@momtogkc, enjoy your trip! that IS a lot of schools, quite a whirlwind! good luck! My D has written three essay drafts but is practically back to square one and has three supplements to do. And now buried in schoolwork and khan prep. I did my due diligence trying to warn her this summer so my conscience is clean (though that does nothing to reduce the anxiety).
@AlmostThere2018, I guess it will become a self-fulfilling prophesy if everyone thinks that way and only submits those extra-high scores. I guess I have felt that if they are at least at the 50-percentile or higher level of that school’s normal scores, then the school would be glad to know that the student shows ability to achieve at that school’s level of expectations, especially corroborated with grades and rigor.
Those of us with kids in average high schools don’t have the option of going school-optional to hide that factor from an AO’s view. It’s a double-whammy if their hard -earned (but newly deficient) test scores are to be now seen as another mark against them or thrown away, and their grades are looked at with skepticism. It’s as if we were to tell a kid with a healthy array of ECs not to submit them because they didn’t win state or national awards.
Whatever happened to schools telling students that they expect scores to be lower this year, that they will be understanding of all circumstances? I hope they stick to that.