@BorgityBorg if you are looking at girls only schools near Boston why don’t you look at Wellesley? I know nothing about that place at all, other than I know it’s a very selective school and the campus is really really nice. There is a little downtown zone and there is a T station to get into Boston in 20-25 minutes,
@RightCoaster I’d be game, but the 2 strikes against it are 1) it’s a women’s college and D19 isn’t too keen on those at this point in time, and 2) Wellesley’s scores (both SATs and acceptance rates) are in the neighborhood of Carleton and Haverford and she’d rather just apply to Carleton and Haverford. That was what made Smith and Mount Holyoke (and still makes Bryn Mawr) attractive in my eyes – schools in the same range of Carleton and Haverford regarding quality and interest in science, but acceptance rates and SAT levels that make them more attainable than Carleton and Haverford…
I dragged D to Wellesley a couple of summers ago on our last day of vacation. She was grumpy about it and said she was NOT going to a women’s college. She ended up loving the tour and applied. I thought it was great too, although I wasn’t sure it was the right place for her. In the end, it was the only school to which she didn’t get accepted (WL instead). I’m glad we visited though.
We went to a Princeton visit yesterday and it was wall-to-wall packed. One of the admissions people told my son and I that they had 1800 people visit on Friday alone. Wow! We’d visited the campus before as tourists but this time we did the info session, which was so packed it had to be held in the University Chapel. The school is amazing but since it’s a reach we’re trying not to get too invested…
What did you think of the info session?
Hey all - did I read on this thread that Virginia Tech is going to start offering EA instead of or along with ED for next years applicants? I am in two parent groups and I can’t remember where I read that…
The National Merit Commended cut off was just announced. 212.
I saw that on the other thread. Pah! I was hoping for 211… Oh well, from an application perspective, if NMSF is out of the picture, not much of an impact. Crossed fingers for those kids in this thread hoping for NMSF!
@BorgityBorg 212 is up from 211 last year so some states NMSF cut off might go up. Some went up last year and may already be high enough to stay the same. S19 on that bubble at 221. Hoping our cut off stays there but it’s ok if it doesn’t. Right now we aren’t looking at any schools that give big merit. Crazy that we all don’t find out until Sept. For many families, it make it hard to make a list early.
I found it interesting that on the Compass Strategies page where Art Sawyer’s best guess for Commended was the 212 it ended up being that the average score actually went down, from 1019 to 1015, even as Commended ticked up a point and the NMSF cutoffs may go up in some states. It suggests 2 possibly simultaneous scenarios: 1) the PSAT drew a broader-range of test-takers, and 2) the competition for the top slots continues to intensify…
Well, I guess commended it is for S! It seems very unlikely he’ll make NMSF. Oh well.
@homerdog - Where was the commended cutoff announced?
@elena13 It’s not really announced but they will tell you if you call. A few other CC posters called today and got that answer - 212. I searched online to find something in writing but there’s nothing out there yet.
I haven’t been able to find the National Merit Semifinalist cutoff numbers for class of 2019 yet? Is there an actual state by state list yet or just estimates? My D19 earned a 225 here in Colorado, so we are hopeful.
@coffeemomCO NMSF cut offs don’t come out until Sept. The 212 number is released earlier. That number is a national number (not by state) and is for National Merit Commended status.
And 225 is most definitely NMSF in any state.
thank you for that info, @homerdog ! I didn’t realize that they wait so long after testing to announce the cut offs. Interesting. Thank you, again.
So, S19 (EE major most likely) loved MIT and decided to throw his hat/lottery ticket into the ring and apply there as his super reach school. His favorite part was the ‘Dr. Suess’ building, inside and out lol.
Harvard was a definite ‘no’ from him.
Now we’re headed to Huntsville, Alabama to check out UAH, where he would get 100% tuition as long as they don’t make changes to their automatic merit before next application cycle. Drove from Cambridge to Hagerstown yesterday after the Harvard tour, and the second leg is today. I hope he likes it, because our in-state schools are tight with merit money (VA). In- state GMU would cost about the same as what the NPC shows for MIT for us!
Last week of the quarter at our school. Then it’s on to the final push for junior year, crazy. Trying to keep son19 on track and motivated. He is showing some signs of fatigue, he needs to get more sleep. His athletics have resumed and they are training hard, and his classes have had a lot of work lately. Fortunately if he gets thru this week he’ll have an easier week next week, and the week after they are on break agajn.
Once he’s back from spring break it’s full on 24\7 until mid june. It’s going to be a grind with sfudies, track, soccer, prom, sat 2 etc.
@parent2one let us know why your kid liked MIT vs Harvard please.
I don’t remember whether I wrote about it here or not. Kiddo had bad news over the weekend, he didn’t get the part he wanted in the next musical, it went to a freshman instead. He was sad and angry. We talked all weekend about the best way to get more information about the decision process from the director. They had that conversation yesterday, and kiddo has a couple of things to work on over the summer and encouragement for next year. He isn’t quitting the play, but he was encouraged to branch out and look for productions outside school this summer.
So, yesterday evening while telling us about this conversation he got a text from the Shakespeare troupe he worked with last fall. They need a replacement for someone who had to drop out of the June/July production, can he do it? The schedules line up perfectly, of course he can!
It does torpedo our early summer tentative plans but, honestly, that’s why I hadn’t booked any hotels anywhere yet. We are hoping that the driver’s license is sorted out by June or July, too, that would make things much, much simpler.
I did want to get the New England college visit trip out of the way in June or July, but August is doable. On a brighter note, it does give me a little more time to save up vacation hours.