Thanks, @Darcy123 and @evergreen5 . If anyone else was asking this question I would tell them the same thing you told me - if the college doesn’t ask for it then don’t send it. But since it is my kid, I am extra paranoid and needed to hear reassurance from others.
My kids’ school doesn’t have quarters, so the school couldn’t send them if it wanted to. So I’m guessing there will be no penalty for not reporting.
That’s a different situation @3kids2dogs My kids school also does not have quarters. BUT my D20’s ED school explicitly asked for quarter grades and/or progress grades. Our counselor sent a mid-semester progress report to her ED School - basically just where she stood in the semester. If the school asks for an interim report, I don’t think you can/should ignore that request.
@JanieWalker We’re not sending first quarter grades for EA, but if it were me, I’d likely check with the ED school. I know someone local who asked about this at her son’s high school in relation to Duke (Duke says they want them), and the counselor at this large public school that has certainly had ED apps to Duke in the past said he’d never done it before and was going to wait to see if they asked him for it! So I haven’t a clue. But since your D feels strongly enough about a school to apply ED and since you’re on the hook as the counselor without a school system to fall back on, I’d probably want to be sure I wasn’t missing anything and would check with that one school (especially if her first quarter grades are strong). If you don’t want her to bug them, maybe you could call the admissions office without giving a name and just ask the person who answers the main phone who probably has an answer to what is likely a common question - you’re the counselor in this case, so that would seem entirely fine to me.
Our school has quarter grades but does not send them to colleges for some reason. I remember with D19 she emailed the AD at the school that asked for them (I think it was Richmond?) and explained the situation. She told him her grades and maybe even sent a screen shot of her online report card? Or maybe the dean e-mailed Richmond? Sorry I don’t remember exactly but I know they figured it out somehow without the school sending official quarter grades.
My son is applying to UMD College Park and I just read on their website that they waive the application fee if the student is NMSF. Does anyone have an idea of how to get that waiver? S21 is planning to send an email but just thought if anyone has done it here already. Thanks
@whyboydanny that’s so great that you were able to visit schools! and discovered a great under the radar school that are in person.
We did our search really early and due to my son’s first and second choice majors there are a lot of big publics on the list. Now I’m thinking it’s a good idea to find a couple more smaller schools where they are heavily testing and at least hybrid. We are still waiting though on the ACT score. It looks like they added a congratulations box in his account so the in school test seems to now be linked to his existing account and hopefully the score will get emailed and show up there very soon. Friday would be nice.
@JanieWalker My impression is that schools that want updated quarter or first semester grades will request them. However, another way to get at this might be to check your daughter’s portals. Usually there will be a checklist of items received and items pending and you might check to see if 1st quarter or 1st semester grade report is listed before sending out a slew of emails to AOs. Just a thought!
@NateandAllisMom i couldn’t agree more. With COVID continuing to impact the world I am much more comfortable with how the smaller schools are able to handle it and also keep classes and activities more engaged. My daughter now only has 1 larger school, Tulane, on her list. We started with that being one of her smallest schools. She did a search online by her major of LAC’s and came up with a list of about 10.
I would be careful about comparing Duke to W&L. They are very different colleges. I would read about what Niche students say about their students “Classy, rich, smart, white (82%), homogenous” and lean either conservative or very conservative with 75% of the student body in the Greek system.
Duke is a lot more balanced student body with 50% people of color, more moderate to liberal ideology, much larger student body, big on D1 sports & school spirit, and is very accepting and collaborative culture that is seriously considering dropping their Greek system and selective living groups (SLG) as many feel it is elitist and outdated.
I don’t see how a student very interested in attending Duke would be interested in W&L?
About Q1 grades, GC says she would send “if they are good news,” but would until requested otherwise.
My D21 was enamored of the ‘idea’ of Duke. I was aware that it was not a fit for her for many reasons. Part of the reason we visited was because she was determined to apply ED to Duke. She realized it was not her school and that is why she started looking at smaller LAC’s that would have her chosen major but be a better all around fit.
As for W and L, I understand your sentiments but much like Duke there are some changes happening there as well.
We did this. You have to email them to request it (applymaryland@umd.edu). They emailed back and said that they approved the waiver and he could bypass the fee on the Common App. He hasn’t sent his application yet, so I can’t say for sure if it worked!
Well, I ended up calling and one school wants the first quarter grades…even though it does not say they require first quarter grades on the website, and that is not part of the checklist in the portal. I have to send the Optional Report anyway to report the change in physics course (D21 already notified the schools, but I figure the counselor needs to notify the schools too), so I may as well thrown the first quarter grades in that report too. So now everyone will get the first quarter grades whether they want them or not, since they will be part of the Optional Report (and all of the schools need the notification about the change in physics course).
@whyboydanny – I also thought Duke would not be a great fit for my D. Since your daughter is looking at W&L, I gotta put a plug in for Davidson where my daughter attends! 
Feel free to send me a PM if you have any questions about it!
@AlmostThere2018 it is on her list! It was actually the one LAC she visited before the COVID shut down. She felt like there wasn’t a robust on campus social life when she was there- would live to hear your thoughts. FYIa not a fan of basketball:)
@whyboydanny I have a friend whose child just graduated from Sewanee. He loved his time there - great faculty support and stunningly beautiful campus.
I looked at W&L for our S, and really wanted to like it because of those scholarships! But, there’s little diversity there, or at Davidson. In fact, W&L even has a Jewish scholarship to try to lure Jews there. (I’m not sure how I feel about that?).
I guess people are suggesting these schools as alternatives to Duke due to location more than anything. Because if one doesn’t like the social scene at Duke, the social life at these schools is very tied to frats. And, being so small, I’d imagine that being independent there would be even more difficult.
Davidson is also D1, so there’s real athletic recruiting at a tiny school. I think sports are big at both schools.
I am curious, though, about what it is about Duke in particular that turns people off. Assuming our S EDs and gets in, I sure don’t want him around horrific people. We are from podunk NM, lol, and are not elitist in the least (I’m wearing 10+ yr old athletic clothes!). Our S didn’t see any overt elitist behavior, he said everyone was dressed “normally,” and the kids were just smart and nice. Of course, we’re in a pandemic, so maybe he missed something?
@whyboydanny – not exactly sure what you mean by social life @ Davidson. I would say, like a lot of LACs, mainly parties are on Friday and Saturday (well, during normal times at least; no parties now!). There’s some small parties on Wed, but my D never attends and I think most kids don’t. Davidson is academically tough so there’s not time for parties every night.
It is a large campus for 2000 students so I can see why it may have seemed quiet during a visit. But there’s certainly tons of social, artistic, and academic things going on all the time – at least in normal times. Concerts, lectures, art shows, acapella groups, various dance groups, theater, open mic nights, trivia night, club sports, etc. – all the stuff you’d expect at a top LAC.
My D is active with Davidson Outdoors, club crew and volleyball, and the newspaper. She’s in an eating house which also has social stuff (parties, service/volunteer activities, formals, etc.) It’s like sorority-lite and by senior year some students ease out, so it’s not the full commitment of a Greek house. Because there’s no traditional rush it’s pretty low key.
She doesn’t pay much attention to the sports nor do her friends – which has surprised me, tbh. I thought she’d attend basketball games but rarely does. They do get a crowd every game, both students and town folks who are big supporters.
@havnoidea – Davidson is 1/3 students of color so I wouldn’t say no diversity . Like a lot of other LACs, they are trying to boost this number, but have a ways to go.
Anyway, hope this helps!
@whyboydanny I think my D and your D have many schools in common on heir lists. My kid sent off Sewanee and Furman two days ago. W & L is high on her list, as is Davidson. We were supposed to tour Sewanee in July, so I appreciate your review. We won’t make it there now unless it becomes a finalist.