So wouldn’t Princeton and MIT consider the high school dishonest considering the transcript would call the class AP?
@Mugglemom - I think that makes sense. There is a wide variety of expectations, apparently. I teach AP Chemistry, and that test is accepted at almost every college. (Except Caltech, and very recently also, MIT.) In fact, I just looked it up. MIT is now stingier than ever, requiring a placement test plus a 5 on the BC Calculus test to advance in Calculus, for example. Interestingly, they do still take the English. 
In general, I view AP Exams as the last bastion of “merit aid” that kids can get at almost every college - my DS16 was able to graduate a year early and save us tens of thousands of dollars.
@Nicki20 I am confused. How could schools see the high school as dishonest when it is the parents that have to pay for the AP test? If there is a financial reason for not taking the test, that should be legitimate for both the high school and college.
@fretfulmother we were in the class of 16 together and I remember being so excited for all the success your son was experiencing. I fully agree with you, if the test is going to help you in any way or the school requires it, obviously take the test. My kids’ school didn’t offer any merit money so there was no advantage. 9 tests between 2 kids cane out to nearly $1000. If they had made different choices regarding enrollment, then this would have been different too. I love when kids can graduate early thanks to APs. The money saved is amazing. It just didn’t work that way for my kids.
@MuggleMom - thank you! I completely see your point 
Got back from a visit to Case Western with D20 last night. D20 had an interview, campus tour, and college of nursing tour. Any K20’s looking to pursue nursing (or biomedical engineering), and can afford CWRU, you should really check it out. I guess you have to appreciate urban campuses as well, which my D20 does. She loved it, and the new building housing the college of nursing/med school/college of dentistry is state-of-the-art. With University Hospitals, a VA, and Cleveland Clinic all walking distance from campus, clinical sites can’t be beat. Having the home of the Cleveland Symphony, Arboretum, Natural History museum, and Museum of Contemporary Art all right there on/near campus makes this place very unique.
College Board changed the due date for AP exam registrations. This upcoming year we need to pay for AP exams by November 15. Very few will know what college they are going to attend by the time they pay for exams. If you cancel an exam, you still need to pay $40.
https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/ap-coordinators/exam-ordering-fees/exam-fees
It looks like a $40 fee to sign up late for an AP exam as well. With 5 APs this year for each of my kids I think we may gamble and not sign them up at all. Then sign them up late if they end up at schools that take them. They will be seniors so doing that may make the best sense. Unless I’m missing something.
So, I’m thinking about going ahead and putting the deposit down on DS’s Iowa State acceptance so he can choose a dorm even though it’s not his first choice school right now. I’m hearing a lot about how freshman housing is tough and he could end up far away from the engineering area. I have a credit card that is 0% on all charges until next April, and they reimburse 90% if you withdraw before May 1st, so we don’t have a lot to lose. $35 of the $350.
Anyhow, I’ve been hearing it’s unethical to accept at more than one place, but what do you do if it’s linked to housing? We won’t be making any decisions before the financial aid packages arrive and we haven’t even visited all of the schools yet. I don’t even think any of the other schools we’re applying to will pressure to accept anyhow. TC I think you can get a housing contract prior to accepting, Duluth puts you in line for housing based on the order applications were submitted, so the only one I don’t know about is Huntsville.
I wouldn’t feel bad at all about depositing at Iowa State while he still has other applications out. They’ve got to know some kids are waiting for answers from Minnesota, Illinois, etc. before they make a final decision. At the information session we attended yesterday they were encouraging us to accept and get the housing thing rolling, and mentioned it as an advantage of applying early. They didn’t mention withdrawing applications elsewhere or anything, just that you have to cancel by May 1 if you want to go elsewhere, live-in at a fraternity instead, etc.
Also it’s not really double depositing if you cancel before depositing elsewhere, right?
We just haven’t yet because I don’t want to have $300 tied up right now while he’s making up his mind.
Speaking of the Experience Iowa State day, we were very impressed! Really well-organized and lots of good information. The information sessions for his specific majors of interest were helpful in terms of getting an idea of the programs and what to expect, and everyone seemed warm and genuine. I had heard what a beautiful campus it is, and seen pictures online, but it exceeded expectations (the fact that it was a sunny summer day probably didn’t hurt). If it were closer (it’s about 3.5 hours away by car) I think it would be the top choice.
Editing to add: yes, UMN-TC housing application is separate from accepting admission and I confirmed with housing that you can put in a housing deposit there when it opens in Nov. even if you haven’t received your decision yet. We definitely plan to do that.
DH and I met at CWRU. It’s a great school and Cleveland is a wonderful city. I wish one of my kids were interested in attending. I thought D20 would be since it’s close to home (we’re an hour away) but, as of now, she says no and she’s running out of time. It is expensive, though.
@myrna97 - We’re going to Experience Iowa State during October. They’re having it at the same time schools are out here, so seemed perfect. Probably do a Twin Cities visit one of those days too. We’re 4 hours from Iowa State and 4 hours from Duluth. Iowa is the better school, but I’m afraid it will cost a lot more for us with no reciprocity and losing the MN grant. Ideally he gets into TC and decides he loves it there (only 2 hours away), but I’m not holding my breath on either of those things.
Good plan. We haven’t decided yet what we’re doing over MEA - maybe delaying our WI trip to that week.
Duluth would only be about 2 hours from us and the price is right, so we suggested it, but S20 wants a bigger school.
Well dang. I must have been looking at the Alabama residents scholarship page before (they used to have resident and non-resident the same). You need a 34 ACT to get a 100% tuition scholarship now, where as it used to be 30. :neutral: He would still get a 67% scholarship, but with their super high housing costs and having to figure in the costs of travel, this is probably going to put it out of reach for us. DS was absolutely giddy with excitement when he found out NASA was literally right next door and there were rockets within sight of campus. He’s going to be really bummed.
For UAH I think that GPA requirement is weighted. So a 30 ACT and 4.0 is 100% off tuition.
Our school doesn’t do weighted GPA. His is 3.72 with a 31 ACT.
@cshell2 , since he likes UAH so much, might he be motivated to study and take the ACT again, shooting for that 34?
Yeah, that’s the rub. Especially for a BSN.
@ShrimpBurrito - I’ll see if he wants to try, but that’s a pretty high bar and he’s not very good about studying for the ACT. He totally could do it though if he really put his mind to it, so I’ll make sure he knows that. The first time he took the ACT was completely blind. He didn’t even know the format or anything about what would be on the test. With minimal studying (using the app for 15 minutes a day) he raised it to 31 two months later.
To be honest, I’m a little relieved as I wasn’t totally comfortable with him going to a school that far away. Not that I’m worried about him being far away from me, it’s just the logistics of travel and him not being able to come home on long weekends if he wants to. I was just recently trying to figure out how to get down there for a visit and was struggling. It’s too far to drive in one day and I couldn’t find airfare for less than $400/ticket which seemed crazy to me. It was looking like 24 hour bus ride was our best option.
@cshell2 - where are you seeing that info on Alabama scholarships (for OOS). I’m seeing something slightly different . … hoping I am looking at an outdated page!