Interesting. Here are a couple quotes of interest:
Sounds like they will be using these interviews for admissions purposes.
Retraining and extra time on an app costs money, and colleges are tight on money. This is going to get interesting!
There are a few more quotes about how the landscape is still shifting, and it’s obvious admissions doesn’t really know what they will do in November.
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/12/900173338/how-the-coronavirus-has-upended-college-admissions
^This level of uncertainty makes me wonder if we need to expand the lists. There are no Common App essay drafts done yet here. The supplementals will kill us all. My kids have scores, and we don’t know about the one retaking yet, but the fine-tooth comb with the transcript and essays is unnerving (what do the kids say, can I get an f in the chat).
Had a talk with my rising 9th grader about the importance of grades and rigor. It is easy to foresee what will likely happen in coming TO years with competition for top grades.
I wonder where Temple got the “35,000 apps with no score” number.
S21’s counselor just called to finalize his schedule. There’s an unfortunate conflict between AP Physics and AP Lit this year meaning he can’t take both. The downside of a small school. So he’ll have to drop back to Hon. English 12 but it’s with the same teacher who is fantastic so that’s okay. He got a 4 on the AP Lang exam so he should be fine in terms of credit most places.
Fall block:
AP Calc AB
AP Physics 1
AP Comp Gov (great teacher; tough class)
AP Stats
Spring block:
AP Physics 2
APES (we have an earth science state grad requirement)
English Honors 12
Free period
He’s online whole first semester; classes start Monday!
Wow. I wish we had a block schedule. It looks so much more manageable than having seven academic classes at once. I get that the pace is faster but the students get to focus more.
@homerdog - Agree and this is first time for block schedule. He’s had 7 classes up to this point, but they had a task force working on moving to block in 21-22. With COVID and online classes, they accelerated the plans to implement now. Kudos to them for seizing the moment; I do think the focus will be good.
Each class will have 90 min. of synchronous teaching twice a week – so 3 hours total. There are other blocks of time set aside for small group instruction and office hours. Really does feel like a college schedule.
It will be interesting to see how the pacing goes since this is first time with blocks AND it’s all online. I know the AP Comp Gov teacher, and I can see him getting too ambitious with what can be accomplished in a semester. That class and Physics will be his toughest classes, he thinks.
But his Spring is looking pretty chill! I predict senioritis will start Jan 15! 
We changed to a block schedule this year, in preparation for a hybrid and/or fully remote school year. I think it’s a good change, classes are 80 minutes, which will be a long time on zoom, but fewer classes per day which is good. Probably will be more time to get homework done during the day too, as I expect most teachers won’t teach live for 80 minutes.
@Mwfan1921 – My S also thinks that teachers will truncate the 90 min classes. I am hopeful they will use a chunk of the time to put students in small groups for collaboration, etc. Will be interesting to see. The good news about having all AP classes is there’s so many resources on the internet to fill in any gaps if the pacing and online classes are bumpy.
Honestly, my biggest concern is around motivation and study skills – my S has had such a chill summer with so much cancelled that I hope he can ‘snap back’ into academic mode. I think it’s going to be a rude awakening.
My S21 doesn’t start back to school for a few weeks (homeschool hybrid starts day after labor day) but my D23s started today. Our district is currently all remote, and there were tech issues on Monday with the scheduled “tech check” (as in, nobody could log on because the system was overwhelmed) and again today at the start of second period (same thing). It’s going to be interesting to see how things look at the end of the first (3 day) week!
Our school isn’t doing true block scheduling (by semester) but is alternating days so that kids only have 4 classes per day, 90 minutes each (first 30 minutes synchronous for the first two weeks and then teachers may change some of that, I think). Every other day they switch to the other 4 classes.
S21 did the same types of interviews that others here are doing - his school list is less selective, and all 9 of them have had the option to sign up on their website for interviews with admissions officers. All were with admissions officers - none with students or alums. This is certainly influenced by COVID, but as a homeschooler, he was going to have these interviews anyway (but on campus) as they are often required of homeschoolers. None of his schools are selective enough to only offer interviews after application and none of his schools are big enough to simply not offer interviews at all.
Ok. Read that article in NPR and SO glad that we are not applying to some of the LAS who are asking that you volunteer to interview or worse - answer an impromptu timed question on video! Talk about stressful during a crazy time.
A really interesting in that article discussion regarding early action:
"Given all the uncertainty, colleges said they may look more closely for signs that a student is truly interested in their school. And some said they may lean more heavily on early decision applicants this year. But even that is uncertain. The early applicant pool may be more competitive this year, if it swells with students who are also sick of uncertainty.
And some colleges said they may be more skittish about early acceptances this year; given what’s already missing from students’ transcripts, they may end up deferring more early applicants, and waiting for their fall semester grades, just to be sure."
I also got a newsletter from a podcaster I respect. She said not to count on submitted test scores being lower this year, but expect them to rise instead. People won’t submit below the midpoint she expects. She also encouraged “Gray Area” students in our position - a so so / lopsided test, not on par with GPA - to try to safely get a test by November and maybe even forego EA if necessary. She said look at the numbers, consider the admission rate at the school, and know that they will just look at what you present rather than speculating about why you are not submitting a test. She’s offering a personal consult on this, and I’m seriously considering taking her up on it because I felt our GC was a bit behind the 8 ball on it this week. She also encourages students in a tough test position to apply broadly, seemingly on the lower end “Toyota vs BMW.”
S is working on his supplementals this week, while he procrastinates getting back to revising his main essay. I like the Essay Guy advice on this (we have his new book). I have to say S wasn’t super enthusiastic yesterday, and these are only the EA ones on his current to do list. He will need to pick up his pace and I’ve explained to him how important this part is. We are applying pretty broadly, with at least 12 (counting multiple UCs as one) schools on his list. Hope he can muster some energy today.
Bowdoin did those videos last year too. It’s not new this year.
And the advice to go ED in that article is thinking only about what the colleges want, not the students and their parents. So few kids have been able to visit colleges in order to choose an ED school. Plus, we don’t know what Covid will bring for fall so I really think it’s best to make the decision about where to go in April, not in November. I’m so curious if schools will have fewer ED applicants to choose from. Even from the recruited athlete standpoint, recruitment has come to almost a halt for some sports so I don’t know how some athletes will even have a school to ED to if they don’t have coaches watching them and therefore no offers.
Great point about ED. I think you’re right about sticking with RD this year unless your student has been able to visit and has strong stats.
FWIW D20 did the Bowdoin video, submitted test scores (on CC’s advice), had alumni interview, visited campus (in February!) and was denied RD. She was accepted at Williams RD (w/test scores, optional essay, campus visit). Can’t help but think that Williams having only 1 round of ED, so more space for RD applicants than Bowdoin, worked in D’s favor. (I would never assume that D would have been accepted to Bowdoin had she applied ED – still a big reach for her.)
Does she not have an IB Math score because it’s a two year HL course or was it just one year? Even though they didn’t have IB exams, she should have an IB score if it was just a one year course. My daughter was able to check her score in early July. They used an alternate calculation to come up with the scores based on grades, teacher input, etc.
Yeah those small schools are kind of a crap shoot in RD even if you do everything you can. S19 was accepted in RD and denied at Williams RD. We visited Bowdoin but not Williams but he did send his test scores and wrote the essay. I actually thought he was a really, really good match for Williams being strong in math and art (sent his portfolio too) but they took one athlete from our high school and they’ve never taken more than one student (and usually none) so I wasn’t completely surprised at his denial.
If a student wants to go to an elite LA and is using RD, they need to apply to a lot of schools.
@NateandAllisMom Re, the NPR Bowdoin impromptu video question/answer, I cringed! I could see S freezing up and saying nothing. Very glad LAC aren’t his thing.
@Mwfan1921 Our school also went to a block schedule for covid prevention, but with only 2 classes per trimester, each 2 hrs long! Now it’s remote. I can’t imagine how they will fill that time. And, D got math 1st, with the hardest teacher (she’s 100% humanities). And, colleges will now see grades from only those 2 classes. That’s stressing her.
@AlwaysMoving We sent in 3 scores for our S 18, 1 ACT and 2 SATs!. We’re kind of in a similar boat with S21 as you, but your S’s EWR and R are higher. Our S (800/720SAT) is also a high math kid considering engineering, and he took the July ACT where he had to use the BR during math but the “covid proctor” was MIA and all he could think about was not peeing his pants! (He was also having some reading/concentration issues from a concussion). Anyway, he ended up with a 35 too, luckily (34.5 really) but only a 34 in math and 33 R. He’d already signed up for a sept ACT bc of the problems during the July test, so he says he going to take it bc it’s just a few hours. I admit I wondered if schools would say “why’s a kid in linear alg/diff equations if he can’t do better on ACT math?” But, doesn’t the 800 SAT mitigate that?
Neither one will talk civilly to me about colleges. D is stressy, S thinks there’s all the time in the world. Neither has done any interviews. And, I vascillate between “why pay so much for undergrad” to “but these two worked so hard, maybe we should?” We sure don’t have enough $ to cover everyone’s grad school if they’re full pay.
I think this quote from the NPR article is wishful thinking from the AOs:
The uncertainty is nudging a lot of students to delay their decision hoping for more info.
I think that assessment is bonkers. ED will not be more competitive this year. But that’s the pull of ED. Honestly, I think D would get into every one of her schools ED. That’s sad that we can’t use it. It’s not really the financial aspect or even the fact that she hasn’t visited these schools - it’s more that we need to see how the virus goes and if some of these schools handle it better than others. The southern schools on her list aren’t looking as good with their double rooms and activities still happening. I"m getting the popcorn.
D had her interview with Syracuse today. She seemed happy with it; it was a grad student. D felt she could have answered a couple things betters, but her answers sounded fine to me. The one I can remember was what would you do with an extra 5 hours a day. D said read a book, because she loves reading and doesn’t have as much time for reading for pleasure as she would like. I thought that was a fine answer!
She needs to get moving on the essay. She zoomed with her teacher last week who provided feedback and edits, but she hasn’t gotten back to working on it. She’s looking at getting most of her apps in early, then she can work on supplements as needed for honors colleges etc…
S said he started working on his essay, but he has “no intention of showing it” to me ever. I asked who would proof read it, and he said he’d double and triple check it himself. I suggested that maybe he at least share it with his GC, and he said “maybe, but not likely”. Thankfully he’s mostly interested in academic safeties, so I’m not too concerned, unless he decides to write the essay using texting abbreviations. FFS YOLO
D got her first acceptance today. We took the advice of an earlier post to go through the application process with a free application, easier admit school. Definitely boosted her confidence opening the acceptance letter.