<p>vandy - Thank you for sharing the article. Very helpful!</p>
<p>SAT 2 - I thought scores in the 600s were considered B student appropriate? Some friends of mine whose kids are B students (I believe - never saw transcripts!) attending Syracuse, UVM, Tulane, Maryland - ranged from high 500s to mid 600s in SAT subject tests. I know this is a small sample, but I thought I would mention it. (Worth noting - none of these 4 students had ECs or anything else substantial on their applications).</p>
<p>rossnrachel, one more clarification: plenty of “A” schools are fine with the ACT with writing instead of SAT I and SAT II. Some kids do better on the SAT, some on the ACT, but not having to take those SAT IIs is yet another great reason everyone should try the ACT.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, not every A school requires SAT2’s, University of Chicago is the most notable one on the list but there are others. I don’t think they are recommended at all schools with or without the ACT. The rule of thumb that I would go by is if they seem to strengthen the record send them if they provide more of the same information, no real need but probably not a problem if you do, if they are weak or weaker than other data being sent don’t send them. If you are applying to B schools, although there are a few exceptions there is probably no real need to take them unless they are in an area that is very strong. It is a very good idea to take these tests right after the course is completed. With S1 we had not even heard of them until the end of junior year and it was a bit of a scramble. At least now there is score choice but back then there wasn’t. All tests taken went with the record. That was pressure.</p>
<p>My son was telling me today that he enjoyed the music of my era better than music today. I mentioned the graduation speech posted here, and he had a very good reason for it. He’s a musician, and he said the musical talent was better. Many of the groups he likes had musical training. He said today’s music is mostly about the visual- dancing, outfits, videos, and not the music. We talked about Madonna’s half time show at Superbowl, which was visually interesting- but she was lip sincing and the voice altered by computer in parts. An entertaining show, but not good music to listen to. He mentioned that artists like Freddie Mercury were gifted musicians.</p>
<p>I think music videos changed the rock scene- as artists then had to deliver a visual show. The artists of our era were all music- so better for listening than current rock singers.</p>
<p>Interesting ideas…</p>
<p>Just a quick check-in - S2 did not take any SAT IIs - none of the schools he was applying to needed them. And I agree with the comments above - many schools will accept the ACT with writing in lieu of the SAT plus SAT IIs. A simpler approach.</p>
<p>S2 graduates tomorrow! And then leaves for beach week on Saturday. Then I get to catch my breath!</p>
<p>Pennylane-</p>
<p>I totally agree with your son. My kids complain all the time about how auto tuned singers are now. They say that “they don’t even have to know how to sing!” </p>
<p>A band that we all like is Walk off the Earth. They are creative and interesting and did an amazing cover of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know.” Google the video- it’s amazing to watch.</p>
<p>VandyGrad, Thank you for introducing me to WOTE. I am in love.</p>
<p>Familyof3- So glad you like them! Aren’t they fun and fantastic? :-)</p>
<p>WOTE is great!</p>
<p>Also, for real talent gone rock is David Garrett- Julliard grad violinist who does both classical and rock. He has definitely learned how to market both his talent and good looks.</p>
<p>RVM: I hope you enjoy graduation. Congrats to your S - the inspiration for this thread.</p>
<p>Going off topic, any suggestions for a family trip to Israel this summer? It’s a first trip for us all and we will probably do a group tour, but will have some free time in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, plus dinners on our own.</p>
<p>OOS bargain for those DC who are hearty and can handle a harsh winter:
University of Wyoming $12,855 OOS tuition plus lots of merit money for out of state students: A 3.5 GPA and a 940 SAT/25 ACT gets $4500. A 3.0 with a 25 ACT gets $3000 a year. My DD spent 3 weeks in Boulder last summer at CU. Do you think I can convince her that Laramie will be a lot like Boulder but cheaper and easier to get into?</p>
<p>Boulder is a lot warmer, sunnier, beautiful, and has jewish kids if that is important. i have not encountered a single kid around LA that has ever gone there. Sounds like a big risk. And you can get instate at boulder after a year.
If Boulder is attainable, I would go there…
Just my opinion…</p>
<p>Hi Shulamit:</p>
<p>If you can, send a PM to FLmathmom</p>
<p>She goes to Israel very often…I believe she has children that live there. I’m sure people on this thread can help you too, but I know that FLmathmom would be a great resource.</p>
<p>Thank you CCC! :)</p>
<p>Just dropped D2 off for her final SAT attempt. She was a “test change” person with an admission ticket for SAT 2’s and decided recently to bag that idea and instead to try and raise SAT I scores. At 7 AM she was the 10th person on line. The other 9 were “walk-ins”, which means D2 gets priority since she has an admissions ticket (albeit for SAT 2’s). The administrator addressed the crowd, “I’m sorry but College Board only sent us 7 extra tests for walk ins while in the past they sent us 50. Some of you won’t get to take the test today.” And this was at 7AM!!! While D2 seemed safe, it seems ridiculously unfair to reduce the usual number from 50 to 7. Let me repeat: I HATE THIS PROCESS!!!</p>
<p>socal: justing kidding about Wyoming. My DD has been to both and knows the difference. CU is totally out of reach for her but I may encourage applying to UW just so she can have the thrill of getting a merit scholarship offer. The bar is low there. And Wyoming seems to be one of the few states where OOS tuition is lower than most other states instate tuition.</p>
<p>vitrac: OMG. As if the day isn’t stressful enough! DS is now home from this SAT II (Physics). He said it was “ok” (whatever that means today).</p>
<p>Got to enjoy some mother-daughter time in NYC last night. DD and I went in to see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. What a fun show. Both of us really liked it. Great show for a girls’ night out - great music (80s music that we both loved - as per the discussion here earlier this week ), costumes, Broadway fanfare. We saw some college-aged boys on the way out and wondered who dragged them there!</p>
<p>Going to try to get DD to focus today on outreach for a January internship (long UD break) - I’m sure you will see the eye rolls and hear the groans from wherever you are today.</p>
<p>Shulamit, we did a two-week trip to Israel in December to visit our daughter, who was spending the year there. She’ll be home Wednesday, so if you have specific questions I can pass them along.</p>
<p>We didn’t do a group tour. Depending on how many of you there are, you might be able to book a private guide to do a custom tour for you. It wasn’t cost-effective for our family, but it could be, compared to the roughly $300/person/night that the organized tours seemed to run, depending on the configuration of your group and the itinerary you have in mind…and your budget.</p>
<p>I found the TripAdvisor forum helpful, but dominated by certain people with certain viewpoints. However, they were really useful for pointing out things that had to be booked ahead of time.</p>
<p>Thanks Deskpotato. I had the impression that a private tour might be even more expensive because we are only 4 people, but I can look into it again.</p>