It took a while to catch up after mostly ignoring the internet during D’s and my spring break college tour last week, but I thought I’d jump in on a couple of topics.
I love reading the trip reports whether or not D has the school on her list (and sometimes have S18 on my mind – “Hmm, maybe that would be a good one for him…”) I will be posting ours soon.
Forensics: There were a few people mentioning kids taking (or thinking of taking) forensics and I was thinking “Boy, I didn’t know so many schools had classes on studying dead bodies to solve crime!” (My D11 took a class where they had the amazing opportunity to study a cadaver at a local teaching hospital). It slowly dawned on me that everyone was probably referring to making speeches and not looking at how maggots affect the rate of body decay. Doh!
Test prep: D used Khan Academy to study for the new SAT (the early March one). She seems fairly confident that at least she didn’t do badly, but was disappointed she ran out of time on the non-calculator math section. She felt very rushed and had to leave one question blank. In retrospect, we should have gotten some practice tests so she could get an idea of pacing. We’ve both been terrible on prep for the upcoming ACT. She did a one-day prep session at her school. I’m definitely going to have her do a practice test or two. I’m so anxious to see her scores!
Number of schools applying to: She currently has 16 US schools and 3 Canadian schools on her list. At the beginning she eliminated quite a few that had her specialty (electrical engineering with renewable energy focus) just due to type of school. For example she took off all big public’s because we have 2 in-state that she likes even though she’d rather have a small school. I’m hoping she’ll get down to about 10 through more research.
lol @snoozn Forensics at our local high school is the "maggots’ version (started it in 2002), so I read it the same way…we even have a forensics club. Reading this thread, I was surprised these classes were getting so popular.
My advice on test prep based on d14 and s17 is to get them to take as many practice tests as they can stomach. My s17 religiously read the Prepscholar blog for suggestions - he did not take the Prepscholar class because we had already invested in the Kaplan one - he just read all the information in the blog. It said to take a practice test - then correct it and figure out why you missed it. My ds would not sit and take the whole SAT - he would take the math part one night, reading part one night - the handy part about the Kaplan class was having his writing tests graded. My ds bought one of those giant college board books that has about ten practice tests in it and plowed through them.
My d14 had no desire to really prepare and so half-heartedly took the Princeton Review class. Her SAT went up pretty significantly for her but my s17’s SAT shot up after his preparation. He is naturally a math guy so that was close to perfect from the beginning but his reading and writing sections went up several hundred points.
BUT if your kid isn’t motivated for that kind of thing - I wouldn’t push it because I don’t think it would help unless they were really invested. They will still get in a wonderful college and have a bright future - just will not be able to shoot for those reach schools. My d14 is completely happy and in the perfect place to study speech pathology. I’m thankful I didn’t push her any more than I did. My s17 pushes himself with just a bit of encouragement from me and has positioned himself to qualify for merit aid at many schools as well as having a chance to be accepted at the one ivy he’s applying to.
@carachel2 , I see, if that’s hanging in front of you, I understand. I did NPC of all the merit schools she was interested. They all gapped us big time. So we are consentrating on 100% need-met schools and in-state publics. 100% need-met schools are all selective, so that should be her motivation… not working…
Just wondering, is it true that you need to take the SAT to qualify for NM?
My D is absolutely tired of testing, and we thought all she had left were subject tests until we heard that the SAT was necessary to validate the PSAT. If so, I hope that her prep for the ACT transfers over to the SAT because I doubt she’ll have the motivation to study for it.
@BusyNapping Yes, your D needs to take the SAT. We are still not sure what the confirming score is for class of 2017. In previous years, it was around 1980. Also not sure when they will let us know what the confirming score is.
@BusyNapping - My S is also in the same boat i.e. no inclination to take SAT except for NMF purposes (if he qualifies). Our plan is to take it in December (last testing date allowed) so that he can focus on Nov 1st/December 1st app deadlines.
My dd didn’t take the SAT until March. She doesn’t ever want to take it again. I hope it is high enough to confirm her PSAT score so she can be done. But if it isn’t, her summer will be spent on test prep bc those scholarship $$ are more than an incentive. They are necessary.
Intrestingly, my STEM son, who I thought would like the ACT more than the SAT, didn’t like it at all. He actually asked if he could take the new format SAT. He thought the PSAT was pretty easy compared to the old style PSAT and I guess believes that he will do better on the new format SAT. He was busy with FRC build season earlier this year, so didn’t have time to study for the March SAT. He is signed up for the June SAT. Hopefully he will have time to study after he is done with the AP tests. :-bd
University of Portland campus visit: we had high hopes. D wants a suburban feel campus near a Pacific Northwest city. We knew it was small and Catholic; we didn’t realize how small and Catholic it was. At 4,000 students, it’s smaller than our high school which was a turnoff for D. S recently graduated early from a Catholic university which didn’t feel Catholic. U of Portland felt quite Catholic. I’m Catholic. D was raised Catholic and has had enough of Catholic. Very warm, welcoming admissions people who made the point that all are welcome. A great school, but not for D. We slipped out after 20 minutes.
D17 took an ACT prep course through her HS last spring that led up to the April ACT test. They did several practice tests and did discuss strategies and templates for the essay. She got a 34, and took it again in June hoping to strike while the iron was hot. She got a 34 again (though it is a 35 superscore). She thought she was done with testing, until her PSAT results came in with SI 220, a very likely NMSF for our state. Since this requires the confirming SAT score, she took the March redesigned SAT and now we wait until May for results. Hopefully she can just focus on subject tests and AP tests now.
@Gator88NE. @snoozn , Forensics is very popular here also. D21 is going to an overnight Forensics camp this summer. She can’t wait to take it in high school (must be in 11th grade). The teacher said the class is the most popular science elective and now they are giving it a weighted grade so the high stats kids don’t miss out.
Anyone have a opinion about a non-Christian attending Boston University? We are mostly agnostic but wouldn’t want to feel out of place. D likes Boston and BU has some scholarship money - thats the reason for considering it. We will be visiting it in the summer
@srk2017, he scored a 218, which would have been NMF last year. The highest our state has been under the old system is 212. I think that even with a rise in score, he will make the cutoff. And I believe he has already confirmed with his SAT score from 10th grade. He got a 2000 and in the past the confirmation score was 1960. That’s is one thing that makes ASU’s honor college so attractive. NMF’s get a full tuition scholarship to the honors college. Fingers crossed…until September!! S took the ACT in March when his school district gave it to all of the district’s juniors. He didn’t feel great about it, but we haven’t gotten his score back yet, so we don’t know if he did meh or killed it.
@TimEnchanter – I would be VERY surprised if she did not achieve a confirming score.
My son took the old SAT, prepping by himself at home using practice tests from the Blue Book and others that I found online. (I had also saved a couple of my older son’s old exams.) His PSAT prep consisted of completing the one practice test provided at registration. When he saw his PSAT score, he announced that perhaps he should not have ‘wasted’ so much time on the old SAT. In other words, he found the new PSAT to be an easier exam.
@mtrosemom --this poor class of 2017 has so many variables to deal with. Changing exam formats, changing cutoff scores…
@Hades321 – do you mean BC or BU? I could understand that question about BC but not BU.
@brindlegreyhound thank you for the U of Portland review. I’ve been debating whether to try and convince S to consider it and that really is a deal killer for him.
