Admitted score ranges are always higher than enrolled, but yes, how much higher depends on the school. Sometimes the range is wider on both ends. (I prefer to use enrolled numbers in my spreadsheet.)
@evergreen5 Yes, Iām using SAT section numbers for enrolled students as a guide. Iām somewhat concerned, though, that the early spots go to the kids who check most of the other boxes for the school (GPA, good essays, rigor, strong recs) but maybe not the highest scores and then the RD kids have to have the high scores to bring up the average. For us, that might mean that RD would be a much bigger gamble for D than it was for S19. Bleh.
@disorbed My d got the same scores, 33 on Math, 34 on Science and English and 36 on reading. She got 690 math and 760 SAT. The plan was to re-the one she felt better about.
I told if she wanted to quit that is fine but she wants to take the April ACT. If she stays the same on everything else and bumps up math 1 point she could get a 35. Not a great difference in the big picture but it canāt hurt. As long as she willing to do it nothing to lose. Only have to report the best score.
Visits with professors or department headsā¦I havenāt been able to wrap my head around what my S would discuss with them. Heās unsure what he wants to major in (something social science related most likely - he likes history, political science, maybe sociology, anthropology, psychology, environmental studies)ā¦heās fine sitting in on a class and going to the dining hall. Heās also good with going to Ohio. ?
What kinds of things are high school juniors discussing with college department heads ? In some cases, I get itā¦ I understand what @homerdogās D will discuss with the dance department heads, for exampleā¦that makes sense to me because she is looking for something very specific. Anyone have experience with professor/dept head meetings with kids who are undecided about major, leaning towards some kind of social science at a liberal arts college?
My S has a little interest in anthropology, but no more than in any of the other things I listed above (heās not completely sure since he hasnāt had an anthropology class in high school, and he may well be more interested in other things), but he is sitting in on an anthropology class at one school in March, and they scheduled him to meet with the head of their anthropology museum. He doesnāt really want to do itā¦tried to bow out politely, but they are bringing the museum head in to meet with him even though itās closed the day weāre there. Heās feeling like itās a lot of pressure since itās not a real defined interest. They emailed him originally to ask if he wanted to, explaining that the museum is closed that day but that the museum head comes in on the closed days to meet with people. He responded to let them know that wasnāt necessary in a polite wayā¦then they sent his schedule and it includes the meeting. Doh.
Congrats to those who got the ACT scores they were shooting for!
Huge congratulations at @kbm770 @123Mom123, @disorbed @burghdad on the scores and goals reached!
Didnāt know ACT results came out today until D screenshotted her results. Given her 1370 SAT, was thrilled to get a 34, and Iām so happy for her!
This shows (to me) that the SAT and ACT are really 2 very different tests for some kids. D isnāt fast, (so didnāt finish the science), but the ACT is much less nuanced. It makes it difficult to overthink the questions for those prone to do so.
S got a 1520 SAT (800M/720ERW) and signed up to take the March SAT to try to get another 30pts on ERW (school guidance counselor rec) and didnāt take the ACT, but now wants to!
Eh. Some kids actually do better on the SAT. S19 got his 1540 first shot (although he did study beforehand). He couldnāt finish an ACT. Was never going to get a 35 which is the equivalent score. Not even close. He got a 27 on the practice test he took at home.
@nichols51 while D can talk to some dance chairs, sheās undecided for major and wouldnāt even know where to start when it comes to talking to profs in the academic subjects. S19 never met with profs or dept chairs. Heās still undecided as a second semester freshman. I think heās narrowed it down to four majors. Lol. I think kids who know they want something specific or have done research might be the ones who would have meetings like that.
Yesterday was a good day in this household - D21s ACT scores means sheās done unless she needs to submit an essay score somewhere and she was chosen for a leadership position in her summer internship program.
Iām thrilled but also partly sad - we are a full pay family and for various reasons including losing $$$ in the housing bubble years ago, canāt afford to send her anywhere without merit. Sheād be a contender for the āreachiestā schools but I canāt afford to send her there. Why on earth do colleges have to charge $75k/year?
Anyways, Iām looking forward to our spring break trip and hopeful we will find an affordable school where she will shine.
congrats to your D @mm5678 on both the ACT and the internship leadership position! Where are you headed for Spring Break?
Any suggestions for ACT prep for the English section? Youtube tutorials maybe because getting him to study from a book has not been successful thus far.
ACT score was great (32), but heās still thinking of Miami OH so merit will be needed and he will need to add 2 points to the score at least to get it down in price. English is the low hanging fruit since he scored a 25 on that section.
@disorbed I actually believe the school (Beloit) gets a lot of interest in anthropologyā¦but it is something theyāre well known for, so they do likely want to show it off/use it as a recruiting tool. When I applied to schools in the 80s, meeting with professors never would have occurred to me! I didnāt sit in on any classes. I didnāt eat in the dining halls. And then I was somehow still so sure that I applied ED.
@mm4567 we are in the same situation will be full pay but canāt justify 75K a year with 2 kids in school and both of them wanting graduate school. Will be chasing merit money to cut the cost in half or so.
@mm5678 I wish I knew the answer to the āWhy $75k (+!)?ā question. It seems with the regular rate of tuition increases that these schools will be pushing $90k, by our kidsā last year. Itās painful to think about. We are hoping to find some merit as well.
Itās interesting to me that SO many kids I read about here know they want grad school. How do they know that when something like 70% of kids change their undergrad major? Who knows what theyāll want in three/four years? I understand playing it safe and budgeting for it just in case but weāve always just said, we are paying for undergrad and the rest is on you. Now, if either of our kids had really done their homework and felt strongly about grad school, Iām sure we would have said, if they want help with that then they need to look for less expensive undergrad. The Homerbank does not have an endless supply of cash.
With neither of our kids interested in big state schools, I guess S19 would have chosen the lower ranked LAC route if he wanted to save money. He was NMF but I donāt think we could have talked him into those big tuition scholarships even if he knew he wanted to go to grad school. D wonāt have the stats to get big merit at many places but she likely could get good money at Miami of OH. Sheās the one who would have had a harder time finding a match school that would give her money.
As it is, she will likely send an application for dance scholarships at Wake and Richmond if she ends up liking them. And Tulane has merit as well. Seems like there are kids on CC this year with a 33 ACT getting some merit there in EA. She hasnāt posted a high score like that yet but a 1450 is a 33 and she could be within range for that.
Iām telling you, though, if they liked big state schools, we would definitely be looking at schools that cost less. I donāt think we would pay full OOS tuition for a state school even if it is Michigan or UVA.
@homerdog Homerbank lol
@homerdog We have promised our kids a debt-free college education, but grad school (if they choose) is on them. You are right that they can so easily change their minds. I put myself through on scholarships, stipends, research assistantships, a part time job and a small loan for living expenses. Other than med school or law school (and maybe business school), they should be able to do the same. Realistically, we will help if need be, but the bank of mom and dad has to close at some point!
@Acersaccharum Exactly. Neither of our kids would go to med school or law school so Iām not worried about it. S19 is old enough to know he wants to work right after undergrad at least for a while. D21 is the one who might be more likely to go to grad school but I feel sure she will be able to make that work and, youāre right, if she really needs help we could help but we would expect her to be doing everything she could do first to help herself.
In a way @homerdog , it is āfreeingā for your daughter to not be looking at large merit opportunities, because I find it absolutely clouding my judgment.
My daughter is looking at mostly large public schools with merit. She is in love with University of South Carolina but also wants to look at Clemson. Based upon her GPA/ACT and last yearās class - UofSC would cost us @$28-30K/year, Clemson is looking like $44K/year. Are they both āin budgetā? Yes. Am I really hoping that Clemson is not her favorite (sorry @burghdad)? Againā¦YES.
@mm5678 Congrats on the great score!!!
@homerdog I hear ya about grad school, D is very impressionable . She has it in her mind she will go to grad school for MSEE because 2 grad EE students told her about their specialization and all their job offers. So now she believes it is necessaryā¦She has not done the deep dive to find out if this is so.
@3kids2dogs Oh I hear you. I would be doing the same math if I were you. If Clemson doesnāt offer anything different than USC, is it worth $14k more per year? If your D likes it better, I would have her dig deep into the two collegeās websites to come up with real reasons why itās worth it. A real ROI analysis could be convincingā¦or not.
We had S19 do this for his Bowdoin versus Grinnell dilemma. We wanted him to be the one to find concrete reasons why it was worth a lot more money to go to Bowdoin for him, not just because he āliked it betterā. He indeed found quite a few good reasons to convince us. His first argument was just that wanted to go to Bowdoin because he felt at home. Hm. I get that but not for $100k more. I was glad he was able to find more reasons to convince us. Maybe those reasons arenāt realistically worth the whole $100k but it was a good process to put him through so he could understand how to analyze the situation with a little less emotion and a little more business savvy.