<p>I’m so sorry to hearing about the testing mishaps! Truly, I can see us going through the same types of problems. </p>
<p>herandhismom, my D may take the SAT in US History in October also. We’ll have to see - she’ll be taking the SATI around then too - either October or November. I’m hoping that at that point she isn’t too bogged down yet in school and that some summer prep will keep it fresh in her mind.</p>
<p>Herandhismom, I’m so sorry to hear of the testing problems. I hope your D is feeling better about it and that you are too. Something like this happens to everyone at some point along the way. I guess the silver lining here is that she’s not stuck with a score that’s not representative of her ability and that now she will be overprepared for everything else going forward. It’s a pain that she’ll have to review later but she’ll get that 800 next October.</p>
<p>For US History SATII, D said example problems from Barrons were (much) harder than actual SAT II problems. If your kid is taking October test, you may want to keep that in mind. I think Barrons prep books have reputation of being harder than actual tests (??). </p>
<p>Now, with SAT II/AP out of the way, the next thing to focus is PSAT in October. Anybody going for NMSF? Based on D’s 10th grade PSAT score, she needs significant improvement over the summer to make the cut. Her school - large public school - produces about 25-30 NMSF every year. Not sure if she will be one… Our state’s cut line is around 119-121. Not the highest but relatively higher end of spectrum. One thing after another… It never ends.</p>
<p>My daughter took the Barron’s practice tests for chem and she said that the real test was much easier. My daughter will take her first PSAT test in October and will do some practice tests over the summer. She took the PLAN in December ( ACT).</p>
<p>I think I had read the advice to go ahead and take the SAT about the same time as your Junior year PSAT, since studying for one is basically studying for the other.<br>
I wonder how much studying for SAT helps with the ACT. Perhaps that might be good to take about the same time too, not sure. I would just like for D to be able to get as much out of the way as soon as she can…and also have time to retake and improve her scores if she wants to.</p>
<p>@ShoboeMom-
I would get the following Cal Newport book:</p>
<p>How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less: Cal Newport: 9780767922715: Amazon.com: Books</p>
<p>This thread moves fast!</p>
<p>Very fast Bunhead. Shoboe- I think my daughter is taking the Sept. 21 ACT and the October 5 SAT because I also want her to do it before her life gets hectic. Then she may take them again Oct 26 ( ACT) and Nov 2 ( SAT). My older one started in Feb of junior year but she is a very different kid.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone. We got comfort from this group. </p>
<p>Life goes on. D. insists doing another SAT U.S. history test in October. She will probably do a sample test in September to see how it goes. If it’s decent, she will do some review and take the test. But I don’t want that to interfere much with her SAT and PSAT in October and November. Our state’s NMSF cutoff is around 220. Last year she got 212. There is hope.</p>
<p>herandhis and sunny - so sorry to hear the bad SAT stories! Next U.S. history test is in October, and next World history test is in December. I wish CB offered test in July.</p>
<p>Bunheadgirl will sit the Sept 21st ACT. I marked the first three ACT and SAT testing dates on her college prep wall calendar. She’s also sitting the chemistry SAT II in January and the math II along with biology subject tests in June.</p>
<p>We’re mapping out our big college tour for next spring break of 7 schools in 6 days along with a smaller one of 3 campuses during Bunheadgirl’s 3-day break in October of this year for a total of 8-10 schools. Figuring out the travel logistics for the 3 schools for our October trip seems impossible without renting a car and driving from the 8th school in the middle of NY state to the 9th school near NYC and end at the 10th college in Pennsylvania. </p>
<p>I don’t do road trips as the driver and no road trips since my father, the designated driver, passed away 4 years ago. I’m a fly in and fly out traveler who rents cars to travel to attractions in the visited location. UGH!</p>
<p>Is anyone else in the process of planning school visits for next year?</p>
<p>We visited 9 schools during sophomore cause our list is huge and we had the time. We are visiting one at the beginning of September, 5 during the February break, and 2 in April. Then she will re- visit two for a tour and interview ( although she may interview locally). The summer before her senior year we will make one more re-visit and then call it quits. We drive all of these visits and it’s exhausting. Testing in the fall and SAT 2s next spring. Once again I have the shakes.</p>
<p>I am planning a college tour for late August. My D and I have an event on Aug 25th in Ithaca, NY, and then an invitation to spend Labor Day weekend with my aunt in Baltimore. So I’m trying to figure out which colleges to see in between. </p>
<p>My current thinking is Cornell, then drive (2 hours) to URochester. Then fly Southwest ROC → RDU (~$100) to see Duke and UNC-CH. Then drive (3.5 hours) to William&Mary. And then drive to Baltimore (another 3.5 hours) and see JHU. </p>
<p>I’m still trying to figure out whether I want to visit UVA in between William&Mary (2hrs drive) and Baltimore (another 3 hours). Or if it’d be better to do a day trip from my aunt’s to Philadelphia to see Swarthmore and Haverford (1.5 hours drive each way). If we stretched to 2 days in Philly, we could add UPenn, too.</p>
<p>Yes, I know these are pretty much all reach-y schools. But coming from CA there’s no point in taking her to see safety schools back East. I just cannot see her choosing to attend lesser institutions/programs so far away when she has attractive in-state options that she really likes.</p>
<p>There are actually 2 or 3 schools that she will apply to without visiting first because they do not track interest so it’s fine. If they give her enough money to make it worthwhile then we will visit. We really need to narrow down the list to 15 tops- and even that is a lot. Right now there are about 18-20 on the list and that is just too many schools. If a school tracks interest but it’s too difficult to visit you can email them with questions and ask for a local interview. That’s another way to show interest.</p>
<p>Mihcal you have great options so a far away safety school is silly- I agree. Looks like we will be visiting some of the same schools. We saw Cornell in March and it was FREEZING. I could not lift my head out of my scarf. Cornell is one of the most beautiful schools we have ever seen, but I fear that the intensity level will make her crack. She needs a school that has strong academics with some " nerds" to hang with that does not feel overly overly intense.</p>
<p>Are you all exhausted yet? Luckily most of our schools are driving distance. DD was invited to an all day event at UM-CP so we are starting there at the end of this month. We are going to NYC the July 4th week. We will visit Columbia and Barnard but the rest of the trip will be our vacation. She has a three day event at st. Mary’s college in August. We will do UVA one day when they are out in October. We will visit Penn the first week in nov. when school is out. We will make that a weekend trip. Uva and penn are about 2.5-3 hour drive depending on traffic. DD spent 4 weeks at Stanford last year. She loved it but she said she wanted to be on the east coast. Of course that may change. spring break will do any nc,sc,ga, schools. Maybe U of South Carolina, Emory, Duke, and UNC. </p>
<p>The schedule will probably change based on the first few visits. DD is a city girl and feels she will be bored in NC. we lived in NC a few years before returning to MD.</p>
<p>My daughter knows that she does not want a school that is smaller than about 4,500 kids. This knocks out many smaller LACs, unless she changes her mind. We will be heading south in February. At the end of the summer we are heading back to Pennsylvania. Yes I am exhausted and the process is just beginning, but it’s so much fun!!</p>
<p>All but 2 of the schools we plan to visit next school year track interest. Once we get these 10 schools visited, we’re done. My D began this year and visited a majority of the tier I schools in our area: Carleton, Grinnell, Macalester, St. Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus, Beloit, Kalamazoo, and Knox. We also visited the University of Kansas, and our flagship, U of Minnesota Twin Cities, that was immediately crossed off as too large at 50K students, which is larger than our suburb. </p>
<p>There is only one school we plan to visit that does not track student interest and is within 20 minutes of another school that does track interest. Since we’e going to be in the neighborhood, I want Bunheadgirl to sign up for a tour and the works, including an interview, which this school considers important.</p>
<p>We have done one official tour since it worked out to be convenient, and we have wandered around a couple of the state schools, but it was Christmas break for those walk-throughs, so not many people were around. D really doesn’t seem interested in the big State U’s, but we have a couple more to visit, and will pick at least a couple as safeties or financial good bets.</p>
<p>It looks like we will get to visit some out of state schools this summer, but I am a little concerned that the heat will give her a bad impression of schools she would otherwise like. Over spring break, her high school offers a trip to Europe that she may be interested in. She didn’t go on last year’s trip. So, that would rule out Spring break visits…but I really think that would be the best timing for visits. we haven’t even gotten as far as deciding if she will be allowed or have the money for the Europe trip…sooo we’ll see.</p>
<p>She has a couple reach schools that are a long way to travel for. I am trying to decide what is best for visits there. We are in Florida and they are in the Boston area. Summer would be the easiest time to visit, but won’t give my Florida girl even a glimpse of what Boston winters would be like. I also hesitate to travel and let her fall in love with a reach, but don’t know that there would be time to visit after an acceptance, but before she’d have to submit her decision.</p>
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<p>I have heard of schools tracking interest, but hadn’t thought it was a big deal. Do they really expect that everyone who really wants to go to the school can come to visit prior to applying? Are there other ways they track interest?</p>
<p>The schools understand that it may not always be realistic to visit. Sending emails to admissions counselors, setting up local interviews, attending college fairs to speak with the admissions counselors etc are all good ways to show interest. There are a few schools in Boston that we visited a few months ago and we hope to visit again before the fall of senior year, but we have so many other schools to get to that I am not sure if we will get back. If not, then I am going to have my daughter make reference to the sophomore year visit when she applies. I took notes and even recorded the tour guide’s name. Some schools actually keep a record of every single phone call that the student makes.</p>