@CT1417 I am also very upset about the late release date. We desperately want to know if D is done with testing but this policy is keeping us in the dark. I can’t wait until the day I can stop giving monry to CollegeBoard!
I am postponing my next QOD since we have discussing lot of topics 
We are no where close to even coming with college list. Still thinking of applying to 8-10 BS/MDs, couple of Ivies, couple of other OOS and UCs. Not sure DS can handle essays for that many!
Thanks for the replies, all! 
@MotherOfDragons hm, “collaborative learning” is a good term - I’ll start fishing with that and see what comes up. She read about Swat in the Fiske guide and is intrigued, but I too have heard the workload is huge. Worth further investigation in the reach category.
@eandesmom She’s thinking about ChemE - and would also investigate straight Chemistry if the engineering route just isn’t in the cards for whatever reason. Her “list” as it is, is pretty nebulous. For reaches she’s interested in Brown and Tufts, maybe Cornell. Matches is where we need to find more - Smith is all she’s really got right now. Safeties would be possibly RIT (she has a friend headed there in the fall) or any of the SUNYs. But to call this list preliminary would be an understatement. Her first stab at the ACT was a 33 and she’s retaking in June. She also likes art and would like to be able to continue to study that at least on the side (Brown’s relationship with RISD and Tufts relationship with SMFA, Boston were attractions.)
@mtrosemom Yeah, I hear you! That is my worry as well, that her habits may come back to bite her when things go up a gear (or more!) She’s not lazy, mostly bored at this point. She does extremely well when genuinely working with a group of peers. So the idea of a collaborative environment is one we need to dig into more, for sure.
@Midwest67 The Bubble is not a healthy environment, very much agreed. And academic diversity is a good selling point!
@Mom2aphysicsgeek well I guess you can add that school to the NFW pile Another one bites the dust.
I would take that as " we probably don’t have what you are really looking for and can’t accommodate your needs here" . Maybe it’s good to hear it directly from someone and now you don’t have to waste your time on them. Your kid will find a great fit for them.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek: By UMD, you mean College Park? Yeah, utterly strong in languages. For less commonly taught languages they don’t offer a major in, if it’s the same system as it was a few years ago, they’ll set a small group of students (which can be a group of as little as one) up with a trained native-speaker tutor.
But the inability to double major in two languages makes sense to me, actually, at some level—if the language majors differ only in the actual courses in the languages, there may be too much overlap in terms of course requirements to allow the various majors to be differentiated according to university policy. (So, for example, at the university I work at, the various biology majors—and there are several—are all transcripted as just “biology” because the core of the majors has significant overlap; this also has the side effect that a student is not allowed to double major in, say, biochemistry and evolutionary biology, because they’re technically the same major.)
@thermom - My S is also into Chemistry, but no sure yet which major he is going to apply since his goal is to get into a medical school.
@Midwest67 sounds like a good strategy! I’m sure your daughter would thrive there. Maybe even have an overall better college experience too?
I know my son would hate a high pressure kind of school. He likes school, studies and tries to do well. But if I had to put him under the pressure of “having to get super high grades or it’s the end of the world”, I think he’d bomb. It’s not his style.
So we’ve been looking at schools where a kid can go and learn, have some fun, see interesting things, and meet new people while preparing for the future. Like high school, 4 years of college isn’t the end all be all moment of your entire life. I kind of stunk in high school, was average at best at an average state university, but I ended up doing ok I think
What other schools would she like?
@srk2017 If you need schools for your list, I can give you some of ours :))
35 ACT, 2350 SAT and 3-9-4.0 UW GPA are the target @ S’s school and be part of nationally ranked EC teams! Sometimes I wondered is it really worth going thru that kind of environment.
Haven’t caught up yet, but …
SAT subject tests: I signed D up for the June test because of the registration date, but she doesn’t need to take them again until she’s seen her May scores to determine whether a retake is even necessary. Turns out only UDel requires the subject tests, but because it is high on her list, she needs to take them and score well. I called CB and they said that she can just no-show for the June test and call in middle of August and they will register her for the next administration of the subject tests. So hope that answers others’ questions. I agree that its ridiculous that they are holding up scores.
@thermom I’m pretty sure there was a thread on the engineering board about collaborative engineering schools recently, you might want to check it out. That is one of my son’s criteria too, he is laid back and doesn’t want a school that is cut throat.
Our college list is all over the place and way too large, mainly because my son doesn’t really know what he wants. This is part of him being laid back, he probably really would enjoy almost any environment. And what few criteria he does have tend to be conflicting - he doesn’t like warm weather but wants a school with a good sailing team he can join. :-?? So right now we have almost 30 schools on the list, and hopefully he will get a better idea this summer of what is most important to him.
@CT1417 Thanks for the information. I will now have to check all the schools on her list to make sure what she thinking is possible. She’s contacted the top schools on her list and they all said its fine, though one cautioned her that some people don’t attain fluency in one of the languages being studied simultaneously. D is considering a triple major and a minor so need to make sure that’s possible. We’ve run through the major sheets and it seems tight, but doable since she’ll have finished almost all her gen eds through AP and dual credit.
@dfbdfb Wow, that sounds awesome. It sounds like UMD (yes, College Park) should be on the list for those interested in language acquisition and it fits their budget.
In terms of double majoring, languages usually require a minimum of 36 hrs beyond either the introductory or intermediate levels (depends on the program) in that individual language. For students starting off with no background, those first 2-4 semesters worth of language classes don’t count toward their major. The gen ed requirements do overlap, though.
@rightcoaster Unfortunately, she would have no schools on her list, then, bc w/ the exception of Ole Miss (the irony bc they only offer a minor in Russian to begin with!), every school has told her how they would work with her, but to also look at other schools, such as… But the schools they recommend are way outside of our budget, even if we upped it significantly. UT-A, UIUC, Bloomington, UCLA, UW-M, etc are all way too expensive OOS and schools like Middlebury, Bryn Mawr, etc are too expensive based on their NPC. Dd is in the make the best of the least bad fit category.
It’s hard to catch with this thread.
DD is signed up to take 6/4 Subject Test in Chemistry and US History. She is finished with school but I see her more interested in going out with friends and catching up on sleep (until noon) than preparing for the two exams.
She is steadfast for not taking SAT and said that she is done with ACT. Hopefully, she will be ready for the subject tests in 1.5 weeks.
@WhereIsMyKindle I am also struggling with and giving serious thought to increasing D’s college budget. I think when choices are finally in hand, its going to be tough for me to say no if her top choice is doable but above the current budget, since if she has to choose a school lower on the list, she will have to make some significant compromises. sigh
@Mom2aphysicsgeek UMD is D’s number one choice. It is practically perfect for what she wants to do, is in the right part of the country for her, and they have been very encouraging of her goals. But its so expensive OOS.
I signed up for 2 tests in June, but it looks like D will only take Math 2, and then take Physics in fall after they study E&M, so I was told I should change to the October date by her teacher. Don’t you need to call a ‘re-schedule’? I think there is a $28 fee? But you don’t quite lose all of it. Are you saying you can just not show up?
@thermom In terms of the type of school your D would like, you are describing a lot of elite LAC’s (a couple are notorious for being pressure cookers though, but you seem to know which ones they are already). Unfortunately, most LAC’s won’t have an engineering program. I could suggest a few other elite RU’s but they are very pricey.
I second the flagship honors program recommendation. That’s what we are looking at for D for the same reasons.
@2muchquan You can usually reschedule easily on the website. But because they haven’t set the 2016-2017 testing schedule yet, rescheduling now isn’t an option. So the rep told me to call back in August after the schedule is set and they will switch her over to the October test. I don’t think there is a fee to change.
@thermom You might find articles like this one helpful: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2013/09/30/college-engineering-programs-focus-on-hands-on-learning
My ds attended a university which was very hands-on, project- based. It was not a cut throat program at all. The UG chemE lab was amazing compared to what my dh had access to back in the day. Dh was envious of ds’s experience.