<p>The easiest ones first. The kids here get together in a large group and rent either a limousine or a party bus. I think the price is ridiculous but I am not paying so it’s up to them. I doubt my daughter will even go to the prom since she really doesn’t like dances.</p>
<p>You can get a new Facebook you need a different email to sign up and create one. </p>
<p>I am sorry to hear about how hard the ACT was. I wonder if she should even bother with it-she seemed to be OK with the SAT she just took but who knows what those results will be. I doubt she will be in the range where it’s going to get her serious merit money I guess we’ll have to play it by ear.</p>
<p>I am not sure when she does scheduling but she pretty much has it figured out and has not too much flexibility since she wants to get a certificate in the Finance Program our school offers so after taking the classes required for that there isn’t room for anything fun. She also will be required to take a class at a local University that works with our school for this program so she is going to have one unbelievably busy fall. I really hope she can get good enough scores to get the testing over with this year-but I can see her needing to sit for the October exam.</p>
<p>Hoosier: “Just be happy that our kids will not be the guinea pigs for the new SAT orginally to be released in the spring of 2015. The date has been pushed back to spring of 2016.” I have a D18 who will be one of those guinea pigs. <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>BunHeadMom – I’m linked on FB to my D too. Because it’s a “secret group” and I’m not FB friends with anyone in the group, it appears that my D can’t see it, and people can’t see her. This was my big concern as well.</p>
<p>Oh yes I misunderstood even if you are FB friends no one can see the group if it is closed. Just make sure your little darlings can’t log on as you! </p>
<p>One other thing while on this topic. We have a group for my son’s class and we had some issues after it was set up. Some felt that there was not an appropriate level of participation as some people would rarely post. I can see their point that if you aren’t an active participant people may feel less comfortable talking there-in other words we don’t want lurkers if you know what I mean-</p>
<p>Another issue was whether group members were also FB friends-some people wanted that.</p>
<p>I didn’t care about either issue but I do understand the concerns they raised and think that now is the time to be clear about what we should be thinking about for everyone to feel comfortable.</p>
<p>This is neither here nor there but because it’s a fb group I thought of it. When my D started in high school, several members of the class of 2015 set up a fb group. It was by invitation only. My D knew no one but happened to get an invite from a girl at the school who had, just by chance, attended a summer program with her. Others did not get the invite. There was a lot of discussion in that group that would have been helpful to all these new nervous freshmen–questions about class assignments and logistics. I brought it up at a parents meeting and suggested that every parent should be apprised of the existence of the group and membership be made available to all kids whose parents were ok with it. It should also be monitored so that it did not foster bullying, meanness or hacking. The administration was SO uncomfortable with me and this issue–didn’t want to touch it with a 10 foot pole. It seems to have worked out over time and I think it’s still pretty active and has stayed informative and nice. </p>
<p>i agree with Pepper that it’s important that all feel comfortable and included, whether they decide to join the group or not. (I hope lots of you will. It’s fun getting to put names and faces with posters.) </p>
<p>@twosgirls. We agree. I said that 30-34 is treated largely the same. I excluded the 35/36 from my statement (“Up to 35/36”). No biggie.</p>
<p>30 is the “breakwater” score for S’15. But I won’t be disappointed if he gets a 29 or 28. He got a 27 on his Pre-ACT last September, without studying whatsoever. I originally planned on getting him a tutor for a couple months prior to the “real deal” come June… but I’m second guessing myself now. What with a heavy Spring semester course load, his job and some social life? I’m questioning the value of adding hours to his work week.</p>
<p>When D’12 took the ACT, many in her class scored 25-29 and all got to where they were going and all seem to be doing well. Remember 21 is average A friend of ours D’14 has taken the test 3 times with a top score of 22! The ACT is a test for college preparedness. It’s not an IQ test! She is smart and personable with mostly “B’s” in school. She just “chokes” at test taking. I don’t think she’s destined to wait tables. In fact, I’m fairly confident she’ll end up at one of our State schools quite handily. And they don’t give much aid anyway! Our D’12 was offered practically no merit money from the State school with a 32! :-?? That’s why the CSS/profile rubs me the wrong way. If you have any “means” ($) you will hardly see any merit money, no matter WHAT the score. FAFSA only schools reward the high(er) test scores and gpa.</p>
<p>Wolverine: Saw on another thread that you are planning to visit OU and OSU on your spring break. We are planning to visit OSU next week but OU is currently off DS’s list due to his interest in a particular extracurricular. </p>
<p>Just wanted to say that I do not think that the OU NMF package includes any fees, even the mandatory ones. The package just says “waives 100% of tuition” and, at least in the past including last year, that did not include the mandatory fees. Also,that $81000 estimated total for tuition at OU is very possibly a total for FIVE years (it was last year). As you know, both OU and OSU have fees as a quite large percentage of tuition. Definitely do ask!</p>
<p>At least this year OU says “Waives 100% of tuition” and OSU actually specifies “full waiver of resident and non-resident tuition”. The previous years’ wording “100% non-resident tuition” only meant the OOS portion of tuition was waived. This new wording looks like a significant improvement for OOS students at both schools!</p>
<p>Part of me likes the idea of the fb group, but I am just not sure about it…over time one does post quite a bit of personal info on CC, since it is anonymous, and linking it to fb changes that. It makes me concerned that there will be a sort of inside circle that not everyone is comfortable joining, but will be missing out on if they don’t. </p>
<p>STEM…I think :-/ I sent you a PM, although it’s my first attempt since the new format arrived and it certainly doesn’t seem as easy and straightforward to PM someone as it used to be. ~X( </p>
<p>We are discovering that different schools have VERY different ways of structuring their tuition and fees. Some schools like to say “We have lower tuition costs” which may technically be true, but if they charge exorbitant “per credit hour” fees the bottom line annual expense to the student/family can be significantly higher. This whole process is going to require a substantial amount of time on various school website looking at their published COA numbers, comparing those to cost calculators that some schools have, trying to decipher the “legal-ese” language of a scholarship description, etc.</p>
<p>It will hopefully be well worth the time invested in the long run, but the pessimistic side of me is always looking for the “catch”. I still have memories (growing fonder by the minute) of the times when life was simpler… :-c </p>
<p>A while ago I saw some posts about college fairs. read some but forgot them. In our HS, there is college fairs, but none is in D’s interest list. I was just told we could go to college fairs outside our area to meet reps. If you’ve done college fairs, do you find them helpful? What did you do? did you contact the reps before going to the fair? any comments would be appreciated. We are considering going to one outside our area in the spring. </p>
<p>I used to go to college fairs with my D12 but my D15 won’t leave the house during the week to attend the fairs. I did not find them overly helpful. There were crowds of people at each booth. Our school has college reps visit the school- that was more helpful and easier to navigate. It’s also helpful when the schools visit hotels in the area. I suppose if you go to a fair your kid can introduce herself so that the rep places a name to the face. It’s also a nice way to show interest. </p>
<p>Max - I will keep that in mind and will let you know if I hear open-fairs around here. I know we are both in MD. We have been to many college fairs when boys were going thru the process but did not find them terribly useful. D is not showing any interest and we have not taken her to any yet. </p>
<p>Maxwell, we’re also in MD. Last fall, D and I went to the college fair in Fairfax, Va at Fair Oaks Mall. It was huge - around 400 schools and it looked like 2000 kids attended. It was way too crowded for us but we hit a couple of tables and talked to some reps. It was a way to get D to look at colleges in general and kickstart the search process.</p>
<p>I have the CTCL college fair marked on the calendar. That should be more manageable with only 40 schools.and many of D’s target schools are CTCL schools.</p>
<p>We went to a college fair in the fall. I agree that it wasn’t very helpful. DS brought home a large bag full of colorful brochures. They are still in the same bag in the corner of the office. Untouched.
.</p>
A friend of ours D’14 has taken the test 3 times with a top score of 22! The ACT is a test for college preparedness. It’s not an IQ test! She is smart and personable with mostly “B’s” in school. She just “chokes” at test taking. I don’t think she’s destined to wait tables. In fact, I’m fairly confident she’ll end up at one of our State schools quite handily. And they don’t give much aid anyway! Our D’12 was offered practically no merit money from the State school with a 32! :-?? That’s why the CSS/profile rubs me the wrong way. If you have any “means” ($) you will hardly see any merit money, no matter WHAT the score. FAFSA only schools reward the high(er) test scores and gpa.</p>