For those whose teens have submitted an application or two – did your son/daughter get an email with information/PIN for the college’s portal? D21 has not yet received any emails from colleges with portal information, and she has now submitted applications to quite a few. She has checked her junk mail folder. I am paranoid and am wondering if she did something wrong somehow (I don’t know what, I’m just paranoid).
@janiewalker my D did for one, but not the other. I think because the other required formal transcripts and the first allowed self reporting. We won’t get formal transcripts out until fall, after school starts (which annoys D to no end!).
Okay - so they might be waiting on the counselor information from me then? D21 is homeschooled and I have not yet sent in my portion of the application (transcript, course descriptions, etc) because I want to include 2020 fall syllabi in the course descriptions section and those won’t be available for another week or so. So maybe after I submit the counselor materials she will then get the portal emails…?
I’m not 100% sure, but that was what I was thinking since she got the info for one and not the other.
Thanks, @NJWrestlingmom !
DS is almost finished with CA but he asked me a question and I am not sure, hoping one of you might know the answer.
He has 8 or 9 high school credits listed on his HS transcript that are from middle school. The CA section, “Courses and Grades” has this question,
“Do you have other courses (middle school, post-12th grade, summer, etc.) listed on your transcript that have been issued official transcript grades?”
The only school that he intends to apply to that requires this section is Stanford and my understanding is that they do not look at grades in 9th or before, so it seems a bit pointless to input the info. (In order to input the info, he has to input his middle school into the CA…)
Not the end of the world to do, but it seems messy to jump this hurdle when it seems no one will look at it. I initially told him to not bother but then, he must check a yes/no box to answer this question:
“Please indicate that you have reported all courses and grades for other courses.”
Any experience with this? Perhaps he should contact Stanford AO?
When in doubt, email someone in admissions.
I’m not sure about your school, but at my kids’ HS, though the middle school courses are on the transcript - they are listed as “P” and are not counted in the HS GPA. Based upon this, and what you wrote about Stanford, I would not include those classes. Maybe your school is different though.
Agreed that you should call the AO and/or your school’s counselor, as many schools count things differently. We have a handful of 7th/8th grade programs in our district that are based in high schools, and those give “official” HS credit. For example, if you take Algebra as a student one of these programs, the credit counts toward your HS GPA. If you take the exact same class as a student in a K-8 school in the same district, it doesn’t count.
Last, first day of school is done! The two classes at school were Google meet and they went well. The other 2 are DE and those were ready to go as well. D had muted her mic and turned off her camera prior to joining so she couldn’t unmute when the teacher called on her, but otherwise all was good.
Schedule still needs help for the second semester, but we have time to work all that out.
@mm5678 congrats on having a list and motivated D!
Our D has a huge # of possiible schools that needs to be culled, and it includes Mt Holyoke and Smith, neither of which were visited. Can you shed light on why Mt Holyoke made your D’s list and not Smith? Thanks!
@havenoidea we visited both and Smith made the better initial impression, with it being right in Northampton and a more populated campus at the time (we went in summer so neither was particularly busy). Smith leaned a little too strong on the SJW-vibe and a little too politically/outwardly left whereas Mount Holyoke seemed to be more open and take everybody as they came. Also, she has a much better chance at merit making Mount Holyoke affordable for us. Both are fabulous, beautiful schools!
Thank you @Rue4 @inthegarden @burghdad and @MPT3D for the Duquesne/Chatham info!! It really helps paint a picture of the campuses for us out of towners. Sounds like both schools have a bit to offer in their own rites.
@havenoidea – when my D was looking at women’s colleges as part of her list she came up with the exact same assessment as @mm5678. I think Smith has a more intense vibe and more a very strong activist mentality. Mt. Holyoke came across as more inclusive of all types. [Disclosure: my D actually never visited; this is based on her friend who attended and what she learned virtually and from an in-person interview with an AO.]
One thing for Mt. Holyoke to keep an eye on – they have spent years cultivating a strong international reputation and recruitment strategy. I imagine a lot are full pay and if fewer international students are opting to come to the US, it could hurt the school. Of course, Mt. Holyoke is not alone in this – just something to keep an eye on. Might mean they pull back on merit $$?
That’s an interesting point. What are the ramifications for a school with a large international pool? One school on S’s list is 16% international and I’m not sure what to think about that - if anything at all.
@mm5678 and @AlmostThere2018 Thank you!!
@eb23282 I’ve had the same thought, as I think other schools, like Macalaster, also have a high international population. Maybe admit rates go up, but less merit?
First day of in person school complete. D drove herself without a hitch (I followed her on Life 360). All classes were taught with the teachers with open laptop talking to both in person and online kids at same time. Desk were spread out, 3 of her 7 classes only have 8 kids but others such as AP Gov and AP Stats were filled the newly de-densified room s . The passing periods were as they always have been. Lunch tables were only able to have 5 kids per table (usually 10-12). D is loving having an open 8th period and getting to leave early. We will see how long this last.
Welp, remote school started today. Just 3 hours of online orientation.
Went fine, but his schedule got shuffled, and now there’s a 2nd semester class he wants to switch out. The positive side is now he can take AP Lit which he didn’t think he’d be able to do along with Physics b/c of a scheduling conflict. So now he’s got:
1st semester:
- AP Physics 1
- AP Calc
- APES
- Global Cultures & Minority Studies Honors (awesome class w/ teacher who’s writing one of his recs)
2nd semester:
- AP Lit
- AP Physics 2
- AP Stats or AP Comp Gov (He’s trying to get one of these; they put him in conversational Spanish; he took AP Spanish last year and doesn’t want this)
- free period
First day of school started here via synchronous instruction on Zoom and it went without a hitch. Even though it’s remote, she’s SO happy to be back at school. She liked her new teachers and classmates. They’re doing block plan this year, and keeping class size small, in hopes that a return to face to face classes might be possible later in the year if the numbers improve.
First day school here all online, synchronous classes with the same bell schedule as in person.
S21 said everything went well and he likes his teachers and classes.
I just spent the last 45 minutes on the phone with S21’s counselor trying to sort out his schedule! It’s
9:52 pm
CST and she’s still at school working. This whole virtual vs in person mess has turned into the biggest cluster **** ever. 3 of his core classes are only being offered the same period!!! One, DC Eng 4 (which we already paid for of course) is set in stone and can’t be changed and of course it’s only being offered the same period as band which also the only period AP Calc AB is being offered!! Gahhhh. While on the phone with the counselor I was texting our band director hysterically who immediately moved S21 up to the top highest band to free up his schedule! So now we kind of have it sorted out:
Fall:
Band
Comp Sci 1 (wasn’t on the radar at all but he’s taking it now lol)
Dual Credit Eng 4
PreAp Physics
Spring:
Band
AP Stats (instead of AP Calc AB as originally planned)
Dual Credit Gov’t (grad requirement, it’s will be a 9 week class so he’ll have another spot to fill probably Senior Off)
Microeconomics (couldn’t get this AP or DC…I’m beyond caring at this point lol)
I feel so bad for our counselors, this poor women was in tears she was so frustrated. She told me she’s been getting yelled at by parents all day.
I’m going to send her some flowers or Tiff’s Treats (cookie delivery) tomorrow.