<p>Thanks for the report geogirl1. I did an engineering tour with DS a few years ago. I thought it was great, and I really liked the size. DS wasn’t in a good mood and he impressed and said it was a “party school” so he wouldn’t consider it.
It’s a beautiful campus with lots of smart kids with plenty of energy.</p>
<p>Hi Everyone! I feel like I’ve arrived very late to the party! I have a son '13 interested in Engineering and Lehigh keeps coming and going. One minute good, next, too small. Or too party. Hard to tell what’s really true. I’ve been reading the “ask a Lehigh student” thread by MikeChemE (I think that’s his name - wait… no… it’s LehighChemE, and his name is Mike? Anyway, he’s very, very helpful.) We are in NJ and only an hour and 1/2 from there. I want to get my son to visit next Friday (we can take the day off from school, go to Lafayette in the AM, then Lehigh’s engineering tour in the PM and still get back for his tennis match!! I wish he was more proactive in all this. CC is really overwhelming. I start to feel like my kids are lazy with no talent and will never get anywhere in life. Gosh, that’s horrible. I should NOT feel that way. I read in an earlier post somewhere where a student was happy to be in the 85 percentile and the mom was happy, too, until coming to CC!! My son is in the 95 percentile for CR and Math and his scores seem so low compared to all the kids who love to post stats on here. The competition is fierce. </p>
<p>Summer plans? He will be working as a camp counselor at the local tennis club, that is if he firms up the plans. If it was all up to him, he’d prob. wait til after school is out and just show up expecting the job. And I’m sure he will not want to do ANYthing academic over the summer or start thinking about the Common App. And we’ll have to visit some schools over the summer, which is actually which brought me to this thread again. I searched “visiting schools over the summer” and the talk of summer assignments brought this thread up in the search! Every post has “summer” bolded and red!</p>
<p>Visiting schools and listening to the schpiels (sp??) has gotten DS thinking about course choices for next year. How important is the 4th year of history? or the 4th year of language? He finished the math curriculum (BC Calc) this year and wasn’t planning on taking more math (all there would be for him would be AP Stats, but he is not interested in that). Or should he take AP Econ? Or AP Art History? What courses should they choose because they like them and what should they choose because the AP’s could help for credits in college, leaving more room to do something they like? It’s a conundrum. </p>
<p>And if you want to really feel bad, go to **************.com. You can pretty much find horrible stories about any school you or your son/daughter loved. And all it takes is one bad review to cross a school off a student’s list! :)</p>
<p>Welcome, my3gr8Boys.</p>
<p>mom3gr8boyz, your son’s score are fantastic! And he has time to figure out colleges, really. </p>
<p>None of the schools that we’ve looked at have required or even recommended a 4th year of language, but if your DS likes languages, it’s always a good idea to take that 4th year. If he wants engineering, most won’t have a language requirement but there are a few that require a level of proficiency. It also helps if he wants to study or work abroad at any point. (DS took the 4th year, but DS is not a fan and will not take a foreign language next year.)</p>
<p>My DS took stats - he wasn’t interested in it either, but I think it’s a useful course (I use stats all the time in my work and I never thought that I would.) I think Econ is also a good course, if you have a decent teacher. What about a math course at a local college? </p>
<p>Some schools will accept AP courses to fulfill basic requirements and others will only accept the credit - you need to ask/ find out from the schools you are interested in about that policy. We found with DS (math/comp sci kid) that he could get credit for his high school AP and college courses, but he couldn’t use them to fulfill major requirements. In the end, he went to a school that isn’t accepting any AP credit, but he is definitely the exception and not the rule. (Had he gone to our state U, he would have had enough credits to start as a junior!)</p>
<p>Finished up College Road Trip 2012. Vandy, Transylvania, Centre, UofL, and Murray State. I am tired. The girls don’t want to think about college anymore. Our HS coach called and told us about a D3 school interested in one of them for swimming. Other kid irritated about that. GSA/GSP accept/reject letters are in the mail. I need Valium.</p>
<p>Welcome home Walker. :)</p>
<p>Hi Walker! Welcome home! I have some Valium if you want! (actually it’s for the dogs for thunderstorms… :)</p>
<p>AnnieZ -thanks for the input! My son does love his language, unfortunately it won’t do him any good abroad as it is Latin!</p>
<p>Oh, and I also realized I can’t post any links on here because the site I mentioned got bleeped out like a swear word! </p>
<p>I have a question I’d like to throw out there. I see so much of techie/STEM kids whose EC’s seem to go along with that, like interning somewhere over the summer, being involved in robotics teams or math leagues, taking math courses or doing summer college-prep courses, etc. But my son didn’t want to do any of those things. His summer work will not relate to engineering or computer science at all. His biggest EC at school is Mock Trial (where he has been lead lawyer and will be captain next year) and JV tennis (where he just used his scientific mind to re-vamp the challenge ladder so that it really worked and now all the doubles teams are ordered perfectly). So does that help towards well-roundedness, or does it make it appear as though he is not interested enough in his proposed “field”? Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I vote for well-rounded. It may depend on the school, but many schools we have been too say they want to see the kids show a real passion for something and that it need not be in their field of study. Besides, something like Mock Trial requires critical thinking skills, the ability to work as a team, etc. All things that will be valuable to anybody in any field. If you look at some of the admitted threads from many of the most selective schools, you will see kids with perfect SATs and great academics passed over in favor for kids who are very smart, but also are more well-rounded and are more likely to add some special and different to the campus community (maybe theater, maybe community service, maybe music, etc.). I would take those things and make them stand on the apps.</p>
<p>As for language and APs, as has been said, it depends on the school and the major. For example, the computer science is in the Arts and Sciences college at some schools, Engineering in others. They may have different requirements and maybe the AP or foreign language will allow the student to fulfill the requirement so they can focus on other things that interest them. We know a kid (business major) who did not apply the calc AP to get out of intro calc because he thought it would help to take calc again as a college student, but applied the APUSH to get rid of a humanities requirement. So, it looks to me like it really does depend.</p>
<p>anniezz–we haven’t found any school that require a 4th year for a language but, every school we’ve talked to said that most of the kids that do at least through an AP level language test into higher levels in college and can usually tack on at least a minor with minimal effort and quite often a second major in that language. Dh did that way back when in college and only needed to take 4 classes or so to get a major in Spanish so he did.</p>
<p>Well, ACT today. Pencils are sharpened, extra batteries ready, kids have breakfast planned out. I told them to get there close to 7:30 so they can get in and out quicker :D. They are doing the writing part as well. Good luck to everyone taking the ACT today!!</p>
<p>My3gr8boyz, you can post links. Links to competing college information sites tend to get bleeped out though 
Adding a few well placed spaces can get around that. I think most colleges just don’t want to see kids taking a lot fun/easy electives at the expense of core academic courses. And I think if a student’s ECs don’t show an interest in STEM, then at least a courseload that consists of STEM courses would make an interest in STEM believeable. But not many schools make a student declare a major as part of admissions. Undecided is as valid a choice as any other. Colleges realize that kids discover new interests while in college. Now if you’re talking about CMU or MIT or other tech colleges, it might matter a bit more than at a more well rounded college.</p>
<p>Walker, I’m guessing you have twins? </p>
<p>S is also taking the ACT today. He’s feeling pretty good about it right now. We’ll see how he feels around 1:00. He spent the night playing his PS3 and glancing at his prep book when he stopped for snack and bathroom breaks 
Good luck to the other testers.</p>
<p>Good luck to all the ACT-takers! When I picked up DD yesterday the list was up at school - only about 30 kids taking it! I was kind of surprised, but not many kids take the ACT around here, just the SAT. </p>
<p>Ugh, everyone in this house is sick - DS has had a lingering cough for a week, DD now has a sore throat with one weird, enlarged tonsil and now I have a raging headache and sore throat. Looks like today’s plans will be changed a bit.</p>
<p>Good luck to the ACT takers today! </p>
<p>My3gr8boyz - welcome to CC! My DD is the well rounded type as well. She does Mathletes, but otherwise her ECs are track/cross country, Model UN, theater, and Forensics Club. Her summers are not filled with totally academic endeavors; she used to go to camp, hang out with family and do some volunteering. She did attend Currie Academy, a program for future women engineers, for 1 week at Cornell last summer. She loved it, but that is about all she has to show for her interest. She does not have 500 hours dedicated to one thing. She isnt that kind of kid; she has lots of interests and she has tried to explore many of them. I hope colleges will love her for who she is; I certainly do! </p>
<p>Reeianz I think most engineering majors come in knowing they want to be engineers. Any engineering major is almost filled to the brim with required classes and students have to hit the ground running or they might be doing that dreaded 5th year of college. At 54K at many schools, because there is no aid for year 5, that is a pricey oops.</p>
<p>My D is among the ACT test takers today. I wish it didn’t start so early - she looked tired this morning when we headed out. We had to go to a different high school we weren’t familiar with, so allowed some extra time. There seemed to be so few kids going in when we arrived, that I almost wondered if we were in the right place, at least compared to when she took the SAT in March, and the parking lot was mobbed. </p>
<p>The SAT is just so much more popular than the ACT here in NJ. Still, it seems worth taking a shot to see which test she does better on. For my 2010 S, based on suggestions on CC, I encouraged him to take the ACT, even though his SAT scores were good. And his ACT score ended up being much better than the SAT equivalent, and we didn’t even send his SAT scores when applying. He said he liked that the sections were longer, and not broken up, so he didn’t have to spend so much time waiting, as he tends to work quickly. </p>
<p>When D was prepping for the ACT, after having previously prepped for the SAT, she didn’t like the longer sections, and she will have to be conscious of time to avoid running out. But she did think that the ACT questions tended to be less tricky, and more straightforward. It is a bit surprising to me just how different the two tests are.</p>
<p>Hope you all feel better soon, Anniezz! It’s opposite here - very few take the SAT. In S13’s case, he would have only taken the SAT if the ACT didn’t go well.</p>
<p>Best of luck to all the ACT-ers! S13 was signed up, but then he was asked to be in a math tournament. The school doesnt participate in many of these (no AMC, etc), so you have to jump on them when they do. S13 is in the very fortunate position of not NEEDING to take the ACT again, so were just out the $$. </p>
<p>The college mailings died down for awhile, now he’s getting round two. Just when I thought hed heard from every college in the country another one comes in! Im sure you guys have received the Exploring College Options and Exploring Educational Excellence reception invites from the big boys . . . . has anyone ever been to one of these? Im just wondering if theres anything new to learn by going or if it will be a total waste of time like most information sessions? :)</p>
<p>Good luck to all the ACT testers this morning! My D13 is stuck and refuses to test again. She got a 32 in spring 2009 and the same composite in spring 2011. She hit a wall with SAT math as well - 650 math in fall 2008 and fall 2010, although she does have a superscore of 2240 since her writing improved. I’m hoping all her crazy adventures will help her on college applications in ways that her test scores are not going to be able to do. Honestly, I don’t care where she attends college as long as she is happy, it gives her great opportunities and she doesn’t go into debt. And I refuse to go into debt. I am not caught up in the mystique of the Ivy League.</p>
<p>We are going to the Exploring thing in a few weeks. It is actually at D’s high school. I think YDS went to this before, so maybe she can chime in. I am trying to get D to consider Rice, so it is a easy way to get her to explore that school. </p>
<p>ACT is at D’s high school today. She said “everybody” is taking it. Good luck to the kids taking the ACT today. Does anybody remember how the scoring gets reported? Do they post the “non-writing” portions first, then follow up with the result including the writing? The web site says April 30th for reporting, but that seems way too soon.</p>
<p>Regarding ACT score posting, I think they post the scores for the “non-writing” portion first, about 2 1/2 weeks after the test date. Then the writing score from the essay is posted some time afterwards. </p>
<p>For the ACT, the composite score does not depend on the writing score. The essay is just given a separate score. I don’t think it is actually used much by colleges, since I’ve never seen score ranges reported for it. Scoring is different for the SAT, where the writing score is a combination of the multiple choice writing section plus the essay score.</p>
<p>Thanks, sacchi. That makes sense now.</p>
<p>Geogirl, right. I think if a kid has any inkling of an interest in a STEM field, they should approach fulfilling the gen ed requirements as if it was their major because those courses will usually count for most majors if they change their mind. </p>
<p>Sacchi, my son’s hs doesn’t offer any of the tests and the choices for the ACT are different than the ones that offer the SAT so he was at a different school from when he took the SAT. He actually asked me to walk him inside. Once he saw that there were clearly posted signs leading the way, he dismissed me And the school did seem deserted compared to when he took the SAT. I was looking at his school’s stats and only 46 students in the class of 2011 took the ACT. Each class has about 125 students. Most of the schools in the district had equally low numbers. My son is thinking that he’ll do much better on the ACT. And I agree if his practice scores are any indication. He likes the straight forward way the questions are presented. And seeing the difference in the way the tests are, I’m glad I didn’t assume that prepping for the SAT would have been sufficient.</p>