@carachel2 – Re: email addresses for LORs. Again, I think this will vary by school. She should ask her GC how her school handles it. Our school links Naviance and the CA. I think the teachers upload the LORs into Naviance and it feeds over to CA, but someone else probably has a better explanation.
I haven’t dug in to figure out how the school is handling this year but that was their approach when my older son applied.
Our school has students fill out the “Brag Sheet” and maybe upload a resume to Naviance sometime this year.
@carachel2 My S16 asked his at the very end of Junior year. He wrote them a nice letter asking them and then added a resume so they would know what activities he was doing, etc. Because they had extra time (and he is a great kid of course) they wrote him really nice detailed recs. He was applying to a rolling admissions school so he wanted to get that one in as early as possible. My D17 is going to have a heck of a time figuring out who to ask. She needs a math/science–no problem a few options AND a lang arts/soc studies–big problem. Her 11th grade honors history teacher is a total bore and there is no connection, 10th grade AP Hist teacher retired, 11th grade AP Lang teacher literally does a lottery for the 20 recs she is willing to write, 10th grade Honors Lit teacher moved out of the area. She could get a great rec from her 9th grade honors lang arts teacher who is also a club sponsor for a club she is in but that seems silly getting such an old rec. I’m thinking she needs to have a talk with the AP Lang teacher (she is one of 2 kids who got an A that should mean more than a lottery) but she is mean and scary, really mean and scary but a great teacher and I think she must write good recs. She looks cute like Glenda the good witch but looks can be deceiving 
S13 asked in the fall when he figured out he needed them. lol. Most of his were for scholarships/honors and they had to be mailed in. So he gave them the addressed envelope they then gave it back to him sealed to be mailed.
S’s school also wants them to ask for LORs at the end of junior year. April sounds around right. A brag sheet helps the teacher write the letter of the school is large and they can’t know every student well.
The schools my son is applying to do not require LOR. However, he could potentially need them for scholarship applications. Is it appropriate to ask for them just in case or to approach when you know specifically what you would need?
@CT1417 , that is how our school handles LOR, through Naviance.
This group is jumping now! Welcome to all of the new members. My S17 is my third to go through the college process. Here we go again! I currently have a junior and freshman in college now, as well as an 8th grader at home.
I find that I am much more chill this time around…so there is always that to look forward to if this is your first!
S17 is happy with PSAT scores as the selection index is well above the historical cut off for NMSF in our state. He’s excited because it opens up a few more options for him, Although he has taken the old SAT and received a score that will validate his PSAT for NM, he wants to now take the new SAT because he did significantly better on the new PSAT vs. the old PSAT.
We have visited the colleges in our area this past summer. Will visit a couple over spring break and a few more at the beginning of the summer. Looking forward to reading about our kids and how they are doing with all of the changes that have been thrown at them this year!!
Hi everyone. I’m a member of the Parents of the HS class 2016 and 2019 threads. I’m stopping in to let everyone know of some merit opportunities that must be applied for in your child’s Jr year in the spring. If anyone has children with ACT of 28 or better or 1250 or better on the SAT , a 3.5 GPA and are ranked in the top 10% of their class , they can be nominated by the GC for these programs. Wofford guarantees renewable merit of 5000.00 a year and Furman offers a renewable 7500.00 a year. Both offer the opportunity to compete for higher scholarships. Wofford requires a visit to the school to qualify , I’m not sure about Furman. Info can be found on their websites. Both of these schools are located in the upstate of SC and are highly ranked in Southern LACs. My son was offered substantial scholarships at both schools. Just wanted to pass this info on. If anyone has any further questions, please feel free to message me.
It’s been a looong time since I’ve posted in this thread (I was the 23rd post, lol, with probably four or five after that). Part of it was stepping away after “living” on CC during the process for our older D, and part of it was a lost/reset password that went to an email I couldn’t retrieve. At this point our DD’17 is getting ready to select her senior year hs classes.
Back in March of 2013 when I first posted on this thread our D was thinking about acting and film but that has changed numerous times. Then, when we started college visits a year ago it was OT and Nursing. Now she’s looking into the Education/English/Journalism/Communications areas 
Our older D is a 2013/2017, who will graduate college on time in May 2017 with a double major and a minor. The only issue I see with DD’13 graduating about six hours from home is that our DD’17 has her hs senior prom the night before her older sister’s college graduation (and Prom is during her older sister’s Baccalaureate). Still trying to figure out how it will work. I am also here to tell you time flies!!!
I’ve caught up to about a year ago on this thread (about 1/3 left to catch up) and I hope to stay up to speed from now until our kids launch. For those who have a long weekend – enjoy
Welcome back @our2girls! And welcome to the other recent new folks!
DS still has to decide what to do with his 1st period for spring semester (doesn’t start until Jan 25). He finished his PE requirement this fall. He was hoping to be able to take an AP Econ or AP Gov class (seniors take these), which are all one semester, but none will fit into his schedule unless he starts school an hour early. Ceramics or video journalism are single semester options, but he’s not excited about either and both would lower his weighted GPA. He could be a teacher’s aide, but the AP Physics teacher already has two aides for that period. His current preference is to try to make himself wake up on time and work on his online Multivariable class, which starts Monday, and other projects. I am skeptical about his willpower in that regard in the morning.
They have a 6 period day, so fewer than a lot of schools, I think. I don’t know if only 5 classes plus the online class is something to worry about. His other courses are APUSH, AP Biology, AP Language, IB Spanish, and Engineering 3.
They don’t select senior year classes until Feb/March. I need to schedule our annual meeting with the GC to talk about senior year. Other than English, gov/econ, and engineering, he will have run out of classes to take at the high school.
I found out late Friday that my D’s school will be administering the SAT to all Juniors on Wednesday, March 2nd. It will be the full SAT with writing and can be submitted to colleges.
She was already planning on taking it on March 5, so it is basically a free SAT exam for me and a free Saturday for her. However, she has not received her PSAT scores yet and they are not expected until February, so prepping will be a little compressed. My D really wanted to see how she did on the math section so she knows weak areas.
@CaucAsianDad Does she have a College Board on-line account? You may be able to access scores there before receiving the paper report from the school.
If it was only so easy. You can follow our misery here:
My S’s school will be having the junior class take the ACT with writing on March 1. I just ordered him a study guide. After we get the results of the ACT, he/we can decide if he should take the new SAT before summer. We all are hoping the ACT goes really, really well. 
@CaucAsianDad I was one of those that was waiting but my kids’ score eventually did just showed up but I don’t think the new PSAT is a good indicator of the NEW SAT testing. My son took a proctored Practice SAT and scored a 1450 but got a 1500 on the PSAT. Very disappointing! I think the length of the test was a big factor for him. He said he started to “zone out” near the end. I wish I could help you with the PSAT but my best advice is to take a timed Practice SAT and see how she does.
Our take away was S18 needs to practice writing with a regular pencil (he normally right with a fine tip mechanical pencil and writing with a regular pencil for the essay made his writing less legible than usual on the essay. Bring snacks, it’s a long test and a snacks will help keep you alert. Double check every math problem where you can possible miss a sign!
Good luck!
@mtrosemom …my D liked the ACT way better! She went into the test with zero prep (other than the one practice science section I made her do) and came out of the test enthusiastic about prepping for one more.
My D has also took a practice SAT in testing conditions (same room and proctors used by the school) and got a 690 in math, not bad for her, but she felt she could improve some. Now she thinks she bombed the PSAT math. She felt it was very different than the practice exams.
It appears she could miss several math questions on the PSAT and still do well. Her problem is when she encounters several hard questions where she is unsure of her answer she assumes she has bombed the exam, sometimes she is right, sometimes she is wrong. She would love to know how she actually did, especially the on the no calculator section. I am betting she did OK, but she just needs to see the score to get a more accurate feel for how she did.
@3scoutsmom I am concerned that she may have experienced some of the same issues your son did. I was a little concerned when she said the PSAT different than practice tests. I am wondering if she may have gotten a little stressed knowing it was a “real” test . I was hoping by reviewing her answers she could determine if she really did not know how to work the problems or if she just got tied and lost focus.
Hi! My S’17 is 2nd of 3 kids. He is narrowing down his choices for colleges and trying to get a summer internship right now. Looking forward to hearing from you all on this board. My son is finished with his standardized testing but the one difference I saw between my D14 and S17 was my son practiced again and again taking PSAT and SAT tests. He went over every question he missed and made sure he understood why. My daughter never did that and both their test scores reflected that. All that to say - as parents we can encourage our kids to study this stuff and prepare but each kid is different! Celebrate their strengths, work with them on their weaknesses and love them hard through this process!
“My son took a proctored Practice SAT and scored a 1450 but got a 1500 on the PSAT”
When they give out the SAT & PSAT scores they give a range of what you could have gotten on another day/test. I bet the 1450 & 1500 are probably in the same “range” of scores. So when he takes the real SAT he may score a 1500 or even higher.