<p>Happy New Year! School visits: Hoping to plan spring trip but some schools are closed during our break so will have to skip them. Would like to hit a few colleges in Boston, Pitt and Phillie but having a hard time deciding where to fly into. Good luck to everyone else with their planning!</p>
<p>I heard Rice has a Monday once a month where kids can visit the engineering school classes. Anyone familiar with that?</p>
<p>Happy New Year everyone. Things are pretty quiet around here. We donāt celebrate Christmas but my sonās birthday was Jan 2 and he was pretty happy with it. He even liked the wallet and boots that I got him along with the iPod Touch and 3 games for his PS3. He had me buy him a cake that heās going to take to school to share in his advisory Thursday. I was surprised by that since heās never shown much interest in sharing his birthday with anyone. Maybe heās finally starting to bloom? I can only hope.</p>
<p>He supposedly spent the break working on essays for some summer programs heās going to apply to. I havenāt seen any evidence of such work but he said he was working on them so it must be true right??</p>
<p>Happy new year every oneā¦we have a busy start this yearā¦we came back from vacation on 2nd midnightā¦and straight to school and workā¦on 3rd.</p>
<p>Reeinaz, my sonās birthday is also on Jan 2nd. My s is also the same way - didnt want to share the brithday with frineds in the past but this year is taking a cake tomorrow to one of his afterschool club.
We were visiting family in STL and he got a surprise birthday party from his uncleā¦and he got a laptop from his dadā¦which was another surprise for him that dayā¦</p>
<p>D put the finishing touches on her summer governorās school application last night and is submitting it to guidance today. This was her first real application and it was very much like applying to college with recommendations and an essay required along with an extensive accounting of her honors and activities. The process has really helped her to understand the amount of time it takes to apply to just one school and that applications to several next fall will be challenging along with the rigors of senior year and her sport. She is a livinā in the moment kind of gal, so I am glad she was able to have this opportunity as it has allowed her to experience a little bit of what the future holds for herā¦a bit of a reality check I guess you could say.:)</p>
<p>Happy New Year! </p>
<p>@Apollo Ā I feel for you . . . my scalp is itchy just thinking about it! I hope you get rid of those little buggers fast! IĀm a nervous nelly, I donĀt think I could have agreed to the train! What a neat experience for her though!</p>
<p>@reeinaz Ā Last year, I helped my S get started on apps, then I told him he had to do the rest by himself on-time if he wanted to go. I never said anything more about it, and figured he wouldnĀt get it done. I was SHOCKED when he came home a month later with teacher recommendations and essays written! He was planning to get his done this year over break, but he had two-a-day practices and lots of social activities, which he needed after a grueling first semester. He did already ask teachers for recommendations before break, and he emailed them the details on Monday. Lots more to be done before Feb 3rd deadlines though! HeĀs yet to meet his GC Ā sheĀs new this year.</p>
<p>Finals are next week . . . heĀs teetering in a couple classes. I gave him a little motivation . . . told him IĀd pay his Ā½ of car insurance (not cheap!) if he pulled all AĀs in the second quarter on exams . . . no small feat since you need a 95% to get an A. Only a month left of swim team . . . he loves it, but itĀs so time consuming and physically exhausting that it makes keeping up with everything else very tough. Lots of seniors didnĀt come back this year because they just couldnĀt keep up with the work last year.</p>
<p>Everybody sounds really busy! I am glad D is off until Monday. She goes to school for 4 days, then we are off to California for visits. All her friends are going to the Big Uās (Iowa, Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin, maybe Indiana) around here during spring break to visit, so we have decided just not to plan anything until ACT scores are back in May. She thinks second semester will be even harder than first semester, but I hope not. </p>
<p>Good luck to the kids that still have exams for first semester.</p>
<p>My S who attends a public school in TX got his PSAT scores today.</p>
<p>Hi, I have been a lurker on CC for 3 years I have a D who is a sophmore in college and a S who is a Junior in HS. S took ACT in December and received a 35 composite(36 E, 36R, 34 S and 32 M), he plans to apply to competitive schools, and is interested in engineering or pre-med. He is signed up to take the SAT in January. Does he need to take this?Thank you.</p>
<p>GL to your S perazziman.</p>
<p>I just found out that PSAT scores will be sent home by mail on Friday. So they should arrive Monday, which is also the start of semester finals week. Not the best timing if you ask me.</p>
<p>Thanks dadotwoboys. </p>
<p>We are estatic about his 219. It has completely caught us off guard. We were expecting him to score closer to his SAT number (2000 on Oct 1), perhaps, 200-210. That would have been good for both commended and the National Hispanic Scholar designation. That would have been plenty, considering last year, he had a 173 on the PSAT. Frankly, when we heard the cut off in TX had jumped 4 points to 219 last year, we even stopped talking about semifinalist. So, you can imagine how we feel about his 219 today.</p>
<p>Congratulations perazziman!!! How very exciting!!</p>
<p>Congratulations to ctmomās son and perazzimanās son! Those are both awesome scores. I donāt know if it is necessary to take the SAT I with such a good ACT score. A 35 ACT=1580 verbal + math according to the College Board concordance. One option would be to change to taking a couple SAT IIs instead. For engineering or pre-med it would be helpful to have a Math II and a chemistry or biology SAT II score but even schools that require SAT IIs sometimes waive that requirement if you have taken the ACT.</p>
<p>ctmm ā if your son will be a National Merit Semi-Finalist, then he will need to take the SAT to be in contention for finalist. If not, most top schools will take the SAT or the ACT with writing. You might want to see what the SAT II requirements are for engineering at some schools.</p>
<p>Thank you for the input.S has taken physics and bio Sat II and will probaly take chem and mathII in June. PSAT score was 209 sophmore year and 199 Junior year. We live in Ct and do not think this is in NMSF range.S is concerned that he needs to take SAT, that colleges prefer it. What do you think?</p>
<p>Welcome ctmom and congrats to your s on the ACT and to the other recent great PSAT scores. My s just got back his ACT and got a 34. He is also interested in engineering. I agree that to qualify for NMF they will look at the SAT and also Iāve heard that some colleges prefer the SAT even though they might not say that. If you look at common data sets for many schools the percent of SAT takers is much higher than ACT takers but that could just be that everyone imagines SAT is more desired and itās not really. I wish I knew the answer to that question. My s will be taking the SAT this month (yikes!) as his school suggested they try both and take the one they did best in a second or even third time. My s did well on the PSAT which is great but I think he now feels he doesnāt have to study much for the SAT- maybe heās right but at the same time itās getting me a little on edge!</p>
<p>David, I understand being on edge! S told guidance counselor his score and GC said he did not need to test any more. Other students have told S some colleges prefer the SAT. I do not know if it is in his best interest to take the SAT when he is in the 99th percentile for the ACT.</p>
<p>Congrats to those with such great scores. </p>
<p>I donāt think it makes much difference whether you send ACT or SAT scores. All 4-yr colleges in the US will now accept either. Iāve seen lots of college websites saying that it doesnāt matter which you send, and Iāve never noticed any colleges saying that it matters which one.</p>
<p>My 2010 S had higher ACT (35) scores than SAT (2220) scores, and didnāt bother to retake the SAT again to try to match. He sent only the ACT scores, and was accepted to his ED school - Wash U.</p>
<p>ctmom, Unless he has a poor class rank, low GPA or course load that is not of the highest difficulty, Iād leave the SAT alone.</p>
<p>Congratulations ctmom and perazziman. Those are great scores! </p>
<p>IB is officiallly kicking my D to the curb. In the next month she has 4 independent assessments (including her 15 minute oral presentation) due. She has maturely backed out of the school musical since she is also starting SAT prep fof the March SAT. So glad she is trying to manage her time better. She already has so many ECs that this one was just noise. She can be an emotional kid so I am trying to keep things calm here. I think she is in for a rough second half of the school year.</p>
<p>Lots of great scores ā congrats to all!</p>
<p>ctmom2013 ā S decided that if he had a stellar score on the ACT, he would not take the SAT as all colleges will take either. With some schools not allowing score choice, Iād be afraid that a lower SAT score could be a negative (and more costly to send additional scores!) I read a good article online that was Q&A with admissions officers from the top schools . . . in short, they said that they REALLY donāt have a preference despite what some think. However, when searching for that article to post here, I found Princetonās page that says they āstrongly preferā the SAT, but they will take either. Not sure exactly what that means. </p>
<p>Question . . . how are you guys editing posts? In the FAQās, it shows an edit button in supposed to appear, but Iāve never seen one!</p>