In addition to Big Future Days, NACAC has a few virtual college fair dates remaining - NACAC National College Fairs- NACAC Virtual College Fairs
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I’m glad tests happened and it sounds like kids did well overall. Hopefully they’re happy with the scores!
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I proctored the SAT and the test I gave did not have this extra section, so it must have been randomized.
The ACT btw, has had the extra section for years in order to test sample questions. Many kids unfortunately do not take it seriously and just fill in their scan trons with random patterns which is a shame but understandable in some cases when they’ve been testing for 4-5 hours.
Yes. The CB website says scores for the March 13 test will be available on March 26. The essay, if taken, takes an extra week to be scored.
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Is the essay a totally separate score or is it folded into the verbal score?
The essay is a separate score, on three 2-8 point scales, and doesn’t factor at all into the two 200-800 point scores. (It’s also different than the 5th section).
The essay will be discontinued after June, and no school that I’m aware of requires it any more. Few, if any, will even look at an essay score, as what it measures isn’t very meaningful.
The one useful thing about the SAT Essay is that it got my daughter out of the first English requirement at UT-Austin for her score. Since AP English isn’t our strength, it worked out well for her.
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Hi everyone, I’m joining in this thread. I’ve looked up things here on and off over the years, but it’s starting to feel real right about now. D22 is interested in mech engineering and data science, and we’ll be doing more looking into things during spring break. If anyone else has a kid with similar interests and have some schools they’re considering highly, I’d love to hear what those are. Thanks!
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Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) announces they’ll no longer consider the SAT/ACT going forward. They were test optional for years. Now they’re just done with tests. COVID, man…
My older kid was interested in engineering. A lot depends on your student, but here are some we looked at (roughly geographic from northeast to southwest): Northeastern, MIT, Olin, WPI, RPI, RIT, Penn, Bucknell, Lafayatte, Lehigh, Maryland, Johns Hopkins, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, Case Western, Rose Hulman, Purdue, U Chicago Carlton, Cal Poly SLO, CalTech, USC, Harvey Mudd. She ended up deciding she liked smaller schools better and picked the smallest of the bunch – Olin. She is more computer science oriented, but they do have great MechE.
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@christinelin I have 2 Oliners (MechE and ECE) who finished up last spring. I hope your girl is enjoying her Olin experience. Those kids seem to really fly once they leave the bubble. Be prepared for her to end up in Boston, the PNW, or the Bay Area. Oliners are like pack animals and tend to settle together, often at top tech companies or startups.
@AgeofAquarius the list above of schools is an excellent list. From my kids’ internships, lots of MechE’s they have worked with come from these. I would add Georgia Tech to that list. I would suggest that you spend some time figuring out what your student is looking for from their education. My MechE wanted robotics research and ended up at Olin because he felt that he could have lots of freedom to do what he wanted. It worked for him. Other schools offer much more structured opportunities to grow both inside and outside the classroom.
Best of luck finding the fit you’re looking for.
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Add Colorado School of Mines for engineering. It was my S19’s top choice, and he was admitted, but we’re a financial aid family and it didn’t come anywhere close to being affordable. He moved on.
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Thanks for the suggestions @christinelin, and @MuggleMom @Creaky. I’ll put those on the list to look into. Are there ones in there that have as strong a liberal arts education as their engineering? D22 values liberal arts as much as engineering, so a school strong in both is what she’s looking for.
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This describes my D22 as well. She definitely wants to go into STEM, likely engineering or CS, but she loves the liberal arts just as much. It’s a difficult balance to find.
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Things seem to be getting busier in here! This is exciting! It looks like I need to visit more frequently if I want to keep up.
@luanne, your son’s summer is shaping up beautifully. He sounds so interesting and motivated. As far as your question about recs, my last applicant asked quite a few people, that fit into the various Common App categories, and matched the rec to the school as appropriate. It is good to have at minimum a potential STEM rec and a language arts rec. My daughter also had recs for music, sports, volunteer work, a pastor. Dartmouth wanted a peer to write a rec too. Not every school got every rec, and not every person who was asked followed through on the website! We found the technology confused a few.
@rivet2000, that’s wonderful abt the PSAT score! Hopefully good news ahead.
@DreamerMom , there is the $2500 possible direct scholarship as well with NMS. Not huge, but a little something 
@Vineyarder, hooray for the learners permit. I know your son is thrilled. Hope the SAT turns out just as well. My duaghter had one of those experimental sections too.
@momlion2443 Welcome! I have not heard of that service, but it sounds interesting. I told my older daughters that I am sending their sister down to them this summer for Essay Boot Camp, lol.
@gemeagles , hello and welcome! College visits, so exciting! We are eager to get going with that too. I suspect colleges will be much busier with visits this summer than is typical.
@songbirdmama , Wooohooo, that UPenn program sounds amazing!! re: practice vs real SAT, results were different for different kids here. For my current student, practice score was significantly higher to the point that I wondered if she misbubbled there (she knew she misbubbled on her PSAT, which killed me, lol) Rivet’s suggestion about doing the practice test with a mask is a great one!
@jellybean5 I was hoping for spring college tours for that very reason, motivation! Alas, Covid, and I broke my ankle, so nothing for now. We have not done Zoom tours, but did try a few virtual tours which was useful. I say the sooner the better as far as asking for letters of rec, though some schools have specific procedures.
@sweetgum, thanks for mentioning virtual college fairs! Will have to check that out.
Hi, @AgeofAquarius ! My current student is not an engineer, but her older sister graduated from Princeton electrical engineering last spring and considering her grad program acceptances now, in the areas of mechanical and biomed. Princeton undergrad engineering was great for her, and she came very close to attending Georgia Tech. She also really liked Harvey Mudd, Univ of WA, Montana State, Univ of Oklahoma, and Univ of Kentucky. She loved Dartmouth, but the engineering was a little unusual. Finances were a consideration for us. For grad school, she will attend either UC Boulder, Duke, or Georgia Tech.
In person school started here this week. Our state is one that has a significant portion of the population vaccinated and things are opening up quickly. D22 was supposed to just have one class, but today she surprised me and asked about returning to band. She has not picked up that instrument once since August, so did not see that coming.
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So exciting to have in-person school! I hope it goes well for her and the district.
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Our D stated in-person classes this week and she sat for the SAT last Saturday. She is very happy. I hope all continues to go well.
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My older D is soon to graduate from MechE and D22 is looking at CS, so I can share some of the options we’ve looked at. Some will be very dependent on GPA/test scores/etc.
Older was ~top 10-11% in high school, 1400 SAT. She’s at Purdue and also applied to (in order of preference) Virginia Tech, Lehigh, Ohio State, Pitt, Penn State (local safety), Case Western. Short list but no application - Maryland, Michigan, RPI, Michigan State.
Younger is 1st in class, 1580, etc. - MIT, Stanford, CMU, Caltech, Cornell, Michigan, Georgia Tech, Purdue, UIUC, U Washington, Penn State (safety). Longer list - Maryland, Wisconsin, Penn.
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My son’s interested in engineering, CS, maybe math? He’s not very sure at this point, but something along those lines. @RichInPitt thanks for sharing the lists. I keep looking up places, seeing what we can or can’t afford, etc.
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And we are officially done with testing!!! D22 took ACT at her school on March 2 and got her nice and final 36 on it today. She is all giggles and we are absolutely happy not to deal with this test mess. We are now waiting on her junior year GPA to finalise her college list and let the college games begin!!! 
Sorry to sound so braggish, but I am so relieved I don’t have to deal with this teenager’s study habits anymore!!!
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