@3scoutsmom - That is precisely what gives the school commuter-y feeling that they are using money to commute from home. The scholarships for non-nmsfs also have varying cash awards, many getting the 4k per semester.
Schools rewarding NMFs would not normally give out cash if they are trying to cover room and board. University of Houston will cover the costs only for people staying on campus.
http://www.uh.edu/honors/students/prospective-students/paying-college/national-merit-scholarship/
I had a different take on that. I think they are getting more OOS students because they can use some of that money to help with the extra travel costs. If they really wanted to cut out the commuter feel they could require all in coming freshman to live in dorms the first year. I don’t think limiting/restricting scholarships is the way to go. FWIW - if S18 ends up at UTD he’ll live in the dorms and that $4K will go toward R&B:-)
Okay so I, officially, just took my first full ACT test and I kind of don’t know how I feel. I was hesitant to put the rest of my scores up, but here it goes:
ACT Math: 25
ACT Reading: 25
ACT English: 24
ACT Science: 21
ACT Composite Score: 24
So I just took the Reading and Science sections today with literally only an hour of prep for both (I don’t know if this is the problem or not). I got 30/40 of the questions correct on the Reading Section and 21/40 of the question correct on the Science Section. I didn’t expect to fail so badly on the Science section, considering the fact that it felt really easy, but I did. I didn’t make it to the last passage, so I just did what my prep book said to do and choose a pair of corresponding answer letters, such as A and F, and just using those answer choices. Overall, I feel I shouldn’t be so sad about considering the fact that I literally prep for each section for an hour.
After I took the Reading section, I decided to call Virginia Tech and they confirmed with me that they only look at the Math and Reading sections. I was kind of ecstatic, only to remember that I’ll be applying to other schools. I looked online and saw that all of the other schools I’m applying to will look at ALL of my ACT scores. I decided that while even though I’d only need a good Math and Science score at VT, I want to get a good all-around score for the other colleges I’m applying to. So despite this little minor hiccup, I’m still going on strong!
So I just had question to ask: Do you guys think I should spend more time prepping? I’ve been prepping for an hour and a half a week, but I could have that change to as much as 4-6 hours a week. We’ve been discussing on The HS Class of 2018 Student Thread that a good way to prep, at least for the ACT, is to pick a section to prep until you get the score you want. So I was planning on starting with Math.
I also had my goal scores:
ACT Math: 30
ACT Reading: 30
ACT English: 29
ACT Science: 26
ACT Composite Score: 29
These are what I want, for now anyway.
@ak2018 I’m likely in the minority but I feel you should spend more time prepping as long as you have the free time. I expect my DS to spend more time prepping in July because he really doesn’t have a lot going on right now. In August fencing starts back up so I expect less time on prep and then late August he’ll be in school again and school work will come before prep and then there’s all those EC’s. Use the time you have wisely!
It depends on the target ACT scores your list of schools is going to require. If those schools will admit you with the score you have today, then you have a lot of other things to do with your time. If they won’t then, you need to prep. Also if those schools have scholarships that you are otherwise competitive for, prepping a little more could really pay off. Your score is likely to go up from the first practice test anyway since you now have an idea of the pacing, etc.
This is several years old but it still might be useful for those seeking out merit aid:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/local/college-grants-for-the-affluent/1526/
@3scoutsmom @gettingschooled Thank you so much for the advice! I actually just worked out a good schedule that would me to do up to 6 hours of prep a week. If I have any good free time, I’ll try a little prep here and there. I don’t really have much in the way of what most teens would consider “fun” planned for the summer so I’ll probably get a lot of prep. My schedule is to study for 1 1/2 - 2 hours every Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Since I’m going to start prepping for the math section first, I’ll try and do one math practice test a week until I’m at my goal, or after four weeks. I’m not really on that much of a time constraint now as I plan to take my first ACT in either April or June. I also plan to prep during the school year, every other Saturday and Sunday, so I don’t forget anything.
VT’s average ACT scores, for The College of Engineering, were a 30 on math and a 28 on reading. It’ll be easier to prep for reading, but I also know where my weakest areas are in Math (Geometry and Trigonometry). Most of the others schools I’m applying to have an average composite ACT score of 30, however it’s probably higher for engineering. It’s actually kind of funny, but UVA’s average SAT/ACT scores are actually kind of higher, overall, than VT’s.
Any parents of kids attending HOBY WLC out there?
S18 got his drivers license yesterday and today he’s driving downtown to his CC class all by himself. Thankfully he’s driving a small car because I even have trouble in that tight parking garage! Just hope he doesn’t get lost on the way home!
I just talked to my dad about a VT visit date. We’ll look over any possible dates in his work schedule on Saturday. I just hope it’ll work out. We would have to go on a day that my father will be off of work two days in a row and we’ll gone on the second day to avoid him getting fatigue. We already have a lot happening during those last few weeks of summer. My little brother, who is in the Class of 2020, will be having his orientation on August 16th and we also planned to go to GMU on August 19th, which I’ll talk about later, so if we can’t pull this off, I’ll be okay. I’ll be in, and will finish, summer school during the first week of August and the best two weeks for the visit would be the second or fourth weeks. The third week is already kind of busy enough and I go back to school during the last week of August. I just really want to visit VT this summer. I’ve been planning to go for a year now.
@3scoutsmom Congrats to your son! I should be getting my permit, finally, in two weeks! I’ll have to hold my permit for 9 months before I can get my license, so I’ll probably get it around my 17th birthday.
@ak2018 - just clarifying - his tour wasn’t a personal tour. He went on the regular tour. It was just that he took the initiative to contact the Engineering Department and was able to work out a time with someone there to get some one on one. He was able to talk with them more in depth about his interests and what VT offers. We found VT to be very open and accommodating.
D18 just headed out the door to meet a friend for lunch and handed me this list…
University of Alabama
UCLA
UC-San Diego
UC-Santa Cruz
College of Charleston
Clemson U
Florida State
University of Florida
Fordham U
U of Georgia
Louisiana State U
Loyola Chicago
U of Miami
NYU
Rhodes College
University of South Carolina
University of Southern California
TCU
UT-San Antonio
U of Washington
U of Houston (Auto Admit - Safety)
…and said “This is it, this is the list we are working from, we are not adding to this list, only removing. Love you, see you later.” Tonight is a college information night for grades 9 -12 at our high school. It’s not a college fair, it is mini sessions on essay writing, using naviance, SAT/ACT prep etc…We are attending (D18 reluctantly).
@labegg I think it’s a great starting list! My DS18 has actively exploring colleges so far his list is still at two (and I’m fine with that!) UT Austin (auto admit) and UT Dallas (likely financial safety) Bonus that they both use the same application:-)
@RoonilWazlib99 Thank you for the clarification! I think I’d rather tour the school the regular way.
Question: What exactly is “auto-admittance”? I’ve heard it mainly in reference to Texas and I’m pretty sure the top students from high schools in Texas are automatically admitted into certain schools, but I don’t know much about it after that.
Ready to start really getting S18 going. Very hard kid to get to narrow options. Everything seems “ok”. So starting with a visit to U Minnesota next week–we’ll see if he’s open to a big school. I had him read ASU, U So Cal, and College of Charleston last week (3 schools his limit to consider per day now)–ASU was too big, CoC “didn’t seem like me”, USC was “ok”. Maybe “ok” means consider?
We are on search for academic merit round #2. D16 is heading to Pitt in the fall. This would be a great match for S18, but he won’t go where his sister is.
Well, one rite of passage down here. DD got in her first accident yesterday, a minor fender bender. She was third in a line of cars at a stoplight. When the light turned green the first car moved but then stopped in the middle of the intersection because apparently they decided they wanted to turn left instead of go straight. DD was unable to stop in time and bumped into the car in front of her.
We were planning on donating the old SUV she was driving to a school that has an auto repair program and buying her another car anyway, so this doesn’t do anything to change that. She didn’t get a ticket but it will go against our insurance so our rates will increase, no doubt. But hopefully the payout for the SUV will more than offset that increase.
At least now the school receiving the old SUV will get extra practice on repairing bumpers!
@2014novamom It’s definitely good that your D is safe. My parents are a little hesitant about me driving in the NOVA area because of the amount of terrible drivers on the road. I’m actually currently taking a Driver’s Ed class, and we’re told repeatedly to be defensive drivers because in the NOVA area everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere (their jobs, school, etc.).
Though he has already toured a number of schools with his sister and USC and Occidental for himself, S18’s college search officially kicks off next week starting with the CTCL roadshow followed by a trip to Ohio with a brief foray into Indiana. We will see a total of 5 schools which includes 3 CTCL schools. This should be very educational for me since S18 is nothing like D15 but seems to be gravitating to the same kinds of schools she did.