<p>I have a few questions and thought that I would bind them together instead of multiple short threads.</p>
<p>1) Is it ever appropriate to include a recommendation from a coach? My S is planning on majoring in engineering. For various reasons (a small school, teachers leaving) he does not have many choices from the math and science department for recommendations. He has one teacher in Math who he will ask for a recommendation but the only other teacher in either department is for a science class that was not his favorite and he didn't work as hard as he could even though he received A's. He's been with his coach for 6 years now and she really likes him and would write a great recommendation. She's not a teacher, but after 6 years she really knows what kind of person my S is and what a hard worker he is. My S can ask a History teacher who he likes and would write a decent recommendation but it's not an Honors class and he is in Honors in Math and Science.</p>
<p>2) My S has received quite a few e-mails asking him to apply and they are waiving the application fee a la Tulane. The offers seem enticing and for the most part are very easy. They are waiving the fee and the essay and say that the applicant is "fast tracked" for scholarships. The schools are for the most part are not ones that he was thinking of applying for but seem interesting. Is is worth applying to these schools and do you think that the offers that they promise true? </p>
<p>3) Is it okay to only apply to "match/safety" schools? We visited a few "reach" schools and he didn't like them. The place that seemed most like my S is a big safety. His scores are way above the adv. accepted score. A friend of mine has a S who picked a school in the same position. He's very happy socially but really bored academically.</p>
<p>4) Big state schools have a set point for merit scholarships. My S goes to a reasonably challenging school without a lot of grade inflation and has just started weighting GPA's this year. Does anyone have any idea how big state U computes GPA's for merit money? I would suspect that they use unweighted grades, but do they use their own system to figure out GPA's. I suspect even though my S's test scores are high (for the schools that he's applying for, low for CC LOL!) he would be shut out of most merit scholarships which have a specific set point. It's sad because he's worked hard, his grades have improved dramatically since Freshman year and he's taking more challenging courses.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes. It could provide useful info about another dimension of your Ss character and skills.</p></li>
<li><p>Tulane is very generous with merit aid. About 1/3 of the students get merit aid, I believe. If your S might be interested or if he may want to use the offer to negotiate better aid with his favored schools, he should apply. Typically schools that actually offer scholarships that way do follow through. That's different than if a school invites a student to apply, but doesn't directly promise aid.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes. If your S has no interest in reach schools, no reason to apply. For many students, schools that are match or safety schools are their first choices, and they are very happy and well educated at those schools. </p></li>
<li><p>You need to ask your state universities that question as every college makes an individual decision on how to compute grades. Just e-mail the adcoms. Perhaps the college's web site's admission pages has the info, too.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
[quote]
3) Is it okay to only apply to "match/safety" schools? We visited a few "reach" schools and he didn't like them. The place that seemed most like my S is a big safety. His scores are way above the adv. accepted score. A friend of mine has a S who picked a school in the same position. He's very happy socially but really bored academically.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, he can be very happy at a safety. If he is concerned about being bored academically, then he should investigate taking self-study AP exams, or any other tests that might give him college credit. If his high school is cooperative, and he can force himself to study, he can take any AP exams he is prepared for. Some colleges might give higher placement for SAT IIs as well. If he gets beyond intro classes, he will be unlikely to be bored, especially if he is in a relatively small major for his school.
Another thing to consider is that there are very few "academically bored" engineering majors - if he is set on engineering, not getting AP credit for those basic courses may be more expensive and repetitive, but will help his GPA and perhaps his confidence.</p>
<p>LOL Cangel, about the very few academically bored engineering majors. That's what I suspected. My friend who's S is bored is a business major, not engineering. </p>
<p>I don't think that he's going to self study any AP's this year. He's taking 2 (Calc and Physics). Most of the schools that he's looked at are very stingy with AP credit and want students to take their introductory courses so it doesn't seem worth the effort.</p>
<p>Deb -
(1) I'd think a good recommendation from a long-term coach beats a mediocre one from a science teacher any day. Go for it.
(2) Hmmm. I'm inclined to think of merit aid as a "tipping factor" rather than a "deal maker." If your son is interested in a school that offers merit aid, so much the better. But I don't think it makes sense if "He doesn't like the school, but it's so inexpensive!"
(3) No reaches, no problem ... as long as it's your S's decision. These days "reach" often means "hard to get into" rather than "significantly better."
(4) I have no clue how a large state university allocates merit aid. But I'm sure the university FA aid office would be happy to discuss it with you.</p>
<p>IMHO you and your son appear to be "ahead of the curve" in finding a excellent college. Good for you!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>First consider where you are applying. Vast majority of colleges, particularly state colleges, do not even require or want recs. For those that do require them, it will probably be OK.</p></li>
<li><p>That Tulane invitation (and similar from other colleges) go out to huge numbers of possible applicants and it does not mean you will actually get a scholarship or even admitted. However, as mentioned above, Tulane does award a lot of partial tuition scholarships that generally depend on GPA and test score. Another issue with Tulane, which is in New Orleans, is simply whether it will be back to normal by next fall.</p></li>
<li><p>It is not only OK but the majority of high ranked students end up going to their state universities both because of desire and cost. Here in the Chicago region, some of the newspapers usually publish once a year the colleges chosen by valedictorians in the region and very few if any ever choose those high ranked private eastern schools, half are most often UIUC, some Ill State, some to Northwestern, Wash U St. Louis or U of C, and the remainder to such places as Wis, Purdue, Iowa, and DePaul, Loyola, or other in state colleges. The mentality for high school students and their parents that the high ranked eastern schools or Stanford are the Holy Grail does not exist to any real degree in the midwest.</p></li>
<li><p>State colleges that give merit awards often base it on class rank or GPA plus test score. If GPA is used, it will depend on the college, some use unweighted, some use their own weighting system, some accept whatever is sent but give more weight to test score.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My D had two coaches write recs and give them to her guidance counselor to choose. One coach was a social studies teahcer at the school, the other is no longer affiliated with her school and I am not sure if he teaches academics or only coaches, but the result was interesting. The GC showed me the letters and to every one's surprise, the non-teaching coach wrote an amazing letter, while the teaching coaches letter, though extremely enthusiastic was not well-written...it cam accross as the dufus coach type letter. I would think you might want to have the coach give the letter to the GC, if that is an option, to determined which letters to include in your app pkt</p>
<p>1) I see no prob with one Science, one history and one coach. S was also engineering-bound and had one science, one math, one history recommendation. He also had an unsolicited Music Director rec (akin to your coach rec, I think) but I'm not sure how many schools that was sent to (GC made that decision).</p>
<p>2) S received great merit aid from Tulane (but never did receive the "streamlined app" from them. He received the streamlined app from another school, with no promised of merit aid, but got pretty decent merit aid from them as well. Tulane has announced spring term starting 1/17/06, so next fall should be no problem. I think he should go for it on any of these apps/offers.</p>
<p>3) I, too, believe all match/safety schools are a fine plan. DS did that, adding only one reach - which he did not have his heart set on - and he did not get into that reach. Other reaches he liked quite a bit, but none as well as his two favorite "matches." I do have one concern, though. I went, back in the Middle Ages, to a school which was too easy for me. I transferred out after one year. So I do think it important that he not go totally beneath his ability. A reasonable % of kids with his academic credentials should do fine, but I wouldn't want him to be two-heads-and-shoulders above the level of everyone in his classes. I felt like I was back in hs at my first school, academically, and that is not a good recipe. Not quite sure how to identify this, but I'm thinking that he wants to have the top 25% of kids be in his test score/GPA range maybe.</p>
<p>4) DK</p>
<p>Good luck with his list. This could make for a very comfortable winter/spring application season at your house :D.</p>