@evergreen5 all of the Boston area schools BU, NEU, BC, Tufts etc are all wanting students with act of 32 and up and well over 1400 SAT, probably like 1450 now. Do they take kids with lower stats? Sure, but they are not coming from kids from the Boston burbs. Every kid my son17 knows that got into any of those schools had 32 ACT and up, and none of the kids with lower scores got in.
All of the schools are hard to get into, Tufts being the most selective because they want a certain type of kid. BU and NEU will take more kids but they are also taking more full pay kids. BC also wants a certain type of kid and is very hard to get into, but I donāt know all of the specifics because son17 had no interest in going there.
Every single one of those schools received a record number of apps, and itās a trend they think will continue. They all want high stats kids to compete with each other and keep up with the Joneās. The New England kids know they have virtually no chance at the Ivies any more, so most of them are all applying to the same schools. Basically every kid in New England with test scores 29 and up thinks they. have a shot at BC,BU, NEU, so they take a chance and submit an app. I think if I remember correctly that 1/3 of my sonās 350 kid sized class applied to NEU. 80 something applicants and I think they accepted 18 and 9 enrolled. Crazy. Multiple that by all of the local schools and you can see how competitive it is. Iām sure itās similar in California.
@homerdog For high stats kids, I donāt think we can go by the 25%-75% marker. I think we have to go by the acceptance rate number to figure out matches and safeties.
@RightCoaster I saw at least one upper right red mark on a state public that isnāt very selective. Iām thinking it was more likely a student with some sort of behavior issue (cheating, drugs, legal, something like that).
@gusmahler College was easier for me than high school. I got to take many more classes I had interest in for college and I did better. I mean, there was harder stuff too, but it was in areas I enjoyed so it didnāt feel overwhelming. My d is taking 7 college level classes right now. It could be that college will feel easier for her as well, especially since she enjoys the classes that will be her hardest.
My D16 says that college is easier than high school. I think its a combination of being more mature and being able to take the classes she really wants to take. Her college GPA Is close to 4.0 with just a couple A-s to being it down. In high school she was more of a B+/A- type of student.
I will join in! My daughter is so busy with activities Iāve been doing what I can to research colleges. She is very interested in college, but tends to be swayed easily by prestige, word of mouth, or the schoolās colors! Cost is understandably one of my criteria, and preferably close to home. Right now Iām looking at some state schools on the smaller side, we both donāt like the huge schools or big city. There are a couple that would cost $15,000 after automatic merit which isnāt horrible but will still require some debt. Iām thinking we can help with about $5000/year.
The closest one she has visited when her older sister was looking and she thinks she hates it but I canāt understand why. Itās only 2 hours away and the $14,500 includes books and a laptop. It would be so easy to have her there. The program for her preferred major looks suited to the direction she wants to go with it.
There are two that would give full tuition at an ACT score that is attainable- one is at 27, one is at 29. Iām certain she can get a 27, probably could get a 29. They would cost about $10,000/year for the room & board so we may be able to get by with no debt if she can work. The 27 ACT is 8 hours away and the 29 ACT is 4 hours away. I really donāt like to think of going 8 hours away, makes it difficult to come home very much. Another is $15,200 and 6 hours away and also has the classes in her major I think she would prefer.
Sheāll take the ACT in February so maybe weāll wait to see results and see if the full tuition is a possibility and decide where to visit. So thatās where weāre at right now!
@bjscheel I hope you can find some schools that wok out for you financially. Have your D keep practicing the ACT on her own and maybe she can score high enough to really help you. Our state Flagship U Mass ends up being at least mid 20ās when all is said and done, probably closer to 28-30K with room/board/fees/dues etc.
Good news for son19, one of the schools on his list just contacted him tonight and said they will be coming to watch him at some of the bigger track meets in Boston this winter. He was excited, heās visited the school and it meets most if not all of his requirements. The coach said he really starts focusing on the next recruiting right now. So thatās good for my son, he has a few colleges genuinely interested in him for track and a few where they are still interested in for soccer. Soccer will be harder to get recruited for, but track itās so cut and dry with the times needed to be considered for recruitment. As a sophomore in HS he was fortunate to be running fast enough to make many D3 track squads, but for some D1/Elite schools he likes he needs to ramp it up a bit over the winter- weāll see. Iām trying to let him just have fun with it, no pressure.
For any of you juniors interested in RPI, the Rensselaer Medal is a merit scholarship that requires nomination by your high school in spring of junior year. If you search your school on the website, you can see whether someone had been nominated yet. Best of luck!
@me29034 and @RightCoaster these schools are Midwest (Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota) and out of state for us. In Iowa it is not quite as cheap. There are some private schools that would be $20,000 after auto merit. I suppose it is comparatively inexpensive but over 4 years still a very large chunk of money!
Good luck to your son at track, @RightCoaster, my older daughter ran and I loved watching. She visited one school for track but ultimately decided not to continue running. She is at a community college that doesnāt have a team.
our GC claims they have not received the PSAT scores. Our school system is also too cheap to use Naviance (I asked a few years ago). Plus our state will be releasing on the 13th, so I will need to spoof an IP address from elsewhere on the 11th. But in the scheme of things the bigger wait is for the SAT scores from last Sat. S19 swears he got a 100 on the Math LOL.
@sdl0625 our school has naviance but the PSAT scores arenāt loaded in yet. IIRC, dās Oct SAT scores were loaded in about a week after I saw them online. So even if your school did use naviance, it may not have helped you see scores any faster.
I checked our Naviance out and psat scores are not updated. I doubt theyāll get updated until they are officially released.
We have a big college planning night, the first for juniors, coming up soon at school. This is the āoh crapā moment for most people with juniors who are their oldest child. They get the kids PSAT scores, talked to about Naviance, how the college app process sort of works, get the kidās class rank etc. Most peopleās heads explode when they found out all of this info and feel way behind and start panicking. Especially when they start showing how to use the Naviance graphs to find schools where their kid might have a chance of acceptance. Many parents finally start to realize how competitive college admissions has become and that their kid has a slim chance at best for some top rated ābrand nameā schools. They are in almost shock.
^We just had that meeting. Thanks to reading here at CC, I already knew most of what was said. Ironically, Iām much calmer now that weāve had the meetings (the group one and an individual one). My head had been exploding with uncertainty over a few factors and now that I got a few answers and we have a plan, I feel much better, for nowā¦ (how long will this feeling last?)
Our school never loaded D16ās PSAT scores into Naviance at all so I guess Iāll twiddle my thumbs until December 12 or 13. S19 seems interested, even though he thought it was harder than the SAT and his SAT score wouldnāt cut it for NMSF in our state.
I think our kids get their official PSAT score reports when they meet with the GC for 2 minutes in February to select classes for next year. Iām not sure why they combine these two events, as test scores donāt seem to have any bearing on class recommendations.
I think there are some college planning workshops for junior parents in the spring, but no individual meetings. I am interested to see what kind of advice they give and whether they steer certain ātiersā of students towards different sorts of schools. I expect most of the questions to be focused on the in-state publics.
Our school hasnāt updated anything on Naviance. I am kind of laughing at how different our Naviance is between D17 and D19, being in 2 different states/high schools.
Callbacks for the spring play were yesterday afternoon. Kiddo had been called back, but he was only asked to read for a minor part and they kept two other guys behind to read for the male lead. One of the guys they kept back was a senior, someone I had been expecting would get the part since they announced the play. I think they probably picked the play with him in mind. The other kid was a freshman, the new kid in town who is incredibly talented but kinda flaky.
Kiddo was on a rampage last night about how unfair it is that they never consider him for major parts just because heās trans. I am so bleeping tired of listening to him. Instead of studying for the ACT, he spent the whole evening raging at everything. If I have to listen to one word of this tonight, Iām cancelling his birthday.
Well, no. I wonāt.
Thanks for being here as a forum where I can dump this stuff anonymously and be fairly sure he wonāt see it. Iām sorry to use you as an emotional catharsis feature.
Guidance counselors sent out an email saying that PSAT scores will be released on Monday and gave us the link to College Board. They must think none of us know that they must already have the scores. Looks like they are keeping that to themselves. I suppose we are just waiting until Monday like the other schmucks that didnāt know about the leak until it was fixed!
@ninakatarina does he have a support group or other trans friends going through some of the same things? Maybe that would help him? (You too if there is a support group for parents)
