@TXStuMom No, he’s at a small school that doesn’t participate in the medalist program. Over on Redditt, they say it’s routine marketing for people who expressed interest, but I wonder if entering this app code and applying this way vs. common app will give you some extra points for demonstrated interest.
As far as testing goes, we are continuing to plan for it but not push prep yet. I think it will be an advantage to get a good score if the testing situation feels safe but if very few other students are able to get exams done this Fall, I will sweat it less when that becomes known. DS is mainly applying to moderately selective schools and hopefully have a strong safety we all like so there is a bit of pressure off. I refuse to make him prep again until it looks like it might really happen.
Last night Mr. AlliandNatesMom and I decided a one and a half day drive from home is probably going to be the farthest we are comfortable with.
@homerdog this line made me laugh
“Why is our D still stressed out about impressing schools so we can pay them $75k per year?”
@NateandAllisMom how many hours is one and half day drive? We have a friend who just drove straight through from IL to FL in one day but I would never do that!
I refuse to stress about the testing anymore. We are in the northeast where things still aren’t open 100%, and they just made the public schools virtual until mid-November at least so there will be no testing in the area. All her schools that she is applying to are TO and my D21 is not stressing out about it either. Instead of focusing her time doing test prep, she is doing two summer virtual pre-college programs and working on her essays. I think that is a better use of her time.
Anything over maybe 9-10 hrs drive time, I’d fly instead. Not many colleges in driving distance for us. We’re more looking at 2 hr flights vs 4 hr flights lol, one time zone vs two. The longer flight/time zone is slightly more inconvenient. But, we aren’t setting any limits, already with one kid at almost the furthest possible continental distance from home. (Short-notice move-out, BTDT.) There’s still one school on the list that has no direct flights, plane change at OHare. I’m kinda hoping against that one but for other reasons.
It’s quite possible that in one year, I could have kids in three time zones that are not ours. Figures.
My possible re-tester only needs to do so for the big reach. The issue is keeping that door open; he probably won’t decide on that school (ED) until Oct. As of now, Aug test date is supposed to happen, but the district is hybrid and everyone knows, reading between the lines, that the board will try to pull back to online at the earliest opportunity based on state stats. Things are low enough that privates and charters are all planning full time in person, though local test centers are all regular public high schools. I think the test center where he’s registered for Sept might be planning in person, though that’s a long time from now, not holding my breath.
The first thing I would do is decide how likely his test score will add to his application. If he has a 4.0 with lots of rigor, then the odds are low, but if he had a bad year or two that dragged his gpa down it’s a different story.
Also, he says he isn’t interested in Penn State, but a lot can happen between now and April.
@homerdog we ae Coastal California, so on the outskirts we will have Boulder and Seattle. Most of his targets now are here in California and an easy drive (but with traffic). In an emergency, we could get there in two days without a flight. We have direct flights to both Denver and Seattle from our regional airport so no LAX. Despite my other post, there are two super high dreamy reaches we will probably leave on for now that are not convenient AT ALL to travel to.
Come to think of it, distance of the college from the airport is as much, or more of, an aspect of convenience as the flight distance. I don’t think anything on the list is more than 30ish min from a major airport. Perhaps we can call that uber distance.
(I don’t know if Cal Poly will make one kid’s list, but there being a direct flight to SBP is one consideration in its favor.)
That is a really good point. And is now making me think more about D and her practice test scores. Would they help her? For her big reaches, no. For her matches, she’d likely be a little above the 50th percentile. So would her actual score help? No. She was consistently around 1400, which is marginally better at a 31 ACT concordance than her current 29 super score but it likely would not be a game changer. She wouldn’t get in because of a 1400 and might not be kept out because of it. So maybe it’s time to hang up the SAT hat. Even a 1450 which could easily happen if she has a good day wouldn’t be a big push and still low for a place like Vanderbilt.
She might be forced to take it in October at an all-school test. If she does ok, she could always study up and take Nov. Right now, though, I’m not going to freak if Sept is cancelled.
I think this is an important point. Not everyone has that 4.0 with top rigor and having a score can make a huge difference. Fingers crossed that those types of kids get a chance to test this fall, maybe by Dec.
OK - could use some hive mind help about midwest (near Chicago) schools. I really want my daughter to have a fall back application for somewhere that’s reasonably close. Northwestern (her off the cuff response the other day) is a waste of $75 to apply for many reasons, including the fact that they track demonstrated interest and she’s not even genuinely interested 
Big Futures on collegeboard is not working for me today no matter which browser I use.
I’m looking for (at most) 4-5 hours from Chicagoland, good for Science (Bio/Chem) and Math, not UIUC, ISU, IU or Purdue (personal reasons for her), has a marching band (so, has a football team), traditional (not commuter) campus, not a major reach school. Merit aid a big plus since she’ll get plenty from her top choices. Maybe one larger school and one medium school (5,000+ undergrads)?
Current list of schools she WANTS to go to in order of interest are:
UofSC
UA Tuscaloosa
Tulane
Clemson - haven’t visited
Elon - haven’t visited
Does anything come to mind right away?
Wisconsin?
Update on S18:
He has a low grade fever that comes and goes, he’s tired, no appetite or interest in drinking water without prodding, and a very slight cough. So he’s still at the point where a year ago most of us would pop a couple Advil ave still go about our day. I’m hoping he stays like that.
I’m not that worried about the immediate effects on a healthy 20 year old. He probably won’t get sicker, and will recover quickly. But I am concerned about the longer term vascular issues. He has a heart condition that shouldn’t really cause him problems, other than having a heart murmur loud enough you can diagnose it by putting your ear against his chest. But I worry it makes him more succeptible to other heart issues.
@3kids2dogs I’ll take whatever suggestions you get too!!! We’ve been through Fiske a thousand times. I can’t imagine what will pop out. But I agree that a school close to home with some merit is important to our D’s list too.
Agree with Wisconsin, adding Michigan State, U Kansas, Kansas State, Miami Ohio, Case Western, U Pitt
@dadof4kids thinking positive thoughts for your and your son.
My 2 cents on the testing debacle:
I think that the testing importance will end up depending on where you are geographically. If you are in a location where you have had your test canceled 5 times, there are probably lots of kids in the same boat. Even in schools that are begrudgingly TO for this year only, I don’t think it probably hurts that much.
If you are where I am, where tests are still being held if you are willing to jump through a few hoops, my guess is that most kids applying to selective colleges will have test scores. Having them is probably still a positive even at schools like Bowdoin that have been test optional forever.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I think that on most issues it depends on what the other kids in your bucket have. Test scores, EC’s, etc. And right now, lots of the buckets will be full of kids with either no test, or a score that doesn’t reflect their best effort.
@Mwfan1921 Only 2 of those 6 added schools (MSU, Miami Ohio) are within 5 hours of Chicago.
I assumed we were talking all in travel time (including flying), as Tulane, Clemson, and Elon are on the current list.