rzberrymom
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Posts posted by rzberrymom
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52 minutes ago, catz said:
She is applying classical voice, though lots of VP undergrad applicants have more MT background just because some those programs are more common for teenagers. I also think for opera oriented programs it might be hard to balance? Like choir kids might have a different performance skill set than a vocally strong MT oriented student? My kid has done a ton of MT but her voice is more naturally classically oriented. I think there are so many applicants for vocal, teachers can really be picky about what their programs need, who they'd like to work with in their studios, etc. I really feel lucky that this kid is already working with a prof in private lessons!
So the story with my 1st kid who also applied vocal is kind of interesting. If you want the long version feel free to PM me. But in general terms, he applied for a couple smaller liberal arts schools w/strong music conservatory type program. They had more involved music admission days. For both of them, it was SO clear that staff/faculty were working to woo more unusual applicants. Like that were from further flung locales, brought some other diversity to campus, unusual instruments, etc. Which is totally fine of course and not to be unexpected. And to be clear he did get into both of those schools. The early action one in particular, the music end wasn't what he was hoping for and I absolutely think as a "boring" but very highly qualified applicant, he may have fared better if he had waited until RD auditions. I really got the feel at those EA auditions they were hand picking high qualified but unusual candidates at this one school but needed to leave space for other audition dates. It's actually kind of put me off schools that do it that way because it's a bit of a game. ETA - and to be clear, it turned out fine, a particular music teacher at a school gave him plenty of money and personal woo-ing! LOL.
Anyway - I'm happy to PM more with college names etc or chat about music admissions. I got freaked out during the process last time by being able to easily recognize someone from a college music board at auditions so I am trying not to put too much personal info on the interwebs, at least during the admissions/audition process. 🙂 Do you have a music applicant this year?
I have an opera VP kiddo. When she had trial lessons, many of the professors seemed relieved that it wasn’t another MT kid. Although, it gave my DD a big, disappointing reality check, that VP programs may be very MT dominated, rather than full of opera and choir kids.
My kiddo hasn’t even been sure where the heck to apply. She’s a STEM kid and has 5 years of dual-enrollment, so she needs a big school with a PhD program for when she runs out of undergrad classes in her STEM field. But she also wants that perfect opera teacher to keep up her skills in case she ever wants a MM in VP. And fantastic choirs that tour. 🙄 I’m guessing she’ll land at one of our big state schools.
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1 hour ago, catz said:
Congrats everyone for getting those EA/ED apps in! Kiddo got 3 EA apps in hooray! And pushed go on a 4th that allows for a later writing supplement. That needs to be RD due to music stuff (other 3 decouple academic/music admissions). She is ready to roll on another RD admission too. After paying big bucks for her first two apps, I was delighted these 2nd two didn't have app fees.
She also got a rolling admission to our state flagship yesterday! Which is a HUGE load off my mind. That is really a match school for her and she applied test optional. She is working with a music prof there so though music admissions isn't guaranteed, I was worried more on the academic side than the music side. Music admissions are ridiculous everywhere for vocal though. That also means we can drop her safest safety off the list. It also means she may have time to add another school (or possibly two)! HOORAY! It also makes me feel a bit more confident of all materials being into the common app reasonably well.
She can't do ED, we really need the ability to compare financial offers not to mention lots of music programs don't have an ED/EA option. I actually think auditioning early for music can be a disadvantage for some students, we had some regrets about one EA with my older kid.
I’m curious about the vocal admissions stuff. Classical voice or musical theater? We’ve had the sense that vocal programs are so flooded with applications from musical theater kids that they seemed almost relieved to have a classical voice kid come through. We’re really new to this though.
And can you tell me more about the disadvantage for some kids auditioning early?-
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2 hours ago, Roadrunner said:
Guess what else I realized? Neither DS nor I are physically capable of pushing "submit" button. We might really need DH for that task.
But the confetti is the best part!!!
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2 hours ago, Roadrunner said:
So certain colleges on Common App require you to input each class by hand? Why???????
Dang it. I am glad I noticed. We have one such college on EA list. 😬
That drove me nuts!!!!! We worried and worried that we would make some stupid little mistake!
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4 hours ago, Roadrunner said:
I hear you on ballet for 7 slots. 🤣 I have musicians. My younger kid will have music for all ten. 😉
Ahhh, you all are making me feel better. I kind of panicked when I realized my kiddo had voice for 7 of the activity slots. And she’s not applying to a single conservatory. 😳
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1 hour ago, Roadrunner said:
Our state one is worst than Common App by far.
Depends on the kid of course, but I thought our state app was kind of a relief. We’ve been told over and over that they want the facts on the essays. Content, not style. Tell, not show. Details, examples—who you are, what you’ve done, why you’ve done it. No worry about entertaining an AO, having a great hook in the first line, etc.
So straightforward, thank goodness!
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DD’s EA application was due on Saturday. She started the essays 9 months ago (!) and finished 2 hours before the deadline…
And then once that one was turned in, it immediately set off an avalanche of other schools that would be sooooo easy for her to apply to…
First one is the worst.
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NM…think I got it figured out…
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I wouldn’t submit with a math score at 35% and with as much outside validation as she has.
I’m totally speculating but I think schools may be really benefiting from this test optional stuff since it allows them to raise their average test score and therefore rise in the rankings. Kids are less likely to submit if the scores are low, the schools take the ones with the high scores and their ranking goes up. So, I would be extra nervous about submitting a low score (unless there’s some hook like Roadrunner mentioned). But that’s just my gut feeling about all this.
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I think interviews are a good chance to learn more about the school and get a feel for what it’s like to be on campus. When I do alumni interviews, I get all excited again, relive the old days. I can see how excited the kids get too, when they start to imagine themselves there. I think it’s a really good chance for the kid to ask things about day-to-day campus life—kind of like a college subreddit come to life. 😄
Don’t most of the schools say it’s optional? If it would cause him stress, I’m not sure I would push it. But I do think they can be quite helpful to the kid.
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I do alumni interviews for an ivy, and the most important advice I have is for your daughter to be ready to really communicate why that particular school. These days, I swear 90% of my task is to figure out if the kid really even wants to go there or if it was just one of 25+ applications. Most kids seem like they’ve never spent even 5 minutes learning about the school or the department they’re aiming for, and I’ve had kids ask me about OTHER schools during the interview.
We get instructions to remember the kid is only 17, that we should be supportive and kind, don’t expect it to be like a job interview with an adult. I think she’ll do great. 🙂
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My understanding is that more and more schools are requiring EA if you want to be eligible for merit aid. USC is a recent example: “USC Merit Scholarships require students to apply for admission to the university by either November 1 or December 1, depending on their intended major. Most majors require students to apply Early Action and submit a complete application by November 1.” https://admission.usc.edu/apply/scholarships/
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In our state, the public universities will accept a junior-level university class as evidence of 3 years of a foreign language. It can either be the regular language class or literature taught in the foreign language. This is how my kiddo satisfied the requirement. If it’s not possible to get documentation through AP, maybe a junior-level/300-level class could help?
ETA- and I totally agree with 8filltheheart that the key is grammar. My kiddo had to triple her efforts on the grammar in the 300-level class, and the professor lamented that there are several students like that every term, who think they’re fine because they speak at home and who then struggle with grammar.
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The College Essay Guy podcast has an interview with a former admissions dean from UVA. He said no one in admissions ever looks at an application and says, ‘wow, look at that SAT score!’ or ‘look at that GPA!’ But, he said they do that with essays all the time.
He also said the essays are what makes the admissions folks want to advocate for you—a good essay makes them connect with the kid and be on the kid’s team when it comes time to cull applications.
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7 hours ago, Roadrunner said:
So for an institution that receives 150k applications, why on earth are they sending my kid fancy advertising envelopes? UCLA is ridiculous. They don’t accept SATs, but they sure are paying college board to buy names of kids. Otherwise how on earth do they know my homeschooled kid is a junior? Really ridiculous.
In fact now that I think about, 95% of college mail we get is from highly rejective schools. Hmmm, maybe their aggressive mailing campaign is why their acceptance rates are now in single digits.Ha! We got the same mailing and had the same exact reaction! My very very underpaid professor husband feels like *maybe* the state should pay more attention to salaries and less attention to giant, glamorous mailings. There’s nowhere near enough room for all the kids that want to go—why would they send that???
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29 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:
So what about kids who aren’t natural born leaders? Is there a place for them anywhere? This process is just 🤮. Applying to an academic institution but academics might not matter as much as personality or sports. That’s how it all feels now.
They don’t have to answer the leadership question—it’s just one of the options. The options actually felt as generic as all the other schools we’ve looked at, and it seems easy enough to use something from the common app or a private school supplement and tweak it to fit UC. I wouldn’t let a kid sweat much over it.
I don’t see how essays can possibly be the focus for the UCs. I think you’re right that it’s 1) GPA and 2) their ‘eligibility in the local context’ distinction (at least for several of the campuses).
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14 hours ago, Roadrunner said:
I keep thinking about this. They get over 100k applications at some campuses. So how can anybody really holistically assess these many students? They must be filtering by GPA or something first.
UCLA got 150,000 applications this year. The whole process is completely untenable. That’s why my kiddo has put way less effort into those essays and just tried to make sure she answered exactly what they were looking for (e.g. make those leadership positions really clear).
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10 minutes ago, rzberrymom said:
Someone on CC found a job posting for essay readers at UCLA, and I believe it appears they have something like 1 1/2 minutes to read each essay. Seriously.
That really came into play for my DD when she started working on her UC essays—she made sure to just very carefully and precisely answer the question, and she put most of her real, determined effort into the common app and supplemental essays for private schools.
Sorry, I got that wrong. They’re paid about $2.70 for every application that they read. It’s even worse than what I said above.
Compensation Rates
If you’re selected as an application reader, we’ll do our best to fulfill your chosen level of participation. However, in some cases, we may need to adjust your numbers based upon our needs. New readers are generally assigned 500 applications to start off.
Please note that the rates below represent the compensation for training and reading. The “Number of Applications Read” refers to real applications reviewed after the training and certification process has been completed.
Compensation Rates for Application Readers Number of Applications Read Amount Paid 500 $1,350 600 $1,595 700 $1,840 800 $2,085 900 $2,330 1,000 $2,575 -
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28 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:
More I look at apps, more I think UC app is the worst. Their essays are terrible, their activities harder to do. Everything about CA school applications is so unpleasant. Envious of those of you who are only dealing with Common App.
Someone on CC found a job posting for essay readers at UCLA, and I believe it appears they have something like 1 1/2 minutes to read each essay. Seriously.
That really came into play for my DD when she started working on her UC essays—she made sure to just very carefully and precisely answer the question, and she put most of her real, determined effort into the common app and supplemental essays for private schools.
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I just realized I probably shouldn’t be sharing what she wrote without asking her… 😳
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16 hours ago, Roadrunner said:
This is why I also insist on UC application. Because he could go in and out in two years and then go into grad school.
This is how my DD is looking at the UCs too. Way too many students, way too chaotic for her, but being able to go in as a freshman and then start upper division classes right away will hopefully help a lot. She’s already keeping an eye on which campuses have small-ish junior-level classes that she’d like to take.
I have no idea if any will actually let her in though. She has transcripts from 3 different universities (including two out-of-state, which they don’t like), one community college, an unfortunate year at a private/homeschool hybrid, and a public charter. We look messy.
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I agree with Farrar if the goal is highly selective schools. I think Cal Newport does a great job of explaining how to go deeper into science—his horseshoe crab story is here.
I think DE can be really helpful with finding the types of experiences he’s describing. My DD took organic chemistry at the local university, and it opened up a world of opportunities—the professor asked her to be the TA the next semester, she put her in touch with all kinds of folks running labs locally, etc.
And I don’t know if this will help, but my DH is a professor at a STEM school, and his best students aren’t the ones that have racked up the most science and math classes. They’re the ones that have learned how to work with data, how to program (either Python or Matlab), how to do a really thorough and effective literature review, and (most importantly!) how to problem solve with minimal help and make their professors’ lives easier. 🙂
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That’s about the funniest, most accurate thing I’ve ever seen on these boards…
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We also didn’t like the feel of the online classes at all. I felt like they were speeding through it, and my DD started to label herself as slow or dumb because it was all going so fast and frantically. But there are lots of folks on here that adore the online classes, so I just figured it was us. LOL
We went back to the books and our old pace. By the time she got to the point where there were no videos, she didn’t even really want my help anymore. If we had gotten stuck, I also probably would have hired a tutor.
Those books changed her life—she looks at math (and all learning, really) in a way that I never learned as a kid. I’m so glad we kept going even after the class didn’t work out!
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Anybody else panicking?
in The College Board
Posted
She’s ok with not being able to bring in her credits—she mainly wants to be able to place out of a lot of the lower division STEM stuff. For example, she took the American Chemical Society exam, which I believe is a pre-req for medical school, so she’s hoping that will make the case for placing out of the lower division chemistry stuff. We’ll see. I keep telling her she has to get in before we worry too much about this stuff. 😄