@homerdog correct, you pay per report (not per test). So for D19, when she took her May SAT subject test in Chem, using the 4 free reports, we sent her report to the National Merit folks and 3 of her likely schools. The report that these places will get will have her SAT Biology test score from 9th grade, her SAT test score from last August and her May Subject test score in Chem.
I saw that article about U of C also. I was wondering if this was an extra attempt to increase applications, lower acceptance rates even further, and continue to influence their ranking. Of course itâs a wonderful school, but their marketing efforts and no application fee have really helped lower their acceptance rates. I canât even believe how much mail we get from them. I highly doubt the average tests scores of their accepted students will fall.
So now, instead of my daughter doing a really, really tiny bit better on the ACT, she did precisely the same on both of them.
Well, for overall scores, at least. Now she did even better on the SAT for math than on the ACT (and sheâs still a good chunk better on the ACT for language), meaning that she still has to submit both scores for colleges that use those for math and comp placement.
Will UChicagoâs policy devalue a good ACT score? Will they not care if you get a 36 one way or another? Further, what is the social environment. S17 very interested in it academically because of economics program, socratic style, diversity in thought, but afraid that it wonât be fun. Is this true?
@skrrtbrothersjr we are in the Chicago suburbs and know the school well. Our high school sends 6-8 kids there every year. It is not fun. I have no qualms about stating that. I know half a dozen kids there personally and they like it but they are serious students and for them it was a good fit. They would say they spend most time in class or studying. We toured for S19 and, even though I think itâs a match academically and he liked a lot about what they said about classes, he got the vibe that most kids are pretty serious. Heâs not applying.
Hi everyone, Iâm just back from a round of college visits with D19 and thought Iâd give a report for anyone interested.
Started with Georgetown, which she liked but didnât love. I was worried that the Jesuit/religion thing was going to be a complete turn off for her, but she felt like they did a good job making it more about the values the Jesuits espouse (service to others, etc), which resonate with her even if she is of a different religion. I was wildly impressed by the Dean giving the SFS-specific session, but D19 walked away feeling like there were too many course requirements for her taste, even if she does like the subject generally. Bonus points for best tour guides Iâve seen yet though.
Then on to American, which we felt was âmehâ at best. I canât quite put my finger on why, but to me it felt like a community college trying to elevate itself.
Next day was Johns Hopkins, which she unexpectedly (to me) loved. She absolutely adored the campus â Iâd never seen it before in person either, and it really is lovely, and totally not what I expected. Only thing she didnât love is that students only live on campus 2 years, then most live off campus. Though they mostly live very nearby, she still really wants the whole 4 year on campus experience if possible. But even though sheâs not a science/math kid, she thought the school was convincing that itâs not just for pre-med or engineering types, perhaps because they made a big point of saying that the second most popular undergrad major there is international relations.
Then did a drive by of Dickinson College â that was a Sunday, so we couldnât do an official tour or info session. We were going to walk around campus, but when we got there, it was raining pretty hard, so we just drove around and saw what we could from the car. She was already favorably disposed toward it as we have a family friend who went there, so this was more just about confirming that she liked the feel of it enough to have on the list as a âlikely.â
Finally, Lehigh and Lafayette â a study of contrasts between two schools who so often get mentioned in the same breath (just because of location, I realize). So her guidance counselor had convinced her, and me, that we were wrong in thinking Lehigh was just for science/engineering students, and that that really have a good humanities program too. Well, that might be true for all I know, but if so, they sure arenât trying to sell that to you in person! We did the info session and then the tour, and LITERALLY the only mention of any non-science/engineering/business course of study was when our tour guide said âthat building there is where you have English class. I know, everyone hates English, but you have to take one class here, and it actually wasnât as bad as I thought it would be.â D19 was ready to bail out of the tour then and there, and that was before we saw the horrible dorm they chose to show prospective students (which hadnât yet been cleaned after students moved out at the end of the year). Worst tour guide weâve ever had by far, the poor kid was completely inarticulate and after about 2 questions everyone stopped asking questions at all, as no one could figure out what the heck his answer meant. Tour couldnât end fast enough for us!
By contrast, at Lafayette, there were only two families in the info session, so it was really just a conversation with the AO, and then each family had its own tour guide (and actually, we had two because our âofficialâ guide was doing her first tour, so they sent a more experienced guide along too to review her performance). D19 loved everything about Lafayette, though it did help that it was an absolutely gorgeous day by that point. But the campus is beautiful, the (two) libraries are great (a good library, that kids actually go to for studying, is a must have on D19âs list), and our tour guide seemed genuinely enthusiastic about everything to do with the school. It was helpful that she wasnât a science/math kid, but could speak passionately about how much sheâs loved the two science classes that sheâs taken there, much to her surprise. I think D19 could really see herself there, and she loved that itâs only an hour to NY.
Exhausted now, and need a break from thinking about (or worrying about, in D19âs case) college!
Last day of school! The cumulative GPA has been recalculated, a long nap has been taken, the gaming PC is fired up, and I will give him 3 days before I bother him about applying for jobs!
@SDCounty3Mom my understanding of the FAFSA is it does not take COL into account when determining the EFC.
Last day here too! Fittingly, the year that kept going on and on and ON and on is still hanging on for D19 to the very endâŠsheâs at the graduation this evening as a member of the choir and as a junior honor attendant. Had to dress up for the occasion of course. Seeing all the traffic and lines to get in made me not entirely look forward to doing this a year from nowâŠbut I did take note of some parking trends to remember next year. 
I think the test-optional thing is a bit silly. Until a bunch of schools just collectively declare that they are removing themselves from the College Board and wonât even accept scores, all this does is allow some kids who have more modest results (or the very few who stand on principle) to opt out and the rest will keep sending in their scores. Plus I really would have to be convinced that itâs a good idea to have a kid with a genuine SAT score of 1090, for example, try to start a school like U Chicago right out of high school. If youâre hoping to widen access to under-served communities and bring in more under-resourced students, then you really have to start an effort years earlier, before years of cumulative disadvantage have played out. Just my two cents!
Yay for the summer vibe finally landing upon our little neck of the woods! Weâre all going to Disneyland tomorrow, with two of my kids going as part of a city group to get half-price entry and D19 going with me and DH. A hectic way to kick off the summer but itâll be a fun time.
Going to wait until Sunday to bring up The Spreadsheet and some related to-dosâŠ
I just dropped off DD to work at our church camp most of the rest of the summer. (She gets to come home first part of July to see Hamilton and go to Disney World. What a life 
) Per her Instagram post, she has already made friends and played some soccer so hereâs to whatâs shaping up to be a great summer!
College talk is temporarily suspended. I have an idea to visit 3 schools not far apart in September and then hopefully be done but who knows what will happen.
Last day for DD20 and DS19âs last day was a couple days ago (no exams). I was catching up on posted and read about other folks here wondering if the college list is complete. I am going through that right now! I think because we are visiting for two kids and they are very different academically.
Does anyone have any last recos for southern East Coast schools for B students (for DD20)? She is going to study either psychology or communications, but if she gets her act together, maybe in the future some kind of medical areaâŠnot pre-med/nursing but probably more of a support role.
Thank you!
@SDCounty3Mom I see the score optional thing as really leveling the playing field. Our county pays for every kid to take the SAT. It costs nearly a hundred bucks, plus a lost weekend morning where you have to drag yourself to a test site, to retake the SAT or to take the ACT. The free in-school SAT came in the middle of rehearsals for us. Say theyâd had a bubbling error, or had been coming down with the flu when the test was given, they could have scored much lower on a single sitting. For a kid with poor parents, that single sitting is probably their only chance at any of the tests.
But if theyâve had straight Aâs in hard courses for four years and won accolades despite working two jobs, they might very well be UChicago material.
If they really wanted to use the test and level the playing field, they would have it be administered once only, with a makeup test administered later to those who had been unable to attend the first sitting. But itâs harder to game that system.
@cakeisgreat what does her list look like now, and how âsouthernâ is southern? Virginia yes/no? Maryland yes/no?
@cakeisgreat you may want to look at Flagler College in St Augustine. Theyâre a small private LAC with a reasonable COA of approximately 30,000 prior to scholarships. College of Charleston may be another option in Charleston, SC. Both of these schools would require a higher B average. Both are urban schools, so if sheâs looking for a âtraditionalâ campus , they may not interest her. CofC has strong ties with the Medical University of SC which allows students to get volunteer hours that they may need for a health related professions.
@soxmom We too toured Lehigh and Lafayette. We toured Lehigh the same day as Bucknell. After seeing Bucknell I didnât like Lehigh. My uncle was a professor at Lehigh so I kind of felt obligated to like it - and I truly tried. My son wants a research school and he definitely liked the science vibe and he liked the mountaintop research facility but there wasnât much else he liked. And OMG the dorm for freshman was a throwback to when I went to college. I felt like I was looking at my old dorm with the same type of furniture. Lafayette on the other hand was a perfect fit for my son. Our tour guide wasnât the best but my son could tell right away that it was a fit for him. Itâs in his top 3 (Binghamton, William & Mary, Lafayette).
Last day of school today and guess what Mom was crying driving out of the school! Wow, never thought it would be so emotional but it really hit me today that this is it⊠He is completely done, turned in his IA last night and all of his grades are final. He gets about three days off and then he will begin writing his extended essay and he begins working at my middle school next Wednesday to paint positive murals for his CAS project. He painted murals in the bathroom and the kids scratched horrible things into the paint (ugh middle school kids). So heâs taking the murals off the walls and painting them on canvases that can be hung up around the school.
Elon is a good choice for southern east coast schools for a B student.
@cakeisgreat there is one called Misericordia in PA that one of our graduating seniors is very excited to attend. She is planning on an medical imaging, IIRC. I hadnât heard of it before but looked it up when she told me and it looked like a really nice school. She told me she thought it was beautiful and very welcoming when she visited.
It is a catholic school though, in case that matters.
@cakeisgreat Elon is very good at communications, BTW
Can a B student really get into Elon? I guess I think of it as a school for 3.5 kid who has a little less rigor than selective schools want. I doubt my 3.2 gpa kid could get in there.
@me29034 If you are sure Elon is your school. Apply early decision. Per the CDS for 2017-2018, ED had a 90% acceptance rate.
My kid has no interest in Elon but I was just questioning its appropriateness for a B student. I think many on this site think there are the elite schools and then everything else. That really isnât true. Many schools that are considered less than elite are still out of reach for B students.