@Sally_Rubenstone
Thanks for the confirmation. My counselor knows about the the situation and I will have a more in-depth conversation with her soon to discuss in greater detail what to do if Dartmouth contacts her.
One last question: Should I tell the counselor to inform Dartmouth of the wacky curving, or just about the situation the weekend before?
Thank you!!!
@handmadeheaven -The counselor should tell Dartmouth about BOTH the curving and the other situation. However, she should report the curving issue very succinctly … basically suggesting that the teacher is a harsh grader.
@Sally_Rubenstone - Sounds good, thank you!
My kid is expecting an ED1 decision in two weeks. On her application and during her interview, she disclosed that she planned to drop one AP class after the first semester, replacing it with either TAing, dual enrollment, or a paid internship. Her high school won’t permit a free period even if you’ve met graduation requirements, so those are the options available to her.
A long-standing (undisclosed to the college) chronic health issue has flared up recently, and today her doctor recommended also dropping a second AP class at semester. Doctor has no concerns about kid being successful with a typical college course load 8-9 months from now.
That would leave her with 3 AP classes (Lit, Chem, BC Calc), honors orchestra, TAing for a foreign language teacher (would appear as a credit on her transcript - she had AP foreign language last year and the school doesn’t offer a post-AP year), and 5-10 hours a week of paid internship (might appear on her transcript, depending on how it’s set up through the school).
The ED school is probably a match for her (~50% ED acceptance rate, kid’s 9-11th grades and test scores are >75th percentile). First semester senior grades are not looking great, so not being deferred to RD would be ideal.
How much, if any, of this should she disclose to the college before ED decisions come out? How much after ED decisions and before the next semester starts? My gut feelings are nothing before and everything after.
@allyphoe–Sorry to hear about the medical concerns that are complicating an already complicated process. Obviously, your daughter MUST disclose her schedule change (IF she definitely drops the second AP class). So the questions are:
-Should she disclose NOW (before the ED verdict has been handed down)?
-Should she disclose AFTER she gets her ED news?
and also …
-Can she hang on without dropping that second AP class at all?
While, of course, it’s not required that your daughter disclose her medical situation to her colleges, IF she tells her ED school NOW that she will be dropping a second AP class, then she would be wise to provide an explanation (as you already realize). However, my best guess is that, if she discloses NOW, the college will defer or even deny her. Her disclosure will raise concerns that she may not be ready to tackle a college curriculum next fall (despite any assurances you might provide from her doctor) and the college folks will want more time to see how she fares over the next few months … especially because you’ve said her fall grades aren’t great.
BUT … if she were to get admitted via ED in December and THEN she discloses the schedule change in January (which she MUST do),there’s a solid chance that the college will rescind her acceptance with concerns that she won’t be ready for a full load in the fall. Granted, the college folks won’t want to get into hot water for discriminating against an applicant with a medical disability. But, even so, I think they might rescind the acceptance anyway based on the schedule change. (Although they will already know about the first dropped AP class when they make their decision, it’s the second dropped AP that could be the deal-breaker.) On the other hand, what will work in her favor is that she will still be in three demanding AP’s, even with the schedule change. In addition, colleges really hate to dump a committed candidate unless there are very compelling reasons to do so, which don’t truly exist in this case.
In any case, whether your daughter discloses now or in January, she needs to be prepared to apply to other colleges in case she is deferred or denied ED or in case she’s accepted and then the acceptance is revoked.
Because your doctor is convinced that. by September, your daughter will be fully ready for college life, MY vote would be for her to NOT tell her ED college NOW about a second dropped AP. Then, IF your daughter is accepted to the ED college, she should stick with that AP and drop something ELSE … whether it’s orchestra, the internship, or an extracurricular activity. She should be able to use the doctor’s support to allow an open period in her school day, even if the school normally doesn’t permit this. You can also engage a tutor for one or more of her AP classes to help her stay on track, especially if she ends up missing school due to her illness. She can also talk to all of her teachers about her medical situation, with the hope that at least a couple of them will go easy on her if she has to take time off or if she falls behind.
If your daughter does drop orchestra, the internship, etc. for medical reasons, she’ll still have to notify her ED school, but the change shouldn’t be significant, the way it could be if she drops a second AP.
A similar plan (and one I also endorse) would be this:
If your daughter is accepted ED, she can then contact her admission rep and ask what the consequences would be IF she were to drop the second AP, explaining that it’s for medical reasons but that she also has a doctor supporting her readiness for college next fall. Then, if the admission official says, “We will have to revisit your acceptance if you drop this class,” she can decide NOT to drop if, if she thinks she can handle it. But if the admission rep says, “You’re already in three tough AP’s, so we can let this slide,” then she’ll be able to drop the second AP without worries.
If, however, your daughter is not admitted to her ED school, and if you feel that sticking with that second AP will be too much for her, then she should go ahead and drop it. She will be applying to additional colleges anyway, so she just needs to be sure that her list isn’t rife with those hyper-selective places that are looking for an AP-intensive schedule. As noted above, with AP Lit, chem, and BC Calc on the docket, your daughter’s schedule will still show significant rigor.
**Bottom line: ** Wait for the ED verdict to arrive before making any moves —or final decisions about course changes. Then, if the ED news is good, talk to the ED college right away about the repercussions of dropping that second AP. If the admission officials suggest that dropping the second AP could lead to a rescinded acceptance, then your daughter can strongly consider making OTHER changes (besides dropping the second AP) to accommodate her medical needs.
But if dropping that second AP seems to be the only medically sound recourse, then disclose the plan AFTER the ED verdict, but with the understanding that an acceptance MIGHT be rescinded if the change it made.
Good luck! Let us know how it all worked out.
I was recently admitted ED to JHU.
I had a level change from AP Calc to Business Calc G/T at the beginning of second quarter (before decisions came out). Both courses are weighted the same within the school system since they have the same content and I still plan to take the AP exam in May.
I had contacted the admissions office asking whether I had permission to change class and it was granted, but they told me to have my guidance counselor sent an email to them once the change is made. But, my counselor just told me that they have forgotten to send that email. Will I get rescinded for this and what should I do now?
@jchen1041 -Congratulations on your JHU acceptance. You already did the right thing by telling the admission office about your course switch. So just email them now and explain that your counselor was supposed to send an official notification but forgot. And make sure that the counselor does send it NOW. You have nothing to worry about. You will not lose your place in the class over this.
I recently got accepted EA into Chapman and LMU. For my junior and senior year I’m taking all community college classes (quarter system), and on common app for my senior year planned courses I said I was planning on taking pre-calc 1 and pre-calc 2, as well as Spanish 2, 3, and intermediate Spanish 1.
I earned an A in both pre-calc and Spanish 2 fall quarter, but due to class availability I was not able to enroll in pre-clac 2 and Spanish 3 for winter quarter, which was what I put on my application.
I’m planning on contacting admissions to tell them this and hopefully enroll in these classes spring quarter; however, I will not be able to take intermediate Spanish 1 because of this schedule change.
Do I have reason to worry? Especially if I can’t get into these classes spring quarter either?
@cheerprima18 -So far you have nothing to worry about. But you do need to contact your regional admission reps at LMU and Chapman right now (the staff members who oversee applicants from your high school) to explain the situation and, especially, to ask what will happen if you can’t get into those classes in the spring. You may be asked to take them online or at another community college, if possible.
Make this contact by email, not phone, so that you will have a written record of the response.
With the winter break upon us, however, don’t be surprised if you don’t hear back promptly, and you may have to send a follow-up query in early January if your first one gets lost in the holiday shuffle.
@Sally_Rubenstone
Updating with good news!
- Doctor spent a ton of time fine-tuning kid’s treatment plan, resulting in a significant improvement faster than anticipated.
- even with missing more school for a million appointments, the clinical improvement was enough for her to keep up with current work and start chipping away at late assignments.
- all of her teachers accepted all of the late work for at least partial credit.
- kid was accepted ED1!
- semester grades ended up much higher than the worst case scenario, if not quite as high as the best case scenario. No risk of rescission there, which had actually been a concern for a while.
- kid is doing so much better already that everyone is in agreement that the planned drop of the first AP course for a TA period (with a friendly teacher who has agreed to let her use it as a study hall as needed) will be enough.
- college-specific FB parent group has lots of resources for transitioning medical care to someone local to the school.
- Kid plans to register with the college’s disability services office, and request that late work be accepted as an accommodation. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
So she ended up not needing to communicate with the college at all. I’m really glad we just waited it out.
Hi Sally, I applied to a school that was due December 15th and thought I had all my things in. However, yesterday (Dec 31) I realized I forgot to send my official SAT score. I checked the college’s website and saw that they ask for offcial SAT scores. I emailed them immediately and placed a rush order on my SAT score. Do you think the college will reject me because I did not have all my stuff on time?
@YAYCOLLEGE111 -If you don’t get into this school, it WON’T be because of your tardy test scores.
I’m assuming that you did self-report them on your application. But if your application doesn’t include your best scores (or ANY scores), ask your school counselor to email them or fax them to this college today (assuming you’re back in school now). Since the official scores are probably still on the way from the College Board, it’s better to have these temporary scores come from a counselor rather than from you.
However, if you won’t be back until until next week, just let it go. By the time you see your counselor, the college will most likely have your RUSH scores. Different colleges choose to receive and process test scores in different ways, so it’s impossible to predict exactly how quickly your scores will get into your file. But they might even be there already!
Thank you for your reply!! I submitted my application through the Common App and on it have self-reported my highest SAT scores. I checked my college board account and saw that my scores have already been sent to all colleges. However, when I go back to the college portal it still says that they have not received my SAT scores (this is after 2 days of the scores being sent out from college board). Should I take a screenshot of the college board sent scores and email it to the college?
@Sally_Rubenstone^
@YAYCOLLEGE111-This is a very common scenario. It can take colleges many days–and sometimes even weeks–to update all the student files and portals as piles of new materials pour in. Meanwhile, high school seniors everywhere are panicking! In addition, you are not allowing enough time for your scores to arrive at colleges from the College Board and for the colleges to process them, if you only ordered them two days ago.
So take a deep breath. The scores will show up soon, and–meanwhile–please don’t worry … and don’t do anything about this … at least not yet. If your scores are still missing in 10-14 days, then you can call the admission office to confirm that they’ve arrived. Even if the deadline has passed by then yet the scores have NOT arrived (highly unlikely), you won’t be penalized. So just let this go and I’m sure you’ll see your scores posted by the middle of the month.
@Sally_Rubenstone Okay! Thank you so much for your help!
I have known a dude who got involved in drugs during senior year who got rescinded. Just don’t get Cs and i guess you will be fine. Even if you do, just write a paragraph to explains the Cs you get.
Been admitted to an ivy ED. Just got my Cambridge AS level results back and I have an A in econ but a C in English.
If my grade in English remains a C (i’m going to give it my all to improve it in A2), is there a chance I’d get rescinded from this Ivy?
I’m pretty positive I’ll get overall grades (AS + A2) of A/B/better in Econ and Business studies.
@fettywapwapwap -Unless your acceptance letter specifically mentioned a specific level of expected performance on your exam scores, I doubt your acceptance would be rescinded for one C if your other grades are a strong as you believe they’ll be.
Son was accepted EA. After first trimester his AP Calc teacher was adamant that he not take AP Calc the next two tris as he had received a C. Although my son was confident he could do better, he felt that if the teacher was against him continuing in he would be best served to drop it. He is now in College Algebra. Should he notify his Admissions officer of the schedule change and the C? He does NOT want his acceptance rescinded.