So S17 was lower stats than D21…he applied to all rolling admissions so I don’t know all the ins and outs…
ED is binding if affordable. But it can impact merit chances right?
EA you get an early decision that’s not binding, but does it impact merit???
I’m reading this dialogue with interest, and applying it to my own situation which is a bit of a stretch but…it still resonates with me. I currently work for a “no-name” company. I used to work for several of the biggest “brand-name” companies in my industry. A big part of me, every day, misses the prestige and stability of working for a global brand. I have to keep reminding myself that in my no-name, tiny company, I am a big fish. I don’t work evenings - like, ever! I don’t work weekends - like, ever! I leave work a couple days a week for a few hours to hit the gym. I am surrounded by primarily positive people who respect me and aren’t filled with - and spewing - rage, anger, and hatred.
In short, I am much, much happier than I ever was in those companies, even with the greater instability and reduced pay and benefits. I’m just hanging in there, hoping my little company stays in business long enough to see my DS21 into college. I’m hanging everything on him attending a full COA NMF school so that I can continue to sock money into my retirement account and then, even if it goes belly-up, his college won’t be impacted. I can take a consulting job, travel the world, and watch him kill it in college and grad school.
So my company is the equivalent of your non-elite/non-highly-selective local college or uni. It may not wow anybody but it’s exactly what I need!
@NJWrestlingmom It has been my experience with D19, that EA merit is at least as good as RD merit. In her case, she applied to schools that give merit based on GPA/test scores, and all offers came back exactly as predicted. I don’t know if she would have done any better or worse in RD. Plus, the benefit of being done by December was priceless!
@Acersaccharum yet some EA decisions don’t come out until Jan or even February!
Good luck to all the ACT takers today.
S21 should be heading there now - but his allergies chose LAST NIGHT to act up, and he gets it the nose with a drainage cough that sounds like he is dying (yet he says he feels fine). And nothing OTC or prescription works on the cough 
Killing the next few hours at a Starbucks while DD is in the ACT. She doesn’t drive, and the nearest testing site was 30 min away, so no use going home and back. We arrived at 7:30, but they didn’t unlock the door until 8:00. Fingers crossed for all testers today!
@Rue4 Enjoy the coffee! Not a bad morning to hang out at Starbucks. Good luck to all testers today.
Can’t remember if I mentioned it, but we are just eating the cost of today’s ACT. D21 wants to just move to SAT so she will take it officially in March. For her, it was the right decision and relieved some anxiety. She just didn’t see herself improving on the ACT enough to sit for it again. She’s scoring better on SAT practice tests at home and is just more comfortable with the structure of that test.
Good luck to everybody’s test takers today! I hope they hit their targets and can move on to something else.
Back from our first college visit for this spring! It went fabulous…S21 was engaged, in one of the sessions for a potential major he’s considering, he really connected with the professor, and the professor told him that he’s welcome to come sit in at any of his classes whenever he likes…that was cool. The Boy says he can totally see himself at TAMU, and really didn’t have any cons or turn offs.
He’s has now asked that we not talk about TAMU anymore lol…he wants to visit the other schools on his list and make an informed decision and not get his hopes pinned on one place…when did he get so mature?!
@homerdog Sounds like your daughter made a wise and brave decision to skip the ACT. I think our kids are stressed enough with all they are doing, especially if they are taking AP tests and SAT subject tests in the spring. In my case, I would love it if my son would agree to take the SAT in August (when he has no school pressure) to try to bring up his RW score 20 to 30 points, but I am going to respect him if he refuses as I promised him he didn’t have to take it again after December if he did well in math and well enough in RW, which he did. (He absolutely hates sitting for standardized tests.) Ultimately, I am happy he did as well as he did and now I have to honor my promise. Good luck to all of those who took the ACT.
@momandslp D21 has an odd weekend here where she doesn’t have a ton of homework (and by that I mean she has maybe only four hours by her estimation). So, yesterday, no work at all. She went out for coffee with my H in the morning, to the mall with friends in the afternoon, and out to dinner with my mother in law and her female cousins. She came home from dinner and she was so happy and relaxed. It’s like I saw who she is when she doesn’t have so much hanging over her. It was fantastic.
So, she will sleep in today and get some work done in the afternoon. I wish all of her weekends were like this. She’s so pleasant to be around when she’s not stressed out! lol!
@homerdog We must be living in parallel universes. S21 apparently has very little homework this weekend. We took him out for lunch yesterday and he was in a great mood and so relaxed. I think today we might watch the finale of The Good Place together. These are the times to remember! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
@momandslp my S21 a fan of The Good Place, also (especially since he’s had philosophy classes all 3 years of high school so far…his teachers are big fans as well). Enjoy!
@nichols51 So cool that your son’s school has so many philosophy classes! I took existential philosophy in college, so The Good Place is right up my alley. Has your son watched the movie “Defending Your Life?” It’s been one of my top favorites since way way back.
D took the ACT for the first time yesterday. She was going to take it in December, but when the October SAT/PSAT was cancelled last minute she decided to switch to the December SAT instead, as she wanted one under her belt before they sit for the test in school in April.
She studied/prepped a little over the past month, but motivating her after long days of school, homework and activities is NOT easy! She said she really liked the pace of the ACT with timed practice, so we thought it would be her test. During the actual test, though, she said she only confidently finished one section, so she definitely wants to take it again. She had been planning to re-take anyway, unless she knocked it out of the park, but now she feels even more that retaking will help, now that she has a better feel for the actual test.
The issue is that March is too soon for her to re-take. She at least needs to see the results from this test. Unfortunately, she’ll be on a school trip for the April test date, then she has finals in June. That leaves July or September. I know they’re starting single section testing in September, so maybe that’s the way to go, but I hate leaving it for so late. And she’s in the mode of doing prep now… so she would have to prep again over the summer. I’m wondering if that would really happen. Maybe it’s both? Full test in July, and if she needs to re-take a section, she does that in September? I would love any advice.
Yes, I realize she hasn’t even gotten her scores yet, so we will wait to decide, but I do like to ruminate, and I don’t want to stress her out with the fact that she won’t have another chance to take it any time soon!
What was your D’s SAT score from December? What was her target score for the ACT?
@momandslp I will ask him about that movie - that title rings a bell for me, so maybe they watched it at school. If not, I’ll see if I can get him to watch it with me. He and I were just looking over some of his APUSH homework and the content of the primary source document he was reading about the Chinese Exclusion Act immediately made us think of Kant’s Universal Law…so rewarding to make those connections.
@Mwfan1921 She went in cold in December and did fairly well, but about 100 points less than her target. That seems like a big jump, but given her PSAT results from past years, shouldn’t be out of the question. Her December ERW score was solid, but she did less well in Math, possibly because she took Pre-Calc last year and Calc this year and did absolutely nothing --despite my prodding – before the test to refresh her memory about Algebra or Geometry concepts. They’re doing an SAT math-focused prep class at school that she’ll take, which should help, and she may do a few sessions with a tutor.
She was hoping for a 29 or 30 on the Feb ACT (though now wouldn’t be surprised if it’s lower, given that she didn’t finish all the sections), with the ultimate goal of getting to a 31 or 32.
@kbm770 If she knows she wants to retake it, then based upon what you said, I would aim for a full test in July. How schools are going to treat the section retakes is still up in the air, so I’d rather have another full test under her belt going into application season just in case.
Any prep this Spring should focus on the April SAT, don’t you think?
Once that’s over and scores are back from the April test, you’ll know if you need to take the ACT in July and can switch prep back to ACT again.
When my daughter prepped - basically all the content was done in the summer and then when school started, she just did practice sections and practice tests every once in a while leading up to the October ACT. I think she did one full test (one section weekly) in September and then took two full practice tests, maybe three in October leading up to the exam. It was a pain, but not relentless.
I say this to let you know that she didn’t forget the content in October, even though she learned it in June and July. Doing practice sections/exams and going over mistakes keeps the content fresh. So, she’ll be “prepping” in the summer, but it doesn’t have to be content prep. It can be defined - give me 60 minutes one time this week to do a Math section. Not an every other day kind of grind.
@3kids2dogs This is helpful feedback, thank you! And yes, the prep class at school (as well as any tutoring before then) would be for the April SAT. I think she’s at least in the realm for her target schools. We’re encouraging prep to see if she can improve her chances for merit, which she understands and appreciates, as we’re looking mostly at small, expensive LAC’s.
She seems to like the ACT better, but if all goes well in April and hits her target, who knows? If she hits her SAT target, we’ll need to discuss if taking another ACT is worth her time and energy.