<p>What’s up with all the winter homework? S1 didn’t have any. 13yo had to finish reading a book, but that’s it.</p>
<p>rb3 - another parent who comes on here so that I don’t have to overdo the college talks with my D. Talking to other parents about this process is very helpful - for advice, empathy, fun. And yes, my D took an SAT prep class over the summer - but she took it with a group of friends. She went to a total of 5 classes, so it hardly took over her summer (not to mention that the class was pretty useless - terrible instructors, reviewbook full of errors, bad advice). She also worked, volunteered, ran, tutored, did independent study, and spent time hanging out with her boyfriend and other friends. Was it a fun summer? Not especially, but those were all things she chose to do. She is not taking another prep class this year (though all of her friends are). </p>
<p>About us posting scores/not posting them - I agree with Jackief - if you want to, go ahead, and if you’d rather not, don’t. I find it helpful to match up scores with where kids will be applying - just to see where my D will be competitive - even though I know the test scores are just a part of the whole. </p>
<p>Like CountingDown said, my D will also be doing her own list/apps/essays - we just want our kids to be prepared. Not all guidance offices do a great job of giving kids the info they need to apply to college.</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay - your S1 didn’t get homework over the break? D got a bunch - mostly APUSH, but also Spanish. Not sure about other subjects - that’s just what she was working on today. My 12 year old was also supposed to read a book too - but didn’t. Not sure what he’s going to do about that. I don’t think he had to finish it, but he was supposed to get a substantial amount done by tomorrow.</p>
<p>We end our semester before the break. Maybe that’s the difference?</p>
<p>S2 had a ton of stuff due just before the break, but not much over the holidays (reading for a test in Euro, a paper for IB Econ, annotating for English). Thank goodness. Finals start a week from Friday, though.</p>
<p>Was hoping S2 would apply to TASP, but the seminar topics didn’t interest him much. Sigh. He thinks he’ll be able to find a job – which would be great, but I’m not too optimistic in this economy. He had one last summer and they loved him, but they just didn’t have enough business to get him hours.</p>
<p>I’m another parent that is here to educate myself about the college admissions process. As others have said - I spend time on here rather than irritating my S with the details. He did not and will not take a review course - we bought a couple of review books and he is doing what he wants to do in order to get the score that HE wants to get. </p>
<p>Just curious - what is APUSH? I have never heard of it.</p>
<p>AP U.S. History</p>
<p>mom2010-
Welcome to CC! You might find this thread helpful-- it explains a lot of the abbreviations on cc <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52585-abbreviation-thread.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52585-abbreviation-thread.html</a></p>
<p>good luck vp on the tasp application. Glad to hear she is working on it on her own. My D is going back to summer camp this summer. She did an academic program two summers ago and really got a lot out of it. Not the same level as tasp but beneficial.</p>
<p>On the homework, our whole end of December was really screwed up with the ice storm in the north east. So I wouldn’t draw any conclusions on the work. I know the school is thinking of eliminating the two “no homework weekends” we currently have, kids are not too happy about that. We don’t have a big lull between terms as most classes are year long.</p>
<p>Same with D’s school, jackief - no free time between semesters. She does get a much-needed week off in February though - and I believe that’s in between sports seasons, so it might even be a real break this time.</p>
<p>Does it usually take two weeks to get ACT writing scores after the multiple choice scores? It seems that many students received their writing score at the same time as the composite.
Anyone else here who has received the composite still waiting on the writing?</p>
<p>Hello all. I am back from a long vacation from this board. I had relatives visiting every day for the past 2 weeks-different sets of relatives. I will peek in occasionally in between massive bouts of housecleaning. ;)</p>
<p>My news: I was both pleasantly surprised and disappointed in D’s SAT scores. Like I posted before she has anxiety issues so her scores were way below her practice scores, but she improved almost 30 points from her PSAT last year to this year and did even better on the SATs she took a month later. The PSAT and SAT score scales don’t match, but using the SAT scale she improved 30 points (not as good as the 30 from last year, which would translate to 300 on the SAT scale, but still an improvement in only one month with no additional studying and being exhausted on test day). I hope this means she is getting less nervous with each test, and by her 3rd SAT, she will actually score somewhere near her practice tests. I can easily see a 200 point improvement if that is the case (and that’s without superscoring).</p>
<p>She is not going to take the January SATs because they are too close to her finals, so she will register for the March test and hopefully have enough time to do some prep. Thank goodness for score choice. It has made D much less nervous.</p>
<p>Perhaps I got the wrong impression, but from reading various threads, I thought the more difficult part of the task in preparing the “list” of reaches-matches-safeties was in getting the student engaged in thinking about safeties they could live with.</p>
<p>We’re still in a black box as, at our choosing, the first SAT sitting won’t be until March so we’re having to use reasonable estimates as a proxy. Due to the price/value for product, we discussed with our son the possibility of including just mid-tier UC schools for his safety category. When he agreed to that, he rather quickly settled on UC Irvine and UC San Diego, based on (not necessairly in priority order) 1) So Cal location; 2) Near/in big city; 3) Good in areas he’s likely to major in.</p>
<p>Just to show he’s focused on the academics, when asked about the top tier, he said he’d choose UC Berkeley over UCLA if offered the choice due to their strength in potential majors. So it’s clearly not the warmth/beaches that attracts on the top end.</p>
<p>The following article is causing a stir on another thread. What rang true to me was what the posters said about California centric kids. I think I have one. So my struggle may be, on the reach-match considerations to engage him into thinking outside the border of CA for a bit.</p>
<p>It’s going to be an interesting next few months for all of us!</p>
<p>[UC</a> officials debate accepting more non-Californians to boost revenue - Los Angeles Times](<a href=“http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-outofstate4-2009jan04,0,2413423.story]UC”>For UC, richer pickings are out of state)</p>
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<p>No kidding!! My son has spent the last few days since we got back from the farm holed up in “the cave” playing vidoe games;)</p>
<p>To chime on on rd’s post:</p>
<p>I also use CC as a chance to chat with parents about college things anonymously:) I sure am not going around the neighborhood talking about scores!! </p>
<p>This is a place to get great info and share good news without ruffling feathers.</p>
<p>My son and I rarely talk about tests or school stuff. I trust him to do his part and luckily he has (why I didn’t sign up for parent portal at the hs). He did no test prep or internships over the summer, he worked as a junior counselor at the camp he has attended since he was 6. That’s his plan this summer as well, he loves that place… </p>
<p>His resume may not be fleshed out like some kids, but he’s only trying to go to the state school, so there’s no need.</p>
<p>I think CC is skewed toward high achieving kids who are trying to go to high level places (Ivy and such). Even though my son’s plans are set (if he’s top 10% he probably won’t even apply anywhere else - like his brother 1 app, 1 acceptance), it is fun to chat with other parents who are where I am kids wise.</p>
<p>FAP, if he wants to stay in CA, I don’t see a reason not to. Especially with the UC system you have there, it is hard to bypass that value if that is what he is happy with (plus USC). He will have plenty of opportunities to explore, maybe a term abroad or at another school in the US with a visiting student agreement.</p>
<p>BengalMom - I know the ACT web site says it can take up to two weeks after the multiple choice scores are posted to see the essay score. I was positive that D’s scores would be the last ones posted in Feb. because of the name mix-up on her registration. Instead, we were lucky and got both scores on the second day they became available. I hope you get your son’s essay score soon. </p>
<p>FAP - your S is so lucky to have so many great choices in California! My D is the same way - only she wants to stay in the northeast - and again, a bunch of great choices, so I have no problem with that.</p>
<p>ag54 - so nice that your S wants to go to the state school and has such a great chance of getting guaranteed admission! A lucky guy. And lucky you too. You can lend us support next year when we’re all playing the waiting game.</p>
<p>Welcome back Queen’s Mom, and congrats on your D’s scores.</p>
<p>Happily, there are lots of great choices in CA. My task is ensure my S at least takes a glance at the possibilities out of state since for some, if he’s interested, he might have a slight edge being an OOS applicant. He could end up like me. I grew up in WA, got my BA and MPA from UW and then got my first professional job in upstate NY (Albany), in heavy competition with the applicants from Syracuse U.</p>
<p>I think I should start a competition thread to see whose child gets the most unlikely mailing from a college.</p>
<p>Today my S got a brochure from Acquinas college in Michigan. Catholic liberal arts. He’s Jewish & aiming to be an engineer. :D</p>
<p>We’re gotten a lot of these really RANDOM college mailings. Anyone else?</p>
<p>S’s mail has really dried up, but he did get something last week from Texas Tech. That school is not likely as UT’s loss to Texas Tech in the final seconds of the game is why I’m watchinig UT play tonight and not Thursday. Harumph.</p>
<p>Sorry that I digressed into jock yak …</p>