We are also in the list culling and then adding phase. ACT test is one and done so that’s out of the way. APs will take up the next week and then he is going to ask teachers if they will write recommendations. Then work on brag sheet. We are hoping to visit a few more schools over the summer
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We (me) are in a quandary re the ACT. D25 has a 36 reading, 35 eng, 33 science, but a 30 math: 33.5 (call it 34 rounded up). The overall and most section scores are just fine. The math seems a bit out of line and I would like her to take it once more - focused only on the math section.
She has politely indicated that she has little interest in doing so. There are very good arguments for her position: a) she is currently focusing on biology which I suspect does not require a top end math score, b) several schools she will likely apply to are test blind (e.g., UCs and Univ Wash), c) her high schools avg ACT score is 16.9 (about 100% take it as it is required), and d) a 30 math and 34 overall would likely get her past the screen at most of the other schools she is considering.
My only hesitation is that her preferred school recently made the move to test preferred and it is a highly rejective school. I don’t want her to have misgivings about not attempting to raise the score if she does not get accepted. Her composite falls within the most recent pre-Covid middle 50% range (as well as the most recent post covid CDS). However, the math section score gnaws at me. But, apparently she is ok with it. I understand that I need to allow this to be her decision and let her own it, but it is hard.
In the end, I suspect that her current ACT score will not be what keeps her from getting accepted and that putting any more effort into that portion of her application is wasted.
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If it makes you feel any better, my D23 had similar results on her ACT. 33 composite but her Math score was a 28. Since she was applying as a Psych major, she didn’t retake it and she got in almost everywhere she applied including merit and honors colleges. In the end it served as placement for her freshman year math class but did not prevent her from being admitted.
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I can’t believe how personally invested I feel with my S25. His AP Calc final grade came in last night and he was 3/10 point away from an A. He and I went through all of his assignments and found a half point and miraculously his teacher agreed to give it to him and changed his final grade to an A. I feel like I personally won something. LOL. This is so stressful for everyone involved.
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S25 just had APUSH (did everyone else’s kids spend hours watching a viral Youtube history teacher before this test? Heimler or somesuch?) and is feeling relatively confident. This coming week he has French, APLang, and Physics. Unfortunately each of these first two tests displaces prep for the last one (and also an important math lesson that he’s going to have to make up during one of the last physics prep sessions. GAH.)
College is honestly far from his mind – he’s in pure survival mode. We know he’s going to a summer program at WPI and I’m trying to build in some college visits around that trip (Holy Cross, Brandeis, maybe Union…not sure yet.) I do feel as though he won’t know until August whether or not he wants to apply to engineering schools, which feels…late. Still, good to know, right?
Before then he’s in theory working on common app essays with a coach but he’s also doing three BYU online courses (Econ, US Gov, Calc A) so that he can take the course load he wants senior year. I have a feeling that the essays are going to come together fairly late in the game. I keep promoting the idea of a structured gap year (as in, determining now that he could take a gap year and taking the pressure off the application process) but I’ve been overruled. So…what will be will be.
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Yes my D25 watched that guy too. She is also pretty confident in the test. D25 watched that AP history guy for AP Gov last year also, I guess.
I thought D25 had it down to 2 but then a couple of days ago she added in 2 I thought she took off and 5 random ones I’ve never heard her talk about before. So I guess she’s back up to 9? She wants to apply to Cornell and Duke, a couple in Florida, and Baylor (plus the other 4 SLAC we’ve already looked at). We’ll see if she actually applies to all of them.
2 seems like a risky number, so probably wise that she is adding more in.
List? What’s that? 
All I get are shoulder shrugs and ‘ I dunnos’!
So far I’m the only one that’s made a list!
D25 has no idea where she wants to go or what she wants to study. This will be an interesting ride!
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My D20 had a similar situation. She had a 34 composite with a 32 math on her first ACT and she retook it to try to raise that score and got a 28 math with a comp of 32. I think she just stressed out on the second test. Where she was very relaxed the first time. She still got into some great colleges, so I wouldn’t worry. I agree that the 30 in math will probably not make or break her applications.
My daughter watched those videos too. APES and APUSH down, Calc and Lang coming up.
My daughter’s list hasn’t changed much but she did switch her ED choice a few times.
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Same.
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Ditto.
You are far ahead of us. She’s taking the SAT 6/1 but has done no prep (despite insisting she would) and already asked me to register her for the August date. Of course, she’s gone all summer, so I’m not clear she’s going to have prepped any better for that test, but I digress.
She still has over 30 schools on her list, so she needs to do some culling. She did ask for her recs from school teachers, but hasn’t yet approached her Artistic Director at the studio for one.
I’m still rooting for a draft of the common app essay before she leaves in June. I fear it may be a pipe dream.
S25 still only has one school he wants to apply to–Rose-Hulman. He’s doing their summer camp, and that may solidify that it’s the school for him. I think he should add more, and I think I can talk him into applying to St Olaf. But he did the same thing when we looked at high schools. He walked in for the tour and said, “This is the one.” And we were done with the process. If only the college application process could be this easy, but I’m sure it will be more complicated!
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My S19 went to Rose. Let me know if you have any questions. It’s a great school!
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We’re in survival mode over here at least until AP exams are over. There’s no college prep discussions going on for now.
SAT testing is about the only thing that’s done. After this week, my kid needs to shore up LOR requests. Perhaps start thinking about essay topics. I’m jealous of the schools that do the essay as part of junior English class!
Our list is fluid, and we haven’t visited nearly enough schools. Ugh!
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I would love to hear more about your son’s experience! I think my biggest concern is that I hear how grueling Rose can be. I know it’s par for the course with engineering/STEM, but I worry about the toll on mental health. How did your son find it?
We just did some list-culling this morning. He’s been having some positive conversations with good friends who are seniors about their college app process, and it seems to have gotten him a bit more focused. I think he’s down to 9 that he feels good about having on the list right now, and then there are about 3 that he needs to research more. The big mover was our in-state public, which he was adamantly opposed to even applying to until now. As DH is an alum, this was a real bone of contention in our house. A few moved off because he realized he doesn’t want to be that far from home (this is a big change too), and some also moved off because he doesn’t think they’d be great fits if he isn’t able to do his sport. He’s had to recalibrate a lot of that part of his plan though. I think there’ll be some more reshuffling once he’s done a bit more research, especially on his safety schools. Not much other work on college stuff between prep for APs this week and other commitments.
Remaining APs are calculus, lang, and bio. Once those are done, I’ll get after him more about his summer plans too. He had submitted some applications for summer jobs a few weeks ago, but his follow-up has been less than stellar to say the least. Oh, and hopefully he’ll get his SAT scores this week and then make some decisions about any more testing.
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Two questions for y’all — would be grateful for any inout on either!
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Possibly foolish question, but: How are your kids already asking for teacher recommendations? Don’t the teachers/recommenders have to fill out a form that comes to them with the Common App (or whichever app), in the fall, when the applications are being worked on? My kid knows she wants to ask a certain history teacher for a recommendation, but… what would the teacher be doing this far in advance?
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My kid likes Dartmouth and will apply there. Part of the reason is because most of Dartmouth students’ social life is centered on campus. Parties are on campus (yes, very Greek-centric even for kids who aren’t members). As opposed to the kind of school where most of the social life is off-campus and in bars. Can you think of any colleges with a similar situation, where people hang out and socialize mostly on campus, rather than going out in Ubers to bars, etc? Campus-centric?
thanks so much for any thoughts on either of these!