We had similar thoughts as @evergreen5 There seemed to be a much higher risk of test fatigue in adding another hour for the essay resulting in a bombed essay score than a need for the actual score. While schools that don’t require may not “care” about the essay score, I’d just as soon not have them see a low score.
Our NHS induction is in about a week. D was nominated and got in, but the requirements are pretty lax. No specific amount of volunteer work needed…just evidence of leadership and community service. Two references are asked to write about either the applicant’s leadership or community volunteerism.
@homerdog that volunteer requirement during a specific (busy holiday-time) time frame is just crazy. I don’t see the point in it either…being so rigid doesn’t highlight a given student’s character developed over time, just a frenzied thing to check off of a list. How does the school justify this?
D21 is a cautionary tale about the essay. Exactly what Darcy said happened with her. So we are going to test again.
She did NHS, induction was a couple of weeks ago. I was actually emotional, it’s the first thing I think that I did and now she’s a member too.
@socaldad2002 None of those five colleges requires or recommends the essay for SAT or ACT. (It’s helpful to read requirements directly from the colleges’ websites. Never use third party lists, which are virtually always outdated. A lot has changed in the past two years. The essay was dropped rapidly.)
I really hope D21 decides not to do NHS! You have to have a 3.75 weighted GPA, and also recommendations, community service and involvement in school activities.
D19 did it because her friends were, and the induction ceremony was almost as long as graduation. I think it was 60% of her class. It’s not because of grade inflation—it’s hard to get an A in an honors or AP class at our school. However, NHS uses weighted GPA, so a B is a 4.0 and a C+ is 3.5. I’m not saying they should do it differently, just that NHS at our school isn’t really a special honor.
D19 didn’t put it on her application, but it did lead to a nice tutoring relationship in math with an underclassman.
@homerdog , that mandatory community service over such a short period of time at six different places does not sound meaningful for the kids.
@socaldad2002 NMF does NOT require the SAT/ACT with essay for confirmation. 100% certain D will not apply to any schools that require essay as financial fit is #1 criteria.
NMF definitely did not require the essay for a confirming score with D18.
D21 did just add the essay to her Sept ACT to be safe but it was lackluster since she went in blind. I hope it doesn’t overshadow her high ACT composite but D18 had the same experience (lackluster ACT essay since she was told just to take it as a formality) and her selective college still accepted her. They claim they don’t look at the score and I’m tempted to believe them. (Maybe data goes into a database sans the essay score for some colleges?)
@inthegarden honestly, I don’t know who is in charge of NHS or why they require what they do. Because so many kids are invited, I think they just try to weed out kids. And so many kids are invited because a few years ago, parents made a stink and wanted the GPA switched from unweighted to weighted and now so many kids can get invited. It seems to me that it’s those same parents who don’t get that NHS is different at every high school and not really some big honor across the board…so it’s not some big distinguishing feature on kids’ applications. AOs don’t know if it’s difficult or not to get into any one school’s NHS since they all have different requirements.
@JanieWalker my daughter dropped AP Physics with a low B but was able to transfer into an Honors Physics class.
I tied to get her to AP Bio this year and save Physics for next year in case she did struggle a bit. But she decided she want the easier course for her senior. Despite my advise that the Junior year is really the one that matters and she didn’t listen to me. Oh well.
@AndreaLynn It sounds like your child had plenty on her plate already. I wouldn’t bother with NHS. It’s unlikely to be the deciding factor between acceptance and rejection, especially given her other ECs and leadership positions.
@JanieWalker I am thinking along the lines of @burghdad, can she drop down to Honors Physics as an alternative?
Regarding the SAT essay, UCs, Duke, Stanford and Amherst College still recommend it, as does GW, CO School of Mines, Lehigh, and some CTCL-level LACs. When I googled the list out of curiosity, though, the majority of schools that require/recommend were unfamiliar to me! The essay will probably end up being superfluous, but I would hate to see her attain her target score and have to repeat because one or more of these becomes a school of interest between now and next fall.
@mamaedefamilia Those colleges listed in your post do not recommend it anymore. Stanford dropped about a year ago, Amherst dropped over the summer. GW is entirely test optional at this point. Mines does not recommend. Lehigh does not.
The UCs require and Duke recommends. Those are the only ones I am aware of.
This is an important point I tried to make above: a lot has changed in the past year or two. Random lists are outdated. The college’s website needs to be checked directly.
@mamaedefamilia thank you.
I didn’t know that requirements are so different across schools. She decided not to worry about it now, she says maybe next year
@evergreen5 Hmm, I figured the College Board’s site would be up to date, guess not. Lesson learned.
@mamaedefamilia and @burghdad I don’t think she can switch to a Physics Honors course without having to start that class from
the beginning, and she doesn’t want to work into the summer on physics.
S19 didn’t take AP physics until senior year. He knew it would be challenging and it’s well known that our teachers barely teach the material at all and kids have to learn it on their own. He waited until senior year when he had finished BC Calc. Even though AP physics 1 isn’t calc based, he felt that knowing calc really helped. He was one of only a few kids in the class who got an A without a tutor.
D21 is waiting until senior year to take physics but she’ll go with physics honors and not AP. Science is not her favorite subject. I think if it were up to her, she would just take AP Environmental next year and bag physics all together. but I think colleges want to see physics.
Just got home from visiting UT Austin. She really liked it. I think she is going to wind up at a big school. Austin is such a neat place also.
We found out her in school SAT will have the essay. D21 is thinking maybe of taking one separate time without essay to have that score to submit in case the essay is problematic again.
@mm5678 I assume you’re in Texas? I hear good things about UT. Kids around here like it but OOS admit is tough!
S21 had his first go at the SAT today (no essay!). Can’t really get a read on how he feels he did, I suppose we’ll find out in a few weeks! I think he’s planning on taking the December ACT.
He’ll also be taking Physics senior year, probably PreAp. He’s in AP Env Sci right now.
Now that marching band contest season is over, we can start concentrating on college visits…UT Austin, Southwestern University, UT San Antonio and Texas State are all on our list. Univ of Houston was ruled out this summer and TAMU is still the number one choice. UTD & UNT are local for us and familiar so no formal tours needed there.
I’ve said it before, but it’s so interesting to see how different schools are! At D’s school you can’t take any AP science without first taking physics., You can take concurrently (like physic and AP environmental) junior year, but only if you were in honors Chem in 10th grade and got at least an A-.
@JanieWalker Have ya’ll tried one on one tutoring?
For D there has been a HUGE learning curve for AP Physics and more so for AP Chem. The teachers teach X, homework is over XX and test are over XXXXX and trying to figure this out has been challenging. Pulling for your D.
And I am waving to my fellow Texans: @Momof3B hope your son gets a great score on SAT, and @mm5678 , D really liked UT, but sadly it is not affordable for us and they admit directly into each engineering major with minimal ability to switch engineering majors if she wanted to . She did a 3 week Debate camp summer before last on campus and liked it alot. I agree, Austin is such a fun/ cool/funky city.