D20 has AP physics 1, AP chem, lang, apush and Calc AB
Will take chem and ush subject tests in June. Subject tests are different enough that I want her to have a little time to shift gears and study a bit.
Of course she didn’t study for regular SAT so she may blow these off too.
D’s list is pretty much complete. I think it stands at 7-8, all but one with a direct admit nursing. All but one are matches due to the nature of nursing admits…no guarantees. I guess one would be considered a reach, both admit and financial.
@hgtvaddict My D was targeting engineering until about 6 months ago, before switching gears to nursing. They like to keep you on your toes!
List is not yet complete. 2 reaches, a match , and a likely are on it but not sure she loves the likely. I am hoping our state flagship grows on her but it is more of a match these days than a likely. We have at least 2-3 more tours to do but those will not get discussed or planned until her summer comes together. She was denied from her one summer program yesterday so plan B/C needs to get moving into place but will not until APs are over. Her last one is not until Friday. I really wish NM cutoffs were announced earlier since that will influence future tours.
S currently has 7 safeties, 7 matches, and 2 reaches on his list. Not your typical CCer, lowish gpa and likely just average test scores (taking first SAT tomorrow) Likely not eligible for merit and not sure about FA - have a daughter in college now and receiving little, but hoping to get more with two in. Decision may come down to price. Need to spend some time running NPCs.
My D loved a tech school that offers EA. We will know by early December if she is or not. She is in the 75% score wise and fits the school very well. Naviance says “yes” and knowing who else from our school got accepted I would be very surprised if she does not. I know, I know, no guaranties. The thinking is that if she is accepted she will only apply to a few reaches afterwards. If she is not accepted she will apply to one of our state schools that we love (and is basically guaranteed acceptance) and to a few more targets. Our state schools do not do rolling admissions and the merit is the same for early or regular.
Both cases I doubt she ll apply to more than 5 schools.
And she is done with the SATs (although she could still squeeze 20-30 pts lol) and done with the subject tests which she took fresh/soph year and are both in science. The initial thought was to keep the one science and do the math or lit to send. However she scored great in both and now I am thinking what for? The new me is going minimalist this time.
@taverngirl U Rochester is one school we are toying to add or not in the list!
Wow, thread is super active - great info on research. Truly appreciate those who’ve been there, done that. DS has declared his list done with 10 - some are better fits than others but he says he can see himself at any of these including the 3-4 safeties. He’s started the common app but will need to use the coalition app too. 2 AP tests coming up and Subject Tests too. Summer is shaping up nicely - job during the day, working on apps in the evening (my plan for him anyway). Continuing music lessons and practicing, too. Will also need to work on the calendar for submitting apps.
Questions for those interested in research - Are you only considering R1 universities? How about AAU designated? For those working in a research field or with research college students already, how important are these designations? Do you look at research funding? Washington Monthly has some rankings related to research. Any other sources that you’ve used?
@taverngirl we are in the same boat- D taking the SAT first time tomorrow and just hoping for average scores. Her list is all academic/financial safeties and matches, with one or two artistic reaches.
@Octagon Wow, I thought mine was a lot with 3 subject tests this Saturday and 4 AP tests (APUSH, Bio, Calc AB, and Lang).
Am not holding out to much hope for APUSH unless some major cramming happens between now and next Friday. LOL
@SoccaMomma My kids have not necessarily been paid for research during the academic yr. They have all been paid during the summer, even if just working for the same professor during summer months. We have never paid attention to rankings, just dept visits. They have all attend public Us, but not necessarily R1 level. (One just recently received R2 classification.)
My dd just received funding for academic yr research. Its source is the Honors College.
We have only a partial list, haven’t visited anywhere yet, got a marginal but acceptable to any college DS20 would be applying to SAT score. No APs this year and it has been wonderfully less stressful than last year! We have the additional variable of him wanting to continue playing football in college. He would likely start as a walk-on and work up to an athletic scholarship in year 3 and 4. So we not only have to balance academic fit but also a team that has a spot for him. And then to complicate further, he’s on special teams and those are almost always the last spots recruited. I am a very (perhaps pathologically, haha) big planner, so the fact that it truly could be this time next year before we know where he’s going has me tied in knots. It will all work out, just not as quickly and neatly as I want it to.
My daughter’s taking IB Econ SL and added the AP Micro and Macro as most colleges don’t give credit for SL - she’s not doing any extra prep for those so hopefully there’s enough overlap between them. She’s also taking AP Stats and Art History.
She’s another taking the 3 subject tests first weekend in June - I’m really hoping she’ll have some time to study for those after schools out as I really don’t want to worry about her squeezing in more testing in the fall.
@Darcy123 My D17 took IB SL econ and got a 5/7 IB score. She got 5’s on both AP tests. It is a little frustrating colleges don’t give credit for SL when it obviously is more than equivalent to AP.
D20 plans to take next year and only take AP tests as she is not an IBD candidate.
@taverngirl @milgymfam we are much like you with S20 taking the SAT for the first time tomorrow. He’s done a bit of prep but not much and now has a bad head cold…ugh! Not expecting great things tomorrow, but he was already planning to have to likely re-take it in August. He did the April ACT and scored very average but hated the test so we’re sticking with the SAT going forwards. Luckily we didn’t report the ACT scores anywhere 
We have mostly safeties on his list with maybe 2 reaches and 1 or 2 matches. No college visits yet, but planning some for over the summer (at least those close by). Any further away we will wait until we know he is accepted and if he’s truly interested. He wants to stay in or relatively close to California, so mostly looking at Cal States, a couple of UCs, Saint Mary’s College, Oregon State, University of Nevada in Reno, Arizona State and Northern Arizona. He has a decent GPA right now (3.72 UW) but this semester is hovering right around a 3.0 (hoping to bring it up a bit with some final projects). He only has one AP class with test coming up in 2 weeks. Runs JV cross country and volunteers through church (looking for a part time job this summer). He is a relatively laid back kid and so I am driving the whole process a bit right now, but he seems to be getting more engaged as time goes by. I am grateful that he does not care about prestige (because he doesn’t have the stats and we don’t have the money), so he will likely end up where he feels the best fit.
Do any of your kids have internships over the summer? If so, what kind of work will they be doing?
No internships, but D19 is working at her gym full time part of the summer and au pairing the rest in Sicily. D20 is doing a two week ballet intensive, a one week ballet intensive, working her regular job in a daycare, and doing a modeling thing with a dancewear company. Lots of driving everyone to and fro for me. Sigh. My poor car. Ha!
Best of luck to all the test takers this weekend!
@bgbg4us That sounds like a lot going on for one kid. I hope your DC is making it through okay.
My D has her only AP test this week. I told her that most of her schools required a 4 for credit. She laughed at me. I guess we’ll be taking college Physics 1 again. LOL
Mine would probably laugh at me too. 3 on physics is more realistic for her though she won’t need the class for college.
Well, I’m impressed with all those with a list already firming up. We are no where close. We’ve finished up the search process for D19 and now can turn our attention to D20. We have visited a number of schools, since D20 came along for many of D19’s long-distance college visits. However, very few of those are in consideration for D20. We have a list of suggestions from D20’s GC, and we (parents) have done some more research, so at the moment we have about 30 schools on the list. Will need to narrow it quite a bit.
D is very busy now with a theater production and 2 AP tests coming up in a couple of weeks. Thankfully, she has a good-enough-for-her score on the SAT (wish she would take again but picking my battles), and she’s planning to take at least one SAT II in June. And then a full-time job lined up for most of the summer, as a CIT at an arts camp. It’s going to be tough to squeeze in some college visits, but we’re gonna try.
AP tests coming up this week and next (one each week), prom right after that and then the summer. All of a sudden, a couple more schools have come onto the radar - I thought 8 had been chosen, now it looks like it might be 9-10, depending. Hoping to maybe get it back down to 8 because I think (ha, as if my first time parent self knows for sure) that the “Why X college” essays will be more time consuming than O thinks they will.
O. very interested in research but decided a LAC would be better environment to be able to get research experience because it seems like it will be easier to get into opportunities as a freshman, as opposed to larger universities which can have a lot more competition for research spots. Several schools on the list include a senior capstone projects/thesis which necessitate research.
This summer consists of O. working and traveling quite a bit. We are taking a family trip for the first time in years, one of our younger children retired from competitive gymnastics and our schedule is open in ways it hasn’t been in literally 10 years. I am also hoping to get into our garden more often now I am not driving to practices 6 days a week, lol.
I’ve been trying to keep this process in perspective, and to not let it consume our lives over the next 10 months or so. Fingers crossed, as O. is our oldest. 