<p>Had a nightmare last night that S got a 550 on Math II. Woke up this morning to find 720- although certainly better than 550, was disappointing. He also did very well on practice tests- 780s etc. I know students in the past, not nearly as good in math, who scored higher. I also think CC warps the mindset.
At least he got his PSATs back this week, and they were an inversion of expected results. He went down in math, and 80 in CR. Based upon previous years, I think he qualifies for NMSF. Doofus.</p>
<p>D checked her score this morning on her one SAT subject test. 720 on Latin. MUCH better than the 540 practice test from before June, her hard work paid off for the studying she did to raise that. She sent an email to her teacher right afterwards 
Now waiting for ACTs next week!</p>
<p>Vparent: You may already know that the Math 2 and Physics subject tests have the most generous curve, so it may well be worth the effort to check out the scoring.</p>
<p>It was rather odd to be doing the USC tour yesterday in the rain and blustery weather. Iām sure the two families visiting from Chicago and Pittsburgh still found it balmy. The tour guide was enthusiastic despite it all, although apologized for the weather (making this PNW native laugh inside) and pretended he didnāt know how to work this devise known as an umbrella.</p>
<p>Interestingly, my S recognized a lot of the buildings on the portion of the visit that was the campus tour, even, he noted, some he remember from pre-school days! (The faculty/staff early pre-school is right on campus, and the later pre-school is on Greek Row, which is nice for the kids when they go trick or treating, caroling, etc.)</p>
<p>The presenters did a good job of speaking to one big area of emphasis at USC, which is interdisciplinary studies and double majors. In order to make this happen, he claimed that there are no impacted classes and that if more students sign up, they open another section. (I have to take this with a grain of salt since there has to be some limit, especially for the popular classes like movie analysis with people in the industry, but my DH can attest there is a great deal of truth to the statement.) What helps with this is that each undergrad gets a schedule advisor, who they must meet with (they may even need to sign off) before signing up for classes each semester.</p>
<p>The presenter for the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences spoke to how they want to see research even at the undergrad level, and gave some specific examples of this outside the natural science context, which the typical student would be more familiar with. He also talked about the special programs: internships, study abroad, etc.</p>
<p>All in all, it was a good tour. My S came away with a somewhat greater understanding how USC fits into the universe of places he might consider, above and beyond the fact that an acceptance here would help the pocketbook with the valuable tuition remission.</p>
<p>Oh, and he also found out that the finger V at USC does not mean peace, but the athletic rally cry āFight on!ā</p>
<p>FAP - glad your visit to USC was a success, even if the weather wasnāt at itās sunny southern California best. And Iām sure that tuition remission would be a great incentive for most students!</p>
<p>Jackief - congrats on your Dās terrific Latin score! Weāre waiting on the ACT as well, and Iām sure D is going to be making herself crazy during the wait. Sheās especially nervous because there was a name mix-up on her admission ticket, and sheās worried that her score wonāt be posted next week. And I know the writing results probably wonāt be posted - they said that can take a few weeks longer.</p>
<p>well I am ashamed to say, I was the one prodding D to the computer to check her score. At least I didnāt check for her. So typical of her, she was saying āoh the cb website will probably be slow, maybe Iāll check it later.ā But she did check it and was then very happy. I told her about some of the kids on the SAT areas who waited up and were checking every minute, she shakes her head at them. </p>
<p>FAP- Iām glad your son liked the tour and got to see another aspect of the college other than Dadās work. And Iām glad he is cognizant of the cost issues. Do they spend a lot of time talking about NMF since that is a draw for many here on CC to consider USC with the big scholarship? Itās good they touched on the accommodations for the popular classes, I have seen some references, not overt, to situations where kids get shut out of classes on some of our visits, so it really is something to consider.</p>
<p>jackief - youāre better than I am! I had no intention of checking Dās scores this morning, but was having trouble logging onto CC, so I went onto CB instead - I put in her screen name and password, and there were her scores - I wasnāt expecting them to come up so easily, or at all! This was about 5:30 in the morning, and I thought they werenāt going to be available until after 8 this morning! Iāll restrain myself and let her look up her ACT scores herself!</p>
<p>LIMOM, the ācommon wisdomā at least in CC land is that CB posted scores at 5am. There were some west coast kids who stayed up last night. checkingā¦ checkingā¦</p>
<p>I did check that her PSAT scores were online, but I donāt think that was too bad for a couple reasons. One, she already had the scores. Two, with finding and entering the access code, she couldnāt have been bothered to go through that effort :rolleyes: She was at camp last year when the AP scores came out, I waited to get the report in the mail and then sent her a copy, so I had to look at that first.</p>
<p>Jackief:</p>
<p>My S has been somewhat more aware of things like cost factors and the general world of finance since I read him an age appropriate book on same in elementary school (he actually asked me to read it with him a second time!) My job is in local government finance, which is quite the harrowing roller coaster ride these days in CA!</p>
<p>Yes, one of the presenters on the USC tour made a strong emphasis on when the applications need to be in for scholarships and spoke to the full and half scholarships available to NMFs. Since full freight (tuition +++) is expected to be $52 K next year, this is a big attraction to USC.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention on the earlier post that they also spoke about freshman housing options (guaranteed housing for the first two years.) There are the typical dorm style situations (two to a room or suite style), apartments with cooking facilities for those so inclined, and even hotel style living (USC has booked four floors of the Radisson just across the street to the east of campus) including laundry (although one will pay extra for that!)</p>
<p>Also, they are building a new student union building that is scheduled for completion fall of '10. Although USC has, due to the economy, put on a non-faculty hiring freeze through June '09 and cut back on construction projects, projects well under way such as this one will continue. Iām continually amazed at their space planning on campus, how they fit these new buildings in without making it seem cramped. True, USC is a rather compact campus (noting that there is a seaprate campus for the medical school farther to the east) and itās said that students can get anywhere on campus in 5-10 minutes on bicycle/roller blades, etc.</p>
<p>jackief - I had no clue about that piece of CC ācommon wisdom.ā I was going by what I saw posted on CB yesterday - that scores would be available after 8 AM today. After seeing Dās scores this morning, I was able to get onto CC, and I did notice that there were kids who had waited up all night to see their scores. CRAZY!</p>
<p>FAP - LOL at your PS. :)</p>
<p>LIMOM: Sorry about your Dās disappointment too.</p>
<p>FindAPlace: Thanks. D simply does not believe her score. She said she was feeling fine at the time of the test, this was the first one of the three she took, she found the questions to be not too hard, she was checking her work, and doing good time. She even checked the CC thread where the SAT āfanaticsā have listed all the correct answers for the test, and she got the vast majority right. She knows she left out 4 and got one question wrong. With the typical Math 2 curve that should put her in the high 700ās if not 800. Instead she got a 660, for which she would need to get about 15 questions wrong! She figures she must have made some sort of error in filling out the bubbles. I called collegeboard and will get the test manually re-scored. The result will be back in 3-5 weeks, they say. It may be a waste of $50 but I guess this is a pretty significant discrepancy between expectations and outcome. Iāll let you guys know if anything changes.</p>
<p>vp - I donāt blame you for asking for a manual re-scoring - thatās expensive, considering how long itās going to take them! Do you know if there a time limit for when you can request the manual re-scoring? I was just wondering.</p>
<p>Thanks - D is over her disappointment already, and planning to get on with prepping for the next try in January.</p>
<p>vp- good luck to get it resolved, hopefully hand scoring will help. Is there a QAS equivalent for subject tests?</p>
<p>and LIMOM, good attitude for your D! And I hope she gets good results on her ACT next week!</p>
<p>jackief - what is QAS?</p>
<p>QAS = question and answer service where you can buy (wait for it) the Questions and Answers from a particular test that youāve taken. I know they have it for SAT I I wonder about SAT II. I havenāt used it myself but have just seen it mentioned.</p>
<p>No jackief, unfortunately no QAS for subject tests. That would be great in this instance. </p>
<p>LIMOM, manual rescoring is available up to 5 months after a test.</p>
<p>Anyway, D is also moving on, hoping for the best but prepared for the worst, and planning to retake Math 2, probably in May, perhaps in Jan, depending on her EC commitments.</p>
<p>Jackief - lol - I believe I ordered the SAT with QAS, just didnāt know that abbreviation. Thanks for filling me in on the terminology.</p>
<p>vp - very frustrating about it not being available for the SAT II. I believe I ordered that when I registered my D for the SAT I. Iāll have her look over the questions/answers once they become available to see whether she believes a mistake was made - but I doubt it.</p>
<p>Thanks for filling me in on the 5-month rule.</p>
<p>LIMOMāThe GC at my Dās school discourages the kids from retaking the SAT immediately. He claims it is very hard to improve scores in such a short period of time. I donāt know if that is true or not, but has your D considered waiting until March?</p>
<p>LIMOM, I knew that someone had ordered the QAS, and I thought it was you, but I wasnāt going to say itā¦ :)</p>
<p>I had also got it for D when she took it in May last year. It is only available with some of the administrations. It arrived many weeks after the test and she was away at summer camp. I donāt think she has ever looked at the booklet.</p>
<p>jackief - to tell the truth, Iām not sure whether I ordered it with QAS or not the first time around - I really have to check. From what vicariousparent says, it sounds like it might arrive too late to be of any use for the January test anyway. </p>
<p>astromom - I think your GC probably has a point, but Dās writing score went from a 65 on the PSAT in Oct. to a 790 on the SAT in Dec., so I have a feeling she can improve a bit on the CR. Iāve already registered her for the test, so sheās taking itā¦lol.</p>