For whomever was asking (sorry I don’t remember!), College Board posts dates when scores will come out. In the past I don’t remember that they included school day tests, but they are on there now. Interestingly, the 9/23 school day test results come out on 10/15, almost a week AFTER the Saturday, 9/26 results come out. :neutral: I don’t know if I can add the link, but I Googled “get SAT scores,” and the College Board link popped right up. (Don’t try Googling “When do SAT scores come out” because that takes you to a bunch of blogs from college admissions consultants!)
@smiles1011 Others may have more information about Bryn Mawr, but we did visit last fall. D hadn’t considered a women’s college before we went, but she really fell in love with the place. They make a convincing argument for a women’s education. The campus is stunning, all Gothic architecture, rolling hills, a lovely pond. D loved the traditions, the Honor Code, the multi-year dorms, the good food (by all accounts). There seemed to be a really strong, collaborative community. Even though Haverford wasn’t a fit, she likes that it’s so accessible, so there are co-ed groups for things like music and theater. Vassar, meanwhile, was on the itinerary for the spring break trip that never happened.
Congratulations to those who are killing it on their ACTs and SATs! Very impressive scores!
@coffeeat3 really great information, thank you so much.
@burghdad I have to admit I was laughing out loud reading your post. It sounded like one of those dreadful, boasting Christmas letters that are equal parts cringey and entertaining. What is clogging, btw?
D21 is plugging away at her personal essay and has completed a few supplementals. She is finally meeting with her GC tomorrow to iron out a few questions she has on the common app, and then hopefully she will get it populated. She is still solid on her ED choice and is planning on submitting a few EA apps as well. We are awaiting her score from the 9/12 ACT with fingers crossed for a couple of extra points. She also reported that she thought it was harder than her Dec 2019 test.
I am riding the stress train, too, waking up pretty much every night with my mind racing. This process is not for the faint of heart.
They are actually very cathartic. It’s a bit early for me to go to bed so I logged back on, but I can genuinely say that between my last post and now I haven’t really thought about college stuff, which is good because it’s all I have thought about for the last couple of days.
I’ll give you my thoughts on Bryn Mawr either in a pm or a separate post, but I will answer soon either way.
@123Mom123 I didn’t take it as dismissive at all, it was actually good advice. I have been giving more venting posts today rather than asking questions, but I have said on here several times that I don’t need unconditional love on the internet, I already have a golden retriever. He’s curled up at my feet right now even though I’m ignoring him.
I think it’s safe to say we all have this by now. I’m more of an introvert, but I still would rather do face to face. Zoom is a necessary evil, but I feel like it’s the worst of both worlds. I still have to be “on”, but I don’t get the comfort of a face to face interaction. I just feel like Zoom meetings are always a bit stilted and awkward. I had something I wanted to bring up on a meeting earlier today, but I didn’t because it didn’t seem worth the bother to bring up a new topic over Zoom. Face to face I wouldn’t have had that issue. But I decided that rather than disrupt an already awkward conversation I would just save my new issue for next time.
@Creaky I think a year or even 6 months ago I would have been cautioned by multiple posters that it wasn’t a good idea. I think the fact that no one has mentioned the downsides just goes to show what a mess the 2020 application cycle is. Good luck to your kiddo. Here’s to hoping we are done before Christmas break!
@homerdog sorry, it appears that my panic is spreading. The one I could visit now (I think) that is a bit tempting is Tulane. It’s kind of an outlier, so I won’t be surprised if she either loves or hates it if we spend a day there. OTOH, I don’t know that I want her going somewhere and falling in love with it at this stage of the process, especially one with a low admit rate and quirky results like Tulane. So I’m going to just hold off. If she gets in EA, we may slip down there in February before she has other decisions.
@dadof4kids, keep in mind that Feb = Marci Gras in Nola, thoughI can’t imagine what that would look like this year! I’d avoid it ,well, like the plague. Late Feb, you’d be in the clear and might have some lovely spring weather, though, there could be a tragic aftermath if the big party goes forward.
@inthegarden hopefully I would have realized that before I scheduled a trip, which I won’t do until she gets an acceptance so there is a good chance we never go anyway.
In a normal year, that would be a great combo trip. This year, not so much. I’m not sure how you hold an event where the main draw is thousands of people huddled close together. Depending on how they handle it, I may actually try to go ahead of the main events and not after. If you were designing a superspreader event from scratch, you could do worse than just recreating a normal Mardi Gras.
@dadof4kids, you’d think they’d have to just cancel it this year but I glanced at some websites that seem to point to it going through anyway, but who knows? I absolutely can’t imagine people distancing at Marci Gras as the whole point is the opposite of moderation…masks, yes, but not that kind! Plus, the screaming for beads … The governor may just have to call it off, depending on how things are at that time.
At any rate, in a normal year, the frequency of parades and tourists build up for weeks. Unless things are different the first two weeks in Feb will have a lot of actitivity…if I remember correctly there were parades on Wednesdays as well as weekends for at least a month or more, although some of the parades in outlying g areas as smaller and more local. If I were you I’d be thinking January , and Monday/Tuesday’s are a good bet for fewer visitors (and lower hotel occupancy).
^^ Last year, in late January, my DH had a work conference in NOLA and literally brought a plague back with him. He got me sick and we were both sick for over a month. With flu season on top of everything else, it might be best to just avoid NOLA or traveling in general until after March. I understand there is the soccer season to consider – but that may not actually go unless things get a lot better anyway. Swim season was cancelled last spring and even though swimming in chlorine pools is supposed to be relatively safe and distancing is definitely possible at meets, it is not certain that swim season will happen this spring.
I will be pretty surprised if we don’t have soccer. They are playing football right now, and pretty much all sports are happening somewhat regularly, just with more limited fans. I’m not saying it’s smart, but it is what is happening.
I probably won’t spend a lot of time figuring this out until she actually gets accepted by Northeastern or Tulane. But they are the big outliers, and both are EA. So if she gets into one/both, I may get on a plane to get them checked out before the bulk of her decisions are in.
The one that scares me the most is Smith honestly. If that seems like her best option on paper it will be really hard to make that decision without actually visiting. I don’t really know how she will react. Politically she is probably pretty slightly right of the typical student, which puts her pretty far to the left of the general population. I don’t think the political positions will necessarily make her uncomfortable. But the confrontation level might. IDK, I will cross that bridge when we get there.
I feel like I’m saying and typing out IDK more in the last 6 months than I have my whole life. It’s only 12:30 here and I’m at work, really too early for a drink. Right? IDK.
@dadof4kids happy to tell you about S19 experience at Northeastern, he loves it but it would not be a good fit for D21. I feel the same way about Reed for D21, if she is accepted and we are not able to get to Portland I would not feel good about sending her without being able to visit.
@123Mom123 I would prefer the grilled oysters from Acme Oyster House with that Hurricane! D17 is a senior at Tulane and I am so sad that I am not able to visit right now as New Orleans is one of my favorite places in the world. Also, I doubt Mardi Gras will happen in 2021. NOLA has a great mayor who has been very careful - early on she canceled all the festivals for the rest of 2020. My daughter is still having a great time since she doesn’t like huge crowds anyway. She mainly hangs out with her four housemates and her boyfriend.
Meanwhile, S21 was accepted to Pitt for Engineering yesterday! I still can’t believe both of my kids are seniors. Wow, I must be really old…
OMG just got two emails. One confirms SAT for October is cancelled at the public school. Next one is a huge surprise from S’s small private school that county reconsidered the waiver decline and will now allow ACT to be given their students. Now S has 12 days to prepare (while going to school). I was all settled into the idea of test optional or hoping he could do the make up date at the end of October. This is one crazy year.
Finally got our NMSF letter from the school. This weekend’s application boot camp will consist of the National merit app, submission of common app schools w/o short answer questions and more work on Apply Texas. We have a three day weekend so I am planning on nagging her to get it done!
As of right now, D21s first, second and third choice schools are ones that we have not visited. One is rolling admissions so we’ll know sooner rather than later (Arizona), one is a reasonably sure admission but want to see how they roll out the red carpet for NMF (UCF) and the third is the lottery ticket (USC) which is currently her first choice. Thankfully they are all reasonably short plane rides from Texas!
I gotta admit, NOLA sounds a lot better for the parent visit than Amherst, MA or Clinton, NY.
In the spirit of @123Mom123 's post, there may be Crown Royal in my coffee cup at the moment. As productive as I am being today (college stuff and also a non-profit board that I am seriously regretting being part of) I just as well have a drink and get the party started.
My accountant gave me the bottle when I opened my office 10 years ago. There is still 1/2 a bottle left, and I have shared before. So drinking at work isn’t exactly a habit. But today I’m aggravated enough (more with the non-profit than what you all are hearing about, plus D25 issues that have nothing to do with school just with her being in an unnecessary battle of the wills with my wife) that I decided it’s a “whiskey in the coffee cup” kind of day.
@123Mom123 thanks! Count me in for a tall hurricane.
Just broke the news to S and he’s stressed since his new AP physics teacher is not good (at least online). He refuses to do the bootcamp all weekend because it’s more zoom, so I think that’s reasonable. He will just hit the practice book and we will hope for the best. At least he will be free of supp essay work for a little while. In a sense I’m almost glad he doesn’t have more time to prep since fall grades are important for his reaches and essays are too.
@123Mom123 I’m so with you on that! My mom was from NOLA.
I don’t regret not making him study this summer as he had plenty to do and there was only a small chance that this would go down this way. College is important to us but it’s important to stay sane as well. He’s pretty fast. I’ll just hope for the best and rest assured that his grades are great except for T25. What a horrible time to be testing!
@NateandAllisMom - If it’s his first ACT make sure he takes timed practice tests. I’d do one as soon as possible because the hardest thing for my kid is finishing the sections. Also, the good news is everything is still test optional, so if his score isn’t his best effort he can always not send it.
@NateandAllisMom Even if it’s not his first time, it’s a good idea to refresh that timing. S took his 2d on Sat, didn’t do any timed practice in between and didn’t finish the reading.
Congrats to everyone’s kids getting the test in and the great scores! What a load off their (and your) minds!
@burghdad Thanks for taking the time to write out all the EC descriptions from the flyer (I threw it away without reading). They were hysterical!
@dadof4kids I’m now joining you in a drink. It’s 5pm here! Thank god.
