1 and Done...and the College Application Process, Part 3

Welcome fellow Quarantiners!  It's May, 2020.  I apologize in advance because this post is a little out of order and will not follow my last blog.  It's more of what's happening right now! 

The girls applied to about 14 schools each, beginning in September, 2019.  

The Colleges they chose were broken up in to 3 categories:   

    Reach schools are colleges that aren't as likely to admit you, generally offering you less than a 30% chance of admission. 
    Target schools are the colleges in which your academic credentials make you competitive for admission. 
    Safety Schools- Safeties are colleges that accept the majority of applicants​​

I found the easiest way to determine which schools fell in to which category was by doing a Google Search with the name of the school.  Scroll down until you find the Prep Scholar site.  https://blog.prepscholar.com/college-acceptance-calculatorhttps://blog.prepscholar.com/college-acceptance-calculator    Once on their site It lists the average GPA & test scores necessary to gain acceptance. Scroll way down until you see ADMISSIONS CALCULATOR.

You can enter your students SAT, ACT, & GPA (SOME Colleges have said they are doing away with SAT/ACT for next year) and it will give you your chances of admission (the example is for University of California, San Diego)! https://blog.prepscholar.com/college-acceptance-calculator https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/colleges/UCSD-admission-requirements 

This really helped make sure the girls had a good balance.  

Jumping ahead both of my daughters' have committed to colleges since my last post.   

We will be a UC San Diego AND a Johns Hopkins family! 

I had no idea the application process was so cumbersome.  Not the mention, the WAIT is brutal.  The girls really thought long and hard about their choices and selected where they felt would be the best!  Because they both applied to several schools, and many of them were reach schools, they decided they did not want to tour any campuses until they were accepted.  Great plan, except for Corona Virus.  All schools were closed! 

Welcome to the world of webinars, Alumni Panels, Virtual Guided Campus Tour, Admitted Student AMA and Networking, Faculty Perspectives: How COVID-19 will Impact our Greater Society, Financial Planning, Attend Open House at Your House, Talk with a financial aid adviser, Build more (virtual) connections, See where your student will live and learn, Residence Hall Tours..........we've done a lot of Virtual.

But it takes the place of a physical visit to the campus.  It's an odd way of selecting where you want to go but it's all we had!

WE DID APPEAL FINANCIAL AID AWARDS.  Also, if you apply to Private schools there's some additional hoops to jump through with regard to your FAFSA & Aid package for the schools.  I was annoyed because i didn't understand why we had to provide additional documentation.  NOW, I GET IT. ............more on that on another Blog.  I can go in to detail what we did.  

COVID-19 is changing the education system in ways that we cannot predict as of yet.   As you can imagine, we are wondering if our girls will even go "away" to college in the Fall or will they be "distance learning" like they are for their Senior Year of High School?  Some have suggested the girls take a GAP year but we are moving forward with the hopes that college will start, on campus, in the Fall.  Taking a gap year would mean they'd have to do all of this again?  No thank you!  Plus, it's not like the school will hold your spot.

In addition, a couple of UC's offered "Regent Scholar" status that came with many perks & a substantial $$$ award...........thankfully, the girls did not select a college based on that alone.  Because of the expense of COVID I read the UC'S may have retracted those scholarships.

I found this an interesting read...... San Diego will become the first campus in the University of California system and one of the first in the U.S. to broadly test students for the coronavirus — an undertaking it is well-suited to do. It operates UC San Diego Health, which includes two major hospitals and many clinics, all of which are tied to one of the largest medical research programs in the U.S.  Here is the entire article if you're interested.  https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-05/uc-san-diego-to-mass-test-students-for-the-novel-coronavirus 

EDIT: September, 2020   Here's the official UCSD link now  https://returntolearn.ucsd.edu/#Has-something-like-this-been-do

Time will tell how this all plays out.  In the meantime, I recommend even more than ever trying to find ways for your student to volunteer over the summer.  Use the SUMMER to LOG each & every activity you've done in all of your years in HS. How many hours spent...does it fall within Education, Extra Curriculars, Honors, Awards, etc. SAVE IT IN A WORD DOCUMENT because you will need it many, many times and it's much easier than having to recreate it each and every time.  Wish we knew this little tid bit!

Check the Colleges websites of the schools you are considering to see what their requirements are, standarized tests, etc.  Be thinking of teacher's who you'd like to ask to write Letters Of Recommendations for you!  SOME COLLEGES OPEN THEIR APPLICATION PORTAL IN AUGUST!  That will sneak up quickly! 

Stay Safe & Healthy!  If you have a question please let me know.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. 

Susie Lacy
Broker/Owner
Realty World Lacy & Spadoni Inc
(916) 837-0703
Lic # 01057370 Since 1989