Survey of the day: I have my child email, with guidance as needed from me.
Targets and reaches: In all seriousness, why this idea amongst upper/middle-class families that reaches are some sort of necessity? If a kid can get into a college, good on them, and if there’s minimal stress involved, even more excellent.
Today’s fun—erm, “fun”—discovery: Macalester requires two LoRs. We knew that. However, it turns out, upon checking their portal, that one of D17’s LoR writers doesn’t count because she’s a fine arts teacher, and Macalester only allows its requirement to be filled by “core subject” teachers. Two things: (a) It would have been nice for this to be made quite clear on the Common App somewhere, not just mentioned after the fact on the portal, and (b) if you’re evaluating a student whose primary non-grind outlet has been fine arts, one might think a fine arts teacher letter would be useful. But yeah, Macalester started out quite high in D17s estimation and has been dropping very, very slowly over the past couple years…
And after that frustration, we need a JOTD: So do you know why chicken coops only have two doors? No? It’s because if they had four doors, they’d be chicken sedans.
@CAtransplant Welcome to the board! <:-P
If the scores are good, why not?
We self-reported all the good scores; ACT, SAT subject test, AP test scores.
We did not report not-so-good SAT test score.
Ok, I guess I will look at having son19 take a pre-ACT test from a private firm, I did not even know that was an option. Is that like a Kaplan kind of thing? Other suggestions. Sorry I’m so clueless, ha. But I really do appreciate the advice.
In the time that son17 is just in limbo mode, I need to get Son19 up to speed on testing and college stuff. And then once son17 moves on this spring, it will be time get son19 focused on the beginning of his college search. He’s going to be a more difficult applicant, as he wants engineering, soccer, has higher stats and he is willing to go anywhere for his schooling. Son17 really just wants to stay nearby.
Our pta offers practice a ACT and SAT tests every couple months in the school library on Saturdays I think they do it through Kaplan. It’s a nominal fee and goes to the pta
What I really don’t understand is why the UMD would say “complete” when we did it weeks ago, and now on checking it it says “incomplete”. This is a mistake I can see me making, but D was running the show and we both saw that it said complete. She’s checking with her teacher today, we’ll see what’s up. I don’t know if I like UMD enough that I"m going to go all dragon on them to get them to make it right. We know we saw it as completed weeks ago.
Oh, ETA: one problem has solved itself. D18 and boyfriend just broke up. She’s super upset, I’m privately relieved. We’ll do some retail therapy later.
Targets: Every time I go into Target I spend $100. That is all.
@dfbdfb Thanks for the joke and sorry about the LOR situation. Ugh.
Re: Targets and reaches
I agree 100%. But I do get asked multiple times, “Really? DS is not applying to any Ivy?”
Just because DS has the stats and both parents have Ivy degrees do not mean we are seeking prestige.
I do want more options for DS in the spring though.
Our one and onlny common app application is done. Everything is complete except the guidance counselor bit. The kid forgot to request that until Sunday. I know other people have said that schools are somewhat lenient on that part of the deadline? The deadline is today November 15th.
No reaches here. That’s why D isn’t terribly excited about each acceptance. No merit money = rejection, effectively. I don’t think every student needs a reach. Only safeties are required.
@CAtransplant, one reason for self reporting is that you may get action sooner than if the school has to wait for the official scores, particulary if the school has rolling admissions. S self reported where it was an option. I also sent the official scores. The only scores that you don’t have to send now, but may be able to self report to some schools, are the AP test scores. I am only paying to have those sent to the school he selects. ENOUGH $$ to the College Board!
Reaches: My son would apply to one, under the condition that he does not have to do one bit of extra work regarding the application. Ha. He’s a realist and just thinks it’s a waste of time and money for him and why should be bother.Sounds good to me!
@MotherOfDragons I’m sorry to hear about your D18 breaking up with your ex-future-son-in-law17. That’s tough. My D17 still has a boyfriend who started his freshman year this year. I was worried for a few nanoseconds what that would mean to her college list, but was relieved to see it hasn’t changed. She’ll see him over TG break, but he better not get in the way of essay writing (although there are not many more).
@payn4ward You win the emoji competition hands down. ^:)^
D20’s GC said I will have to talk to the Principal at the HS in order to try and allow D20 to take the PSAT when all the juniors take it next fall.
@RightCoaster --Re: practice SAT & ACT. This will all vary by child, but I will pass along the info the tutoring company told me when my older son was starting this process.
Administer your own full-length practice tests at home, simulating real testing conditions (timed, at table w/o distractions, using the breaks permitted). Take an ACT one weekend and an SAT the next, score both, and then ask your child which exam format he preferred. Adding my own advice, if your child struggles with the timing, have him mark a line where he finished a section before time was called, but complete the section with additional time. Score both ways (timed & untimed, if you will.) Familiarity with test format and questions can result in significant increases in speed and performance.
The tutoring contact said that I could pay him to administer the practice tests or I could do it myself. That seemed logical, as long as you have a student who will give you three hours on a weekend.
Now, did I follow this advice? No, of course, not, I just jumped into SAT tutoring (but this was more than four years ago before the SAT format changed). I think the guy had actually told me to have my son sit for two of both the SAT & ACT, and I just did not see that happening. He did not believe in taking both exams, and I do not either. Some tutoring firms will advise taking both ‘as some people are better at one than the other’. Yes, true, but you can figure out which one is better by taking practice tests, as they are widely available.
Older son did go on to take MANY practice SATs at home. Younger son refused all tutoring, but also sat through a fair # of practice tests. I burned through a lot of toner for my laser printer, but cheaper & easier than arranging to have them go to a test center at a specified time.
I hope this does not come off sounding like a lecture! Just passing along what worked for my boys, and it was a different approach for each of them.
@RightCoaster In our area, there are firms called MindFish and Huntington. So it is not just Kaplan and Princeton Review that do test prep. The GC department may know those. Private counselors will know them as well.
OK, does anyone have a suggestion for a ‘flyer’ CA application (big MAC required) to submit before midnight tonight that will not require an essay? Since I’m the one who does ‘D’ from the ‘SOTD’, then I figure I can apply to a school for D17 as well. After all, I’m paying the balance, amiright?
@CAtransplant I believe Chicago allows you to report scores and uses those and if you are admitted and attend have to send in a real report. Not sure if other schools do this but you could check your list. I am hoping this catches on in the future.
@appleMAC – is there a list of CA Nov 15th deadlines anywhere? Given the research you have conducted, I would be hard pressed to come up with a school you have not already considered.
targets and reaches - D might have applied to more reaches if they were financially feasible. But they’re not, so she didn’t. She applied to a single reach where she’d have to get a named scholarship to attend, making it even more of a reachy-reach. I wonder if the work is worth it when the chances are so small for both admission and merit money.
SAT/ACT. D’s school does PSAT (2x), Aspire, and PLAN. D decided to focus on the SAT and prepped at home with the official SAT test book and Khan Academy. She then tried the ACT, using ACT’s on-line prep ($40) and an official ACT test book. She did 3-4 practice tests in each format and her scores fell within a pretty narrow band (100 points for the new SAT and 1.5 points on the ACT composites) We figured that further prep would serve no purpose at that point and she took each test once. Her real test scores fell within the range of the practice tests and we were satisfied that retaking wasn’t likely to obtain a meaningfully different result. Also the free essay guides on the leading on line tutoring sites were very helpful in figuring out the format, testing rubric, etc. I saw a major improvement in the essay quality, which leveled off after three attempts.
