<p>California </p>
<p>greater Boston area, here.</p>
<p>Near Austin, TX</p>
<p>Southern California </p>
<p>@fretfulmotherā it seems like so many kids here in So. Cal want to go to school in Boston. How are Boston College and BU perceived back there? </p>
<p>@Mysonsdad - Iām not an expert by any means! But, I would say BC and BU are both perceived as elite private colleges, just below Ivy level, a bit above some of the well-regarded LACs. BU is particularly desirable for people interested in pre-med; BC is particularly desirable for people interested in pre-law, and also for those who want a Jesuit/Catholic environment.</p>
<p>Both BC and BU may suffer from āTufts Syndromeā - i.e. neither wants to be āa safety in the Boston areaā so demonstrated interest is likely important from what I understand.</p>
<p>The campuses have very different feels from each other - BU is totally city-based and urban (though I think more picturesque than some other urban campuses Iāve visited). A lot of its buildings have been renovated and for instance, the athletic complex is particularly impressive (weāve gone to birthday parties for our kidsā friends there). Their dorms donāt really get good reviews but I donāt have any recent knowledge on that. My sense is that with the BU Academy (fancy smart kid HS where they can cross-register and hopefully apply someday to BU itself) and some of the recent outreach, that BU is angling to move even higher in terms of rankings.</p>
<p>BC is more suburban in feel, and very homey/friendly in reputation. I mentioned that it is well-regarded for pre-law (and for its law school) - and the Education school is also good; I went there for my Ed. degree during mid-career so I might be biased. ;)</p>
<p>Ohio, near Columbus. </p>
<p>Hello! New person living overseas in Copenhagen, actually British but also US citizen (usually reside in Houston). I have a junior at an IB school and a daughter who is a junior at Drew U (NJ). :-h </p>
<p>@fretfulmotherā I have been to both recently. BU is strange in the sense that it is right in the middle of the city. You can be walking down the street and next thing you know, youāre on the campus. BC was beautiful, we were on the campus at night. I wish I could have been there in the day. What I liked about it was that the students were out playing frisbee on the campus, thus, more of a college feel. My S liked both because they both have hockey teams, not that he plays, but to watch. </p>
<p>@happy64 Welcome! I look forward to the knowledge you will bring to this thread.</p>
<p>Ohio</p>
<p>another Ohio</p>
<p>I can see Ohio and California is out numbering usā¦ 
</p>
<p>@AsleepAtTheWheel I think that backpacking pre-school trip is a great idea and Iām sure your s14 will love it and get a jump start on making new friends. I mentioned to DD that OU has a similar program for their honor college students and she was instantly sold on the honors college;-)</p>
<p>Iām envious that your DS16 is so well prepared for the PSAT already. I just realized that tomorrow will be exactly two months to the OCT 18 PSAT. Weāve changed gears a bit on prep. DD is doing Prep Scholar five hours a week, doing one full length timed PSAT practice test a week and meeting with a tutor for five one hour sessions before the the test date (about every other week)ā¦</p>
<p>@critter. Nice to have you back. Just dropped D13 off for pre-orientation for freshman year today (starting a year later than her HS classmates due to her gap year). She seems happy with her room/dorm and the campus looked beautiful. I already am starting a pile of things she forgot so that I can send them to her. :)</p>
<p>S16 did a little bit of SAT prep this summer but since I am not home during the day I am not confident as to how much really got accomplished. My H and I are a bit more hands off about the test prep (and HW) than many on CC seem to be (although S would beg to differ). School starts next Tues and S still has to read an English book (doesnāt look too long though) and finish 4 chapters of online health by then. Meanwhile band camp starts tomorrow (9 am. to 3 p.m. M-F) and he has soccer practice and/or games every evening. Not sure how heās going to manage. But itās on him. He asked me not to nag so I am trying extremely hard not to.</p>
<p>I wil, however,l probably get him a tutor once soccer season ends to prep for the ACT in Feb (unless he surprises us with a really strong PSAT score). It appears from PLAN and PSAT sophomore year that he will do better on the ACT. </p>
<p>re: APUSH. Both D13 and S16 took sophomore year (but with different teachers). At their HS it is generally considered the toughest of the APs classes. Both felt it was probably their favorite class although the work load / volume of material is intense. Lots and lots of reading and writing and if you donāt keep up, you are sunk because of the rapid pace. S had a quiz/test every week. In April at our school, there is the infamous ā40 questionsā assignment where students are assigned 40 essay questions to outline (either on their own or in groups). They donāt have to turn anything in but at the end of the 30 days, each student has to draw a question from a hat and present the essay as a 10 minute oral presentation with no notes. The class then critiques together and fills in any missing pieces to each topic. After that, kids are pretty well prepared for the exam. Both my kids got 5s on the exam. </p>
<p>This year S16 will take AP Econ (Micro and Macro) and AP Chem plus advanced Eng and Math (on track for Calc BC senior year), plus honors German 3 and honors band. Shouldnāt be more work than last year but we shall see. </p>
<p>With my D13 we didnāt do any college visits until Feb of Junior year (she refused). We will see if we can get started any earlier with S (although he did go on many of his sisterās visits already).</p>
<p>@3scoutsmom ā ?Maybe I overstated how well-prepared S16 finds himself. In his defense, he did complete the three prep books that were the core of his summer work. But this kid who used to be an avid reader didnāt read a single novel over the entire summer. So he may be relatively test-ready, but not as life-ready as Iād like. Your daughter got more out of her trip to Morocco than he got out of his test prep (duh). Heās been practicing by doing a test section or two out of the SAT blue book here and there. Iām hoping that heāll continue to do so over the next two months, so when he sits down to do the actual test heāll be comfortable and relaxed. Keep us posted how that on-line prep course works out.</p>
<p>Tomorrow Iāll put S14 on the plane to Atlanta for his camping/bonding trip. Heās been remarkably relaxed about the whole thing. He has Celiac Disease, so for him eating strictly gluten-free is not a lifestyle choice. Itās a necessity. And on trips like this we sometimes find out that theyāre not as prepared to feed him as they think they are. So Iāll worry that heāll starve for four days. . . Itās been to his advantage that gluten-free has gotten to be so chic. And Emory does gluten-free really well compared to many schools ā thereās a wide variation. I doubt heāll gain the freshman 15. Hopefully he wonāt lose weight. . . </p>
<p>In fact Iām going to worry a lot about him. S16 is actually more college-ready than S14. S14 has been high maintenance from day one. Then his Celiac Disease was diagnosed later than it might have been. He started high school at 4ā11" and 97 lbs. He looked about eleven years old. He was picked on. He benefited greatly from the GF diet, and with lots of begging and pleading around eating (and some other interventions) heās still slight, but at least he looks eighteen-ish. The whole thing bred a certain sort of dependence that heās going to need to shake now that heāll be 3,000 miles away. . . In contrast, my wife and I joke that we could go away for a year, and S16 might not even notice. </p>
<p>Does anyone know how good Kaplan SAT prep classes are? They are the closest to my house but still a distance. Cost is $1200. My other option is ACI or Elite (donāt know the cost) but they are about 60 miles away. Any info is appreciated. Everything I find about Kaplan on CC is just about their books.</p>
<p>@Mysonsdadā I donāt know about Kaplan but Princeton Review offers online prep classes for about the same price. We went with Princeton Review because my kids get the class free through a group they are members of. </p>
<p>Dā13/'17 took the PR online prep in her junior year and improved her real ACT score 1 point (it was already in the 30s). Sā16 took the PR online prep last spring and improved his practice ACT scores several points. They also have a satisfaction guarantee. If you are unhappy with your test score (must take within 30 days after the class) for any reason you can retake the whole class for free. I called them up and got the guarantee so Sā16 will be retaking the class this fall before his next ACT. </p>
<p>They also offer SAT and PSAT classes. My kids just prefer the ACT style. </p>
<p>S left for school yesterday - missing him a great deal. Wasnāt really ready for summer to be over. He has a tough schedule for junior year and is a tad bit apprehensive about it. Weāll see how it goes. Heās excited to be back with friends, not so excited about the academic year ahead! We did register him for the SAT in October and are also planning on having him take the ACT soon. He took a practice test and did really well - science was one section that kind of flustered him a bit - but hopefully, with some practice, he will be fine.</p>
<p>We are in MA, but S is near Chicago.</p>
<p>We are in Iowa, D HS '11 is a rising senior at Tulane in New Orleans (she is preparing to do a semester abroad in Cuba as we speak). S '16 started his junior year today!</p>