hotels since I have a feeling our schools will be going all online since the transmission - a requirement to advance to Phase 3 - has been solidly over 1 this past week. Running out of time to get it under 1 for 2 weeks, which I think has to happen to open school face to face.
Thanks for your post. I found it helpful.
@HereWeGo2021 Welcome and congratulations to your daughter for her great test score and academic achievement, As to UNC it is clearly a lottery ticket type of admission. As you probably know 80% of the class has to be from NC. That leaves very few spots for OOS and basically there many many highly qualified OOS students that don’t get in. My D18 who as you might be able to tell from my avatar is currently at Clemson, loved UNC and was very disappointed when she was rejected early action. She had a 35 ACT, 4.0UW and 4.5W had 8AP classes, one 4 and rest 5’s, volunteer work, varsity sport etc. etc. She was also rejected at her other lottery pick schools, UVA, Brown, Princeton and WL at Vandy.
However the story has a good ending as she is in Clemson’s honor college and is very happy there. With all the AP credits Clemson accepted she went in as a sophomore and is currently studying for the LSAT and intends to graduate in three years and start law school in the fall of 2021.
As to the Clemson merit money the highest tier was 15K when she went in 2018. The next year they bumped the highest tier to 20K however last year they dropped it to 12K. No one knows where it will be for 2021.
My D21 who has similar stats as your daughter has also already submitted BAMA and Clemson application since neither required essays.
Again welcome to our forum. I am sure you will find it very helpful and also often cathartic as from time to time lots of us use it to vent about our kids and the stress of this whole process especially in these Covid times.
My daughter did that too, and then ended up writing a personal statement she loved within a week. It is much better than what she had written before. I think sometimes writers need to slog through a bunch of other stuff in order to finally get to the mental gems that lurk underneath.