<p>New to the site and forum,with lots o ???</p>
<p>Oh, geez, Rob. I never considered that apps would be out already. Hold your horses, people!</p>
<p>David, we loved our visit to Claremont.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how to direct me to a parents baseball recruiting forum?</p>
<p>Start here, SanFran: [Athletic</a> Recruits - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/]Athletic”>Athletic Recruits - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>D2 received a bunch of mails(not postcard) urging her to apply from Yale, Columbia, Wellesley, and such. Received postcards from Harvey Mudd and Cal Tech. I think these are nice but my daughter has her own ideas of what she likes( and they are not these colleges). It’s going to be mum from Mom. I’m going to let her drive this process this time. So far I’ve seen 23 schools on her list and half of them are overseas. I don’t know how she found out about these colleges.</p>
<p>welcome sanfranfan. </p>
<p>Waiting for D to get out of the shower so she can retrieve her scores. </p>
<p>RobD I was wondering when the apps would open. Crazy that we are here. </p>
<p>Our plan is for D to apply this summer to most of her schools. She wants to be the first in the guidance queue for her recs, and apps. We have agreed to send her to Spain in October and early applications will take the stress off her trip.</p>
<p>Ugh. Step-D texted me her scores this morning and they are bad. 
Way lower than the PSAT in October. Really discouraging. She’s so smart and would be a wonderful addition to so many campuses, but the scores won’t likely get her in to her top 5 schools at this point. (and she’s not aiming that high.) Sigh. I’m so sad for her. </p>
<p>I know she can take it again, but was hoping to start strong out of the box - you know?</p>
<p>I’m sorry, lauren. Remind me – has she taken the ACT?</p>
<p>Good morning all! Had to get up at 4 am this morning to get my D off on her long awaited trip to NYC. She has not traveled much and has never been further north than Washington DC, so this is very exciting for her! This is a trip with her orchestra, so much of their time will be spent touring music venues such as Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and Broadway. They will be seeing two Broadway shows, but will have plenty of time for other tourist attractions. I’m kind of jealous…I hope she has a memorable time! It was convenient that she left on her trip early this morning because she was able to look at her SAT scores right at 5 am. She was slightly disappointed with her CR and W scores, but was pleased with her math score. She is a very good math student , so it is not surprising that this section was the high point for her. She will be taking it again to try to improve the CR section.</p>
<p>On the tennis front, my D is playing both singles and doubles. She has moved from the #5 singles seed last year to the #3 seed this year, and she plays #2 doubles. She got off to a bit of a rough start in singles as the level of competition at the #3 seed is much more competitive than the #5 seed. She righted the ship this week, but will be missing a match today to go on her NYC trip. Next week could be rough because she is missing play and practice for several days. Her doubles partner last year is playing #1 doubles so she is also adjusting to a new partner and they have had a few growing pains, but are starting to work together better. Good luck this season to all the other tennis players!</p>
<p>Thanks YouDon’tSay - she will take the ACT on April 14th. At this point, all we can do is just encourage her and tell her that the ACT is a very different test (as it is) and that we have faith that she is going to rock that one! </p>
<p>It’s just so darn frustrating. We paid her private school something like $250.00 for a math review when we saw her PSAT math was a little low, and she went up a grand total of 20 points! ugh. And…she dropped 50 points from her PSAT CR score. How is that possible?? : (</p>
<p>I just saw your post, laurendog. I’m sorry about your Step-D’s scores. My D’s scores were higher than her October PSAT, but CR and W were quite a bit lower that what she was doing on practice tests. She is trying the ACT in a couple of weeks.</p>
<p>Thanks blueshoe! At this point, I am hoping that she can get a good score on the ACT and we can just stand on that. It’s possible but she’s studying for the ACT on her own (although what did the class do anyway -ha ) Boo on the SAT!</p>
<p>And…what a great trip for your D blueshoe! I want to chaperone that one! Love Broadway!!</p>
<p>S2 got his SAT scores this morning. 800 in reading, 720 in writing and 630 in math. One and done! I guess math could be higher, but he’s going to be a music major so it really doesn’t matter. In fact, most music conservatories don’t even require SATs. Glad the testing is behind us. Now he just has to make his audition tapes, etc.</p>
<p>Hooray for a trip to Spain in the fall and a trip TODAY to NYC. </p>
<p>It is spring break here and I hope that watching “How I met your mother” on the computer helps with ACT scores. (Bites tongue.)</p>
<p>Anyway, D is taking ACT on April 14th, too.</p>
<p>laurendog, I wish your Step-D much more success on the ACT! My D has had no formal prep for the SAT, but has read the bluebook and used its practice tests. She knows nothing about the ACT because kids around here don’t typically take this test. She has to drive 30 miles to take it. I got her an ACT review book from the library this week, but she has had no time to look at it. Spring Break starts at the end of next week, so hopefully she will be able to take a practice test or two to familiarize herself with the test and the time allotments for each section. Just texted her to send her some love, didn’t want these SAT results to sour her trip. She is a wonderful and accomplished girl as I’m sure your Step-D is as well. Our kids are much more than test scores and most colleges know this so please tell your Step-D to keep her chin up!</p>
<p>laurendog–my DD would most likely not do well on the SAT but her ACT practice scores are very good. She isn’t planning on taking the SAT but based off the PSAT, probably a good idea. We also have test takers on April 14. The ACT site has online prep for $35 or something like that. You have access to a lot of practice tests, etc. It’s worth signing up for that just to take the practice tests and get familiar with the types of questions.</p>
<p>As for alma matters-DD’s #1 is my alma matter. It’s a great fit for her but I think there are some other schools we have looked at that are also great fits and one that we are still trying to plan a visit that I think will be the best fit for her. It’s nice to have a lot of choices but she is pretty easy going and I think that is why she has liked pretty much every place we’ve looked. We are visiting Truman later this week so we will see how that goes.</p>
<p>Our plan is to have the kids get as many applications done in August that they can. Their fall schedule is BUSY and adding in a bunch of college applications is just going to make it too busy. They also need time to fill out scholarship applications. They just don’t realize how busy it will be yet so we are pushing them along, with some resistance, knowing they will be thanking us come Nov 1 :D.</p>
<p>Congrats on the good score and sorry about the less than expected scores. There can be variation on test to test on the curve & testing conditions. D1 did a little better on the SAT than ACT; D2 does a little better on the ACT. For those of you who haven’t taken the ACT yet, the only words of wisdom from D2 are to “watch your time.”</p>
<p>Blueshoe: what a great trip! Hope your D has a fantastic time. </p>
<p>nellieh: apps shouldn’t be open yet! There’s no reason for it! I don’t know why, but that has wound my clock. I was reading the Harvard thread yesterday (you know the one that’s talking about RD admission being about 3% this year) and I just got so disgusted by the insanity of the process. I wish all these kids could get off the hamster wheel and just enjoy being a smart kid. All this testing & emphasis on AP & IB is just sucking any time for creativity out of their day. And yes, they could choose to step back but when everyone is telling you that you’re so smart and you should take these classes, and apply to these schools, blah blah blah, well they are only 16-18 years old. Sigh. I don’t think the Common App goes live until July 1st; the vast majority of schools haven’t completed THIS years admission cycle yet; many juniors haven’t taken an SAT or ACT test yet and certainly no one has a completed junior year transcript! So what’s the point WUSTL? When we visited, they emphasized the “nice factor,” but frankly this little move just adds credence to the perception that WUSTL has done a lot to game the rankings in the past 15 years. </p>
<p>Disclaimer: D is not planning on applying to either Harvard or WUSTL, so I have no dog in this fight.</p>
<p>Go RobD! I am a little disgusted by the process too!</p>
<p>Maybe the 1st 5 completed applications get admitted 
When S and I were at Temple’s information session, there were a few students that had already been admitted and sent in their deposits. The admissions rep that led the presentation asked them to stand up and told them they would receive a special prize for coming to the session even though they had already committed to attend. “Free tuition! Just kidding. A Temple t-shirt.” LOL</p>