<p>S14 took the SAT’s for the first time in March of his junior year with no specific test prep. He re-took the SAT’s in October of his senior year after prepping on his own using several study books (which I’ve listed previously in this thread) over the summer. He went from a 2140 to a 2300, which superscored out to a 2340 (using his higher Math score from the first sitting). Biggest increase was in Writing, from 660 to 800, but that may have been because it was his weakest area to start with.<br>
Using the ACT/SAT conversion charts, this is not as large an increase as going from a 27 to a 31 ACT as @kandcsmom’s D is on track for.
Obviously the increase one is looking for depends on the starting point, but on the SAT I would certainly hope for at least a bump of 40 to 50 points per section, or about 120 to 150 overall, for all the time and money invested.</p>
<p>@arisamp thanks for the suggestion. I will look into it but would definitely be an airplane school for us. </p>
<p>@Cheeringsection - How about Purdue University in Indiana? Not sure if it’s too big. Seems to meet some of your other criteria. Perhaps IIT (now calling itself Illinois Tech) in Chicago? Again, not meeting all criteria, but maybe enough? </p>
<p>Purdue University is a large public university. It’s over 35,000 students. It also becoming VERY hard admit to any of the engineering; nursing; vet tech; Krannert School of Business.</p>
<p>Great school but definitely not a medium size in any schools their.</p>
<p>OOS is now > 40,000 and merit money is spotty for instate and OOS.</p>
<p>Purdue admits to programs not to the university. You can be very candidate for the university but your program could be extremely competitive so they may place into another.</p>
<p>35,000? I thought 20-something. Sorry! What would be a good alternative to Purdue in that region (IN, IL, MI, WI, MN, IA, MO?) — The is a CCer who seems to have precision-answers to such questions. Username of MYSO or something like that. Anyone know? </p>
<p>UIC is on the order of 16,000 and is in Chicago. It is not as well known as UIUC but a solid engineering program. IIT (illinois Tech) is much smaller, only about 3,000 undergraduates, however, offers significant merit aid to admitted students.</p>
<p>@Cheeringsection – Tried to think a bit outside the box, hoping that some of these schools are new to the discussion. In no particular order:</p>
<p>-- Case Western: Excellent engineering program. Expensive, although about half the students get merit aid with an average award of $21K. Not as nerdy as some comparative schools. I think there’s decent school spirit, and it’s a good place for a single girl (almost 60% male), depending on how you look at that.</p>
<p>-- Northeastern: Increasingly competitive, but still gives out a decent amount of merit aid (> 40%). Apparently solid engineering, and there’s the whole co-op benefit. Not in the Midwest, but Logan is pretty close. Just a thought.</p>
<p>-- Southern Methodist: Lots of school spirit, luxurious campus, close to 50% merit aid. Has a good engineering co-op program well situated among lots of great companies in the Dallas area. She can fly into DFW easily, as it’s a hub for one of the major airlines. And maybe she won’t miss the Midwest winters.</p>
<p>-- Tulane: Another school maybe not known for engineering, but with a very good program. Again, lots of merit aid (> 40%). It’s one of those schools where the students appear to be very happy.</p>
<p>There are also those three upstate NY schools with very good engineering programs and lots of merit aid: Renssalaer (RPI), Univ of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology. I don’t know if they fit the geographic criteria, or the other criteria. And BTW, it’s cold up there.</p>
<p>If size were less of an issue there are some very good engineering programs at OOS state flagships that give out some merit aid, and which even without merit aid might be pretty cost-effective c/w some other options. I don’t know what state you’re in, but if she qualifies as an NMF some of these state schools are very generous to out of state NMF’ers. And even if these state flagships are ‘too big’, many of them have honors colleges that are a small to mid-size school within the larger school.</p>
<p>@Hoosier96 for all those reasons you mentioned, Purdue is the reach on his current list. I would like to add one comparable academic reach. </p>
<p>We are in OH. State flagship honors MIGHT be considered if the guys he knows that are freshmen there now say good things but at 55,000+ students it is way bigger than the target. </p>
<p>We may have to go see Case. I am getting very mixed reviews on it so we have not done so yet. </p>
<p>@Cheeringsection – Sorry for the gender mistake in my note. Please change the ‘she’ to ‘he’, and ignore the remark about ‘her’ having her choice of guys at Case.</p>
<p>FWIW, the son of a good friend of ours out here in CA is a freshman at Case, and he absolutely loves it so far. He’s a very bright kid, but likely not that interested in school spirit sorta stuff. </p>
<p>Duh. Somehow, I didn’t think of Case when you mentioned midwest and I am really not sure why. D is at Case - a senior there and absolutely loves it. As @AsleepAtTheWheel said, they are very generous with merit aid - bringing the cost down a lot. Cleveland has also been fairly easy to fly in/out of for D. From the school, they can get to the airport via train easily - so can be independent.</p>
<p>Case has Early Action and I believe they didn’t charge for the application. So when D was going through this, she applied - purely so she could have one school in hand (she got accepted in Dec with a great merit scholarship), She didn’t think she was going to go there - but when she visited again in April for accepted students’ day. she changed her mind. Best decision she made, according to her. She has loved her three years there so far and is doing her best to try it all/have all the fun this last year! One of the highly ranked schools for Biomedical Engineering.</p>
<p>No worries @AsleepAtTheWheel! I do appreciate the insight regardless. </p>
<p>I did something today that at least made me feel like this whole process can be accomplished! We have decent GCs and they meet annually with students in their classes to discuss what college related tasks they should be accomplishing. However I realized that what the GCs cannot offer is how that timeline fits into the day-to-day life of this family. Choosing a college is a big deal but life does go on as well. So, I laid out a timeline of my own starting with the tasks from the GCs and incorporating the other things this family must accomplish over the same time frame. For example, since I prefer schools be visited before being applied to, I have provided a deadline for those visits as well as windows of opportunity for those visits (days already off from school, etc). I also noted “blackout dates” when we have other commitments ( my busiest time at the office, DS’s test dates, etc). My goal was to put on paper the “fitting it all in” that I usually manage for this family so that my DS and I have less disagreements over how much time there really is to get this all accomplished. He has managed his own assignments for years and does a good job but does procrastinate as most teens do. This college choice business is just the biggest assignment he has ever tried to manage. I don’t expect him to know all the domino effects of completing this process but I do expect him to respect its impact on the rest of us once he has been informed!! Now, to find the right time to present it to him. :-? </p>
<p>Southern in our family is all about “ettiquette”. We have lived in Texas and New Jersey. Both of my kids were exposed to both cultures and we all miss the Southern ettiquette. It is simply about being polite and caring. It seems to be a lost art in NJ (where we live). Both of my kids refused to attend a school in the Northeast. My D just told me she just loves the hospitality at her university and loves how kind everyone is. The guys hold the doors open for her and some even carry her books. Another way to phrase it is 4 out of 5 people in the Midwest or South are friendly and kind and it is the complete opposite the closer you are to Manhattan. My son tried to hold the door open for the girls here in NJ and they thought he was weird! He also called one of his HS teachers “Sir” and he said you aren’t from here are you? It is funny.</p>
<p>Hi all…boy, it’s been busy here, and understandably so with the SAT/PSAT coming up. We’ve been out of town at thye regional skating comp, and it seems unreal that SAT is this weekend and PSAT the next. </p>
<p>I don’t know if D16 is as prepped as she could be, and am really not sure how to make it better at this point. The truth is there is just really too much going on for her to maintain a hard focus on the PSAT. Prep Scholar has been just okay for her. The mandatory setting of the study schedule and the update emails every week are super annoying, lol. During the week away, she pretty much just skated and did schoolwork on the laptop (to include SAT prep.) She’s stressed. The test will be what it will be, I suppose. </p>
<p>She got a neat award yesterday at the end of season cross country running banquet…the team had voted her “most inspirational” and she got a plaque. I of course was immediately thinking, “Does that show leadership? Do colleges appreciate inspiration?” 
If you can’t be first, be inspiring!! :-D</p>
<p>No noticeable prep going on here for the PSAT either. He has not expressed interest in chasing those scholarships/schools so it likely does not matter but I know he will be slightly annoyed if certain folks “beat” him at this part of the game. Not annoyed enough to prep however 
</p>
<p>Congrads on the award! Any and all awards regarding attitude are leadership in my book!!</p>
<p>Nothing significant towards PSAT here either. I know she has been working on vocabulary on an app on her phone 8-| . One thing we did notice, is on the practice test that she did, it seems she will be higher on the SAT than the ACT in Math and Science. So, if the vocabulary prep helps…</p>
<p>Things are crazy here too. There’s no school here on Monday the 13th and Friday the 17th is the Homecoming Game so half the school day will be a pep rally. The 17th is also the last day of the first 9 week grading period so there are tests and major projects due in every class Wednesday and Thursday. This Sunday D will take another proctored practice test and go to a two hour PSAT review workshop geared to kids that are aiming for National Merit. Thursday is an official “no homework night” (we wouldn’t want anything academic to interfere with football!) so D plans on taking the practice test that’s in this year’s study guide then. It will be very interesting to see how she does on that one because she drives her brother to fencing after school on Thursday nights so she’ll be taking the practice either sitting in her car or in a very noisy lobby- certainly not ideal testing conditions! I am very pleased that D has continued to prep despite her crazy schedule not only do I think the prep help her but it also set a good example for her brothers. I really think she will be as prepared as possible and if she doesn’t make the cut it won’t be for lack of trying.</p>
<p>@AKFirefly I hear you about the PrepScholar reminder emails! D only has one lesson left to complete (she’s stuck on the Big Passage section) and we still get them. I do think the setting the schedule really made her realize that she had to set time aside for prep or it wasn’t going to get done. Now it’s just annoying.</p>
<p>They posted the names of the NM commended students in this weeks newsletter. I counted 48, based on past years I really expected more.</p>
<p>S is taking the PrepScholar practice test as I write this. I don’t think his PSAT will be high enough for NMF. The college letters are starting to come also. He seems to think junior year is easier than the past years, so we will see. Also, for those of you who are using PrepScholar, my son’s last practice test he scored a 760 in math and mid 600’s in CR and W. All Prep Scholar has been sending him mainly or all math practice problems, which seems odd because he needs help in CR and W. Did anyone else experience this?</p>
<p>@3scoutsmom – BTW, tomorrow would not be a good day for your daughter to tell your friends in Texas that she plans to go to UO. </p>