<p>This is my inaugural post here on the Class of 2015 thread. Some of you may know me from older discussions. I’ve waited to jump in here, though. Why? I can’t believe that it’s actually time to get down and dirty in the admissions mud with my youngest child, DD.</p>
<p>Anyway, my question has to do with testing. Here in NY there is no February ACT. DD will take the SAT in January and March. AP’s are May. I’m debating having her take the December ACT, so there’s time to retake in April. Does anyone have a student taking the ACT this December? I’m not concerned about the verbal or science sections, only the math, as it has more advanced topics than the SAT.
Advice, please.</p>
<p>My daughter is taking the December 14 ACT and we will travel to NJ for the February ACT ( did the same with my older one). </p>
<p>So far she has taken one practice ACT and will be starting up again this week. I could not tell you what kind of math is on the ACT, but I have been told that it is more straight forward than the SAT and if your kid is on pre-calc now then he/she will be fine.</p>
<p>I wish I could answer your question but it’s not something D and I have settled either. All I know is that May is probably a bad time to take the SAT/ACT for her because of APs and possibly SAT Subject tests then. </p>
<p>She has said she thinks Jan is a good time to do the SAT because she doesn’t play a sport in winter so has a lot more time. She hasn’t so far been much of a test prepper so I am not sure I follow her thinking, but it’s her call.</p>
<p>Welcome college4three! My D was signed up for the ACT for next weekend, but she doesn’t feel prepared so I think she will take it in February, and then retake in April if she needs/wants to. December is out for us because she will be in the middle of finals.</p>
<p>Welcome college4three! We are also in NY and my D will take the Dec. ACT. We are still debating whether she should even take the SAT at all bc comparing her PLAN and PSAT from soph year, the ACT is a clear winner. I have a tentative plan to travel to CT or NJ for a 2nd ACT in Feb. if she plans to play a spring sport which will start in March. The way I look at it, I’ve traveled all over the country for sports that traveling one state over with one night hotel cost is not a big deal.</p>
<p>We live in NJ. DD is taking the 12/14 ACT. She will be in Orlando for the Disney Field Hockey Festival in February the weekend of the ACT so the next test date for her is April.</p>
<p>Welcome newcomers! The more the merrier, but also harder to keep track of. I wonder if giving our kids fake names would make it easier to remember which kid is doing what. ;-)</p>
<p>I just made plans to take D to see Agnes Scott and Emory in Atlanta. These little trips; a couple day here, a couple days there, really add up. She is willing to see the colleges, but more excited about going to the aquarium there, and the possibility of bringing a friend along.</p>
<p>Having a friend along and doing something fun in addition can help “sweeten” a college visit. My D loved visiting the Duke Lemur Center and the REEF touch tanks at UCSB.</p>
<p>My D reports that her PSAT proctor did a terrible job. She kept messing up start/stop times, and shorted them 2~3 minutes on some sections. :(</p>
<p>@Kittentigger–I loved reading your Cornell College visit report. And I think that if we had went to the information session before BHG began asking random students questions, maybe her perception regarding political and religious vibe would be different. I really loved the programming opportunities Cornell College provides, but am certain I will not get a second look out of BHG. One of the reasons I had the school on our list is because it IS a FAFSA only institution–meaning my EFC would plummet without ex-H’s income in comparison to other LACs on BHG’s list.</p>
<p>Like you, I may need to have my ex-H take BHG back to Cornell College for a second visit to see what he thinks about the school vs. BHG’s perception. On the other hand, it may be her way of stating she did not like the school like other students state they do not like a school because of the trees, or the grass, or the squirrels or whatever. </p>
<p>@Shoboemom–I cannot wait to hear your Agnes Scott visit report.</p>
<p>My aunt was the head librarian for Agnes Scott for many years, her husband, my uncle,a dean at Emory for many years. Emory is kinda sorta on D’s list, we’ll see…I look forward to the report too!</p>
<p>OHMom, Wow it would be great to get some insider information. How long ago was your aunt the librarian? One of the things I wonder about Agnes Scott is how well everyone gets along. It seems wonderful with the idea of a supportive sisterhood, with lots of diversity, but I wonder if that is the reality.</p>
<p>mihcal1, ugh and grrrr on the bad proctor, I would feel so angry at thinking that my kid possibly missed a couple of questions because of being shorted! </p>
<p>We’re still trying to figure out when D will take the SAT and whether it’s worth her taking the ACT–from her PLAN scores it looks like she’s about equal in both. December is busy for her because of her ECs and the house always feels stressed then. A friend who does college counselling and a director of a small test prep company both recommended the January SAT because that’s one of the dates when students can get a detailed question-by-question score report for $18 and not just the general area report that’s available for other dates for $13. However D has midterms the week right after the Jan SAT date . . . it looks like there are just no good dates. I wonder, have the testing companies considered having summer and (for the SAT) Sept test dates? </p>
<p>The Agnes Scott discussion reminded me that we’ve received at least 6 mailings (postcards, leaflets, letters etc) from them. looks like an interesting school but D doesn’t really want to go all-female (she’s in an all-girls HS right now) and not that far either–there are so many schools just a few hours drive from us in the northeast.</p>
<p>UCLA admissions called us and asked D if she was thinking of applying and did she have any questions. She was a bit bewildered and told them that she was unsure because she was just a junior. They said “Oh…really? We’ll just call you again next year.” Aggh–don’t tell me that we’ll be getting lots of college phone calls next year?</p>
<p>Crepes how did UCLA get your phone number? Did your daughter speak with them at a college fair? That would freak my daughter out, although it’s not uncommon because my older one used to get phone calls- but senior year. This year we seem to be getting tons of mailings but no phone calls. Some of the schools are sending mailings simply because I put her on the mailing list, but some are sending mailings on their own- I guess they are basing it on her PLAN and/or her SAT 11s. ? Or maybe they share lists? Who knows…</p>
<p>I have never heard of Agnes Scott. She does not want an all girls school, but it’s nice learning about new ( to me) schools that are out there.</p>
<p>@crepes, my D is also getting mailings where it is apparent they think she is a senior this year. No idea why. (In fact, her email address has “2015” in it!)</p>
<p>mihcal1, that would really bother me about the proctor. Is there any recourse?</p>
<p>I think we will be taking a trip either at spring break or over the summer to check out Emory on our swing through the southern schools. Too many schools to see - all over the country - and too little time!</p>
<p>Mihcal I am sorry to hear about your PSAT experience. When my older one took her first ACT there was something that occurred that bothered me. I emailed the ACT people and they emailed me back and offered my kid a free test ( I was not expecting that). </p>
<p>We got the AP registration stuff in the mail. The tests are $89 each.
Suzy we are going to Emory during the February break. You are right- too many schools and too little time. I am sure there will be one or two that she applies to without visiting first.</p>
<p>twogirls, that is a great idea about emailing the testing company. Good for you. While there is no option for retake on PSAT, one could argue for substituting an SAT score. They do have that option for kids who are unable to take PSAT because of illness or other justifiable reasons, so they shouldn’t mind it for this. And it seems to me kids almost always do better on SAT than PSAT. At least the ones that report on CC. I think they remove the effects of essay on score for PSAT purposes.</p>
<p>Celeste I was quite shocked that the ACT people emailed me back so quickly and actually offered a free test, which was essentially an apology on their part. I notice that kids tend to do better on the SAT than on the PSAT- I would imagine that is because the PSAT is shorter so mistakes count more.</p>