Parents of the HS Class of 2014

Parents of Class of 20xx
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<p>That’s interesting. Both schools we toured said they superscore the ACT. I wonder if it’s a region thing? Where ACT is used mostly they superscore, where SAT is used mostly they don’t? Just a guess. Out of curiosity I googled and found this site:</p>

<p>[Colleges</a> that superscore the ACT College Admissions Counseling](<a href=“http://www.collegeadmissionspartners.com/college-testing/colleges-superscore-act/]Colleges”>Colleges that superscore the ACT - BS/MD Admissions by College Admissions Partners)</p>

<p>Quite a few names on the list (and doesn’t necessarily follow my logic above about region!). </p>

<p>Welcome CollegeForTwins! We are also thinking of visiting Alabama during spring break due to their tempting scholarships! DS is engineering minded and I understand they have an additional $2500 from the engineering department.</p>

<p>Welcome, also to CT1417!</p>

<p>I had DS use his 4 free ACT reports when he took it in June. Didn’t have a clue where he might be applying, so sent to huge reach schools hoping to get on their mail list. Haven’t received any mail from two of those schools yet. :frowning: </p>

<p>Glad to have the experienced parents chiming in helping to lead the way for us first-timers! :)</p>

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<p>Hello, all. I’ve been mostly lurking on this thread but have been following it for many months now. Thought I’d chime in now that we are counting down! MY DS’s school has been holding College Admissions sessions for junior parents this week but alas, DH and I are out of town and could not make any of the sessions. Thankfully the school will post a podcast next week.</p>

<p>Each counselor has also held a group session for his or her students, and will have individual sessions in the next month or so. I asked my DS what he learned from the group session and he said that he already knew most of it for me. So hats of to you folks out there on CC for sharing your wisdom!</p>

<p>DS also attended an alumni panel just before break and came away with some tidbits (e.g., start essays over the summer) that I had been telling him, but I guess some things are different hearing from friends and peers than from your mother.</p>

<p>My DS will also only have 3 years of HS foreign language, mainly because he had so many other classes he wanted to take. I have to say it was the right decision for him and his GC agreed that it wouldn’t matter for his particular interests and our high school’s unique profile.</p>

<p>We got PSAT results before Winter Break, and DS is on the border. We live in a state with a high cutoff unfortunately. He would easily make it in most other states. He’s a little disappointed since our school typically has well over 100 kids make NMF every year, so many of his friends will make it, but such is life.</p>

<p>Even without NMF his stats give him good chances for merit aid at several places, including Alabama. We have told him that he can choose wherever he wants to go to school, and finances are not a worry. HOWEVER, whatever money is left over after undergraduate is his to keep, so it is up to him to decide how much of a nest egg he wants to have left over. If he chooses a school where we are full pay (other than our state schools) then he will have nothing left. If he chooses a school that gives him good merit aid, or stays in-state, he could have a very hefty sum when he graduates! I figure this gives him some skin in the game.</p>

<p>We are touring several schools in the Midwest over Spring Break. DS is interested in engineering and we can hit a number of top programs (Michigan, Purdue, Illinois) in one fell swoop. We’ll also hit Rose-Hulman for a completely different feel from the big state schools. And we will also see Northwestern and Wash U. Lots of driving and mother -son bonding! </p>

<p>I have a DD (2018) so i get a bit of a break in college chaos between the two. She declined to accompanynus on this tour and is instead going to London with DH over break. I am jealous!</p>

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<p>Welcome 2014novamom! WOW! 100 NMF from one school? That’s impressive! And what a great way to arrange finances - and great for him that you can do that. My parents did the same with me for my wedding. Set an amount and what I didn’t spend on the wedding could be used for honeymoon or I got to keep. Needless to say, I bargain shopped so I could have money left over!</p>

<p>Will you be seeing a different school each day over spring break? That looks like a nice selection. We are going to visit my parents who full-time RV. I was hoping they would be in Texas this year, but they will be at the Alabama beach instead. So we will visit Alabama and Vanderbilt. Still trying to find some more to add to that list … any suggestions from anyone? Thinking maybe LSU or Tulane.</p>

<p>Is anyone doing tours over MLK or President’s day? I’m not wanting to take DS out of school to tour this year, so trying to take advantage of their days off. We have a lot of schools 5-10 hours from us, but not many within 2-3. Seems a long drive to visit only one school and have to be at school the next day.</p>

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<p>Virginia Tech actually does something I’ve never seen before, although they can’t be the only one. They will combine the SAT and ACT to give you the highest combination possible. They only consider the M and CR on both tests. This would help a student who had a statistically higher CR score on the SAT but a statistically higher M score on the ACT, or vice versa. So super-super scoring?</p>

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<p>I just noticed that link I gave was for 2007/2008!!! Needless to day, it is probably outdated!</p>

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<p>Welcome, 2014novamom!
@blueiguana, I have never heard of such practice by Virginia Tech. Very interesting.</p>

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<p>In a search for a more up to date list I found the following specifically for students applying for entrance fall of 2013. It actually has quite a bit of information on it. It is from a company called Prep Matters. I’m sharing because it might be nice as a rough guideline, but I would verify everything directly with the school(s) you’re interested in.</p>

<p><a href=“http://prepmatters.com/sites/default/files/TopColleges-2013Entry.pdf[/url]”>http://prepmatters.com/sites/default/files/TopColleges-2013Entry.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’m a native 4beardolls and have followed VT admissions for a few years with S2 applying two years ago, as well as several students I mentored. When I first heard about it I’ll admit I was exceptionally skeptical, to the point of really needing to hear it from admissions. Sure enough that is indeed how they do it.</p>

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<p>I think I’ll definitely do that, though travel costs will probably limit the number of schools I can visit significantly. :confused: Do you think an “accepted student’s weekend” is a good thing to base your decision off of? I’ve heard that some schools get really reved up for those two days and then everything ‘goes back to normal’. I heard this mostly about Caltech, though.</p>

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<p>Lol! Your parents sound similar to mine! Well, my parents went to school in a different country where acceptance to programs is largely exams/marks based. So, most people ended up going to the best school they could get into or afford. There’s not much emphasis on ECs and the like there-neither in University or in HS and so ‘fit’ isn’t as big of a deal for most people. I kind of disagree though- I go to a HS that’s supposedly very tough to get into because of the special programs it offers and because of the entrance test/interview. However, it’s really small, underfunded and the student body isn’t really very much like me and I feel like I miss out on the HS experience. As such, I really want to go somewhere I can be happy and enjoy college life as well as academics. </p>

<p>I am a sucker for greenspace myself but most of the schools I’m looking at in the US are in the NE, though I am considering applying to UNC-CH. I know a kid from Canada who is a morehead-cain scholar there and very happy.</p>

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<p>For those interested in visiting Alabama, just wanted you to know that the school’s spring break is March 25-29. The following week is Honors Week. </p>

<p>If you want to set up tours through the Honors College, shoot me a PM, and I’ll give you the name of a contact. The Honors College does an excellent job of putting together a tour, meetings with deans or professors, lunch and dorm visits, etc.</p>

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<p>BlueIguana–that is a very useful list to have—thank you! I am trying to compile all of the data I want in one spreadsheet (SAT 25/75 range, SAT IIs needed, interview considered, student interest important, EA/ED/RD, etc, etc) but your link is a great tool.</p>

<p>Ecouter–my parents came to this country to attend college, but at age 25, so they had a different perspective. It was always assumed that we were all going to college; they just left the researching to me. This was 30 years ago when campus visits were not as expected. </p>

<p>Wake Forest was the school with the description of acres of rolling green hills or something to that effect. (It had been Baptist until 1980 so was still less known in the NE at that time. The green acreage description did sound appealing though.)</p>

<p>You can find green if you travel far enough north in the NE. Lots of green in central and upstate NY. Good luck with your search!</p>

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<p>blue – that is an awesome list! I remember going through the collegeboard website, one by one, trying compile a spreadsheet for D. This will save me a lot of time.</p>

<p>I’m just wondering with the “score optional” schools – how bad do your scores have to be in order to choose this route – below 1200 for Math and CR? Interested to hear people’s thoughts on the cutoff.</p>

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<p>momreads, thank you for that spring break info! It’s a bummer, because that’s our Spring break week. Guess I need to re-think some plans… I may contact you about tours within the Honors college.</p>

<p>2014novamom, we visited IL and Wash U in the same trip. He really liked IL…and then we went to Wash U and he totally changed his college search! He had been sure he needed a big university with a football team. But then he fell in love with Wash U, and not only that, he suddenly saw the appeal of a smaller school and what it could offer him. He knows it’s a reach, especially financially, but Wash U would be his dream school. Based on how much he liked it, we also visited Emory this fall, and I would say it’s a close second…</p>

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<p>All this talk of visits is depressing me . . . yep, still can’t d’14 to even make a list of schools she MIGHT be interested in.</p>

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<p>Ordinary Lives—did you notice four posts above that I said I was trying to compile a spreadsheet of data for schools? I haven’t been able to get my son to suggest schools. I flagged pages in the large college guide last summer and asked my son to read some of the flagged pages. (Used Princeton as I thought its chatty tone would appeal more to a teen than Frisk’s more detailed analysis.) He still hasn’t looked at the book, so I will just schedule tours for April break and hope that he will engage soon. I am guardedly optimistic that it will become more real for him once he hears the RD results in late March prior to our April trip. </p>

<p>We visited some schools last summer & during the Sandy storm power outage and school closing—even ones I knew he would never apply to, but just to get the thought process percolating. We did not go massively out of our way to do so. Only visited schools where I knew someone nearby or had a reason to visit an area. I just think my son will need more time than average to decide what he truly wants in a school. Visiting revealed likes and dislikes. Did we waste time? Yes, but it seems that it was all part of the process and we didn’t really spend much money as we drove to these schools. </p>

<p>So, I will make my list and after we visit those, perhaps he will be able to provide some input. </p>

<p>Class of 2015–I have wondered the same about the threshold for not reporting of scores, but have no answer.</p>

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<p>@CT1417, I actually used to live in upstate and I think it’s one of the most beautiful places on the planet. NY as a state is so blessed- it has THE city, quaint little towns, wine country, beautiful countryside, gorgeous mountains and other beautiful natural sites. Driving there in the summer was amazing. </p>

<p>I’m pretty familiar with URochester and will definitely apply there and maybe Columbia but I’m not sure yet about other places in NY. The others aren’t really good fits or are overpriced. Maybe I can just come back as a visiting prof or something…someday ;)</p>

<p>Also, I think peer pressure is a really good tool with regards to forcing kids to look at colleges. My friend’s older brother didn’t care until he went on a college trip with his friend’s and then he came back and worked like crazy. When my parents tell me to do stuff, it’s too easy for me to ignore!</p>

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<p>@ordinarylives: This visit talk is depressing me, too! Finally got D14 to look at the spreadsheet of colleges I’d put together, and she shows interest in some of them. But, no time to visit! Only two of the schools are within a 6 hour drive, so we need some time to visit. Spring break is already planned - visiting the older sister who will be studying abroad - an exciting adventure, but not useful for college visits. We talk about visiting some state schools, but she was booked every weekend in the fall, and when I started filling out the 2013 calendar, the winter doesn’t look much better. I guess she’ll have to settle for some summer visits and then go back to the top few next year.</p>

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<p>Well, I drug out the carrot and the stick. The carrot? Going overseas with H to see relatives (and missing a week of school, not happy about that, but our spring break is Holy Week and H is a pastor, so no way to take the trip then). The stick? There will be TWO college visits before that. She has picked one school she wants to look at, definitely an academic safety. She should have a fair shot at tuition exchange with my employer’s group. She has not picked a second. I keep throwing out ideas, and she keeps looking at me blankly.</p>

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<p>Ordinarylives—sounds like a fabulous trip! CC needs a ‘like’ button. I know about the blank stare. If it helps, you are not alone!</p>

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<p>Have I mentioned what a crappy week my DS has had??? His phone was stolen from the mall today. He had been eating with a friend and got up to leave and forgot it. Went back just minutes later to get it and it was gone. Luckily, I have insisted that he leave the Find my iPhone app installed (because I’m just that kind of mom! haha). We were able to call the police and track the phone to a house. When the police showed up to investigate the house, the person with the phone left. We were able to see it on the move again. The police followed and pulled the person over. We called the phone while the police was visiting with the suspect. No way to deny having the phone!! YAY!!! We got the phone back! :slight_smile: Now, this was the third major thing that happened to him this week. It can stop now and get back to normal!! </p>

<p>Spent last night looking for hotels near Vandy & Alabama. Any suggestions for “nice” ones at “cheap” prices? haha Has anyone used Priceline? I never have, but may have to try it.</p>

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<p>beadymom, sorry your son is having such a crappy week, but so glad he got the phone back!!</p>

<p>I have used priceline before. There are a couple of caveats (my last time using it was a year or two ago, so things may be different):</p>

<p>1) if you need more than one bed, you aren’t guaranteed to get them, and/or the hotel can charge you extra to change room types. Also they won’t necessarily guarantee you a non-smoking room. </p>

<p>2) Things like parking, internet access, and breakfast are not necessarily included in the price. And the “nicer” hotels are less likely to include those things for free. If you’re used to going to cheaper hotels that include free internet and free parking, you might be in for a surprise when you get hit for $30/night for valet parking (happened to me in Philly) and another $10 for internet, no free breakfast, etc…</p>

<p>There are ways to figure out in advance what the hotels are likely to be at a given star level, and often there are only 1 or 2 in a given region at a certain star level, so you check them out in advance and see if stuff is included in their standard room rate and if they’re completely non-smoking or stuff like that. </p>

<p>Other than getting dinged badly for parking on at least 2 occasions that I can think of, we’ve otherwise had quite good luck with our priceline hotels. (Even when we got dinged for parking, it was in areas where there weren’t likely many hotels offering free or much cheaper parking, but if you don’t take it into account, it can be an unpleasant surprise when your nightly cost ends up being a lot higher than you thought.)</p>