<p>beadymom - I hate that it happened to your son, but that’s an AWESOME story!!! We have that app as well. Good to know it’s as effective as you say. Obviously these weren’t ‘career thugs’ otherwise they’d have immediately disabled the app. So glad it turned out well. I agree, the triad of cruddy things is now complete and you should be in the clear. Here’s to a better week coming up!! :)</p>
<p>We decided not to press charges. I don’t think it was someone looking to steal the phone, more like they found it and thought they would keep it. Who knows, they MAY have been planning to return it (doubtful, but maybe)! </p>
<p>Thanks for the priceline info. It will be me and my two sons, so if needed, we could all fit in a king size bed! (although the 9 year old is squirmy!!) It always amazes me that the cheap hotels offer free internet while the more expensive ones charge extra!</p>
<p>In theory, you could end up with one queen or even one double, though most hotels don’t actually have such rooms. But all you’re guaranteed is one double or two twin beds. In practice, I have never run into that though.</p>
<p>beadymom – that’s terrible about the phone – glad you got it back! The NY Post had a story recently where the person who stole someone’s iPhone then used it to upload photos of herself to her FB page, so the victim found her that way and the police arrested her.</p>
<p>re: hotels near schools – each school usually list “hotel recommendations” on their “visiting campus” page. Check out those options, if only for this reason: since the hotel is getting an implicit referral from the college, they are usually obliged to do right by you. In fact, a CC parent had a bad experience with a hotel that was listed on the school’s website, and he complained to the manager saying “I only chose your hotel because of my child’s visit to XYZ school!” The hotel doesn’t want the college to hear complaints from potential applicants, so you have some leverage there.</p>
<p>Some happy news at our house – my niece is having a baby boy. She and her husband live in Texas. I asked S’14 what we should get the baby. His response: a football.</p>
<p>Hi - just joined and have enjoyed reading some of the posts. I have twin boys. S1 and S2. trying to get them working on college decisions. they just got registered to take the ACT so that’s a plus. S1 is interested in physics and S2 will probably start out history/theater. I am a ChemE grad and an alumni interviewer for Rice University so might be able to answer questions there. S1 is looking at Rice, Swarthmore, Reed, Rhodes and who knows where else… S2 is looking at small liberal arts colleges - we’re in TX so probably a regional school. I am looking forward to sharing and learning from all of you!</p>
<p>Welcome, txvelle!</p>
<p>Welcome aboard txvelle! Glad you have come aboard for the ride! :)</p>
<p>beadymom: There are several nice places to stay in T-Town (home of Alabama, for those who do not know). Last time, we stayed at the Microtel. It’s up the street from where the tornado hit. Because we are somewhat familiar with T-Town, we were just amazed at the devastation, and that was almost a year after the tornado. The Microtel was clean, offered breakfast and the staff was lovely.</p>
<p>Also, glad you got the phone back.</p>
<p>Son '14 came home very happy last night. Won the 3200 at an invitational, finished fourth and seventh as part of two relays. And his beloved Ravens won. And I made chocolate chip cookies. So he was one happy kid.</p>
<p>I have been reading your latest comments about ACT super scoring and college visits with interest. S15, formerly known as S14 due to current foreign exchange year, scored very well last year on the ACT. I think he’s more likely to drop than raise his score. If he took it again and his score dropped, would that be a problem? I know many schools make you give all scores on the Common App?</p>
<p>Brady, I love that app. So glad it worked… As to hotel, go to the Vandy and Alabama threads and ask… You’ll find the best ideas from experienced parents. 
Ordinary, I would pick schools nearby. I would start with a safety. Not only is that a MUST but if you’re lucky, the whole college experience opening before his eyes will make your S fall in love… And first college loves last… Even if the reach or match schools also inspire and motivate, as long as they see a safety before the likely dreAm school, it will do well. It may be less appealing after the dream reach school has been seen. At least that was my thought. To me a safety is an in-state, absolutely affordable school so if you can find that you can also manage to get in a visit for very little money. Once the first visit is done, there will be more ways for your kiddo to determine what does and doesn’t appeal.
CT the 2013s are all over those spreadsheets. We have a notebook for D. It worked well for us- made notes about her schools, jotted essay topics down, listed her awards and activities, and eventually user names and passwords. It’s what works best for your family I think, but there must be something to track everything, not matter the form.
Can I brag? She got in to UVA Friday! So glad, so relieved and in my mind, we are done. She wants to see about a few others but UVA was her first choice so- yay!!!</p>
<p>Wahoo–I follow ‘your’ thread with the crazy basement antics! A very supportive and prolific group. I enjoy reading it as I feel it gives me a window to the future. I shouted out a Wahoowa after you posted your D’s acceptance but it was probably lost in the scores of posts that followed. (I did not go to Virginia but was in a beach house with several Virginia guys. Even attended the Kick-off Classic the year Va played ND.) I sincerely hope your D chooses Va over the Pa school.</p>
<p>I do think I will need to move to a binder soon enough. If nothing else, it will get me off my computer but I am very comfortable with my filing system on my computer, so it may never happen. I haven’t seen mention of spreadsheets on the 2013 thread so may have to go back closer to the start of the thread to see when they were discussed. Or, just stop wasting time on CC and start completing the Jr packet!</p>
<p>Apollo6 - Most schools only look at the highest score, so an ACT score dropping on the second try is not likely to do any harm. However, each school does things its own way, so check the respective admissions websites for specific information. Best of luck!</p>
<p>beadymom: Yes, we will be hitting one school per day on this visit. It’ll be a nice mix of schools – large public universities, mid-size privates, and one very small, very specialized college. Hope it’ll help narrow things down, at least for the type of school DS would like. And yes, there are an insane number of NMSF from DS’s school. Last year there were 146, out of a class of approximately 470. Crazy!</p>
<p>Also glad to hear about the phone!</p>
<p>Collegefortwins: I think my DS will really like Wash U. It’s similar in size and feel (I think) to Northwestern and DS is very familiar with NU since both DH and I are alums. He’s been to NU many times. We’ve taken him to football games and he’s had an informal visit with the chair of DS’s major. He’s even been to DS’s fraternity house (but not for a party ha ha!). NU will be on Spring Break while we’re there so he will miss seeing some kids he knows but hopefully his familiarity with the school and campus will make up for that “personal touch.”</p>
<p>DS also has another good friend at Wash U now, and we’re hoping to see him while we’re there. DS will be making a second visit to Wash U in June for some football recruiting thing, and will probably be hosted by his friend (also a football player and an alum from his HS) so he’ll really get to know college life at Wash U then.</p>
<p>I would think that for a super-reach like Harvard or MIT it could hurt if you have a score that drops (by more than the margin of error). For other schools they will typically either superscore or take the best single sitting, so it wouldn’t matter. Even if they ask for your whole score history, my understanding is that they want to be able compare the kids who nailed it on the first try to the kids who took 6 attempts to get there. So a score drop wouldn’t really matter much for that, but if it were big they might wonder why.</p>
<p>So how do you think we could tell if he should risk retaking a 34?</p>
<p>According to the NMSC Annual report for 2010-2011 (the one I happened to find linked from the wikipedia page) there were only 42 semifinalists in the entire state of Vermont that year. 146 from one high school? Big state :D</p>
<p>Apollo, does your S want to work on raising his score? If he’s going to prepare and practice before he takes it, I doubt his score would go down enough to hurt him, even if it did go down a touch, or go down a point or two in some subsections (but maybe up in others). But he should only bother if he thinks he has a good shot at a 36, since honestly I don’t think going up to a 35 would really help much either. Why do you think he’s more likely to drop than to raise? Presumably he’s learned some stuff since last year that might help ;-)</p>
<p>What are your opinions on the NSLC programs?</p>
<p>Apollo - a 34 is a very strong score. There is no need to retake it. He he really is motivated to get a 35 or 36, he should do a lot of practice. I 35 won’t help him and a 32 or 33 won’t hurt him. Look at the opportunity cost - what else might he do with the time, rather than prep to raise the 34. Some colleges might prefer to see him invest his time in something else (read EC). JMHO.</p>
<p>What he needs to do is prep this summer for the PSAT in the fall. I’m afraid he’d get a lower score on the ACT because that score was from Sept 2011 after he’d studied for a few weeks. It turned out that one of the science passages was literally the same one that was in his prep materials so he got a 36 in science. Also, he has studied no math at all this year and that is his weakest area.materials</p>