@2muchquan We had looked at Boise. Idaho in general is largely out for my bleeding heart liberal kid but Boise would work. Unfortunately no environmental outside of a BA and while that opens up a ton of school options that fit from a “feel” standpoint, he definitely wants a BS. In my personal opinion he would be fine with a Civil and then could go on to get a MS in Environmental but he needs that hook right now in his mind. Of course he may change his tune and target after taking AP ES next year, who knows.
For those of you whose kids just took the ACT…how much did their practice tests correlate with their recent score? D made a 30 her first time in December. She is highly motivated to go out of state and so has cranked her prep in an attempt to qualify for some merit aid. She is working practice sections at least every other night and is getting 34’s on most sections. She is so determined and working so hard. I will be sad for her if she does not reach her goal especially since she is doing well on these time tests and sections.
I am trying to walk the very fine line of encouraging her to reach for a goal but at the same time telling her it is a super high goal and her 30 is still great!! So if you could all just chime in and say “YES! my kid’s practice tests absolutely correlated with the most recent score” then that would be swell!
@carachel2 My son’s December test definitely didn’t correlate. He’s a bit of a miserable test taker though so I don’t know that it’s a great comparison. He had a 26 and a 28 going into the December test and came out with a 24. If I could superscore his Sept and Dec…then he’d be at what his practice tests were showing. He did come out of it quite discouraged and saying that was it, it will just be a 24 but has revisited his opinion (all on his own since then). She has time to take it more than once. His older sister has a similar experience, albeit with much higher scores (She’s now at Cal Poly). Still, her practices were always higher.
@eandesmom Does WSU have his major? Don’t know if he’s competitive for U of Idaho but Moscow is a liberal bubble, comparatively speaking.
Looking at merit data from my kid’s high school (we are also western state, in the WUE consortium), kids with B+ (3.1-3.4) averages and 23-28 ACT who graduated in the last few years got substantial merit money from U of Puget Sound, U of Portland, Willamette, U of Montana, Western Washington, and Gonzaga, in the neighborhood of 12-20K depending on the school, with many awards at the upper end. So don’t aim too low!
p.s. I think that Western Washington and Puget Sound have decent music/drama programs, don’t know about the rest.
@carachel2 One thing I would suggest for perspective is that taking a timed section is not the same as taking the actual test. Fatigue can slow down their speed the further into the test they are. It also increases the likelihood of careless mistakes. IOW, it is easier to score higher on individual sections if not taken as part of a full length timed test.
@eandesmom Has your child tried the SAT? One of my kids scored the equivalent of 5 ACT points higher on the SAT due the different format. This student did not develop as much testing fatigue with the SAT vs. the ACT. (Though this was before the new changes. No idea how they would do now.)
@Mom2aphysicsgeek …she takes complete tests when she can and then section tests during the week. Her last complete test she did really well (the 34s I mentioned). She just rarely has four solid hours to sit and take a complete test. She is hoping to take two more complete tests in the next month.
If she is managing to maintain it over full length timed tests, she probably stands a good chance of meeting her goal. Good luck to her!
@mamaedefamilia Unfortunately he won’t consider WSU (but will Evergreen which frankly, isn’t on my list at all lol). They do have an ES program, and then a Civil with ES emphasis so I think it’s a valid option, but have been shot down. I think it’s as simple as Pullman + Big School just isn’t the combo he wants. Moscow is a bit the same although no Environmental section in Civil. Western WA is high on his list and I think a good fit all around, it’s probably his safety school. But that’s encouraging information on the merit $, we have not been counting on any merit money at all. It’d be nice but… Older brother got about 5K a year from SPU and sister about the same from Cal Poly, although now that I think about it, oldest may have gotten more the last 2 years. He’s a stronger student than the older brother but not his sister. I may toss Wyoming in there as an idea, the program looks like a good fit. A strong theater program would be really good for potential paid work (sound/lights, etc) as well as overall cultural fit for him.
@carachel2 D took the Dec ACT after 2 practice tests (composite scores of 33 and 31) and scored a 33. She decided to take the Feb one also (2 more practice tests with composites of 32 and 35) and scored a 34. If schools were to superscore, she’d have a 35 composite.
She sure was happy this morning 
All practice tests came out of the “red” Real ACT Prep Guide.
She will only take the new SAT if she makes NMSF.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek we did diagnostic testing for both and opted to go the ACT route from a prep class standpoint. He started at a 20 on practice tests so has definitely improved. His recent PSAT would indicate a comparable result to his current ACT score. I would like him to take the new one once as well, why not, but he is not into that idea at all. He despised the SAT practice test, as well as the PSAT (found it more fatiguing and a bigger challenge with his ADHD) and would rather focus just on the ACT. But to your point, it’s always (for him) about careless mistakes. In class too so at least he is consistent lol.
@eandesmom SUNY ESF seems like an outlier on your list, at least in terms of geography! My oldest graduated from ESF last year, so if you have any questions about it I might be able to help.
@caroldanvers it is definitely an outlier! But I think it has many of the other elements he wants and he’s definitely intrigued. Did your child stick to activities at ESF or do much with Syracuse? It seems with the proximity they have the ability to leverage somethings. My biggest concern isn’t the geography, it would be the overall social and is there enough outside of the program for him. Not as in party social, but overall activities, theater and music specifically.
@mamaedefamilia Reed is also on his list but that’s a 3/2 and a HUGE stretch. It’s been his dream school for a long time though. I thought it had dropped off but apparently not. On the positive side if by some miracle he did get in, the 3/2 has Cal Tech and that would be amazing. I can’t see it happening though and do honestly think it is more intense than would be prudent for him. He knows his odds though. Looks like we may try to visit Portland State, Reed and Western over spring break. We may also visit Central, they do have a BS in ES. I can’t see him liking Central but you never know. That should be enough to help narrow down things for fall visits I hope.
@eandesmom my daughter stayed mostly with ESF activities, although she did fitness stuff like yoga and a couple clubs at Syracuse. Probably about half of the ESF kids stick just to ESF, which is relatively small and close knit, the other half branch out more into the SU community. I don’t know much about the theater and music scene though, that is not her thing at all. I know theater at Syracuse is competitive, so there might not be much chance of actually being in a production as a non major.
@eandesmom If you visit Portland State, will you share a visit report? PSU Is a school that my dd had looked into bc it is one of only 4 Russian flagships in the country. That is her desired major and flagships have a goal of superior language proficiency whereas most other schools only have a goal of mid-intermediate to low-advanced.
But every person we have spoken to has discouraged her. They say it is a suitcase school with an older population. We live about as far on the other side of the country as you can get! They say it is hard for students to be full on campus students. We do not want her to feel isolated bc there would be very few home visits.
It is also way too far to visit if it isn’t at least a serious contender. I would appreciate hearing your perspective if you visit.
@caroldanvers he wouldn’t be looking to be in a production, as a non major and attendee I wouldn’t see that happening anyway, However to be near that community with the outside possibility of sound engineering / theater tech work would be very attractive to him so that is great info.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek we will definitely be visiting Portland State, it’s an easy visit relatively speaking. I will definitely report back. It is definitely largely a commuter school from what
@carachel2 - It varies from kid to kid. Some kids become nervous @ actual test and score lower than practice test. My S usually scores pretty close to practice tests in all his tests(PSAT, ACT, SAT IIs). He was getting 35-36 in practice tests (he used red book) and ended up with 35. on the other hand my niece gets lower score than practice tests due to stress.
Very happy in our house after S got his ACT score. Won’t have to take it again, and now we have a better idea of schools to target. Surprisingly, he wants to take the new SAT in March to see if he does well since he feels like it is more like the ACT. Doing some college visits over spring break and probably a few right after school is out.
@eandesmom I thought 3/2 sounded great when I first heard about it. In reality I think VERY few follow through. Can’t imagine now, leaving friends after junior year, moving to a new school and competing against kids who have had 3 years of engineering classes. I don’t think you’d find anyone here on CC to recommend it.
And, for what it’s worth, my D ACT score from October also correlated well to her timed practice tests.
@2muchquan I agree on the 3/2. Conceptually cool but unlikely to be successful in fulfilling. The good news I guess is that so far, we’ve been able to talk him out of considering it anywhere except Reed and his chances of admission are very very slim there. On the minuscule chance though that he did get in, and got enough from Reed to afford to attend I strongly suspect he’d end up with a interdisciplinary BA in political science/environmental studies. Which intellectually he would absolutely love but career wise, not going to get him what he wants at all I don’t think.