My D has similar numbers, and we’re sending both because colleges seem to like high SAT math sections. It’s a small expense compared to the app fees.
Seems like that July ACT math section was hard! All of my D’s practice ACTs were 35 or 36 for the math, and then urghhh.
@havenoidea The ACT is fractionally better in percentile terms. Does he have AP Calc scores to pair with that Math II 800? Regardless, I don’t see a downside in sending both, other than the modest cost. It must be such a relief to have strong test scores in hand.
I would send both test scores too, but only send official scores to schools that don’t allow self-reporting of scores (many do). No reason to spend the money to send official scores if you don’t need to.
Thank you!! @AlmostThere2018 @mamaedefamilia (yes, he has a 5 calc BC) and @Mwfan1921 . I guess he’ll just self-report all on the CA. I remember our older S sending his scores, but I think he didn’t check to see if they could be self reported (and I didn’t know). Probably wasted a ton of our money!
@NJWrestlingmom, @homerdog, @Mwfan1921 and @JanieWalker, thanks for your responses regarding financial aid. Will be making calls tomorrow. I keep having this sinking feeling I’m going to drop the ball on something important.
@Solstice155 I know what you mean about that sinking feeling. I didn’t anticipate I’d feel this stressed this year. D21 is mostly done with the application process now, but I am so very worried there is some big thing she didn’t do or I didn’t do and therefore she will be rejected everywhere. 
D and I had a talk today about the possibility of not enrolling in any school this year. She is really worried she will not learn much if college courses are online.
She plans to come in with tons of AP credit. She would take credit for her “weed out” classes in engineering, so she would start first semester in EE courses.
She would continue to work, increasing her hours.
I don’t know, it’s just something we have to watch closely. Glad the conversation is out there.
we’ve had similar discussions with our D. such tough decisions for these kids.
Friday night was first high school football game in NJ. Home team allowed to have cheerleaders and band. 2 tickets per family. No student body section. Lots of awkward silence, but some normalcy was a beautiful site.
@BmacNJ we were allowed to have fans, although a limited number. My D didn’t bother to go, so not sure how many. But we won!
@BmacNJ we had parents of football team, band, cheerleaders etc that where allowed to attend. They had a 50 person student section. They also allowed 2 parents of each of the opposing teams seniors. That ended up wit 17% of stadium capacity and enabled social distancing
Our son submitted his first applications over the weekend to 2 PA state schools. These are our financial safety schools, provided honors scholarships come in where we think they will (presuming he’s accepted in the honors colleges). He’s well above the avg stats for the honors programs, but we’ll see. These are the last choice schools for him, but we’re shooting for honors acceptance to see where they come in financially so we have the option should it be needed.
He’s started apps for 5 LACs and is narrowing down his list for his other applications. We’re basically casting a net for every possibility. The super reach schools will likely come in at most affordable based on aid, but with very low acceptance rates we’re basically looking at them like a lottery. I’m confident he’ll get into all of his “middle tier” choices (not yet confirmed, but leaning towards Muhlenberg, Juniata, Allegheny, etc) but with such uncertainty around COVID and how financial offers will play out we’re not sure they will be affordable. If they lose too many full pay, or mostly pay students that could really impact the financial packages offered. Luckily he seems to be taking it all in stride with little stress, despite the uncertainty around it all.
I am a bit concerned, however, about his top choice, Hamilton. We know it’s a reach, but he just found out that a friend from high school has signed a letter of intent to play soccer at Hamilton. I suspect that makes his odds even longer now. With such a small student body, I can’t see them accepting 2 kids from the same high school. Hopefully I’m wrong about that.
Back on the UNC topic and OOS acceptances. One of the things that the AO stated when we toured last fall was that legacy status didn’t matter in In-State applications but it can tip the scale for OOS applicants, all other things being equal.
Same scenario from D’s HS. The few kids I know who applied (full IB, super strong all around) were rejected and went on to top 20 ranked schools. I got the impression from my D that her HS counselors encourage students who fit the profile to be admitted to tippy top schools but are interested in UNCCH to apply to UVA and Univ of Michigan instead if they really interested in a large out of state public university, because that’s where they will likely get in. So the # of apps from her school to UNCCH has definitely dropped over the past several years. Being from NJ I have friends and relatives who attended UNCCH and yeah, comparatively, it doesn’t seem like it’s an even admissions process. I just figured UNCCH didn’t really want the left coasters:).
S is 2:2 on rolling admission schools that didn’t required an essay, which wasn’t unexpected. I was kinda hoping that receiving the acceptances would light a fire to finish his essay, but it doesn’t look that that’s going to happen any time soon. I’m thinking he’s going to be the last-minute RD application type of kid.
@sccaflagger74 Congrats to your D on getting some apps in. On the recruited athlete from your school, our experience with D3 recruiting was that recruited athletes applying ED are really in a separate pool from RD kids from the same school. So, the fact that a kid has committed – which at Hamilton would mean an agreement to apply ED in exchange for a roster spot on the team, no likely letters or letters of intent – would probably have little impact on the admission chances of others applying RD from the same school. That doesn’t stop the worrying, of course!
“I just figured UNCCH didn’t really want the left coasters:)”
I think it has something to do with CA has lots of cheaper, top public colleges (UCs) so the adcoms figured that yield is going to be low. For example, if the applicant gets into UCLA or UC Berkeley (or mid-tier UCs), they are probably not going to travel across the country to attend UNC-CH for almost 3x more for OOS tuition.
We are generally sticking with the college plan, but I’ve been feeling anxious lately since the virus seems to be on the upswing again. Our state (CA) is doing ok, but is starting with reduced capacity reopenings indoors now. There are still quite a few remaining tasks S has to do between now and the end of application season and it appears that he will pretty much have to learn AP Physics on his own from an outside source.
We were not going to do the FAFSA, but I’ve been advised in vague terms that there are some grants and scholarships that require it. Trying to get H to taking on investigating this and doing the form if we need to.
@sccaflagger74 Hamilton considers interest if I remember right. It even says on their website “read all of our emails” or something like that. Did your kid interview yet?
Do the FAFSA even if you think you won’t qualify for the need based aids. It will help you with other awards that are not need based.