@inthegarden Also, suggest you print out the next test as online testing is significantly different than paper, for a number of reasons. Even just the mechanics of moving your eyes back and forth between the screen and your scratch paper can make a difference.
I really hope the test is not online. If it is, they should increase the time allowed. And you canât mark up the sheet like almost everyone does. That makes it so much harder. If that comes to pass, I may even have D21 bag the whole stupid thing and just apply to schools that will be TO. More and more of her list is coming around to that anyway.
@evergreen5 @3kids2dogs @Mwfan1921 thank you. What if they donât use the common app to apply to colleges? Do colleges still send something to the HS counselor to fill out? At my Ds school, there is a âbrag sheetâ (called something else) that they are instructed to give to teachers/counselor to write recommendation letter, but if they donât need a recommendation letter, do some colleges not contact the school at all and just go on app, test scores, gpa, essay etc or do all colleges contact counselor for extra info? Thanks!
@inthegarden I would bet the online format had at least a little to do with it.
Also, which Khan test did she take ? I believe tests 5-8 are supposed to be the more closely aligned with the real thing (vs tests 1-4). You can also print out tests 9 and 10 and time and score them yourself. 9 and 10 arenât available on Khan (last I knew), but they are more recent tests and therefore supposedly better than tests 1-4. They were not included in the big blue official book of tests that we got - ours is 1-8 only, so if you had her do 9 or 10, that wouldnât overlap with the book I think youâre waiting on.
Also, if you print out and do 9 or 10 paper based, she can do just a math section and skip the verbal. (Of course closer to test day sheâll want to simulate a full test, but I donât think itâs harmful if she wants to do one now thatâs just math as thatâs been her focus and the only thing she really needs to improve). Maybe sheâd be more excited (okay, that is likely a poor word choice, haha) to try again if she knew it could be paper based and math only ? My S21 isnât practicing at all right nowâŠhe was ready to go for the 14th but is taking a break from it until probably late April when we hopefully find out whatâs going on with the June dates.
@inthegarden my S actually did better on the real tests. I think he is just not as focused with the practice test, maybe that is the case with your D.
@1lotus. The HS profile that have seen from my childrenâs HS is really nothing more than laying out the demographics of the school. I.e. Urban, Suburban. Rural, How many kids, how many kids go to college, how may AP classes do they offer, what is the grade distribution etc. It really is just a way for the colleges to get a better sense of the application. How impressive is a class rank at this school versus an lesser rank at a more competitive HS.
Also I have heard the admissions folks say, especially for kids that come from large school, and at the more elite schools that they are not comparing students stats from different schools, but rather are using the high school stats to compare the applications from the same school and considering how past students from the same schools With similar stats who matriculated Performed at the college.
@burghdad wow. You think they look at kidsâ college grades to see how kids from the high school do when they get to their college?
@homerdog We are in GA and our HS had a presentation from Rick Clark, Director of Admissions at GA Tech. He recommended that aspiring applicants from our school call alumni who are at Tech to make sure they are studying! A joke, yes, but in fact the university is definitely looking at how alumni from our HS are doing in college as a gauge for how prepared our applicants are.
Iâve always thought colleges look at past classes to see how they do. I always kind of figured thatâs why certain schools have good relationships with certain colleges. We usually get between 10-20 into Cornell every year - I figure Cornell must see past students from our school do well, which is why they accept so many.
Not every college, of course, but regionally, if a lot apply to the same schools
@Acersaccharum wow who knew. Iâd better make sure S19 keeps doing well. Bowdoin did accept one student from our high school this year and made athletic offers to two other kids but those two chose other schools. I think thy went D1.
If they are checking on S19âs grades and the other student from our high schoolâs then I guess they are cool with our high school and think kids can do the work. For the last three years, weâve only had 2-3 kids apply there and one get in each year. Looking forward to the year when more kids apply and they take two. Lol.
As @NJWrestlingmom says, the effect is probably mostly regional, or schools that are very popular, like most elite colleges. Iâm sure there is some effect at LACâs but maybe not as strong. My D is interested in some NE and Midwest LACâs that have very little representation from the South. I am hoping that works in her favor, but then again, if few to no kids from our HS have applied or gone to these schools, it might make it a little harder.
The high school connection does make me wonder about D and Davidson. The two kids from our high school there are seniors now. Iâm sure theyâve done well. S19 was accepted so, if they looked at those kidsâ grades, I guess they approved. Just seems over and above what AOs typically do - read apps. Digging for other kidsâ grades seems a little much.
Makes me wonder if S19 turning down Davidson would make them less likely to admit D21 if schools really are looking deeper into histories with high schools. I know some of that goes on but itâs had to know how much it affects any one candidate.
@Acersaccharum I hear you. Applying to schools where no kids go from your high school seems like a crap shoot. Could be a bump or a disadvantage. I would say showing a ton of interest is important even if they say it doesnât count. We had very little to go on when S19 was applying. For Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Hamilton, no one had ever been accepted from our high school in RD and only one per class as an ED recruited athlete. Zero to two kids applied each year RD and none got in over the prior three years. We didnât know how that would go but he interviewed at all, had an email relationship with the AOs and got into 2 out of the 3 getting waitlisted at Midd. Our counselor was pretty sure heâd get in if he took the spot and told them he would commit but he decided to let that spot go.
I think it also depends on your high school. If itâs a competitive high school that offers a lot of APs or IB, that likely helps. Or if your S is valedictorian or very close to the top of the class, I bet that helps too. Itâs the yield question for the college - if no one has applied from your high school then why are you? And why would you go somewhere no one in your town has chosen? You really have to make your case somewhere in the app.
@homerdog. I would think in todays computerized world colleges may have a program that allows them to track how kids from a particular high school have done that matriculated at the college. But who knows.
My thinking is that highly-selective colleges would not have enough data to draw accurate conclusions about a particular high school from its graduatesâ college grades. The sample size typically isnât large enough. Say 1-5 kids per year, tops. And looking back more than, say, five years seems too remote from the current operations of the high school. Too much variation in studentsâ backgrounds (what if some were hooked/recruited athletes etc, what were their test scores, what major are they in now). I think it would be even less help to the AO than we get from looking at Naviance - interesting, but usually not enough accepted student data to tell us much for students at the margin of accept/reject.
Iâve never seen info anywhere from an actual AO on whether they do this.
@burghdad I am sure that is the case at GT. They probably have a lot of data from Georgia HSâs so they know where you are coming from. A friend at at new charter high school was told by another tech AO, that by the time her kids applied, the university should have some data on their HS to compare. Yikes! That is a real disincentive to go to a new school!
As for the small, highly selective colleges, I do think they have relationships with some schools and not others, giving applicants from those schools a small advantage over qualified applicants from schools that donât have those relationships. As @homerdog said, showing interest is especially important in that situation.
Thanks @burghdad !
Do you think they do that with siblings at colleges? I mean, check to see how the college sibling is doing when looking at the applying sibling? I suppose anything is possible, right?
@Meddy Iâm not sure if youâre responding to my comment but my concern is that Davidson would not admit D21 partly because they think she wonât attend since her brother was admitted but chose another school. Maybe thatâs not something I should worry about. They are different kids. D21 is communicating with the Ao and itâs the same one that S19 was working with two years ago.
@homerdog It was your question that made my mind wander over to my question lol and to clarify does anyone know if example- D18 attends Amherst, if D20 applies, do they look at D18 to see how she is doing to inform their decision?