<p>Rossnrachel, if you have specific schools in mind, you or your child can call them and ask this question, without having to specify who you are. We called many schools during the process to ask questions similar to this one, but relating to my dd’s interests. If the receptionist can not answer or direct you to a spot on their website, I am sure they will have an admissions officer contact you. I usually was put right through. This might be faster for you, if you have a limited number of schools that you are looking at. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I will call some schools - somehow I thought the information would be available… oh well.<br>
I notice that I often hear discussions about SAT scores and GPA, but rarely about SAT subject tests - I assume they are less highly considered than the other parts of the application.
Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>rossnrachel: I think you are right - SATIIs are less considered, except perhaps at the top schools. My “B” student didn’t even take any SATIIs - they weren’t required by any of the colleges she applied to. As a point of reference, my DS, more of an “A” student who is shooting higher than his sister, is only going to submit SATIIs in which he scored in the 700s - and I don’t think these are even required at several of the schools he is going to apply to. But since he seems to test well on these (he only takes them in the subjects he likes), it can only help his app with good scores.</p>
<p>As a side note, I had a dream last night that DS didn’t set the alarm and decided to blow off the physics SATII this weekend (coming up on 6/2). This was after I sent a PM to vitrac last night telling her how burnt out DS is these days. I guess we are both feeling pretty “done,” right?</p>
<p>Ha Linymom, time to take a summer break? Similar to what Linymom said SAT2’s are only really required at a few top schools. When my S1 took these it seemed that they were shooting for 700 or better to feel like it is a good score,</p>
<p>Linymom: I’m sure that summer can’t come soon enough for you and your S.</p>
<p>I agree with the advice on SAT II"s. Only the most selective schools require them, and some schools will accept an ACT score in place of the SAT II’s. If your kid does need to take them, it’s best to take them at the end of the relevant course. Our HS doesn’t give any guidance on these tests, so D1 missed the boat and didn’t take them until Nov. of senior year. She freaked over one of her scores, but it didn’t seem to hurt her application.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all the 2012 grads and families. D1 graduated from college on Mother’s Day and will start her job in the fall. Life moves on.</p>
<p>Hi…re catholic schools question, I asked my sister, who lives in the Chicago suburbs and is orthodox, what her feelings are about DePaul. She really didn’t know anything other than a lot of kids look at that for law school, but asked a friend who told her that a lot of jewish kids from their area go there. When I met w/ a rep at a college fair, I asked about being jewish on campus, and was told that they have an active Hillel and that the professors all get emails about the jewish holidays so that students who don’t go to class aren’t penalized. I also saw that they have an AEPi.</p>
<p>Re SAT IIs, my S1, “A” student, chose not to take any because he was pretty tested out. He knew that it would eliminate a couple of schools he considered applying to (namely Carnegie Mellon and MIT), but he had some pretty strong choices which would make him happy that didn’t require them.</p>
<p>Waaayyyy up thread q about UTampa:</p>
<p>1) jewish population is around 5-10% and increasing…they have activities with USF; I had corresponded with the Hillel director of USF back in 2009…Tampa does not have their own Hillel, but I have heard that there are a bunch of kids trying to begin a “small and mighty” chapter…USF is currently around 10-15% Jewish with a Hillel of thousands…</p>
<p>2) UTampa while not great with FA, gives a bunch of merit $$, even to lower scoring kids…offhand, I don’t know of anyone who didn’t get at least $6,000, and that was with low test scores…</p>
<p>just to concur with rodney. my daughter (at delaware) got accepted to Tampa in 2010 and received 7500 merit. She had good grades but low SAT scores.</p>
<p>[Israel</a> Advocacy on Campus Gets New App | The Jewish Week](<a href=“http://www.thejewishweek.com/blogs/jewish_techs/israel_advocacy_campus_gets_new_app]Israel”>http://www.thejewishweek.com/blogs/jewish_techs/israel_advocacy_campus_gets_new_app)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>RVM: Thanks for the info about that app; going to tell DD about that one.</p>
<p>Rodney: Thanks for the Tampa info. It’s on my radar as a potential “safe” school for DS. Can’t get away from that dual Chemistry/MBA major. So intriguing.</p>
<p>Loved seeing DS relax with his teammates last night at our county tennis awards dinner. He needed that. DD is home a week already and will be ready to go to her summer camp job in mid-June. She’s having a great time with her HS friends, but completely fried from the beach (again) yesterday. Rough life.</p>
<p>someone sent me this wonderful graduation speech. so to all of us with hs and college grads this year, this is for us!</p>
<p>To the Class of 2012
Neil Howe delivered the following commencement address at the University of Mary Washington on May 12, 2012.</p>
<p>At a commencement address, speakers often go on too long. This I won’t do. I may not succeed as well as Salvador Dali, who famously delivered the world’s shortest speech, only four seconds long. He announced at the podium: “I will be so brief I have already finished,” and then sat down. </p>
<p>Commencement speakers also like to intone about “today’s youth generation.” And this is fine. Except that they then go on to talk at length about their own experiences in their own youth and tell you: Because this worked for me in my generation, it will work for you in yours. This should alert you that these speakers have no idea what a generation is. </p>
<p>Let me clarify. A generation is a group of people who share a basic outlook on life shaped by their common age location in history, their common “generational setting.” The renowned sociologist Karl Mannheim called this “eine Generationslagerung,” which I promise you is both the longest word—and the only German word—that you will hear from me. </p>
<p>“Youth,” on the other hand, is just an age bracket. It’s like an empty hotel room that different generations move into with their own baggage, and then soon leave. Sometimes that room swells with sweet music, sometimes it throbs with death metal, and sometimes it’s utterly silent. But it’s never the same. </p>
<p>Bottom line: All of you Boomer and Generation X parents are essentially unlike your children—and were not the same even when you were kids. And you Millennial Generation graduates are essentially unlike your parents—and will not become like them as you grow older. </p>
<p>So how, exactly, are you different? Well, start with the obvious: pop culture. Believe it or not, parents, your kids have never known that America, Chicago, and Kansas are the names of rock bands, not just places. Or what about technology? Ever notice the blank stares when you tell them roll up the window, turn the channel, or dial a number? Or what about current events? For as long as Millennials can remember, NATO has been looking for a mission, China has been peacefully rising, Brazil has been building shopping malls, and Boomers Bill O’Reilly and David Letterman have been hating on each other in plain view of millions.
Now these markers are interesting, but if there’s one big idea I want you to take away from my remarks, it’s that generational differences go much deeper. </p>
<p>Consider.
You Millennials grew up in an era of rising parental protection, never knowing a time without bicycle helmets, electric plug covers, Amber Alerts, and fifteen different ways to be buckled into your minivan seat. We, the parents, grew up in an era of declining parental protection: Our moms and dads told us, “We don’t care where you go so long as you’re home for dinner.” As for seatbelts, we were told if there’s an accident to just throw up our hands to protect our heads. As kids, we never saw a “Baby on Board” sticker. “Baby Overboard” would have been more appropriate. </p>
<p>You Millennials were raised to be special—very special—and to trust your counselors, support groups, and smart drugs to keep you feeling pretty good about the world, like a Sims character having just the right digital balance. We, the parents, knew we weren’t very special, didn’t trust anyone to advise us, and thought staying away from counselors was a sign of toughness. When you came to college, there were long orientations and immersions, and many of your parents clutched teddy bears and wept. When we came to college, we jumped out of the car and tried to grab our suitcases before our parents sped off. </p>
<p>You Millennials were raised to be team players—and you are, with community service, group projects in the classroom, and clubs for everything. And, above all, you are team players with digital technology that connects you all to each other on Facebook, and smartphones that you take to bed with you. We, the parents, were a lot more into competition, rebellion, and defying the mainstream. We did not “friend” each other. Our generation invented the “personal” computer. Personal, as in “mine and not yours,” and certainly not part of the corporate mainframe our own parents bequeathed to us. Growing up, our biggest fear was that Big Brother might someday install cameras in our rooms. Our biggest joy was hearing Steve Jobs announce that " 1984 won’t be like 1984." And now, our biggest surprise has been to see our kids connect with each other by installing their own cameras in their own rooms! </p>
<p>As a generation, you Millennials have a surprisingly conventional outlook on life. Surveys show that as you grow older you wish to become good citizens, good neighbors, and well-rounded people who start families. Violent youth crime, teen pregnancy, and teen smoking have recently experienced dramatic declines, and for that we congratulate you. </p>
<p>Most startling of all, the values gap separating youth from their parents has virtually disappeared. You watch the same movies as your parents, buy the same brand-name clothing, talk over personal problems with them—and, yes, feel just fine about moving back in with them. When I travel around the country, I often ask people now in their 40s or 50s how many songs on their iPod overlap with what’s on their kids’ iPods. The typical answer is 30 to 40 percent. Let me tell you, back in my days on campus (later known as “the days of rage”), we did not have iPods, but if we had, the overlap would have been absolutely zero. Everything about our youth culture was intentionally hostile and disrespectful of our parents. That was the whole idea. </p>
<p>People sometimes ask me, “What does it mean that one generation is different from another—that Millennials, for example, are different from the Boomers or Gen Xers who raised them? Does it mean that some generations are better than others?” And I say: No. There is no such thing as a good or bad generation. Every generation is what it has to be, given the environment it encounters when it enters the world. History shows that whatever collective personality a new generation brings with it is usually what society needs at the time. As such, youth generations tend to correct for the excesses of the midlife generation in power, and they tend to refill the social role being vacated by the older generation who is disappearing. </p>
<p>To avoid speaking in code, let me rephrase this as follows. The Millennial Generation is correcting for the excesses of Boomers and Gen Xers who today run America. I need not remind you what those excesses are: leadership gridlock, refusal to compromise, rampant individualism, the tearing down of traditions, scorched-earth culture wars, and a pathological distrust of all institutions. </p>
<p>The Millennial Generation is also reprising many of the hallmarks of the original G.I. Generation, the so-called “Greatest Generation,” who are now passing away. Like the Millennials, the G.I.s grew up as protected children and quickly turned into optimistic, consensus-minded team players who, in the dark days of the 1930s and ‘40s, saved our nation from turning in the wrong direction at the wrong time. </p>
<p>Igor Stravinsky once wrote that every generation declares war on its parents and makes friends with its grandparents. Yet again, that has happened. </p>
<p>So all of you parents out there: Be proud of this new generation. They aren’t like you, but they are what America now needs. They don’t complain about the storm clouds looming over their fiscal, economic, and geopolitical future; they try to stay positive. They don’t want to bring the system down; they’re doing what they can to make it work again. They worry about you a lot. And they want to come together and build
something big and lasting, something that will win your praise. Beneath their tolerant, optimistic, networked, and risk-averse exterior lie attitudes and habits that may prove vital for our country’s healing and for our country’s future. </p>
<p>No one knows what challenges this Millennial Generation may eventually be asked to bear. Hardly anyone expects them to become America’s next “Greatest Generation.” But someday you can say you heard it from me: That is their destiny, to rescue this country from the mess to which we, the older generations, have contributed, perhaps a bit more than we ever intended—and, in so doing, to become a great generation indeed. </p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>To All My CC-Friends,
Gosh - thank you!! Such helpful information. I really had no idea about the SAT IIs
As always, people on this thread have been more than gracious! Since S scored above 700, it seems like he will not need to retake it. Good news for him - (and me)!</p>
<p>I like this graduation speech. Yes, it warms my heart to see my kids listen to the same music I loved at their age. But Mom singing to the top songs in the car makes them cringe:)</p>
<p>Pushing the “Like” button for RVM & Samtalya!!!</p>
<p>My DD was in Israel when Whitney Houston passed. D’s 22 new-found friends had no idea who “just the finest voice in the world” was! D immediately enlightened them with her iPhone recording of “I will Always Love You”. At the Jr Prom, the DJ played a medley tribute to Donna Summer including, “Hot Stuff”, “Dim All the Lights” and “Last Dance”. My otherwise shy and unassuming D was out on the dance floor “shaking her booty & belting out the lyrics all by herself!”, according to her friends. And, of course, they all got up for Bon Jovi. Sharing the joy of music (ldor vador) is good. No cringing in our car. :)</p>
<p>Speaking of being influenced by parental music, check out
[Thanks</a> For The Music, Mom And Dad : All Songs Considered Blog : NPR](<a href=“Thanks For The Music, Mom And Dad : All Songs Considered : NPR”>Thanks For The Music, Mom And Dad : All Songs Considered : NPR)</p>
<p>P.S. At the risk of sounding like a downer…From Wisconsin to New Jersey to North Carolina, I see reports of: Sobriety Tests Will Be Administered Pre-Prom…Be Safe!</p>
<p>Nice speech. Thanks for posting.</p>
<p>In the “It’s a small world” category, I knew the speaker when he was just starting to work on the generational stuff. Nice to see his progression in life.</p>
<p>ShawD has indeed adopted lots of the music I listened to plus lots of indie stuff that I think is very good.</p>
<p>Mazel Tov & Congrats on all the 2012 graduates from h.s. and from college!</p>
<p>Mazel Tov Spectrum! RVM! Mdmomfromli! Samtalya! Many others too! :)</p>
<p>And Rodney, Jym’s & Momjr’s children graduated college! Wow. Congrats there too! :)</p>
<p>Thank youuuuuuu!!! Its hard to believe. Now, if he would just write his thank you notes…</p>
<p>^^^ Funny, after writing several hundred thank you notes for their Bar Mitzvahs, my kids tackle thank you notes pretty quickly these days! 
High School grad thank you notes for my older S totalled less than 100 and he cranked them out so fast! All our friends tell us my kids write the best thank you notes…probably because my mom was such a stickler about them and taught me well…this is one area my kids take after me…thank goodness they take after my H on the more important stuff! :D</p>