<p>ACT score still the same, no increase in super-score either, still waiting for LORs to be submitted to CA. On a good note we are ready to submit to 2 non-CA and whole bunch of CA schools this week (no LOR required for those). It is too real.</p>
<p>Happy Monday!</p>
<p>S3 had fun on his XC trip, but the course was rough and he stepped in not one, but three potholes and twisted his ankle. It seems fine now, but evidently that was the reason for the not great time. So far we have had too hot, too dry, psyched myself out and now twisted ankle races. He has a league meet this week, so hopefully for his sake he can have a good race. He wrote an essay in the van on the way home. It is pretty good, maybe his best yet, but it will need some tweaking. He made progress yesterday with the CA (input activities etc…). Hopefully he will ask teachers today for LOR. He is still struggling with who to ask. He will ask his AP Bio teacher, who had him for two years and is the tennis coach. And he can’t decide between his current AP English teacher who has him this year and had him freshmen year, or his AP Gov teacher who also had him also for AP World and who is the Youth and Government advisor, or his APUSH teacher. Definitely he won’t ask his nutjob AP English teacher from last year. Congrats on everyone’s ACT’s. S3 takes it in October again. We will see. He hasn’t cracked the Red book that I bought him.</p>
<p>Carla glad to here your D had a great OV! S next OV will be this weekend as well. He will be there with another recruit that he likes from another team. The school that he is visiting this weekend is very different from his first OV.
Ahsmuoh- I agree with vandy, you should eat at the Pancake Pantry for breakfast. Its very good. The line will occasionally stretch outside the building but usually moves pretty fast.</p>
<p>ahsmuoh: I sent you a PM. I know the Vanderbilt area pretty well.</p>
<p>It’s Margarita Monday ya’ll …drink 'em if you got 'em…
Yep…it’s one of those days 
:(</p>
<p>Thought I would post our D’s testing saga, for those that agonize over which test, how many, which ones to send, etc. She started SAT tutoring last fall, and took a baseline test before tutoring in Oct. The test date that provides Q&A feedback. Worked with him all junior year and retook SAT in March. Still not quite what she needed for merit so signed up for June test (after AP exams, during finals, ugh) and got the same scores as last Oct. Meanwhile we had completely ignored the ACT and the possibility that she may be better suited for it. Of course, because the “SAT” tutor never suggested it either :(</p>
<p>Anyway, out of frustration (hers & ours) she took the ACT in Sep. (after perusing the Real ACT) and well, I think that’s her test. She definitely scored higher than current SAT superscore (according to the concordance)… Only she didn’t take the writing part because I felt sorry for her having to go through all this testing and didn’t want to torture her for 45 more minutes!! Ugh! Her #1 school doesn’t require ACT-W for admission or merit, but since then she has added the one state flagship that does require it and the next test in Oct. is AFTER the EA deadline…</p>
<p>What can I say… lesson learned for S17 is all I CAN say. And so if you want to add that little lesson to the guide, you are most welcome! Juniors-take them BOTH early junior year before deciding which one to focus on!</p>
<p>BTW, we sent all 3 SAT test dates to her schools, as all 8 indicated that they superscore and although they didn’t REQUIRE all test dates, they suggested we send all and her GC said she would not be penalized in any way shape or form for sending all 3. My dilemma now is whether or not to send the ACT to the state flagship… they will only look at it if she takes another test with W, but it will be too late for EA :(</p>
<p>I hope that wasn’t too confusing. All of you who have struggled with this (whose S or D may not have “aced” it the first time) will be able to follow, I’m sure!!</p>
<p>I also know a lot about the Vandy area. Feel free to send me a PM too if you like. </p>
<p>S took the Vandy tour and really liked the campus. The Freshman quad is really nice.</p>
<p>Demos’ is a great lunch option. 3rd and commerce. Steak and spaghetti house with great lunch specials for 5.95.</p>
<p>Also on your trip to Vandy - I guess it’s a franchise, perhaps, but Mellow Mushroom Pizza was fantastic, IMO! And one pizza can definitely feed two people, unless they are huge pizza eaters.</p>
<p>DD talked to the counselor and transcripts are going out today, FINALLY!!!</p>
<p>we too loved the Mellow Mushroom Pizza (ths one in Charleston) when visiting last spring</p>
<p>Thanks all for the Vandy ideas - we just had a Mellow Mushroom open up in our home town - literally this past weekend and I have been hearing great things about it. </p>
<p>Snorkelmom - I think your advice and story is very telling - you may want to post it in the “parents of the class of 2014 and 2015” forums! We were lucky enough to get that same advice early in dd’s junior year and did just that! Although her ACT was high enough the first time that she didn’t take it again! But our intention was to take both in junior year and then prepare over the summer for whichever she did better on.</p>
<p>My crack baby (LOL) woke up this a.m. and proclaimed that she gets the award for consistency. Same dern ACT score, THREE times in a row. </p>
<p>Thank gosh all colleges don’t superscore. Imagine how many times the kids would take the test just to get the best combo!</p>
<p>SAT/ACT: We got that advice (taking both seeing which one you do better on) last year too. Although S3’s scores are similar but slightly higher on the ACT. Problem is with studying it only went up one point. But we are hoping for miraculous things in a few weeks!!</p>
<p>Just to follow up, oh yes, we got the same advice and then drank the kool aid when she started working with the SAT tutor. We were so heavily invested (time and $$$) with the tutor during the school year that when the SAT scores went up in March, we thought we should let her go for the third try in June to give her another chance at her math score. I know that some tutors can and will prepare them for both tests. And we thought we were so smart starting early junior year. LOL </p>
<p>In fact, the problem with the October test he wanted her to take (for Q&A) is that it took place the Saturday just before the PSAT, so she was OVER taking the test before she took the one that mattered! We won’t make that mistake with S’17 again either!</p>
<p>And I can count on both hands the number of people who told us that she need to take ACT with Writing! I knew, she knew, Ugh! I just wanted to cut her some slack! That poor first child, she is just one big experiment for everything! :)</p>
<p>Hi everyone, I’ve been a lurker for a while now as I’m a senior this year and working on a lot of the college process on my own. I’m going to be applying to my schools soon (USC, UND, BU, UA, etc) and I was wondering how I could try to use fee waivers on applications as the money just adds up! I know that I’ve read on here before that many of you have used waivors and didn’t end up paying a lot (ie my dream!), but I still haven’t been able to figure out how! Thanks for any help and I hope everyone had a great Monday!</p>
<p>One more small piece of advice… you know your student better than anyone… the tutoring or test review class is valuable if you think that they won’t be consistently reviewing on their own accord. Mine is a great student, but hates this kind of repetitive exercise in “banging your head against the wall” and would have never done it on her own. The tutor worked with her for 90 minutes most every week, but sometimes he helped her with pre-calc or honors chem because her chem teacher was a ditz! So if you think you can swing it, it’s worth every penny! Just find one that can do both ACT & SAT and take the test early to gauge where they are on each!</p>
<p>@ Haystack - </p>
<p>"A good tutor sure seems to help for AP Calc AB…son has always been an OK math student, mix of A’s and B’s. He was pretty worried about AP calc and warned us to have low expectations for the class grade. After 3 weeks of class we decided to hire a tutor…</p>
<p>84 exam 1
80 exam 2
2 meetings with the tutor and…
98 exam 3 !!!</p>
<p>S says the tutor is fantastic."</p>
<p>Congratulations! We have had similar luck with some study guides and tutorials - just a little extra UMPH!</p>
<p>Kelly1234–apply online, often its free just to do that. Check any packets you got during any visits, sometimes there is a code or coupon in there. With every application there will be a box to check for how you are paying. If there is a cost there is usually an option about using a fee waiver, just select that box and there usually isn’t any more to it than that.</p>
<p>Kelly1234 - I believe a parent on this thread said that for the schools that have a fee waiver “button” they just selected it and their application went through. I don’t know if that’s just for the common app schools, or a school’s specific app…sorry I can’t be more help. Perhaps the parent that has experience will clarify where I’ve misspoke…anyone? anyone?</p>
<p>And welcome to the thread, btw!</p>
<p>Ha ha - almost cross posted with SteveMA - thanks for clarifying ahead of my post! :)</p>