Our December date in PA was cancelled Wednesday for the Saturday test. I think it can be very last minute unfortunately.
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In 2020, they could get cancelled even the morning of the test due to proctors not showing up. For March, your odds are better due to vaccine distribution but keep crossing fingers!
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The test optional thing makes me nervous⊠She is a A student and has sufficient rigor in a well regarded private school, but how can colleges discriminate between all these applicants without testing data? Her school has virtually cancelled all non-sports ECâs and we live in an area where summer programs and stores have been shuttered for almost a full year. No option to volunteer or to do an internship or to get a job,⊠Ugh!
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Agree with you. No tests, a stark lack of extracurriculars. College admissions staff have an interesting cycle coming up.
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Do you have a sense yet for the colleges on your Dâs list? For the smaller schools, many were already doing holistic admissions so losing test scores isnât as dramatic for them (compared, for example, to large, public schools that use them for some screening activities). There are a lot of podcasts and articles talking about TO for class of 2021 so you can see what schools are learning and how they are approaching it - and I think they are only going to be better at it for class of 2022.
I have a D21 and an S22 so I am seeing the pros and cons for each of them. For my D21, it is a wild year with schools scrambling to figure out their new processes and how to handle increased apps. They will likely be better at it next year. The downside, of course, for the 22s is they had less opportunity for deeper ECs. But I would encourage you not to give up. Many colleges are asking what students did during the pandemic (my D was asked this during interviews) and your D will likely want to have something she is excited to talk about. Mine talked about how she got into hiking and what a great outlet it has been for online school. She was also able to volunteer at a nature camp last summer, which may not be possible where you are. It can be anything - but someway to explore an interest, reach out virtually (my S22 tutors online), learn a new language, etc. I got the sense schools arenât expecting them all to cure covid from their bedrooms but just to find something related to their interests to deepen.
AndâŠI know this doesnât sound greatâŠbut my son plans to apply to math programs this summer because that is what he loves and he would enjoy it. It does stink that it is virtual but there will be a lot of '22 students doing virtual programs this summer in their area of interest. He did it last summer, too, and it didnât feel like online school does because he enjoyed it so much.
Also, depending on your and @sfstemâs circumstances, one rumor is that colleges are depending more on high schools they know and looking deeper at transcripts in lieu of test scores. If there is any question about your schoolâs rigor, people have recommended doing supplemental independent study to show academic prowess. I know, doesnât sound great either. Just passing it along in case it is helpful.
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Yes, my D went to ARML Penn State in â18 and â19, hopefully one last chance next year. I did judging/scoring each year and it was a great weekend with our math circle team.
Test cancellations do tend to happen late in the process, within a week of the date, to see what the situation looks like. The good news is that case counts are going down in PA (at least in the west) and our school has moved from full remote to 2 days in person and to 4 days for elementary/middle school, so things are hopefully opening back up. Iâd be more optimistic about a March test date than the last few.
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My S22âs SAT was cancelled 3 times in California. In December, my S22 took the SAT in Arizona.
Day off tomorrow, and more ice and snow on the way. D signed up for several virtual sessions being held by admissions at a few of her target schools. She has done the on line self guided tours, but thought this was a good use of a day off since spring campus visits look unlikely. Sure hope vaccines will help put us back on track for a normal summer. Stay warm!
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S22 learned today that he was accepted into Rose-Hulmanâs Operation Catapult summer program. They put on a two-week STEM camp there. Good chance to experience the campus, engage with actual professors there, dive deep into something that interests him. Also, we will check out the school and Terre Haute when we drop him off there. Itâs happening July, fingers crossed weâre vaccinated by then (but thatâs not a requirement).
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My own personal opinion, but I think schools are going to be impressed by students who come up with their own activities when all else is cancelled. Kind of like a âSo tell me what you did during the pandemicâ type of application question. Those who think outside the box to do things like deliver food to quarantined neighbors or the elderly, direct a play via Zoom and put it on at nursing homes, or just other creative ways to spend their time will be rewarded. Admissions counselors are going to be sooo tired of hearing teens complain about how much Zoom school stunk. That said, with my own son it is extremely hard to motivate him at the moment to take initiative and show creativity. But perhaps this summer.
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Peeking in from Class of 2021 because I promised to try to help parents from the younger group like how I was helped.
Colleges want to know how your kid differentiates his/herself. I have a S21 and D24. My S21 got a virtual internship with a non profit. Heâs doing paperwork, heâs helping to produce videos for the virtual gala. He and his friends have done well academically so theyâve put on tutoring sessions for free for the other high school and middle school kids. Their Intel internship was canceled last summer so they had to scramble to make use of their time outside of gaming til 2am each day.
My D24 is a soccer player so while they were stuck inside this spring/summer, she advertised on social media and out on free weekly virtual clinics. She caught the eye of one of the local coaches (her son participated in the clinic) that she offered D24 an assistant coaching job while the under 9 boys team was able to practice outdoors. Her school still has virtual clubs so sheâs on social media recruiting committees. Sheâs also helping classmates after school virtually who are struggling with course material.
My sonâs friend (he got into UCLA Regents, UC Berkeley MET program with regents and SEEDs scholarship invites) took MIT virtual, free coding and programming work and he took advanced math at the local CC. He put that into the curriculum that heâs leading as a robotics director. Theyâre creating crowdsourced events where heâs supporting kids from all over the US and some out of the country.
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Hi Class of 22 parents. This is my first post. My DD has to select her senior year courses by next week and I have a question for the group. Does it look bad to take two off periods your senior year? The goal being that she would get a job. Would colleges value this or consider it slacking off course work?
Note: DD has already taken 5 AP classes, 4 Dual Enrollment classes, and will be taking 4 additional AP classes her Senior year (AP Eng 4, AP Enviro Science, AP Statistics, and AP Gov & Econ) she will also be taking an engineering design class and have a study hall hour. Thoughts on this course load and if the off periods would impact her with schools?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
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Depends on the type of college and the major in which she is interested. For most colleges outside the very selective ones, it shouldnât make a difference. But for the very top colleges, I think that theyâd rather see another challenging course than a period of work. I understand her course load next year includes 4 APs, but perhaps she could do another year of foreign language or an additional science or math class if she is interested in engineering if she interested in the very top colleges?
My son works as well, but he works Friday evenings and weekends.
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Welcome! Glad to have you here!
Per @13street it will depend on the desired college, major and also your own school. My sisterâs kids in Chicago seem to have to take 7 classes every term (?) while at my kidsâ school - one of the most competitive in our state - the seniors only take 5 or 6 classes. Since your D will be first compared against other students at her school, it might be worthwhile checking with your GC on what he/she thinks is desired at your schoolâs context. Also, the more selective colleges are looking for your GC to select the âmost rigorousâ academics box so you may want to have your D ask about that, too.
I think that colleges generally consider a job a plus - and wouldnât necessarily think of it as slacking. That said, the more selective colleges are adding up how she chooses to spend her time in relation to her interests. So they wouldnât dislike a job - and they would tend to really like a job if it is to help support the family - but they might prefer another choice directly related to her interest area. The current trend in college admissions is going deep on an interest area - so she could take another course to go deeper, research something or do related outreach in the community.
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Agreeing with others that it depends on your daughterâs goals. Elite schools will want to see 5 academic classes (English, math, foreign language, science, social studies) each year for four years. Did you DD finish a fourth year of language as a junior? In that case, it might be an okay choice. Outside of top 50-75 it is probably fine. I might pick one or two of her reach schools and have her reach out to ask.
My DD18 dropped foreign language after her fourth year her junior year. She subbed in AP CS, which made sense because she was headed into engineering. MY DS22 took his fourth year of science through an online school last summer, so he will be doing social studies electives (AP Human Geo one semester and economics the second) as a senior. This is his area, so it makes sense for him, but he will still have 4 years of 5 solids. Make sense?
Re: the most rigorous checkbox â one data point. My son is at a very strong private school and apparently their counselors donât check it for anyone. They leave it blank. Sort of an interesting approach to avoid attempting to differentiate between kids who are all clumped together.
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I think that checkbox can be a problem - at our school which offers IB Diploma and AP, if you donât do the IB Diploma you canât get Most Rigorous checked. If you take all AP courses at the other school in town (that doesnât have IB) you can get it checked. So that can be very frustrating for students. Seems like there could be a better way but I understand that colleges are trying to interpret transcripts from varying high schools across the country.
@O_Munroe Like the other parents said, it depends on where she wants to go. The admission main GPA will have been locked in end of junior year. Those UW/W GPAs are going to be her work horse. T20 will want to see her take a competitive workload her senior year. My S21 took 7 APs and 4 Honors thru junior year and senior year heâs taking AP Stat, AP Calc BC, AP Macro and Micro econ, his final engr elective, and a couple of district and state required standard classes.
Heâs able to work part time because we have been on some funky virtual schedule since last March and his sports have been canceled. With sports, he wouldnât have been able to work.
I think 4 APs is plenty but they may question study hall period. She could in her essay write why she took a reduced physical schedule to work part-time but it should probably be because of hardship vs just taking a reduced schedule (I hope I didnât interpret that wrong) to work part time since many kids take a full schedule and still work part time. I hope this helps.
The key is for her to continue to excel thru the first semester since colleges will ask for the midyear report.
One other thing, your school competitiveness matters to top schools because in their school report, the counselor writes about the studentâs school, whatâs offered, attest to the studentâs character, shares how his or her workload is vs the rest of the students at the school.
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One data point (you and I like exceptions 
) on the all 5 academic areas - my son is doing an IB Diploma in STEM - he can get his social studies certificate after only taking 3 years of it so he can double up in STEM certificates. So there may be some exceptions to the 4 years in 5 academic areas but I very much agree with the overall sentiment.
If you find yourself in an exception situation, you can search on the college you are interested in along with âcdsâ and look at their common data set to see what their philosophy on high school courses is - it is often around page 6 or 7. Sometimes they low ball it for equity reasons and doing more can still be good - but reading those pages can sometimes give you an idea of how they think about high school transcripts.
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So much great info here! Thank you all. To answer a few of your questions:
Looking to apply to Engineering at A&M (her dream school only 2 hours from home). We will be applying to others, but she is really set on that being her destination. She has zero desire to attend ivy schools.
She is 41/360 of her class so just outside of the top 10% with a GPA of 3.78 (UW/4.0 scale). Taking SATâs March 4. Got a 1270 on her PSAT
Additional Coursework:
3 Dual Enrollment credit courses â On ramps Pre Calc (10th), Engineering Design (10th) On Ramps US History (11th)
9 AP Classes â Ap World History (10th) AP Eng 3 (11th) AP Calc B/C (11th) AP Physics (11th) AP US History (11th) AP Enviro Science (12th) AP GOV & Econ (12th) AP Eng 4 (12th) AP Statistics (12th)
5 Pre-Ap Classes â Eng 1 (9th) Algebra 2 (9th) Bio (9th) Eng 2 (10th) Chem (10th)
Next year will make 4 years of Engineering specific courses, Robotics Team â 2 years | Qualified for state UIL competition and won one of the years.
Only 2 years of a foreign language.
NHS & National Thespians Honor society â 4 years, (11th â VP, 12th â More than likely President)
Theater Stage Manager â all 4 years (lots of after school involvement)
She does not need to work due to hardship. She needs to work as a life lesson in my opinion. They are offering an AP Computer Science class for the first time this year, so maybe we should convince her to take that instead of a study hall. Or maybe another foreign language credit. Does it need to be the same foreign language as her prior 2 years?
Thanks for your input.