I know the College Board sells info by “score range” so it could have been that were mailing all SAT or PSAT at X score and above.
@apraxiamom – As you know, GaTech has been expanding their non-STEM/Business majors to compete with UGA (and UGA has been expanding their engineering in response). In particular, the International Affairs school. Maybe your S could major in something like that and get a side serving of Linguistics with it.
D18 likes GT because all of the degrees are BS, so you get the Liberal Arts but also the technical chops. It didn’t hurt when we found out that many of the IA grads get jobs in the CIA and other cool agencies, which is something she’d like to do (remember the lead character in Zero Dark Thirty?).
Congratulations to @Kayak24 and @GertrudeMcFuzz !!! It’s a day to celebrate!!! <:-P
@apraxiamom I like the Ga Tech idea. It’s such an opportunity that you wouldn’t want to your S to look back and think he should have tried the app while he had the chance. Since we are skipping Franciscan this trip, I won’t be able to give you a firsthand review of the campus.
@AmyBeth68 I must be a hop skip and jump from you right now. We are not too far from Pittsburgh. I wonder if we were on the Pa turnpike at the same time.
@mommdc No snow, beautiful weather, and no traffic after Philly. But my #£€>%£€%# GPS lead me on back roads again after we left the turnpike. I romanticize rural colleges until I’m in the dark in the middle of nowhere. Two deer ran into the road in front of my car and a big pick up truck was following close behind with itss light reflecting off the rear view mirror into my eyes. I started to feel like I was in a horror movie and thought fondly of Muhlenberg in its sedate neighborhood of well-groomed lawns. :-SS
@mommdc - for our son it was a matter of facilities and a particular extracurricular he was looking for. The extracurricular was a big weed out for him and most of the schools left were of a higher rank in the engineering category.
In other news, just got word that our S18 was chosen as his high school’s Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen recipient this year. They pick one senior that exemplifies the characteristics of dependability, service, leadership, and patriotism in school and the greater community.
He now has the option (which he’s taking) to apply for the national scholarships available to the Good Citizen awardees throughout the country.
Super proud! His class has over 600 kids so it is a big honor!
@RoonilWazlib99 Congratulations on that tremendous honor!
Us too! We visited on a whim and DS fell in love. We are committed and deposits paid as well. He was invited to apply to the Honors College so we’ll be completing that soon. I think it’s going to be a great place for him.
Well SAT subject tests were a total bust. DD spent no time studying and took tests she was unprepared for. Now has really low scores on SAT subject tests to pair with her 35 ACT and 1550 SAT.
In a quandary as is it even worth the $90 to apply to Harvard, Yale, Brown?
They all say “recommended SAT Subjects” but they will consider your application without them. That DD has a true spike is the only reason HYB are not dropped straight away. Does anyone here know if how penalized an applicant is for Harvard, say, if they do not send in SAT subject scores?
At least Stanford and Columbia do not ask for SAT subject tests, so DD still has a couple of top school to try for.
@sekere62 - same exact board here, but not applying to HYP. S18 has a 35 superscore on ACT,a 1550 SAT, and didn’t study for the SAT 2s and did NOT do well.
We’ll see how it all shakes out. He only sent them to places that absolutely required them, like MIT.
We’re going with the angle that it shows he’s human.
@sekere62 not sure how low the scores were, but Stanford “recommends” subject tests according to Common Data Set. I was intrigued to see they were “optional” according to updated application page.
My DS got his major at UT Austin today. He accepted admission tonight, paid his enrollment deposit and declined his other offer at A&M. He is done. I have to say I am relieved it is over.
For some schools we were also able to submit his IB exam scores that are in the same subject and are excellent, so hopefully that shows he does know what he’s doing and maybe just had a bad day for the SAT 2s.
Wow, such great news! This board is going to start moving even faster. 
No school next week here - a much needed break for everyone in this house. No homework! She needs to look at a couple scholarship applications, one of which is due soon. The mood is already lighter here.
I have my Thanksgiving tablecloth and centerpiece on the kitchen table, a stark contrast to the books and binders that normally live there during the school year. 8-}
@RoonilWazlib99 , Congratulations and what an honor!!! =D>
@sekere62 , sorry to hear about the subject tests. We are in that boat (no subject tests, same ACT stat) and trying to figure out if it’s worth it to apply to Brown without them. That is part of my “College Board runs a racket” mentality. Enough with the testing. 
But with a true spike, I’d absolutely apply if I were you.
I’m curious to know if others think it’s worth it to apply without SAT Subject tests to schools that recommend them. I have read numerous reports on CC (other boards) saying it’s too easy to put your app in the decline pile with any little knick against you. :-??
For what it’s worth, I think D will still apply to Brown with no subject tests and no spike for the sheer reason that it’s a good fit in many ways. We fully expect a denial and are fine with that, but as others have said, you don’t know if you don’t try.
Hi, @kayak24. I think if a school recommends or highly recommends subject tests, you should send them. Most applicants will have them sent and you don’t want a disadvantage. I will say that Georgetown, for example, highly recommends them, but they say at the info session and put on website that if it’s a financial burden to do so, that it won’t be held against a student. On a side note, Georgetown is the only school we’ve come across that wants 3 subject tests!!!
While my D took them (Georgetown had been an early favorite ), she has not sent them yet because no school she has applied to yet has recommended or highly recommended that they be sent. So far it’s been optional. Here’s our thinking, while I think a 730 in molecular biology is just fine, we know at a highly competitive school there will be plenty of 790 and 800 kids for that test, so no need to send if it’s optional. Likewise for her 720 in math II. She scored a 770 in math on the new sat, so no need to send the 720 math II.
She took them during junior year because she toured Georgetown last jan. and knew she’d need them. If she is deferred or denied at her ED school, she’ll probably have to send her molecular bio and environmental bio scores to her remaining competitive schools on her list. but I don’t think they’ll help or hurt her. they are just there.
@GertrudeMcFuzz and @kayak I predict your kids will get great merit at Pitt! I am trying to decide if my D should apply to a few more comparable universities for cost analysis. The $15k is great but still not quite enough to go without loans. Any thoughts on where she should apply? Is it too late to get merit from Temple?
So then, for schools where SAT subject tests are “optional,” is self-reporting good enough, or do we need to pay to send the official reports?
On the sat subject test issue. My daughter somehow thought she signed up for them but the week before the test wondered why she hadn’t recieved email with test admission form. Somehow she hadn’t.
So for those who say start testing early that is a good lesson as my daughter didn’t take psat until fall of 11th grade, sat spring of 11th, act in June of 11th and act again in sept of 12. Got a 35 on 2d ACT and said no more testing. For my 2021 daughter she will start testing earlier.
At both Brown and a Princeton they said that although subject tests recommended not required. And they said where they would really be helpful is if the student happened to make good forbid a B in a class or if they wanted to study engineering and only got a 700 in math a strong math subject test could help. An admission person at UVA said that they don’t put a great deal of weight on a one hour test when doing its “holistic”review.
My daughter applied to Princeton REA, Brown, UNC (ea) UVA (ea) Delaware (accepted HC) and Clemson. We are taking quick trips to Vandy and Dartmouth in the next week or two in case she wants to add another couple of crap shoot schools before the Jan 1 deadline. Altough the Ivy’s and uva and unc could all be rejections, someone has to get in. As many of the admissions folks say at these highly selective schools, you don’t get rejected, you get selected.
@Kayak24 that was a long way of saying imho have your d apply to Brown and Harvard without the subject tests or with them if she can fashion an essay that uses them in a positive way in telling her story about who she is and what she will bring to those schools
@shrimpburrito, I would think for an “optional” subject test school, self - reporting would be fine. I would defer to the school though to be certain if it bothers you. My D not self report the Subject Tests because, like I said, I am not convinced they will help her at highly competitive schools. She has other cool things to highlight in her application that I think are more valuable than self reporting them. However, she did self-report her AP Scores. Those would have to be sent officially once she knows where she is going so that she can get the credits they offer. But not the same with the subject tests.
DD received her first acceptance this week, through an on-site interview that the college was hosting at her high school. Even though it is one of her safety schools, it was still exciting for her to get that first news of “You’re In!” Funny part was when the admissions officer asked her if she knew where the school was located in the state, and if she’d visited before, since her brother is a sophomore at the college :). I guess that wasn’t part of the reason she was accepted! She should hear in another few weeks from her second choice school, but not until end of January for her first choice.
Her final musical theater performance is today, I will miss watching her perform in them because they were such a big part of her life and have been the basis of so many friendships! Maybe she can find a community theater show for the spring to get one last musical in before college?
@lifegarding Congrats to your DD! That first acceptance is such a huge relief and confidence boost, even if it’s a safety school. I wish her the best in her final performance today, bittersweet moment I’m sure! XO