^^On the 2017 thread we all talk about the kids’ scores, and have been for months.
I think of it more as reporting/commiserating/congratulating than bragging (we’ve had some good scores and some disastrous ones).
@odannyboySF nothing wrong with some bragging. I love to hear about all our kids accomplishments and their progress along their college path. Each kid has such a unique journey and I am very interested in hear about it. It’s also nice to know that I’m not the only one anxiously and impatiently waiting for the PSAT scores!
Congratulations to all hearing good news on the latest SAT scores today!
@bearcatfan - You aren’t the only one. My daughter has never been a great test taker and I do not expect her numbers to be close to a qualifying score. I’m more concerned about the ACT she is planning to take in 2 weeks. She is definitely not motivated to study for it.
I’ve found the stats reported on CC to be very useful in wading through the admission swap … so I’m reporting ours on CC to continue the tradition. CC has actually helped D18 be a better student because I give her condensed summaries of what I’ve been reading. She was in a real funk in 9-10th grade and after hearing what I’ve read here (how difficult it is to get into Top25 colleges), she picked herself up and starting caring about school again, getting involved in ECs, etc.
I definitely like hearing the scores. I await PSAT anxiously. It was the one test D16 bombed, but it still worked out well for her. I actually hope S18 either does great or bombs–I don’t want to be on the bubble.
Well, if we’re sharing scores, my D knocked our socks off with a 1540. She did kind of bomb the essay part, as she told us she thought she did. I’m not sure if it’s worth taking it again just for the essay - except that we’re in CA and all the UCs require it. Another anxious mama waiting to see what Dec. 12 will bring.
I love to hear about the successes of kids that have worked so hard. I remember defending a poster last year because someone took offense when he/she bragged about their kid getting a good test score or something. That poster actually left the thread because of this.
I see celebration posts all the time on all of the threads: my kid got this scholarship; my kid got into this college; my kid made NMF; etc. I enjoy hearing these success stories and I celebrate along with those parents.
I have seen other threads started by parents who don’t want to hear about the higher achieving student’s accomplishments; so here’s a Question of the Day concerning this (our) Parents of the Class of 2018 thread:
QOTD: Should we or should we not post achievements and milestones on this thread?
My son (Junior) took the ACT as a sophomore single sitting and scored a 35 (M 36, S 36, W 36, R 30) and just received his SAT score 1560 (M 800 W/R 760)…these are his only sittings…he is a math/science student so in a bit of a quandary of which score to report or both…the 35 ACT seems to be a bit more impressive overall than the 1560 SAT but the ACT has the anomaly Reading score whereas he only missed 1 reading question on the SAT…but the ACT has three perfect scores and more in line with his possible major…should we send just the SAT or just ACT or both? Thanks
I’d suggest sending both - both are quite impressive & back each other up nicely.
Those are both wonderful scores, @brazos21. I would have him send both.
As to the QOTD, I say it’s up to whatever the poster is comfortable with. I never posted actual scores for my D15 in that parent thread - I just wasn’t comfortable doing that. But to each his (or her) own, I say.
I think we should be able to post achievements and milestones. I trust we can all do that politely without rubbing it in anyone’s face. I will not do that with local friends because it is none of their business, but it is nice to be able to share good news (and not so good news too).
I’m all for celebrating success! Please don’t take my comment as I don’t want to hear the good stuff - I do!
My daughter could completely surprise both herself and me and knock it out of the park, but I’m not expecting it because she’s been more focused on the ACT. Plus, unless you hit those qualifying scores the PSAT doesn’t mean too much (IMO). So, she took it but it was a very low-stress thing except for eating up a Saturday.
I have always been the one to ask her how others did on a test or in a class - what was the point spread, was there a curve, etc. I think that is very useful information for comparison. This morning she schooled me. She said “I don’t really care what anyone else gets. I care what I get. What they get doesn’t affect what I get - I just do my best and let it go.”
Out of the mouths of babes …
Congrats on the great scores. S’18 is taking the 12/3 SAT. We’ll see how it goes.
I am all for posting whatever the person is comfortable with sharing. We are just here to share, help, vent, etc. Of course, we should all remain respectful (never been an issue on this thread as far as I recall) and nobody should feel pressure to post.
@bearcatfan, I feel as you do that understanding the grades in context is very useful. My S only makes the “I don’t care what anyone else got” comments when his grade is lower than usual AND he knows that it’s lower than others he usually outscores. He’s in a competitive public HS in Texas where class rank is key for admission to state universities, so the kids all keep tabs on their performance relative to their usual crowd. I think S gets mad at himself when he slips off his normal spot in the pecking order, and he doesn’t want me to ask him about how others did because it reminds him he has work to do to catch up. He’s got some super reachy schools on his list (MIT, UT Austin Turing, maybe CalTech and CMU) so he knows he needs to stay near the top of the class to have any shot, and he might not always like being reminded but he is very aware that it definitely matters how well he does relative to his classmates.
Are there really CCer’s suggesting that parents of “low-achieving” students can post accomplishments but the parents of “high achievers” can’t? I guess that explains why I don’t open a lot of CC threads!
Speaking as a Mom of three kids who are generally on the “lower” side by CC standards, I say people post what they want to and are comfortable with. Yes, I feel a twinge of jealousy when another parent mentions their kid’s safety which is my kid’s reach, or scores I wish my kid had to get more merit aid. But that’s just life and not the fault of the high achieving kid or their parent.
I’m interested in hearing about everyone else’s experiences at whatever level they wish to share.
I agree that people should share what they feel comfortable sharing here, and we should all celebrate, and commiserate, as needed. Sometimes I imagine we may be doing both. Reasons for each will be different for each kid, as each kid is different, we can cheer for and cry with them all…
I can tell you right now come January, I’ll possibly be both celebrating and commiserating some B grades, in different classes, for different reasons. For now, I can only hope they don’t fall, she’s working her tail off. 
:-SS
I think people should post scores. When I see super-high scores I think, “boy, with those scores I’d do this and that”. About the only thing that irks me are:
- One thread where some Ivy type said, "well, my kid can still get into UChicago and have a decent career".
- One I saw yesterday saying, "Should I retake an SAT 1590?". Seriously, if you're smart enough to get a 1590 then you should be smart enough to know that it would make no difference.
What I’d like to see are posts with both scores/stats and reach/target/safety plans. I like to see people’s strategies. I’ve already helped some neighbors with college suggestions based on the things I’ve read here.
@droppedit I’ll play.
As I’m sure is the case with most C18s, my D’s college list is a work in progress and changes frequently. As of today, this is where she stands:
4.0 UW
34 ACT
Reach:
U Rochester (would be a match, but we need merit aid for it to make sense)
Match:
U Toronto
McGill
UBC
Safety:
ASU Barrett
Her list used to be much longer, but after some college visits, she’s really honed in on the Canadian schools. She’s a dual citizen so the value is impossible to match here in the States.
Here’s our current list (in order of reach-iness, we’re in GA):
4.0 UW
33 ACT, 1480 SAT
Reach:
Northwestern - lottery school, she’d freeze her rear off if she actually got in
Rice - tentative lottery, we’re touring it over Christmas (going to see in-laws)
Georgia Tech - in-state but also in high demand, doesn’t have her major
UCB - I think being OOS will kill this one
Target:
USC - high target
UCLA - same as UCB, not likely
NYU - was a favorite a while ago, not so much these days
Safety:
UGA - I think she has a good shot at Honors here
UA - basically, automatic honors admission with ACT/SAT scores
I’m using the ACT score as the categorizer, where she’s in the mid-50 % for reaches, at the 75% for targets, and above the 75% for safeties. I don’t think the UCs will work for OOS and if we’re going to pay that much I’d rather her go to USC (although I like the area around UCLA much better). My preference is for her to go to UGA and have fun. Look at a reach for graduate school if she decides to continue her education.
Edit: she’s cut down the super-reaches over time. UChicago and NW were the first schools to send her email/mail after her PSAT last year … so naturally she focused on them. I searched for UChicago (because I didn’t know anything about it) and stumbled upon CC. That’s when I learned that she was a victim of rejection-bait.
Great reading about the wonderful scores your kids have earned. Congrats to everyone!!