Revival of Middle Class Black Posters

[sybbie719]

wow,

Just catching up and such great outcomes. The joy, the joy, the joy that came in the morning after such along night!

I wish all of your amazing kids a wonderful 4 years at their new homes (yes, homes, because your house will now just be the drop off point).

madville,

Gosh, I know all too well the sadness in turning down Williams. 4 years later and I still have a soft spot for them. Chicky still has the Williams jacket she won the year she went up for admitted students day. Yes, Amherst is also an amazing place and look, you are going in with your own CC posse.

Once again, congrats to all. Lets hang around and help the '13s

[FLVADAD]

Hey all,

I too want to say congrats to everyone. I'm going to use the Royal "We" in proclaiming that "We" have some great kids with great futures ahead of them. This thread has been a real joy!

Well, D2 was also accepted at all her schools, and subsequently, had a difficult time choosing. However, after the smoke finally cleared, and in the 11th hour, she decided on Washington & Lee.

W&L is quite a departure from the kinds of schools she originally profiled, but after spending last Summer at Dartmouth -- which she loved but felt it was too far away-- the similarities at W&L really resonated with her. Obviously, being closer to home and getting a scholarship didn't hurt either .

[lmpw]

Wow, I'm just checking in to see the decisions of all of your kids (I went through this last year) and I just want to say how impressed and proud I am of all of your sons and daughters. I'm particularly happy to know about the Amherst acceptances. My daughter is just finishing her first year there and it has been wonderful. Tony Jack is an inspiration. My daughter told me she was talking with him the other day and he was deciding between Harvard and UPenn for graduate school.

[Harmony2]

Hi all,

Now that the decision has been made, I think everyone in my house is breathing a sigh of relief.

sybbie719 and Madville, I join you in having a warm spot in my heart for Williams.

FLYVADAD, I was wondering what your D2 decided about W&L. My DS also received a great scholarship from them and was strongly considering attending until the acceptance from UPenn came. It was a very hard decision but I believe that once he visited Univ. of Penn's campus again, and attended some of the business classes, he became more convinced that UPenn would be a great place to study business. So, I also have a warm spot in my heart for W&L.

[madville]

It's my understanding that Tony Jack is going to Harvard for a PhD program. Congratulations to all and let's share our pearls of wisdom for the next group of up and comers. Man, if some really knew how tough it was for DS to choose. Many more excellent choices than what we believed realistically and then the people were so nice and inviting. Williams, regardless of the rural location, is beautiful and has top notch everything. The visits I will remember for a lifetime. I'm really sold on the LAC's now. This college experience from an academic emphasis with DS as opposed to an athletic emphasis with DD has really been enlightening. Reading the link in the Washington Post about the young man choosing between Bates with a killer FA package and some others, little FA if any, I was glad he chose Bates. (Bates pulled out the stops for DS as well). He'll have unique challenges but also some unique opportunities. I'm defiitely encouraging more of the people in my social circles to utilize you guys, and really want to encourage other AA to look "outside of the box" when considering schools. There is no doubt in my mind that there is really an emphasis in making the elite institutions a viable option for many people of color on so many different levels. To my new Amherst fam, holla at a brother, and let's do this! (get together) To the rest of my CC brethren, let's not be strangers! Quoting Stephen Boyd in Ben Hur, one of my favorite movies, speaking to Charlton, "the race is not over, Judah Ben-Hur". Let's keep on keepin on.

Peace,
Madville

[Triguena]

Wow, I am so impressed. Your sons and daughters are truly an inspiration. Gives me hope that in fact the Social Security system might not go bankrupt

So while all of you are hoisting a glass in celebration don't forget those of us still digging the trenches........

DS took his second round of SATs today. His grades are great, His ECs sparkle. His standardized testing is way low. I don't know what to do. Yes, we hired a tutor. Only minimally helped. I don't know how to help him pitch his efforts b/c his grades are not quite Ivy but certainly good. His boards are not quite community college but way off the traditional radar.

Insights?

[Shrinkrap]

I'll be watching you for my S Triguena. No insights here.

[Harmony2]

Triguena,

In addition to using the college board's blue book (Real SAT Tests) for practice, DS also used college board's question of the day and also college board's online test program which I believe costs around $69.

[pbush9]

Triguena

My daughter is a senior this year. She excelled academically and in EC's, too. Her SAT scores were considerably low. I spent over $2,000 in SAT test prep that I really didn't have. My daughter suffered from SAT overload. If I can offer any advice it would be to not push your S too hard. If I had to do it all over again, I would have used that money to go towards her college fund. My daughter received 2 full-rides from a private in-state school and 1 from a instate-public. She received some merit from an out-of-state HBCU and has chosen to attend there. She received a host of outside scholarships both locally and nationally. My daughter applied for 40. Have your S apply for as many outside scholarships as possible. It will help a great deal if he doesn't meet the criteria for merit award from his top choice school which was my daughter's situation. I wish you and your S much success. Most of all relax and let the decisions be those that are in the best interest for your S.

[sjmomof2]

Triguena

Your son may want to try the ACT. My understanding is that the questions are more straightforward than SAT questions. Also, if he isn't happy with the results, no harm, as he does not have to submit the scores.

[TutuTaxi]

Triguena- I agree with sjmonof2, have your S take the ACT. My D has always been at the top of her class academically. While her SAT scores were good (great for AA), they were not stellar like several of her classmates. She took the ACT and scored much better. She submitted only her ACT scores and was admitted to all of the colleges in which she applied. She did not apply for any scholarships but was offered substantial merit $$ at three schools.

You should also look at your S’s PSAT booklet. It may give a hint as to why his score is not more reflective of his academic performance. In the case of my D – we discovered every question she answered was correct but she did not finish the exam. That info helped her prepare for the SAT.

[Triguena]

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the Moms!

[SuperMom_I_Aint]

A belated second to TriG's mother's day wishes, and a quick pop in to congratulate all on your brilliant children's final decisions. This thread DOES make me proud.

With one left in 9th, I'm watching the string about academic stars/SAT underperformers. I agree w/the advice re the PSAT forensics. The PSAT results really do a great job of pinpointing areas for improvement. But as I was reading the posts, a few thoughts crossed my mind:
1. Have the P/SAT strugglers taken calculus or pre-calc?
2. Are we certain the school is actually teaching what it SAYS it is in terms of content? (for example, some schools offer Alg II & Trig, but "round" grades based on the highest test scores -- which happen to be a 40/100. When an "A" is a 40, no one learns).
3. What does "scored low" mean in these discussions? For example, pbush notes that her D "scored low" on the SAT, but still got free rides & considerable merit. Pbush, did your D do well on the PSAT, then not-so-well on the SAT?

4.Can posters give a ballpark on how low was low so others can draw hope from the posts? For example, if Kid A scored "low" with a M/V score of 900, and still got merit aid, that might give somewhat more hope than if Kid A "scored low" with a M/V score of 1100. It would be helpful to have a frame of reference.

Here's a question for you parents of now happily off to college kids: If there're one or two things you'd have advised your child differently in high school, what would they be? Here are mine:

1. I'd have advised my D to load up on APs in Sophomore and Junior years instead of Jr/Sr years. I didn't know about the whole AP Scholar with Distinction thing, which really doesn't matter at this point since the college app process is over.

2. I'd have really tried to push D to take additional math classes to make it to precalc and calc. I didn't realize that you couldn't ace the math portion of the SAT w/o advanced math courses.

3. I didn't realize community service was such a huge consideration for so many scholarships. I'd have had D participate in/organize at least one high profile, mainstream, community service project, instead of the hundreds of small services she performed (and we didn't keep track of) as part of Girl Scouts, church, and other community service orgs. KEEP TRACK OF THEIR SERVICE HOURS!

What are your D's and S's doing this summer?

[prefect]

I second what Super Mom says about community service. I didn't realize it was such an important part of so many scholarships. I would also advise students to pay attention to how your school ranks students. Make sure you do whatever possible to be one of the top students. Parents, pay attention to what the college counselor says. At our school, parents were asked to do a "brag sheet." College counselor said that she would freely plagiarize from the brag sheet. My take on this was that I would be writing at least part of my kid's recommendation. I paid attention to it accordingly.
My advice to my S about standardized tests (which I learned on CC) was to start with the ACT. My advice to S was to start with the ACT early. If you have an ACT score around the same time as your PSAT score, you can get a feel as to how you will do on each test. There may not be a need to take the SAT at all if you do well on the ACT. If you start with the SAT first and don't do well, you can never "hide" those scores if you also take SAT II's. Score choice on the ACT is a good thing.

[SkyGirl]

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers down here I kept telling myself to come down to the parents forum
on Sunday and thn I didn't. Thanks guys to all of u who have been so supportive to the CC kids.