Thank you so much everyone! Good luck and hopefully your dream school decision comes soon!
3 Likes
@AlmostThere2018, I am sorry about the news from Rice. I have no doubt your son will land at the best place for him and that he will thrive wherever he goes. And of course he still has a shot at Rice, so whatever will be will be, and again, he will thrive wherever he attends.
6 Likes
So because I am stressed anticipating the decision announcements coming up, and to lighten D21âs mood which has been particularly dark lately due to upcoming finals and papers and her sister giving her a lot of less-than-sisterly love this past week, I bought a package of 30 cheap paper medals (made from recyclable paper), the kind Kindergarten teachers use when they want to make a kid feel good, they write the kidâs name and whatever it was they did and they stick it on the wallâŠanyway, I got them and wrote the name of a college on each one (not all 30, D21 did not apply to that many, though it feels like she did!). Whenever a decision is made, I will hand her the paper medal with the name of the college on it. If she got in, she can put the little medal on her bulletin board. If she did not get in, she can crumble it up or shred it or burn it or look sadly at it or whatever else she wants to do to turn the disappointment into a bit of humor and to say a final goodbye to that institution. I gave her the UNH one and explained the intent of all the paper medals, and she smiled and liked the idea. The pack cost just a few bucks on Amazon.
13 Likes
Congrats to all who got UT Austin notifications yesterday. Say a prayer that they show us the love over here today. 
That wait is killing me! Itâs a great school and would be a really good spot for D21. Cmon Longhorns⊠lol
11 Likes
Are you kidding? I laud you! This entire process should be about helping our kids to keep their options open and helping them to live a happy life, not go to X, Y, or Z school. I have tried SO HARD to get my kid to look at LACs that I think would really help her thrive but she is stuck on these T20 schools (with one safety already back, thank goodness!) I wish my kid would do what yours has done!
9 Likes
Yes, the ALP counselor gave D21 advice on explaining one course choice sophomore year in the additional information section.
One of our dogs died unexpectedly last night, so the ED decision coming out in less than 12 hours could either pile on to the sadness or give us something to lift our spirits. Fortunately D21âs schooling today is basically a catch up day, sheâs emotionally spent already.
2 Likes
Iâm so sorry about your dog, @NOVAGirl87. One of our cats died suddenly (undiagnosed and asymptomatic kidney disease) in August, and we have one dying now of cancer. It is so hard when one of our furry best friends leaves us. Hugs to your daughter and to you.
5 Likes
Thank you. She had congestive heart failure, so it wasnât truly unexpected in a way, but it happened so quickly yesterday.
Congratulations to the UT acceptances! D21âs dad got his masterâs through the UT-Southwestern/UT-Arlington biomedical engineering program, so I guess technically D21 is a UT system legacy. Hook em horns!
2 Likes
@mm5678 that is what I worry about as well but she is resolute. She has chosen a school that is known to be academically rigorous and is interested in their 3/2 engineering program- which is matched with a T20 school. I know we all have to get over the ârankingsâ.
As @littlerobot said itâs about making them happy and whole and go on to be successful in life (paraphrased). I loved this. I am super proud of my girl for swimming against the current and making this choice. My long vent was because I still have some preconceived notions that I have realized are mine to get overđ
8 Likes
My daughter got a scholarship but no honors.
Congratulations to all the acceptances!! Weâre still over here waiting for UT Austin (fully anticipating CAP lol) and for Texas A&MâŠTAMUâs admissions page on Reddit said that a very small wave would come this week and then no decisions released until the week of Jan 11thâŠS21 is doing a far better job of showing patience than I am.
2 Likes
IMO itâs not too much to ask that she submits an app to your Hâs Ivy. Why close an option when you donât have to? There are exceptions, but IMO itâs misguided to put all the weight of figuring out a âlife planâ on the shoulders of our 17-yoâs. Sure, they may like something now, but they are 17 and donât know what they havenât had the chance to know. As parents, with our decades more of life/work experience and our understanding of our childrenâs personality and potential, we may actually have a better idea. Of course, you donât want to force them to do something they donât want, but many kids (non-confrontational ones, anyway) are more open to trying new things than we give them credit for. Just my two cents.
1 Like
@creaky Wow, that is only semi-useful information. These comments about school profile got me wondering what ours really looks like. Of course, some of it relates to class of 2020, and some to current class of 2021 and I even see an error on it as it relates to courses but ours is 2 pages, the first lists our grading scale and our graduation requirements. For the grading scale it shows what percentage an A is (93-100) and what GPA you get for Honors/AP or College Prep courses. Basically you get a 5 or a 4 for an A. We donât get extra points for a A+ and you donât get less points than a 4 for a remedial class. I know some schools only give 4.5 for an Honors class but not ours. It also lists the number of National Merits, Commended, etc, and State Scholars and some generic school info and size.
Page 2 defines Honors and AP vs College Prep/Remedial courses and then lists all the AP courses and Honors available. I suppose for colleges this is used to determine the rigor available at our school and whether an applicant has taken the most rigorous courses available to him/her. It lists the top 15 colleges attended by the prior class, average SAT/ACT for school and state but unlike @homerdog doesnât list what % received above a certain score so I thought that was interesting their school shows that. Then like yours we have â90.5% of students attend a 4 year college, 7% attend a 2 year college, 2.5% vocational, GAP year, military or workforceâ They breakdown % on in state, out of state, public and private.
Next part of the page have the range of GPAâs for weighted and unweighted where they show the High and Low, Median, and 10% and 25%. Our school doesnât rank so thatâs all you know. Where you might fall. Colleges are given both your unweighted and weighted but you only report the one that makes you look better on your common app.
Finally our AP scores listed are similar to @homerdog but again we have kids of all grades taking them so itâs not just for seniors. It shows how many took them and then only says â93% scored 3 or higherâ and â43% scored the highest mark of 5â and that students who take AP tests generally take between 3 and 6.
Personally I donât know of anyone taking 6 but Iâm wondering if theyâre meaning 6 over the course of 4 years not one year. Itâs virtually impossible to have 6 in one year based on our schedule. AP English at our school is also one of the hardest most brutal courses so a lot of kids tend to not take it Junior year and may gravitate towards it senior year but many wonât take it with APUSH at the same time Junior year and pick one or the other. Itâs a real time suck there.
So for those of you who said your school doesnât have a school profile, some of this info you can probably draw up yourself, but your school is required to have this to submit to the colleges and you can always make an FOIA request to get a copy of this yourself. It also is probably public record, you just have to look hard enough to find it.
@almosthere2018
I took a quick look on that Rice ED thread and wow some of those students, including yours had fantastic stats. So impressive! I noted someone said for his relook in the deferral round they suggested he send in a score, which he might be able to take again. Iâm proctoring an ACT tomorrow, although group ACTs are all cancelled in our state (this is for accommodations).
Anyway, now that youâve had to go through that process and may have paid more attention or seen stats, do you feel the TO made any difference in students accepted or not?
No one from our school really ever applies there. I looked at our naviance and in 5 years we had less than 15 apply and only 1 had gotten in. Shockingly this year we had 2 apply and both got in ED. I know one applied for Engineering, the other did not. Iâm not sure what that kid applied for, maybe something Fine Arts related even though everything I know about Rice shouts Engineering. I know the one kid had a 36 ACT and at least as of first semester last year was valedictorian but my son isnât so sure he is anymore.
Such tough competition. All the top Texas schools are and this year probably doesnât make it easier for those that want to stay in state.
Good luck!!
I am so annoyed at the way UT does admissions. Just release for all on the same date. I guess we will have to wait until January here.
8 Likes
Same. My D21 applied to the College of Liberal Arts, Plan II and LAH. It seems like the rollout is over and we wait until January. Texas is just so hard for non-auto admits and this is brutal. I only saw non-auto admits with 35 ACTs.
1 Like
Agree that itâs hard to wait on the ones that release in waves. Even harder if the early waves are reporting good discounts. 
4 Likes
I agree, the schools that release them in dribbles only cause so much more frustration and anxiety for the kids who arenât in the first waves. As I said earlier on this thread itâs seemed to affect the ranking of his top choices too, the schools who do this he is getting frustrated with and each time we ask him to rank they fall lower and lower on his list.
5 Likes
Weâve been dealing with the EA trickle- itâs maddening. Every time D checks and nothing has happened she just deflates. I told her no more- she has finals to take.
@AlmostThere2018 sorry about Rice. I knew a kid who had 4.0 perfect SAT and ACT, Student Body President- did not get in to Rice, but accepted to Duke. He didnât go to either- took the free ride at another school- best decision. He was a great lesson for my kids- you can really do everything right and still not get in!
9 Likes