@homerdog We are not in state for GT, so it is definitely a reach for DS given their low acceptance rate for OOS, but DS is a competitive applicant so he should have a decent shot if he can keep his grades up for another year.
Quick update from me. Well, my S21 walked into the SAT in Oct having done no prep and the result showed. He took a mock ACT and did better (not great) but heās now moving into real prep mode, so it was a wake up call which is good. Heāll take the ACT in Feb and weāll go from there. Nice to know that fall of senior year he could re-take sections if he wants to get better superscore.
We visited Case Western yesterday b/c it was a day off for him. He liked it! So far heās seen VT, UW-Madison, NC State, Case Western, so let me know if you have any questions on any of them. Weāre going to visit some nearby schools (UNC, Duke, Clemson) and do a Spring Break trip up the mid-Atlantic (I think Lehigh and maybe Pitt or Carnegie Mellon), but then I think thatās about it? Oh, heās got a friend at Cornell heāll go visit sometime next Spring. He may apply to a couple hard to get to schools that heād visit if accepted.
He still leaning computer engineering or possibly CS.
If he gets 33+ on ACT might add some more high reaches (already has a couple), but I donāt think he wants the super brainiac environment. He want to go somewhere perceived as good, but recognizes that engineering is hard enough anywhere, and being surrounded by too many super duper high achieving students seems stressful to him. With that in mind, Carnegie Mellon may not be right for him so Iām not sure weāll visit but he seems interested.
@AlmostThere2018 What did you and your son think about NCSU? We are instate so they are one of the better financial options for us. We hope to visit in the next six months or so.
He only did the engineering tour so we need to go back and do the full tour. From a ālooksā standpoint, neither of us love the main campus. Itās very hodge podge. However, most of the engineering is on the Centennial campus which is new and he really liked it. He has a lot of buddies who want to go there, and he knows weād sweeten the pot b/c weāre in-state. But itās not too far from home so I think that tempers his enthusiasm. But, honestly, for engineering or CS itās really hard option to give up. The value proposition is very high. Iād be really happy if he went that direction. Of course, itās no cakewalk to be accepted even in-state in those programs, esp. b/c he has no hooks and weāre from an affluent school district.
@yearstogo D21 and I were also at GA Tech yesterday! It was a beautiful day for a tour! We are in-state, so it is a truly great option. She really wants to go āawayā for school but ended up liking Tech much more than she thought she would. You really do not feel like you are in downtown Atlanta when you are on campus. It is a large and very well maintained campus centering on a huge green quad that is sunny and green all year long. The school offers very much more than itās engineering reputation would have you believe.
@BingeWatcher What a sweet story - teen romance has yet to appear at my home! Is your D taking AP physics? Mine is and many kids who are used to getting straight As have been seeing grades in the 60s or lower on tests and quizzes. Does her teacher curve?
@mamaedefamilia Thank you about the sweet story. Yes, D is taking AP Physics 1. The quiz is not curved but the teacher is letting her another quiz but the highest score she will be allowed is 80 to replace the failing quiz. Yes, the actually test are curved but for some reason not quizzes. I sure hope your Dās teacher is curving those scores! AP Physics is really a tough class for most of our kiddos.
Does anyone have thoughts on schools in Missouri?
@mm5678
Yes it seems to me UT Austin is stingy on the FAā¦ my eldest ended up at a LAC in the NE. We are in state Texas and he got no financial aid at UT, and the LAC is costing us not much more as we did get financial aid there. That being said his friends who wanted a big school do love the UT austin experience, and obviously everyone has different finances. Our public urban highschool had 1 student get in who was not auto from what I hear.
Attended the Loyola U Maryland open house today. Back when we visited with S19, S21 said āit feels like home here.ā Which I kind of attributed to the fact that he has grown up surrounded by Loyola stories, apparel, and people. Mr. InfiniteWaves and I are both alums and we still hang out with our college friends all the time.
Well, after taking a deeper dive today, S21 says itās the right fit and gives him āthe feeling.ā And this is a kid who has visited a ton of schools. He likes the emphasis on liberal arts, flexibility in figuring out what you want to study, and interdisciplinary/double major options. He chose three academic program sessions to attend and really liked all of the professors who presented. LUM checks all of his other boxes (size, urban-but-with-a-traditional-campus setting, distance from home, mission) as well.
Mr. InfiniteWaves and I are trying to remain all chill about it. Even though we are kind of excited that he likes our alma mater so much! 
S19 was admitted with a merit scholarship that put it in budget (and went to Penn State instead, which was totally cool by us). And S21 actually has slightly higher stats than S19 did at this time. So it is a very viable option.
Just had to share my excitement here. Ya know. So that I can stay all calm and āyeah, okay, sounds good, whatever feels rightā with S21. 
We visited Syracuse this weekend. My greatest fear has been realizedā¦D21 LOVES LOVES LOVES it! And it was 20 degrees, windy and snowing, so I think she means it! Alas, Iām guessing the chances of it being affordable are about 0! We shall seeā¦
But loved the architecture, dorms were nice, has programs she loves and all the students we came into contact with were great.
The icing on the cake - we were eating in the very crowded cafeteria when a passing freshman, just looking to eat before heading to class, asked if she could sit in our empty chair. She wasnāt with admissions- just a nice kid looking for a seat! She sat with us for 45 minutes and told us all about her experience so far. And as luck would have it, she said she doesnāt drink and has had no issue finding a group of friends to hang with and tons of things to do at the #1 party school! She was great!
Our first available Saturday for campus visits is coming up this week and S21 still hasnāt decided where heād like to tour. I suspect he hasnāt even researched the potential options. I shared a list of schools within driving distance but radio silence from him. I mentioned it to him again this morning on the drive to school and reminded him to sign up for a tour. Got an āuh-huhā back. If nothing scheduled Iāll take my S23 to my PSAC alma mater, Bloomsburg, for the last football game of the year. S23 already decided a few years ago he wants to go there so I suspect the college process will be much easier when itās his turn!
@sccaflagger74 I think a lot of juniors are in denial that college is coming up quickly. Because taking the tests and visiting schools comes almost two full years before they actually leave, many kids just arenāt ready to think about it. We want them to be working so far out on this. I sense this a bit with our D too. Maybe reassure your S that visits are preliminary and it will make it easier on him in 12 months when heās submitting apps.
I think it finally hit our daughterā¦and hard!
Sheās now looking longingly at Bates and Bowdoin, and just registered for the December SAT (though I advised her to wait until the March test). Iām afraid it may be a case of ātoo little, too late.ā
She has (so far) the grades, but most likely not the ECs, test scores, āpassionateā personality traits to distinguish her for this tier of school. She has always spent more effort blending in, not standing out (I think that has something to do with being an international adoptee) and I have tried to find that fine line between encouraging but not pressuring/helicoptering. Sheās a balanced and gentle soul 
and I love that! But I donāt know that āgentlenessā would get her into Bates (as down-to-earth and egalitarian as Iāve heard the values of that school to be).
Just today I told her to take a look a U Vermont since she seems to have a bit of the āNew Englandā bug in her. Until now she didnā't want to go far from home (Vermont would be a trip) but our kids do change a lot over a year or two!
@inthegarden You might want to read the posts or message @Lindagaf , whose daughter is a senior at Bates and has had a very good experience there.
@sccaflagger74 There hasnāt been much college interest here. It may come from the fact that D21 got dragged on way too many college visits with D17! She goes to a pretty competitive HS and some of the more ambitious kids already have strong test scores in place and are starting to talk about schools of interest. I imagine that the tempo will increase once the PSAT results come back and more kids have taken their first SAT or ACT.
What I am not looking forward to is when fellow classmates and parents start second guessing or criticizing the choices of others. I have a whole bunch of āsmile and nodā responses at the ready for me and my kid to repeat early and often!
Anyone waiting on ACT scores that come out late tonight/early tomorrow morning? D21 said math was way harder than expected and that seems to be the consensus when I read other kidsā posts on the website that shall not be named where the kids gather. She studied all summer, was sick for the Sept test and then reviewed a bit before the Oct sitting but being back in school with tons of homework wasnāt as good as being able to take it in Sept would have been when all of the studying would have been fresh.
Iāve been playing mind games with myself all day. Weirdly enough, D thought science was the easiest which is always her lowest score in practice. I think it was an easy science section but that means hard curve so not necessarily converts to a good score. Iām just hoping for two sections that hit her goal and then she can focus on the other two since all of the schools on her list superscore. My biggest worry is that sheāll be just shy of her goal on every section and then I donāt have a good plan for how she proceeds.
My D took the October ACT and is really hoping to get her scores tomorrow.
Unfortunately, she took a different test form than most kids, so she has no idea how she did.
It was her first time taking the ACT (aside from practice). She has a goal score (that she was achieving in practice) and if she hits it, sheās done. Otherwise, sheās looking to take the February test.
@3kids2dogs there were multiple test forms even just in D21ās room. Why do you think your D took a different test?
@homerdog and @3kids2dogs I hope your kids reach their target scores! We are waiting on SAT results, which should be issued on Friday. Fingers crossed!
@3kids2dogs sounds like it was test C11 that most kids are complaining about. D21 has friends who had two different tests that started with B and some kids also had C17.