@STEM2017 I’ve heard just studying and taking the SAT helps prep you for the ACT, but it’s good to do a test ACT session to get used to the time factor and understand how the science section works.
This is something our family has struggled with as well. My S17 has been impacted in every facet of his life by autism yet has persevered and excelled in many areas. No leadership and minimal extracurriculars due to his challenges. Hoping that he loves Alabama ( and the Presidential scholarship) so that we don’t have to decide about whether to disclose or not and how to address things. He’s going to Bama’s SITE in less than 2 weeks and after that will be able to start formulating a better college list. Good luck to all whose children struggle with challenges. It definitely adds another facet to the idea of “fit”.
@STEM2017 – only an opinion…but I think that a portion of performance on either of these tests is familiarity with format. By format I mean flow of the test, types of questions asked, etc. Both seem to have a timing issue now (I think) so being comfortable and familiar with the cadence of it all has got to help. There are only so many types of questions, except for the new ones the ACT folks are throwing at the students.
Since the new SAT has eliminated the upper level vocab questions and no longer penalizes for wrong answers, it appears that the few tests are closer than they had been, but they still have their own personalities. At a certain point, the students all know the content, so they are only focusing on test-taking strategies.
If your son is motivated, have him sit down and take one of the full-length practice exams. If sitting for the full thing is too much, assign one section each night.
There are four practice tests online and I believe the QAS customers are hoping for release of the May QAS later this month, so that would make five tests, assuming you can find the QAS online.
Take a practice SAT and see how he does. At least should give you an idea of whether more prep (and how much) may be needed.
@ct1417 and @saillakeerie Good advice. Do either have some time to come over tonight to break the news to him? I could use the support.
@2muchquan sometimes I wish I was a HS student. I would have rocked the spider prompt.
@STEM2017 the only organized test prep that my S did was for the PSAT. We had him take his first ACT right around that same time “just in case” there was prep carryover. He got 1470 on PSAT and 34C on his first ACT. He is one of those naturally good test-takers, so its hard to tell how much was mutually beneficial prep. I think the content of the two tests is closer than its ever been.
I would totally fail at the spider prompt. Thinking about it creeps me out. I am a full blown arachnophob. I don’t even like to touch photos with spiders.
@STEM2017 No problem. Though I can (and will) leave right after breaking the news to him. Presumably the problem will be after breaking the news (by which time I will be long gone). 
@endesmom I think the decision on weather to disclose a disability ADD/ASD is personal and if it’s relative to portfolio the student has up to offer. It also depends on the selectivity of the school. I wouldn’t announce this to any really elite selective school who are are mostly judging on if they “like” you.
On the other hand less elite private schools and public schools who claim to judge “holistically” it can be helpful if spin in a positive manner. This depends on if what your saying is going to add to the portfolio. (No excuses…) I have heard from admissions officers who are doing a “holistic” evaluation that they do like to see something to explain why there are lower grades one year, or a odd different between GPA & expected test scores. This can be more than just a LD/ADD/ASD, a death/illness in the family can cause a kids grade to plummet one semester for example. OSU was one of the places that mentioned this in their info tour. And I believe on of the questions on their "Insight Questions is the appropriate place to mention these issues. The admissions officer particularly mentioned my son’s case of high test scores and lower GPA.
Sorry guys not interested in SCAT. Since S17 does well on standardized testing. Although my D12 was one of those kids who test badly. We looked into some ‘test optional’ schools for her but they usually wanted a writing portfolio instead. Since writing wasn’t her strength we figured the test scores were the better option.
My struggle with this is DS doesn’t want to appear “different” and does’t want to talk about it even when it would help him.
My opinion on disclosing disablities- If you want to do it. I have hearing loss and while it does not carry the (unnecessary) stigma of autism or mental illness, people are still not comfortable discussing disablities. I wrote my college essay on it. My college just wanted a personal essay, no prompt, but what I wrote could very well could have worked with CA prompt 1. I was told(by my case manager) not to even mention my disability until I had enrolled but I didn’t do that. It felt important to me to find out the assistive technology colleges had available for me during the touring process. I didn’t apply to any super selective places but my essay was praised in my acceptance letter.
@flatKansas D hasn’t seen the new prompt for URichmond yet, but she was pretty psyched about answering the spider prompt, so that’s probably the way she’ll go. I think it is such a cool mascot.
I can’t believe our visit was two weeks ago, but finally here are my thoughts from our Rochester trip during which we visited Rochester Institute of Technology and University of Rochester.
One great thing: Both schools are very close to the airport. What a relief after all the driving on our spring break trip. We visited downtown on our second day and really enjoyed walking along the river and eating at Tony D’s Pizza. Buses/shuttles are available to go downtown from both schools and it seemed like a nice city to explore.
Oh wait! One more thing that was intersting on the flight home: I don’t usually talk to people on airplanes, but toward the end of our first leg the man next to me asked if we lived in Rochester or were visiting and when I told him what we’d been doing, turns out he graduated from RIT and his son from UofR. He thought both schools were excellent and knows faculty members from both. He asked about D’s major and when she said engineering, he said (with no hesitation) “RIT! For engineering go to RIT and you will not regret it.”
What D is looking for:
Electrical engineering program with a concentration on renewable energy
Pro-“green” and sustainable atmosphere overall
Co-op program preferable or strong internship program
Small school with small class size
Collaborative rather than competitive atmosphere
Experiential/hands-on work emphasized
Casual, relaxed campus atmosphere
Liberal atmosphere
Nerdy atmosphere
Not dominated by sports or Greek life
RIT
Co-op education is highly emphasized and required for several majors, including engineering. Studies in major are emphasized with gen ed given wide choices. Double majors are common. Unlike many schools, PE is required but there are tons of options including horseback riding and Jedi training. (Nerd school? Check.) At the info session, the adcom specifically described the atmosphere as collaborative and relaxed, not cut-throat like some tech schools. Labs are taught by professors with grad TA’s to assist. Recitation sections are run by TA’s, but no new material is taught and they are usually not required.
They mentioned that they will be converting the new SAT, but they didn’t specifically say if they were using the CB concordance. If there isn’t further info on their website by application time, I’ll contact them to see what the actual process is.
Most of the academic buildings are connected by tunnels and all the dorms are connected by tunnels, but unfortunately the two systems don’t connect together. (Something about swampland…) Being summer, it was pretty quiet, but there were students around and it didn’t feel dead like the one school we visited on spring break. We toured the dorm tunnels and it’s pretty cool. You can even buy food there! The tunnel walls are filled with mural panels, most of which were sufficiently nerdy for D. The dorm rooms were small (well, I guess average since most of them have seemed small!). But they were nice. We didn’t eat on campus.
Irrelevant, but this was so strange – Near the end of the dorm tour, D and I were in the back with just two boys behind us. The tour guide mentioned something about their Quidditch team and one of the kids behind us said to his friend (brother?) “A quidditch team, man that really pisses me off!” and the other boy responded “Yeah, that’s so PC it makes me really mad.” Or words to that effect with some more grumbling. I can understand a kid having a “whatever, that’s just dumb” response to quidditch, but these guys were actually pissed. :-??
As D and I were walking back to the car D said, “It’s not exactly the prettiest campus…”
Me thinking: Oh no, I really like this school!
D – “but I don’t care about that. It’s the nerdiest school we’ve looked at yet. Definitely #2 on the list.” YAY!
Looks-wise, I would say it’s on the utilitarian side, but not ugly. It certainly had that college campus feel to me. We drove around the campus the next day and boy is it bigger than it seems from the tour. There is a lot of housing for upperclassmen on the further reaches (suites and apartments) that look really nice and they have frequent shuttles. At least from what we saw, there’s not much of anything right off campus, just one little shopping center area. Luckily there seems to be a lot to do on campus and of course downtown is just a shuttle away.
There is a spectrum support program for ASD kids and that is like some delicious icing on the cake.
What can I say, I love this school! It might even be first choice on my version of the list.
UofR
Most classes are taught by research professors. Personally I think that is not necessarily always positive. One thing my D loves here is the open curriculum. My understanding is that outside the major requirements, students pick two topics of three classes each. I did get a little confused on this, but it seems that they have specific clusters (like sustainability for example) that are usually inter-disciplinary. I think the student can also make up their own clusters. At any rate it’s very open! “Accidental” second majors are common and most students at least have a minor or two. 8/10 students do undergrad research, which sounds pretty impressive to me.
D loved the sound of the “Take 5” program. Any student who finishes their major in 4 years can apply for this program and can take a 5th year at UofR WITH NO TUITION and study anything that is different from their major. The way it was described, it is not competitive, but they can be a bit strict on what is considered “different” enough from the major. I guess because the whole point is to encourage students to branch out in a big way.
The interview is very important and personally I would consider it “required.” 80% of admitted students interviewed (and I’m betting those who didn’t had some pretty impressive apps). D interviewed and felt like this was her weakest interview of the three she’s done, but not bad. Good practice anyway, since her top school requires an interview and she hasn’t done one there yet.
The campus is prettier than RIT, but not what I would call beautiful. More of a traditional “college-look” than RIT. We didn’t drive around the campus, but the huge thing on one end is the associated medical center. And it does seem like there is more “stuff” right off-campus, but nothing too interesting that we noticed.
D also liked UofR and it is now #4 on the list. This is a reach school though (certainly in terms of merit), so it seems unlikely where she would end up. But it seemed like a great school and I would suggest that those interested take a look.
More irrelevant stuff – I just can’t help myself: many moons ago I took a web design class that emphasized how important it was to break up your content because people don’t like to scroll down the page for a long time. They had a little chart showing what kind of reader would scroll down for how long. There were some boring labels like “mildly interested” for just how far a reader might be wiling to scroll. The final label after scrolling about a mile was “Mad dogs and Englishmen.” So I would like to say to anyone left, “Cheerio! And please don’t forget your rabies shot.” :o3
@STEM2017 DS took the ACT for the first time in October, so right around PSAT time. He prepped a bit for both, but with more focus on ACT. Also took the ACT in December and then the new SAT in March. He rocked the ACTs, did well enough on the PSAT that he may qualify for NMSF, but did less well on the new SAT (although hopefully well enough to confirm NMF if needed). Now, YMMV since he only took the ACT before these new changes.
We will only send ACT scores to colleges (as he’s not applying to any that require all scores of both).
Post 1
I thought I’d post my DDs recent visits in case anyone else is interested in these three schools. I was not there with her so these are all her perspective. She wrote these as part of her blog that is required for her summer program.
UPenn: In the afternoon we headed back to the UPenn campus for an official tour and info session. During the info session, which was held in the beautiful Irvine auditorium, we were shown a video about UPenn and then spoken to by an admissions counselor. She told us about why UPenn was a great school, and then broke down the application process for us, including what and what not to do. I liked the way she phrased her advice, and how she describes her and other admissions counselors’s goal made applying to college seem a bit less intimidating. She said that the biggest challenge we had to overcome was being ourselves, and that ultimately admissions counselors were just trying to create a community through each class that would make UPenn a stronger institution. She also advised us to find something that we are excited about at UPenn and look for something similar at other, perhaps less selective, universities. I thought that that was very practical and useful advice, and I will definitely be using that strategy to finalize the list of schools that I want to apply to.
Our tour guide’s name was W, a rising junior at UPenn. The tour started off in front of College Hall, the first building that was built on UPenn’s west Philly campus. In the same area were the headquarters of the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as the nation’s first student union. W took us around to the engineering quad, the green, Lotus Walk and Wharton School of Business. Along the way, she talked to us about a lot of different aspects of being a student at UPenn, including the different types of projects that are a part of some programs and Greek life. We lost the rest of the group for a short while, so we missed a part of it, but W___ also talked about residential life at UPenn. She did this right outside of the dorm building where we will be staying for our summer program.
Columbia (also mentions NYU briefly at the end): After we had finished, we walked down to 116th street for our tour. As we passed through the gates that marked the entrance to Columbia University, I was struck by how beautiful the campus was. It is very compact, but the architecture and the greenery took my breath away. You could hardly tell that you were in Manhattan.
Check in took place at Lowe Library, which actually isn’t a library at all. It was originally intended to be, but it turned out to be too small, so they built Butler Library across the way. Now, Lowe Library serves administrative purposes. We got our name tags and took in the decor on the inside, which was just as beautiful as the outside, while we waited for the information session to begin.
The information session took place in Lerner Hall, which was more modern than some of the surrounding buildings. While we waited for the admissions officer to arrive, two Columbia students welcomed us and spent some time speaking to us about their favorite and least favorite parts about going to school there. One said that she enjoyed that she had been forced to challenge and reshape what she believed while at Columbia, which she also admitted could be a bit frustrating at times. Her counterpart said that the diversity and the affordability of Columbia were what he enjoyed the most.
When the admissions officer of the day entered the room, he began the hour long information session. Throughout the session, he talked about the history of Columbia, the Core Curriculum that they have, the type of learning that they facilitate, their location in New York City, and admissions and financial aid. Some things that really stood out to me was the fact that Columbia strives to create well rounded students through the Core Curriculum, which is unique to their school, and that most of their majors are not based on what profession one may want to pursue, but on building knowledge and skills that are important for a given subject area and the workforce in general. I like this approach, because it does not limit the student. Columbia also seems to really encourage students to incorporate New York City into their learning experience by taking advantage of the resources that are available there, such as internships and the arts.
Next we went on our tour, which was less of a positive experience than the information session. Our tour guide was very fast paced and aggressive, and while she was saying great things about the school, she wasn’t giving off a good vibe. However, after the tour, we went to the admissions office to introduce ourselves to the officer of the day, James Ramseur, who eased some of my worries. Talking to him and having him answer some more of my questions gave me a better feel for the type of institution that Columbia is. I was looking into applying early decision before, but now I’m almost certain that that is what I want to do.
Once we were all through with our lunch, we strolled through the NYU campus nearby. While I do like the city, I found it disconcerting that NYU blended in so much. There was no sense of connection between the different buildings, and I think it would be difficult to build a sense of community there. For me, a campus like Columbia’s is a much better option. However, NYU’s campus is home to the site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, which I learned about in APUSH this past year. It was cool to make that connection.
Post 2
Georgetown: From there (Union Station), we walked down the street to another bus, the Circulator, which took us to Georgetown.
Georgetown University is surrounded by the larger Georgetown area, which is full of shops, restaurants, and beautiful townhouses. Mr. H____ took us to Saxby’s, a coffee shop that I’ve seen a few times since coming to the east coast, in an attempt to perk us up. We were all running a little slow before this, but it helped me to get some caffeine in my system. Now, I was wide awake and able to take in the somewhat gothic architecture and plentiful greenery that we saw when we stepped into Georgetown’s Red Square.
Our visit to Georgetown started in much the same way as the other college visits, with an information session. There, I was very impressed by what I heard. I am interested in political science and languages, so Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service caught my attention. We had not seen anything like it before, and that globally ranked program coupled with Georgetown’s location makes it an almost ideal place for what I want to do. I also liked that, as a religious institution, Georgetown really stresses the importance of service towards others. Georgetown also has a pre-law track that exempts students who want to go to law school (which I do) from taking the LSATs. I know that that would save me a lot of stress in the years to come!
After the information session, the tour guides came up to introduce themselves, and we were told that we could choose which one we wanted to go with. We chose C_, who was studying politics and art history. This was definitely the right decision! From the beginning C_ was so humorous and friendly, and I could tell how passionate he was about where he goes to school. In addition to taking us around and giving us all of the facts about Georgetown, which he did well, C____ taught us the school chant of “Hoya, Saxa!” This literally translates to “What, Rocks!” We even had a competition with another tour group to see who could do the chant the loudest and with the most spirit, which we definitely won. There was also a funny moment in which we sang happy birthday to C____ after another tour guide told us that it was his birthday. However, this turned out to be just a way that the tour guides use to mess with each other, and C____ informed us that it wasn’t actually his birthday at all. It really made a difference compared to yesterday (Columbia) having a tour guide who I connected with and who made Georgetown seem like it would be an easy place to call home. By the time the tour was over, I could definitely picture myself as a Georgetown student.
@MSHopeful If you ever happen to go up on the roofs at Barnard, look for the big cedar planters. DH built those probably 15 years ago. I remember ordering all that cedar from a company in Washington State and it was the biggest check I’d ever written in my life. DH was nervous about the architect’s design because he was afraid it would cause rotting, but he looked over the planters in 2014 when DD toured there and they still looked OK 
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@mdcmom Thanks. I’m actually going to NY for work next month so I may check it out if I have time! I believe my DD is applying to Barnard as well (she hasn’t finalized the list but the acceptance rate is much higher than Columbia and the campus is close by and you can take classes at Columbia so I think she will apply).
@eandesmom and others regarding ADHD, etc. – sorry if I badly worded it, but I in no way mean to imply that “not disclosing” is the same as “hiding.” There are tons of reasons that something may or may not go into an app or interview. I just don’t like the stigma that might make kids feel like they CAN’T discuss a mental issue because they may be construed as “lesser.”
Thanks for sharing the trip reports @snoozn and @MSHopeful !
We are leaving tomorrow for a visit to Mich St. on Friday organized by their Honors College. I went to UofM and have never been on MSU campus.