@glido – Yes.
@LMHS73, we will be hunting for merit for sure, just as we did with D15, although in the end (if she gets NMF, which she should) I doubt she’ll take the big money at places like Alabama and Kentucky. We are just now starting to talk about colleges she might be interested in, and while she doesn’t want small (her high school has over 2000 kids), she doesn’t want huge either. Her stats are similar to her older sister’s so I’ve got a pretty good idea of where to look for $$, although it does change from year to year. She went on most of the college visits with her sister so she’s got a pretty good idea of what she likes and what she doesn’t. Here we go again!
I’d humbly submit this doesn’t happen much any more at the Ivies, unless you have a hook. Even just 20 years ago, Ivies had a 20-30% acceptance rate. Now it’s 6-18%. Kids are getting more qualified and competitive schools are getting more competitive.
@suzy100 - yes, here we go again; however, I’m happy to say that I’m not the naive parent I was my first time around with S15. I’ve made spreadsheets that would make the most anal poster on the class of 2015 thread jealous!!!
I wonder about the dropping admission rates. Are there simply more applications (made easier by digital applications), more qualified students (high test scores from having better prep methods), or a combination of the two? I know that D18 is taking far higher math than I did in HS. She’s taking AP Calc AB, which is basically equivalent to the first semester of engineering Calculus I had at UT-Austin. Were we all a bunch of dummies?
PS. I’m not a huge fan of kids taking college-level classes in HS … but that’s the way things are these days.
@droppedit I’m curious, why are you not a huge fan of kids taking college-level classes in HS?
@snowfairy137 – it puts too much pressure on young people at a time when they should be out shooting the breeze, learning about life, screwing up, etc. I think that they’ll be burned out by the time they’re done with college … and that’s the time we (meaning, the country) need them to be their most energetic and creative. I saw this firsthand during the Japanese Scare back in the late 1980s. Remember how they were going to take over the US with their “superior” and rigorous education system? I worked with a bunch of them at a large software company and they were no better than their American counterparts. It did not make a difference.
I fought and lost the battle with D18 when she was a freshman. Before her first GC meeting we went through the HS course catalog and she picked out a bunch of different/interesting courses (art, photography, forensics, etc. along with core) for her four years. Just a few AP courses, mainly accelerated math. She took that plan to the GC and the GC replied, “oh no, you won’t get into a good college with that schedule”. Out went the fun stuff and in came more AP classes. My partial victory was that she’ll have taken only 7 or 8 AP classes rather than 10+ like some others. It’s too regimented for young minds.
Maybe it’s just my daughter, I don’t know. She doesn’t seem to be having any fun.
@Droppedit well my perspective is that I would be bored in regular classes. AP offers more rigurous options of fun things (ex. AP Photography and AP Computer Science) I took both those classes and have wayy more applicable skills from them than if I would have taken normal classes in those subjects. I took AP Calculus as a sophomore because I would have been bored out of my mind if I was placed on a lower math track in middle school. I’m currently taking all my classes at a local college as a junior and I’m having a blast. I get to take harder physics and math and I love seeing how those concepts get applied to my intrests (robotics etc.). I’m also going to get to take fun classes to fufill boring high school graduation requirements like English. This spring, for example, I’ll be taking a class called “Doctor Who and Philosophy” for my senior year English requirement. Next year I’m going to take robotics classes. I also have more free time with this college schedule and I’m thinking about trying to get an internship. I would be bored out of my mind and probably very frustrated with my peers and teachers if I didnt have the option to take college level classes.
My dad went to a small town school with few advanced classes and graduated 2nd in his class. I asked him what he did after school and he said work and go to school sports games. That doesn’t sound very fun to me.
All in all, I think it great that I have options to take classes that interest and challenge me and I’m glad I’m going to high school now, not when my dad did.
@droppedit I think you nailed it, re: increased competitiveness compared to ~30 years ago. It’s easier now to just apply to many schools using the Common App, which the schools encourage (rejecting students makes them more competitive and thus more desirable). This in turn fuels more kids (and parents) to get them into those schools, so they do more stuff. And the cycle builds on itself, so that now we have these superchildren applying to hyper competitive schools where 5 out of 100 will get in.
New college criteria: How easy it is to find the place on the website to book a tour! Seriously.
^or how easy it is to find any information you need on their website! Some of them are so so bad. It gets frustrating wading through some of these sites. I’ve found that the most visually appealing tend to be the hardest to navigate/most lacking in in depth info…
SI of 225 in WA and a SAT score of 1560. Hopefully he will make the cut for the semi finalists. A jump of 6 from last year cut off seems improbable. Will keep our fingers crossed. Happy for him
Sounds like a sure thing, @krishnamg. Congratulations!
@krishnamg, The highest possible PSAT score is 1520 but a 225 SI will be Semifinalist anywhere. Congratulations!
Anyone else have a kiddo waiting for ACT scores? Actually, I’m not being truthful, S is still sleeping and has barely even mentioned ACT or SAT scores since he took the exams. Really it’s ME eagerly waiting for S’s December test scores.
He still shows as “registered” though, and today’s batch of scores has already been released. From what I’ve read on a couple test prep sites ACT drops one batch per day all at the same time, so his score isn’t coming today. That won’t stop me from checking the ACT account regularly to see if he gets updated to “tested” status. Luckily he’s much more relaxed about these things than I am, so I’m going to keep my eagerness to myself so I don’t keep him from enjoying his winter break. 
We are in the same boat @traveler98. DD is still “registered” too.
My D18’s scores are up but I wish the ACT scores would all go up at the same time. It’s ridiculous to release in waves.
Son’s ACT scores up. Some areas went up and some went down from last March.
English 36
Reading 36
Math 32
Science 32
Composite 34
Reading, English, and science went up. Math went down from a 35.
Super score of the two tests is s 35 composite. He’s very happy with his scores. He had a 33 composite in March so he was glad it went up!
Nice ACT for your kiddo, @RoonilWazlib99 ! Just got back S18’s 2nd quarter exam scores and report card. For the first time in high school, he received all A’s. Very pleased with his effort. As a cherry on top, his semester grades were also all A’s. Since the semester grades are used to determine his GPA (and what is sent to the colleges on his transcript), his cumulative GPA got a nice bump up.
DD’18 is spending Christmas break putting in some service hours. She has a requirement of 50 hours for NHS. She works during the summer and is a two-sport varsity athlete, so this is a good time to catch up to her peers. Anyone else?