Parents of the HS Class of 2011 - Original

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
3101

<p>I’ve looked at a post by silverturtle in the SAT/ACT forum. I don’t know how to make a link, but it’s a long thread called “silverturtle’s guide to etc., etc.” Silverturtle is a very savvy kid who has put a lot of good energy into this and talked to a lot of people, read a lot of statistics. </p>

<p>The first few pages are about test review. By post 18, though, s/he talks about how schools use the scores, with a link that lists alphabetically whether schools want all sittings, the best score per sitting, the best score per section, etc. I’m hoping their policies are the same with the ACT. I’m sure we’ll find these out with the schools my D is applying to when she applies, but it’s nice to check it out.</p>

<p>This “guide” has a lot that’s subjective, but I appreciated it, the way I appreciated the subjective, but knowledgeable, advice on CC in general. It’s worth looking at. Our kids here are mostly done taking the tests, but starting around post 17 or 18 there are several good pages about the admissions process in general. It’s skewed toward top schools, but still very helpful. </p>

<p>I imagine, SaintSaens, your disappointment is mostly a matter of pride; I can’t imagine the schools are going to quibble much about such a tiny difference in GPA. Even the top schools regularly accept students without 4.0s. And of course for most schools your GPA is certainly superior.</p>

<p>I didn’t bring up the superscoring question with my D, nor the idea of taking the ACT again. Personally I think she should - a kind of get back in the saddle, third time’s a charm feeling, and what the heck it’s only one more Saturday in her life. I hate thinking of her going out on the lower score, even if she will mostly use the first score in her apps (except for the 2 or 3 schools that apparently want all of them). My H is sorry she even took it again - mostly just because he’s sorry she went down a point, since really she, and we, were pumped after the nice score on the first one, and she was ready to get another crack at it.</p>

<p>I’ve found out where and when the tests are in Sept and Oct, easy enough to do it. I’m going to give her another couple of weeks, and hope that she starts hearing of some friends who are taking it one more time. I would be shocked if she goes down again; the averages suggest she’d go up. But it’s up to her.</p>

3102

<p>I am also so grateful for the wealth of information on cc, from parents, educators, AND students!! (kudos to you silverturtle! :)).</p>

<p>Just a thought, some, but not all schools superscore the ACT. Seems like less than the number that superscore the SAT. This trend may be changing and may be more what I have found in the schools S2 is looking at.</p>

<p>I understand how you feel. You know they can do it and want them to have the peace of mind putting forth the most solid application possible. Before you suggest another ACT setting, check with DDs target schools to see if they superscore the ACT. Having all the facts will help you and DD decide the value of taking the ACT again.</p>

3103

<p>Just got back from a visit to Ga Tech and they say that they superscore across both the SAT and ACT. Meaning they take the highest score from any test for Math and English (CR) in their admissions decisions. Thought that was pretty interesting and I had not seen that on their website.</p>

3104

<p>As a casual peruser of the last few pages of this thread, I think that the good news (easy to say as one not experiencing the disappointments or setbacks described herein) is that getting a 3 or even a 1 on an AP test or a couple of bad grades does not constitute a life-threatening emergency (even if teen hormones make it feel that way). In fact, I think that early setbacks are a good thing if they build resilience. My own observation is that a lot of kids – especially girls – go through HS trying to be perfect at everything. Good grades. Check (“I meet with each teacher every morning before handing in homework or papers to make sure I can correct errors before I hand things in”), sports, other ECs, and even grooming (every hair in place). The pressure is tremendous and then we’ve witnessed a number of psychological breakdowns. Some manifest themselves as eating disorders, but my sense is that the first big setback or failure in college (discovering “I’m not as smart as the best students in my chosen field of chemistry or math” or “I don’t even grasp the basic idea the professor is going for and a lot of my classmates do”) can lead to serious problems. At the core, they think, “I’m a failure if I don’t do everything perfectly.” I think early failures – “I got a C for the semester” – and learning to pick oneself up – “I worked like crazy and brought my course grade to a B for the year” – are probably more important in the long-run than getting an A. </p>

<p>Back to the topic at hand, I would be surprised if a 3 on an AP affects anything although a 1 in one’s desired major will require some remedial work and explanation. But, I suspect that colleges know that some AP courses actually cover the full breadth of the material and that others don’t and thus give a lot less weight to AP scores. [No inside knowledge there, just an observation]. So, I think most of your kids will be unaffected by AP scores. </p>

<p>ACT scores, fortunately, are not one-shot deals. So, Kajon, I’m assuming that your son can (will?) repeat. I think we hired someone for half-a-day to explain to ShawSon what mattered on the SAT and ACT writing. He did really well on the SAT writing and less well on the ACT writing – he thought the ACT prompt was terrible, though even there, the grader criticized the essay for not including things that were in fact in the essay. Not sure if the prompt was the issue, because he didn’t need to repeat as he had done well overall on both and only reported the SAT. But, I wonder if some targeted coaching on the ACT writing would make a difference. It really did for the SAT because he learned about the importance of the grammar section and how to handle some of the classes of questions (as a severe dyslexic, that kind of coaching was quite valuable).</p>

3105

<p>^^ I am finding it important to ask at each university for the upcoming admissions cycle. This is changing. What do they require? What would they ‘like’ to see? We visited GT and I’d have to go back to my notes to see what we were told, but I would have prob. verified. I am interested to hear the superscore on the ACT. Thanks!</p>

3106

<p>

</p>

<p>Thanks for the positive thoughts. Here is the link:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/955109-silverturtles-guide-sat-admissions-success.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/955109-silverturtles-guide-sat-admissions-success.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3107

<p>I am doing the mom “happy dance” as I heard from my D from the sleep away camp that she is working at all summer. She has actually started on her common app essay. Couldn’t believe it! I thought I would be in the position of picking her up on August 23 and finding out she hadn’t even though about it. (and wanting to strangle her!) Happy Happy Dance!!!</p>

3108

<p>Thanks for the link, silverturtle. Would you think about separating the two topics in your guide? People - I guess I’m saying parents - for whom the test specifics aren’t as relevant will find the admissions wisdom alone very, very helpful. I believe someone said you were able to capture the best of CC in one place, which is an accomplishment.</p>

<p>Congrats, holliesue! See, these kids are definitely “into it”! They’ll make us crazy this year, for sure, but they want to move on and to get where they want to be. </p>

<p>shawbridge - as usual, you are spot on. My college D’s semester from hell was really an incredible turning point for her (we definitely heard the words “I worked my butt off and hurray, I got a B!”). What she’s gotten from college is the chance to see it all, and in a new way: brilliant kids who flunk out; kids who never should have been at that school in the first place who do amazingly well, or who also flunk out; kids who continue to breeze along, no matter what life dishes out; kids who work their butt off, with all kinds of varied results. </p>

<p>This summer she’s doing a research internship where they do have submit papers and do presentations, but THERE ARE NO GRADES. She is killing herself to do well, and luckily has some guidance in it, and I think it’s the greatest experience she’s ever had in her life - a chance to use her skills and get out of the “school” mentality. On the other hand, she’s working TOO hard, I think, maybe too worried she’s not keeping up or pleasing the “boss” enough. Life is tricky that way - you get into the real world, with no grades or scores, and sometimes you start thinking that there’s no ceiling, that you just have to work AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE to be successful. But she’ll have to learn. I just hope it doesn’t take 20 years like with so many people.</p>

<p>My HS '11 D … well, she has a healthy ability to kick back. She can be very, very passionate and give her “all”; she just doesn’t tend to do it in the usual quantitative way. It will be interesting when she can go to college and focus on her real interests - she may end up being just as intense (and maybe even as successful!) then as conventional achievers in HS are now. I still think she’ll maintain her natural skills in taking it easy, though!</p>

3109

<p>I’m with holliesue. ShawD, who was reluctant to do much that wasn’t scheduled in past summers and could do a convincing imitation of a vegetable watching youtube, is taking responsibility for the ACT practice. She goes over to our cousin’s but does the math and science stuff separately. This weekend, she went with friends to a friend’s family’s beach house and brought her ACT books without any prompting from us and in fact one morning woke up early to practice. I just have to pinch myself to ensure that I’m not in a dream state (and listen Jeff Buckley singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, though not necessarily so upbeat, but oh so beautiful).</p>

3110

<p>

</p>

<p>Sounds like mine - seems like she has an “on” switch and an “off” switch…no “low” or “medium.” Works her tail off or exists in a semi-vegetative state.</p>

3111

<p>

</p>

<p>woohoo! I haven’t started bugging S about essay, yet. I nagged him to work on his brag sheet for the teachers writing his recs. Plus he has been working on his Eagle project. Next up is the essay. </p>

<p>Trying to plan our two week vacation the end of this month. H would like to visit as many schools as possible on S’s still large list. S’s has no interest in visiting any, at all. Previous school visits have helped eliminate possibilities and a last minute visit to one school ended up making it one of his top choices so far. So the visits are serving a purpose. 10yo D is also not happy about spending her vacation doing college tours. So we have decided H and S will spend one week doing the college tour thing and D and I will fly in to meet them at the half way mark. Once football starts up mid August we will not be able to visit schools til Dec so it is now or never. Even though we started this process last year, I feel like we are so far behind. I think with D we will make more of an effort to prune her list down to a more reasonable number or visit more schools jr year. </p>

<p>I am very glad we are done with testing. If I thought S would study I would suggest he retake the SAT 2’s but I know he won’t without nagging and there are only a couple of schools on his list that want the subject tests so the previous results will have to do.</p>

3112

<p>

</p>

<p>I think part of the problem with the AP tests and what makes them different than the SATs and ACT tests are that the AP digs a mile deep on one subject while the SAT’s, etc are broad tests of general intelligence. I have found that the unofficial practice tests are not always good predictors of performance on the actual tests. I think you can purchase the actual test and answers that your D took so you can see exactly where she went wrong if you think that would be helpful. </p>

<p>I did end up calling in to get S’s AP scores, couldn’t resist for $8. I am not all that happy with his scores. He got a 3 on Eng Lang and a 4 on World Hist. The 4 was a surprise because his last progress report for World Hist. had him with an E in that class. His preliminary grade for the quarter (without the AP test averaged in) was a C+, so I think his grade in World History will end up a B. OTOH he had a preliminary grade of B+ without the AP test being averaged for Eng Lang so that will probably go down. Wouldn’t you know Eng is his favorite subject, but he just refuses to put the work in studying for these tests, figures the review they do in class is enough. …sigh.</p>

3113

<p>

Thanks,Mamom.<br>
I would do that if D wanted to, but she is quite philosophical about the whole thing, and I’m at peace with it, too.</p>

<p>First semester, this class was the first non-A grade she’d ever received (B+), and she resolved to work even harder and brought it up to an A- second semester. She’s proud of that.</p>

<p>She also feels good about having tried something very difficult, out of her typical areas of strength, because a respected teacher encouraged her to explore whether science might be a career-field for her.</p>

<p>Finally, she (and I, after the initial surprise) feel that a 3 is a respectable score. It reflects that you learned the material to a satisfactory level. Not above-average or outstanding, but satisfactory. On this one, we’re good with that.</p>

<p>Sorry that your S’s scores were less than thrilling to you. It’s too bad there are no do-overs on APs (though that is a mixed blessing…we’re actually glad to be past this particular milestone and moving on).</p>

<p>Congrats on the 4 in Hist – that’s terrific!</p>

3114

<p>My D is another either working her tail off or vegging out in front of a screen. The school year was the working her tail off period; now that summer’s here, I have been having a difficult time getting her to do anything constructive. She keeps saying she’ll get to things (like cleaning her room enough so that the carpet is visible, dong a little college research…) but I have seen nothing to indicate that she has done anything along those lines. She is at an interview this morning for a part-time data entry job (which would be a blessing even though it will entail a 2-mile walk home) and she leaves for the 2 week summer honors program at Robert E. Cook on Sunday so I can’t say she is doing nothing, but it’s very frustrating to see my normally hard working daughter turn into a vegetable when there’s so much that needs to be done. My prodding is met with “I know, I know”. Sigh.</p>

3115

<p>We visited GT in Feb. In the info session, they said that they convert the ACT scores to SAT equivalents and then take the highest scores in each section. I don’t remember if we coined this method ‘super duper scoring’ or they did, but it has stuck in our heads (and our notes).</p>

3116

<p>D’s AP score arrived in mail today, and she’s at a friend’s house watching the World Cup game. Didn’t even know she liked soccer! Hopefully she’ll be home soon, and she’ll be pleased with the test results.</p>

3117

<p>Anyone else a fan of The Neurotic Parent? [THE</a> NEUROTIC PARENT?](<a href=“http://neuroticparent.typepad.com/]THE”>http://neuroticparent.typepad.com/)</p>

<p>D1’s SAT II scores sit in an envelope, unopened, on her desk. Her mailed AP scores should be joining them any day, waiting for her to return from her summer program. The only thing that got opened was her report card. No surprises except that the wacko regular school college counselor gave D1 a “B” in peer college counseling. Probably because WRSCC got ticked off when D1 would read college websites and nytimes.com when there was nothing for D1 to do. :mad:</p>

3118

<p>AP scores are out on paper??</p>

<p>I dont have our students info handy–and so haven’t called…now inching towards the middle of the month–I figured we’d wait…I am looking forward to seeing the scores and our student is out of town and very pre-occupied…so AP scores are not on the horizon.
If they come before our student comes home–I will mention the scores IF they are great–
however–if they are “ok” I will leave them until our student gets back to town…no sense in a distraction with any low scores right now…</p>

<p>Gotta tell ya–too bad that Common AP doesn’t go live until Aug 1…we will be away and so any opporunity for our student to look at it etc before we leave–won’t happen…until close to the end of Aug…
I imagine for alot of families and schedules–losing the flexibility of the July-Aug time is a hassle.</p>

3119

<p>fogfog - I guess the AP scores are being sent out to California first and then moving east over the next 2 weeks. Makes no sense…</p>

<p>I think I will print a copy of the common app preview and stick it in front of my son’s face so he can at least begin to think about it.</p>

3120

<p>The CA changes very little from year to year as can be seen in the preview. You can also link to many of the supplements via the CA site.</p>