Parents of the HS Class of 2021 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
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Thanks, @Aguadecoco! I’m about fitting the college to the kid rather than the kid to the college. It’s just not exactly clear which schools ARE best fits with these weird scores. She won’t major in anything primarily quantitative so I don’t want to sell her short on her strengths, either. I’d like to see her in a place where she’s in the middle of the pack or just slightly above, challenged but not over-stresssed.

Kenyon is the one selective (but maybe not too selective) school that I’ve noticed with middle-50 math scores somewhat lower than ERW (almost always seems the other way around) but I don’t know about social fit…and it’s a bit remote and small but maybe worth looking into…

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@dadof4kids We are in the same boat. My D took ‘baseline’ ACT and did well on all sections excepts she didn’t get the pacing for math and was quite low and that brought composite down. She was scoring 8-9 pts. higher in math on every practice, ready for April. She’s top 1% of class, so her current 31 doesn’t reflect her well. Even if it’s at 50%, not sure we should send it. Desperately hoping for another chance to take the ACT.

@inthegarden D is lopsided, as mentioned above with math being a low outsider score due to pacing. She’s got it down now. I pray she can get in a full or section retest, as I do worry how the unevenness will look. I’ve got a STEAM kid, so I’d imagine it’s pretty important to be balanced.

I watched a webinar with an ACT rep a while ago (on Grown&Flown, I believe). She said that for schools to offer the section retest, they had to meet a certain technology threshold (high speed, secure connection, offer computers) and not all testing centers would meet, or apply to ACT to be able to offer the section retests.

Also, we have been attending a lot of virtual presentations, so not sure which school said what- but several have said if your feel the scores you have are representative, send them- if you think they do not reflect your best efforts- don’t. Not one has said a % range. I have seen articles advising being in the middle 50% range to consider sending- top 25% send for sure, as schools will want those top scores.

Regarding how AOs will evaluate applications at schools with high volumes w/o scores… VT for example doesn’t even take teacher recs- so GPA and transcript I’d think will have to be king.

I emailed the head of testing for my large county asking about the July ACT. I’m in an area where ACT is not popular, so there is only one testing location. They were unaware that the ACT had scheduled the site and there were paid registrations! She looped me in on a group email to a superintendent for facilities and another higher up, who replied that the Governor’s new phase restrictions would make it possible to use the building in July for a max of 10 students per room, but he was not aware of any plans in place to actually do so. He asked for what date! Apparently a proposed plan of how the schools system will meet the Governor’s safety guidelines has to be submitted and approved- right now they are working on the return to school plan, but he said he would let me know if they submit a July ACT plan, Really??? He said he was now aware, and would pass the info on to the responsible parties. I’m not hopeful…at all.

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@inthegarden we visited Kenyon twice. S19 did an overnight there. And I went to a bunch of breakouts with talks from the president of the college and professors. I also went to a dinner they had for parents while the prospective students were with their hosts. We were seated with faculty. It was terrific. Let me know if you have any questions.

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Alot of you seem to know Pitt. It’s high on D21’s list but our planned visit for April was cancelled. D21 is at a small public HS in CA that is highly ranked but its students largely attend west coast schools and HS counselor couldn’t think of anyone who had even applied to Pitt in recent years, so D’s HS is a complete unknown to Pitt. Main campus of Pitt has not announced TO. D21 took ACT once in Feb, scored 29 composite and lopsided, low on math/sci, and wants to be pre-health but not pre-med. She’s not a top student but does ok, 3.8 UW/4.1 weighted, took only 1 AP this year and 3 next year. She looks like she’s right at Pitt’s ACT mid 50% for school of arts and sciences (27-32) and weighted GPA. Her plan was to retake ACT math/sci only in September but not sure that will be possible.

Anyone getting a sense of whether schools like Pitt expects an uptick in apps because of not switching to TO ? If I lived in PA or the NE, I’d want to apply to a school or two in the region where I know my test score would help next year amidst the chaos of so many ranked schools and flagship state schools going TO for the first time…it makes me wonder if Pitt went from a reach to a ‘don’t even bother applying’ school for D21.

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@2ndthreekids Pitt has been getting a ton of apps the last few years, at least from our area. I only expect it to go up. That said, if you can afford to be full pay and are from CA, I think that gives you a bit of a boost. I know kids with lower stats who get in, but they don’t get any money. That’s why I won’t take D too look! I have feeling she would really like it but we can’t afford it full price.

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Adding to the above…apply early to Pitt and do all of the essays. Consider applying to Honors college and do those essays too. (assuming they will have essays as before)

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Pitt has rolling admissions, it was great when D18 had an admission decision by end of September. The other PA state related schools Temple and PSU are TO for 2021, not sure Pitt will follow.

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Thanks @homerdog…guess I’m wondering what the prevalent vibe (if any) of Kenyon is, the range of “types” of kids. I mean, I think I have an idea from the website and videos and from other things you read, but each person’s observation gives another valuable data-point when you can’t visit. (We had planned to see Ohio schools in April)… On the one hand, I wonder if it could be a great place for her, but I don’t know. When it’s such a small school (under 2000) without even a real town around it, the fit needs to be just about perfect or a student could be miserable. My D loves reading and humanities, but she doesn’t adore writing for its own sake, and is not a complete life-of-the mind person either…she has just a touch of pragmatism that makes me wonder if she might be pulled more toward a slightly more pre-professional (I.e. Richmond) kind of school or more mainstream student body (I.e. Denison, Dickinson).

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@inthegarden you just gave me description have not been able to put me finger on…“Life-of -the-mind”, Yea that really does not describe D, she really is not “intellectually curious” except things that interest her. She most assuredly leans towards pragmatism making pre-professional much more her lane. I was trying to figure out how to describe her personality in terms of college fit.

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@inthegarden Kenyon is gorgeous but, yes, it’s remote. The closest town is a ten minute drive away but it’s cute as a button. Kids need to know someone with a car to get there, though, because (at least when we were there 18 months ago) there’s no Uber or Lyft in this part of rural Ohio. Gosh, I loved every single thing I heard. I loved the president and spent time talking to him. He went to Swat for undergrad and Stanford for his PhD. He’s been at Kenyon almost ten years. The professors I talked to love teaching kids, just love it. They were all so interesting and well spoken.

The location is a downside for most but, if you have to be on a campus most of the time, this one is beautiful. It’s more like a boarding school out in the woods and pretty sleepy.

S19 met all kinds of kids - athletes and artsy types. I think English is strong there, not just writing. The writing kids have to prove themselves to get into the most popular writing classes. I think they have to give writing samples. Lots of kids don’t get into those classes so they have other writing classes for kids who don’t pass muster. I’m sure both levels of those classes are amazing though.

We also felt that the vibe was more grad school focused than getting a job focused but I don’t know if that’s really fair. The career center does seem like they do a good job. I just think a good chunk of kids there want grad school right after undergrad. They definitely have connections to job options in Columbus but also in NYC and other big cities. You can check out their career center website.

S19 was turned off because of his overnight. He was matched up with a track athlete who basically ignored him and played video games the whole time. He did like other students he met during the daytime portion of the weekend and he thought the classes he went to were interesting and the professors friendly. He was planning on running there, though, and did not like the track kids he met. That was a problem. He also wasn’t thrilled with the location although it was way more pretty than he thought - wooded with rolling hills and awesome trails to run. Just NO town at all. There is a strip of a “town” in the middle of campus but it’s more like a Disney-like fake town, perfect looking and super small. One hotel, two restaurants, one coffee shop, a post office and the bookstore. That’s it. The houses surrounding campus are historic and charming. It was just too sleepy for him but lots of kids he met said there’s a ton of things going on on campus and everything is free - movies, theater, bands, volunteering opportunities. Overall, he thought the kids seemed happy enough and there was a big mix of all types of kids.

Let me know if you have any more specific questions. We visited Denison on that trip too. He didn’t do an overnight. It feels very different. Not life of the mind so much. Sportier, whiter, more mainstream overall. Another really nice campus and does have a nice town that’s walkable from campus.

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@NJWrestlingmom, @Mwfan1921, @MPT3D, Thank you so much for your info on Pitt. Extremely helpful! D would not be a candidate for the honors college with her stats, or that would be a good option…she can weigh applying early vs. being able to retake ACT and applying late though. Thank you again!

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@socaldad2002 Here is the thing at least in the past not a lot of schools superscored the ACT. Some did but I think the majority didn’t. So kids were forced to send their best composite. I would think if they didn’t super score from students taking full tests they would be less likely to super score when kids could just take one section that they studied up. But what do I know.

My D21 has a 34 ACT score in the books but is signed up to take again in July. We are chasing merit. If she would happen to get a few more question right on a second test she could get the 36 and schools like Bama give a huge scholarship for perfect scores and 4.0. It is just worth it to us to have her take again for the long shot improvement. My D18 improved from a 32 to a 35. If she happens to go down on second test which of course could happen she will not have to submit anything other than the 34. So there is not downside with a second ACT. And if by chance she is applying to a school that does super score and does better on one section that could get her to a 35 or 36 for that score.

Whether the ACT happens in our school in July who knows. But I had her sign up for September as well just in case.

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Wow, I just saw the college map for Class of 2020 from our small public HS (just over 200 in the class) and these kids had some great admits this year – I noticed Barnard, 2 at Brown, Harvard, Stanford, 2 at Vandy, 5 at Duke, 10 at UNC, Smith, Swarthmore, USC, WashU, Chicago, Emory. That’s more highly selective admits than typical, I think. My S isn’t really targeting any of those schools, but makes me think his 4.0 and high rank may serve him well!

Forgive me the school brag – I was just happy to see this tonight!

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@AlmostThere2018 i wonder how many of those kids got off waitlists. At our high school, I know of seven kids who got into reaches off waitlists and took the spots. I bet there were more than I know about.

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Yes, I think that could be part of it. Seems like 2020 was an easier admit season compared to recent cycles.

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I was wondering how you were able to sign up for September ACT. It didn’t seem like registration was opened yet?

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@homerdog 's description of Kenyon and Denison seem spot on, very much in line with what I observed on campus visits.

@inthegarden - yes, I agree that Dickinson and Richmond might be worth a look, based on how you described your child’s preference for a more pragmatic, preprofessional vibe.

I appreciate all of the good information on this thread, especially given that visits aren’t really an option right now.

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Oh, interesting, @homerdog, you thought Kenyon was more diverse (in terms of race) than Denison? You hear so much about Denison’s diversity…maybe it’s more aspirational on the part of the president, but not attained quite yet.

Honestly, I think my D has potential to enjoy a good helping of life-of-the-mind experiences as long as it’s not all day, every class…if it’s a mix and there’s some sense of tying some of what one learns to career possibilities. I’d like that for her…she used to LOVE immersing herself in books and I know she does like discussing ideas. I think the grind of high school classes (and not all teachers so intellectually inclined, more into memorization, skill attainment, or pressured to be by State testing) have worn some of that out of her. But she does have a limit, and likes to come back to concrete everyday realities. I know she’s worried about being able to get a job and wondering how to do that as, say a history major. I don’t think she could completely relax into the life-of-the mind stuff without having a plan. She may go on To grad school but I imagine her doing more of a practical masters degree rather than a Ph.D. When she was little she often said she wanted to be a librarian, lol (what five-year-old says that!) but, honestly, I think that library science (or whatever it’s becoming, media specialist) could be a good field for her and accommodate a liberal arts degree very well. So Kenyon COULD be in the running. She did think the campus is pretty (from the video tour). She’d probably have more to do on campus (and more chance of some like-minded peers) than she has here in our little town so it’s not as if she’d go through too much withdrawal like some city-kids might. I’m sure she’s less-sophisticated than many of those kids but I hope she could deal with it, as she has good instincts.

Personally, I love all the sculptures strewn about campus and all that green space. And It really isn’t so far from Columbus.

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Re: Pitt. Stay tuned on the test score issue. We attended a virtual info session last week and there were a lot of “for now” caveats when the AO was mentioning test scores. I think they still may consider going TO.

D21 still hard at work trimming her list. I told her to get to 15 schools with at least one driveable safety and one OOS NMF/scholarship safety. My favorites from those lists have been eliminated due to poor Unigo or Niche reviews of teaching styles or classes apparently. Sigh. This is where I remind myself it’s her list not mine and her choices to make… I haven’t seen the most recent list yet.