@ak2018 - improving your SAT score 90 points is a realistic goal. Mark each question you get incorrect, look up the answer and do them over and over for months. You will get there. Remember, it is practicing the test more than studying the subject matter. Best of luck.
DS was a little disappointed in the AP scores. Psychology was a 4 instead of the 5 he expected. Physics 1 was a 3 and he was hoping for a 4. World History was a 5.
Oh well. It is summer now. Party at the moon tower.
S got a 4 on the NSL AP. He had a much better second semester; the first was pretty rough for him. His college search will probably be different from S16’s. The older one had so-so grades (actually a bunch of good ones and a few really bad ones) but elite level SAT scores. He applied to two schools with automatic merit aid and is going off to his first choice school this fall. S18 did well on the PSAT sophomore year, but nothing like his brother (who was a NMSF). My strategy will be similar with or second; I’ll make suggestions and he can do with them what he wants.
New to this subforum. I feel like I just ran a marathon with my older S who is starting at UTexas in August and now I have to start another one with my younger son. Actually until he gets moved in I feel like I am still running it. Hope I have the energy! We can’t start college tours until November due to his fall ECs.
He is set on UT and will be auto admit unless disaster strikes and should have no problem getting his chosen major. He considers A&M his safety and he is correct in that. He also looked at a lot of schools when we did his brother’s search. So am I wrong to make him look and apply at other schools?
@gettingschooled if UT is where he wants to go and you can afford to have two kids at UT then I personally won’t waste time or money doing the whole college search again. If he’s an auto admit I wouldn’t even make him apply to any other schools, maybe A&M since they booth use the same application. My D16 only applied to one college and we knew that she wouldn’t have a problem getting accepted.
Now if money is an issue I’d make him look for schools that give merit. My D18 initially said he wanted to go to UT Austin and would also be an auto admit but since they are very tight with merit money he’d have to commute and it would still be tight. Instead he’s decided on UT Dallas which is very generous with merit for undergrad and UT Austin for grad school.
Thanks @scoutsmom We can afford both at UT. I guess it feels lazy to me after the last two years!
Hi, all. DD came home from a summer program on the 3rd, celebrated Independence Day at home, and then the two of us hit the road for leg #1 of this summer’s college tours. We saw Washington & Lee, VA Tech, Elon, UNC Chapel Hill, and UVA.
Her two favorite schools on the trip were VT and Elon, very different from each other! But both have strong communities and although Tech is a big school, its campus is relatively compact and walkable. She knows people at both schools and she has liked what she’s heard about their respective colleges.
We ran into the dad of one of my older child’s very best friends while having lunch who happens to be a department head in the school of engineering who offered her a personal tour of the engineering school. But unfortunately, DD has absolutely no interest in engineering so we declined. But we chatted for a while about how he found Blacksburg after living for 20+ years in Northern Virginia.
She met an Elon professor when she was at a journalism convention in March, who invited her for a visit, but unfortunately he was away this week. She reached out to him after we got back to convey her excitement about the school and he suggested that she come back in the fall and he would introduce her to other faculty members in the department and give her a personalized tour so she is excited about that.
We leave again Friday for a 3 day convention in Chicago where she has some industry contacts and then after the convention we will hit leg #2 of the summer tours. We will see DePaul while in the city (already very familiar with Northwestern so will not visit there again) then head out to Michigan, Indiana, Miami Ohio, Ohio University, and Butler (not in that order).
No angst over AP scores here, but he got all As except a B in math and ended with a 3.8 gpa UW which I am very happy with.
Considering how busy he was all year with theatre, choir and show choir, two music classes and a sport, I am proud of him. In the spring it seemed he practically lived at school and still had to do all his HW when he got home.
They are all different kids with different abilities, talents and interests. All I can ask for is that they do the best at what they do.
I am trying to take him for his driving test before summer is over, but we still have some things to cover.
I will see about him doing a SAT prep course at school (have to find out if they changed it since the new SAT came out) in the fall or maybe doing some practice tests at home.
@2014novamom, I’m glad to hear the positives about VT. My D17 will apply (in engineering – wish she could have gone on that tour), but we most likely won’t visit. S18 doesn’t have a list yet!
@mommdc, it’s nice to see someone else from the 2017 thread. We can suffer together in doing junior and senior college planning at the same time!
@snoozn, actually I must confess that I have a D15 and a S18 and a D24, but I know some posters on 2017 thread and post sometimes if I think I have something helpful to contribute.
Hi, I have D’18, D’20 and S’22, the reason why I didn’t participate in this thread as much as I wanted to was because my oldest DD’18 seems like completely no interest, no preference of any colleges but almost everything I suggested she doesn’t want to. She doesn’t know what she wanted but she cares about other friends opinions and other relatives advices. Most of her good friends and classmates ALL wanted to be in medicine with no other options. Some family settled for Engineering. Both my husband and I are in engineering field and DD’18 has no interest, even though she knows she can do well in engineering with her problem solving and math skills. I know her passion is art but she just can’t say it and worry about her future and be starving (horrible stories told by many adults family and friends). Just last week we found a program called Loving and Young academy (IYA) from USC, combined Art, technology and business all into one! She looked into the program more and was so excited! Now we have a direction on dual degrees (visual/digital arts in engineering or business program). I am searching for program like this but need to be affordable. We won’t be eligible for need-based aid and my DD’18’s academic is not too strong either. She is hoping to do well in PSAT and get NMA but I think it’s unlikely (but still encourage her to try her best). We could afford UCs and CSUs but tied with two other kids going to college after, but really hope she can get some sort of merit aide. Her current stats is 3.7 Weighted, 3.56 UW, SAT practice score around 1800/2400, Girl Scout for 10 years earned Silver Award and working on Gold, not super active in any clubs but is officer for two clubs (art & culture clubs), Varsity golfer but no interest playing in college, culture ambassador, couple other things… She likes UCSD, UCSB and USC (campus atmosphere and view wise)… Now she has interested program, it will help my research tremendously… I’m very happy at least she is considering to follow her passion and not to worry about the future income. I told her if she loves what she does and do it well, money will come!
@jjkmom glad she’s got a direction! I’ve told my kids pick a direction, any direction you can always change your direction but you have to have a starting point! And kudos to her for working on her Girl Scout Gold Award! It’s tough to stick with it. My D16 actually submitted her proposed project and was approved, did all the prerequisites, completed the project but fail to submit her final paperwork :(( in the end it just didn’t matter that much to her even though the girl bleeds green and plans to continue to volunteer as an adult Girl Scout while in college.
Hi, @3scoutsmom, my DD’18 is so picky with her Gold Award project and she hasn’t started yet. I’m really worried because her 11th grade curriculum is really heavy (4 APs, 1 Honor, 1 Sport athlete) and she is not good with strong study habits (bad time management and lacks of focus and efficiency). I don’t really want her to take 4 APs, but she is the type of students high B, low A regardless the difficulty of the class. Btw, I read many of your posts and agreed on your methods regarding merit aides, I just told her about USC, the only chance for her to get in is to earn merit scholarships from National Merits Finalist and get 1/2 tuition off. She is good with UCs and I will look for some state universities that will give her scholarships (she thinks her stats is above CSU, so she really wants to stay with UCs to save money).
Just out of curiosity, do you have 3 scouts? I’m a 3 scouts mom also, two Girl Scouts and 1 Boy Scout, can’t wait to be an Eagle Scout mom by 2022! 
@3scoutsmom , did your DD’16 mention her Gold Award project experience on essay? Do you think scouting experience benefits college applications? My DD’18 & DD’20 have been in scouting since 1st grade. I just love scouting but didn’t think too much of whether this would help or not until recently met some parents looking for troops for their daughters to join just for the college applications and Gold Awards! It could never happen for Boy Scout, the rank is earned by complete requirements, but for Girl Scout the rank is by your grade and age? How interesting structure…
@jjkmom yes 3 scouts here, one Girl Scout and two Boy Scouts. DS20’s goal in life is to make Eagle Scout before his brother (DS18) and it looks like he’ll do it! They are both currently Life Scouts and Order of the Arrow but DS18 kind of dropped the ball on his Eagle project when he started public school in 9th grade, DS20 is not going to make the same mistake. He has his project approved and is currently fundraising for it.
If your DD18 makes National Merit, there are some very good OOS school that are full rides/ almost full rides that might be a better deal than some of the UC’s, encourage her to keep an open mind!
^check out what EarlvanDorn posted about Ole Miss in above link
@jjkmom so glad for you and your D that she found a direction she is excited about! I know that was worrying you both. My D still doesn’t have a direction in terms of major, and I’ve told her it’s ok, but she is a kid who thinks in absolutes and doesn’t like uncertainty in any form so it’s stressful for her not to “know” what she’s doing. She does know that she wants a small LAC type college experience, and that has solidified. She’s just gone off for 2 weeks on UC campus, and after one day she tells me, Mom, I don’t think I can do a UC… she knows the budget is UC or bust so she is required to find at least 1 UC or CSU (or something else guaranteed in that $$ range) acceptable for a financial safety (admission is something else entirely).
Her issues after 1 day: the food, she hates it and unfortunately the way they are structuring the dining services for the summer programs on campus is making it harder, and the dorms, the rooms she is staying in are all furnished as triples, but she is only sharing with one other person (luckily), and the rooms are TINY, and the suite is similarly cramped. My introverted D who likes her alone time, is horrified at the set up. As it happens DH & I are alums of this particular UC, and when we were there all these rooms were doubles, though we didn’t live in that particular dorm. Personally, I don’t blame D one bit for her feelings, and for the price you pay at a UC I would expect something a bit better than summer camp lodging, but that’s really all you get. And yeah, I’m starting to realize these forced triples are becoming the norm on campuses everywhere rather than the exception… :-<
That on top of the issue she already had with the campus: size. Why is it so big Mom? She means both geographic area covered and (I think) number of students. The whole thing just overwhelms her…
This kid (and her mom) have a long road to travel over the next two years…
Any parents have any good advices on how to effectively prepare for PSAT? My DD’18 & DD’20 really would like to make National Merit but don’t know how to prepare! My DD’18 would take practice SAT test each week but so far only around 1260/1600 (which is around 1800/2400). Her goal is to have at least 1400/1600 (around 2000), but I don’t know just by taking practice tests each week could help with PSAT? I need some advices for both DD’18 and DD’20 (if PSAT don’t change), anything would be appreciated!
Also, if there is any smart phone (iPhone) apps that your teenagers use for SAT vocabulary games, time management, goal setting, etc? My DD’18 spent time on the phone, not on computer, mostly on snapchat, Instagram and listen to music, I hope there is another app that she can get hooked on but can help her. Am I just dreaming?
@1822mom, I’ve heard others mention Santa Clara U and San Francisco State and Western Washington U.
Maybe check the net price calculator and merit opportunities at those?