I just received an email from a test prep company used at my daughter’s school and supposedly there is some controversy regarding Saturday’s SAT and that it may have be a recycled test from last year somewhere in Asia. They say that the CB has not directly commented on the topic and has tweeted that scores will be released on schedule. Here’s an inside higher ed article: https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2018/08/27/reports-circulate-saturdays-sat-included-questions-available-asia
It’s only going to be around 105F for back to school. Ha, poor kids. What a brutal shock to the system for them.
@MAandMEmom It’s interesting that the test prep company sent an email about it. No one expects College Board to have a specific reaction, as it was College Board’s purposeful choice to administer the Oct 2017 International test for the US Aug 2018 administration. There’s a discussion here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/2096889-sat-8-25-p1.html
@RightCoaster Hot here too. XC meet cancelled for this afternoon. But they did run ten miles yesterday for practice in 95 degrees! LOL!
We have mid 90s with 105 heat index here in the DC area today for the first day of school. S19 is probably too sleepy to notice since he’s been waking up around noon for most of the summer.
It’s good the kids don’t actually have to use any part of their brain for the first few days back to school. Both of my kids have been on a late night schedule for most of the summer so waking up and being productive is going to take a while.
@evergreen5 I did look in the general test prep thread but didn’t go into the sub-thread so I missed that post. I agree that it is interesting that the test prep company sent an email. They must have had a bunch of questions to prompt them to do so. My kids have never used a prep company but my daughter took a mock with them last spring as a freebie. My guess is that this particular company is well-embedded in the boarding school world where there are oodles of international students who would be arriving in the US for school and took this particular test. Just a guess on my part though.
It’s also interesting to note in that thread it mentions re-use, but only when a previous version is used on a smaller scale. We are totally not in the SAT race, but it’s interesting all the while!
We have a feels like 100 here today and D22 has her first scrimmage soccer game at 4:30 and S19 has golf practice at 3:00. I’ve been texting them all morning to hydrate!
I’m in south central PA. Kids’ school is now on half-days today and tomorrow due to heat.
I’m sure the cross country coach will still expect them to show up for practice at 6am tomorrow. When it is “less hot.” LOL! This is a new EC for both S19 and S21 this year. They are doing surprisingly well with having to be at school so early. S19 drives them so it is not impacting Mr. IfiniteWaves and my morning routine. 
Our soccer coach has the kids practicing at 1-3:30 PM today right during the hottest part of the day. I don’t know what the guy is thinking.
@RightCoaster I’m sure the coach is thinking “let’s get them acclimated to the heat so they’ll be good for hot games”. That’s what our crazy XC coach tells the kids.
I’m working on preparing documents the GC requests to prepare her letter and have been unpleasantly surprised by what a pain this is. I’m glad their office wants to learn more about each kid, but this is feeling like overkill. They want a resume, a student response form in which there are 13 questions about everything from summer activities to a personal motto, a “parent brag sheet” with 9 questions (which are redundant…“three adjectives to describe” and “personality traits” and “areas of greatest growth” and “greatest strengths” are all overlapping pretty extensively for me here.) There’s also a “teacher input form”, to be filled out by FOUR teachers who are not letter writers (!!!), a list of colleges and deadlines, a good 'ol FERPA form, and an “extracurricular log”. Knowing that our student body includes dozens and dozens of kids who missed the deadline for senior pictures this summer, I’m just feeling skeptical that most students manage to generate all these documents. So I’m filling them out and wondering what the expectations really are. Of course that should be answered by the GC but she’s not yet answering emails so who knows. Unfortunately all of D’s schools want that counselor letter so this is a necessary step to make any progress.
Coaches really should be more vigilant about exposing students to heat during practices. The University of Maryland lost a football player this year to heatstroke which went improperly treated. They actually admitted fault, hence exposing themselves to major liability. Tragic story, and similar ones seem to happen every year. Our XC team also runs every day from 3:00-5:00 without much regard for high temps. Those are some of the worst hours for running. The only vigilant group around here is our elementary school fitness club which cancels when the temp exceeds 90. In the fall, that means many days are lost.
There’s an article out today in the Nation about textbook costs, and how they represent a burden for many students. I was under the impression that there is less and less “walk into the bookstore and purchase a new textbook” happening these days, and much more renting books, online access, etc. For us, textbook costs are just another drop in the large bucket of pending costs so I’m not that concerned about it, but for those on financial aid it’s definitely an issue. Renting a book would be the route I would most prefer for my kids. Somehow having that actual book seems most conducive to productivity. I know myself, and when I’m reading or working on an Internet-connected device I really bounce around from one article or task to another. If it’s a textbook, it’s just you and book and a nice cozy cubicle in the library. But I’m sure I’m old fashioned in that regard. I still love libraries and the smell of books. At Grinnell College, I enjoyed seeing that they had “Library Staff Trading Cards.” What a refreshing set of priorities!
@SDCounty3Mom - your guidance office sounds amazing. I know it’s a pain, but what an opportunity to tell them about your kid! I would love that!
We got the skinny on textbooks from college kids at a family reunion this summer. Apparently, there are lots of work-arounds (including some books that are entirely uploaded to the internet by angry students). HOWEVER, the book companies have gotten smart, and now there are digital codes you have to have to get supplemental material, and for those you must pay full price. So, you might buy a used book at discount, but you still have to buy the code. That’s a bummer.
I’ve been loosely following the SAT story as lots of S19’s friends took it this weekend. I think what I’m most shocked about is the number of kids who seem to go really intense SAT programs in Asia and then fly into the US to take the test. Then I looked up the Reddit board mentioned in the article as where kids were posting the questions and answers and quickly realized that there is a whole world of SAT prep/study/insanity that I’m really glad I didn’t know about before S19 took the test!
S19 submitted the first round of applications last night. We think his letters of rec and guidance counselor recommendation are all uploaded on the common app too but I guess we won’t know for sure until he gets portal information from each of the schools. It was such a weird feeling to hit submit on those apps, after everything he’s done to prepare - I had this nagging feeling like the apps couldn’t possibly be complete yet, could they? He’ll do the second round tonight and then it’s on to prescreens and departmental supplementals which are usually on Accpt’d.
Wow, that sounds like overkill @SDCounty3Mom. I’ve been grumbling about the “parent questionnaire” for months and I only have to answer 4 questions! S19 said he only has one more question to answer on his part of the questionnaire (he has 10). And then there’s a teacher comment form that was already turned in. I think he only has 2 or 3 schools that even want the counselor letter.
I’m actually not thrilled at the opportunity to tell them about my kid - he’s a laid-back introvert who doesn’t have a competitive bone in his body so I kind of have to grasp. The questions are written for the driven, superstar kids. is “being chill” really an attribute colleges are looking for? “Hey, he got that A- average without studying for more than 1 or 2 tests all year! yay?” “He can sleep for 12 hours straight!” “The cat loves him the most!”
Our high school is undergoing a massive renovation that was slated to be completed this summer. Apparently it’s still somewhat iffy since they just cancelled Thursday’s Back To School night. They are still having 9th grader orientation? Ah, well. I guess the 9th graders can just breathe construction dust.
Since my D19 has been accepted early to a couple schools, it’s been interesting to observe what happens after a kid is accepted, in terms of schools trying to convince an applicant to commit.
Both Iowa State and Bradley have directed all their efforts, it feels like, at the parents. We’ve gotten lots of stuff from Bradley on issues of “value” and looking beyond the sticker price and such; as for Iowa State, we even got a letter from the Ames, Iowa mayor’s office, congratulating us on our daughter’s admission to Iowa State, and telling us what a fabulous place Ames is. (I’m guessing that that was specific to parents of OOS students—I’m curious what Iowan parents get sent, if anything.)
Mississippi State, on the other hand, is full-court-press in connections with our daughter. She’s gotten multiple handwritten postcards (always, always in maroon ink!), the latest one apparently matched to D19’s interests (a prospective female engineering major being welcomed to the engineering program by a female engineering major—not by chance, I don’t think), and a fistful of mailings about campus traditions (I’m tired of hearing about cowbells, but D19 seems to have moved from finding it hokey to finding it at least somewhat endearing, so good on you for that one, marketing folks).
@SDCounty3Mom we have the same sort of thing to fill out and hand in. It’s kind of a split deal with parents and kid. The kids are responsible for letting the GC know of ECs, awards, special areas of interest etc. The parents have to give them a few adjectives and answer a few questions about the kid.
I guess it’s helpful to them so they don’t just a truly generic letter.
We’re on 2-5 postcards per week from Arcadia since DS was accepted. They still seem to be confused about which year they accepted him for. Hopefully they figure it out before next week. Maybe I should make him contact them.
@SDCounty3Mom DS16 buys books needed for his major and rents the rest or buys used. He does not like online texts. Just so you won’t be shocked, some of the used books can be expensive , especially if you need to purchase an online code.