<p>@rvm: as long as you have the time to travel and your son is willing, try to make the trips to VT and C of C. The more you see, the more you know.
We all have off days sometimes, and kids are no exception. Junior year can be very trying on everyone. Maybe you can emphasize the “trip” aspect of your visits, as opposed to the “college” aspect. Tie in some local sightseeing if you have the time.
I would encourage you to see UM. Perhaps a different setting altogether will help your son get a better idea of what really appeals to him.</p>
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<p>RVM – please don’t consider the following to be a criticism of you or your son. In defense of the schools, the “outgoing” kids are usually the ones who volunteer for these panels. The shy, quiet kids don’t generally volunteer. Also, it’s important, from a marketing perspective, to have kids who are going to be comfortable speaking in front of a group and be enthusiastic about their experience. While there may be shy, quiet kids on these panels or giving tours who can speak with excitement and passion…the college has to know this in some way. These panels are one of many marketing tools…and they need to have kids who are going to do more than answer “yes” , “no” and one word answers to questions they’re asked.</p>
<p>There are a number of posters on CC who comment after a trip about how poor a guide was in engaging the group, or how uninteresting a student panel discussion was.</p>
<p>And, at most schools, the business students are often the most outgoing. They’re going to have to be if they want a job when they get out of school (unless they’re in a couple of specific areas that do not require such an outgoing personality.)</p>
<p>Hi - that was actually a really good point. You do need outgoing, well-spoken kids on the panels. Yup, very valid point. I’m just going to put yesterday behind us and move on. He seems to be in a more positive mood today - we are going to CofC and VT next week. The saga continues.</p>
<p>RVM: I’m glad that you’re going ahead with your plans to visit VT and CofC. I think that kids learn something at each visit, even if the school doesn’t make it to their final list. I agree with Hugcheck that sometimes quiet kids are more comfortable at a larger school. I think that we sometimes have expectations about what type of college would be the best fit for our kid, only to have the kid surprise us. I always pictured my D2 at a meduim sized “bubble type” school like Elon, but she liked the big urban schools. Special programs and schools within schools can make large universities feel much smaller. For example, my husband was pleasantly surprised to realize that the communication school at BU only has about 1200 students.</p>
<p>I think the smaller schools are better for kids who are very social, make friends very easily, are very flexible and who benefit from smaller classes. I also think there is excellent probability that RVM’s son will find a good fit at Towson, and maybe UMCP if he is comfortable with a huge school.</p>
<p>RVM: If your son attends Elon, is he accepted to the B-school from day one? I suggest you try to find schools which offer sports management and acceptance to this program from day one if possible. Towson requires a large number of pre-requisite classes. 85% get accepted to the under-grad B-school at Towson (as I remember the statistic). </p>
<p>Obviously, I like medium size schools like Towson and USC which offer enough resources to find your academic and social fit without getting lost in the crowd.</p>
<p>mdcissp - I don’t think he is going to major in business. I don’t think he has the math strength and I don’t think it fits his personality. At this point - we are going to look more at psychology and sports mgmt - maybe with a business minor.</p>
<p>One of the many things I like about Elon is that there is no secondary admissions process - anyone who is accepted to Elon can declare a business major, or sport and event mgmt. Of course, you have to maintain a minimum GPA to graduate - but that is the case pretty much everywhere, I would imagine.</p>
<p>Samtaya and Texasmother thank you for the suggestions.
Sam, I also suspected that the ACT is easier to review for I just don’t know if S who is not a very fast reader will be able to overcome the speed issue for reading. It sounds like understanding the mechanics of the science section could go a long way. It is encouraging to know that RVM’s S was able to overcome the speed problem. I hope we can eek out the time to work on it. S says he wants to see how he did and then make a decision about which test to focus on. He has the Real Act book and has used it but only reviewed about 30 minutes to an hour at a time and sporadically. He only looked at the science section once the week of the test. </p>
<p>Texasmother: It is a good suggestion but I don’t think we will benefit from the religion card, I think that the benefits of a smaller group will be undone by the distance to travel and the early start required to get there. I expect it will be about an hour drive to the closest Sunday test center.</p>
<p>I expect that taking the test 6-8 times with review of results would yield improvement. I have been trying to encourage regular review but it is difficult. I am thinking that either a class or tutoring would be the best bet. Just because this commits him to being there just as signing him up for the test requried him to sit through the whole thing at one time. I’m not familiar with the ACT but based on his performance in his classes I think he can break 700 in math but it is a long way between can do and accomplished. He says it isn’t a question of understanding the questions as much as it is a problem with not having time to check his work. In the verbal section all he needs is 10 more points so I really like your suggestion about focused tutoring. I would also love to cut the avodah program to one session. The kids are told they can take one week off over the summer. I will try and do better with that but we will see. Good question about honors after freshman year. I went to the website and it turns out that with a 3.5 GPA after (I think) 9 credits students can be admitted to honor,s so there is a second chance. How S2 will do in college is such a wildcard. He has good study habits at home but has also cultivated a deep support system that is a big part of what keeps him on track. I do have my fingers crossed that things don’t fall apart with all of the changes. I will say that not by design but by circumstance S1 had a relatively easy first semester schedule. I would reccommend that for any freshman who can pull it off.</p>
<p>“This is a process with so many pieces it can give you a headache! Your reward hopefully will be a happy freshman.”…Amen to that!</p>
<p>spectrum2 - 2 thoughts on the ACT. You mentioned that your son had diagnosed ADD but did not want to get accommodations. I would reconsider that - having extended time might be very beneficial. There should be a learning support person at the high school who can walk you through the process - but basically - you give that person a psych-ed evaluation - they do certain paperwork and submit it to ACT. My impression is that if the psycho-ed evaluation diagnoses ADD and recommends extended time - ACT will grant it.</p>
<p>My other thought is that if you don’t want to go that route - our experience was that doing many practice tests - while time-consuming - does make it possible to pick up speed and improve the score. When we started last summer - my son could not finish any section. When he took it in February - he finished every one - so it is possible. It’s like training for a sporting event - you just keep trying to improve your time with every test. We kept track of where he ran out of time - always being sure to just quickly bubble in an answer for each question at the end of each section. And gradually he was able to whittle it down from running out of time with 10 questions left to only 5 questions left, etc.</p>
<p>Not sure if it is worth the thousands of dollars to get private psycho-ed testing done–it is a personal choice. Might be more cost effective to get good test prep done with a tutor and/or well known test company in order to get lots of practice and feedback.</p>
<p>Also, you might want to seek schools which do not require the SAT or ACT if you have a high enough GPA. For example, Salisbury University said the SAT is not required with at least a 3.5 GPA.</p>
<p>RVM: Easy entrance to the Sports Management program at Elon is a strong selling point.
I know Towson has this major. Do the other schools on your list have this major? Also, keep in mind, that it is normal for a child to change his mind numerous times about a major. Academic interests in high school may or may not be the same once you are in school. Therefore, the key is to find a school which has the Sports Management major plus a couple of other majors in case there is a change of mind.</p>
<p>RVM: Thanks for that input. There is no doubt that my S would do better with more time. I do have the psychologist’s documentation to support that. I have also time and time again seen grades drop by several points when a timed test has been implemented. In spite of all of that, for his class, in our not so competitive HS, S is doing well. Would he be doing better if he had time accommodations, I expect so, but since he can function in the world without them and he hasn’t wanted them and we have supported that. I am saying that because I have wrestled with that question quite a bit since S was diagnosed and that was just this year. When a kid is likable, not a behavior problem and doing well in school, testing for ADHD is discouraged. it was for us. In anycase I did have the discussion with my S’s GC about accommodations and she discouraged it. Her thinking was that he would do better with college admissions if it wasn’t on record since he had a good record that stands on its own without needing an explanation. If he goes to TAMU its all automatic so I really don’t think it matters at all. But if what your are saying is true and it is just a matter of submitting the psych eval since the discrepancy between his grades and testing are significant it could be worthwhile. Would he need to have a 504 for this to happen? Since we weren’t asking for extra time on tests and for years S has figured out his own accomodations, sitting in the front of the classroom and networking with his friends to keep up with assignments we didn’t think he needed a 504. He just took adderal to help him with focus which became more difficult as the work got harder sophmore year. I’m sorry, you didn’t ask all that. For some reason since S isn’t struggling to pass it feels that he may be asking for an unfair advantage. I do know that some people see it that way.</p>
<p>Anyway I was so impressed with that your S was able to work his way to completing the test, I know it can be done. The thing is that because S has been focused on staying top 10% he has been very schoolwork/grade/weighted class focused. At this point he feels that he has worked hard and since his admission doesn’t depend on it (provided he doesn’t really mess up the last half of this semester) he is less driven to put the kind of work into the test prep that I know you and your S did this past year. I have to say I was so impressed with the progress you and he made! Its a balancing act, sorting out the priorities and figuring out where the best place is to allocate time. All the while with S saying, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this, I’m going to TAMU, don’t worry about other schools and honors isn’t all that important.” What’s a mom to do?</p>
<p>Spectrum2: I suggest you try to find test optional universities/colleges which don’t require the SAT or ACT test scores with a high enough GPA.</p>
<p>Spectrum, I don’t know with the ACT, but the SAT wanted much more than a psych eval and diagnosis. Check to see what they really want. We had guidance fill out a form, 504, our neuro pysch send a report and it was still not enough for the SAT. It will make your decision easier if you know what you would have to do. we were told the psych eval had to be done by a certain ed team that would cost quite a bit, as mentioned by a previous poster. this team was an hour away. in the end my son was glad, since he refused to go to a separate room for testing.</p>
<p>now for nj state mandated tests, my S, because of his 504 was in a separate untimed room. He was furious. I think this affected his self-esteem greatly. so we prep and pres and although he could have much higher scores, he stands out in other ways.</p>
<p>mdcissp: Just so no one is misled about the cost of psych-ed testing, and at this point I don’t know if the testing S had would qualify him for accommodations but it was done over the course of 3 visits with a psychologist, and with insurance the cost to us was $90. Our purpose for testing wasn’t to get accommodations but to get help for S who last summer bluntly asked me why he had never been tested for ADD.</p>
<p>Ohhh…I guess the testing that Mdcissp was referring to is the testing that Samtayla is talking about. I just remembered reading that it takes alot to get ACT/SAT accommodations and never pursued it beyond that point. The only thing we have now is the diagnosis, and the psych report with reccommendations, no history of accommodation, no 504. I have no idea if the psych who tested my S would be adequate. Probably not, that would way too easy :).</p>
<p>Spectrum2 -you might be surprised where the Sunday testing center is located. It might be worth a call. Also I know several people who played their cards right by selecting easier classes and 12 credits to get that good GPA to get into the honors program or a specific major. Food for thought. I agree with RVM which was my point. By taking the practice tests they just get better with their time management. Time management has always been my d’s issue. I too had to pick my battles and just let the chips fall. So while I have lots of ideas, I admit I was not always successful on the homefront.</p>
<p>Texasmother: I tried to send you a PM but your mailbox is full.</p>
<p>Those NJ State mandated tests are for the birds! They are destroying my younger son’s self esteem. :(</p>
<p>We from NJ. There are way too many tests in the last 2 years of hs, but why are they ruining his self exteem? My son did not care about them. He only cared about “passing” them. Other than that, he only focued on his college board exams.</p>
<p>Spectrum2 Try again sorry.</p>