<p>I agree that it is comforting (but not necessarily comfortable) to be above the median. If you are a perfectly wonderful, talented, bright, well-rounded kid, the 25-50 zone could be bad news. There are too many special cases and special talents ahead of you for those spots.</p>
<p>Calmom- I agree with all you said. Don't think he took it so much as higher scores would ensure admission as that a 2340 was not good enough for admission. In our case, S really didn't focus on tests at all, in fact only prep he ever did was to set the alarm and sharpen his pencils. Never even looked at a review book, just blessed with great brain cells in all subjects. His scores were such that even the soph results allowed him to realistically focus on any school he was interested in. He truly spent his time pursuing his passions, tests are just something he viewed as necessary to endure during the process.
My warning in all of this was just to take everything you hear with a grain of salt no matter where it comes from and trust your gut parental instinct.</p>
<p>Yes, definitely take things you hear with a grain of salt and verify anything important more than once! More than once, S called college admissions offices with questions and was given different answers by different reps!</p>
<p>Daderoo, the information you mention in post #170 is readily available. Search for the thread about TCCI Naviance. Many high schools allow outsiders to access the data that show how their students fared in admissions based on their SAT scores and GPAs. I was truly surprised that the acceptance thresholds vary so greatly from one high school to the next, indicating that your child is being compared to his peers within his school.</p>
<p>"Many high schools allow outsiders to access the data that show how their students fared in admissions based on their SAT scores and GPAs. I was truly surprised that the acceptance thresholds vary so greatly from one high school to the next, indicating that your child is being compared to his peers within his school."</p>
<p>What you don't know from those "pure" stats: was this a recruited athlete, or a legacy admit? Those can skew the stats from school to school, too.</p>
<p>I'm a HS GC as well as Mom of Sr. D. I could write a book here :-) My professional advice is:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Start early. Senior year is stressful and busy enough without college app. procrastination. Use summer to begin essays, begin apps, prep for one final SAT/ACT. Procrastination causes many students unnecessary stress and lost opportunities, not to mention putting gray hairs on their parents head :-)</p></li>
<li><p>Educate yourselves about admissions, fin aid, scholarships, etc. There is a wealth of information available out there. Be proactive, educate yourself and seek help when needed. Your student will benefit from the increased knowledge. No one is going to care more about your students college apps than you and your student.</p></li>
<li><p>Carefully select colleges to apply to (again, educate yourselves). Have at least one safety and match. I usually advise most students to apply 3-7 schools depending upon student preferences, $$, time, etc. Love your safety!</p></li>
<li><p>Talk with your student early about expected family $$ contributions. Students need a realistic idea of what is financially realistic.</p></li>
<li><p>Encourage your student to talk often about their college choices, what are the pros and cons, what do they expect to like/not like, social life, etc. etc. For most 18 year olds this is the first BIG adult decision they've ever had to make. Model how to make good decisions. Remind student that there are no perfect choices :-)</p></li>
<li><p>Listen to outside input but remember that this is your students and your families decision...you will receive many, many diverse and conflicting opinions about shoulda, coulda, woulda....see #5 above.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Personal advice as a Mom:
1. Provide love and support. It is a stressful time!
2. Encourage stretching a little bit....don't take the easy route.
3. Help prepare student for the good news and the not so good news...there will be some of both.
4. Consider a number of schools where your students stats are in top 25%...greatly increasing odds of merit $$.
5. Prepare to be stressed in Feb/March (that's where we are now) :-)....the waiting is tough!
6. There are 3000+ colleges...there are several colleges that every kid can be admitted to and be happy in. Don't buy too much in to the prestige game. Your child doesn't have to go to the most selective college they can be admitted to.
7. Get finances together in Nov./Dec. ....filing taxes early this one time helps everything.
8. Enjoy the last few months at home with your child....in a few short months they will have graduated and away at school.</p>
<p>If you are reading this website and the various postings you are ALREADY ahead of the game and will be a wonderful resource for your Senior :-)</p>
<p>avwh: My thoughts exactly.... Whenever I see a number of admits that fall below the 25 - 75% range at a highly selective school, I can't help but think that these are athletic recruits, legacies, donor's kids, or diversity admits.</p>
<p>"Whenever I see a number of admits that fall below the 25 - 75% range at a highly selective school" . . .</p>
<p>Maybe I've forgotten my statistics, but doesn't there always have to be 24% or so of the kids who fall below the 25 -75% range, regardless of how selective the school is?? And 24% or so of the kids who fall above? Just like there always has to be someone who graduates last?</p>
<p>The old joke - "What do you call the guy who graduated last in his medical school class?" "Doctor."</p>
<p>Chevda: Great point.... I guess we're just assuming that those in the bottom 25% are just not that close in stats to those in the middle range. However, they could just have stats that are a few points behind.</p>
<p>Don't worry too much about admission stats! Take a summer tour! Get out of the house for a week in the summer! Don't be type A, the deadlines will come and your student will meet the ones they need to meet. Many things are different than they were 20 or 30 years ago-- get out and see them for yourselves.</p>
<ol>
<li>A trip can be fun for the whole family with planning. You can get a little tired of hearing the same tour points by a backward walking student(see "Road Trip" for a good parody of college tours), but it's all interesting! Surprisingly, the younger ones can get into it--campuses are cool, bring bikes! Every campus is beautiful in the summer. Most college towns have municipal pools or stay at a hotel with one.</li>
<li>It is hard to get the Jrs. to visualize what they will be doing. Seeing a campus is a big help.<br></li>
<li>With the internet you can plan a very detailed itinerary-we did it hour by hour on Excel due to an athletic training regimen, but it's very worth it. See the sights along the way and enjoy local food, etc.<br></li>
<li> Get a T shirt at each school. </li>
<li>The whole process of choosing a school should be fun and a trip is a great way to kick it off. There will be hassles, but a motivated kid is easier to work with.<br></li>
<li>We made appts with Dept. heads and professors (all have websites) in both son's areas of interest in advance. The profs are usually very receptive and happy that prospective students have an interest. Make initial contacts by email and departmental secretaries are very nice. Try to get your kid to search the bio or business depts. themselves. Mine seemed to have trouble setting up a schedule as HSers don't do much of that, so I did that once we knew where we were going.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>There's no secret to finding a great school, just work at it, stay cool and have some fun!</p>
<p>I'm a junior, and I love college visits... I think they're a lot of fun. My sister is 13 and all she likes is shopping. Uh, any suggestions?</p>
<p>I meant for the spring break college visiting trip... I probably should've made that clear. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>That's very sweet of you. Should we not hijack this thread? It's been so useful until now; I'd hate for it to go off-topic.</p>
<p>The college bookstores are great! A lot of stuff with the college logos, but not everything. Also magazines, books, pens, cards, etc.
Also most colleges will give you a lunch if you're preregistered--they're pretty good. A college visit is kind of like shopping as you go in and out of a lot of places. The info sessions are boring if you're not involved, but usually only last an hour or so, so she could do something else. Putting a plan down on paper is a big help and opens up time for everyone else. You're not at someone's mercy and you can plan ahead. It's worth it to keep everyone happy. Check the Chamber of Commerce website for the town, often there are things that are interesting to do for others.</p>
<p>The thing is, my sister doesn't even want to leave DC. She says road trips "aren't fun", even though we've never been to either New England or the Midwest (the two options we're considering) and it'd be a completely new experience. It's really frustrating.</p>