<p>Our school’s college fair is this Wednesday night. Two of her choices (an out of state financial reach and and out of state financial possibility which we have seen in person) won’t be there. I think this might open up her choices as opposed to her standing there longing for what we might not get to choose. Any hints for us? I assume I will be attending albeit silently in the background. </p>
<p>Is anyone feeling like their kid is ready for the PSAT? </p>
<p>Is anyone else feeling like this is going way too fast??? There are kids committed on the 2015 board. EEKK!! </p>
<p>It feels way too early for my D regarding the PSAT. It has been a really busy start to Junior Year. Things have calmed down and her grades are in good shape. She takes the ACT (not much practice) in October too. I hope all of the college Algebra and AP English helps. She is visiting Rhoades College in October and we hope to visit a couple more in November. That should round out the college visits. </p>
<p>I think D is <em>almost</em> ready for the PSAT unfortunately last week was a crazy busy week and she only logged a grand total of 1.6 hours on PrepScholar. She didn’t do the 4th practice test or read the remaining two essay strategy sections. She did master two more skill sections so she only has three more to go. She’s complained that these last few sections are “really hard” hmm, maybe because these are the skills you really need to work on?? I hope she can knock out these last few sections and the fourth practice test this week. (crossing fingers)</p>
<p>@3scoutsmom, we are only 17 days away from the PSAT at my school. S has been doing Prepscholar and his scores are going up. He still has a while to go until he has mastered everything. The writing and reading parts are his weakness. His math is getting stronger. Thank you so much so leading us to them. It will be interesting to see how his Prepscholar score compares to his actual score. I am still worried about his AP test scores and SAT subject scores from last year and how they will affect his admission chances though.</p>
<p>AsleepAtTheWheel - thanks for the tip about SAT scores. DD did CTD at Northwestern and took the SATs – I’ll check to make sure these scores are deleted. PSAT is about 3 weeks away. Not sure DD is ready, but she has been reviewing. Planning college visits for spring break 2015. Have visited 8 schools so far, but some of these were just stepping foot on the campus and having her say “I can’t see myself here.” </p>
<p>@kandcsmom: “Is anyone else feeling like this is going way too fast??? There are kids committed on the 2015 board. EEKK!!” ITA, completely. And at the same time, I know kids in the class of 2015 who still haven’t done anything about college yet. Another EEK!</p>
<p>@Mysonsdad Can your son retake the SAT2 subject tests? D is still talking about taking another subject test and retaking her Math subject test but I can’t figure out why, to the best of my knowledge, she’s not planing on applying to any schools that need them. I’m not sure she feels like she has to because that’s what her friends are doing or if she’s got some dream school she’s failed to mention. Most schools will only look at the higher scores but if he hasn’t already sent those scores in he could do score choice and just send in the best scores if he retakes them. As for AP scores, if they aren’t high enough for credit can you just not report them? I don’t think all schools even take AP scores into consideration for admission.</p>
<p>I think I’m going to be grateful for the three extra days we have before the PSAT!</p>
<p>Is Prepscholar also good for ACT prep? After PSAT D will start working to improve her ACT. She took one last year and got over 30. I am looking for a program that will help her to pick up few more point.</p>
<p>Can’t say if S is “ready” for the PSAT. I don’t believe he’s done any work - and being away, long distance nagging is really not effective Which he loves! His ACT score as I posted before was good - he is taking the SAT just before the PSAT. So, in our case, the PSAT is almost an afterthought. I’d be thrilled if he got a SAT score in line with his ACT score. He did take two SAT subject tests at the end of last year, so if he does well on this SAT test, he can be done with all the testing needed! Wouldn’t that be wonderful?</p>
<p>He did mention that he’s meeting with his guidance counselor today - will wait to see if he sends us more information on what the meeting was about.</p>
<p>This past Saturday was my birthday. The best thing was that my D called and conferenced S in. Great start to the day to be able to talk to both of them - brought me to tears.</p>
<p>@seal16 I don’t know anything about ACT testing but I think the program is the same for both ACT and SAT they just use different material that is specific to each test. PrepScholar offers the same 5 day free trial and for the ACT and they’ll give you your money back if you don’t have a 4+ point improvement over your last ACT up to 34+ points if you finish their program.</p>
<p>As Mysonsdad mentioned we won’t really know how much this program helped until we get the official scores back from the PSAT/SAT but I really do believe this program is helping my D. She is much more confident in her test taking abilities and she can see the progress that she’s made. Most of all she’s actually done it with little complaint. We were in the same spot as you are, needing a program that would take a good score to a great score not something that wasted time mainly focusing on a good score. The program has been flexible enough to meet our needs and ended up being less than what I planned to pay a private tutor (which d felt was a waste of time quit after two sessions.) I would have your D try it for the five trial and see if it works for her. Not every program works for everyone - this one is working for us and it nice that you can check it out for free.</p>
<p>I would really like it if they let you switch between SAT and ACT during the same subscription year even for a fee ($100?) I thought this was reasonable and suggested this to them. They said the content was completely different so they felt it was worth <em>another</em> $399. I think having a great SAT <em>or</em> a great ACT is enough and won’t spend that much for test prep for both. They did offer a $20 discount on the ACT since we are existing customers but we were too far apart on what I was will to pay for a second test prep course.</p>
<p>I agree with @MAsecondtimer, also based on our experience with S14. I guess some kids are engaged in the process earlier than others, but our son got much more out of the “Accepted Students” days and the other post-acceptance visits than from the earlier visits we’d done. Obviously it’s important to visit early if one is anticipating going the binding ED route. But with S14 we didn’t do any visits until spring of junior year. Even those visits were more “Well, we’re in New England visiting family anyway, so we might as well visit some schools while we’re there.” </p>
<p>When I read the comment about kids on the Class of 2015 board already committing I got a bit concerned. Our son’s evaluative process went through a true metamorphosis over his senior year. To our minds, he was at first focused on what he THOUGHT would make him happy as opposed to what would truly make him happy. He was definitely not a happy camper at his high school (small, private, some-might-say-elitist), and initially he focused on finding colleges that were the antithesis of his high school. He was looking at big schools with lots of school spirit, Division I sports, a big Greek scene, etc. He was offered a good merit scholarship at Miami, with admission to their School of Marine Science (allegedly his area of interest, and a really strong program). When we were touring Miami in April of his senior year he had his epiphany when one of the moms on our tour (of accepted students) who’d been chatting with us asked him, “Do you really want to make your college choice based on six or seven home football games a year?” By the end of the day he realized that his view of Miami was a fantasized version of what he thought college should be, but that it had little basis in fact, either in terms of Miami or in terms of what was really important to him.
I’ll admit that he was less mature than many kids his age, but I worry about kids making these choices so early in the process. We know a few of his classmates who went ED who are already having buyer’s remorse. . . So, I understand that due to various factors a first choice school might be obvious for a number of kids, but I also think that many kids zero in on some schools prematurely based on somewhat superficial factors (prestige, pretty campus, great-for-my-major (which will change), etc.), and then miss out on some wonderful opportunities (and better ‘fits’) because they’ve got blinders on.</p>
<p>@Mysonsdad – As best I can tell, your son does not have to report a single score from any of the tests that he’s already taken unless he’s applying to one of the relatively small group of schools that require the applicant to report ALL tests taken. I don’t think that anyone demands that you report any or all AP tests taken. And he can re-take the Subject Test(s). He can/should approach the PSAT and subsequent testing as an opportunity for a totally fresh start.</p>
<p>@dyiu13 – I absolutely loved the link to the ‘elevator pitch’ webpage. I love the concept of needing to distill what’s important about anything to a pithy one sentence. Thanks.</p>
<p>We haven’t even started college visits for S16 and some of you are talking about being done…wow.</p>
<p>We didn’t start with D13 either until Feb of Junior year. Her college list wasn’t set until Dec/Jan of senior year when at the last minute she decided not to apply to one of the colleges that had been on her list. </p>
<p>Neither of my kids had any interest in college prior to that point and would get extremely annoyed if the subject was even brought up.</p>
<p>I would like to get started this fall but it’s busy so we will see.</p>
<p>S16 will take PSAT (and has taken two SATIIs last spring) but won’t so ACT or SAT until Feb/Mar</p>
<p>@AsleepAtTheWheel – I agree about the potential danger of zeroing in on a school too early and how much students and their desires can change over the course of senior year. Heck - one of my D’s friends changed her mind in July prior to starting college about the school she had committed to (had registered for classes, paid deposit but no tuition) and called up one of the other colleges that had accepted her - got them to reinstate her acceptance, her scholarship and her place in the honors college. The only thing college #2 couldn’t get her was on campus housing but she figured out a way to make that work too. She started at college#2 this fall and it’s all working out. This was a kid who was very “together” and highly directed. But she had buyer’s remorse and changed her mind.</p>
<p>@momofzag – I love that anecdote. I think that it takes a whole lot of wherewithal to be able to make a change like that so late in the game. And your point about her being a ‘together’ kid is important, i.e., one doesn’t need to be a flake to get wrapped up in one’s own constructs regarding a ‘dream’ school. </p>
<p>Not saying that we did this right, but FWIW here was S14’s approach (some of it by default, not by design):</p>
<p>He applied to twelve schools, of which five were UC’s (on a single application). Of those twelve schools, he did official tours at only four of them. He visited two others where he did self-guided tours during the summer when school was not in session – largely a useless exercise. That leaves six schools that he applied to completely sight unseen.
When the acceptances came in he felt that there were three schools at which he could be happy. In March and April of his senior year he went to one ‘Scholars Weekend’ (school invite), one Admitted Students Day, and one standard tour/visit – all schools across the country at which he’d not done an official visit. He made his decision April 22nd, barely a week before the deadline.</p>
<p>From a timing standpoint, I can’t overstate how valuable it was to apply to a few schools that had non-binding early action. It was a great relief (and rightly or wrongly very validating for him) to know in December that he was at least going SOMEWHERE to college. Those applications had to be in by Nov 1. Beyond that Mom and I told him arbitrarily that all his applications had to be in by the Sunday night of Thanksgiving weekend, or we would shoot him or ourselves or both. With a lot of haranguing, including some yelling and screaming, he got it done. BTW, that Sunday night he went to Target and bought me a Grateful Dead tee shirt to thank me for staying on his case to get his apps completed and submitted. I smile every time I see that shirt in my closet (it doesn’t get worn all that much).</p>
<p>September of junior year? Kudos to everyone who’s gotten so much done by now, but for everyone else no worries. It’s still really really early in this process.</p>
<p>I feel the need to clarify… We have visited: WASHU (she loves - but knows it may not happen), her State Univ., x2 (she will attend if nothing else pans out - both would be free or almost free to attend), Hendrix, Lyon, and we have to visit Rhoades. She is applying to more schools and if one of them seems more doable we will visit. As of right now though, we will not do any more visits. So, not finished by a long shot.</p>
<p>We’re far from done. We’ve visited 8 schools and are planning to visit more, but I need to sit down and run NPCs on all the schools. We also have to figure out the tuition exchange situation and the Council of Independent Colleges situation, where we will be able to consider taking advance of tuition-free or substantial tuition reduction for a number of schools.</p>
<p>Seniors classes - Here Jrs. have to turn in their senior year class selections in October! I guess this is so they can be carefully double checked for graduation requirements?
So the current plan is:
AP English 4
AP Physics C
AP German 4
AP AmGov/ AP ECON
Orchestra
DE CAL III (off campus)/DE Speech (on campus)</p>
<p>The problem is that the orchestra has some <em>required</em> evening events that conflict with her off campus dual enrollment class no matter if she takes the class M/W or T/TH. I mentioned this to the orchestra director last year and he basically said “tough toenails.” We have a new orchestra director this year and I just sent him and email asking if D could be excused from the evening events when they conflict with her evening class or should she only plan on taking orchestra 2nd semester?</p>
<p>He said yes! As long as she could get M/W classes he’d allow it! She really wants to take orchestra both semesters! Her back up plan was to take Multivariable Calculus at school but she wouldn’t get any college credit for it. The above schedule leaves her with a 2 free periods the during the school day first semester and one free period the second. I’m wondering if i should suggest she should take both DE CAL III and Multivariable Calculus? The M-CAL class has the same grade weighting as an AP class so this would give her GPA a boost (DE classes don’t factor into GPA at all here). I would think there is some over lap between these classes but I’m not sure how much, would it look weird to colleges is they have similar content? Call III is only one semester and M-CAL is two semesters so I’m thinking it might cover more? I guess I should email the M-CAL teacher…</p>
<p>Congratulations on a peaceful resolution!
We have the same issue with marching band and DE classes, and with marching band and…well, everything, really. Band isn’t so much a class or extracurricular as a way of life here. I ended up emailing the band director at the beginning of the year and explaining that, as of course everyone knows, junior year is a heavy academic year and some things were just not going to happen. He bought it-- I think he didn’t want to have to explain to the principal why he was getting in the way of a kid who was serious about academics, and he had no illusions that that wouldn’t happen if he did.
Fortunately, our DE classes are weighted the same as AP. Unfortunately, so are honors (which really aren’t that hard at our school; if you have normal cognitive function you can manage them), so there are kids who are not taking nearly as hard classes, but who have higher GPAs than the kids in AP/DE.
October for choosing senior classes seems so, so soon! But yes, it probably is to be sure the kids are on track for graduation, and to make sure they can schedule class times so that seniors can get the classes they need.</p>
<p>Woot! GC updated rank today and D made it into the top 5%! This was her goal and if she keeps on they way she’s been going she has a good shot at keeping it! Not much chance of going higher as “recreational lobotomies” aren’t any more popular here than in @petrichor11 's neck of the woods </p>
<p>S has a language based disability, he has an IEP and extra supports for it in his classes that require a lot of reading and writing in English. One consequence of this is that he has not had and foreign language. He will not be taking any before graduation.</p>
<p>I knew that he would be at a disadvantage when it came to applying to college. We are now searching for schools that do not require foreign language to matriculate and possibly don’t require any to graduate from with a BA. Does any one have any ideas? I do not want to put any other criteria in for now (so don’t worry about cost or location or anything else). I just want to focus on those schools that: 1) don’t require HS foreign language and possibly 2) don’t require foreign language in order to get a BA. </p>
<p>He may be able to handle taking sign language as a foreign language once he gets there, but he won’t be able to get that before he goes.</p>
Which he loves! His ACT score as I posted before was good - he is taking the SAT just before the PSAT. So, in our case, the PSAT is almost an afterthought. I’d be thrilled if he got a SAT score in line with his ACT score. He did take two SAT subject tests at the end of last year, so if he does well on this SAT test, he can be done with all the testing needed! Wouldn’t that be wonderful?</p>
</p>