<p>Many cc’ers are other-wordly. Or lying. Is it slam-dunk Ivy good? Of course not, because no one is a slam dunk for an Ivy. But don’t let the stratospheric scores your read about on here get you down. It’s a good score.</p>
<p>EliK - Welcome to the world of CC! This place often reminds me of what Garrison Keillor says about his home town, “Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” Be proud of your score & kudos to you for keeping it real.</p>
<p>EliKresses, meet my D.</p>
<p>Ahhh…prom day. Yes, their prom is on a Friday. Always has been. It is technically a senior prom so most of the seniors skip, unless they have an AP test. Last year, my D went and had her hair done in the morning and then went and took AP Euro in the afternoon. But, mean mom that I am, I did not let sophomore S2 skip today! Seriously, what do boys have to do to get ready? Take a shower? </p>
<p>Older sis is home from college and since S2 is going to prom with all of her friends, she’s tagging along to the after party! At least she will tell me all about it tomorrow. Boys just don’t tell you all the good details.</p>
<p>Eli</p>
<p>Welcome to CC!<br>
Are you dumb? Nope, you are just learning that there are always bigger fish somewhere. Be proud of your good PSAT score. Be happy that you have great grades without stressing and studying a lot. Be prepared that you won’t be the best student in your college class.<br>
Many folks think CC is full of too many overachievers. I think it is a good reality check before going off to college. Don’t let CC from discouraging you to reach for the prestigous colleges when app time comes along. Do know, you need to learn study skills to do well in college. Be prepared to take advantage of the free tutoring/help centers at colleges from day 1 – they aren’t for “dumb” kids, they are for kids smart enough to know college moves at a different pace and with a different peer group than you may have had in high school.</p>
<p>Megp - Prom!! Get some great pictures. </p>
<p>Ours here are always on Friday as well - the catering halls just charge too much for Saturdays during “wedding” season. We only have 1 local school at of 3 surrounding couties that hosts prom at the school. Of course, that doesn’t kwwp the costs down. To push up parent spending, the “arrival promonade” is a great parade of who can get to prom in the most interesting fashion - lots of time & energy on homemade floats or renting odd modes of transport. Great fun to watch.</p>
<p>You all know my son’s struggles with ADD, EF and school work this year.</p>
<p>Son is excellant at analyzing & synthesizing material. He is slow at reading. He is extremely slow at writing/composing. He loses assignments and forgets to turn them into the teacher. He does great on tests. He wants to take AP English next year. </p>
<p>It will probably be taught by his current English teacher. They get along, but the teacher really does not understand my son’s issues and certainly sees the kid as lazy with much potential. The teacher is an Ivy grad, has “real world” experience outside academics and is very organized and very rigid.</p>
<p>The “regular” English teacher for next year has never told me she was ADD (4 of my son’s teachers in the last 3 years have ADD), but she is the stereotypical ADHD type. Other kids have told my son that she goes off on little tangents in a direction they can’t follow. She tells them assignments as she thinks of the assignment and often forgets to add it to the homework site. </p>
<p>I think he should take regular English (Am Lit focus). He thinks he should take the AP. He made some valid arguments that with his issues and learning style, he may not fare well with a teacher who is as haphazard as he. On the flip side, she seems to “get” him. </p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>My S who is a college freshman was well known as a disorganized scatterbrained kid …some teachers saw his failure to turn in work, piles of papers and clutter as passive/agressive defiance, some saw it as lazy, some saw it as “just like them”…I am not sure who is/was right. He did get better grades with the teachers that were “just like him” but I think he learned less in those classes because the class itself was disorganized. </p>
<p>Junior year he debated the following English classes and sequences: IB English, AP English and Regular 11/12 th English.</p>
<p>He picked the AP sequence and dropped out of full IB because:
- IB required great organization; crime and punishment was to be read in the summer and 6 themes were to be highlighted throughout the book with color codes…6 characters were also to be followed and highlighted with respected color tabs?! The same teacher does both years. Anal-retentive is putting it mildly.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>AP English…less organization but still lots of writing assigments with two different teachers; one hyper organized the less less so.</p></li>
<li><p>Regular english…little writing some reading…very attractive teacher (cute AND disorganized).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>He went for AP but said it was based mainly on the reading list. He already had read Crime and Punishment and the AP had a lot more variety on the reading list, even the grammar/language first year one.</p>
<p>I say…get the reading lists for each and decide based on that. My daughter who is very well organized is thinking of dropping out of full IB mainly because the AP classes are supposed to be a lot of fun but still good practice to develop writing.</p>
<p>EliKresses your score is above average, and I would think it is in the 90th percentile. The mean scores according to ask the dean are usually 47-50%-ile. They say add a zero to the end of each of your scores to get a rough estimate of what your SAT scores will be without any prep. Don’t worry about the overachievers. </p>
<p>My D is in private school right now, and we will be leaving after this year for various reasons. However, most of the kids in her school are super wealthy. That is not reality as I always tell my D. We commute 98 miles a day to go there (2 r/t’s). It’s too much for jr and sr year with the demanding workload. She is burned out as it is from getting up at 5am daily to start her day at 7. Her classes are 1 hr long and if she does any extracurriculars at school, she can’t come home to eat like the rest of the kids who live 10 mins away. She has to hang out for several hours, eat with a small group of friends who also have long commutes, to stay for rehearsals which begin at 6 or 7pm (they have to wait until sports are over). We decided on that school when she was 10, because public school just wasn’t challenging enough for her. We forgot to factor in the “culture” of the school - i.e. the “wealth” issues.</p>
<p>There are many people in private who have “live-in or on-call” tutors in every subject. Who could keep up with that? They also have older siblings who have been through the process, keep old tests/papers and parents who sit on the Board of Trustees. There are also girls who do so badly in school, because they are partying, drinking, etc. and yet wind up in “ivyies.” Hm?! “Donations” help a lot, and I don’t mean $25-50,000. We are talking millions. Enough to build libraries, wings, etc. So those kids don’t have to worry. It is elitist and defeatist at the same time…</p>
<p>We are leaving because my d feels discouraged in an environment where people go on vacation 5x a year; have summer and winter homes; have tutors while she is exhausted from her commute daily and does her hw on her own. She has integrity, dignity and honesty, and to me, that is a lot more important than getting into an ivy league the wrong way. </p>
<p>If you look at the list of famous people out there in any number of fields from politics, to entertainment, to journalism, etc. you will see they all went to regular joe colleges. If you have a passion for something, and really want to be a success, you will make it no matter where you go to school. There are plenty of people who have come out of ivyies and aren’t making a mark anywhere. Some are confused and trying to find their way. Ivyies like to brag about their alumni lists, but in reality, unless you are graduating from their business, law schools or med schools, it doesn’t make a difference in my opinion. </p>
<p>The investment banking and management consulting firms go to Harvard and U of P business schools for prospective employees which is the great advantage to graduating from there. Same thing with law firms that hit Harvard and Yale. However, there are plenty of people who have degrees from other grad schools that make it into those spheres as well.</p>
<p>My D has a friend at Cornell who worked hard to get there and is now transferring to Yale. He said he looks at some of the kids up there and wonder how they got in. They compare scores, gpas, and there are plenty that don’t fit that mold. They might be the students who can run a newspaper, play an instrument or a sport, or are just plain eccentric. You never know what ivyies will choose for their incoming classes. My D is not interested in attending an ivy as none of them have a major she is interested in, so why bother. Even if they did, after taking some classes with her hs and intending some symposiums, she was not impressed and didn’t like the general atmosphere. </p>
<p>Believe in yourself, and others will believe in you too! Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>p.s. Has anyone read Crazy U or Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother yet? I heard about them from our college counselor - he said not to read “what high schools don’t tell you” but it was too late for me (I had my breakdown years ago after reading that one)! These 2 are similar, but the latter is extreme - more like child abuse!</p>
<p>It is, I believe a 186 is in the 92nd percentile. Hmm, has your daughter looked at Brown, there are no majors, so if they have the classes she wants, which there’s a good chance they do, and she’s not scared about “employability” then tell her to look into Brown. Best of luck to you and your daughter!</p>
<p>medavinci,</p>
<p>Both my D and I read What High Schools Don’t Tell You When You when she was in 8th or 9th grade. It definitely affected us but not necessarily in a bad way. She’s made her own way. If you have a gifted or motivated kid, I think it’s good to know what some of their options are that you might not consider otherwise. We learned about HOBY, the Congressional Award and summer programs. This summer my D will be doing a free StarTalk Chinese summer program and will begin at United World Colleges on full scholarship in the fall after an extremely competitive application process. My daughter teases me that I am a Tigermother but that she thinks that’s good. At least it’s good until I tell her she can’t go to her friends’ afterprom party at a hotel.</p>
<p>Longhaul The “disorganized” teacher doesn’t sound like a good idea. Personally, I relied on the teachers who had the assignments posted in advance and consistently as well as keeping grades up to date in order the check behind my son and remind him to have a look to make sure he wasn’t missing assignments. It wasn’t a guarantee that he did them, but he at least knew where he stood. I also say trust your son regarding his instincts on the matter. For my kid, having a good personal relationship with a teacher really motivated him to do the work. But if it’s processing issues and not organizational ones that concern you, eh… that’s a tough one. But if your son feels like he’s up for the task, I say let him go for it. </p>
<p>My son is taking the SAT as we speak. It all seems so real now and my stomach is in knots…lol. He’s taken a million practice tests at a free prep course he’d been attending but always forgot to bring them home so we could score them 
They don’t offer testing at his school, so he’s at a different school but this will be tbe site I’ll have him take any future tests. His Aspergers makes him a bit uneasy in new situations, so one of the reasons we got started testing so early is to get him familiar and comfortable with the routine.</p>
<p>Well, I know that S2 survived prom because I can see his pictures on facebook. I have no idea what time he rolled in this morning. Glad that I rescheduled his piano lesson this morning, cause I can’t imagine trying to wake him at this point. But, according to the pictures and posts on his facebook, he and his friends had a great time. I think their favorite part was going to IHOP afterwards!</p>
<p>Reeinaz: Good luck to your S on the SAT. I can’t decide if my S should take it in fall or spring of next year. He’s not likely to take it more than once (just his personality) so maybe we’ll wait until he finishes precalc. I hope he’ll take the free prep class at his school, but again, that’s not really his style. We joke that he’s just a butterfly kid - floats through life with very little effort or stress and looks good while doing it. Someday, I’m sure he’ll confront a challenge that he’ll have to put some effort into - but for now, the kid lives on easy street.</p>
<p>I still have to remember to get D signed up for the Math SAT II. </p>
<p>This weekend and next she’s doing lifeguard certification for summer employment. </p>
<p>We still have until the later part of June before school is done for her. With my oldest coming home next week from college I think we all wish the local school year wasn’t so long.</p>
<p>shilly, we are living parallel lives. My S came home from college this week and my D is at her interview/swim test to work as a swimming instructor/lifeguard this summer and beyond. D is signing up for the June math 2 SAT II today as well.</p>
<p>He made it through the SAT without his head exploding. Although, he did say that it was 4 and a half hours of his life that he’ll never get back again. He felt confident that he did better than he did on his PSAT this year due to knowing more of the math (he took alg2 this year) vocabulary. He was happy with his essay although he only used examples from Lord of the Flies. He’s predicting a 1700. I think that would be great for this first time. My goal for him is at least 1950.</p>
<p>Score choice and SAT subject tests.
Question for parents here. What colleges do not accept score choice for SAT subject tests? I could only find out information about SAT I but not SAT subject test.</p>
<p>Too funny Blueshoe! My D came home exhausted but thinks it went well, she heads back tomorrow for round 2. </p>
<p>Glad your S thought the SAT went well reeinaz! I think my D would do better now than she did on the PSAT as well but I think she’ll take the SAT probably January. Is he going to take the Math SAT 2 as well? My D also took algebra 2 this year.</p>
<p>Dr Google - my feeling in score choice for SAT IIs is that it’s ok even if the school does not allow it for the SAT. If they want either the ACT or the SAT but also some SAT IIs then if you submit the ACT you should be able to not include the SAT if you don’t want to. Also collegeboard knows which schools do and do not allow scorechoice and will warn you if you are using it anyway. I know the opinions on this are mixed and schools all have different philosophies and they all say they throw out the lowest scores anyway to show the candidate in the best light but…</p>
<p>I’m curious to hear what others think</p>
<p>I haven’t come across any school, even from those that require all SAT or ACT scores, that required all SATIIs. </p>
<p>My son is going to wait until after precalc to take the MathII test. So that will be May or June next year. I thought that test included precalc. But he’ll probably take Biology and World History in the fall/winter. I don’t think World History is offered every session though.</p>
<p>My D is glad to have the AP US History (yesterday) and SAT subject tests done with for now. She took Math level 2 and US History today. Ran out of time on the Math, left about 5 questions blank because of the time issue. They weren’t as bad as she had been thinking, so now she has all the other school work she has been ignoring to catch up on.</p>
<p>megpmom, our prom is always on a Friday too, but they usually have the whole day off. Last year it was a snow makeup day, and they said the prom-goers had to go for at least 4 periods. Next year D will have AP Euro on the afternoon of prom, which should be interesting (no guarantee she’ll go to prom though).</p>