Congrats on everyones SAT/SAT II scores today. D got hers and relatively the same as April (free school day) but with better reading this time so with superscore she is super DONE! Happy household here. Now she just has to apply and get in…
@carachel2 that is devastating news for your hometown. Peace to their family.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Hugs to D, does she have to go far away?
@VickiSoCal everything thing will work out with your daughter. She’s a bright kid. There will be plenty of good schools interested in her.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek too bad your daughter is upset. That’s a legit concern. My son17 has said that he really doesn’t want to go far away either. That’s OK. Maybe she’ll have a change of heart when she finds out some of her friends are going far away too. My son has thought about adding some new schools to his list because some of his friends have visited them this summer and they sounded cool.
** ACT retake**
son17 just told me he plans to try to study for ACT one more time to bump his score to the 30 level.
Ok, so I’ll sign him up. But now I’ll have to bug him all summer to study.
@mtrosemom I told her she could apply to Bama and be near her brother bc the 2 of them are super close and it is short break visitable. But she would have to sacrifice Russian.
I don’t know how to encourage her. There are no easy options. 
@VickiSoCal I head that Foreign Language SAT Subject Tests are a lot harder than the FL AP tests. AP classes are supposed to replace a semester/year of college FL. FL SAT Subject Tests are more a way for native speakers to test of of needing to take a foreign language requirement.
My son’s subject test came back for physics. I am sure he won’t be too happy with it. I know he took AP Physics mechanics and I know they had a lot of electricity questions which they studies the last two weeks of the year. How have kids studies for the other stuff they didn’t learn? He took the practice test, but I guess that wasn’t enough. Hopefully he can bring the math II test up enough when he brings the right calculator. Those that have done well in physics what was the secrete.
I know we have done some traveling and other wasteful spending. I don’t regret any of our trips. My son got to see the world and in turn has motivated him to want to be successful in school and in college so he can get a great job. The memories too are precious. As for all the pokeman cards I guess they were a waste of money, but he has lots of memories from that. We went out too national 3 times. I am glad he out grew that hobby.
Ok, my 10 yod joined the crying fest. Aspie Ds was here doing laundry and interjected humor as only he knows how. So there was some comic release. Ugh. Emotions are running high today.
@fun1234 – re SAT Physics test – my DS took AP Physics 1 last year - we learned the subject test has almost 50% more/different material than AP Physics 1. He needs to take this test in Oct. for colleges he is interested in and also felt like AP Physics 2 would help him get ready for AP Physics C. So he is taking a Physics 2 college course this summer & then will hit the practice books. We have the SAT/CB basic one, Princeton & I think 1 other. He won’t get to those till mid-August at least. This site had some good tips too:
http://blog.prepscholar.com/complete-study-guide-sat-subject-test-physics
I just came into this thread so maybe someone mentioned this but my biggest EFC complaint is there isn’t a Cost of Living adjustment. So someone in DC/NYC/Bay Area has the same EFC as someone in Arkansas, etc with the same financials.
D got her SAT Subject Tests scores today. Math II = 800, Physics = 780, Chem = 740. I thought that was super great until I looked at the percentiles. Chem 740 is 68th percentile. Yeah, I know that is a percentile of a different kind of group, but still.
Of the colleges that require SAT Subject Tests, where is their bar on good SAT Subject scores?
@Dolemite I agree! I live in the Bay Area and while it may look like I make a decent salary on paper, my rent is probably twice as high as someone’s rent/mortgage is that has the same salary as me in the Midwest!
@Mommertons - General wisdom is 750 or above in SAT IIs is the bar for all top schools including Ivies.
@fun1234 - SAT II have different syllabus than AP/IB, so needs some prep time. The approach my S takes is, take an official practice test (i.e. from CB blue book) and study the topics he didn’t learn. Then take few practice tests. I usually buy Barron and PR for subject texts and he reads both and try to take practice tests in those books. He hasn’t taken Physics and wants to take in October but I am not in favor since he has already taken Math II, Chem and Bio M.
Good article on FA formulas. http://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2016/01/30/2016-guide-to-college-financial-aid-the-fafsa-and-css-profile/#7986351c4a45
Fwiw, in reading about this today I learned a term I hadn’t heard of before, consensus methodology.
@fun1234–exactly what @srk2017 said. I order whatever books son wants off Amazon. Since there is only one 'real
practice test for Physics, I think he ‘saved’ the real one until a couple of days before the actual test but did look at the CB site to learn what subjects would be covered. He then sat down and taught himself whatever he had not learned in class.
He never took Physics 1 or 2, which I think might be similar to our Regular and Honors Physics. When the school started offering the second Physics C, they allowed Juniors to enroll in Physics C w/o having first taking the regular or honors physics. Historically, students needed to take one of those two before enrolling in AP. It will be interesting to see how the AP scores distribute this year.
Math II–that one did not seem to concern him last year; I do not recall much studying. He put some time into the Bio subject test at the end of 9th grade b/c again, he had to teach himself some of the material.
Oh my, @Mom2aphysicsgeek I feel for you and your dd (and the little ones, too). She’s in a very difficult situation
Campus food D’s very tired of the Ole Miss food. She’s missing variety in fruits and veggies and in protein sources (she’s dairy (not) lactose intolerant with a few allergies and does not eat beef or pork). Because there aren’t as many students on campus during the summer, the dining hall doesn’t have as wide a variety as it would during the regular year. On days when there are no special events (new student orientation etc), half of the dining hall is closed down during the dinner hours. She has points/flex/whatchamacallit to use at the other sites, but those are only open until 2pm. D has been able to get groceries at the Walmart once a week (berries, hummus, carrots, chocolate lol) and I’ve sent her Kind bars and cereal via amazon.
When we toured Cal Poly SLO they said students could use their points to buy fresh fruits and veggies at their farm store. That would be very nice.
@saillakeerie I do agree, they are aware they are pricing folks out and from a business model standpoint, I get it.
@fun1234 that is a darn good question. I feel like S19 has already earned the camping one and could get the hiking one this summer but I am not sure.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I don’t think EFC really cares about the number of dependents, only those actually in school. And it definitely doesn’t care about kids you pay to go to school but aren’t custodial for. As far as the assets go, I’ve been assuming it relies mostly on income as we have our house, which has decent equity, and retirement. No cash to speak of. I can only imagine if we did. Since we do not plan to sell our house (or borrow against), or cash out or borrow against retirement we will continue on the path of “flagship cost” or equal. Which is what was saved for.
The Forbes article jibes with our results on NPC’s as does the comment about the 568 Presidents group.
I am sorry your D was sobbing! It’s so hard due to her major, poor thing!
@Dolemite I agree. I would LOVE a COL adjustment. We are in Seattle.
@snoozn I am angry on your behalf! Someone dismissed your D’s sport and compared it to a nail salon or a coffee shop? Holy cats. I know how important it is to her to find a school near a decent studio. Grr…that’s a mama bear moment there.
Regarding EFC, some schools that use the profile don’t consider home equity.
@fun1234, travel is never wasteful spending in my opinion. It is part of life’s education.