S21 bumped up his English portion of SAT 100 points from PSAT in April! Happy dance here. He’s not targeting tippy tops so could be done. Only wrinkle is potential recruit, so you really never know where that may lead. Wish he would have done a smidge better on the math - it’s his area of strength, but he ignored my advice review all that math he hadn’t seen since middle school.
@burghdad We visited UW last summer. I really liked it. Both kids didn’t like that it is right in the city.
Really nice to read everyone’s updates! We’re having a nonstop summer, so I haven’t checked CC in a while.
D21 was recently certified in something that relates to her EC and is a big deal within that EC, so that took up a couple of weeks. Then she completed a sports project she had started a while back. She was published in a regional magazine earlier this month - a short memoir/narrative about a major accomplishment within the aforementioned EC. Now she is about to head off to her last year at CTY where she will be a Nevermore. Then it will be two weeks of vacation with her dad, then a bunch of volunteer work, and then time for 11th grade to begin!
Her AP scores this year were a little disappointing for her. Two 4s when she was hoping for 5s, a 3 that I feel wasn’t a 4 because she was very sick the day of the test, and a 2 because…well…she just didn’t do well on that test (and she knew it when she came out of the testing center). That 2 is in AP Calc AB though, so now she is determined to do extremely well in AP Calc BC next year to make up for it. Bummed about the 3 though.
Her SAT2 wasn’t as high as she wanted either (680), so she’ll try again next year. She already has one solid SAT2, but she wants two.
Only a month and a half before school starts again! Ack!
Just checking in since I haven’t posted in here lately. D scored a 5 on her AP Human Geo test, so I was very happy for her. She also received an A on her Indiana University transcript for Calc 1 which is 5 college credits. Last year she earned 3 credits for Engineering Design through PLTW - Ivy Tech. Not sure where she’ll end up going to school and what all will transfer, but it’s nice to see her doing well.
Next year she’ll have a 6 credit IU US History class and 5 credit IU Calc 2 class, but this math teacher is notoriously harder, so hoping it goes well since that grade will follow her as well.
D21 is prepping this summer for the SAT with Kahn and practice tests. She’s actually been doing it more on her own now that her friends have been chatting about the test and test prepping.
I just ordered the 4th edition of Erica Meltzer’s SAT Grammar Book and Workbook and PWN the SAT Math Guide. I’m also thinking of getting the College Panda SAT Math book for D as well, but wondering if that would be overkill or if it’s also a good prep book. She needs to brush up on Alg 1/2 and Geometry since she hasn’t had them since MS. Debating whether to sign her up for the Aug. test or wait until Oct. to give her more time to practice and, hopefully, improve her score from last year’s 1260 PSAT. What do you all think?
Hope everyone’s summer is going well. It’s going by too fast and soon they’ll be Juniors. Oh my…
Today, my D21 visited UGA on a road trip down to Florida. We thought it might be a good fit since she ONLY wants to go South (we’re from the suburbs of Chicago), she loved University of South Carolina, and the boys in the family are already big UGA football fans (long story). Her report: campus was beautiful; they have some cool programs; meeting a drum major was great (she wants to to continue with marching band). But…it’s not for her. She said she just “felt a connection” with UofSC. That’s OK - sometimes it’s good to see places even if they just solidify that you like somewhere else better. I have a feeling we will not be spending tons of money on College application fees. We may struggle to get her to apply to more than two or three schools. She’s that set on UofSC. We’ll see how she feels this time next year.
Meanwhile, her little brothers met and got their picture taken with Jake Fromm (UGA’s quarterback) when we were touring the hall with all the athletic trophies, so it was definitely not a waste of time. They LOVE Jake Fromm!
@3kids2dogs There’s nothing wrong with only applying to 2 or 3 schools if they are good matches/safeties. It will make the process a lot less stressful, and there’s no reason to apply to a bunch of schools she knows she doesn’t want to go to. My S20 is only applying to four - his top two are basically safeties for him, and he just wants to take a flyer on two others, but it’s very doubtful he’ll end up at either one. If your D’s plan next year is only 2 or 3, make sure she applies early so if by some chance she doesn’t get in to any she’ll still have plenty of time to apply elsewhere.
@3kids2dogs if my kids were interested in large schools (which they are not), then UGA would be at the top of my list for them. I used to visit Athens frequently for work and absolutely loved the town and area. Many of my co-workes were alumni and they all raved about the school. USC is nice as well, and very popular from our neck of NJ.
@rjm2018 PWN the SAT has a new book out that is purely math problems, no instruction. It is a collection of the problems he releases if you follow him. He had a survey and only put the most difficult problems in his book. I don’t know your schools, but if they are schools that do not require all test to be sent, I don’t see the problem with having her sit for Aug and Oct. If Aug score is great you can cancel Oct. Those two sittings are closest to her concentrated prep she is doing.
We too will not be applying to many schools. Just the schools that are known for giving $$$ for NMF.
@rjm2018 You could sign her up for both SAT test dates, so she knows she has a back-up when she takes the August test. Maybe that would take off some of the pressure? My D21 is signed up for the August date and I am thinking of also putting her down for December (October conflicts with an EC date). She has been studying this summer, but she’s has also been busy with a million other things, so I worry her attention has been too split. Her attention will be split this fall though too, since she’ll have classes to deal with. Anyway, I think having two dates in my D21’s head might make the first SAT test psychologically easier for her.
@BingeWatcher, is this the book you’re talking about?
Sorry for the long link: I’m not sure how to shorten it.
I think you’re right @BingeWatcher and @JanieWalker. I’ll sign her up for August and October SATs. You both brought up great points. I doubt she’ll be a one-and-done tester, but I think the idea of test dates will decrease her stress while still keeping her prep work focused. She’s already doing better in the math section and Erica Meltzer’s SAT Grammar book and Grammar Workbook arrived today. She needs to work on that section now while still gaining points in math.
She’s seeing progress and that’s been a good motivator for her, along with the chatter from her friends re: the test. I’ll also have her try an ACT practice test too.
Lots of good info I’ve received from you both, @homerdog and others on this site re: how to have her focus her energies for studying. ?
@rjm2018 , yes that is the book I was talking about. Best of luck. She is working hard and I am sure it will pay off!
Ok, maybe somebody in here can answer this question for me bc College Board couldn’t and I can’t find a number for Khan. So, D has taken two SAT practice tests with paper/pencil and she used scan and score to double check my grading and to link her tests for focused practice. Her Oct. PSAT test is shown and highlighted on Khan and I can click on it and it takes me to College Board where I can get the more detailed breakdown of her EBRW and Math scores (like heart of algebra, standard English conventions, etc.), but her practice tests are not highlighted on Khan so all I see on Khan is her total score and the EBRW and Math breakdown. I’ve been using the official online info to grade her tests and do the indivualized breakdowns myself (it’s not hard, just time consuming) and was wondering if she’s not linked fully or if you just don’t get that more detailed breakdown unless you take an official CB exam. Thanks for any insight you can share. ?
Hi folks, new to this thread after lurking on CC for a while to learn the process for our first son. He has very little interest in college at this point, but I’m trying to prep in advance so when he does want to start thinking of it we’re ready to go as best as possible. Toured Swarthmore a few weeks ago in an effort to jump start his interest. Chose Swarthmore simply because we live only a few minutes away and we think he’d benefit from a smaller liberal arts school. We made it clear that admission to Swarthmore would be a long shot and would require a lot of work on his part to improve his chances. Also did a drive through Susquehanna while we were in that area this summer but he thought it was too small and didn’t like the church on campus. Religious affiliation could become an issue for us, even when the schools make it clear that affiliation does not mean religion is mandatory.
At this point I’m keeping tabs on all schools with his desired major (Physics) with the goal of as little debt as possible and the best launch pad to grad school via undergrad research (he wants to get his PhD in Physics). Looking at anything within a day’s drive so we’re casting a wide net!
He’s a mostly A student with a few Bs in classes he doesn’t like, but is not particularly motivated to go above and beyond what is necessary, except when it comes to Math and Physics in which case he will work on proofs for hours on incomprehensible math problems. He lets his brains carry him in his other classes, which will catch up with him at some point. PSAT: 1330, SAT Math 2 subject test: 800, AP Stats and AP Physics 1 were both 4s, and AP Euro scored a 5. He did take dual enrollment Chem at the local community college this year so he did get a feel for a college class and I think he particularly benefited from being in class with older students. The professor (a UPenn researcher) offered to write him a recommendation letter for college so that seems like a plus.
Looking forward to learning and contributing to the group and sorry this was so wordy!
oofa. That’s going to be A HUGE net of smaller LACs within a day’s drive of Philly. At this point, I’d recommend trying to narrow by setting i.e. rural, urban, suburban. That will help trim the potential list down a bit.
But nonetheless, welcome and good luck. You’ve got plenty of time…
For sure! We’ve asked the rural/suburban/urban question a few times with just a shrug for an answer. And at this point he doesn’t even know if small/medium/big school is what he wants so LAC is simply what we as parents think would work best for him, but not a set in stone requirement. Add in a major that most schools have and the net is gigantic!
@sccaflagger74 Welcome! My daughter is also potentially interested in physics, along with a bunch of other possibilities. We’ll see how she feels after AP Physics C next year! There are tons of schools in your neck of the woods. I have heard very good things about Dickinson and Muhlenberg, both of which offer merit scholarships and are a bit less selective than Swarthmore. Rowan and the College of NJ are not too distant and offer merit scholarships if he decides he wants something a bit larger and both have good reputations for the sciences.
@intparent has one daughter who went to Dickinson and another (now doing grad work in Physics) who did her undergrad degree at Harvey Mudd.
Hello All, Our S21 who’s attending a local public school in Indy is interested in pursuing pre-med with aspirations to go to med school. We are based out of Indiana with decent instate school options for pre-med but he’s interested in attending out of state schools for premed. His interest to attend out of state school (preference to go to Ivy League or some of the good schools in west coast) has now gone up a notch with his decent score in SAT and excellent academics so far in high school. We as parents are little unsure about this situation ( we both studied in India and immigrated to US) and want to make sure that his aspirations are realistic and also school is affordable and within our budget. So, any resources and suggestions are most welcome. Thanks in advance.
@Dinakar0130 What is a “decent” SAT score? And what is his GPA? He needs to have an unweighted GPA pretty close to 4.0 with lots of AP and honors classes and an SAT over 1500 to get into the pool that has a 1 in 10 shot at getting into an Ivy.
In other words, even if he has perfect stats, he still needs a lot of luck. What’s realistic is to take a shot but spend a lot of time looking at school outside of the top 20.
@Jhonny523 - thanks for your insight. His SAT score is 1520 and GPA weighted is 4.6 (so, close to 4.0). He scored 790 in Math and 730 in EBRW, so we hope hope to improve upon it may be by additional 20 to 30 points.