<p>That CollegeNavigator site is excellent–
surfing the highschools in my area thorugh it–very helpful</p>
<p>Collegemaw, my D earned similar profile scores on the SATs and will take the ACTs on Saturday after only perusing sample questions a study guide in Barnes & Noble. Obvioiusly, that doesn’t exactly engender confidence, but we shall see. She will retake SATs in May. Good luck to your D!</p>
<p>NHS induction is tonight.</p>
<p>D is starting to talk about what clubs/groups she is going to join next year. That’s a good thing…that means that she can see the end of the Stressful Tunnel That is Junior Year. She knows that it may look bad on her college apps that she was just involved in some of this stuff only senior year, but I think it’s great for her to spread her wings and do some different things.</p>
<p>AAACK! I have been so careful about staying on top of college stuff - researching, getting D signed up for PSAT and prep course for April ACT, crunching numbers … and I just found out/realized yesterday that I had neglected to register her for the April ACT! I must have gotten confused about signing up for the class vs. signing up for the test itself. I am really kicking myself; I had deliberately signed her up for a course that would end two weeks before the test. All is not lost necessarily - she’ll go early on Saturday on standby, and the school administrator says she’s never seen anyone not get turned away, but still. I feel like such a jerk. I don’t know how her ability to take the writing section is affected by my mistake. We’ll find out on Saturday I guess.
In the meantime, tonight is College Fair Night - over 100 colleges setting up tables for over 1,000 students from two high schools. Should be a zoo, but I made a list of 6 colleges I’d definitely like to get to, and have the mailing labels ready to go (at least I did that right). Telling myself to take deep breaths.</p>
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<p>Actually I got up this morning with this terror that I had done the same thing, but I checked and we’re cool.</p>
<p>Last year I (thought I) was the ultimate in organization with my '09 grad. When it was time to register for courses for the spring semester, I was surprised at the late registration date he got. It was only then that I realized that we had neglected to have his AP scores sent to his school. I’d had so many scores sent so many places that I thought I’d done it but I hadn’t. It happens to all of us!</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone who’s child is taking the ACT’s on Saturday. I’m going to have my son take them in June. I got this book, [Amazon.com:</a> Kaplan ACT Strategies for Super Busy Students: 15 Simple Steps to Tackle the ACT while Keeping Your Life Together (Procrastinator’s Guide to the Act) (9781419553240): Kaplan: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-Strategies-Super-Busy-Students/dp/1419553240/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270736495&sr=8-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-Strategies-Super-Busy-Students/dp/1419553240/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270736495&sr=8-1) that I’m hoping will help and he will actually go through it in May. </p>
<p>Cooker, have fun at the college fair tonight! I got my son to take the lead with questions and he did fine after the first one.</p>
<p>Follow-up with missypie - yes, with so many dates and scores, it’s easy to miss something. I thought I had signed up for an open house of a college but we had to re-schedule. When I went back to find the confirmation e-mail to reply to it, I found out that I really hadn’t registered!</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that I’ll be more anxious to get D’s ACT scores than she will. She took it once cold but she’s prepped this time. I really don’t want to plan the college visits until I have her scores…she’s the personality type who will hold it against me if she falls in love with a school that turns out being out of her reach.</p>
<p>We are very lucky that S’s school holds a College Fair with over 110 schools the night before a large regional College Fair is held. I have already ordered and received his stickers (just have to remember to bring them). I haven’t seen the list of what colleges will be at his school’s fair so we aren’t sure if we are going to have to attend both. At a mimimum we won’t have to visit every school on his list at the regional fair. </p>
<p>I completely understand Cooker. I have checked S’s SAT registration for May 2X just to make sure I really did register him. I keep forgetting…did I, didn’t I?</p>
<p>After reading the last couple posts, I had to check if I registered for May SAT IIs. Yep, I am still on top of things. </p>
<p>Good luck to all kids taking ACT this weekend. I did register my son for it as well, but his March SAT score was good enough, and since he did not do any prep for ACT, he decided not to take it. So, there will be a seat available in our school for someone who forgot to register.</p>
<p>I let D be responsible for her test registration stuff. Did give her a few reminder and of course, my credit card - but she was responsible for making sure she was registered on time.</p>
<p>She has a college fair at the end of April. What’s with the stickers/mailing labels? Are they just stickers with the student’s name/address/email address on them to give to the colleges? She already gets a ton of college mail (most of it ends up in the recycling bin).</p>
<p>My Sis signed up for the May SAT and the June SATIIs. He may take the ACT in the Fall if he doesn’t at least improve his math score on the SAT.</p>
<p>Arisamp, If your daughter is getting mail from the colleges that she’s interested in then you won’t want any more. </p>
<p>The idea behind the labels is that when you stop at a table for a college that you want information from, you can give them that instead of taking the time to fill out the form in longhand. Not only do the college want your name address and phone number, they also ask for an e-mail, HS name and graduating year and potential major. It’s just a time saver, and was really helpful for my left hand, bad handwriting son.</p>
<p>Overall, I need some advice for which colleges to tour back East. </p>
<p>I had a long talk with Junior S’s counselor yesterday…our school doesn’t have Naviance, and we maybe send 1 kid a year to a HYPS from his school; very few go to the East coast for school. Lovely counselor though, and I think she’ll be great to work with. </p>
<p>But. here is S’s basic situation–would love some ideas of schools to tour–a few reachy and a few matches.</p>
<p>My son has a 3.5 GPA/3.87 weighted GPA in the IB program. SATs 690M/710 CR/ 670 W; is taking it again in May (that was his first try). </p>
<p>His main extracurricular is theater–mostly as an actor in community theaters, and he has actually stage managed some large productions as well. That is his “passion” and it shows in consistency and involvement. He has an additional panoply of other good ECs.</p>
<p>He is literally 1 place out of the top 10% so hopefully he’ll squeeze in with this semester’s grades (its weighted and all his classes are weighted this semester). </p>
<p>He is right now thinking of a double major with something to do with science (maybe psychology or even biology if he could work that out credit-wise) and theater/drama.</p>
<p>We most likely will not require financial aid.</p>
<p>SO…what schools would you guys recommend for a tour?? We’re starting in Boston and driving around; we have a week.</p>
<p>GKM- Muhlenberg has great theater program, also perhaps Drew, I would check out alot of the LAC’s in PA too. My D is favorably impressed with Juniata and she is interested in psych and theater also. His stats would get him merit aid at alot of the smaller LACs.
Are you looking at any schools in the MW? He would be competitive for aid at many of them also.</p>
<p>Nickenzie…Thanks…yes D1 already knows she’ll be retaking SAT in June. She does all the registrations herself pretty well with <em>several</em> reminders. So far we’ve just used whatever the library has to study for the tests. But for the retake in June I let her know probably worth it to get a good 2010 study book (Collegeboard?), we’ll go in halves with her on it. We’re a little more mellow than some with these tests but she’s GOT to get that math up!!</p>
<p>Thank goodness we don’t have to worry about SAT II tests.</p>
<p>Good luck to your D also!</p>
<p>For those whose kids already took SATs, did they use already-released SAT tests to study (like from the College Board’s blue book or online)? If so, how did the prep test scores compare to the actual SAT scores? And how did PSAT scores from last fall compare?</p>
<p>Ds is hitting his target with the blue book scores He is finally not OVERthinking the math problems 
We’re disregarding the essay section, just using the multiple choice subscore to compare against the PSAT writing subscore. Essay grading = :eek:</p>
<p>You may want to consider Wesleyen. They appear to have a very good theater department and are strong across the board. SlitheyTove recommended this school for my son who is interested in Physics ( but also wants a broader experience). I am also reading the book Gatekeepers which features the admission process at this school. Very interesting book.</p>
<p>[Wesleyan</a> University - Theater Department](<a href=“http://www.wesleyan.edu/theater/prospective.html]Wesleyan”>http://www.wesleyan.edu/theater/prospective.html)</p>
<p>Looks like a slight reach for your son : brief stats.</p>
<p>Admission (For Class of 2013)</p>
<pre><code>* Highly selective, based on individual achievement and promise, without regard to an applicant’s financial circumstances (U.S. citizens and permanent residents); limited aid available for international students
- 10,068 applications received; 2,218 students admitted (22%); 745 students enrolled
- 52% women, 48% men enrolled
- 70% of students enrolled were within the top 10% of their class.
- Median SAT score for students enrolled: 700 verbal, 700 math, 700 writing; ACT 32.
- Of all students enrolled in the class, 35% are students of color (9% Black or African American; 15% Asian or Asian American; 9% Latino or Hispanic; 1% Native American); 7% are international students.
</code></pre>
<p>KLucky: Blue book tests were fairly accurate for my son, although he missed maybe 1 or 2 more questions per section (overall) on the real test than the practice tests. So his actual scores were just slightly lower than the blue book scores, but still within the ballpark of expected scores. Also, he took the PSAT 4 days AFTER the October SAT, and actually did 150 points worse on the PSAT. Perhaps it was just let-down from already taking the SATs. </p>
<p>Ok, I just asked him to think about completing his application for a summer program he wants to do. (Its not due till the end of April but he is on spring break this week. He needs a teacher recommendation and there is at least one essay) His reply: “Do we have any food?” Sigh.</p>
<p>Thank you, those are some good suggestions to get us started–I’ll check out Muhlenberg (which I’m not familiar with), also Wesleyan as a reach and some of those other LACs I need to research.</p>
<p>Yes, he would consider the Midwest, perhaps Oberlin? </p>
<p>Do you think Vassar is too much of a reach? What about Bard, Colby, Bates? </p>
<p>Also he hasn’t ruled out larger schools totally yet; he is hoping to get into the BU Summer program.</p>
<p>@KLucky - S used the Blue Book as well. He did one practice test before the real SAT and got exactly the same raw score as on the real test. The curve was a little bit different though. His SAT score was 50 points higher than PSAT.</p>