Thank you! I know it’s a solid score, but it was a let down after the PSAT. I think the digital version has a lot of benefits for S25 because of the shorter length and the fact that you can use the Desmos calculator during the exam. (My son is obsessed with Desmos and spends hours a day graphing out things for fun.) Hopefully the spring test goes better, but he will be fine either way. It’s just hard not to feeling anxious in the process. (for me, not him!)
I feel the same. D25 is doing the March 9 test and I need her to do at least 30 points higher than her paper test from August. Trying not to put on the pressure though!
I feel like the odd parent as Ive never had conversations about target or expected test scores with my kids. I barely remember when they are scheduled to take them. I only know a bit more as d25 asked me to help her advocate for paper test vs online.
None of my kids prepped outside of school. We focus more on finding a school to fit them vs trying to fit into a school. I assume my kids naturally try to do their best.
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We haven’t stressed them, but we have made sure our kids know that better test scores can lead to better scholarship offers—and since with all of our kids we’re chasing Big Merit Aid™, we’ve wanted to make sure they take them seriously.
C25 is done with them, though, and so we as a family are finally done with them. It’s a relief.
ETA: One thing we most emphatically have avoided talking to them about, though, is telling any of them how the others have done. And I don’t think they’ve told each other, either.
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Mine lovingly “compete with each other.” It’s really just encouragement with a little teasing. They each have their own strengths and it works well for them. They are also very proud when the younger one ups them, not resentful.
It’s not really talked about amongst school kids, but given the environment, most are chasing a 1500+
My youngest knows what eldest got & it’s definitely ‘motivating’ her to meet/beat the older one’s score.
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My kids violently refused to study for these tests. And I definitely did try to get them to do it, but no go.
Anybody have an idea of when campus visit calendars open up? I’ve been trying to make plans for spring break and need to see what our weekend tour options are going to be at several schools.
It varies wildly, every college is different.
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Since students are the tour guides, it usually opens after students finalize their spring semester class schedule. For schools on the quarter system, spring quarter class schedules (March - June) won’t be solidified for quite a while.
For weekends, you can get an idea of what they offer by looking at this current semester’s offerings.
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it’s hard to tell since weekend tours are offered some weeks/months but not others. But yeah that makes sense regarding tour guides’ schedules.
I’m not sure what schools you are looking at. Some big football schools don’t offer tours on weekends when there is a home game. I’m sure other events (ex. parent’s weekend) might impact tours as well.
Case Western is the one we really need to know about. They appear to offer some Sunday tours, really hoping that will be the case (lol) for March.
Have you tried asking on the CWRU forum?
I did a quick search for tour related posts and found this from the 2021. That was at a point in the pandemic when there was limited in person events.
We’re on the west coast and also looking at booking for spring break, many of the smaller LACs seems to be opening up their calendars and then some schools are still in December. We’re flying to the SE so kind of important that we are able to visit!
With D23, she emailed a few admission reps to make sure there would be availability when we were traveling. I think in most cases they just penciled her in. Also a nice way for your kid to “meet” his admissions counselor.
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It has nothing to do with trying to get into a big-name school. It’s all about scholarship money. D25 wants to go to vet school so… We are a donut hole family and can’t afford college without scholarships. D25 is also aiming for valedictorian, totally self-imposed. I actually wish she wasn’t so internally motivated for that because she is very stressed out all the time.
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Thanks for reminding me to look for tour dates. I looked last week and Duke had not updated but I just looked and they have them up through April. 
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Tomorrow is the first college fair my D25 is attending. I emailed the school to get a list of the colleges that will be there because it wasn’t advertised anywhere. I’m so disappointed that none of the schools that would be a good fit are coming. You can tell we live in an underserved area in NJ when only 6 regional schools are coming. Rowan U and the Rowan College, Montclair, Rider, Fairleigh Dickinson, Georgian Court and Neumann. I am surprised Stockton isn’t coming since we’re a feeder. It’s really difficult for us to go visit schools because of our schedules, it would have been really nice if some of the Pennsylvania schools could have come besides Neumann (Widener canceled ). Forget Rutgers and TCNJ even bothering with us!
Our college doesn’t get any schools my kids are interested in. It’s always small regional privates, state schools, or the local tech schools.
The only technical school is the Rowan College. That’s another missed opportunity because there’s a tech school in county plus I believe there’s a really good mechanical school that has great placement, both could be interesting for many students. Maybe it was scheduling conflicts who knows.