<p>If you get invited to an honors program weekend, which you will if your son applies to UF and has the minimum SAT score, you should go to that. We are from Florida, and my D, who was vehemently against going to UF, said she could live with UF in the honors program after attending that program. She did get into the program, but, in the end, we all collectively decided on Vanderbilt for her (with similar scores to your son’s, although more balanced (720 cr; 690 m; 730 w). As the bill comes due, however, there are many days when I wish we had “made” her go to UF.</p>
<p>OP–Your son should try the SAT again. The writing (grammar) section (where he has a lower score) is the easiest place to gain points. Spend some time with a prep book. Thoroughly go over the grammar. Get familiar with the types of structures/errors that will appear on the test. I’ve seen a couple math-oriented boys–who probably missed 1/3 of the grammar questions on their first practice tests–go on to perfect scores in writing after prepping. (Your son should work on the reading section, too, but IMO it is not as easy to gain points there.)</p>
<p>If your son isn’t motivated to try prepping/re-taking, and you’re sure he’ll refuse, then there’s no point wasting $ on a book.</p>
<p>My son will definitely retake the SAT in October. We met with the college counselor yesterday who stressed to him the importance of professionally prepping for this. I will speak with him later about which tutor to use (the counselor has some or I know of another private tutor). Regardless, getting him to start those essays is tedious and frustrating.</p>
<p>A private tutor will make a big difference in that cr score. Bumping that score over 700 will move you S into a whole different ballgame, given his 800 in math. Scholarship opportunities will open up all over the place.</p>
<p>mathmom I would love Caltech (they have the long take home exams that requires one to material in exhaustive breadth. They are often allowed to use notes, but I can tell that won’t be sufficient to do well) or MIT biology. I’ve seen the work and I use it to learn things (like many of the harder teachers here, you’ll learn while taking the exam lol). The biology teachers who do multiple choice take most of the questions from the GRE biology. Most of them take only the most challenging, and one of them takes the moderate level questions (and maybe a couple of hard ones). 2 of them will not do multiple choice and come up w/ways of testing that require critical thinking and some level of creativity (like designing an experiment, testing results, etc.). Unfortunately, such teachers were not teaching intro. bio when I took it, but I am going to take one for Cell biology in the fall.<br>
Anyway, I suck at multiple choice for a course (as opposed to standardized test, where I can do better for some reason) because I always study and try to understand concepts in great depth and expect to be tested in such a manner as opposed to having a tough multiple choice exam only meant to tire out, trick, and confuse you on every turn (really long questions, long answers that look as if they could have interchangeable meaning, I mean, just horrible. I had to work to get decent grades in those prof’s classes despite knowing the material). Since intro. biology, with exception of one course, I have steered clear of professors who give multiple choice exams. It has payed off w/my learning and grades.</p>
<p>As for geography. I have to wonder if they’ll think Emory is too “hilly”. Some people find it hilly, but I think our hills are essentially speed bumps (okay, maybe that’s an unfair understatement) compared to places like Georgia Tech and UGA, not to mention, hills can be avoided if you just use the quad (and elevators every now and then lol). Overall, Emory is kind of flat to me, but I’m from Georgia so I’m biased (I’m actually from a flat part of Ga., but I still know a legit hill when I see it). At least WashU is, in essence, completely flat.</p>
<p>Hi Seiclan. No offense taken as I am well aware that the rules change from school to school on URM. Yes it did give him an edge with the acceptances at schools like wake and maybe bc, and it definitely gave him an edge at Emory, but there he is a legacy on my side also so a double whammy. Maybe that’s why I got into Emory in the first place, hundreds of years ago,but I survived. I gotta give the kid some credit with a 4.7W and 3.8UW and probably top 8-10% at private school. But as for UF, you can either be invited to apply for honors if you meet both gpa and test score criteria or you can just apply on your own. His UF gpa meet the criteria but not scores. He wrote a killer essay (yes I am the mother so I’m biased)
I have heard the program isn’t particularly beneficial, but for my son it was icing on the cake as you said. I too thought he was going out of state and thankfully money is not problem and would have paid whatever. But it was his choice in the end. Also um would have been a great option but he didn’t want to go to school in his backyard. I totally agreed.
Anyway I’ll let you know how the honor thing goes and the best of luck to your kid. The whole process is a life changing experience, for everyone involved!</p>
<p>readalotmom: “I got into Emory in the first place, hundreds of years ago,but I survived”</p>
<p>Wow, I’m going to guess Emory was actually tough when you attended it lol. Now it’s much larger, and the level of challenge hasn’t necessarily caught up to the increasing caliber of the student body (or maybe it’s possible that it is flat out easier than when you attended). Fortunately, the same could be said for most top schools (okay, maybe unfortunately overall, but fortunate that we aren’t alone as we’d stick out like a sore thumb).</p>
<p>S1 1450/1600, but 2070/2400 (760 Math, 690 Verbal, 620 W) All around decent applicant, but no super hooks, mixed Japanese/Jewish) </p>
<p>Rejected: Vassar, Carnegie Mellon
Accepted:
university of Rochester (might be match for your son?)
Oberlin
Brandeis
Skidmore
Northeastern - Honors/good merit
U.Wisc/Madison
U.Mass-honors/merit
U.Maryland College Park - Honors/merit - wound up attending</p>
<p>I agree that the University of Rochester is a really nice school! They say that there are more research opportunities for undergrads than there are undergrads to fill them.</p>
<p>Full disclosure: Pitt has hills. But he could get to class without walking on them. If he wanted to go to the main gym, a basketball game (which is important!), the fraternities on “upper campus”, he would need to go up “Cardiac Hill”. There are campus buses to the gym, but no one takes a campus bus to the basketball game unless he or she is disabled. If he had an internship in a hospital that is on a hill (some are, some aren’t), he could learn how to get there via elevators and pedestrian walkways.
It’s a matter of attitude: most people here view the hills as very therapeutic!</p>
<p>I view them as therapeutic and as an addition to an otherwise boring geography/landscape (not to mention our architecture would be much less interesting if the school were flat). I mean some people prefer the flat landscapes with sprawling, perfectly manicured lawns, but I like hills and trees much more. On the most functional parts of campus (in terms of undegrad life) we have a couple of hills, several bridge based walkways and roads, lots of trees, one quad, and several courtyard/plaza like areas, nothing too grandiose like at peer institutions though. Nearly verything is post-modern. Admittedly, flatter landscapes seem more conducive to having several quads which people like on college campuses.
I don’t know if you had to disclose that about UPitt. Pittsburgh area is very hilly (don’t they call it like the San Francisco of the east coast?) so it should be expected. </p>
<p>Also, isn’t Rochester a little hilly too?
If anyone is worried about Geography of a school, one can simply look at Google Earth and put the Terrain on level 3. It’ll give some idea of how flat or hilly a campus is.</p>
<p>SAT 1990, got into UC Davis, UIUC, RPI (off waitlist), Case Western, and St. John’s.</p>
<p>Just wanted to give an update on what my son is up to. I think that my son is done with his applications (unless he gets bad news in December). He ended up applying to only 7 schools and has already gotten admitted to his safety (UCF in Orlando)with an invitation to apply for the Honors College, yeah!</p>
<p>Now we wait for the rest of the decisions. He did apply ED to a high match/low reach school that he fell in love with last summer when he and his Dad visited. Now, I wish that I had gone with them on the trip (it is a 2 hour plane ride away) to see the school through his eyes! I hope that his essays conveyed his love and fit for the school but I will say that writing is not my son’s forte. He is a math/science kid with very lopsided SAT scores. He never ended up taking the SAT over in October so his highest score is 2070. We will see how that pans out in a few months.</p>
<p>I wanted to add one more thing to my above post. He also now thinks that he wants to be a business major instead of premed. He thinks that he may enjoy dabbling in the financial markets (like his dad) someday. He is applying to most colleges as “undecided” major though, since he is not sure.
Thank you so much for all your help on this thread.</p>
<p>I’ve had similar worries for my D as others on this thread. White female from overrepresented state, no hooks, 2140 SAT, 3.7 GPA, too good for a lot of places but not good enough for many others. She won’t get into top schools, but I’m also worried about “Tufts syndrome” at other “lowlier” places. I don’t want her to go to a place where she won’t be challenged, which eliminates a lot of third-tier privates. Unfortunately she hates our state flagship, which otherwise would be a good safety in both academic and financial terms. Reading CC, I feel as if kids in her bracket are unwanted–hence the feeling that she’s too good yet not good enough. There is no bracket for them.</p>
<p>Same situation here with both of my kids - just ok test scores, not perfect GPAs, etc. My older son applied ED to his dream school and was accepted so that was wonderful. S2 is also hoping to get good news from his ED app but things have gotten even more competitive in the last 3 years and it is a reach for him.</p>
<p>It is going to be a long next few months…</p>
<p>My younger son (post#36) with CR 660 and M 720 on the one time he took the test in March of his Junior year in HS had the SAT scores to be competitive at an upper tier UC but it has become obvious over the years that not only does he have ADHD but also suffers from Asperger’s syndrome which is one reason his HS GPA was only 3.1 making him competitive only for California State University campuses. It is halfway through the first semester and I think we made the right move sending him to Sacramento State rather than a community college with hopes of transferring later to a UC.</p>
<p>My older son is a Junior Geology major at Sacramento State and they share a condominium near the campus which has worked out well. My younger son is a Physics major and so far is getting an A in Calculus and As and Bs in his other courses as well. He seems to be taking college a lot more seriously than he took high school. He and his brother have always been very close, despite their striking differences in personalities. My older son also had high SAT scores but was a slacker in high school. However, he now takes very challenging courses and works hard and I think that has set a standard my younger son is trying to emulate. I think if he had gone to community college he would have had no one to support him and show him the ropes and it would have ended up as an academic dead end for him as it does for all but about 25% of students who enroll at California Community Colleges.</p>
<p>Guys, you’ve been reading too much CC!! These are great SAT scores and grades, and there will be plenty of really good schools that will want kids who have them. I know ‘Tufts syndrome’, or yield management, does happen, but not as often as we fear. D, whose scores are in this range, has 2 rolling admissions so far, both with lots of merit aid, to good schools where her stats are about 75%. Both LAC’s, but the price will be competitive with our state flagship. There are so many schools beyond that offer great educations, and often in a less pressured, more collegial atmosphere. (Ohio Wesleyan is one–definitely worth considering.)</p>
<p>One more comment on OP’s original quote:
</p>
<p>College counselors worry about their reputation and batting average. They don’t want to be the one whose kids who got rejected everywhere. They know this process is, to some degree, random, so they suggest that kids aim for safeties. The reaches are up to you.</p>
<p>Forester17 – I was in the same boat last year – nice kid, with nice grades. The only thing I wish I’d done differently was play the geography card better. She applied to 13 schools, 12 of them in the northeast/south. She was rejected/waitlisted at 11 of them. I think these schools see a lot of these kids and they already have, like you said, a nice kid with nice grades from NY/NJ/CT. But California/Oregon/Washington would love to have your child. And they’ll throw $ at her too.</p>
<p>Consider Occidental. Fine liberal arts college. That’s where D got in. Ended up getting off the WL at Emory (I won’t bore you with the details – I feel like I’ve over-posted on CC). </p>
<p>Good luck to both Seiclan and everyone in this round. This process is not a referendum on your child’s quality or ability as a person and student.</p>
<p>Op here with an update to this thread. My son was admitted to his first choice school, Emory University, early decision. Thank you for all the support and advice and information. A lot of valuable lessons were learned here and on the many informative threads here on college confidential. Wishing all of you a healthy and happy holidays!</p>
<p>Great news Seiclan! Wishing him all the best.</p>