(Crosses fingers and hopes that the listmaker doesn't know about that one time in second grade when I wrote the spelling bonus word- "superior"- on the inside of my elbow in pen before the spelling test.) #infidelity
I think the whole way we apply to college in the US is totally fucked and lends itself to this kind of nonsense.
In the EU countries I'm familiar with, you sit national exams and rank your top college choice. You have an idea of how good a student you are and probably get into one of your top choices.
In the US, everyone applies to a dozen schools because honestly, you don't have as good idea where you'll get in as you do in other countries. Its an enormous country with kids applying from all kinds of backgrounds and school systems. Sometimes A students don't get into their state university because the grade inflation of the last 10 years mean that a lot of kids have A averages. I think we need to ditch weighted GPAs and extracurriculars and just have everyone take the same national exams. It really isn't impossible, NY state has every student take them same high school finals just fine.
@labyrinthine IS DOING THIS: I read somewhere that it's so innocent Caroline Susan McNeal (or whatever) won't be pointed at and shunned by neighbors. Or so John Robert Gacy won't be hunted down by parents with torches.
Grades are getting very competitive now. The thing that drives me nuts are the parents who come in and want to know why their child only got a 97% and not 100%.
@Smut Muffin: My friend's new baby got a 9.9 out of 10 on her APGAR when she was born last week. My friend asked her why she didn't get a 10. Which would be funny, except my friend's mom is the type to ignore a 99 and ask why you didn't get a 100. So I see the pattern repeating itself.
Damn, I feel really, really bad for all the students involved. I would have been furious to find out that my grades had been lowered in HS. Not to mention the poor daughter is going to take so my shit for this...
Ugh, this is bringing back my own HS class rank rage. After I graduated I found out that my guidance counselor had lowered my class rank (by 1 spot, but it made a big difference) while he'd boosted another student's by 1). Why? Well the other kid was a pretty good athlete on the sports team my counselor coached... and he wanted to make damn well sure he got into a certain competitive school.
I still got into the school I really wanted to attend, but I can't help but wonder if the rank difference might have helped with boosting my confidence or getting merit scholarships.
@Cookie Dough Monster: Universities don't seem to be nearly as competetive here in Canada for whatever reason, but remembering the high school ranking thing makes me laugh. In high school I took all of the university prep/advanced level classes and all of the science/calculus etc. credits while my best friend took all the "modified" level and elective classes she could (ie. the classes there to just get people through high school). She ended up ranking about 10 places higher than me, and acted all fake-concerned that I would be upset about it, assuring me that while I am clearly not as smart as she is, I'm still smart enough and shouldn't feel bad about it. From the lady who got straight A's by taking basket-weaving and home ec classes. Ranking means nothing (although she DID end up with a bigger scholarship than me)
@eibhinn: My daughter chose to take a very difficult program in her freshman year of college. It was very, very rigorous covering almost all of her prerequisites in one year. It was a group of 30 students -- all really good students in their own right and it was a grade point average wood chipper. She did okay, but not great.
Meanwhile her friend took the simpler regular class route and graduated with a much higher GPA, but my daughter believes she got a much better education.
I was and am proud of her for taking the harder road. For one thing she knows that in the poem "The Road Not Taken" Sandburg clearly and explicitly says that he did NOT take the less traveled road and he believes that made all the difference in his life. :)
This is so foolish. Your daughter gets the grade she gets. If you want to help her improve her grades, you help her study, you do things at home to assist her learning. Faking grades and SAT scores is really ridiculous, particularly because she won't have the skill level to back it up. It's like saying you know how to use Minitab and then, when sitting down and looking at your project you realize you have no idea how to get a random sample, much less do some sort of distribution with a scatter-plot.
Just don't. And don't mess with the grades of other students, that is particularly douchey.
@tonightineed is actually Mrs. Ziegler-Spock: I tried for years before finally getting a job in France. One of my problems is that my French is good enough to have French boyfriends, but not good enough to, say, translate or answer phones or anything else professional. More than one person said, "Why don't you just tell them you're fluent?" I had to point out that when they called to interview me IN FRENCH and I understood only half of what they were saying, they might be onto me.
As for Minitab, is that in the 10-ounce or 8-ounce can? :)
I'm surprised she didn't get caught while altering other kids' grades. I damn well would have noticed if my grades were different than what I thought, and would have gone to the school to ask.
Also, we should totally nominate this woman for "Mom of the Year." /snark. Seriously, what was she thinking? Wow, I really feel for those poor kids who were affected by her tampering. Their entire futures could be drastically different right now. I also feel badly for her daughter, who will no doubt have to deal with a lot of hatred for her mother's acts.
@Vivi21: Greengrey is correct. The new SAT added a "Writing" portion to supplement the Critical Reading (formerly Verbal) and Math. The Writing section is made up of grammar multiple choice and the 25-minute essay.
@greengrey (raidersofthelostSTAR): @maggeimerc: Ooh, I didn't know that. I graduated from high school 10 years ago. Back then, a 1370 was actually quite a good score and could get you into a good school if you had other credentials to back it up.
@WantToTouchtheWahine: College is insane these days. I applied a few years ago with a really high GPA, SAT, extra curricular activities etc and got rejected from UCLA but got into CAL. But my friend with lower scores and grades got into UCLA and rejected from CAL. No method to the madness. ALso the UC system is broke as a joke so they probably won't let anyone in this year.
@picassobear: Yeah, I'm now a college admissions counselor (in-home, not working for a school) and it's ridiculous. We have kids getting into Ivies and not UCs.
You're right, the UCs are EXTREMELY broke. To the point that they and the Cal States are admitting locals first, as a "concession to the recession" which really means, you're much more likely to go here and give us your money. So basically, kids from San Diego who are getting like 2.9's are getting in over 4.0's from Colorado.
@WantToTouchtheWahine: Well, their primary mission is to serve California students first and everyone else second. Kinda the point of a state university system.
It's actually a bit worse than that, though; since they're obligated to serve *all* CA students, not just the ones living in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego, they give preference to kids from the less-populated areas. It's damn near impossible to get into Berkeley (I refuse to call it Cal; there are nine other UCs) if you live in the Bay Area. I've known people with 4.0+ GPAs and ridiculous SATs who were refused. I got in with a lower GPA mostly because I lived near the Central Valley.
@WantToTouchtheWahine: MAN, I wish they'd had the writing section when I was taking the stupid test. I blew the SAT II writing test out of the water, but none of the colleges seemed to care.
@picassobear: @Plate2.18: @WantToTouchtheWahine: @la.donna.pietra: +So, I work for a CSU and I know it sucks, but it's looking like our budget is going to be cut by 13-16% because California has no money to give since the propositions in the special election failed. Since we cannot serve the high number of students we need to with that budget and we don't want to cut student services or academic quality, we had to cut something and part of that was reducing admission rates. Also, the CSU's are meant to serve their area of the state and always give priority to students in their areas. We have to hold to that even more now. It sucks, but essentially, we have no choice. This is going to be a huge wake-up call to all of California.
My school advisor messed up my SAT score in the reports for some of my colleges. I would have some serious angst for this mother. Change your own kid's grades, fine-- but leave the other kids alone!
@sewradical: Mine forgot to send in my transcripts to a university that was offering me the largest scholarship any student would receive that year in my graduating class. My university called me and said, "Ms. Loveshercurves, with the GPA you have listed, you qualify for a large scholarship and we would love to have you at our university, but we have yet to receive your grades and we need them before next week." I wanted to go in and yell at that man and tell him that he is completely incompetent, but I just burst out in tears instead.
I will never understand people who feel they have a right to things they did not earn. Yes, I realize that dooms me to a life of frustration, particularly considering that I am a university instructor.
@Percy: But if you don't change my C to an A/let re-take the test/do extra-credit, I'll lose my scholarship! It'll be all your fault, you see, not mine, skipping class and being just plain dense isn't my fault!
@NotIt: "What, you mean never showing up or ever turning in any work whatsoever is more important to my grade than the fact that I know I'm smarter than everyone else in this class?"
I once worked at this chain restaurant where my manager would go into the computer to alter employee files. For people who had quit, she would erase that info and write that they had been fired instead. Some people are so, so fucked up.
@Schmalerie: I got fired from a server job at a chain restaurant by an assistant manager that pulled something similar. I was living in CA and had to fly to Texas to basically say goodbye to my dying grandmother. That manager was new and didn't like me from the start (I still have no idea why but whatever) but she was the only one in so I had to ask for time off from her. Long story short, she acted very understanding and sweet, giving me the time off without requiring me to submit the request in writing since I had to leave in a few days. Then, she changed the schedule while I was in Texas and fired me for not showing up or calling in three days in a row. I had no proof to take to the managers above her. Not quite related, but your comment reminded me. It was a good lesson to always submit things in writing and to keep records but man I was pissed.
@FannyCachanilla: Oh my god. That is terrible. I feel like a good percentage of restaurant managers are really just an extra special breed of asshole. They seriously think this kind of stuff is entertaining.
11/16/09
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11/16/09
Investigators called this a brilliant piece of misdirection, stating, "Why would the blogger refer to herself as a 'fugly slut' "? #infidelity
06/28/09
In the EU countries I'm familiar with, you sit national exams and rank your top college choice. You have an idea of how good a student you are and probably get into one of your top choices.
In the US, everyone applies to a dozen schools because honestly, you don't have as good idea where you'll get in as you do in other countries. Its an enormous country with kids applying from all kinds of backgrounds and school systems. Sometimes A students don't get into their state university because the grade inflation of the last 10 years mean that a lot of kids have A averages. I think we need to ditch weighted GPAs and extracurriculars and just have everyone take the same national exams. It really isn't impossible, NY state has every student take them same high school finals just fine.
06/28/09
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06/28/09
Ugh, this is bringing back my own HS class rank rage. After I graduated I found out that my guidance counselor had lowered my class rank (by 1 spot, but it made a big difference) while he'd boosted another student's by 1). Why? Well the other kid was a pretty good athlete on the sports team my counselor coached... and he wanted to make damn well sure he got into a certain competitive school.
I still got into the school I really wanted to attend, but I can't help but wonder if the rank difference might have helped with boosting my confidence or getting merit scholarships.
06/28/09
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06/29/09
Meanwhile her friend took the simpler regular class route and graduated with a much higher GPA, but my daughter believes she got a much better education.
I was and am proud of her for taking the harder road. For one thing she knows that in the poem "The Road Not Taken" Sandburg clearly and explicitly says that he did NOT take the less traveled road and he believes that made all the difference in his life. :)
06/28/09
Just don't. And don't mess with the grades of other students, that is particularly douchey.
06/28/09
As for Minitab, is that in the 10-ounce or 8-ounce can? :)
06/28/09
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06/28/09
Also, we should totally nominate this woman for "Mom of the Year." /snark. Seriously, what was she thinking? Wow, I really feel for those poor kids who were affected by her tampering. Their entire futures could be drastically different right now. I also feel badly for her daughter, who will no doubt have to deal with a lot of hatred for her mother's acts.
06/28/09
06/28/09
Yes, I tutor this test.
06/28/09
06/28/09
Not that I'm still bitter or anything...
06/28/09
06/28/09
You're right, the UCs are EXTREMELY broke. To the point that they and the Cal States are admitting locals first, as a "concession to the recession" which really means, you're much more likely to go here and give us your money. So basically, kids from San Diego who are getting like 2.9's are getting in over 4.0's from Colorado.
It's unbelievable.
06/28/09
It's actually a bit worse than that, though; since they're obligated to serve *all* CA students, not just the ones living in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego, they give preference to kids from the less-populated areas. It's damn near impossible to get into Berkeley (I refuse to call it Cal; there are nine other UCs) if you live in the Bay Area. I've known people with 4.0+ GPAs and ridiculous SATs who were refused. I got in with a lower GPA mostly because I lived near the Central Valley.
And then I went to UC Santa Cruz.
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I know your pain, I know it well.
06/28/09
*It was a mock policy submission for an, um, policy unit of our policy-based degree.
06/28/09
I, too, feel ya.
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