@RightCoaster S20 took the ACT aspire offered to freshman by his HS. We will get result in December. They offer PSAT to sophomore.
SOTD absolutely A or B
SOTD: My Dd handles it. Whether she calls or emails is up to her. The only time I have made direct contact was over testing issues (GED and subject tests only required from homeschoolers).
SOTD: B, unless itās a financial issue.
SOTD: none of the above, we have not needed to contact admissions at all. Son and I checked his portals to make sure everything was in, that was it. Iāve had to email his GC a few times, but otherwise nothing. Everything has gone surprisingly smooth, excpet his GC and teacher LOR were very slow in getting done.
@AppleMAC Iām not sure about PLAN, I know our high school does the official PSAT in junior year but offers the option to sophomores to take it at the same time. I did have both D16 and S17 take it both years.
SOTD: A & B
One C exception that I talked about up thread with a technical issue with the application status portal at one university.
Iām glad I handled that one as I am not sure Dā17 would have had the patience or technical experience to know that the person on the other end is not going to be able to solve the problem. Dā17 can hold a grudge if her time is wasted.
At least against her father.
And standardized test proctors. But that is another story.
SOTD: My S17 handles it. Ever since Freshman year when he had an issue with his schedule he has taken the bull by the horns and advocated for himself. If he gets no response or asks, DH or I will intervene - but only with his knowledge.
The PLAN is no longer offered, it seems, Phased out in 2014. Moved over to Aspire. But PLAN still shows up in our Naviance, while Aspire does not have itās own header. My son never took the Plan, and it was never offered to him that I am aware of, because it was being phased out. I have not seen any announcements from our school regarding the Aspire test. Iād like son19 to be able to take it a few times if possible. Son17 seemed to do a bit better with every test he took, and on the last test he said he finally felt comfortable and did pretty well.
@MotherOfDragons Many of these kids will bounce back. One of D12ās close friends in H.S. really freaked out about the whole application thing. Applied to a bunch of random schools that she didnāt even look at, didnāt research didnāt look at anything. Did get into some good schools despite that. Where to accept turned into a a battle of wills between her supposedly amicably divorced parents with her in between. End of the long storyā¦ she took a year off. Applied to better fit schools the next year. Is now a senior at a very good LAC & from what I know quite happy.
@RightCoaster I thought the Aspire didnāt exist anymore. Our school suggests sophomores take a Pre ACT sophomore year (they donāt allow anyone other than juniors take the PSAT) that at one time was the Aspire test but I though my research two years ago was it wasnāt given anymore. I think what they are doing now is just a sample ACT.
** SOTD **
A - no
B - with bits of help from me
C - for financial aid questions
D - NEVER
D - ok once! He was at school and it was a deadline day and he needed a quick answer, etc. etc. etc.
** Stopping at Targets ** Not exactly stoping at Targets. But my sonās target schools are the ones he most wants to get into and sit at the top of his list. His reaches are just more choices come spring if he doesnāt get into his top choices. None of his reaches require doing another app from scratch, they all other California state schools. Basically taking a gamble at a few schools that look out of reach, but heās already doing the application for so might as well add a few more and maybe it will give him a few more affordable options comes spring.
S(urvey)OTD
D with a caveat. I monitor his college app id (we both have it on our smartphones) and text him to make sure he saw it. Sometimes he asks me to review his response before sending it.
SOTD - All of the above (ok, not āAāā¦when would she have time? She canāt call during business hours). Just depends on what everyone is doing. What I try to do, if I need an email sent, is draft it up and text her to āmassage itā and send it out. The less pressing, the more likely I will just ask her to do it. Stakes are too big to leave it all up to her at all times. Iāve done āDā plenty of times.
@Motiv8tedmom23 Ah! Maybe we can request for D20 to take the PSAT sophomore year as well. Never thought of that. I just know they donāt āadvertiseā that as an option, but I bet it is.
Stopping at Targets: We also really only have targets. All of the schools S is applying to are affordable. He never looked at lottery schools because of the COA.
Diversity: S is putting those essay Qās off until last. He is pretty much milk-toast white from a middle class, suburban background. His diversity will be from a couple of the querky ECs he does, like bridge.
SOTD: I have called some school when I know S canāt call during the school day. He has called some of the schools. I have been trying to get him to lead, but sometimes, I jump in. He tends to e-mail (and I do have access to his college e-mail acct.) If a call is required it will likely be me.
As far as the Aspire (PLAN) test, we donāt have it here either. We have been more of a SAT bastion. Also, I donāt think the Aspire test āgetsā you anything other than practice. The PSAT gets you a shot at NMF and scholarships. There is more at stake.
Edited for sophmores take the PSAT at Sās school.
Hi All - first time posting in this thread - I have a D17 (is that how you say it? She graduates in 2017!). I havenāt read this whole thread (you all have a lot to say which is great!) but I have a question: Is there a reason to self-report SAT scores on the Common App if you are going to have the official scores sent from College Board anyway? For some reason my D did not self-report them for the first 5 schools on Common App which we just hit submit on last night. But she has about 4-5 more on Common App to go so she could put them in there. She took both old and new SAT and wouldnāt you know it, the concordance or conversion table, whatever itās called, says they are exactly equivalent! She has no problem reporting them, in fact they are better than her GPA. But is there a reason to self report them on Common App? Thanks!
@RightCoaster - I had wondered why DSās HS offered PSAT to freshman this year instead of the PLAN test. I didnāt realize ACT made some changes to their offerings.
** AOTD: ** Anecdote of The Day (trigger warning for those of you who love Vanderbilt)
We went to Sās parent/teacher night recently and stopped in to say hello to GC. During the discussion I mentioned how Vanderbilt has been bombing us (3-4 postcards/week) with promotional mailings. Basically begging S to apply. With his scores, he has NO chance, but with every postcard I think about it for a moment. GC stuck her finger in her mouth to motion āgag meā. She told us that Vandy harasses her incessantly to encourage kids to apply. She said Sās school has sent in 2-3 high stats applicants every year with a couple of ED applicants. Vanderbilt REJECTS them all. She said she is done recommending Vandy to students. Done decreasing their admission rate.
Donāt get me wrong. Vanderbilt is an amazing school. Top 25 for sure. But the promotion is annoying.
Survey - all of the above, though Iāve only called one school after D emailed multiple times and still couldnāt answer the question I told her to ask. She handles herself quite well via email and phone but doesnāt always have the time and will tell me to send the email myself (as her). Sometimes when she sends it, sheāll first ask me to review her draft. We generally share email accounts, however, so this isnāt unusual for us. Teamwork!
@NerdMom88 Hope the surgery is less invasive and smooth. Hugs :x
We can share experiences, best hairdo, etc, on the hair thing later. 
** SOTD **
D ! :))
CASPer (College Apathy Slacker Parent) does what CASPer needs to do :))
We got an email to Sās college email from a school. Apparently I made a mistake on CSS. X_X So ** I ** forwarded Sās email to me and then I responded as I think that is a legitimate thing for the parent to respond.
We got another email to parents (DHās) fake email - I own all the fake emails, :)) as DH hates spam/school emails - saying that DSās test scores are needed. ** I ** forwarded that to Sās fake email and I wrote the fake email, really? do you need that thing the portal says you received two months ago? kind of email. Adcom responded promptly and briefly, sorry, that was an automatic email reminder error. [-(
Because College Board under-bid ACT. College Board wants to take over the testing world. The empire is striking back. :-&
@RightCoaster I would just have him take a practice ACT through a private company.
@eandesmom I have the same plan: āto use a local test prep place that allows the kids to take a practice test for both the ACT and SAT to determine which is the better fit.ā I plan to have S19 do that this summer. āWe will see how his PSAT comes back in December and he will have a summer prep class of some kind.ā āThen again, that kid might be fine with Khan on his own.ā I made a spreadsheet for S19 that has all the test dates planned out for next 2 years. :))
ACT looks better for scheduling wise. S19 will take his first real SAT on August 26 or October 7th, 2017 and first real ACT on September 9th, 2017 and we go from there or possibly be done with testing then. :)>- Definitely planning to have all testing done by June of Junior year. Easier Senior year.