<p>Good luck to everyone who took the sat saturday. so this maybe a premature question, but does anyone (everyone) already have a preliminary college list. My s does pretty well on these tests from checking against the mean range but his gpa is just eh and I am concerned about the ec. seems like these kids don’t ever sleep with ap, ec, etc, etc. and some of the discussion boards asking for chances show these overachievers with replies of maybe. I’m already getting worried that every school we’re thinking is a reach school. what’s the real deal . my son goes to a top nw pubic school but most kids go to state university, not many to private school and fewer east of the rockies. so the counsellors have limited experience or interest in these schools and one actually told my son that private colleges were a waste of money. great help that’s going to be
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated</p>
<p>Well, northwest mom, your S would bring geographic diversity, so he has that going for him if he is looking at east coast schools. But honestly, if he is looking at the top schools, they are reaches for everyone. My D doesn’t have a real list yet, but she is interested in a few schools and they are all reaches - not just for her, but for everyone. We’re working on finding her a few good matches and safeties now. and it’s not easy.</p>
<p>Queen’s Mom - I think I read somewhere that the scores will be posted online on 12/23. I also read 12/25, but I have to think that’s a mistake and that they wouldn’t post them on Christmas. There’s a chart on CB’s web site that says 12/23, so I’d check then (not sure what time though).</p>
<p>NWMom:</p>
<p>My DS politely declined to commence the discussion of where he might apply until around now (so we can maybe make campus visit plans for spring break.) Since his chosen (first round) SAT date is in March, we’ll have to run with an estimate of what his score will be when those PSAT finally get delivered!</p>
<p>So, other than USC (as his Dad works there, he could go tutition free) and some of the UCs (possibly Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD), the discussion has just begun to scratch the surface. Although he prefers warmer weather, he won’t rule out colder climes. He wants a medium to larger size campus. No opinion to this point on public vs private. Probably not LAC, possibly a tech school if those SAT scores put him in range, although it would be on his reach list and he was advised that Cal Tech is so tiny that it’s almost a boutique when compared to MIT (although about the same size as H Mudd.)</p>
<p>Needless to say, a lot of work needs to be done here to prepare a reasonable list of reaches, matches and safetys!</p>
<p>NW Mom, We also live west of the Mississippi and we were told by the counselor of our private school that there would be a ‘slight’ geographical advantage when applying to schools on the East coast. </p>
<p>I suspect the advantage will be strongest at the small liberal arts colleges (e.g, Weslyan, Vassar, Bard) that are popular in the Northeast but not so well known out West. I don’t think there would be a significant advantage at top schools like Yale and Harvard because they get lots of highly qualified students from all over the world and geographic diversity is not something they have to work for.</p>
<p>You could be right, vicariousparent. I just think it might just give you an edge to not be from the northeast.</p>
<p>We’re thinking of tying in a college visit or two with a trip to Chicago over winter break, and I just realized how difficult the choice may be with last S, as he has expressed no opinions, which is fewer than even his taciturn brother expressed. :D</p>
<p>Or possibly very easy…he may opt to go to the local state uni for engineering. It’s very good.</p>
<p>But my revelation today is the kid is smart, but hasn’t discovered his passion yet. So he might as well go to a reasonably priced school that’s good in all the branches of engineering, and figure out which he likes best.</p>
<p>His father discovered transportation in HS, majored in Urban Planning, and ended up in airport planning, where he is extremely successful.</p>
<p>I was lucky in HS to have music, otherwise I have NO idea what I might have done. English? a language? OK but not the clear first choice that music was.</p>
<p>It’s really wonderful when you have a clear passion for something—anything.</p>
<p>nw mom- we have done several visits on no school days in the fall, D seems to think she has a good idea of the type of school she wants, these visits in the reach/match range let her know some she liked and some she didn’t. We’ve since put visits on hold, when we get scores back, we can discuss the list some more. I want her to find a couple for her list which may give her merit aid, the one we visited she did not like so no point in applying. So far all visits have been driving distance. As she does more focused searching we can maybe take a trip beginning or end of summer.</p>
<p>S is not interested in any college .His only interests are lacrosse and physics (probably in that order) .
I can’t wait to see his college list from the college counselor. Hopefully, S will show some interest by then, since he has to meet with CC every week.
He visited RIT last year, liked the campus but not the students because they looked “too intense”.</p>
<p>I’m intrigued that some of you are planning college visits during winter break. I could have sworn the schools were closed that week. Maybe we can work one in between track meets and house guests. OTOH, maybe an open day could be better used for resting. </p>
<p>Son officially sought after-school help with Trig today. His grade has been in steady decline since early November. He’s now down to a 76. Not earth-shattering, but it’s the trend that concerns me. Last several grades were 79, 67, 67, 50, 52, and 63. Sigh. He’s been doing identity flash cards…maybe we have them to thank for the 63? Chapter test planned for Thursday. GULP!</p>
<p>Oh, one bright spot, he passed his driver’s test today. :)</p>
<p>Passing the driving test is a bright spot for a parent?!?! More like the beginning of sleepless nights.</p>
<p>j/k 
Congrats.</p>
<p>One thing to look for are visits by colleges to your city. Just by chance, two weeks ago I learned a college we were looking at but hadn’t visited was going to come to town, so we signed up for the reception/info session. Very interesting and one way to learn about schools without having to travel. We’re doing another one in early January.</p>
<p>The reception we went to last night seemed to be a turning point (I hope) with S. He’s becoming a good consumer of college info (SAT middle 50%, etc), and he had questions about tuition and fees. It’s finally sinking in how expensive some colleges are and how if he wants options it’s on him to get good scholarship money.</p>
<p>Since my son has his heart set on 1 school, and his big brother attends there, there is no need to visit because we do that regularly ;)</p>
<p>But, the kicker is that he has to stay in the top 10% for guaranteed admission, and it’s gotten darn near impossible to get in if you’re out of it. </p>
<p>So far so good. He should be fine this semester, and then one more to go!! It makes my life easy because he knows the stakes. I don’t have to pressure at all!!</p>
<p>Judging by your name, I’d say you’re an Aggie, but judging by what you’ve written I’d think your son is a Longhorn.</p>
<p>Yes, you hit the nail on the head!! I probably should have changed my moniker, the word “Aggie” is blasphemous in our house! ;)</p>
<p>Go Horns!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for everyones input. Next question, I understand that the writing portion of the SAT is not really much of a consideration for schools and some don’t look at them at all (Georgetown comes to mind) Scores, Math 750, V 690 and W 640. We were thinking we’re done and don’t need to re-take. I’m of the mind that these tests are to get scores that don’t eliminate you from contention and it comes down to essays, course load, recommendations and that one thing that any school might be looking for that year. alot of it is a crap shoot. Our first round preliminary list: Dartmouth, Duke, Georgetown, UVA, BC, Emory, Colgate.</p>
<p>ag, see this???</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/longhorns/entries/2008/12/08/mccoy_moves_to.html]statesman.com[/url”>http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/longhorns/entries/2008/12/08/mccoy_moves_to.html]statesman.com[/url</a>]</p>
<p>update from our little corner of the world- girls had fun at the semi-formal, it was fun to see two groups getting ready/eating in the same house and actually getting along! I told them how much I appreciated it.</p>
<p>PSAT scores will be distributed on Wed. They will also talk to the kids for the first time about SAT2s. LOL on that one. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>ski race tomorrow was cancelled, seems it is too early to officially start the races for the year 
so postponed to during winter break! Luckily we will be home, especially lucky since my family is 50% of the girls team… ! They will still leave school early to have a practice, also a practice on Sat but D1 will have to miss that for ACTs. This also gives her more ACT prep time tonight/tomorrow night, so far so good.</p>
<p>(yes I had the smiley faq up while I wrote this post)</p>
<p>Thanks for the link. Well, that might be some consolation!</p>
<p>NW mom: Personally I would say let him take the SAT again later in the year (or early next year). I agree with you that the SAT is not a crucial factor but I bet his English scores will go up quite a bit as he does more work in school, especially if he is currently in AP Language. He doesn’t have to do any prep, really. Unless you know that all the schools on that list specifically disregard the Writing score you should not ignore it. JMHO.</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - The Mom Song](<a href=“http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=KMhuAtyFCrw]YouTube”>http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=KMhuAtyFCrw)</p>
<p>check out this link. Ain’t it the truth</p>
<p>nw mom- for that list of schools he should consider retaking the sat or perhaps trying the act. I know it is a pain to have them retake, my D isn’t that thrilled about the CB tests either. She is taking the ACT this Sat and so far she seems to like it better. Hoping for a decent score or at least a pleasant enough experience that she would want to retake it instead of trying the SAT. Don’t think she will be in NMSF contention so if she prefers ACT no reason to take SAT. She is also looking at some test optional schools and some which will take SAT2s in lieu of SAT/ACT.</p>