I will get one for sure, but NOT a rushed one. I think it was ludicrous that there was talk of one before the election. Crazy indeed.
@hurlz13 I think we are going to just leave it at 4, there really isnât another one that appeals.
Interesting article today in the WSJ about the amount of test cancelations. Nobody has the full picture, but it seems like more students than I expected were able to test. I guess thatâs because we are in a very restrictive state. https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-is-making-sat-act-harder-to-take-11600862411
@momandslp Northeastern has some of the best marketing I have seen. When we visited with S19 he was sold. I am not sure what the merit is for ED, D19 applied EA and received Merit. I think I read on CC (but not sure) that EA recieved better merit offers. The post was from a student that worked in admissions, it could have been an old post.
Can you summarize? Paywall! Did it make it sound like most kids got a test? Itâs not much of a story then. Lol.
@GlobalFencingMom
make sense to leave it at 4 schools - my D was on the fence about Durham but kept going back to it, so decided to just apply.
Submitting UCAS this evening!
Anyone else ever get marketing emails from colleges addressed to the wrong name?
@Meddy no, all the emails are correctly addressed for us.
I think the vaccine will get more support post-election is my point. At least I hope it will. I think now when they ask that question people are concerned that it will be an unsafe vaccine that was rushed through approval. Iâm hoping that in December it isnât a political question. Right now it is seen as one.
I think by next fall, before school starts, they will have a vaccine and it will be adequately tested for safety. I am hoping that schools make it a requirement to have in order to enroll. If I had my way, getting current on all of your vaccines (MMR, Covid, Hepititis, etc.) would be a condition for getting a driverâs license or state ID card. Within 5 years everyone would have one.
Vaccines are a lot like a facemask. Sure, it protects you. But thatâs not why it is required. Itâs required to protect me and my kids from you. If we all do it, everyone is safer. Legitimate excuses (not Jenny McCarthy told me to trust my motherly instinct) excepted.
@AOP1925 D17 received great swag from Northeastern once she was accepted with merit (EA) but not any this early in the process. Northeastern is a reach for S21 so he would be extremely lucky to get in and will not get a dime. Going ED (especially this year when colleges are probably nervous about their yield) would definitely increase his odds, but while we love the school, we are nervous about COVID next fall. He would also probably only get in as an NU-In candidate. In the end, he would rather weigh options. He already got into Pitt Engineering, which is less than half the cost as we are in-state. I could see him getting deferred by Northeastern EA and then being re-evaluated for RD when they see how their numbers are bearing out. On the other hand, I had coffee yesterday with a friend with an S17 who received his harshest rejection letter from Northeastern during the EA round.
Also, S21 is thinking about going Undeclared to Northeastern because heâs not 100 percent sold on Engineering and he thinks it would increase his odds of acceptance. Any thoughts?
Right now they think about 65% of the normal number of test takers. What is missing is what academic level is missing the test. I have a hunch the higher the likely score the more likely the student finds an open test site.
Also, it will probably vary by location. If California might be below 50% but another state close to 100%.
@AlwaysMoving
thanks for summarizing! i agree with your hunch that students anticipating a higher score would be more likely to seek out a test site. However, several of my Dâs friends expecting high scores have had a lot of difficulty with tests cancelled at the last minute. Our high school will be holding SAT for seniors only during a school day only open to students in the 2 high schools in our districts. I would hope other schools could offer the same.
@momandslp
congratulations on the acceptance to Pitt!
@hurlz13 Wow, nice! Good luck. Just working on that darned personal statement. Hard if you donât have a bunch of ECs that show your interest etc. Ah well, will come up with something I am sure and at the end of the day, they are really focused on the grades which is very UK and I think they (at least Oxbridge) require top scores from SAT/ACT, APs and Subject tests!
@AlwaysMoving that is an interesting observation. If that is the case and AOs see that trend then the outcome if given the chance would be that it is better to test than not which is exactly what our school college counselors have said all along. Test optional is optional but if you can get a score and it is good it will be part of your holistic review.
@GlobalFencingMom â I agree but the hard thing this year is how to define a good score. If itâs close to or above 75th percentile then I would say âyes, itâs good.â A lot of students, my S included, have a test score in hand but couldnât re-test or could only re-test once so they likely donât have a score that reaches what theyâd have in a normal year where they could have tested more.
Weâve debated on this thread a few times â should you only submit if above 75th? above 50th? Between 25th and 50th? Seems like most tippy top school AOs are implying only submit it it helps you â which to me means at least 50th if not 75th percentile.
I wonder if AOs will know what % of students in a state took a test? If a student applies TO from a state where many/most kids have a score, will that be a negative on the student?
I wonder about that too since AOs will know that Illinois high schools are giving the SAT this fall because Illinois re-instated its graduation requirement to take the test. I do think, though, that AOs arenât detectives and donât have time to sit around and pontificate why a student who presents an otherwise strong app didnât send a score. Could the truth be that they took a bunch of tests and never hit a score they wanted to send? Or could they get only one test and itâs at the 50th percentile and they decided not to send (when the AO really would have been happy with that)? Or they just donât test as well compared to the rest of their app and they are still a great candidate who will contribute and thrive at their college? These AOs take 10-15 min to read an app. I have to keep telling myself that.
They always say that the transcript is the most important part of the app. They can put it into context (hopefully) with a good school profile provided by the high school. If you look at your kidâs transcript and spend some time doing it, youâll see a story. Itâs the same one the AOs see. Add on their ECs. What did they do with their time? Were they athletes, leaders, musicians, etc? Did they excel in what they did? Did they devote a lot of time to something they love? How far reaching was their influence? Did they excel in anything past their high school level? How do they write? Are they thoughtful and interesting? Do they show they know the college and they are good fit? What do their recommendations say? (Have you all looked at what the teacher recommendation form looks like from the common app? If not, you should. You can see all of the things your kids will be âgraded onâ by their recommenders.) Did they interview? How did that go?
Looking at all of the above, it does seem like AOs can make a decision. I seriously think that, even for highly selective schools, they know what all of those things look like for candidates theyâve accepted in the past. Even without a test score, they can identify students who fit in with the rest of the kids they are accepting who have a test score.
@AlmostThere2018, I guess I donât understand the idea of submitting unless the scores are near or above the 75% level. I thought the scores were not the thing that gets you in, just the thing that suggests you can do the workâŠthat grades and rigor (showing your work ethic) recs, ECs and essay differentiate you. If only students with 75% scores submit, where will it end? There will never be an accurate representation of the true mid-50 percentile of a college if that dynamic starts, driving the pressure for ever-higher scores until no one who gets under a 36 submits.
And just a gentle reminderâŠnot everyone here is applying to tippy tops where the competition would require that.
@Meddy - Got an email (from Duke) today that was definitely addressed to wrong name!
All previous emails weâve received (incl Duke) have been to correct name.
But the mistake definitely caught my eye today bc of your post yesterday. ?
@GlobalFencingMom
agree - it was a challenging statement to write and so different from here. on the flip side, i have heard that they donât put too much emphasis on the personal statement. as you said, much more focus on test scores.
she is glad to have that submitted â now back to essay writing 