Parents of the HS Class of 2015

[tripleamom]

Welcome shabamom,maystarmom and momsthebest.

This thread sure is busy these days.D took the Psat last week.But won't tell me how it went.she said she had around five minutes lefy for each section and she could review the test.

As far as college visits,we attended few college information sessions that were held near our area.D liked a few.Hated yale's presentation.We are planning to start visiting nearby colleges in the winter.
I think we will start from the claremont colleges as they are closeby.Just 30 minutes drive.Mihcal1,let us know how yours went.
Two more days togo for the SAT II results.D is nervous.Hope she gets a good score,so she need not retake it.

[Apollo6]

I am gradually accepting that my son is in the class of 2015 as the class of 2014 begins to have experiences such as the official PSAT testing that he won't have until next year. Kid number 3 is currently in China on an early "gap year" with NSLI-Y. He is only studying Mandarin this year and won't get credit. Last year he took AP English lang, AP stats, AP Spanish, AP U.S. govt and microeconomics, physics and band. I'm not sure where he'll spend his last two years of high school but probably at our state residential school for gifted juniors and seniors. He turned 17 last week and it was his first birthday "away". Ugh! He's going to have to do some serious studying this summer in preparation for the real PSAT. He was 7 points short of our state cut-off last year but he isn't studying any math this year so that is going to toughest part. I'm barely hanging in there watch his older sister go through the college application process this year. I don't even want to start thinking about number 3!

[PinotNoir]

Hi Apollo! I remember you from other threads. Good to see you!

[Gibson1514]

Welcome to all our new posters!

Homecoming week. She has the dress and the date (not quite sure which is more important) We are hosting dinner for her group of friends, currntly at 20. Busy tidying the house and prettying the yard! The weather looks perfect for Saturday and d2 wants to set up tables outside so they can all eat together in one big group. It may get chilly once the sun sets , but they can move indoors if they want. I am sure they will be happy to be outside with out the parents.

[crepes]

I just looked at Collegeboard's site and the SAT subject scores from the Oct 6 come out in 2 days. Hopefully D studied enough to improve her Bio score from June--she said it was an easier test this time so hopefully that's a good sign.

Waiting along with all of you for the PSAT results--D and her friends all thought that the verbal was not too hard but that they hadn't learned enough Math to do really well on that section. She wasn't too fazed by it, though, knowing that she has another school year to catch up on the math.

I don't know how her school handles the release of the PSAT scores; according to this thread there are lots of different policies
When will the PSAT scores come out?

[OHMomof2]

Our GC said January...

[sbjdorlo]

Thanks Suzi and PN for the encouragement on getting accommodations. I just realized as I was filling out the form that academic testing can be up to five years old, so I am going to try and get accommodations for the diagnosed math disability. My son said that would be his biggest help, he thinks.

So different from my 2012 kid. (And I don't want to even think about my 2022er-ha!)

[Maystarmom]

Hi all,
Thanks for the welcome! Please excuse me, because you may have already covered this topic with the same conclusion, but this column in New York Times "Choice" blog jives with what our GC's tell the kids--admission test scores rank as the third-most important factor in the admission decision, behind grades in college prep courses and strength of curriculum.

Part 2: Answers to Readers' Questions About the SAT and ACT - NYTimes.com

[PinotNoir]

Our HS gives the kids their PSAT scores on the last day before winter break.

Gibson - good luck hosting the pre-homecoming dinner! I hope it all goes smoothly!

[Maxwellequations]

Nice article Maystarmom.

[suzy100]

I don't know when D's school gives the PSAT results, but I don't understand why any of the schools would hold them beyond a few days just to get them organized, etc. Is there some logic behind holding them? OHMomof2 - January? Really?? Is that for juniors too?

[TV4caster]

I haven't checked in for a couple of months D'15 has been busy and is doing well in school. She too took the PSAT recently. Her school didn't give results last year until late Jan. I'm hoping this year that we can get them earlier to use in applications etc. She thinks she did better than last year, which was pretty good to begin with.

Today we got a letter that her school nominated her for the Princeton Book Award from the local alumni chapter. Apparently different chapters around the country do it differently. In some cases the schools choose the winners and there are anywhere from 1-several from each school. Our letter says that each school in the area (30+) gets to choose 2 kids total from the jr. (and sometimes soph.) class. D'15 was the soph. that the GC and teachers chose. The alumni then review the apps and give out approximately 10 awards for our large metro area. One of the parts of the application asks for PSAT scores, so I am hoping guidance will give us those early

She also gets her learners permit in 2 weeks so she is looking forward to that.

[helpsilteplait]

congrats TV4caster!

What's the use for sophomore PSAT except for self assessment?
D. took it last week and can't wait to see the score.

[OHMomof2]

D will use her soph PSAT score for a couple of summer programs she is applying to. Also it may give a rough idea of the selectivity of colleges she should look at, though everyone i know says their score went up a lot junior year.

[Pepper03]

It will only be used here for self-assessment. She didn't even finish the math part-and she guessed on many since she didn't know how to do the problems.

She should do much better next year but who knows? It is a one day thing-my friends son had a high enough score as a sophomore that he would have qualified that year if eligible but as a junior his score went down and while still great missed the state cutoff by one point-if he had lived in over half the states in the country he would have qualified with his score. I am not really a fan of the whole thing even though it worked out well for one of my children-

My daughter had a brutal week last week as various issues all came to a head and the result was some pretty lousy test scores and assignment grades-for her-probably a good 10 points below her normal. Not a good week. She is having a much better week this week in part because the JV portion of the season is over and she just has Varsity and it's only playoffs so no game for a week and she actually got to come home the other day from school-she slept most of the afternoon. Something is going to have to give next year but for now she is getting some much needed rest and time to catch up.

Meanwhile my son who had a great week last week is totally distraught over perhaps not getting a coop he covets-I hope he gets a definite answer today one way or the other.

It's like Whack-a -Mole around here-just when one of them is up the other goes down-UGH!!!!!