School profile: We just got word on a senior parent virtual meeting that there is a Covid note on the Profile. They showed it to us: it basically says school was synchronous, fully remote from March on, with continuation of the normal rigorous expectations. Which is certainly how it seemed to our kids! They had plenty of tests and papers, no P/F or dropping grades, despite getting used to zoom all day. I am glad the statement makes it clear, as we only have year grades, mine both did very well and kept the same straight As they had pre-covid. I did not want AOs to assume they were given the grades.
As for SAT/ACTāthey have not put it on the profile yet! They are still deciding what to do. Apparently many took it in August and there is also an in-school one soon for those who arenāt doing TO. Seems like most are doing TO.
Same here
@havenoidea, if Duke is a strong contender I think it would make sense to ED here given your S legacy status. Duke, like so many others, only apply a legacy boost if you apply in the early rounds. Since you want to put your best / strongest foot forward for ED to maximize chances this would be a consideration unless he has a clear head and shoulders above the rest favorite that he is willing to forego a legacy boost for. GL!
@AlmostThere2018 I had not thought to ask the GC about which GPA to put on the common app. Dās school uses % grades on report cards and then calculates GPA and weighted GPA. I will have to find out which would be best! Her school offers regular, honors, AP, and some courses that are weighted equivalent to AP, like multivariable calculus.
The school shifted to synchronous Zoom very smoothly back in March with regular grading but no finals. For this fall, itās Zoom for now with hopes to shift to hybrid of F2F if the state gives the all clear. Tests are taken remotely according to honor code. I hear that tests are so hard and long that thereās no time to cheat! I have been very impressed with the quality of online instruction. We are very fortunate.
Thanks everyone ā I think weāll use weighted GPA. Agree that many (most?) colleges will recalculate GPA anyway so they can assess everyone on same scale.
In case anyone is interested, Jeff Selingo is a great journalist with the NYT who writes about college admissions. I just received this invite to 2 sessions he is doing this week. Iām not sure the link will work here. If you are interested, PM me and I can try to send you the link.
? Two virtual events this week:
On Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET, Iāll be joining in a conversation about college admissions in the Covid era, focused on essays, recommendations, the application, and test optional. Accompanying me in the discussion will be James Nondorf, dean of college admissions and financial aid at the University of Chicago, which went test optional three years ago, and Darryl Tiggle, director of college counseling at the Friends School of Baltimore and a former admissions officer at Tufts University.
More details and register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/3915993948957/WN_EJGKu3m8Qd63xZl2z6x2kw?utm_campaign=Next%3A%20The%20Future%20of%20Higher%20Education&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20newsletter
On Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET, Iāll be in conversation on Facebook Live with Road2College about the role of financial aid in admissions.
More details and to get a Facebook reminder, click here.
He is a great panelist and Grown and Flown Facebook has two previous recordings from this series. The last one was on finances.
Thanks @kanfly, the limk worked!
Thanks @GlobalFencingMom, heās trying to figure it out through deep research on the competing schools. I was hoping the schools would still give the legacy bump in RD, given the situation, though doubt it: weāre going to check on it. Heās also a Penn legacy, and they too require ED. So much for a carefully planned spring college tour!
Is anyoneās 2021er very undecided on major? I started a thread on this so some of you may have seen it, but D21 mentioned journalism to me but realizes thatās a very competitive and unpredictable career these days. For those of you without STEM kids, what are they interested in? How do you think they will go about deciding on a major once in college?
I would say that D21 would choose from some combination of political science, psychology, English, communicationsā¦not sure what else. Iām all for our kids going to college and figuring it out but Iād be lying if thereās not some pressure for them both to find some direction that will make them self-sufficient and engaged. We are spending the savings on undergrad so D21 would be on her own for any additional degrees.
I think we need a list of careers and descriptions. Lol.
S21 wants to major in ābusinessā but because he thinks it best matches his goal of āmaking bankā, lol. He doesnāt know much about any business majors, or econ. He does have some schools on his list that would only have an econ major, and no business majors. What if he doesnāt like econ?
UMich has good career guides that show skills and abilities associated with various majors, and the types of jobs that people can get with those skills. The whole idea is to connect a major to a career, which I love. Here is the page (no journalism though): https://careercenter.umich.edu/topic/career-guides
This site is called What Can I Do With This Major? Many college career centers link to this info. https://whatcanidowiththismajor.com/major/majors/
O*Net is also a well known career site, but harder to navigate: https://www.onetonline.org/
@Mwfan1921 hahahahahahahahhahaha
Yes. Our kids intend to make some money as well. They are painfully aware of what things cost. I donāt think thatās a bad thing. Given the choice between a few different interests, who wouldnāt choose the one that is more likely to make a comfortable living?
Thanks for those links. Iāll check them out.
S21 said he wanted to be a doctor and now he no longer wants to do that, he is now interested in Environmental science or international policy.
S21 also is semi-undecided ā¦heās definitely not a STEM kid so heāll end up doing something in Business/Econ, probably with a sales/communication edge. That could be marketingā¦sometimes he still talks about logistics and supply chainā¦who knows lol. The goal is to get into a good Business school and then decide on major/program by sophomore year.
He knows his chances for getting into McCombs at UT is ZERO so heās applying to the Communications & Leadership major for his first choice and Economics as his second, hoping to pair either with a business minor.
Heās recently been talking about going straight into a Masters in Real Estate after undergrad (mama is rubbing off on him!!) (interested in the corporate/commercial sector) so any of those majors would align nicely. And if (fingers crossed) he does get into TAMU Mays Business (or even Econ) then there is no better place he can be in Texas for a Masters in Real Estate than A&M.
D21 is STEM, but D20ās major is accounting. She wants to eventually be CFO of an international company, but she is attracted to accounting because she looks at it as such a flexible degree. She says she can work for pretty much any type of organization, or just for herself.
DS is STEM but isnāt really sure of a major. He thinks engineering is a logical choice, but which type? Heād probably prefer physics but heās another one who wants to āmake bankā (has said those actual words, lol) and thinks engineering with a business minor might get him there. Who knows!
But @homerdog, Iām following your Dās journey since she sounds so similar to my D23. Sheās not a STEM kid, though she loves science. Sheās super social, loves learning and has a variety of interests. Majors sheās been looking into so far: journalism, photography, travel & tourism, psychology, forensic science, criminal justice, genetics. I see her attending a medium sized LAC, somewhere she can explore and probably change her initial major. Would your D be able to double major at any of her schools, maybe political science + English or journalism?
I didnāt declare my major until halfway through my sophomore year. I didnāt even know the field existed when I was applying to schools - so you just never know!
@homerdog It sounds like your D already has a good idea of the realm she wants to explore. Even though you mention a number of areas of interest, the ones you havenāt mentioned are equally (or more!) informative. We were once told on a college tour (and I later looked it up to confirm) that 50-80% of college students change their major at least once. Obviously some places make it harder to do that, but I feel that, as long as a kid has an idea of a few subjects she knows she would enjoy studying, she will be fine taking classes in those areas first, then figure out the rest once she has more exposure to different career paths. Then again, our kid is only looking at LACs, so as you know, thereās really no pressure to declare a major early.
D21 is also quite undecided. She has put a variety of majors down on her Common App - Biology and Economics are typically 1 and 2 and her essay is about cross cultural differences and a possible degree in medicine. So who knows.
Just finished proofreading the activity section of the common app. Making progressā¦
For sure. She will be able to double major. Iām 100% sure she will find her way and all of the schools on her list allow her to wait until Feb of soph year to declare a major (and Iām sure it could still be changed after that). I think she could easily be one of those kids who falls in love with a subject after some awesome class and an inspirational professor. As she is choosing a college, though, she still wants to be clear on the options at each so she can see some possible paths.
@homerdog I married someone who missed his calling in my opinion to get paid to argue and āmake bankā as @Mwfan1921 's son would say lol. So, whenever my kids would argue with me I would say, āSave it for the courtroom!ā Well, that planted a seed or at least two and thatās how they figured out what they might want to do 
Honestly, I could totally see D as a lawyer but I know quite a few lawyers who donāt think itās a good move anymore and think their kids are better off getting MBAs. And, if D became a lawyer, I think she become the kind who fights for those who need it most and sheād never be able to pay off her law school debt! What do you think the state of law school is nowadays?