<p>Absolutely true and in fact I’ve said the same thing about it being worth it to chase the money myself, in another thread. But if you are already in the money range, my gut says that a point here and there with respect to admission doesn’t matter. (Especially if chasing it comes at a cost of doing well in school, getting the apps done without stressing yourself out etc.) And let’s not forget that just adding a single point to an ACT composite score means you have to find 4 points somewhere in the various subsections. I looked at my son’s scores carefully before thinking that he was done. He did really well where I thought he might and not as well where I thought he wouldn’t. Frankly, I didn’t know where he would find those 4 points let alone 8 or 12 so we pulled the plug early and moved on. </p>
<p>I sympathize and agree with all of you about the challenge of creating the essay content. It’s a huge pain. I think you have to go 5 or 6 essays deep until it becomes more of a cut and paste exercise and even then there can be this one school that asks something that is really out there. One of my son’s schools has an essay which frankly, I have no idea how he is going to answer it without making something up. What’s revealing about that is that it brings up the question, “why exactly are you applying to that school?” Now he hasn’t attempted to tackle that one yet and doesn’t even know that it is going to be a problem (I’ve read ahead), but it will be interesting to see what he decides to do with it once he gets to it.</p>
<p>Haflo, we had same issue with SAT, which is good enough for 80 percent of schools but low for the other 20 percent. Does kid study and retake or let it go? He opted to let it go, took the ACT to see what happened, and we’ll find out soon on ACT. And I am reaching point of no return on rest of stuff too. He just got there before me. Where one goes to college is very important but so is spending time with friends, esp when this is last year of your lives together before you go in different directions. So we shall see how it goes. And he and I are different in some ways so are butting heads some on this process. I am Type A, very organized in some areas, although disorganized in others, and he alternates between being very laid back to OMG, that’s due tomorrow!!!</p>
<p>I’m not really familiar with the SAT and what it takes to move those scores up. Neither of my kids took the SAT. Clearly I’m a fan of triaging though because even with the standardized tests I advised, “pick one, prep for one, get a good enough score and move on”. But I have certainly heard of many examples where a kid does much better on one type of test vs. the other. If it had come down to feeling like it was time to try the other test for either of my kids, I would absolutely have told to go for it. </p>
<p>Oddly enough it was my son who needed convincing that it was OK to be done after the ACT last spring and not his parents. He was uneasy when it seemed like every other senior was testing this fall and he wasn’t. I told him to go ahead and take it again if he wanted to but it would be pointless unless he spent time prepping for it again. I also pointed out that he could spend the time prepping for it, and still score the same or worse, or, if lucky, improve by a point or two. No outcome is guaranteed but 2 out of 3 would render the time spent on it, useless. On the other hand, he could spend the same amount of time on his schoolwork, or on writing more thoughtful college essays. The only outcome from that effort would be better performance in the classroom, or a better college application. So in the end, he decided to go with the sure bet. Was it the right thing to do? We will never know for sure.</p>
<p>first my apologies to Chase. I have totally hijacked this young lady’s thread which had outstanding advice to all our kids. But since I have already hijacked it, I wanted to talk some more with you haflo. Thanks. Wonderful advice across the board and I’ve been realizing over the past several days I need to back off and let the pieces fall where they may so your advice is confirming that. We had some schools where kid is in the SAT score range and others where it was more iffy. I am also mommabear BTW(long story) but what we ran into on SAT is that it was not worth the time to try to pull up kid’s math score by spending several hours taking not to mention studying for the math section of the SAT. Their CR score is fine and I don’t think studying would pull up their writing score so the only point in retaking the SAT would be in the hopes they could pull math up. And their math score is very good already. It probably won’t get them into Caltech but they are not applying to Caltech. Kid is close to automatic admit at some schools already and during this process, has been narrowing their desired choices down more and more. They have some apps in already but I would prefer they apply to the rest of the schools that were on their August short list. At this point, they are leaning towards 2 of their short list schools(and have admission to one and app in to other one but I still had to breath down their neck to get those in). And since I am a lot older, I know things can change and it would be sad for them to realize next April, dang, I really wanted to go school y but I never got my app in and now I can’t start at school y as a freshman. Also, for 2 of school “y’s” if you will, they need to have a well prepared app, essay, supplemental statements, acting resume, and in the case of one an audition DVD. so they have a lot of work to make these apps good. And deadlines are coming up. Also, since they are probably in the running for merit aid at all of their target schools, merit aid is a lot more as a freshman than a transfer so although they can transfer to school y even if they don’t get the app in now, it will cost the family a whole lot more money. So that is where my frustration is. I’m thinking JUST get the apps in, see what happens, and let’s make a final decision next spring when we have all admissions, merit aid, and FA determinations in front of us. I expect to talk to them this weekend and say if they don’t get those apps in, I will assume they could have gotten full tuition and pay my share of their college expenses based on that assumption if they do eventually transfer to school y. However, if they do actually do apply, they get to pick where they want to go in April anyway(or sooner) and if they transfer to school y down the road, I will pay for college expenses based on how we previously agreed to divvy up the expenses. And to clarify, kid gets to pick where they go to college. I’ve very big on that. I just think they are shooting themselves in the foot if they don’t at least get the apps in to schools they have expressed an interest in.</p>
<p>Same issue here with the SAT. Mine is scheduled to take it tomorrow. He took it once last year and has a great score… not tippy top, but good enough for all of his schools. He originally felt like he should take it more than once, so that is why he had me sign up for the Nov test. He as had absolutely NO time to prep for it. He is balking now about wanting to take it tomorrow… he feels his time would be better spent on CA essay( needs to start over form scratch apparently), and bringing up his first Q grades which were iffy. I don’t know what to tell him… but I did already pay for the test…UGH!!! Is it weird to only take the test once??</p>
<p>5Boys, my older 2 kids only took it once, June of junior year, and that was fine. My youngest (the BFA theater kid) did retake it in the fall–his critical reading went up enough to be a significant help, but the other two scores went down. If his scores are fine and he’s not worried…well, I’m the type who lets them go with their instincts, and I’d be inclined to let him skip it if the decision had been made well in advance…but on the other hand, it’s just a few hours out of his Saturday morning and you HAVE already paid. Seems like a toss of the coin to me, but I’m sure others will have different views!</p>
<p>ha ha ha 5boys! Do we have the same son, he has a transporter, and does not tell us he goes back and forth from our 2 houses? No wonder he is getting stressed, living this double life. But on a serious note, AAGH. if his scores are good enough, I’d say let it go. Are they good enough for USC?? and I seem to remember he has other schools where SAT needs to be up there. If any doubt on score, he should probably take it. I hope that helps.</p>
<p>I’m glad we were equally ambivalent, ct1987. The tipping point could be the merit aid issue–if that’s a concern, and if his schools will look at the top scores, then he might as well give it a shot!</p>
<p>5boys, I am in the same situation (student not a parent). I took the SAT in June and my scores are good but on the slightly lower side for NYU, BU, USC etc. </p>
<p>I was planning on taking the test tomorrow morning but have also had no time to prepare so have paid a (small) fee to change to the December test date. This way I will have more time to prepare. </p>
<p>I don’t know if this is an option for your son?</p>
<p>just an FYI, the Dec testing will be too late for USC scholarship consideration. I specifically asked them that question and as I remember, they will only consider info up until Dec 1st.</p>
<p>I think he is going to go ahead a take it. He got home early tonight… which is unusual, so he said he will be fine tomorrow. I am kind of with the merit aid thing. He has a score which is very good in the real world (2100), but with merit aid, the higher the better. I came to understand the hard way( from my older S), that the SAT doesn’t really help you in admissions once it hits the 650 each section score, and truly, the GPA is the holy grail. In audition only schools, the audition is the holy grail. But, as you all know, my S decided against audition only schools, so there are some schools on his list the a higher SAT could mean higher $. I think he has a chance of raising his CR score, but we will see in a few weeks. Truthfully, I would of been fine with him just skipping it and working in his essays…</p>
<p>It should work out. Good luck to him!!! Are you ok with him taking a day or 2 off from school to work on essays if needed. it may not work with his schedule but that is an option if things get tight. Thanks for the SAT tips. that is good to know a 650 will cut it even in some of the better schools. We had the impression it would make it hard to get into Ivies with a 650 low score and maybe we are wrong but it’s good to know it may be less of an issue everywhere else. That actually happens to be my kid;s lowest subtest score. Regarging GPA issues, mine has a good one but no AP classes, because they are only online and I think this is first year that is even an option. Do you have any real world sense if that will hurt my kid’s chances. Everyone at admissions says no but I have my doubts especially since they are “available” now. Agreed the higher test score the better with merit aid. Mine just took ACt to see if it came out better than SAT. He did not feel good about it at all but at least it’s done. He is glad there are no more … standardized tests to take. We also got some great news yesterday that his GPA is high enough for him to compete for a full tuition scholarship at one of the y schools!!! So time to get at least that app in. It worked out great. They called the house, I was out, so they got to tell the kid directly and encouraged him to apply, That actually got him very motivated to do so :)</p>
<p>We should probably move our posts over to the " It’s begun" thread, as it will be nice to have a thread to be able to discuss general questions about everything, and also some of the exciting first acceptances… either academic or artistic. DS was off early this morning to the SAT. He seemed in pretty good spirits. I hope he raises at least one of his scores to make it worth all the effort…AND, it feel SO good to be done with ALL testing stuff, after 30 YEARS!! I will have a few year break before my 2102 K registers for the MCAT:)</p>
<p>Yes for the Ivy’s you would probably need higher than 650, but everywhere I have read lately says that colleges are making the SAT scores less important. As far as merit aid, my 2290 K
got a $30,000 merit scholarship he is attending. So yes, higher scores for merit aid definitely, but not so much for admissions.</p>