Does anyone else’s high schools not track any statistics on applications or acceptance rates at all?
No such tracking up here.
S23 took the ACT this morning, with a head cold again - what are the odds? (We canceled the September one for the exact same reason.)
We are in PA, where the state Supreme Court just yesterday struck down the governor’s mask mandate. The test today was in a very red area of our county.
And both proctors in both classrooms were not wearing masks - and the unmasked person checking in the students made a point of telling my kid, “Oh you don’t have to wear a mask you know, as of last night.”
My son just nodded. He said every single student was wearing a mask and every single adult was unmasked.
Infuriating. Completely against ACT policy, and reminiscent of what happened in Flagler County a couple weeks ago with the SAT.
No masks today in our ACT in AL. We haven’t had masks in schools since the first week of September. My teens are vaccinated.
We ended the year without masks and our schools are unmasked this year. In our school district, the weekly average of positive students has been 10-30 this year (out of almost 5000) students. September there were 2 weeks where we hit 50-60 positive cases but otherwise, it’s been significantly less each week.
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gatormama - it’s just all so regional. i keep coming to that conclusion over and over again.
Here in the midwest we purposely chose a nearby HS that did not require masks for our D23 today. Just thought it would help her concentrate more. (there’s only one district that does require masks in our town of 500K peeps).
she ran out of time in two subjects; so that’s going to be interesting on her score report. A little PSA here - you can order it at the DEC Act, might not be too late today . . . ??
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D23 finally got get PSAT scores. The College Board had held up the whole school over some issue but I guess it got resolved. She was really happy to see that her math score was quite a bit better than her summer SAT. She got extra time on the PSAT (has a 504 for ADHD) but we had not yet filed for that when she did the SAT in Aug. She definitely felt it made her less stressed on the math section so that’s encouraging for a second try on the SAT, this time with the extra time.
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Thanks, but we can’t, because this was a rescheduled test - some weird ACT rule that if you resked, you can’t get the test report. (Or maybe it’s that they let us make the change for free? I was willing to pay the extra report fee, but they said it couldn’t be done…)
As for masks, I’m sorry if I came off ranting - but here in the NE part of the state, our numbers have gone sky-high again, and my whole family is just not comfortable going unmasked or being around large groups of unmasked folks. This, luckily, was not a large group. But still.
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My DS 25’s school removed the mask mandate Friday ¶, just in time for band/chorus concerts this week 
. And low vaccination rates here. Meanwhile, DD ‘23’s boarding school has required vaccinations, no masks and only the first couple of cases after Thanksgiving travel but they have been on it with testing all year.
All masked here at ACT test today, vaccinations also required for schools as is masking, just scheduled a booster for D23. Fingers crossed for one and done on ACT and PSAT likely to just make or just miss the NMSF cutoff (very high in our state).
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Oh, btw, there was an experimental Section 5 for the ACT today - was that nationwide?
My kid was so upset - “I thought I did well but there was this math section where none of the numbers made any sense” - and after questioning, I realized this was the experiment section and my spirits lifted.
There was an experimental section - some kids had math others English. Feel bad for the kids, they are mentally tired and just want to get out of there.
My D said the real math section was a bit unusual. More wordy problem than usual. She didn’t say difficult, just a slightly different vibe.
Kids in our area where masks everyday to school do when I asked her if it bothered her during the test, she gave me an odd look and clearly indicated it did not affect her at all.
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@Glow271, Likewise here in metro Atlanta…Kids in our county have mandatory masking for school anyway, so the mask requirement at ACT didn’t seem to phase D23.
The math pacing on that test phases her for certain, though!
She thinks she had to outright guess on ~10 math questions today, but she finished the other 3 sections. We’ll see if that math score pulls down the composite so much as to make the ACT no better for her than the SAT. I’m hoping she is done testing now, but I think there’s a decent possibility she’ll want to take one more crack at one or both tests late summer next year.
Sorry for the kids who had to do the experimental section. My D said she was supposed to have to do it, but their test booklets didn’t include it, so the proctor released them at the end of the regular test. She was happy to have one of her regular teachers as a proctor even though she was tested at a school 30 minutes from home…that was a nice surprise that made her a bit more comfortable, I think.
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glad you brought up the experimental section - my daughter said she had one in reading. (maybe english?) it was after the other tests, about 20 minutes, not super difficult. What do you think these are these all about ?
There are experimental sections in many if not most sittings of the SAT and ACT. It’s a method of piloting new question types in “real world” conditions, to prep for future tweaks to the tests.
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I am just really glad they throw them at the very end of testing.
Can you imagine starting with one of those doozies?
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I am a new poster, but have been lurking a bit and have enjoyed reading through the last few months of posts. My S23 wants to pursue a BS in psychology (likely minor or double major in Spanish) with an end goal of PhD in clinical psychology. Needless to say, keeping costs down for undergrad will be a priority. He has a 4.0 unweighted GPA (attends an excellent public high school in a suburb of Buffalo) with advanced and AP classes, has over 100 hours of volunteer work, is a level 10 gymnast, works part-time, does honor band (wind ensemble/jazz band), plays percussion for our church masses, and is nearly fluent in Spanish (he asked to spend last summer in Mexico doing gymnastics training nearly 100% in Spanish and plans to return this summer.) He is very focused, motivated and academically competitive (sets tough goals for himself.)
Believe it or not, starting at the end of sophomore year, we have visited 20 colleges already with more to go. I know that sounds crazy, but we like to travel and usually catch a college or two if we have pre-planned trips to visit family or go to a gymnastics meet. He only missed 2 days of school with these visits so quite a miracle the way we were able to schedule everything. I’ll list those we have visited below in case any of you have questions. I starred* his favorites so far, put a dash on those he isn’t in love with but is keeping on the list for now, and put an X next to those he took off the list. His goal is to narrow it down to 10-12 colleges to apply to in the early Fall 2022, doing as many EA options as possible. He is leaning towards a small-medium college (although he LOVED Northeastern) but is open to larger colleges which offer small class sizes or have honors programs/colleges that allow for a “small college feel at a big school.” He also seems to prefer urban or suburban over rural. He’s not a fan of “being in the middle of nowhere.” He is not interested in a big sports “rah, rah” school, has no desire to be a part of Greek life, prefers a traditional campus vs. neighborhood college (spread out buildings throughout an area) and likes a modern look vs. more old-style. Good Study Abroad programs are a priority, preferably full language immersion and opportunities for full year study or more than one semester during the 4 years.
He took the PSAT in October and scored a 1300/1520, getting 650 on each part (was 97th percentile and was a 195, I believe) so not in NMSF or Commended territory but he may have a shot at National Hispanic Scholar recognition since they now honor the top 10% rather than top 2.5%. I was pretty happy with the score considering he did not prep for it, he was a little disappointed but thinks it is a decent starting place for the goals he set. He took the SAT and ACT in December with some prep (but more as a baseline) and felt pretty good about each, although definitely preferred the format of the SAT. So we will see how he does on his first attempt and plan from there. Knowing my son, he will likely retake one of them (whichever seems better) even if he does well, so he can try to push his score up to his goals. He has Northeasten and Emory on his list, so he is well aware of their average SAT scores and wants to aim high. I know those schools aren’t known for big merit, but doesn’t hurt to have a few reach schools on the list.
Sorry for my long introduction but I’m sure I will be hanging out here over the next year as we get closer to college decision time. Reading through your previous posts has been very helpful! My D19 is very different from my son, so I spent alot of time on CC back in 2018/19 as she was deciding on a college for music…and it’s good to be back : )
Colleges we have visited:
University of Buffalo X
SUNY Buffalo State College *
Hobart & William Smith (Geneva, NY) X
Hamilton College X
Daemen College (Buffalo) *
LeMoyne College *
Rollins College (near Orlando) *
College of St. Rose (Albany) -
Gannon University (Erie, PA) X
St. John Fisher (Rochester, NY) *
SUNY Fredonia -
St. Lawrence (near Potsdam, NY) X
Clarkson University (Potsdam, NY) X
Clark University (Wochester) *
Boston College *
MCPHS (Boston) X
Emmanuel College (Boston) X
Northeastern University *
UMASS Boston *
Suffolk (Boston) X
Future Planned Visits (April):
Oglethrope (Atlanta)
Emory University (Atlanta)
MIght Visit (dates TBA):
Susquehana University (Selinsgrove, PA)
Juniata (Huntington, PA)
North Park (Chicago) & maybe some others in Chicago
Maybe a few in Florida or other states with Honors Colleges?
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All the best to your son. That’s a pretty good list of colleges.
I have a D in this class. We are yet to start visiting any colleges. When you visit a college, do you book a college admissions tour or you just go around yourself to see the campus? I am asking this because when we are trying to get College admissions tour, all the tours are on school days. So finding it difficult to schedule any.
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Thank you and best of luck to your daughter!
We try to book the “info session and tour” which is usually about 1.5-2 hours total. The info session allows the college to highlight how it stands out/what it has to offer. The tour gives us a feel for the campus. It’s fine to do the tour solo (you can research the college info) but we personally feel doing both is very helpful. We only did the tour at LeMoyne (Syracuse) but enjoyed it so much we went back for their Sunday open house to learn about the school in more detail. Which brings me to the other option: open houses. We attended open houses for some of the schools listed, either due to higher interest in the school or just worked out with our scheduling. One benefit is they are held on weekends so students do not have to miss school. But these usually run from 9-1pm or 1pm-5pm and are comprehensive with tours, department presentations, info about campus life, study abroad, honors programs, financial aid, etc. It can be exhausting and overwhelming, but really gives you a feel for the college IMO. I do know people who do self-guided tours (and many HAD to resort to this mode during the pandemic) but we prefer something more formal and are grateful colleges are now open for tours/open houses with safety restrictions in place (for now anyway.)
While stressful at times, I enjoyed looking at colleges with my daughter (and she had auditions too, so sometimes it was a double visit) and I am enjoying the process with my son as it allows me some quality time, knowing how fast high school flies by! So maybe it’s a just a selfish way for me to spend time with my busy kids. Lol.
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Thank you. I never knew about Open houses at colleges. Will definitely check that out.
Our D in 2023 class is our oldest, so learning this process along the way.
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