We also got the onslaught from U Chicago and others. Our biggest chuckle was the continuous amount of mail my D got from West Point. She is the least likely candidate to want that path…
My D’s guidance counselor has been very efficient and finished writing the recommendation and sent off the transcripts. Not sure if she sent off the transcripts to just the ED and EA schools or all of them.
That’s great, I guess… only problem is, she did it all before my D had her official GC interview (yesterday). Seems like the interview was just an afterthought, so if my D had any questions or additional input it’s moot. It probably makes no difference in the end, but I had wanted her to ask the GC if she would explain that my D had signed up to take AP biology and AP Spanish but that the school didn’t offer these classes this year (instead took honors Spanish 5 and DE bio) and that D had to make a choice between DE bio and band because of scheduling issues (dropped band). My D thinks this will be no problem because of the school profile, but I wonder of the profile is updated every year. I worry that it will mention the full array of classes that are generally offered, but not always held every year. My D could explain this on the Additional Comments section, but I’m afraid that would seem whiny.
Not sure how the logistics work…if the GC has already attached the rec and profile to the CA is it hard to edit? Honestly, I know the GC is crazy-busy right now and don’t want to risk offending her at this point. What do you think? Just let it be?
@inthegarden I (or have your daughter do it as a question from her parents) would probably email the GC and verify that there is no need for D to mention the issues with being able to fulfil her course requests because Covid restricted course offerings etc because you are assuming that the school profile will speak to this in sufficient detail. Then say, if this is not the case, would you advise me to write something to address this in the additional comments section. Then you are really not pushing anything on the GC merely making sure the onus is not on your D to bring this up. HTH
Just an update to the above…my D just told me she asked the GC about this…the GC didn’t say whether she had included the scheduling info (so I’m assuming she hadn’t) but said she had answered that my D had taken the most rigorous schedule possible. So, should D say anything in the additional comments section or just say nothing?
@GlobalFencingMom, thanks…good advice, except that my D already asked the GC…not sure how she worded the question. I just know that, whenever this question comes up here on CC, the general advice seems to be that it’s most appropriate for the GC, rather than the student, to address scheduling issues in the application.
@inthegarden maybe the door being opened by your D gives you the ability as the parent to clarify what you heard from your daughter? Like you are just double checking again that you guys are not missing something that should be brought up in the additional information section etc. I think the fact that the GC said that they ticked - taken the most rigorous schedule offered - can be reassuring, I guess it depends on how much this will niggle you 
@inthegarden We asked this same question of our GC since S21 also had an AP class cancelled, but they didn’t think it was a big deal or worth mentioning. S21 has decided not to mention it on CA.
"We did a Duke tour pre-Covid and they had a film that showed a former star basketball player making numerous shots…it was fun to see him do it a few times but it seemed to never stop. After four or five, we got it…Then they brought out the puppies and the research into the learning they do with them which is fine but if you look into some of the things that Duke does and has done I am surprised their film was not a bit more techy and more impressive.
I am sure it works well with most but we had just been to GT and my wife and I were much more impressed there. We kept our thoughts to ourselves as we do want DS to make the decision.
We definitely did not come away from the visit feeling that it was very competitive. I am not saying that it is not it just did not come across that way in their presentation."
I agree, we were also underwhelmed when we watched that (outdated) video and were given an initial introduction by a somewhat pretentious bow-tie clad Duke rep. Maybe it’s a southern thing as UNC-CH had a similar dressed rep?
But with that said, once we did the tour of the Duke campus you immediately realize this is a world-class institution of higher learning. Our student tour guide sealed the deal for D as she had an understated confidence and maturity about her and was so smart, articulate, helpful, and down to earth attitude that D could relate to and continued to correspond with her when she filled out her application 6 months later.
Re: SLG and the greek system going away, this might be a good thing but rest assured they will replace these groups with other clubs and activities and I’m sure Duke will continue to have a vibrant and active social community on campus.
I think there are a lot of things that won’t be the same post COVID. Thanks for the reminder.
I’m not 100% sure about this, but I’m under the impression that the counselor cannot make changes to the documents once submitted (different from how a student can go into their Common App account, change the personal statement or something, and then submit to the next school so that it’s slightly different from when they submitted to a previous school). I think the Counselor portal basically allows only for one-and-done. (I’m about to do this counselor stuff for S21 since he homeschools, so I’m using the Common App recommender portal where the school profile, transcript, recommendation letter get uploaded, and this is what I’ve been warned of by other homeschooling parents: get it right the first time). That said, there is an “Optional Report” in the counselor section if the GC wanted to send additional info, but I believe they can only submit one of those optional reports per student. Again, that’s my understanding - not 100% sure.
@socaldad2002 , bowties are cool.
@inthegarden , I would think that if the “most rigorous schedule available” box is checked, then you are good. As far as the school profile, it should be available publicly, either online or from the guidance office. If yours isn’t on the school website (ours is under guidance), you could ask to see it and make sure it is up to date. The College Board guidelines for school profiles say that high schools must update their profiles annually (not sure they comply).
S21 got an acceptance for University of Arizona with a generous merit scholarship. I’m super excited! And I appreciate that they responded within a week and offered the money according to their chart. Very straightforward,
@MorseLewis congrats to your S!
Just had our every other week parent Zoom presentation from our schools 2 college counselors - may be of interest or not. Private school, Western US, 90 +/- students:
40% of students applying ED - this is a large increase from past years when it is usually 40% ED and EA combined. It is predicted that many of these ED apps will not end well. Have not seen a trend of kids staying closer to home. Kids still applying EA/RD close to home, but both parents and kids ranking those schools lower on their wish list.
Surprisingly, plenty of apps to schools that have not received great press about how they are handling Covid and counselors were concerned by this and warned parents to not just assume your student could qualify for a gap year if Covid continues into the Fall.
They wish so many kids were not applying ED without visits - but also understand with Spring visits not looking likely for admits. Would recommend RD over ED - especially if child is using ED to an unlikely school. Will impact mood and motivation when needing to submit the rest of the apps after rejection or deferral.
Reported test scores are much higher - as only the early birds tested and that tends to lean towards the kids in classes working at 1 level above - Average ACT of all tested seniors is 32 - 15% of class. Historically ACT at 29 across the entire senior class. I didn’t write down SAT, but think they said it was only about 15% of class with test score too. Kids with accommodations have not been able to test at all and they are anticipating more kids will get in at least 1 test up to December - if no more local cancellations. Still encouraging testing if it is safe - but not to travel out of state to test.
Pomona College exceeded gap requests from students and a lot of athletes. Will be the most competitive year for admission to Pomona.
Feels Georgetown and Northwestern will still love big scores over just good grades and no scores and predicts the potential for more EA referrals (like at Northeastern) as they will wait to see if the RD round produces more scores.
I had to attend a work Zoom - so missed the Q&A about specific schools and just caught the beginning.
Just want to add in to the comments about the recent onslaught of college emails and snail mail. Definite uptick here and many of the same spam offenders others have mentioned . Best one no question came today- University of Arkansas titled… ‘What could you do with a poultry degree?’Not sure who’s doing their data mining but they could not be further off the mark. We will be entertained by this for years to come!
Thanks, all, I won’t worry about the GC’s letter. Mostly I’m relieved and thankful that she took care of everything so quickly, having reads stories of angst in past years of delayed or late recommendations. D just finished her activities section tonight and will get the first round of fall SAT results in the morning so things are whirring along (though I wish they had whirred along a month ago). She’s working on her 4th new draft of the CA essay (has an idea for a 5th…yikes!) That is the nail-biter now…will she finish the dang thing (and two supplements) before the strike of midnight on Halloween? I tell myself, if not, there’s always ED2/RD but she says she will get it done. She says this will be a lighter homework weekend than usual so I want to yell, JUST DO IT ALREADY ?.
On the bright side, D’s band director kept her on the official marching band list even though she had to drop band class this fall, and he just began small-group, distanced outdoor practice sessions after school in the hope that, at some point in the school year it may be safe to have a small pep band. D’s sub-group at the practice had only five students standing ten feet apart and no one was blowing their instrument toward another player so I feel pretty safe about that and she was thrilled to see some friends. So now, she can legitimately write in band as an EC for this year even if they don’t get to do much. Also, the band director just agreed to write an extra recommendation (her ED school allows for a coach or arts teacher to do a third rec). He knows her far better than any other teacher, especially in social/cooperative situations, and has probably been her biggest fan.
Good luck to anyone waiting for SAT scores tomorrow!
Quick question, I am helping D21’s good friend with her resume/common app right now. She is first generation and moved here in middle school from another country. She is trying to figure out where to put this on the resume (which as of now is just for her teachers but they may not know this information so she wanted it on there.)
Also, how would you list the fact that english is her second language? At first she was just writing bilingual but now she was thinking maybe she should explain it more to make sure they know english is second.
Thank you!
Not an expert on resumes, but how about “native” for her Heritage language and then list English: fluent
@3kids2dogs Thanks - that sounds great! She is such a sweet kid who doesn’t have much support so I’m trying to help where I can.
Thank you for explaining ing this to me. This whole thing is new to me as I am an immigrant and my D is my first child!