I’m not much of a drinker but I’d love a glass of red (or white, for that matter) about now. Alas, my cellar has been depleted!
@AlwaysMoving @havenoidea Yes, we are on it. We have a book with 5 practice tests on hand. I’m hoping he finishes homework in time to take a baseline timed test this evening (or most of it). He took a combo ACT SAT bootcamp before the 10th PSAT and he was pretty quick. Thankfully he’s a fast reader. The math will be the issue to finish I’m sure but at least it’s more straightforward than the SAT math that gave him some trouble. Refreshing to remember that and that math is only 25% of this exam. I’m glad he will at least get a shot at it.
On the COVID school thread someone posted the Wesleyan numbers and it looks like their freshmen class is down about 14%. That’s inline with what I’ve seen at other top privates. I would guess apps will be down too or at least AOs will be nervous about summer melt if there is not a vaccine, so I think we should see better odds for our kids.
Keep your fingers crossed. 
D will take the SAT tomorrow at school. I swear I thought I’d never be writing that sentence.
We got the date and it was confirmed two weeks ago. Her plan was to take two full time tests before tomorrow. She took one last week. Graded it and it was way better than her best practice test from spring. She decided to stop there. Wants to feel good about going in. Lol.
So she’s got the one tomorrow. One this Saturday and one next Saturday! Ha! She’ll have so little time in between the tests and obviously won’t have scores back before next Saturday’s test so she’s just going to have to go in each time and see what she can do. At least she should have three tests to make a superscore. All of her apps are ready to go except one so we just need to get these scores and then decide if she sends them to any of her schools or goes TO. Honestly, I really think she’s fine TO for all schools and she knows that so I hope the pressure is off.
@homerdog good luck to your D tomorrow and the next two test.
Hi everybody! I have been away from CC for months and I came back to over 1,000 posts! It took me all week to catch up but I think I’ve read everything.
I will update on us tomorrow (nothing exciting, in fact we are way behind on everything!) but had to pop in to say I will meet you all at the NOLA CC party. ? D19 is a sophomore at Tulane, we all love it there and I swear if we were independently wealthy DH would have already bought a house there. I’ll meet you all at ACME as long as we can go listen to some zydeco at Tropic Isle Bayou Club afterwards!
Welcome back, @momtogkc! We’ll be waiting to hear your story.
I would love to have a cute shotgun house of my own just off Magazine Street and invite y’all over. As is, I’m stuck in Appalachia making do with an aspirin and apple juice on the rocks. Seriously, these days my favorite weather is in the sixties so I don’t think I could take that heat anymore but I wouldn’t mind learning to play the washboard at my advanced age.
@inthegarden , I am thinking Appachia sounds like a nice plus to be stuck.
@TVBingeWatcher2, it can be! Have to admit the mountains are pretty. We’re surrounded by state parks in every direction (the closest is a 15-minute drive from my house in town) so that’s something! Especially in a pandemic!
@inthegarden Ooh, the mountains sound wonderful. We live in FL now so we are used to the heat but I still don’t love it. I’m taking D21 and 3 of her friends to see schools in VA and NC this weekend and I’ve tried every which way to figure out how to get to the mountains even for a few hours but it’s just not working out. ?
Oh, and for fun once in a while I look at houses for sale in
NO. I can’t link it here but check out 1317 Burdette St. not a shotgun but the cutest little house right by Tulane. Again, if we were independently wealthy I’d want that as my crash pad for when I visit D19.
@momtogkc, that IS cute! (You could buy a Victorian mansion at that
price where I live but, then it wouldn’t be New Orleans). I used to rent a house just a few blocks away on Cohn Street near Pine! Then I moved to Camp Street near Jefferson (just a block from Magazine. ) Met my husband at the PJs coffee shop on Magazine Street near Jefferson one week after moving in. I got up one Saturday morning, thought to myself “you are going to meet someone today “ (Even though I hadn’t been planning to meet anyone) and there he was. And so, here I am in Appalachia, lol.
OU announced they are going test optional for the next 5 years including for scholarship consideration which will be done holistically. S21 is probably adding OU to his list now lol.
@burghdad Argh, that UNC flyer. And the books and webinars with creative, insightful essays. “My grandma…” - S21 has none living. “My heritage…” - nothing notable. “My unique interest…” - S21 feels pretty average there. We joke about an essay that starts, “I’m about as average as you can get…”
Read “IN DEFENSE OF BEING AVERAGE”. I would link it but you can google it. It’s about a 10 minute read.
@eb23282 So glad you mentioned that essay. Super important for us all to remember.
The joy and satisfaction needs to come from doing the thing. Not from any results of doing the thing. We only have control over the doing. We have no control over the results. It’s one of the reasons I’m convinced that kids who’ve had to work for a long time at something without ever getting the medal for how great they are at it or without getting the results others would like will ultimately be the ones who are more satisfied with life and with the ability to bob and weave as circumstances change.
That’s the college essay I want to read.
hi all - new member here 
i’m just wondering if anybody else has a senior who is applying to international schools in addition to schools in the USA? My daughter is using UCAS for UK schools and has also collected information for Melbourne and Sydney (their process begins much later).
@hurlz13 - Welcome to CC!!!
My S was going to apply to St. A’s but with COVID he is sadly not going to do so. (Had planned to visit there over the summer.) But with that said, I still kind of wish he would do so, but now he is set on staying stateside.
Have you checked out the Student Room website? Lots of community forums on different schools.
There are some posters on CC who are very familiar with UK schools: @collegemom3717 and @Twoin18.
@hurlz13 – Welcome! My S21 is not applying internationally but my D18 used UCAS to apply to several UK schools. She navigated that pretty much herself so I don’t recall the mechanics of the process. Anyway, she had one outright rejection (Oxford, of course!), one acceptance (St. Andrews, which seems to target US students) and a couple of conditional offers (Edinburgh and Durham) contingent on submitting specific scores on AP or SAT subject tests she took Senior year related to her field of study. This latter is pretty common, I understand. Anyway, she let the ship sail and didn’t end up pursuing further. Feel free to PM me if you think I can help further.
@momtogkc I love zydeco, so that would be fun! Count me in!! Also, that house on Burdette is so cute. Husband and I have looked at places in NOLA just for fun (and only online), though mostly condos as they are less responsibility. My dream is to just rent a place for a month or two once S21 is out of the house (if he ever IS out of the house). Good luck on your trip! I would love to get son to Pittsburgh for the long weekend to see Pitt (he was last there 5 years ago with D17) but there is too much going on here.
@inthegarden. Great story about meeting your husband at PJs Coffee. Did you go to school in New Orleans? We love Magazine Street too.
St Andrews has been in the recent news for anyone looking to apply there. They are overenrolled this year, so that may have repercussions for the next 3 years: https://thetab.com/uk/stand/2020/09/01/st-andrews-postpone-in-person-teaching-because-too-many-students-will-return-23159
And having a me-too moment: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/prestigious-british-university-rocked-online-allegations-rape-sexual-misconduct-n1237638