Is anyone following senior parent posts about whether or not they will take a year off?
Also wanted to share that the College Essay Guy has a two part free webinar for juniors coming up 4/22, 4/29. I can’t find a link online but he has a mailing list you can sign up for.
Just thinking about this more. My S21 plans to submit most of his applications Early Action which means early/mid Oct. deadlines. Not being able to test again until Aug leaves not a lot of time – tick, tick, tick.
At least with the ACT there are the stand alone tests he can do starting in Sept. But they will be new and online – who knows how that’ll go. And so many students trying to get seats.
I’m increasingly thinking my S really will have to go TO. The issue is our state flagship engineering school has not made any announcement yet. They’d be the most affordable and logical option for him. That said, he doesn’t really love the school. . .
Dang - I wish he’d been ‘one and done’ with his Feb. test. Sigh.
My D21 received SAT email…we had not signed her up for the June SAT and she has never taken SAT, only PSAT twice…she will be sent priority registration email. We sign her up for the June 13 ACT-still hoping it can happen 
She was supposed to test in April with all juniors at school and it was cancelled and counselor says that the school does not plan to test them at a later date…it makes me wonder how ACT handles this. I am guessing that the school paid for the tests…so did they opt for a refund instead of testing the students in the fall?
Just got the email that D21 can get priority for SAT-she has never registered. She might take advantage- her ACT score came in and was good, but Math was lower than she wanted. She never finishes math on ACT, so the SAT might be better.
I received the SAT email as well. My daughter was registered for a school SAT in March, but no other tests. The email says that as a rising senior in the class of 2021 who hasn’t yet taken the SAT, she will have early access for the August, September and October administrations.
Wondering if early access will help much. If the above is true, there are 700 juniors just at our high school that have “early access”. All juniors in the state of Illinois will be in the same boat. Why can’t they just give us the date to register now?
@homerdog For what it’s worth, in your shoes, I’d be inclined to register ASAP for two test dates if/when the website lets you. (Thinking out loud, the sense of scarcity may drive demand even higher than is typical.)
Well, we won’t be registering, so that’s one less Illinois kid in line. If she takes it through school, fine, but otherwise, we’re just going with her ACT from October.
@evergreen5 well you know I’m doing that! I’m the person who signed her D up for March, May, and June with an April test that was supposed to happen in school so I’m all over grabbing seats. I’ll sign her up for all fall options! (Not hoarding them…she would indeed take those tests.)
We just got the grading policy. The spring semester grades will be the grades from the first 9 week period that ended right before the school closed. Online learning is P/F.
Question for the wise folks who have kids in the class of 2021 – what do you think will happen to the NMSF/NMF scholarships that are given by schools like the University of Alabama, the Florida schools, the University of Oklahoma, etc.? Will those go away, or be cut back? Thoughts?
We got the early access email too. It doesn’t seem like much help with most of the juniors were likely registered for one of these Spring test dates. Not sure right now what S21 will do. He has a 1490 from December so really doesn’t need to take it again but wanted to try one more time to get a perfect math score (he got 1 question wrong). Probably won’t bother to register early but if he feels inclined to try AND there’s space in Aug/Sept he might decided to give it a shot.
“Spring break” such as it is, was last week and the rest of the year we are told is review (except for AP classes) and opportunities to pull up any grades. He has two B+ as of the end of Q3 so those classes + AP prep are the priorities. Seems to be getting his work done. Also needs to finish the “brag sheet” for his school counselor, which was supposed to be done before break but he’s still working on it.
I for one would not assume that the FL legislature will fully continue to fund the NMF monies that are given to the state universities. Our state relies so much on tourism and clearly that revenue is gone and the future is not encouraging. Obviously, I am a realist, not an optimist, by nature.
I totally agree. I would go with the schools such as BAMA, where the school sponsors the scholarship. Not a state.
I would not be optimistic about the Florida NMF scholarships for the class of 21. Some schools, such as UCF, may continue to offer NMF scholarships, as they did prior to the state funding of the Benacquisto. As for the others, it’s probably up in the air. As for Alabama, or others, hard to say. I’ve read Tuscaloosa is being particularly hard hit right now with no students on campus. No idea if that will translate into less money for NMF.
On the other hand, NMF scholarships don’t appear to necessarily be a budget breaker, as there aren’t many of them. I was looking at Florida’s recent budget numbers and the Benacquisto numbers are tiny compared to Bright Futures. So, who knows?
I will be keeping a close eye on this for my D21, for sure.
@carlson2 I had a long talk with DS21 about the fact that I cannot imagine a scenario now where he is able to attend UF as an NMF. Maybe I’m being overly pessimistic, but I anticipate that the majority of NMF full CoA scholarships will be canceled starting this fall. I anticipate the Florida legislature will end Benacquisto, and most schools will end full CoA scholarships because they will be hemorrhaging money for the next several years. This makes me really, really sad as DS21 had his heart set on a UF Engineering degree at no cost to his single mom
DS21 is also pretty much discounting football being a hook to MIT and its solid endowment, as well, because he says without twice-a-day practices he is quickly losing his edge. He was invited to attend MIT’s football camp in July (he received a personal email from the head coach and we were both over the moon; I was so proud!) and now it’s almost certain that the camp will not happen, or if by some miracle it does happen, he will be out of shape and out of practice for it. I have tried to reassure him that everyone else is in exactly the same boat but he’s convinced that there are other brilliant HS juniors with near-perfect stats out there who also weigh 250lbs and are outstanding defensive and offensive linemen, who want to be engineers, and who have somehow managed to keep up the 2x/day workouts with coaches and teammates. Um, no.
So we are preparing ourselves for a year or two at the local community college, then transfer to UCLA or Cal to complete his degree. Not at all a bad plan even in normal times, but with his accomplishments and talent and with the recent history of full CoA scholarships for NMF kids like he will certainly be, it’s just…not what we were hoping for. It will cost us more for him to attend Saddleback Community College than it would have for him to attend the University of Florida as an NMF. No way to spin that into a good thing…except I get my baby at home for a few more years. 
We are healthy and I remain employed. Perspective, sherimba03, perspective.
@sherimba03 , this single mom wants to give you a virtual hug! Yes, healthy and employed during this terrible time is soooo much to be thankful for.
@sherimba03 your son isn’t giving himself enough credit! I saw lots of football recruiting with S17 - there aren’t that many high stats big boys for these top schools! Don’t give up just yet! My son’s friend didn’t get any looks until senior year and he’s now going to be going into his senior year of engineering at Carnegie Mellon with lots of financial aid (single mom there too).
I’m hoping this doesn’t mean D21’s in-state safety cuts way back on merit next year! The merit and honors college were the two things making her feel a bit better about going to her safety.
@sherimba03 – While you should prepare for any eventuality, don’t give up on football at MIT (or elsewhere?) Everyone is in same boat in terms of training slides, missing training camps.
While I don’t know the world of athletic recruiting, keep showing interest in colleges/programs. There’s going to be a lot of uncertainties and shuffling the next 12 months so keep options open and he should be persistent in pursuing them.
Hang in there – you’re going great!
@CaliMex D21 does not want a Women’s College and Reed is on her list. Thanks for the suggestions. I feel like this process that was already crazy has gotten even more difficult to predict and she will need to have more options on her list.