@CT1417 You must have me confused with someone else. 
Also, I’m sure some of the lurkers may find the information useful. You’ve reminded me of another criteria: Pants-optional!
Has anyone noticed that some of the emojis don’t work? Like, the blushing guy…
@CT1417 no lecture, no worries I appreciate the advice. Thanks!
Son17 was actually pretty good about test prep. He took several ACT practice tests at home and it definitely helped. He actually liked practicing, he just didn’t want to study all of the time. He did end up spending time on the science ACT section and that really helped him in regards to his composite score. Son17 never paid for any tutoring, and I doubt I’ll have son19 do that either. I’d just like son19 to take a baseline pre-ACT to compare with his Pre-SAT so he can decide which test he’d focus on. Our school does not offer pre-act as far as I know.
@RightCoaster S17 took the ACT PLAN at school. If I remember correctly, it was the last iteration of the ACT PLAN being given. They may have replaced it with the ACT aspire. S17’s school did both (PSAT and ACT PLAN). They were both done Sophomore year. ACT PLAN is given in April or May.
Thanks for the replies about self-reporting SAT scores, all - I think D was just too lazy to type them in since she thought we had to send them anyway. 8-| I did order them to be sent already this morning and we just submitted last night so hopefully it doesn’t take long for them to get there. No clue on that. I will have her add in the scores for the next batch.
@STEM2017 - My DS applied to Vandy couple of days back. We also get ton of mails from them. Finally, we decided to apply and even try for scholarship. He has the required stats though. Our school stats
Class Apply Admit Enroll
2016 9 5 1
2015 6 2 2
2014 7 3 0
2012 3 0 0
@srk2017 Nice stats. Best of luck! Your S’s school is obviously doing better than mine.
@stem2017 Vandy is pulling a play right out of UChicago’s handbook. OH my word, with my older kids, UCh never, ever stopped. Know what it got them? Thousands and thousands of junk applicants and they are now ranked #3 in the country 2with only Harvard and Princeton ranked higher. In 2005 they had a 40% admissions rate. Higher numbers of applicants meant higher numbers of rejections which meant lower acceptance rate and higher ranking.
http://www.personalcollegeadmissions.com/getting-in/the-great-success-of-the-university-of-chicago
I think my views on rankings are pretty obvious. 
SOTD: B if that includes me sitting next to S on the couch saying “Now, type this.” D if that means S sitting next to me on the couch and saying “Yeah, that looks good.”
@RightCoaster We found a test prep guy who isn’t affiliated with a particular company, which I liked. Do you think your S might be in contention for National Merit though? The ACT is more common around here and S took that twice with good results. But then, he had to qualify for NM and has now taken the SAT twice too. If I had to do it again I’d just have him study harder for the SAT instead of prepping and paying for both test formats. Of course, we had the whole new PSAT/new SAT/no known confirming score thing going on, so it was nice to have a good ACT score in hand too.
@MotherOfDragons I hope you get the LOR situation straightened out, and I’m sorry your D is upset about the breakup. But retail therapy is good once the initial shock is over. 
Welcome @CAtransplant!
Now I know who to blame for killing all those poor trees and clogging up my son’s inbox. 
New QOTD: How seriously are you guys looking at outside merit scholarships and what resources are you using to find them?
Now that D is almost done applying (and to fill the time until mid-December), I’ve started looking at some of those scholarship search sites. They mostly seem to have terrible search functionality and I come up with lots of useless hits. I have found a few possibilities through google, but I’m sure the really good ones are highly competitive. Are outside scholarships worth the time and effort of applying for a student without superstar stats and EC’s?
SOTD
I must admit to all of the above. D did all the calling and emailing during the selection/visit process. She set up all her interviews (on and off-campus) and visit stuff. I’ve sent two “fake” emails with her permission. One was to UVM when their portal wasn’t working and I can’t remember the other but it was something similar. My only phone call was to housing services when I didn’t understand part of their policy from the website. I wouldn’t call admissions as a parent because it seems to be frowned upon.
Reaches
I think there are good and bad reasons for reaches and of course having reaches “because you’re supposed to” is a bad reason. I feel like my D’s reaches are good fits and for her prestige is not a factor. If S18 doesn’t want any reaches that will be fine with me. He does need at least one safety though!
@MotherOfDragons, so the coffee shop plan is off – probably best for all involved. It’s hard to watch our kids suffer from those hs break-ups even when we know it’s probably for the best.
** QOTD: ** Courtney Thurston is a pretty active CC poster. She writes about her outside scholarship adventure. Here is a thread from earlier this year regarding the subject…
I would not waste time on scholarship search sites.
Look to your GC to see if they have lists of local scholarships from banks, civic organizations. Those start in winter and go through spring usually.
Those are small amounts and usually not renewable. Nice to have, but can’t be relied on to pay for college really.
Also ask if there is still the NHS scholarship. Runs from Oct to January I think.
QOTD Our state’s Dept of Education maintains a state-specific scholarship list. Some have a need component, some are for specific majors, some must be used in state, some are for specific populations (parent who works at XYZ, of ABC descent, etc), some are general. I scanned the list quickly a few weeks ago; I need to read more closely soon.
SOTD D asks all the questions except for when it’s something that would be asked by a guidance counselor. I’ve asked 2 questions in the past year.
On the test prep, etc, @RightCoaster what I wrote earlier is just a “theory” and MY “plan.” Not sure how the real “practice” will go with S19.
For S17, I researched and bought all the good prep books and amassed freely available real test materials. Some of you benefited from my posting the links. S17 never practiced on his own nor went to test prep company. Nada. Zip. I ended up loaning those books to friends’ kids. I even tutored DS’s friend at home while DS was playing videogame. His friend raised his ACT score. I’m happy
Our school paid Princeton review to give two full-length ACT practice tests. S17 took real ACT three times. Those 4 tests were enough practices for him to reach what he needed. The scores went something like 30 (August, princeton review), 31 (February, princeton), 31 (April, National), 32 (April, State), 34 (June, National).
@appleMAC Yes, some emojis do not work
S(urvey)OTD
No calls have needed to be made post-app submission. S17 did have to send a few emails to regional AO and he wrote those emails himself. He did read them to me or send me drafts before hitting send. Last email he sent he read to me and discovered a typo. He was horrified but I told him that is normal and that is why reading it aloud or having a second set of eyes on it is so helpful.
SOTD
When you want to get some info from admissions, e.g. portal info, app status, etc., do you:
A. Have your child call - Nope, wouldn’t happen. What he thinks is important versus what I think is important are 2 very different things. Not to mention he is in school!
B. Have your child email - depends. Thank you’s for interviews, yes.
C. Call yourself - depends. If it is something I see as being under my purview (making sure FAFSA, Transcript and Scores have arrived and portal shows no) yes. I have also called twice when S did not recieve portal info from 2 schools. He is entirely content to wait for snail mail…I want to see portals and know they have everything they need. Good thing I called. The emails bounced, had them resent and all better.
D. Use your “child’s” email (i.e. the fake one in their name that you control) to email. Nope. Never. That said, I get copied on all incoming emails to my kids inboxes (there are family reasons for this) and it’s a good thing. S would miss stuff otherwise. So if something comes in that needs attention I can follow up directly, have him do so, or with his permission act on his behalf (i.e. sign him up for an interview or tour). I’ve never misrepresented myself as him lol. I can log in to his account and send stuff (and did to check spam for the missing portals lol) but have never actually done so.
E. Email myself. I have definitely done this for scholarship and general tour/interview questions as I am the master of the budget, the timeline and the scheduler. In all cases it’s a generic parent request for information though, not on his behalf.
All that said, we’ve had minimal calls/interaction needed.
@payn4ward I am looking at the same test dates. Would LOVE to be done fall of junior year. I expect he will end up taking both to be honest, we will prep class for one and self study the other. Likely have him do the diagnostic in March or April, but I have to figure it out around his summer schedule for the prep class and that could be interesting.
@RightCoaster yes, a Kaplan kind of thing. Shop around, there are big nationals like Kaplan and then smaller local privates. Group settings, individual, you name it. We did 3 different methods for our 3 so far though I plan to use the same group for S19 as S17 (smaller local private owned by friends lol). I do think S19 will self test first and be willing to do a lot on his own via Khan and hte like. S17…not so much. He did it because I was paying for it and would have felt bad. Left to his own devices? Not so much. But he knows that about himself and requested the class. S19 wants the class too, I just expect him to make more of the opportunity (he is weird and likes tests).
@payn4ward I am looking at the same test dates. Would LOVE to be done fall of junior year. I expect he will end up taking both to be honest, we will prep class for one and self study the other. Likely have him do the diagnostic in March or April, but I have to figure it out around his summer schedule for the prep class and that could be interesting.
@RightCoaster yes, a Kapan kind of thing. Shop around, there are big nationals like Kaplan and then smaller privates. Group settings, individual, you name it. We did 3 different methods for our 3 so far though I plan to use the same group for S19 as S17.
@MotherOfDragons I almost mentioned the fact that HS romances may not last the duration of an app season…didn’t expect it today though. I would be SO frustrated at UMD. Statuses should not go backwards!
@appleMAC I have been SO tempted to do a couple of CA 11/15 waiver or no fee to apply schools on S’s behalf. He would kill me though.
@STEM2017 and @RightCoaster our Vandy stats are similar to RightCoasters lol. 1 out of 7 accepted in the last 3 years. SD14 almost applied but opted not to, loved her ED school more. I agree though, S17 gets U of Chicago mail and it’s like, give me a break, that’s actually cruel!
QOTD - We haven’t been doing any scholarship searching.
SOTD - B; S17 does the contacting. I even had him handwrite a note to his 2 top choices. Not sure if that does ANYTHING, but it doesn’t hurt. One of the school as Interest under “Considered”
One more thing… what is this “MAC” thing? I get the CASPer, but I missed “MAC”. TIA.
Oh my, those of you out there supporting C17 with a dozen apps… God bless you. S17 couldn’t be bothered to “like” more than 2 schools. I made him apply to one in-state option (5 minute application) and bribed him with a concert on a school night for one more. We wait for 3 results in mid-December. If I come on here and complain about him having to throw together a few RD apps at Christmas time, I’m gonna scream. :-S
Big MAC = Big Merit Aid College. They tell me I coined the phrase, and I’m running with it!
No scholarship hunting here. The only scholarship besides D’s Big MAC is an earned one from work. It is only $1500, but every little bit helps:)
S17 was accepted into one of his top choices! University of Minnesota Twin Cities! He was accepted into the College of Science and Engineering.
We only found out because I check the portal a few times per day and his status changed!