@BusyNapping I would not bother sending AP scores during the application season. Students can self-respect scores and send verifying scores when they matriculate. You have to pay extra to send AP scores and they don’t need them. No idea why, but every school we have ever talked to has said they don’t look at them. (Maybe bc so many students take exams after the admissions process is already completed.)
Re: new vs old SAT scores.
I have not been paying attention but it sounds as though some of you have. If anyone knows, will you enlighten me?
Did the March & May SAT scores come in lower than the Oct PSAT scores would have suggested? Son thought new PSAT was very easy, but he has not taken new SAT. I have not tried to find a concordance chart for old SAT & new PSAT, but I think his score is very close, although that old SAT score is a super-scored one, so PSAT actually was ‘easier’ for him.
Agree about reaching out to local/regional Ad Com as way of demonstrating interest. Also, sign up for mailings as there may be some ‘In your neighborhood’ sessions this summer and early fall. I have seen postcards & emails from Hopkins & CMU (and others that I have tossed). Of course, some define my neighborhood as Manhattan and others as Hartford, but Manhattan is closer. I would like to drive no more than 20 minutes!
@flatKansas brings up an important point for those who need merit $$. Read the wording of awards. Fixed $$ amts are going to typically leave gaps as they progress through their 4 yrs. Equivalent to wording results in better cost management.
@CT1417 At this point, we have anecdotal data and CB’s concordance charts. And some of the test prep companies have weighed in. The concordance charts show the new SAT scores as being significantly higher than old SAT scores and comparing unfavorably to the ACT (i.e., SAT scores are inflated). Typically, standardized test scores reported on CC skew to the high end of scores achieved nationally. However, for both the March and May SAT exams, the scores reported on CC have tended to be lower than old SAT scores and the same students are reporting doing much better on the Old SAT and ACT. So something is definitely off there. The conclusion I’ve reached is that the concordance charts over penalized new SAT scores per the concordance charts as students don’t seem to have done as well as they expected or as they did on the PSAT (which many students found much easier than the old SAT/old PSAT).
Just my personal opinion. D has contacted several adcoms and they don’t know what to make of the new test and are waiting to evaluate the scores as they receive large batches of scores from students. It’s unclear whether they will use the concordance charts. My personal opinion is that they will not.
Crap. No way to keep up. Welcome to some new(-ish?) peeps!
@CT1417 I didn’t see that you got an answer about your Naviance question. If you have 2 recommenders in Naviance for a CA school that only accepts 1 recommender, what happens? Which one goes? Do you have control? I was wondering the same thing. I know in Naviance you can ask a teacher to send their recommendation to a specific school, but WHAT IF you accidentally ask 2?
FERPA. Just acknowledge you give up your rights. What happens outside the CA system will never be known, so if your kid’s teacher sends him the recommendation via email, great. If not, you are going in blind.
QOTD1: Lots of good feedback on the “Why Us” essay. Thanks! @Ynotgo thanks for the link. I started reading the thread, but must have stopped before the ‘good’ info started.
@srk2017 I think I mentioned before, I click the crap out of those email links for the schools on the list. Unsubscribing to the ones we are not interested in. We have 3 regional reps that D is emaiing and setting up meetings in July now. I thought she would be nervous about this, but she is not. So, that’s good. D is also looking at a Bio-like major, but it may change based on school. No problem.
Thought for the day: I wouldn’t mind never hearing the words ‘matriculate’ or ‘concordance’ again in my life.
You would need to list the name of the recommender in commonapp. I don’t know if Naviance stops the wrong one during the handshake or if common app does.
Ugh, the score distribution for AP Physics 1 is out and its ugly.
Naviance question for LORs - It is my understanding that the first LOR that was uploaded will be the one that is sent if only one LOR is requested. Our GC reads the LORs and makes sure the best one is uploaded first, but she is able to do that. Might want to check with the school to see what in done on their end in that situation.
Wow @flatKansas, you’re right! S took the Physics C tests and the score distribution for those tests are much more forgiving. 55+% got a 4 or a 5 on either of the C tests. Less than 18% got a 4 or 5 on the Physics 1 test!
@mamaedefamilia I don’t think DS prepped at all, because mom doesn’t know anything he’s “really good at figuring out tests.” 
. So it’ll be up to him; how badly does he want to go out of state? I’m not going to push it if he isn’t motivated to study more. (Have I mentioned before how VERY different kids can be within the same family?)
The ACT might be an option too; we may well try that.
@flatKansas I saw that. S17 does not have high hopes for that one at all. UGH.
Do many college reps visit your schools and meet with students? In the Fall we have over 100 college visits - a good number of fairly selective ones - - usually the regional reps. Seniors can miss classes to attend. Definitely will have DS go to the ones he is interested in even if he has already visited the school - to show interest, ask any other questions - nice to have a small setting though some garner a large group of students. We also have materials on hand the colleges can review & they are invited to meet with out GCs as well.
@CA1543 I am not sure. I know that we do but I also know that S17 has yet to stop by and see one. In the fall it really was too early for him to think about it so it will be interesting to see what happens come fall, which is really too late in some ways.
This spring there has not been much at all which has been disappointing. I think one school since spring break and it was a fairly random school.
New/old SAT I am sooooooooooooooooooo thankful dd decided to only take the ACT this year (we live in SAT-land, too) 
Regional rep visits My son’s high school would have 2-4 reps visit the school every day in the fall and later spring! All students were invited to attend the sessions as long as that period’s teacher approved.
LORs I need to spend more time with the SLoP school websites to see how many are needed. Better put that on my list…
Regional reps: Yes, our HS too has lots of schools stopping by, mostly in the fall, and then a smaller contingent comes back in the spring. D went to maybe 4 of them, although all the schools on her list came, I’ll bet. She chose not to miss classes like Calc BC for fear of falling behind. So, only if the school dropped by during Band or PE would she actually go :). Next fall will be different, and she will be attending for different reasons: To show interest.
Trying to catch up with everyone. Just put D on a plane to Germany for three weeks. We had a fun few days together in NYC.
I don’t know what to say about grades vs tests. The rampant cheating in some of the AP classes we know of it makes me say I would prefer a standardized test!
@Ynotgo we haven’t had a GT teacher since 6th grade either. Those kids get a higher math track in 7th (basically end up the only ones who can take Calc BC with our track) and other than that it’s fend for yourselves, good luck and goodbye!
It was wonderful while it lasted.
@eandesmom – harsh - locked in tracking in 7th grade - gates never reopen for students shut out? Sorry to hear that. In math might be a bit harder to keep gates open but at many schools kids in geometry in 9th grade can get to BC calc. Re college visits - I think makes most sense fall of senior year. Spring time we get very few visits - none really from selective colleges.
I’m also trying to keep up, but I have discovered to my amusement that I reach a “tilt” point each day where my brain can not absorb any more information and everything I read here just trickles out my ears like metaphorical protean slime.
I blame my surrealist in the media class. SO hatin’ that class right now with my Freud-obsessed professor. Luckily 50% of my classes will be done June 27, and I may be able to absorb more and do more QoTD’s.
Oh, funny shirt worn by my photography professor today: GYST. (Get your s*** together), also pronounced “gist” like get the “gist” of something. It’s my kind of humor.
I’m seriously re-thinking taking 4 classes next semester-it’d have me leaving at 7 am and not getting home until 8 pm MWF. Given how wiped out I am doing a 7-6 each day, I think I might have to drop one class next semester in order not to crash and burn. I am really exhausted and I can’t not get A’s, and it is leaving me emotionally drained and not having a lot for anyone else in the family, which I deeply loathe. I am literally marking off each day until June 27 with a big bloody red pen.
LOR’s: I don’t want to see what they wrote about the kids, because it won’t change anything to know other than make me mad because they sucked, or make me mad because they didn’t help D get in to where she wants to get in. Anything else I’d just read and instantly forget.
Um, grades vs. tests-tests get you in, grades keep you in. You need them both.
I worry more about high tests and low grades with D2 than the potential reverse with D1. I’m mentally prepared for strong but not amazeballs test scores from D1, if the PSAT was a lightning +700 strike, then it is what it is and she’ll find a school that’s a good match for her and crush it with her good study habits.
Regional reps: We get about 30-40 visits and only in fall. DS attended one last year for Harvey Mudd, but some visits that interested him were during classes he didn’t want to skip. Most of the colleges that visit us are not very selective and lots are small religious colleges.
GT classes: Thanks for satisfying my curiosity. We just have honors classes and “college prep” (which isn’t really) for subjects prior to AP/IB classes. In junior high (7th and 8th), about 1/4 to 1/3 of the kids are in “honors” so it’s not especially rigorous – mainly just separating kids who are willing to do homework from those who aren’t.
Re: College visits to HS.
Yes, dozens upon dozens of schools visit in the fall, and during two weeks in October, dozens visit each day. I think the boarding schools host college fairs, so the Ad Coms tack on a trip down to our area, but they all arrive en masse. It is quite the juggling job to find space for the reps to meet with the students and then politely nudge them out the door before the next rep appears.
Each rep meets with a GC who then writes a little report. Rep is escorted down to College & Career Center, where parent volunteers coordinate the comings and goings of the reps and students. Parents do not stay in the room once the sessions begin. I have been doing this for years but haven’t really gained any inside info along the way. Attendance tracks as expected based on # of apps in Naviance.
Seniors are allowed to skip class to attend but juniors must have a free. I don’t think either of my boys bothered to attend as Jrs because it really was difficult to find the free time. The college rep visits of 30 minutes do not overlap with class schedule, so students were coming and going in middle of class period.
The school also hosts a spring college fair that attracted +/- 50 colleges. Juniors are invited to attend during their lunch periods. A smaller # of schools visit in spring; fall is the big push.
@MotherOfDragons – I should probably know this, but have forgotten. (Share that same brain overload issue.) What are you studying?
Re: GT. We have a program that starts in elementary and goes through to 9th but many drop off after 8th. It becomes impossible to find the time.
Re: math placement. Our school uses a 4th grade state math test section score + a 5th grade placement test to determine 6th grade math placement (one of three levels). Students who perform well in their 6th grade math can sit for a test during summer in order to move up a level for 7th grade. Many students take a summer course to do so. More and more students want to get to Calc in HS, so some students who did not place in accelerated in middle school will instead elect to double up on Alg 1 & Geo or Geo & Alg 2 in order to catch up with the accelerated, forgoing any elective class. There is also double-accelerated that allows BC Calc in 11th & MV in 12th.