@Acersaccharum , it really is too bad when the tour guide is just going through the motions. The best is when they start having conversations with the prospective students, which is what happened at Franklin & Marshall. D21 was chatting away with her about auditions, dogs on campus, lack of a math requirement (thumbs up).
I do think most schools offer other opportunities to meet current students besides just the tour guide. W&M has a program where you “shadow a student” for the day. D19 did that and she went to classes, ate in the dining hall, and met her student’s roommate. She also asked to practice with a club sports team, and they were happy to have her, so she met more kids that way. Maybe your D could do something like that if the school seems like a good match in other ways.
My D had about the most perfect “week before an ACT” as you can get. She had a super easy week at school (out early Wednesday and Thursday, off completely Friday due to Parent Teacher Conferences), and only worked Monday and Tuesday so she wasn’t even out late during the week.
She probably will never be as relaxed again this entire school year.
She was able to fit in two full practice tests this week and she did well, even going up a point on the second one, so that helped her confidence.
Here’s hoping all that rest, relaxation and upward testing trend transfers to the real test and she does well.
Welcome @disorbed ! Just post as much as you are comfortable with - the kids here are all over the board, and there is a sub-thread for 2021 3.0 - 3.4 gpa. My D21 is my second to go through this and sometimes you’ll find that you can get really valuable feedback when you post more information, especially as you go further in the process and start to have specific questions.
Your daughter does sound like an outstanding young lady and it sounds like she will have lots of options.
You mentioned she wants out of state schools but what does she want to study? Does she want Urban, suburban, rural, small college town? Does she want 2000, 5000, 20000, 50000? Does she want a school with big time athletics? Warm weather cold weather?
If you can throw some of those more specific items there lots of folks on here from different parts of the country, who have visited many schools with their class of 21 children. Moreover there lots folks with older kids who done this rodeo before if not multiple times. This forum and more importantly the folks on it can be a very helpful resources.
Anyone else’s kiddo taking the SAT on Saturday Nov 2?!
I think I’m more nervous then he is!!!
Marching Band contest season ended this past weekend with our last competition so that means after school rehearsals are coming to an end as well.
Only 2 more football games left in the regular season but we clinched a playoff spot. This will be a light week for S21, only have band rehearsal Thursday after school and Friday morning before school. He’s planning on going to the library straight from school to study Monday-Wednesday and knock out some practice tests.
D19 took it SAT in March of Jr year, so that was our initial thought for S21, but we agreed on Dec. instead since he’ll be pretty busy with his sport on most weekends in the spring. Actually, he’s pretty busy with his sport most weekends in the fall/winter too lol!
Hi everyone! It’s been a while since I posted here. Welcome to all the new parents.
D21 just finished her first quarter and is doing well. Not as well as she would like, had her first B’s, but she is trying to be less stressed about school so she did not freak out as much as she would have in the past. She is also in a few clubs, babysits almost every weekend, works 1-2 nights a week at a restaurant and is about to start soccer next week so I am so happy that she is relaxing a bit about school!
One problem with her being so busy is that she has not taken any standardized tests yet. She signed up for last week’s ACT but forgot to upload a picture in time so they cancelled her registration. Then she signed up for the SAT this weekend but now is not ready and since we ar bout of town she asked if she could postpone that too. :neutral: So, an extra $60 later she is now signed up for both tests in December.
@Momof3B and @mamaedefamilia Another Saturday SAT here. S21 is pretty relaxed about it - he doesn’t get as anxious about tests as S19 used to. Wish he had done more to prepare - he did a couple of practice tests in the past couple of months but just never made the time to do anything more.
Right now, trying to get him to jump start a major essay that is due Friday so he isn’t up half of Thursday night doing it. But all I hear is the piano being played…
D21 is on the regular track for math, so she’s taking Algebra II/Trig this year. Therefore, she won’t take the SAT/ACT until spring. Thanks to advice from this thread, she wants to try a practice run of each test to see which one she should focus on. There’s a company in town that will administer an old SAT and ACT on subsequent weekends under testing conditions and then score them, so I think she’s going to do that. Anxiety is a factor for her, so she wants to practice the whole process—good night’s sleep, breakfast, arriving early, calming mantras, lucky socks etc.
SAT question - S21 will take his first this weekend. I registered him for the no-essay option, because most schools seem to have dropped that as a requirement, and after working out in with S19, I realized how contrived the SAT essay format is. Now I am having second thoughts.
What are y’all thinking regarding the essay, both SAT and ACT?
@SammoJ I say “no” to the essay, too. The only school that requires an essay for us is LSU honors college. Which I didn’t realize until after I registered her for the ACT without essay. We’re visiting over Spring Break, and if it stays on the list, she can take it again with the essay. Apparently there is no score thresh hold. It’s literally a checkbox thing. Who knows, they may take it away for next year, I’m not too worried about it.
So few schools require SAT/ACT with Essay my S21 didn’t take it and has no plans to take it. Unless you’re looking at the UC system, very, very few require it.
No essay for us with S17 or D21. I honestly don’t know anyone who has done the essay around us (except my niece who has done every test known to mankind, I think!).
