@1822mom That’s where we are in deposits. This school flatly says the completely refundable deposits gain you priority in housing and scheduling. How much priority remains to be seen - the best answer I could get is that you are likely going to get a double instead of a triple.
I talked to the admissions guy on the phone and said “we are waiting for a few pieces to fall into place before committing” and he said, “Oh, of course, like financial aid” and he still encouraged the early deposit, so I think they realize there may be some attrition by May.
This is one of the top choices (and I wouldn’t be surprised if she goes here) so I’m okay with this. Her other acceptances don’t have this, and I wouldn’t just place deposits unless there is a significant advantage involving a favorite school.
That said, it is really unfair to the kids who don’t have a couple hundred dollars to tie up.
I am going to complain about housing and the 10% rule here in Texas… at places like TAMU the 10% auto admits are accepted first, like now, in October, and have the opportunity to put down their housing deposit now. The review admits do not hear about acceptance until January/February, by which time they put down their housing deposit and they are low man on the totem pole because housing priority is based off of housing application submissions date, which hardly seems fair to me. It’s not as if the review admits have a choice in the matter of when they are accepted, even though they may actually have been one of the first kids to get their application submitted. Definitely a case of where housing should be sorted out altogether on May 1st.
IMO, schools should wait until May 1st for housing and go first come first served from there, once everyone has all the puzzle pieces in place to make a sound decision.
I’ll take that a step further and say I wish all schools assigned dorms and roommates randomly. That’s what happens at the college that older D attends. It takes all of the housing and roommate selection pressure away.
I was going to say the same thing about random. When I went to college you entered a lottery system and chose your room based on your randomly assigned number.
Also, can anyone recommend any sources that help with SAT tests? Is Khan Academy any good?
Thanks, mstomper, we talked a lot about his IEP, and without actually saying his IEP isn’t being followed, asked that they add a few more things. He has had aides in his academic classes and does not this year.
To be honest, I was rather intrigued that the talk, once the teacher left, came down to class management, that if he did not have an IEP he would have gotten a few detentions by now, and they were saying that they hoped other kids weren’t allowed to be distracted in class to that extent.
@SC Anteater I’m not an expert, but I think anything with 7xx is a good score, especially in Literature, one of the toughest subject tests.
If you read the testing policies of many schools that either “recommend” or call them “optional”, they’ll typically state that the scores can only help, not hurt an application. In the case of the UC’s, you have to read which UC recommends what test in terms of STEM majors specifically. For engineering or sciences, UCLA and Cal “recommend” Math 2 and a science test, for example.
But there’s no rule against submitting Literature to the College of Engineering at these schools, but it may put your student at a competitive disadvantage, all other things being equal. However, not everything is always equal when comparing students, because GPA’s, essays, EC’s, SAT1 test scores, etc. all play a role in admissions.
We parents are encouraging S18 to retake the SAT to see if an increased score will bump him into a higher scholarship rung. Final semester grades and GPA could only help too.
Question: do colleges “judge” kids for retaking an SAT? Do they think the kids who retake “didn’t measure up” the first time? Asking for a senior.
Original score was 1310. I told him, why not chase the merit money, ESPECIALLY since he now has nearly a semester of Precalculus and AP Physics under his belt? He’s been exposed to more knowledge, so why not retest.
I’ve asked his other college if they will accept an 11/4 Test score. His application is already in, with prior SATscore, pending an interview.
I can’t imagine paying housing deposits this early.
@sushiritto She’s going in as a Japanese/East Asian Studies major, so no worries about the STEM stuff. If she was STEM she’d be taking the recommended STEM SAT IIs.
She’s taking the Japanese SAT II in November – I guess we’ll wait and see what she scores on that and decide whether to send or not.
@apraxiamom - retaking it makes sense if he has a good likelihood of improving his score. Has he been scoring higher on practice tests? I’m sure AdComms are aware many kids take these tests multiple times and if your chances of increasing merit money are good then I say go for it. I’m actually amazed your son is up for it! Seems like a lot of testing burnout among D’s friends; most have moved on. I feel senioritis coming.
@mstomper - your S reminds me of my S15. Really smart kid that never picked-up a book. Made NMSF, had high score on SAT & a 35 score on ACT. I distinctly remember once when he was in middle school & he had a bunch of Ds on his progress report; when I looked into it, he had the Ds because he never turned in his work. Would you believe that he actually had all of the work done & in his backpack but never bothered to turn it in?? I’m talking about a whole semester’s worth of homework & other assignments!
Anyway, he got to college & (like we often read about) he crashed & burned because he didn’t have the structure like he had at home. @rhandco - it happens more than we all think, so just know you’re not alone out there & many of us have similar stories to share.
Do the best you can, love your kid, & don’t beat yourself up too badly over any of it.
No clue as to where she’ll get in & then where she’ll wind-up attending. And we’re talking about housing deposits already? That’s to scary for me to think about yet %-(
@apraxiamom, I would absolutely have him take it again! I believe that it is okay take it around 3 times. Many colleges superscored (take the best Math and R/W scores from several sittings), so they must expect kids to take it multiple times.
My daughter used Kahn Academy to practice the SATs, improving from 1390 to 1490 (100 point increase in Math!).
S18’s SAT scores came in and they were phenomenal. Much higher than expected because he was just taking it to confirm his PSAT score for National Merit. So he didn’t study and even forgot he had the test until I reminded him to print out his ticket the night before.
One of his schools requires you to submit all the sittings you ever take of standardized tests in HS so he will send the score there. And for the schools he hasn’t submitted apps for yet he will also send the score.
But the others that he has already applied to (and where he made zero indication he was taking the SAT due to not wanting any pressure to perform), should he send the new score along?
It correlates to a higher ACT composite than he had on either of his two ACT tests. Will it matter? Just wondering if we should spend the extra money.
@RoonilWazlib99, that’s awesome that he did so well! If the new SAT is a lot higher than his ACT scores I’d send it to his reach schools, or any place he’s in the running for competitive merit scholarships. For schools where he’s pretty sure to get in and get good merit aid (or automatic merit like the big NMF schools) I’d probably not bother to send the new SAT.