It just hit me how crazy busy this summer is going to be. We have an annual trip we have always taken every year but between jobs, camps, practice, and all the rest of the college stuff I just don’t see how we will be able to squeeze it in. I guess the new normal is already here. It snuck up me. I know I should have realized it before now but I didn’t. I honestly thought I still had time. Oh well.
Happy 4th of July everyone!
Happy Independence Day!! Hope you all enjoy the 4th - fireworks or not. I think it is a great day to celebrate! Just hope rain doesn’t ruin the displays here.
DS just got home yesterday from FBLA - his team came in 4th in their competition – had a pretty good time at the convention and enjoyed some sighting in Atlanta (Coca Cola & aquarium).
Happy Independence Day! My rising senior is away at writing camp. My rising college first year is going abroad tomorrow and my husband and I will be childless for the first time in 23 years. I’m not sure we remember how to do that. Lol.
Not doing much here for the 4th. Weather will be lovely but we are going to be boring. Looks like I’m helping to repair my D’s computer. SIGH… it crashed last night & needs a new hard drive. S17 is away at camp & I won’t be able to talk with him till next week.
That is an interesting question about EA strategy with test scores. That is why I’m going to have S18 start earlier on standardized testing!
We’re waiting for D’s June SAT scores (second sitting) which will be out in about a week hopefully. The plan is to do the September ACT and then both tests again in October (unless one of the next sets is fantabulous!)
The late October ACT is the one that will cause problems with not being ready in time. But I don’t think I’ll worry about it since no school is going to get back to us with a decision before mid-November when all scores are in. At any rate, she won’t send in any apps until the first EA deadline (November 1 for her) approaches.
Right now I’m going back and forth with how much pressure I want to put on D to keep taking the tests. Her scores are good and I think she’ll have some other-than-safety options at current levels. So I want her to know that I’m perfectly happy with the work she’s done, but also make sure she understands that even a bit of an increase could mean the extra merit that leaves a school on or off the table.
D17 and S18 are at their grandparents for the week, so no waving ACT prep books in her face or trying to have an “essay discussion.”
And yes, happy July 4th to all!
@curiositycat333, I’m pretty sure they are talking about weighted. I checked my D’s Naviance, which of course has tons of kids going to CSU. At her school, average unw gpa is 3.37 and average wt gpa is 3.68. Average ACT is 25. You may want to contact admissions to be sure though because I didn’t see it spelled out on their website either. They might have their own formula for re-calculating.
@snoozn typically we’ve seen the ACT results fairly soon but the writing then takes a lot longer to post. IF ACT really takes the full 6 week window, it would be past the 11/1 EA dates. Of course, I am a bit unclear on EA. If the deadline for ES is 11/1 I have been assuming they need test scores before that, as well as transcripts (although transcripts via common app if a Naviance school are electronic??). If test scores take 2 weeks, you need to have them sent to the school no later than 10/15, yes? Which “should” be ok for the non writing version but very possibly not for with version with writing.
Of course, I am debating writing or not for the Sept test. The real question I think comes down to Ohio and OSU. Both prefer with writing though it isn’t required and neither superscore. I think what he has is good enough for admission though even though they are not great at all. S17’s scores are lopsided from Sept to Dec last year, except for math which needs to be stronger and ALWAYS is in the practice tests. Same thing with Science. UGH. Really hoping, even if it’s only up to a 25, that the Sept test can be more balanced. I am in the exact same boat as you with the tests. Floated the idea of the August SAT and almost had my head bit off yesterday! He will be done after Sept either way but oh, a higher score would help so much on the merit side of things in many places. Ohio just gives a range on the merit, 1-7K merit and then 1-7K out of state tuition offset and they seem stackable. He qualifies for something in both areas but what in that range I’ve no idea so getting that score up would be really really good! OSU only shows GPA but I’ve read/heard elsewhere that there is also a test score matrix that isn’t shown so who knows.
I mean, ugh, the 24 is better but that science score is ugly for a STEM major. For the ones that superscore I think we have to send both. Super Score is frustrating though, I am finding anecdotal evidence that several on his list do but it isn’t published on their website for 4 out of the 5 we believe do. 3 at least we can ask at the CTCL event next month.
Sept/Dec
Composite 23/24
English 23/28
Math 24/24
Reading 20/23
Science 24/22
Writing 26/24
EA and priority admission just hopefully not only improves admission chances but merit. Realistically that 11/1 date is tough for updated materials, our first quarter report card won’t even come out until 11/13.
He is seemingly on board with being done NLT 12/1 with all and most by 11/1. There is just no time in the fall for any of this though. Even if we aren’t sending till Oct, the more that is done before school starts, the better all around. We’ve discussed that July is for essay and common app. ACT prep and summer homework can wait until august.
I am in awe of your D. What a story!!!
I am wondering if S17 should rethink the electrical versus mechanical piece lol. His youth group marched in our pride parade last weekend. Apparently the float in front of them was having sound issues. S fixed it for them. Power surge/distribution/draw issue that they hadn’t been able to figure out or fix for weeks. S and H felt it was more a physics question than electrical but I wonder. He said he’d never gotten so many hugs. LOL! Then at camp last week, he fixed their sound system, was the only one who knew how to use it and then helped H rewire our new receiver and new outdoor speakers yesterday. Of course all he can focus on for the new job is getting past the POS training to when he can “build things” so maybe not.
@curiositycat333 have you looked at University of Wyoming at all? No direct admit to engineering, you do 2 years and then apply but do those 2 years with the pre-engineering curriculum line up. All students declare at end of sophomore year. We had amazing meeting with the engineering department there, (and they have a very strong marching band!). Very very impressed. They look for kids who’ve been able to maintain a 3.0 for fresh/soph years as candidates who are likely to be successful. I believe it is guaranteed admission to the school over a 3.0 and 21 act. We loved the school. S actually preferred the school itself to both Boulder and CSU, the only real drawback is the town itself but…it is only 1 hour from Fort Collins.
fyi our Naviance for CSU shows unweighted but that’s all we have. Avg UW is 3.23, ACT is 21.
@“Queen’s Mom” you need to do a staycation! Last summer both younger boys were gone for the same week and H and I had the best staycation ever. Lots of hiking, playing tourist in our own down, local destination races, it was wonderful! This winter they both were gone for 2 weeks on a band trip and that was SO weird. It wasn’t summer, we still had our normal work schedules but the kids were just gone. Eerily silent.
@CA1543 Congrats on the 4th place! That’s a nice showing and glad they got to see some fun things in hotlanta.
We are also hoping for no rain. MIL is here so we will be making dinner either at home or down at the lake with some others joining us there. Either way hopefully we will head down there for fireworks.
@snoozn Thanks for checking of the GPA. Probably need to call the school, but IMO that should be done by S17. And he can’t do it till August and won’t do it if he isn’t already interested in the school. We will see…
As to the ACT/SAT test prep. What I’ve heard is that schools care more about GPA than test scores. So my feeling is spending too much time taking prep classes & retaking these exams is best spend elsewhere. I guess it depends on how much improvement you can really expect in the score. What is the benefit to spending all that time studying for the test. If your D is looking at Engineering perhaps it will make a difference. Particularly if she is trying to pull up a math grade.
Of course it’s easy for me to say. S17 took the May SAT and got a 1520/1600 first shot. He barely studied… Probably could get better with a LOT of studying but I don’t think it’s where he needs to spend out energy. His uw academic gpa is only 3.1. Very lopsided. But he does have an upward trend. When I check Naviance a higher SAT score will really do nothing to help him as he sits in this nowhere land on the lower right of the graphs. I’d rather he spend his time studying to get good fall grades. While many of the school’s he’s looking at don’t regularly look at fall grades, some of them might if they are the fence about accepting him. DD had that happen at a Cal State… they requested fall grades before giving their decision, and I’ve hear about UC’s doing that as well.
Plus it’s very important for him socially/emotionally that’s he’s involved in his EC’s and they take up a lot of time. I’m choose very carefully what needs attention.
@eandesmom I’ll look into University of Wyoming. Sounds interesting. A bit like OSU Engineering then. I’m having a bit difficulty getting S to look at schools not in the coast states.
Just curious everyone here seems to be doing the ACT. Is there a reason. I’m more used to the SAT having grown up on both coasts. I had DD take the ACT and it was better for her, yet but for several reasons have just stuck with the SAT for S17. I thought he might have a shot at National Merit so I pushed the PSAT, looks like he’ll get Commended but not semi-finalist.
@curiositycat333, my S17 is also lopsided (3.25 GPA with 35 ACT) and planning to go into engineering. We too have been having a hard time finding fits. To make matters worse my son’s school doesn’t subscribe to the GPA/test score portion of Naviance for the school. At a college fair the CSU rep said 3.5 GPA is required for mechanical engineering. Here is what @snoozn posted in response to my question about CSU:
"At CSU they actually told us to look on the website for all the minimum reqs. I found it buried about 5 layers deep (http://admissions.colostate.edu/competitive-majors/). Sounds like the local rep was all around wrong and your S would just have to squinch his gpa up a tiny bit (assuming he’s not looking at ME):
"Minimum HS GPA on a 4.0 scale:
"Mechanical Engineering and the Mechanical Engineering/Biomedical Engineering dual degree programs require a minimum 3.6 cumulative GPA.
All other Engineering majors require a minimum 3.30 cumulative GPA OR top 30% of graduating class.
Minimum ACT or SAT scores:
“Mechanical Engineering and the Mechanical Engineering/Biomedical Engineering dual degree programs require a minimum 27 ACT composite and minimum 28 math subscore OR 1200 SAT critical reading/math combined and 620 math subscore.
All other Engineering majors require a minimum 22 ACT composite and a minimum 23 math score OR 1000 SAT cr/m combined score and 520 math subscore.
Composite/combined scores must be from any single test sitting. The highest math subscore can come from a test sitting other than the highest composite/combined score test sitting.
Some flexibility may be allowed for international applicants for whom the English/critical reading sections of ACT/SAT may lower the composite/combined results.”
@curiositycat333, before the SAT changed, it was weighted a little more heavily towards english/reading, and the ACT more towards math/science. So, a kid who was more math/science often did better on the ACT. My nephew’s GC told him not to play to his strengths and only take the ACT. Not sure it this holds true anymore since the SAT changed. I’m no expert, this is what I’ve heard/read.
what I meant to say is my nephew’s GC told him to play to his strength and only take the ACT.
We did a practice test for each to determine which was a better fit for S17. SS11 only took the SAT, SD13 took the SAT 3x, then finally the ACT and sis much better on the ACT.
Historically the ACT was more curriculum based, SAT more concept so it really depended on what kind of test worked better for a student. However the new SAT is allegedly close to the ACT so who knows! Given all the score confusion with the new version I’m glad we stick with the ACT.
We still don’t have the SAT scores up online. Who knows what’s going on. I don’t want to call until she’s home from camp. @eandesmom, I am planning to stay home and relax!
@curiositycat333, lol about the “nowhere land on the lower right of the graphs.”
One of my Ds was right there with your S, Commended with uwGPA smack in the middle of this thread’s range, wGPA not even in the top half of her class. With not even a wild guess as to how the schools would look at her record, I had her apply to a wide variety of schools from SD School of Mines (auto admit) to Olin. Olin said no - not a surprise, but the rest said yes.
Commiserating with the other C-in-math folks. And for my D17, that C was a gift. She managed to hold on to the last spot that gets her a top 10% in the class, though (24 out of 243).
Just found out AP scores (even though they’re not out for our region of the country until Saturday–pays to hang out on the AP Test Preparation thread for tips and tricks): 4 in English Lang, 3 in US History. I would have bet good money that it would have been the other way around. Bummed that APUSH won’t get her college credit–but she loved that class and got a lot out of it, so I’m happy for that. Now just waiting for SAT scores, 16 days and counting!
Potential CSU applicants - I have a D16 attending CSU in the fall (actually in 40-something days!!) - They used her weighted GPA for scholarship consideration (her school ONLY reports the weighted GPA, however. I don’t know what they do when they see both weighted and unweighted). She wouldn’t have qualified for any OOS merit with her unweighted GPA, despite having a fairly decent ACT score. If they use weighted for some applicants, it seems like they should use it for everyone. Alternatively, they just glanced at the one reported GPA and assumed it was unweighted. They don’t get very many applicants from my D’s Northern VA high school!
@klinska - some schools give 3 credits for a 3 on an AP exam, especially in history. My D is getting credit for her 3 in US World.
@eh1234, I actually just went and looked at the requirements for a bunch of the schools on our way-too-long list, and yes, it does look like some of the schools will take a 3. Feeling a little better now 
@klinska I thought AP tests didn’t come out till tomorrow. Should I check? I’ll admit I’ve been anxious about the results.
Thanks @klinska DS got 5 on both AB Calc & AP Bio. And this is where the rigor of DS’s school shows. He barely scraped a B- in the AP Bio Class.
I don’t necessarily believe that rigor is tied to AP test results but I do believe it is definitely tied to how well they prepare the kids for the actual test! Many kids in the AP classes at our school do not take the test and as a result I don’t think they really prepare the kids, as they should, for the actual test. Different things focused on in class according to S versus the tests in general for all 3 that he has taken to date. Which is frustrating and why he did a paid study group for AP Lang.
Based on that, expected results are in. 4 on AP Lang and he bombed AP Physics with a 2. LOL! I hadn’t realized I could pull him out of the test after paying for it and likely would have on Physics but oh well. We will take it though for sure. At least with the Physics test the overall national results were not good so it wasn’t a surprise, only 39% received a 3 or better.
I do wonder, is it best to strike the 2’s or does it matter? By the time you are sending actual scores in for credit, they are already accepted.