Congrats to your kids on the great scores @CA1543 and @SincererLove (c’mon, you know it’s a great score)!
Oh, and congrats to those finding out via Naviance earlier!
@Gator88NE , same for reading… 5 wrong 700, or average of 20 points a question. Wonder if that repeat test takers(those who took the test in March) played a factor.
Until more test data is accumulated (maybe 3-4 test cycles?), the new SAT will be something of a wild card. But it seems to me the conventional wisdom is that test scores need to keep your application from being tossed out in due course. Its the essays, ECs, recommedations, etc. which really matter as long as the test scores keep you in the game. I expect that a 1550 (and 34) would be fine to keep a kid in the game pretty much anywhere.
CC is a lot like the internet itself: there is a ton of garbage here. Lots of arrogance, judgemental folks, pettiness, etc. But shifting through all of that (and in most cases just skipping it because after you spend some time here, you pretty much know where the garbage will be), there is a wealth of very useful information here. And interestingly enough, much of the value here is brought by people who also bring the garbage.
@nw2this What bothers me is the constant implication that if you can’t afford your EFC then you are frivolous with money. Really?
Life choices are why we can’t afford our EFC; choices I wouldn’t change for anything in the world. But those choices have absolutely nothing to do with frivolous spending.
I guess I can see one benefit my kids have had growing up in a large family. They know how to bulk cook, freeze into portion sizes, and stretch a food budget a long way. 
Just checked S’s June SAT IIs, Math is great, but Physics is a 700. That is lower than he hoped for. He only needs SAT IIs for 3 reach schools, so I guess he will have to decide if it is worth retesting or if he is done.
Good thing that haven’t invaded our sanctuary thread. 
Just whose list is whose? =))
@Gator88NE Agree. And by the way, as long as I’m paying the bill, it will always be “our” college search. 
@RightCoaster lol about your wife. I’m a good cook, but it does always look like a bomb went off in the kitchen when I’m done. H will say “used every pot and pan we own, dinner for the win!” as he’s cleaning it up ;))
I have read that Blue Apron and its ilk are very hard to cancel once you’re in. I don’t like that all the food is shrink wrapped in plastic-I don’t cook or store in plastic, so when I was looking at the Blue Apron stuff and saw it all entombed in plastic I was like, yechh.
Davidson has phenomenal food-if you have a kid that really likes good, high quality food with a good variety, D17 loved Davidson’s food-she would text me things like “they had fresh sliced cucumbers at breakfast, how awesome is that!” So if that’s high on your kid’s metric, that’s a good school for it.
@eandesmom yay on the savings! Every penny helps :).
Typically the kids tend to save and budget for big ticket items with their allowance. So even if the allowance is generous, they’re not burning through it the minute they get it-they did that for the first year or so, then got tired of the blizzard of crap in their room resulting from the mindless purchasing, and now both of them are good about it. So I wouldn’t necessarily get too hung up on the number, but you might want to have some of it shunted into a 401k-it’s never too early to start doing that. Miracle of compound interest, yadda yadda yadda.
We have a different take on the whole efc thing-we simply don’t agree with what some colleges are telling us our efc should be. To use my husband’s analogy, it’s like going into a car dealership and they tell you what car you’re going to get and how much you are going to pay for it based on your financial records.
There is not only our side as parents, where we make lifestyle choices that none of use should have to defend in any way on the internet (or real life), but the college’s side where they’re telling us their expectations for us. Some of those have no Venn Diagram overlaps at all. To us that says it’s not the right fit as a college, but again, that’s only our debt-averse metric.
For instance, some people would think this choice is crazy-we have no debt except a small mortgage, but we’ve been to Walt Disney World 67 times since 1990. Yeah, that’s our choice, and we have loved every minute of every road trip and experience down there, but some would say, what! Think of all the college education you could pay for with that! We sort of shrug, because it was our choice to create those experiences at the potential cost of being able to afford some colleges (cough Vanderbilt!). And we’re ok with that! And I believe the girls are ok with that.
SAT this morning-D17 is very happy with her scores If she makes the cutoff for NMSF, these scores should confirm it no problem. So, one more set of tests done. Now just the 2 SAT subject tests. Does anybody have any recommendations on study materials for the subject tests? She’s going to do Math 2 and Bio.
The Rationals are all back and were raving (as much as rationals rave) about what a good job I did in selecting schools that offered different ways of being in college and getting a CS degree. I was all
:"> ;
Compliments mean a lot from them because they are not frivolously given. The Binder Of Destiny may be my opus magnum.
Just checked SAT scores, got the same exact score, flip flopped his last scores so it superscores a bit better but it still equates to a 29 ACT. Crud. I was hoping he could tick it up north to a 30, but after 2 ACT and 2 Sat he has remained at the same level. To his credit he is consistent!! Mr A- 29 ACT man. I think we are just going to have to roll with that, unless he wants to take the Act again. We’ll have to see if he’s willing to study for the Act again, because if not, I’m sure he will get the same score again.
Congrats to those kids with those super high scores, that’s awesome.
@RightCoaster wonder how your S’s friends (who took the same test in March) did on the June test? They might be the reason why the curves are harsh for June test.
S17 used both Princeton Review and Barron’s to study for Math2. Barron’s has harder math problems, so if they are scoring in the mid-700s on the practice test, they will be fine for test day. For bio he used Princeton Review with the flash cards (bought separately). He self-studied and then took timed practice tests, especially for the math2.
^^^^^
I don’t know if the curve was harsh? Seems about right, my son didn’t study for his 2nd attempt and got the same score.
just like other blogs/sites, being anonymous brings worst out of some folks on CC. My philosophy is every child is different and each have their own skills and going to top school doesn’t guarantee success or happiness. I always tell my S do his level best and don’t worry about the outcome. I don’t interfere in his classwork but help him with ECs. I am already tagged as helicopter dad by some friends but doesn’t bother me. Now, people are wondering what will I do with my free time once he goes to college I will probably involve in some charities (related to healthcare and/or children).
DS got 800 in SAT II bio. He prepared for 1 1/2 day (between finals and test date) and was little worried about score. Good thing is he doesn’t keep track of score release dates, so I always check and tell him @MotherOfDragons - I bought Barrons and Princeton Review for Bio for DS, but he didn’t go thru them full due to lack of time.
DS has taken 3 SAT IIs so far (Math II, Chem and Bio) with 800s in all three. I have been encouraging him to take Spanish but he is not sure if has time to prep. Is it worth to spend time to take another SAT II especially language to show more breadth? I keep hearing that some kids take history or language in addition to one science and one math. He is aiming for top schools and BS/MD programs.
@curiositycat333 and @acdchai Grandparents got him a new car last summer. I was planning on getting him a very good used car and they clearly were not comfortable so they asked if they could take him car shopping and said they would give me final approval of any car selected which, since they were paying for it, I thought was more than fair. I offered to let them pay the difference and they said I could save the money for college (nice!). I proposed that the $500 / month go into a joint account (grandma/ my son) and those funds, along with his savings account, can be the start of a deposit for a condo when he graduates. He is very blessed and he is very appreciative of them.
You have all been quite active in such early hours of the morning so I will have to catch up later but a quick skim seems to indicate SAT scores are out. Congratulations!
@paveyourpath we’re typically up before 6 am in the house-with no alarms. We’re weird. To be fair, we were both sound asleep by 10 pm last night-we’re slaves to our circadian rhythms, lol. D17 was up by 8 am, and I got a text from D18 at 7:55 grousing about her cold. Her fever broke last night so now she just feels like crap. We are ‘rope drop’ people (Disney reference).
@MotherOfDragons - I am with you on “Early to bed, early to rise” :)) Today I woke up @ 3 AM for no reason and then I checked SAT II score and went back to sleep