That does sound interesting. My d is undecided as to whether she will shoot for one of those. Her grades and course rigor fit, I don’t yet know about standardized tests though and her ECs are probably not quite in the right range for them. Added, I still debate as to whether a higher pressured environment will be good for her. It’s so hard to tell. She fits in better with the high stat type kids, as they are the ones who best understand her seriousness and prioritizing. But I worry that she will struggle in anxiety and feeling like she has to be one of the best or she will be a failure.
Again, even though she loves her ECs, they probably aren’t enough for very highly selective places so worrying about stress and anxiety probably is pointless since it’s unlikely to be a real decision.
@mom2twogirls we are right there with you. S19 in the range for those types of schools with SAT and gpa and wants to be with kids who he considers peers. BUT he does not want a stressful and competitive atmosphere. Hard to know really how stressful some of these schools are and some of that depends on your major. Plus, S19 is your quintessential Midwestern boy with no edge (if you know what I mean). He’s a little green. Oldest of our kids and kind of naive. I think sending him to a competitive school out east would be a mistake. This is a kid who just loved Grinnell. I don’t think you love Grinnell and Yale. That being said, it would be fine for him to have some uber reaches. Still considering Middlebury, Brown, and Bowdoin in that category for now.
Welcome @zipstermom and all others new to this thread (lurking or otherwise)! The dreaded SCEA will be the death of us. Do we forgo all other ED and EA opportunities for this shot in the dark, or go for it knowing that many other schools fill a large portion of their class at the ED round? Lots of things will happen between now and the end of the summer…and hopefully by then a clearer picture will emerge. I keep telling my twins to go for it, no regrets (I say this, of course, shaking in my boots).
@ThinkOn I hear you. I’m just crossing my fingers that, if S19 is above the 75th percentile for scores and GPA, that RD will come through for him at some of the schools he likes!! Most of his schools accept above 22% total and that’s better than single digits, right? :((
We probably will give one of the Uber selective schools a shot in applications because of financial aid alone. They would cost us less than our instate public. But I’m not going to be sad when she most likely get rejected.
From YouTube videos, Princeton is the Uber selective one she would probably lean towards. Although, she likes some of the MIT architecture.
Mine is a kid who loves Disney and superheroes. On the one hand, she seems terribly unsophisticated for many of those schools. On the other hand, she’d probably fit in very well with the characters from Big Bang Theory. So I don’t know that even I know for sure which schools would work best for her.
@Gatormama I liked the WVU review. It’s one we’ve thought about as a slight possibility. It isn’t too unreasonable a drive from here and the merit could be good. I’m not sure it would be enough to beat our instate public though.
@mom23travelers You may want to pick @dragonflygarden 's brain. She has a recent Princeton grad.
Visiting to read @Gatormama’s trip report and saw the posts about Alabama.
@gusmahler those awards at Bama are guaranteed based on stats, no limits on number of students qualifying.
My DS is a junior EE student there and he would not be study engineering if not for Bama. Our in state publics don’t even offer engineering, and we couldn’t afford PSU, Pitt, etc
His year he had full tuition + engineering scholarships and though they have since lowered the awards somewhat, it is still a great deal when you are chasing merit money.
He is doing very well there, great group of friends from a number of different states, and the campus is gorgeous! We also have a large number of Bama parents on FB page who are there to help out w/ all our kids.
Glad to read you plan on visiting.
OK, back to parents of 2019. Good luck all.
I’m enjoying the Trip Reports. The BAMA deal sounds great…but, I’m just not feeling Alabama. We were stationed in AL twice, and I just don’t know about sending my AfAm son. I’m sure the college and college towns are fine…just not sure of the surrounding areas.
So son brought home the NHS packet. Evidently he’s been nominated by a teacher. We went ahead and filled it out and rounded up all the evidence (community service letters, awards & such). But not sure if he will actually join if invited to do so. He’s just incredibly busy already…
Griping about the PSAT tomorrow - just found out that all 750 juniors will be taking the test in the FIELDHOUSE all crunched together at tables. S19 said that they took another test like this once (an Illinois state thing) and it was awful. Kids loud. All kinds of distractions. And you sit so close to the kid next to you that you could bump elbows.
Meantime, our D21 is taking a PSAT 8/9 tomorrow in a quiet classroom… What the heck?
@homerdog , that is CRAZY, so the exam that counts for the big money, those kids gets the short end of the stick… I would be breathing fire!
My D is also taking the PSAT 8/9 in a comfy classroom.
My whole campus is being used for PSAT & SAT testing…practically every nook & cranny. For once, I am not a test administrator. I told my admin that I did not want any conflicts of interest since my kids will be testing soon…
@4MyKidz My S19 remembered that he had the NHS invite exactly three days after the paperwork was due. This pretty much sums him up. He probably would have thought the application was too much work anyway. Oh well!
@homerdog That does not sound ideal - I know it’s a lot of pressure for kids who are expecting to do well enough to qualify for NMF.
I’m not sure where they will put our 550 juniors - maybe the cafeteria. I keep forgetting that they’re taking the PSAT tomorrow! Chances are extremely slim that S19 will miss fewer than 4 or 5 questions to get a qualifying score, and he’ll get his SAT score way before he sees the results of the PSAT. For him, the day is just a small break from school.
@BingeWatcher I just realized this. Otherwise, I would have been shouting down the principal today. I told S19 to find a teacher he knows in the field house and ask him to stand near him to keep people quiet. 
Ugh @eh1234 ! Sounds like my son. I’m actually surprised he remembered! Usually I hear from him, “IDK, I didn’t think it was important…”
Oh hey @carolinamom2boys Thanks for the mention. I confess I haven’t been around in a long while. I should probably get back on the thread now that the kids are Juniors!
Yep oldest kiddo just graduated from Princeton in June with a degree in Astrophysics. Currently working in an Engineering type job.
Our school is giving the PSAT on Saturday. Stinks to give up another Saturday for testing but now that I hear what the alternative could be, I’m kind of glad.
Welcome @zipstermom! I love that you were with us during our 2016 round and are speaking up now! Welcome to @Dragonflygarden too. Congrats to your Princeton grad.
Wishing all PSAT takers the best of luck! May the Gods smile on you today!
I didn’t realize that schools offered the PSAT during the school week. Here its always on the weekend. S is taking it on Saturday. I wish they offered it during school. S has a basketball tournament on Saturday. His team is varsity level with half juniors and half seniors. I wonder if the coach realizes that half his team will be gone in the morning.
We are about a year behind most of you in test prep. This will be S’s first encounter with these types of tests. I’ve finally convinced him to sit down with me tonight to go over the rules (leave the cell phone in the car!) and general design of the test and types of questions. There really isn’t much point in studying. He isn’t going to learn more between now and Saturday and he will be nowhere near National Merit level so that isn’t a concern. The main reason we are doing this is to give him a feel for what the test is like and to decide what we need to focus on for test prep for the real tests when he takes them in the spring.