Our high school cancelled the national PSAT for less than one inch of snow. Terrible decision. The school normally has all kids take the PSAT in 10th grade for practice and again in 11th grade but since the kids couldn’t take it in 11th, my Ds score looks low on SCOIR. I hope colleges are not looking at her score on SCOIR.
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Not sure how SCOIR works, but I don’t think colleges look at anything but what is submitted with the application. If you’re referring to a 10th grade practice PSAT, no school will look at it. They very rarely even will look at a PSAT score.
(I would usually say never, but at least one school listed the PSAT as an option a student could submit if they couldn’t take the SAT/ACT due to the pandemic. It’s extremely unusual).
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Thanks Rich, checked it out. Unfortunately we didn’t do an alternate entry app back in April. Really wasn’t even thinking about it at the time. S22’s SAT will be all he has from a standardized testing perspective.
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You can submit it later but I work in marketing and I think about first impressions and the mental state when admission officials sit down and do the sitting where they review all the apps before submitting their reco to the bigger group. I want 99% of the info available to them at first glance. I just know psychologically when I have to go back to review something, that has to be the exception. Otherwise, I’m not that motivated since I’m already bought in on my first list. That’s just me thinking about it from a mental standpoint.
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Great marketing perspective, thank you. Better to submit the full application with all bells and whistles, especially if the AO’s total view time is less than 10 min. There are a few awards known to arrive after early applications. At least National Merit Commendation seems to be secured in early Sept.
Agree that merit money is pretty clearly stated and automatic with qualifying test scores but they now have a “competitive” scholarship option for test optional applicants and this new application is the basis for the award. Our local Bama rep recommended to be very thorough if pursuing the competitive test optional merit scholarships. Just sharing as I know this is fairly new.
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Do you know how to get an “excellent” rating for coursework rigor on Collegevine? We are in the UK and Collegevine’s system (understandably) does not accommodate non US educational systems so I have been trying to enter US equivalent data for D22 but no matter what I input I get back a “strong” rating (which I don’t believe is consistent with how US AOs would rate the courseload pursued by (most) US applicants at D22’s school). Thanks.
@LostInTheShuffle I think it is based on how many AP/IB classes your school offers and how many your child takes. I don’t think you need an excellent rating. My son took 11 AP classes, his school offered 25. He received a strong rating from College Vine and was accepted to 16 out of 17 schools.
In order to get an excellent rating from College Vine, I had to put in that he took 20 AP classes, that isn’t even possible!
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Thanks. I was putting all sorts of numbers in the various categories (though not 20 APs) and the rigor rating would not budge. So “strong” it is for D22!
It also depends on the university you are looking at. Try comparing somewhere with a high acceptance rate/low selectivity with somewhere really selective like one of the Ivies.
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You are correct. My daughter applied last year and submitted a score. Her application was name and address and stats. Got the top tier number. One thing to keep in mind at least last year the amount awarded with the TO scholarship was less than the top tier for the stats based number. I don’t know if that is the same this year but might be worth asking as some students may want to take another test to get the score up.
Yes I think you are right on - while the test optional competitive merit scholarships are up to full tuition, I’m pretty sure they are less generous overall than what is offered automatically with good to excellent test scores.
Ah, I see that now. Thanks!
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Don’t stress too much. I think 20 APs is nuts. Honestly, if your school offers a broad suite of AP classes and your kids take 2-3 in sophomore year, 3-4 in junior year, and 2-3 in senior year, they will be fine. I think my son had 11 AP classes by the time he graduated and he made it in to top UCs and an Ivy. If he had taken 10, I think they would’ve been ok, too.
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It was more for amusement, as so much of admission outcomes at top ranked schools is arbitrary. I am a volunteer college coach and just attended an orientation that included a session with 3 admissions officers from selective (but not ultra selective) schools - I was stunned by how subjective the process is and by the degree of individual AO discretion.
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I found the same thing that putting the AP/IB courses up to an impossible 20 shifted it to excellent, lol.
The important thing is that in the real world that you make sure that your D’s counselor is planning on checking that Most Rigorous box on her form.
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And we are stunned/often envious at how objective the process can be in the UK!
Playing with CollegeVine, I found that 16 APs were required to move by D22s coursework to Excellent at Penn State and taking all 25 APs offered didn’t move it above Strong at MIT (25 AP, 9 Honors, 5 DE, so 39 classes in 4 years).
I conclude that this metric is just silly.
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It is silly since schools are so different. At our HS AP courses aren’t allowed until junior year which means the most you could fit in would be 10. Typically, kids who are shooting for selective schools take 4-6 and a handful of kids will take 8-10 (very tough with our HS’s scheduling). That doesn’t keep anywhere from 40-60 kids from being admitted to top 50 schools every year and there are always Ivy + acceptances.
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Shouldn’t the measure actually be how any AP classes taken out of how many offered by a particular school? At our Ds high school only 12 are offered. Our D will graduate with 9. The other 3 are in areas she’s not interested in (CS for example).
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