<p>The SAT test scores for May are now available, at least the subject tests. Daughter did well enough on Literature and US History and is now completely finished with SAT testing. Good luck to everyone else.</p>
<p>glido:</p>
<p>Thanks for the info from your Exploring College Options sessions. Good info there.</p>
<p>I took my twin sons (class of 2012) to the same seminar (with the same schools) held in Grand Rapids, MI back in August. At our session the Duke rep killed. I mean like a stand-up comedian, he was hilarious! </p>
<p>All in all though we really didn’t get too much out of the session. There were probably 500 people (kids and fretful parents) listening to these slick presentations and after the reps broke off in to separate areas it was like rock stars and divas holding court with their fans. I kept thinking if your schools only accept about 1 out of 10 kids that apply do you really need to recruit in this way? </p>
<p>I must admit that going through this process I am becoming a bit disillusioned. One of my sons is very bright and by all empirical metrics (GPA, ECs, test scores, etc.) should meet the requirements for acceptence to this country’s finest universities. </p>
<p>But as I’ve started to research things it’s obvious the game is rigged. I’m a grown up and know that life isn’t fair, but as a parent that wants the best for his kids, it’s still disheartening. I’m finding that who gets admitted to our most prestigious schools is largely a matter of fame, fortune, fortunate birth, athletic prowess, and political correctness. This may not be a popular sentiment but it appears true.</p>
<p>At our Exploring College Options seminar this is the question I asked: </p>
<p>“With some of your school accepting less than 10% of applicants how do you address what might be called the “lottery syndrome”, where otherwise qualified candidates are disinclined to apply because they perceive their chance of acceptance as too much of a long shot?”</p>
<p>I didn’t really get a decent answer from any of the reps. The answers were mostly in the vein of, “if you’re interested in Prestigious University, Prestigious University is interested in you!” One rep actually game me a variation on the “if you don’t play, you can’t win” rationale used for playing the lottery. The Harvard rep misunderstood my question and gave my a snooty “Our application process is NOT a lottery, we spend hours going over our applications…” answer completely missing the point.</p>
<p>If I go to one of these sessions again (unlikely) this is the question I’ll ask:</p>
<p>“Some of your schools accept less than 10% of applicants. After slots reserved for legacies, athletes, under represented minorities, and developmental admits are factored in; what are the actual chances of a smart, white, hard working, well rounded kid from the suburbs being admitted to your school?”</p>
<p>As requested, the thread for “How to Write a 12 Essay in 10 Days”</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/645763-how-write-12-essay-just-10-days.html?highlight=how+to+get[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/645763-how-write-12-essay-just-10-days.html?highlight=how+to+get</a></p>
<p>Huxley,
Check out this thread. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1145780-harvard-legacy-admit-rate-30-a.html?highlight=legacy[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1145780-harvard-legacy-admit-rate-30-a.html?highlight=legacy</a>
The debate is about how to be FAIR, and how to FILL A CLASS WITH FULL REPRESENTATION and TO FILL ALL THE CHAIRS IN SPORTS< ETC>, so as to use all the school’s resources.</p>
<p>As you will see, the effect of these preferences is not all that large. They system does have some game aspects to it, but there are plenty of wild card applicants who DO get in. And there are lots of great schools out there.</p>
<p>Due to the weak economy and the high cost of attendance, many are selecting colleges also based on the Financial Aid they receive, which they cannot know for sure until after they get accepted. One reason why so many are applying to a large number of colleges.</p>
<p>To be sure, there is a lottery effect due to the fact that there are just tooo many who are qualified and matched to fill all of these different slots. And the more selective the colleges get, the more applications the kids feel they need to send in- vicious circle. Hopefully, the mania will level off here…</p>
<p>Your experience with the AdComms is no surprise, just proof that the last thing they want to do is discourage anyone from applying! The cynics feel that the colleges spend lots of time and money attracting as many applicants as possible, just to turn them away!! To make them look more selective (big factor in people’s minds and with rankings…)- they would say “to make sure we get the highest quality” and “best fit” applicants!</p>
<p>This web-site will be a great resource to you in all the systems used in selecting applicants and awarding financial aid.
And in just about every other aspect of the college process.</p>
<p>Congratulations to the juniors and parents on a strong finish.
CPU, congrats on the job.</p>
<p>Glido thanks for posting about the info session. I had to laugh about “the eight hours of sleep” part.</p>
<p>any ideas on how to get the math sat up, D got an 800 on CR but dropped her math score when she needed it to go up any suggestions?
congrats to your d pearl!</p>
<p>Please… I’m with downtoearth… would love to here the same suggestions.</p>
<p>DS’s SAT 2’s are now posted and ouch, he did poorly on the two subject tests that he took. He didn’t think that he did well on physics but he really thought that he did ok on Chemistry. He will be disappointed but I know that he will not retake. It is what it is.</p>
<p>Downtoearth-</p>
<p>Similar to your daughter my daughter has been perfect or near perfect on the reading and writing portions of the SAT, but struggled with the math portion. She was able to increase her math score by 110 points by following the advice of xiggi and silverturtle, who have threads in the SAT preparation section of CC. Generally speaking this involved taking the practice tests in a the blue book and then carefully reviewing each of the problems she got wrong to determine how to do them correctly. In my opinion the level of math questions on the SAT is not high and the questions are often times answered incorrectly because they are tricky in that they ask questions in a way that students are not familiar with. As a result, I think the best preparation is to practice taking the tests released by the college board. Although we bought another study guide or two, daughter ended up not using them and she also did not take any review courses.</p>
<p>Count, that’s how D prepared for the Math. She took one test from the blue book then went over what she had wrong and took more practice tests. The blue book was the only book she used. </p>
<p>She is currently doing the same thing for the SAT2.</p>
<p>i’d also like to know about this math-score-raising… but it’s too late anyway because i can’t take the SAT reasoning ever again.</p>
<p>math score stayed the same, writing went up 50, CR went up 10. i’m 100 points shy of my goal (2100) but i am happy to be done with it.</p>
<p>pullinghair-</p>
<p>Did it also work for your daughter?</p>
<p>Congrats to all with good news, grades, test scores, etc. . .</p>
<p>Condolences to those with disappointing news. Particularly with SATs, there’s still time. </p>
<p>I was thinking that SAT subject test scores wouldn’t be out until tomorrow. I was quite surprised when I glanced at cc tonight! D was home (and just turned in her last paper of the year before dinner – gotta love email). She looked up her score and much to her surprise and delight did better than she expected on the Lit subject exam. </p>
<p>She also got word today that she placed very well nationally in the National French Exam! All of this bodes well for the AP scores. </p>
<p>So I guess I can send her scores out now. She is SO done! Though I think she should figure out where she’s applying first. :)</p>
<p>IJustDrive— notifications are out for National Language Exams!? congrats on your D’s success! last year i got a silver medal for the latin one. didn’t feel so good about this one.</p>
<p>CPU – I don’t know about any language other than French. I know that results came out within the last day or two.</p>
<p>Thanks. Now I’m super nervous. Although, today has been one of the happiest days of my life.</p>
<p>DS cracked me up tonight. He said, “Mom, do you think the fact that Dad subscribes to the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy will give me an edge if I apply to Harvard?”</p>
<p>Not good results here in Ohio. 
Reading and writing were good (700/620) but math was horrible…440. I want to throw up. I am hoping the daily math tutoring sessions will help next saturday but I am not holding out much hope.</p>
<p>I don’t understand how she scored in 57% percentile on ACT and then 26% on sat??? She said the questions were very confusing and felt like the act was very straightforward but the sat was “tricky.” Unless a miracle happens next saturday we will not be sending any SAT scores anywhere!!</p>
<p>Does anyone have any advice? I feel bad for her… And she was so ecstatic today that she got a 94% on Algebra 2 final. She said the tutor was helping. But after this news I am afraid she will feel so let down that it will just carry into next saturday and affect her negatively in all areas, not just math.</p>
<p>What do I do?? I am at a loss. And what the heck is going on that she can get straight A’s in math in school but the standardized tests looks like she should be getting D’s???</p>
<p>And she even got the chemistry award for 11th grade…pretty good for a 440 sat math right?? Just shoot me.</p>
<p>mspearl-</p>
<p>I think your daughter’s assessment of the math portion of the SAT, that it is confusing and tricky, is accurate. That is why I think the best preparation is to focus on all the practice tests released by the College Board.</p>
<p>mspearl, my DD’s test scores are in & she didn’t do well on Math, but she did okay last time (520)–so I’m hoping enough schools will superscore! Maybe your daughter can retake? Combined with a really great score of 700 CR, she really only needs to get 500+ to be okay for most schools (not sure if you’re looking at selective schools), and that’s very doable with a retake. I totally understand how you feel–trust me…</p>
<p>My DS did really well on his retake–a 2230 overall–and he’s DONE with the SAT!! He will take the SAT subject tests in June while his sister takes the SAT for a third time.</p>