S24 will try for the SAT for the second time. Good Luck to all the kids who will take it tomorrow!
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My son starts his first SAT in 5 mins. Good luck to all taking it.
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Oops wrong thread
OMG in the midst of preparing videos for the national YoungArts competition, not excited about repeating this process next year for arts supplements, what a pain, and choosing the videos is almost as painful as making them.
Good luck!! S24 is not into art so never looked into it. Hope your S does well.
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Hope everyone is doing good. Time flies we already have our 1st progress reports for 11th grade (we get 2 mid semester progress reports every sem). He is doing fine in most classes. A bit of struggle in AP Cal BC (he did pre-cal honors last year without any issue) where he has a B right now. First time a B in Math so we have to monitor that to see how that goes. Tried to see if he needs any external help but S24 says no and tells he can catch up rest of semester so will have to see.
He has been traditionally a debate guy but this year he says he wants to try Mock trial instead of debate and I feel like its not good to change now (has done debate since 6th grade) but he somehow he lost interest in debate. Sigh not what he will end up doing.
We have been told this is right time to start focusing on the major and also type of college he would like. I have asked him to start looking at it but he has not yet started on this yet. Did anyone start making a college list??
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With the large caveat that I am A Planner, we have already scheduled Spring Break college touring. Not the actual tours (those probably won’t open up until January '23) but the flights, hotels and primary planning of where is locked in. We knew what week S24 had off for spring break and started planning about 8 weeks ago.
Honestly, with all the travel snafus of the past year, we wanted to make sure we got flights, hotel and car rental at decent prices. We are also miles users for flights, and I’ve found the earlier you book, the better availability/flexibility you have - especially if you want non-stop. So I’ve booked all those things and check back every couple of weeks or so to see if there are price drops we can take advantage of. Also can cancel very easily if for some reason trip can’t be taken. Another advantage of using air miles, they just go back into your account.
S24 wants to do a Northeast/New England tour. We only have the 10 days of break so wanted to figure out how to see the most without seeing too much.
Having D20 and D23 made starting the conversation with S24 a lot more seamless. We already owned a Fiske guide, asking him to look through it wasn’t that difficult. Also he has been dragged along on several tours with his older sisters so he already had some very. firm. opinions.
I think we are going to see at least 2, maybe 3 colleges in the Five College Consortium in MA, check out Vassar & SUNY New Paltz, Wesleyan and perhaps one or two others. It will depend on the touring schedules as they open up at the colleges and universities.
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I have two college bound kids S23 and S24. We did not start working on S23’s college process until June this year and I quickly realized that I needed to be working on S24’s simultaneously. So S24 has gone along, not always willingly, to most of S23‘s (local) college tours. I have tried to encourage him to think about major and the things he wants in a college, but he is not too enthusiastic. He definitely wants to go to college, and he is putting a lot of focus into doing well in his challenging classes this year, but he doesn’t like thinking about moving away. If he is pressed, he thinks he wants to do some kind of engineering, so I have been making a list of schools that have good engineering programs that might have other features I think he would like.
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S24 has a list of about 14 schools that has about 6 “definite” and the rest are likely in terms of wanting to apply. Id like him to apply to 10-ish to cast a wide net. He is very sure he wants out of the northeast and away from anywhere cold and is focusing on the southern part of the country. He has seen a few already (NCSU and USofSC) and loved those and hopes to see UMiami over February break and then possibly Clemson, Alabama, Auburn, UGA in April. He is interested in business/sport management for right now so we will see if that holds.
Often the tests are questions from past AP exams, and those tests are a bit screwy compared to traditional math tests. My kids have had a lot of luck doing AP practice problems and watching videos for each unit.
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We saw Williams over the summer and are planning on Princeton and Wesleyan over the NJ teachers holiday. Trying to figure out when to get to Vassar, hoping for an open house date so he can see more than the outside of a few buildings!
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Thats awesome, what a relief. Unfortunately my S24 fell a few points short and will do it again in November
For college tours (and family vacations in general), my strategy for hotels is always to look for Homewood Suites, Residence Inns, Townplace Suites, Embassy Suites etc
I have both Marriott and Hilton points so they are convenient. I also try to schedule business meetings in a town so I can offset some personal expenses as well.
Basically any suite so that a family of 4 can spread out without having to book 2 rooms. It’s also convenient because they usually have a fridge, microwave and free breakfast.
Most college towns have one of these type hotels.
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Starting earlier with S24 than I did with D21. They are very different kids in terms of what they are/were looking for in colleges (she small liberal arts in northeast with focus on HWCs and S24 more interested in mid-sized liberal arts/engineering programs).
D21 wasn’t interested in even talking about college until second semester junior year, which I was fine with, (and then the pandemic hit upending all our spring break and beyond visiting plans). I think this is why I’m happy that S24 is interested in starting to look now.
So far we’ve planned a Boston area trip in a few weeks (with a drive down to visit Brown to visit a cousin). Then we’ll plan a trip in February and April as well. Not exactly sure where we’ll be going, probably Los Angeles area, including the Claremonts, and then a trip or two to New York/Connecticut/Philadelphia areas. No list so far, just planning on getting on campuses and researching websites to see what interests him.
S24 takes the ACT in December, so we’ll see what he gets and whether or not he needs to take it again. By January we’ll have a few pieces known to help narrow down the list to what’s possible with his stats. So far he’s enjoying looking through Fiske and laughing at some of the quotes from current students.
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That’s great that you have already planned the flights and stuff. We need to start some plans for spring/summer.
We have not had detailed discussions about the college visits with him but when ever we brought it up he was not fully into it. Is the Fiske guide good? Have heard about it but have not yet ordered it.
I think my S24 is similar to your S24. Says some kind of engineering but not 100% sure which one yet. I think starting a list based on good engineering schools is a good idea.
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Thanks I will ask him to look into it. I think he has not yet done this and more practice from here will hopefully help.
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Looks like he is looking for Private Universities? I think narrowing down a type of school also will help what to go and see.
Looks like another recommendation for Fiske. I will order this.
I would also like to go visit brown I really like their open curriculum and the flexibility to change majors.
Please do share how the Boston are trip goes. That is one area I would like to go and take a look at some schools.
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Good luck, I am really surprised at how painful this process remains and how much we have to make these kids worry over small differences.