@Corinthian sorry, I just saw your post about prep videos.
I am not sure if the Khanacademy prep has videos but I came across a bunch of them on youtube. I don’t think I can post the links here. Just have your D search for SAT prep on youtube. There are a few tutors doing walkthroughs for math and giving reading strategies. I think some mentioned not reading the entire text but starting from the questions.
@mommdc Kahn does have videos. S19 has found them super helpful!
@Homerdog Of the 5 unused CB tests, I think we’ll use 3 just before the August test when the twins are home together for the first time this summer, trying to emulate test conditions as much as possible (taking it at 8:30 AM, sitting side by side in the dining room). Since we’ll get the scores back in mid Sept. we can decide if we need to register for the Nov. test and then use the remaining 2 just before that test, or if no need to take again (one can only hope and dream), we’ll use the 2 remaining to casually prep for the PSAT.
Good grief, just realized that test date is exactly one month away. I don’t know if it makes sense for my son to keep taking the whole test in one sitting either, esp. given his golf tournament schedule. So I like you’re approach of taking the math sections one day, and the reading/grammar sections another. That should keep him engaged enough until his sister arrives mid August.
@Corinthian I agree that it’s not a good idea to get turned off by a tour guide and people definitely can form a quick impression from that one person and then read into other interactions. It happened to my daughter at Barnard, which on paper she should have loved.
@homerdog It’s interesting to hear that the career panel was stumped by a question about job placement - what does that mean? Were there crickets when the question was asked or did they say that Oberlin doesn’t track that or what? I assume the panel was career placement staff and not students. They seemed to have lots to offer in terms of career and internship placement when we visited so it seems strange that a whole panel would be stumped by a question they likely get regularly.
Anyhow, I am glad you narrowed down the search and are moving forward - everyone has a different perspective which is what makes the world go around!
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I second the motion that different perspectives are needed…indeed, required to help us all learn and be better informed as we go about gathering information on different institutions and the needs of our children. So thank you to @homerdog and others for providing your thoughts. I look forward to everyone’s opinions on everything.
@LMC9902 The panel at Oberlin was one math professor, one financial aid person, an admissions dean (I think she was a dean), and a student. When the job question was posed, there were crickets. It took about 15 seconds for anyone to answer and that’s when we heard about the Fulbrights, the Peace Corp, and the “few” computer science kids who work on Wall Street.
I was expecting a response that included guidance, internships, alumni support, career advice and none of that came up. As a parent, I know it’s my responsibility to find the best answer to that question and look on their website or ask more questions. In my post, I was just reporting what happened at that meeting. It wasn’t a judgement. Same with the social justice part of my report - that’s not a judgement. I only wrote exactly what happened on our tour and at the student session.
Honestly, if I felt like S19 would like it at Oberlin, I would investigate more. He wasn’t feeling it as it was presented to him on that day and we have a very long tentative list of schools. His reaction, separate from mine, was an absolute 180 from his reaction to Kenyon and Denison. It made sense from that stand point to eliminate Oberlin and move on. I never said the school was extreme or that our experience was the absolute truth when it comes to the experience of actually attending Oberlin.
I know Oberlin is an amazing school for many. We wouldn’t have driven six hours to visit if I didn’t think it might work for S19. Just ends up it wasn’t his cup of tea.
I feel like our summer is pretty much over. We leave for vacation tomorrow and when we come back there are only 5 days until school starts. D has not done anything to work on SAT since her tutor last week. Unless you count me getting her set up on Khan Academy and forcing her to do 5 practice questions so we could see how it works. I don’t think I will bother bringing any practice with me on vacation. The first half we are staying with my family including twin 7 year old cousins - there is never any down time. The second half we are visiting our best friends in Maine - the entire time is down time but she only sees that friend about 2-3 times a year so I can’t see her thing any time to practice. Although the best friend is the same age so maybe some how I can convince them to both practice! 
Im starting to re-think having her take the test in August, I guess I need to look into what the consensus is on doing a baseline test.
Besides being stressed about that I am super excited to be going on vacation. We fly to my mom’s in Mass tomorrow, pick up D21 from 3 weeks away on Friday, ditch the kids with my mom and family Saturday to go to the Newport Folk Fest then head to Maine a few days after that. Hectic but fun!
@ThinkOn My S23 just started doing golf tournaments this summer. I had to caddie for him yesterday. It was 93 degrees with a 108 heat index and almost 5 hours and 6.5 miles of pushing his clubs around, raking his sand traps, getting him water… I think that job is going right back to my husband!
This is an article about college tours that I found quite interesting: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/well/family/skipping-the-college-tour.html?_r=0. I’m definitely not advocating skipping the college tour, but it’s something to keep in mind during the tour.
I’ve read quite a few comments here on CC where somebody comes back from a college tour and says something like: the students at this college are not friendly or not collaborative – they were all walking around with headphones on looking at the ground. The person probably saw 2 people doing that but then the mind fills in the rest. I’ve sized up the campus culture! But in reality you could be totally off base and have been influenced by one or two random encounters.
I’ve just been informed by our D21 that school starts in two weeks. What? I’m such a visual person and I still have my trusty wall calendar hanging on the wall and, since it’s still on July, I’m guess I’m in denial. I peeked at August and she’s right! Freshman Day for her is August 11th. Ugh. The whole school starts on the 16th. I don’t want summer to be over!!! :((
August 16th seems so early! Our schools are starting before Labor Day for the first time this year, so I’m trying to get used to the “early” August 28th date.
I’m eager to get a peak at S19’s actual junior schedule because I’m half-expecting some conflicts (he requested a few classes that will only have one or two sections offered). Of course he has no idea if he requested any alternate classes or if he did, what they were. I don’t think the schedule will be available until August 24th or so.
@eh1234 We start early so that the kids can take finals before Christmas break. And then school is out before Memorial Day weekend!
Thanks for posting a link to that article @Corinthian. Much of what is said in the article resonates with us.
D19 has a unique approach to looking at schools – she knows what she doesn’t like pretty quickly, and it has little to do with the students on campus at that particular time or what is seen on the formal tour. What she dislikes is surely someone else likes.
She tends to compare each campus to what she saw on a drive-by school visit when we up in Massachusetts, and she absolutely did not like what she saw for that drive-by.
Next week we’re off on vacation and have drive-bys sketched out for nine schools. She has already reviewed all the many.columns.of.info in the spreadsheet, so these drive-bys are more about “fit”. None of these visits will include a formal tour.
I’m a fan of if it works for her, it works for me.
We’ll be back from vacation for the eclipse on August 21, the week before school starts on August 28. D19’s schedule will be posted online through our school’s ParentVue system on August 22.
I hate how late we get schedules. We need to know which teachers so we know if we need dreaded binders or if we can just buy folders. She carries everything all day, so I’d prefer not to load her down with unnecessary binders. Last year I could barely lift her backpack, I don’t know how she did it.
I will be shocked if there are conflicts because my understanding is that the counselor already would have known that in the spring and pulled her into discuss alternatives. That’s what happened in the spring of 9th grade because a class was full of upperclassmen and she needed to choose something else.
@OrangeFish I love that your D has an “approach” to looking at schools! I know so much has already been written about what to look for when you visit a campus but I never thought about how an individual student might best make a decision. Certainly, as soon as a school checks the boxes for cost and curriculum, there are so many ways to look at a school.
I think we might be to the point where S19 only wants to look at LACs. They all have small classes, study abroad, lots of activities. We keep hearing the same presentation. Now, it’s coming down to fit which is a pretty nebulous concept. Should be interesting. I’m a little concerned that S19 seems bent on an LAC, mostly because finding safeties that he’ll like is becoming a challenge. He’s got two so far (Denison and Beloit) but I’m afraid they are going to fade from memory once he sees more of his matches. All of his matches have low acceptance rates but are a match because of our Naviance info. He could very easily get turned down at all of his matches.
Right now, Kenyon is already foremost in his brain. I hear him telling friends and family how much he liked it. I’m afraid what’s going to happen is that he’s going to see the difference between the higher ranked schools on his list and start liking his safeties less. He’s always talked about Wisconsin but now he thinks it will be way too big. I’m still going to make him visit. In the end, if he’s left with his safety LACs and Wisconsin, he will at least have different options.
@mom2twogirls I hear you about the backpack. The kids at our high school don’t even use their lockers. Ever. The school is so big that you can’t get back to it in time to switch out folders or grab your lunch. That means a backpack that’s stuffed to the gills and carrying your lunch separately. It’s bad enough for S19 but our D21 is a little bit of a thing and I think she’s going to die carrying all of her stuff!
@homerdog – a variety of options is good. I think there’s ample time to whittle down a list. D19 is starting to do some whittling, but there’s no rush or “date certain” when she needs to be done, either. She is taking notes about schools she sees because otherwise “they would all jumble up” in her head (as she describes it). Like you, we are focusing on safeties with some matches thrown in. We are set with the reach schools.
As for me, I need to practice better backing-off-the-gas skills. This is a journey and not a race, if that makes sense. I am a planner and D does want me to help plan, but there’s a balance to adding more stress to the mix. That’s the last thing I want to do.
@OrangeFish I think we must be in the same county so I guess S19 will get his schedule on 8/22? That’s a couple of days earlier than I thought, so that’s good. More time to work things out with the GC if necessary. I can see her randomly dumping him in gourmet foods and French 4 or something if he has conflicts.
And he’ll need to make changes if he got the teacher who thinks AP Psych warrants 4 hours of busy work per class period. He’s making noises about trying to get AP Chem (although if I suggest that he go ahead and do the summer HW for that class before he is officially in it, I’m pretty sure I know how that will go over). I’m not sure that AP Physics 1 and AP Chem at the same time would be a good idea, so then other changes would be needed. I’m sure he wishes he could drop English, haha.
@eh1234 – the school counseling staff posted the date schedules would be posted to ParentVue, and my guess is it’s due to all the parents haunting them asking the same or similar question.
2018 parent here. Our schools start Aug 3. Teachers report tomorrow. We’ll get done mid-May.