Parents of the HS Class of 2021 (Part 2)

This has been talked about (crossover) for the Moderna trial as well. I am a front line physician so will be unblinded either way given that at least one vaccine has EUA. Just wanted to clarify the comment from earlier that said the Moderna vax had already been approved, which is incorrect.

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Regarding merit scholarships and test scores it depends on the school. Many schools waived the standardized tests requirement for merit consideration this year. Last time I checked, Michigan really wanted scores but would accept alternatives to SAT/ACT.

Regarding Emory and Wash U, @Mwfan1921 's advice is sound. I don’t know the ranges for Emory. Wash U historically has favored applicants with high test scores so it might be safer to go TO there.

FWIW, I think that a student who sends a very good but not tippy top score may be perceived well by some AOs for being honest. I have zero data to back this up, just a hunch. Everything else in your daughter’s record looks fantastic and the scores are just one data point. And remember a 1380 is around 91 percentile, hardly shabby!

She already has a great acceptance in UGA and with that record, UF’s decision is likely to be positive. As you know UT and UNC are very tough for out of state applicants, no matter how qualified. Hang in there! It will all turn out well!

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Probably would apply TO to Emory as well
here are the class of 2024 admitted test scores, by subsection: https://apply.emory.edu/discover/facts-stats/first-year.html

Is your D happy to go to UGA if no where else works out? If so, probably no need to add more schools to the list. Many schools are giving merit without test scores, but recommend checking each school’s site for details.

Does her school use Naviance or Scoir to help gauge chances for UF (where scores are required)?

We went through some issues of poor advice from our GC, but were able to explain to her why we wanted to do a couple of things differently even though “nobody does it that way” (untrue btw, just our GC doesn’t have much experience with selective schools and the differences in that process). I think she thought D was making a couple dumb decisions, but she was willing to go along after we told her why. You may be able to do that too, but it may require friendly parent intervention. You do need the GC to still be supportive.

FWIW, I would hesitate to send those scores. You hear many people say rank doesn’t matter as much anymore, because so many schools don’t rank. However, 5/600 is a pretty impressive stat. I think that carries a decent amount of pull. You can never tell exactly what is going through AO’s minds, but my D punched above her weight in ED I think this season. She had a lot of things going for her, and we are from an underrepresented state. But she also had a rank of 1/350, which had to help.

In absence of other info (i.e. testing) they are going to think your D is exceptionally bright. Also I don’t know how this is being handled by all schools, but some are doing scholarships without test scores. My D sent hers in, but I know other in-state kids have gotten the full tuition scholarship at our flagship with just class rank and GPA.

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Unfortunately our district does not have the funds for naviance. If she didn’t get into UF I would be shocked. Her school is considered a so called Feeder high school. It’s not her first choice, but it is free, so it’s my first choice! She did send her scores to Michigan because her guidance counselor told her to we knew it was a reach anyway. I know Tulane comes out tomorrow so we shall see. Thank you for the feedback.

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Thank you everyone for the information. So happy I found this website.

@erd1020. Clemson checks all the boxes for her. They will love the class rank. However I think to be considered for merit the application had to be submitted by December 1.

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Keep us updated, and if you want school suggestions I am sure the hive mind can go to work! :wink:

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I will check.

How can a school not rank? The gpa’s are numerical. They go from highest to lowest, it’s pretty easy to figure the top 20 when you know the Val/Sal. Plus those kids are usually in the same classes and are pretty cut throat at least at my D’S school.

I wish everything was blind, the kids are under such pressure, I hate it. It was so easy for us, you filled out an application with a pen and mailed it in.

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“Football & college town 
” No brainer w/ UGA ! Quintessential college town beyond amazing much like Ann Arbor but warmer.
Will not have that same vibe at WashU or Emory - fantastic schools but completely , completely different environments and ultimately, overall experience. Can’t imagine applying to a school without a campus visit 
 WITH students present. Going in blindly would be tough.

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Less than 1/2 of US high schools rank now. It’s actually complicated to rank, and our HS stopped about a decade ago when they felt ranking was hurting some strong students in college admissions. Another reason they stopped is due to promoting unhealthy competition
more APs, more dual enrollment classes, etc. No val/sal here either.

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Lots of different policies about how rank is reported. You are correct, the school GC office can readily tell what the rank is. But they don’t have to report that info.

Our school doesn’t start reporting it until the completion of the soph year. My D’s freshman year they accidentally printed out transcipts that had class rank listed and gave them to the kids when they were signing up for fall classes that spring. They only had 3 quarters of grades, but everyone was comparing and seeing who they were ahead of/behind. Someone noticed and made the kids turn the transcripts back in at the end of the period, but of course they all took pictures of them first.

Lots of places do decile or quartile rankings. I think for top kids it is beneficial to have an actual rank, or maybe something like top 2% or 5%. After that deciles or quartiles makes more sense imho.

Makes sense, since my D took 9 AP’s and 9 DE. But I also think down here it’s a way for states like Florida to compete with states in other parts of the country.

Yes it is a competition, my D started at 17 and played the system to go up. Sad, but true.

Bc of Covid the only schools she has seen are UF and Umich. ( my brother went there) We are going to tour in the spring when all acceptances are in.

@Creaky, Amazing news!! Congratulations!

Our high school doesn’t report rank. They acknowledge the top 20 kids sometime near the end of senior year. Some teachers know the rankings though; two different teachers have told S21 that’s he’s #4 or #5. He was happy to hear that, even though it won’t ever be officially be reported or acknowledged.

I wish Texas would do away with class rank, the top 10%/6% for UT Austin really does a number on our kids :worried:

Our school district has to report class rank on transcripts automatically for the top 10%, but anything after that students are given a choice if they want it on their transcripts or not.

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Well those are 2 great ones to start with :slight_smile: But, I’ve yet to meet anyone who (honestly) says they don’t adore Athens ! I feel for these seniors - applications are a huge time commitment & luckily we have dragged all of our kids around with older ones over the past 5 yrs on their college tours so my D has a good idea regionally, size, vibe etc. Just strange times and a particularly strange year. Best wishes to your kiddo !

If she is applying to Emory and Wash U, I would not send that score, and your GC gave you bad advice. There’s nothing wrong with sending the score, but you wouldn’t be lying by not sending it. Kids often take both the SAT and ACT. But that doesn’t mean they have to send both (in normal years). They send which one looks better. When they say test optional this year, they truly mean test optional. However, Michigan is an exception because they did say if you have a score submit it, even if it’s a PSAT, so they really wanted scores. Obviously some don’t have them, but if you do you’re best off to submit. Her record speaks for itself in any case, the score at some of these big schools won’t be the only factor to knock her out, but the smaller ones? Wash U and Emory as you said, it won’t help. UT looks at a ton of factors and the essays are usually one of their most important.

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