That’s kind of crazy a school official would randomly announce test scores. Understanding though that the school admin probably thought " how could this person feel bad about achieving this awesome result?". Probably didn’t even think maybe the student wanted it private.
My son came home yesterday and basically rattled off every SAT score that was known in his high school. One of his friends, an international student from Asia, scored a high 700 on math, but was only so so on english. But the buzz was out there that a high score had been achieved. My son said he felt pretty good, he did better than a lot of his peers and he felt proud for his high scoring friend. His friend wants to get a perfect math score on retake.
My son thinks he may take the SAT again, but I think his ACT composite score looks easier to raise a bit, and it shows up on Naviance as a tiny bit better score. At least the kids are talking about it, and it seems to inspire some of them to try harder.
@Ynotgo - It is bear time of year. They are coming out of hibernation and needing to eat. We don’t put our trash out ever until morning of pickup so we are not shoveling it back into the can. We were at Lake Tahoe at the Shakespeare Fest one year and, after the performance ended, the announcer came on to tell everyone to stay in the theater while the staff chased a bear out of the parking lot.
LOLing at those of you dealing with older relatives and Facebook. For me, it’s my FIL who is the Facebook addict. It’d actually be just like him to broadcast Ds ACT scores, so I’m glad we haven’t shared them and will remember not to do so in the future! Ugh, I need to make sure we don’t tell him exactly where she applies to college next year, either, as I’m sure he’d post about that too. X_X
Jealous of those of you wrapping up school for the year already. We go to the depths of June, though D had her last AP test today (Eng Lang/Comp) so at least that’s a relief. It’s always a bit odd for the AP classes in states/areas that keep the kids in school for a month or more after the tests are over - they’re pretty much done with the curriculum, so it’s interesting to see what different teachers come up with for them do do with the remaining time. My D’s chemistry teacher is giving them a mini unit on organic chem, in APUSH they’re doing a research paper, and I have no idea what they’ll do in Lang/Comp (not sure the teacher knows either, haha, they’re all just trying to survive the test today.)
Been snickering quite a bit on the sidelines today. My co-workers are beginning to wonder.
After a late entry yesterday, I believe Ds list is now complete-ish. I/We have 18 schools on the list, and I’m sure D can eliminate at least 5-6 with some ridiculous criteria she has yet to inform me of. Then we’re in our target of 12-ish schools for apps (targeting merit). So so so many good schools out there…it’s hard to drop any.
@WhereIsMyKindle Could you be mistakenly hitting ‘Return’ instead of just letting text wrap on the iPad?
@eandesmom and @RightCoaster I’m sure it was well meant and there is pretty good academic recognition at the school, but it’s even crazier when you realize it wasn’t a composite score but a sub score that was outstanding. (Not that the composite was bad; it was good too.) And of course, S didn’t share it with the principal to begin with; ACT did. S immediately emailed ACT and asked if his principal was allowed to share the information without his permission and they said of course not, so perhaps at some point when all possibility of danger is past, we’ll mention it.
@RightCoaster I’ve seen some conversation on here, but what was your son’s take on the overall reaction to SAT scores? S also got lower than expected in reading/English but did very well on math. He had come out of the test feeling pretty confident and I think he was surprised he did less well on the SAT than on the PSAT, but he’s so glad to be done with ACT/SAT (unless he actually qualifies for NMSF and NM throws a real curve regarding NMF qualification) that I don’t think he cares. Plus, he can count on a full ride anywhere due to his ACT score :))
D finished AP Engl Lang/Comp today and as usual, it was “fine.” I’m always anxious for details, but most of the time, its just “fine.” The SAT was “fine.” So, hoping she actually did fine. lol 6 down, 1 to go…AP Spanish next week.
Re: the principal that disclosed test score, he should know better and that it violates educational records privacy laws.
We don’t have any older relatives on FB. With that said, I freely share how D does on big tests, competitions, events, etc. on social media (never actual scores unless asked offline or to close friends and family). As a young single parent, I have lived by the “it takes a village” philosophy in raising her, so most of my friends and acquaintances have been closely following her journey and offering advice along the way. They are rooting for her and love getting the updates. If others were disclosing her information online, however, I’d have a talk with them about it.
@Ynotgo I had an employee up there that used to send us pictures of the wildlife he would see…at his house or cabin. Crazy stuff! I miss his pictures, and weather reports.
@WhereIsMyKindle and @Agentninetynine close friend (old babysitter lol) went to GW. She lived off campus the vast majority of the time. Factor in DC housing pricing, it’s brutal. She loved it but…they can afford it.
@2muchquan ROTLMAO on the ridiculous criteria D has yet to inform you of. I am sure that is coming though heavens knows he’s ridiculously picky already. I swear, S forgets what is even ON the list, not that he’s looked at all of them enough to actually weigh in! I had a list of 16 but think I may have knocked it down to 10 yesterday due to a combo of too many safeties, ones I knew he was lukewarm on anyway and financials combined with too reachy reach. The kid needs to weigh in and will probably want the reachy reach no way jose can’t ever possibly afford…back on. I would love it if he’d give the middle of his list some real attention, versus the top and the bottom. Which, given that we are going to have 6 hours of driving to 2 different tours this weekend…should happen!
Agreed @thermom we will now have 6 weeks of ??? Big PreCalc final but apparently they talked AP Physics out of a final and into a Physics Olympiad instead so that will be fun for them. Not sure about the rest of his classes.
My son’s impression was the SAT was easier than the ACT, but his scores were very similar. Most of my son’s friends thought they did better than they actually did. My son only took the psat once as a sophomore I think, and his score was not very good. But, he did no prep work, no studying, etc. So he did much better on his SAT than PSAT. My son has a group of 10 friends and I would say they are all honor roll " normal smart", not like MIT/rocket scientist smart, and as a group I think most of them did worse than my son > 1300. I think there was a 1400, 1350,1310 and then a bunch of kids in the mid-1200 range. I was surprised. I thought my son might do a little better, and I thought some of his friends might come closer to 1400, but no.
So, that’s what my impressions are so far. Lower scores than anticipated here, but not by much. I’ll try to get some more info from other sources and keep you all updated.
@Agentninetynine that’s gosh awful your MIL would compare her grandkids. Shame on her.
@2muchquan you always crack me up
My D finished her last AP today. Currently sleeping on the couch. For the rest of the year she is watching movies. So far she’s watched Mean Girls and Inside Out. What a waste of time
@eandesmom Now I am trying to come up with a design for a board of some sort we can put up in the ‘war room’ (maybe the kitchen) where we can put the list, re-order it, and indicate some sort of next steps. I’d like it ‘in her face’ so she knows she has to keep on top of things. I’m crazy that way.
Maybe include a ‘threat-level’ indication for each: Grn/Blu/Yel/Ord/Red :))
@RightCoaster Thanks. Here in Iowa, not many kids take the SAT, and you can guess that S doesn’t get into many discussions at school about test scores, so I appreciate the anecdotal info on here.
I don’t think I’ve said it yet, but I’ve thought it many times. Congratulations to everyone’s DC as they finish up a challenging AP testing cycle and junior year. I’m just glad we won’t have our first AP tests until next year when all college applications will be in and we’ll hopefully know exactly what’s happening next.
I think we will spend the summer trying to catch up with the rest of you as far as college lists go.
@IABooks …my D would be horrified if that happened to her! I’m kind of mixed on how to recognize test scores. On the one hand, I think they are an accomplishment and these kids work hard and should be recognized. On the other hand, it’s kind of like knowing how much money someone makes…it’s not the kind of thing you want announced.
D won a department chair award last year and the principal came in with balloons and the certificate. She said it was super awkward. She would rather it be at an awards ceremony and not just in front of the classroom.
And finally…your summer plans need to also include some Iowa sweet corn. I grew up spending my summers in Iowa, going with my grandpa to the local farm stand to buy sweet corn pretty much straight from the field. Gosh I would do anything to be doing that again! Lost all of my front teeth on fresh corn!
I am just waiting for @2muchquan’s fake child to start ruling out schools for absurd reasons and arguing with real sibling about their choices.
@carachel2 Fresh sweet corn is indeed yummy. When it’s ready, I’ll let you all know, shall I? I pass three or four farm stands on my way home from work, so I could pick some up for you. Or maybe @2muchquan could send the fake kid over for a car load.
It’s always so disappointing to visitors from out of the Midwest when we tell them the miles of corn they see from the interstate isn’t all sweet corn, but mostly hard field corn that gets processed. But there is still plenty of sweet corn to feast on come July.
We scheduled honors college and dept visits with USCarolina in June.
@RightCoaster, interesting that your child found the SAT easier than the ACT—mine felt the same way, but she scored better on the ACT. Go figure.
Fake kid has such a superiority complex, I’m sure she’ll hate wherever real kid ends up. They could never be roomies.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Very cool about the real USC 
That’s high on one of my kid’s list…I think real kid. She liked the campus a lot, and loved the Honors dorm. We just did the normal campus tour and honors info session. She tends to like the colleges that are close/integrated into a city. UofSC has the best of both worlds because the campus is very pretty, and a pretty typical campus. No streets running through it. But, then you step off campus into the city of Columbia. Plus, as we spoke about a few pages back…they have big-time sports, which is a bonus for real-kid.
Hand-written note from our tour guide came in the mail. Nice touch. Looking forward to your report back.
@2muchquan wrote
You need one of these:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3gj17m
Skip to 2:32 in (it’s from Modern Family) Favorite line is Phil whispering “witchcraft!!!”
Yes I’m done procrastinating-I did laundry, mulched, brought the trap down from the attic and set it up to catch the stupid chipmunk in the back yard, ceremoniously set fire to my Spanish book, put all the laundry away, picked the younger kid up at school, and braved Wal-Mart. My life is so glamorous right now 
Oh I forgot I also drilled a bunch of holes in the stump in the front yard and got the bit stuck in the gooey sap and had to dig it out. Fun! (I was filling it with the stuff that dissolves lignin bonds and allows the stump to decay faster)
Ok, crisis mostly averted. They deleted the post. Phew. So, MIL is an AP English teacher in another state so they are always interested in how school is going for DS. He is the first of all the grandchildren to go through the process so all of the grandparents are really interested.
DS is also watching movies. I think they watched Princess Bride today in English. S is a huge movie buff and has watched most of the classics from the 80s. I love watching them with him. Brings back memories.
S still doesn’t really have a list and I am jealous of those that have a solid list. He is still undecided about what to study but I like to see where others are touring.
@IABooks My S is super private. He would be mortified if that happened to him.
That’s awesome, @MotherOfDragons. That style of board may just do the trick. Me likee.