Parents of the HS Class of 2022

smiles2122, I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. Students organizing protests, shouting down speakers, pulling fire alarms, assaulting speakers and physically attacking speakers are hardly upholding academic freedom. This is especially true since the guest speakers or professors they oppose for questioning the current dogmas on campus often are only stating empirical facts that until a couple years ago the vast majority of people in our society recognized. That said, the students who organize protests without silencing or intimidating a speaker are exercising their first amendment rights.

You do have a point, however, that AOs at many universities in this country probably approve of this censorship by the mob (or are afraid to oppose it, lest they become targets themselves).

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My kid still hasn’t picked yet and the wait is killing me! We’ve told him he has to tentatively pick by tomorrow so that he has a week to let the idea marinate before he has to sign the dotted line.

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I think you have gotten way off the topic you were responding to. A student would hardly be describing “assault” and “physically attacking speakers” in their college essays and AOs would likely not have such a dark, agenda’d viewed of protest, climate advocacy, etc.

I am just clarifying this for people who are learning about the college admissions process.

p.s. I think I happen to know the student that @AlwaysMoving is talking about and she is extremely accomplished in addition to what was listed, including a presidential scholar, I believe. Those two students can’t be easily directed compared.

smiles, I was not referring to the student’s essay. I was responding to your suggestion that the current climate on US campuses with protests - ranging from civil, to censoring, to even violence - complied with the mission of academic freedom.

I think we have taken enough time in the room with our detour. If you wish to discuss further you can message me.

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You said that an AO should pick someone who competes in a high school math league with no special distinction (that you identified), ie not the best in the local area, despite doing well in Calc BC, over someone who is one of the top few math students in the entire northeastern US (“got a medal in the NE regional championships”) and probably one of the best math students his teachers have ever seen.

And why would you add a further qualification that is inconsistent with the profile you provided (one of the top math students in the country would not have a 75th percent SAT score unless they were either dyslexic or an English language learner and couldn’t do the English part)?

Maybe you meant to say that student B is also the best math student his/her teachers have seen in their entire career but he/she hasn’t had the same opportunities due to poverty and/or being in a deeply rural location? That would be more understandable.

@MAmom111 What are some of the things you have found are good to buy between your two college students? I’ve only sent D20 off to school, so wonder if there is a difference between what you sent with your daughter versus what your son wants?

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Could everyone involved in the back and forth about organized protests take this over to another thread and get back to the Class of 22 and their journey towards HS graduation and college in the fall?

Thanks

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My kid has chosen his preference of the 2 acceptances he got. He becomes less likely to accept one of the WL if they happen to come through by the day. He’s not quite ready to remove himself from those WL yet, but as he learns more about what needs doing before enrolling at the non-flagship public university he’s attending, with meetings with FA dept (even though we’re receiving $0), and orientation, and registration, and finding an apartment (he wants to room with a friend who’s going to a nearby school, so can’t live in the on campus apartment building), and figuring out his food budget (there’s no board program at this school), well, as he learns all of the stuff that needs doing before school starts next fall, he’s both more invested in the place that accepted him, and less likely to jump ship to another school, even if it is “elite”.

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YES, I see this too – I didn’t even realize all of the things that have to occur with enrollment. I don’t know why I didn’t think about it – I was blissfully unaware that it wasn’t “just sign on the dotted line” – I had no idea about all of the things involved!!! My daughter has already socially invested in the school by making friends, finding a roommate, envisioning herself there etc
 and since we haven’t officially signed, she hasn’t even started all of the housing contracts, meal plans, and whatever else is involved with AP credits, placement, etc


I can’t imagine how hard it would be to “jump ship” 
 I do NOT think she would.

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I feel like the whole deal was a lot more “streamlined” or “single pathway” waaay back in the dark ages when I attended an “elite” college.

It’s now a lot more “choose your own adventure” to allow for the multitude of non-traditional students who will also be attending this university along with my son.

He did note that in 5 minutes on the accepted student day he saw more diversity in both students and staff than he had during the whole day at what was his “first choice” place. And he’s looking forward to that.

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75% meaning top quartile for the school they are applying. So if they were applying to Dartmouth and both had a 1550.

@beebee3 well my son is still deciding so he has not gotten to the point of figuring out what he needs for his dorm. We are making a LAST minute trip to see one more school on April 30th. It’s halfway across the country, he’s never seen it, and he will have to make his final decision while we are there. We had put this school aside but he admitted to us last weekend that he just can’t get this school out of his head and really needs to see it to either cross it off or commit to it.

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No decision here. I said I thought by the end of this weekend would be good and was met with “WHAT?!”

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He is really going down to the wire! I hope he likes the school, what a story to tell if he decides that school is The One.

How are you feeling about the distance? Is it farther than you had envisioned or are you fairly sanguine about how far he goes? D23 seems to be committed to the idea of west coast, so we are feeling our way through what that might look like (as opposed to D20 who is a day’s drive away from our Chicagoland home base).

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We are still negotiating here. Not sure where he’ll be but hoping to have or worked out by Monday night.

Good luck to you!

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Good luck. Talk about down to the wire!

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So much stuff to do and the different timelines are hard. One of the last choices has everything happening now - roommates, marching band auditions, etc. The other has a summer program he applied for that I think would save us money in the end. It’s a lot of work and some of the results might influence his decision.

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Wow, I feel like the roommate and band auditions stuff should wait until May 1, at least. Seems odd to have it before the standard deadline.

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I completely agree with the roommate stuff. U of Alabama marching band was due by April 20. It included a video of matching too and it was so cold when we did that! There was a small fee too. But he doesn’t find out until May 2, I’m pretty sure. I wish it was an option to audition and find out before May 1. U of Michigan doesn’t start the audition process until May. If being in the band is a deciding factor off rather know in time. I think Pitt does the audition and result early which seemed great.

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Excellent post. Some great points.