DS has a tough schedule with OnRamps Physics (basically dual credit) and H Pre-Calc as his most difficult and last two classes of the day. He is constantly missing those last two periods for athletic meets (HS dual sport athlete). Anyone else dealing with this issue? He is terrible about staying on top of makeup work so I am very nervous about how this is going to go. I have emailed the counselor to see if he can get a different section of math, but they are pretty strict on NO schedule changes unless you need to get in or out of an advanced class.
We are in a rural district as well. I am thankful for CC because I prefer to advise my kid personally. If I left it up to the counselor, they’d be applying to the same five universities everyone else does. I’d rather our counselors use their limited time to help the kids who really need it.
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yes but not until 2nd semester. D25’s physics class is the last period of the day and she’ll miss it or parts of it sometimes for mock trial and then soccer. Hopefully it won’t be too much but we’re in a new athletic conference, so I have no idea how many home vs. away games we’ll have.
Did anyone’s student take the practice digital PSAT this morning? My daughter thought it was much easier than either the paper PSAT she took last year or the practice SAT tests she’s been working on this summer. I assume they’ll use this data to calibrate the exam before October. What did your kids think?
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I haven’t had to face this as a parent, but you are describing my life as an athlete in a Texas 1A school many moons ago. I missed afternoon classes for tennis matches, golf tournaments, track meets, you name it - when you only have a small number of kids, the athletic ones have to play all the sports. The good thing was that the teachers tended to be much more accommodating than big school teachers. They knew how the system worked, so they tended to avoid giving tests or major deadlines on dates when the athletes would miss class.
My daughter thought it was easier and had extra time.
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Yes! You understand 
. He does swimming and track and then qualifies for multiple championship meets for both sports which extends the season and requires entire days off campus. I can’t imagine what 1A was like, the travel must have been crazy since those are typically very rural schools. Most of our competitions are 60-90 minutes away which I think is pretty rough.
If it’s easier that could be good but also bad… it could be harder to get NMSF if more kids score well. It’s hard enough to get that (at least in IL) as it is! Will they give you the score or is that secret?
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She will get the score in a couple weeks I think.
illnever, what is the info you picked up at Barnard as to whether they are going permanently test optional? How did D25 and you like Barnard (and Columbia, since she’ll take classes there as well)?
Our D25 is the youngest, and is the first of the 4 for whom we are considering private. The other three will be done with college by then.
EDIT: I just read your Barnard review. If you have any info on the test issue at Barnard, that would be great.
They only said they were test optional–didn’t comment on the permanency of it, but were clear that it was really ok to apply TO. I wrote up a brief summary, but I’ll re-cap a bit here:
I loved Barnard. It’s a really pretty campus, feels removed from the hustle and bustle of NYC, but is mere steps from the subway. The tour guide was an articulate cognitive science major. The joy of being an LAC was apparent–she started out as something with film and ended up in cog sci. Profs teach all classes. There is a strong sense of community, and it sounds like the students prefer Barnard, although easily take classes at Columbia, and all(?) the clubs are shared. She said that there isn’t a rivalry among Barnard and Columbia students. Everyone was friendly and presented as intelligent, articulate women.
D25 just doesn’t want to be in NYC. While she thought Barnard was “fine”, liked the small classes (and was intrigued by the class which got to observe the on-campus preschool), liked the enclosed campus, she said that she thinks it will get pushed off her list as she sees other schools. I knew she wasn’t in love with NYC before we arrived; that was her comment last time we were there a year ago. So we visited not bc it was on her short list, but bc I wanted to know if an enclosed campus in a city might be ok, or if she needs to look only at more suburban/rural areas. I think she could be happy in a smaller city (or perhaps one that felt less overwhelming–NYC is a pretty unique place! She has also ruled out SF.), and, as per my username, I’ll never say that she might not come around about Barnard. But she already states she thinks she could be happy at a lot of schools, so at this point I’m only looking to cut schools so she isn’t looking at hundreds of schools. Does that help?
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One good thing about the digital test is that the kids should get their scores very quickly. I think I read the evening they take it or the next day.
2 weeks until D25 takes the SAT. I’m starting to regret signing her up for it. She’s had such a busy summer that she hasn’t had much time to study. My intentions were good, have her take it before school gets into full swing, but I feel like she might have to take it (or the ACT) another time.
So far, only the other colleges at Columbia University are permanently test optional. Barnard has only extended the policy through Spring 2025 transfers. By then they will have 5 years of experience of reviewing applications that might not include ACT/SAT stats, as well as some insight if there was any meaningful difference of those students’ experiences. They also will realize their admission rate having been pushed into the single digits during those years.
So there are good reasons one could speculate that they might choose to align with the rest of the university - but, if so, a decision and announcement might not come until the spring (as in the past).
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D25 took a practice SAT through a prep company…because all of her friends were. We made a list of schools she’s interested in and they are all TO. She told me she still wants to take the SAT…because all her friends are. Sigh.
I have not signed her up and they are all full within a 25 mile radius until Dec. Do you all prioritize taking it locally or do you just travel? If it is early, that will not be great.
With my S23 we drove about 3 hours away for the SAT. They always start early so we stayed in a hotel the night before. I spent my time wandering around a new town and read my book. It was a pain, but I’m glad we did it. Even for test optional schools, a strong SAT score is always looked upon favorably. All of the schools he applied to were test optional or test blind but in submitting a strong score he ended up with merit offers that he might now have otherwise received ( he had a somewhat lower GPA).
This second time around we signed up d25 for a local testing site as soon as registration opened, but if that had not been an option I would have still registered her at a more distant site. This might end up saving you $ in the end.
D25 is taking the SAT more for merit aid than to get into a school. Always good to keep merit in mind.
Her test place is about 20-30 minutes away. It was the closest place available. I guess not too many places give the August test around here. We signed up the first day they became available back in June I think.
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It has never even occurred to me that SAT testing sites are hard to find. Our school holds all SAT and ACT and PSAT tests and never had an issue with it being full.
DS took an official practice PSAT Digital test through college board today of the new format. So glad he got the opportunity before the real PSAT NMSQT this fall. He said it seemed easier, but he has also had 5 hours of peer tutoring classes in the past two weeks. Also got his schedule.
JROTC
BAND
AP EURO
PHYSICS
ADVANCED CALC
SPANISH 2
CHS US Government (dual enrollment 1 semester class- our school likes to use terminology no one else uses, CHS is college within the HS).
PE (required 1semster)
ADVANCED ENGLISH
I wish he would do AP Physics but the teacher is AWFUL and I am sure he will learn more n regular physics- wish that could be quantified on apps!
He plans 3 more AP’s senior year and one more CHS.
And we are squeezing in a visit to University of Rochester on Monday on our way to drop DD27 at college.
He is looking for Navy ROTC scholarship schools that offer room and board to recipients. It’s the plan B if a service academy doesn’t come through.
I’ll be interested to hear what you think of U of Rochester; I hope you report back!
Out of curiosity, is JROTC a class? So he has 8 classes? I never cease to be amazed at how different school districts are. Our local district’s “normal” is 6 classes. They offer very few 7th period classes (band/jazz band/drama). If you want to take a 7th class that’s not on the list, too bad.
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your mileage may vary, but I have had pretty good luck with getting changes for all 4 of my kids, and the policy reads like you will get laughed out of the office for even asking to make changes outside of a very specific window for very specific reasons.
In our case, there are about 1500 kids in the HS, and they don’t want to mess with a bunch of unnecessary changes. But at least for my kids, who do well in school and who aren’t troublemakers, and usually had a good academic reason for wanting a change, they were happy to help.
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Our school isn’t that small but has pretty limited counselor knowledge too. They are good at helping the typical kid around here, who wants either CC, the local directional, or the state flagship. A few others. But for high academic kids who want to reach further, they are clueless. I have had a couple arguments with them about things like whether my daughter could apply to more schools after she applied to one EA (I had to show the counselor something explaining the difference between EA and ED). D also had a friend apply to Bryn Mawr, and she had no idea about filling out the CSS, they have only ever discussed the FAFSA. She would have gotten some aid but ended up just dropping the application, because she found out about it the day before it was due. They mentioned at an info session last fall that kids might have to take SAT subject tests if they want a selective school (those have been discontinued for a few years). I could do this all day…
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