Decision finally made. He’s decided on UC Santa Cruz. I’m pleased as it’s my alma mater & I honestly think it’s a great fit school for my son. Plus it’s the most reasonably priced out of the final choices since it’s an in-state school for us.
Now there are more decisions to be made. Such as his top choices for his residential college. UCSC is made up of 10 smaller residential colleges. They have choose their top 3.
Plus he an email notice that he is being hired for one more session of the summer camp. So a bit more $$. The only downside is he will be gone for at least 9 weeks. And I’m not sure how to fit that summer orientation in unless I drive like a crazy person across CA in the middle of the summer.
@LilyMoon --I’m still hoping to get my S17 to Davis to take a look. So many people we know love it.
S17 has 4 AP exams coming up. He doesn’t seem too concerned . . . hope he’s got it! @curiositycat333 – congrats on a decision, and one you feel is the right one!
No, no decision here… I just wasn’t on CC when S15 was in this process, so I thought I’d show his school off for awhile while S17 makes his final choice… B-)
Hi all–been away for a few days, and wow, lots of decisions made here! Congrats to all who know where their DCs will be in the fall, and hugs to those of you still in the figuring-it-out camp. In KasaKlinska, we find ourselves in the latter group. All post-acceptance visits have been completed, and D17 has a rank order preference, but she needs to make a compelling case for why we should pay the price differential for #1. Her order as of now: 1-UVM, 2-Denison and 3-UMass Amherst (and yes, one of these things is not like the others, but she apparently really did like her overnight at Denison, despite her concerns about a small school).
@eandesmom D17 took the new SAT the first time with minimal self-prep. She worked with a book (of minimal value since this was the first time the new test was administered). We then had her work 1:1 with a tutor 1-2 times a week for about 2 months and she improved her score by 90 points. I was thrilled! She took it a third time, again self-prepping and it was the worst of her 3 scores We were both dismayed. For D19, we’re definitely going the 1:1 route. She doesn’t seem to think she needs it for R+W, but only for math. I think she would benefit from help on both, but certainly more for math.
Unless your kid is really dedicated to it I’ve found the self-prep doesn’t really help. Having a tutor really forces them to focus on it verses day-dreaming with the book in front of them. Self-prep didn’t help either of my sons but a tutor for the oldest raised his ACT by 3 points. For the younger son the tutor was no longer available and I regret not finding something for him as it would have meant more scholarship money if he raised his score by even 1 point.
@eandesmom - The one thing I would have done differently is test prep; CoyoteSon took the ACT once and the new SAT twice.
I let CoyoteSon focus on just a math self-prep test book, but I don't think he used it that diligently. His SAT reading score stayed the same, but his SAT math score went down by 30 points. No super score help at all!
So, I would have paid for 1-to-1 tutoring instead of relying on CoyoteSon to prep from a book (though I’ve heard that the free Khan Academy online test prep can really help, that runs into the same problem if the student is not seriously self-motivated about practice time).
Another voice in support of 1:1 tutoring. It is expensive by the hour but at least in the case of the company we used I didn’t have the sense that they loaded up needless hours, and they are able to focus on what you need. Also as others have noted the sessions are a motivator to get through the material where it would be easy to put things off if self-prepping. S is a good tester anyway, took ACT once, raised it 2 points from the practice tests he took, decided that was good enough and moved on.
All in I think the test prep money was very well spent. It was probably $3000-$4000 all in so a big luxury for sure, but the test scores seem to have mattered in scholarship money and admissions success generally. Perhaps it should not be so, but that’s the situation. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
S19 will have test prep/tutoring, I’m just leaning more towards the group session versus 1:1 for cost reasons and b/c he’s a better and more motivated student. But we will see. I’ll have a better picture after the ACT results.
I sent my older D (with LD’s) to 1:1 ACT tutoring. Helped… she did better when she took the exam right after the tutoring. Tried again without the tutoring in the fall and didn’t do as well. For her with her challenges I really felt on-on-one was the only thing likely to help.
That said…my D17 never did any tutoring. And did extremely well… But that’s my son there aren’t that many that can do as well on the SAT without much prep.
In the spirit of trying to eke every pre paid credit opportunity out, I sent the transcript for the 1 credit class S17 took at WWU over.
They took it! It’s a silly little drop in the bucket but it rounded out the credit offered for his DE PreCalc to bring it to a round number which looks much nicer.
LOL.
Every little bit helps.
And in the spirit of skin in the game, happy to report S17 actually spent a large chunk of Day 1 of spring break studying for the APES test and picked up an 8 hour shift today with hopefully more this week.
@eandesmom check Groupon too - they frequently have coupons for test prep centers and while a lot say they are group lessons our experience has been they really are more 1:1 (not a lot of kids do the prep apparently)
There’s a decision in the TacoHouse: deposit has been paid at the University of Mary Washington, the rare university unicorn of both financial fit and overall fit. While it seems a little funny to have come full circle to the first school we officially toured, there has never been any question that this is an outstanding destination for TacoSon, and has everything he has been hoping for in a college.
Now to snag the desired orientation dates and freshman seminar (which also influences dorm), and for all of us to FINALLY enjoy the freedom of planning out the next few months without the what-ifs dangling and taunting!
@eandesmom , I very briefly put TacoSon’s college logo as avatar, but I couldn’t get it to center correctly and it was driving me insane. So instead I’m celebrating overall TacoCatness.
We bought TacoSon a flip-top Tervis with the logo imbedded between the chambers at the campus store last week, and today he filled it and brought it to school (first day back after spring break). That’s his version of wearing the t-shirt and it made me happy that he was showcasing his choice in a very TacoSon manner.
@LilyMoon - Congrats on UC Davis. Visited only once, back in the 1980s but always heard great things about the school and the students! Your D should be very happy there!
@curiositycat333 - Awesome choice for your S! You must be so proud. My friend’s brother graduated in 1987 - close at all to your time there? Hope your S finds some area of his musical outlet. IOnce again - yeah trombones!) My Swas already talking to kids at St Olaf about getting a real Pep Band going, as it’s been pretty anemic in the past. ALL the UCs have great programs and, as I’ve said before, but am especially fond of the Banana Slug mascot. AND Santa Cruz - beautiful!
@klinska, @93pilots, @MSU88CHEng and @Hankster1361 - Boy you all have patience of Saints! But it’s such an important choice. Hope you kids and your family’s finances are able to find happy places!
We did have to eliminate several schools S really liked because we all agreed it was not worth the extra $40K, over 4 years. Feeling VERY lucky that St Olaf came through with the fin aid (no merit) for our family, and so did Grinnell, for our 2 guys in college at the same time. We will get hit in S17’s Sr year, like we were in S16’s freshman year, but the extra costs for those years was, and will be, manageable.
We were both dismayed. For D19, we’re definitely going the 1:1 route. She doesn’t seem to think she needs it for R+W, but only for math. I think she would benefit from help on both, but certainly more for math.