<p>Yup - that decile thing is not going to look great. Fourth decile would be my guess. Although - our hs uses their own counselor evaluation form - and I need to look at that one and see if it does provide the decile. On the other hand - I could stop stressing and just focus on Naviance for an educated guess.</p>
<p>Do you think it hurts not to send class rank if you have a choice? Does it look like your hiding something? We have a choice at our high school. I find it very confusing.</p>
<p>Rockville - I would think the admissions staff knows your competitive high school - and landing in the top 50 would be commended.</p>
<p>samtalya, my kids mostly did the math questions from majortests.com - the things that we liked most about this site were that the quizzes were short and sweet - and the explanations of the solutions are good (you have to enter the answers on the computer, submit them, and then click on something to get the explanations). We were very disappointed with the explanations in the College Board book - we found that they did not explain anything and we felt that the most important aspect of this was understanding the thinking behind the questions and answers. We also found that the Kaplan book had decent explanations. I printed out from majortests.com and had my kids do them on paper, then we entered them on the computer to check the answers and explanations, just to give them paper and pencil practice since the SAT is paper and pencil.
On class rank or deciles - I really would not get all worked up about this. First of all, regarding those Miami stats - NO ONE in our high school with those test scores is in the top 10%. I think that our top 10% by and large has SAT scores above 2250. The colleges, except where there is a ridiculous system like Texas, know this and account for this. You are lucky to have Naviance - I would go by that!</p>
<p>I agree with Levrim about not worrying too much about class rank. We don’t know whether colleges consider HS competitiveness when they look at class rank. Naviance is probably your best tool if your HS uses it. Just remember that it’s fine to have a few reach schools in the mix, as long as your kid has safeties and matches that he/she likes. I remember an admissions counselor at a selective school telling the kids: “If you don’t apply, you definetly won’t get in.”</p>
<p>samtalya, neither of my kids HS’s rank and at ShawD’s high school, the teachers appear not to answer any of the questions like (rank this student from great to sloth on initiative or brilliant to fluff on creativity). The colleges get a distribution of grades and at ShawD’s school a distribution of grades by department. Some teachers at her school never give A’s (or do so less than once a year). I asked an admissions officer at McGill who claimed that they actually knew which teachers did that when evaluating transcripts. Seems hard to do, but they claim that they do.</p>
<p>With respect to practice tests, the test-makers own books are, as someone said, the best. For both kids, we just had them take practice tests and review the results and see what could be learned from the errors. With ShawD, it was clear she needed help with a few things in ACT Math and Science and we hired a one-on-one tutor for that. For ShawSon, we hired someone one-on-one to explain how the writing sections were graded. Other than that, he was working with his cousin. Both worked to their expectations: ShawSon’s scores were 99+ percentile (stunningly high for a severely dyslexic kid but consistent both with his prediction and his ambition) while ShawD’s score was good enough to get in to the colleges she wanted to attend (which is more her style). Standardized test-taking is a skill distinct from knowledge or generalized intelligence and it requires practice – thus the xiggi method – and we then just supplemented the practice where she trial and error wasn’t going to be sufficient. I hope that is helpful. Summers are good for this, which is when ShawD did her work, while ShawSon waited until his gap year to practice/take the tests and did all of the practice working half a day each day for 3 weeks.</p>
<p>Thanks Levi. I have will S try the math today. We tried the grammar and that was just strange. It is math that he needs the help with, so I guess when S suggested he try grammar it was to avoid doing the math!!!</p>
<p>Our HS uses Naviance. It is the 3rd year of use, but as of now, there is no data for Elon, only 2 students for C of C, several for James Madison. We are going to have to educate about the demographics of our school.</p>
<p>Has anyone looked at Cappex? They have scattergrams where they put your stats up against those who applied. It looks good, but I have no idea to the realibility.</p>
<p>Shaw, love this “(rank this student from great to sloth on initiative or brilliant to fluff on creativity).” when I saw questions like this i thought oh great, the guidance counselor has 600 students and she sees my S once a year. she has no idea who he is or what he does. she tells S to fill out the naviance survey so she and teachers can know s when it comes to writing about him. when we return from our visits in April, S will visit her and personally educate her!!</p>
<p>I think the problem with Cappex and other similiar systems that are not hs specific is the problem we were just discussing - grading scales vary so much from one hs to the next - the context of what a particular GPA indicates varies so much - I just don’t see how they could be useful. Our hs has a pretty decent amount of Naviance data on the schools on S2’s list - so I am just going to rely on that. If you don’t have Naviance - maybe your GC would still have some info on the GPAs/scores of students from your hs who were or were not accepted at a particular college? I find it hard to believe that they would have no idea whatsoever.</p>
<p>Samatalya: We are on a similar schedule for standardized tests. SAT next week ACT April, S2 is also already signed up to take the SAT in June. (Texas gives Juniors a voucher for 1 free test and we were already signed up for March when the voucher came.) Finding a tutor in our area is difficult. Depending on the results he may take a class. For now he has been reviewing from the Blue book, and IMO not nearly enough but we’ll see.</p>
<p>RVM and Sam: Have you looked at the CDS for U of Miami and Elon? At U Miami it looks like only 36% of students submitted rank. At Elon it was at 52%. At Elon it looks like the class was close to evenly split between the top 50%: 33% top 10; 68% top quarter; 94% top half. That was in 2008-2009. At U of Miami the percentages in the top 10 and 25% were higher but from what I can tell this was only based on the 36% that submitted a rank. </p>
<p>[Common</a> Data Set | University of Miami](<a href=“http://www.miami.edu/index.php/pira/pira_content/69101/]Common”>http://www.miami.edu/index.php/pira/pira_content/69101/)
[Office</a> of Institutional Research - Common Data Sets](<a href=“Elon University / Institutional Research / Common Data Sets”>Elon University / Institutional Research / Common Data Sets)</p>
<p>As Lev, said outside of Texas, and I think that would be outside of Texas Instate for auto admissions; schools look at a full picture. I don’t think one stat particularly as it comes from a competiitive HS is going to be a make or break factor. My decision would be to report only what I had to if I thought it wasn’t going to be favorable. For what’s required, it is what it is. I think that when trying to figure out what schools kids are most likely to be admitted to you have to look at the big picture, and hedge your bets on that. Except in my unique state, there are very few sure things. On the otherhand, on college visit after visit, I heard from admissions that colleges are aware of the huge variations in grading and competitive nature from one HS to another and they take that into account.</p>
<p>Samtalya: It’s a great idea to be proactive and meet with the guidance counselor this spring. Our school recommends that rising seniors come in over the summer to discuss their college lists. My daughters had their resumes ready for that meeting, and the GC wrote their recommendations during the summer when she had more time. I’m amazed at how much weight the GC recommendations carry, considering that they barely know the kids they work with at big public schools.</p>
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<p>[The</a> Crusader Online: February 25, 2011 - Hillel celebrates day of rest with nontraditional cuisine](<a href=“http://www.susqu.edu/crusader/article.cfm?IssueID=206&SectionID=4&ArticleID=8512]The”>http://www.susqu.edu/crusader/article.cfm?IssueID=206&SectionID=4&ArticleID=8512)</p>
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<p>Nice to see their Hillel getting attention.</p>
<p>spectrum, we will sweat it out together. </p>
<p>I will try to get data from S’s GC after our visits. Talking with her is not the experience I would like.</p>
<p>momjr. We have put together an initial resume and will fine tune it, but S will definitely give it to her. I feel that whenever we discuss something with GC it is as if she is hearing it for the first time. I will never forget at my meeting with her at the beginning of 10th grade when she said nice to meet you. I had to remind her we met twice in 9th!!</p>
<p>I finally have a short “break” to look at email and cc. </p>
<p>Spectrum:Thank you so much for your good wishes. Sounds like you got some great advice re: S2…I also would not have him work during the school year…concentrating on homework and ec’s and tests should be top priority. Thank goodness he wasn’t hurt in the accident and there will be plenty of time to pay you back slowly…concentrating on getting into TX A&M should be his focus!:)</p>
<p>Samtayla: Welcome back from your caribbean trip! I’m in FL at the moment, visiting my mom(who is in a nursing home), but I managed to stick my head in the sun for 10 minutes already this morning, woo, woo! Unfortunately that’ll probably be it…</p>
<p>Linymom: Thanks for the pm…I’ll write you back!:)</p>
<p>I just want to “brag” that my S2 started off his freshman year this year with a substitute teacher in H Biology and she was AWFUL…my S had a D+average for the mid-term grade and a C on the 1st quarter…he informed me last night that he is up to a B-for that class…I’m really so proud of him because that H Biology class seems so hard! I’m proud of him for perservering and not giving up…</p>
<p>I will be an active spectator in your “book club”…I don’t have the time to read at the moment…in fact I am in the middle of two books that I have been reading for months…but I would love to read what the books and discussions will be about!</p>
<p>Enjoy your weekend, everyone!</p>
<p>Rkvlmom- I have also wondered about the class rank thing. But, I do think that Colleges know how difficult and competitive our HS is, so hopefully it won’t hurt our kids. University of Miami is also on our list. When I look at Naviance, all kids with your S’s stats were accepted. So I think this is a good option for him. I understand you don’t like the price tag…neither do I! But D knows going into this that the $50K schools are not an option unless some merit or FA comes through. But I do think it’s worth her applying to see what happens.</p>
<p>mdmom - we think alike! Acceptances to $50,000+ school will have lots of conditions attached.</p>
<p>One of the realizations I am having is that the price tag of the school is not just the tuition, room & board - but all of the incidentals that go along with having a fun experience. And I am concerned that Miami and Tulane - being in cities - will be very expensive schools socially - above and beyond fixed costs. And then there is plane fare back and forth. My initial inclination was to avoid these very pricey schools - and I think I had it right the first time.</p>
<p>Rckvlmom- I would give Miami and Tulane a shot. You never know what might happen with aid. May end up making flying back and forth, not so expensive. Plus with Southwest flying to both cities, might not be so bad.</p>
<p>Regarding spending money with schools in cities. I went to school in a city and I can tell you 100% that college kids can find the cheapest deals on everything. I really don’t think being in a city ended up costing me more for my social life than if I was on a more campus type school away from a city. Instead I had a lot of cultural opportunities at a bargain price that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. My D seems to like campus schools near a city, to her it’s the best of both worlds. We will see what happens!</p>
<p>chocchip, had a great time, and I know you have responsibilities in FLA., but try to find that time for you to get some sun and space. congrats on the rise in grade for your S2.</p>
<p>RVM, we are going through the same discussion with Tulane and Miami. Naviance for our HS on Miami is not very good where my S is concerned. Tulane has better results. My son doesn’t like cities, so I don’t think either environment is for him. We are thinking about applying really early to Tulane and seeing if he gets a response early just to see. If it is positive, then maybe we will look. </p>
<p>mdmom, i agree you can find cheap deals in cities, especially if you have a kid who looks. sometimes staying in a rural area costs more to get somewhere for entertainment. It definitely comes down to who your kid is and what he likes.</p>
<p>Just checked Naviance for Elon again and now there are 4 listed who applied. 1 waitlisted, 3 deferred. 2 have better gpas than S, and 1 better SATS.No one here took the ACT that applied to Elon. I am hoping that since S is showing great interest this will be a big deciding factor. Will know after our visit is S will apply ED which I think will make big decision. Also with C of C, both got accepted with less stats than S, so that is comforting.</p>
<p>This may seem like a silly question, but how do I get my
S’s gpa and SAT scores to show up on Naviance so that they will overlay on the scattergram? Is this something the GC has to do? I can’t find a place for me to log it, or does S have to do it?</p>
<p>Just got our insurance bill yesterday for my back surgery in December. They are covering very little, and leaving us approx 1 year of college to pay!! of course we will fight it and not pay, but it does put things in perspective in regards to college costs.</p>
<p>I know an OOS male with a B average (perhaps 1-2 honors classes and no AP classes) with an ACT of 23 who was admitted to CofC.</p>
<p>sam: getting your son’s stats onto Naviance is usually a school by school process…sometimes they notify the parents, sometimes they do it themselves…I do know that the kids will get a password to go on when their stats are there and it is usually after junior year is over…</p>
<p>For Elon, specifically, NAviance is almost useless for SAT/ACT because unless the kid ONLY took SAT or ONLY took ACT, they superscore across tests and the Naviance oes not account for that…so a kid who bombed SAT math but did fine on ACT math would not show up as a superscore…also, superscores within tests are not done on Naviance</p>
<p>samtalya - as Rodney said - the hs updates Naviance - but I guess some do it more regularly than others. You should ask GC for specifics pertaining to your school.</p>