Not that CollegeVine should be taken as gospel, but I’ve found it kind of interesting to play around with their “chances” based on ED versus EA versus RD for various schools. Again, I wouldn’t take the numbers as accurate, but I found it interesting to see what might be the change if you switch from RD to ED, for example. They define reach as anything less than 30% per their chancing algorithm.
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I think perhaps more torturous for y’all because the scores count as part of the class grade! But agreed, July is an everlasting time to wait.
My D26 has been so busy with everything else that she hasn’t been focusing on upcoming AP exams at all. She only has two – AP Physics 1 and Calc AB. Today is the last regular Physics test, and today and tomorrow they’re doing a two-part review test in Calc which I think counts as two test grades? Unclear. And then I assume it’s just review for the exams in class.
She’s the only junior in Physics, and the seniors’ last day is a week from tomorrow – and then the Physics exam is the Friday after that. I am guessing the teacher is not going to sit and do review with just her that whole week, lol. We’ll see how it goes.
The Calc exam is the Monday of that week, and I think there are two juniors in her class? Her teacher is an older guy (whom she absolutely loves) – she asked him what she and the other junior would be doing after the seniors leave, and he said, “Well, we’ll go get mani-pedis and go to lunch, of course.”
HAHA – I bet my kid will hold him to that. 
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Our AP scores don’t impact grades, but D26 was told that coaches will want to see her scores.
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Sounds like a fun teacher!!!
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We just finished up a whirlwind couple of days in Western Massachusetts.
She fell in love with Smith College. I am worried she may not be competitive to get in, but she wants that school bad now. I hesitate to post a chance me. I’m just worried it won’t say what I want it to say as an answer. She’s got excellent grades (I think 5/250ish kids?), high rigor, mediocre extracurriculars (School literary mag editor, creative writing club, dancer, NHS, and working every summer but no varsity letters or heavy volunteer work and she doesn’t work during the school year and she cut way back on dance, no longer competing just recreational at this point) and would likely go test optional because her SAT score just does not reflect her academics or what she’s capable of.
I wish I took the approach of applying to all the schools that interest her on paper and then only touring the schools that she gets in. Because dang it’s going to break her heart if she doesn’t get into that school. We were down in Massachusetts for three nights and each day we had to go back to go look at another building or tour the botanical garden again or explore the library. And each night we had dinner in Northampton. We would park at the school and then walk so that she could see what it would be like to live there.
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And I tried to push a couple of other schools in the area. We toured Mount Holyoke and it was too rural. We went over to Amherst college not that it’s easier to get into, but I wanted her to check out downtown Amherst and have Umass on her radar. She didn’t really like Amherst. The vibe is a little bit different from Northampton and much smaller. I tried to get in to some tours of schools in the Springfield area. My alma mater is Springfield College and she didn’t want to tour it after looking at a couple of videos. Baypath could’ve been an interesting one, but I told her she can apply without a tour. Sigh. I’d still have not quite put my finger on what it is that resonates with her with some schools and with others
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Has your family run the NPC at Smith to see if it would be affordable? If it is, and if it remains her first choice, an ED application could make sense.
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It’s literally the most affordable school she’s looking at with aid factored in
We are throwing around some ideas for funding, and it’ll be a combination of us paying as she goes and her taking out some loans and then we have a very generous aunt willing to assist as well. So we will make it happen. But it literally has the lowest NPC of about 15 schools she’s looking at.
Needless to say, I’m thrilled that it organically moved to the top of her list.
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Same. She was dropped from a couple of schools that were initially recruiting her, one of which she fell in love with as soon as she set foot on campus. That break up was rough. 
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I think we are one and done with the ACT 
. D26 got her results today. There is a small change that she might try to get a 36, she has a 35 composite
35 M 35 S 36E 34R
Is there any reason to go for a 36? I feel anything 34 or above should be good ?
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That’s brilliant! Well done. No real reason but if she wants to I’d let her.
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We got notification today that C26’s physics teacher nominated them for a pre college summer engineering leadership program. I don’t think they’ll do it because they’re not interested in engineering (plus not much capacity left in summer + cost). Google says it’s not as elite as it sounds with the nominations as you can apply anyway even if not nominated, but i still think it’s nice that the teacher nominated them - little confidence boost if nothing else. This is the same teacher that gave us such great feedback and that we are hoping will write a rec letter.
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We are on our spring break LA/MS college tour and are in Starkville (Mississippi State U) tonight. Here is how my impression of the school went from “heck no, we can turn around now” to “so cool, great school”. We could not do a tour, because we arrived too late tonight and there are no tours tomorrow morning. So S26 and I just drove and walked around campus. We happened to enter campus from the Greek row side when three people crossed the street who were straight out of Bama Rush. Then we saw a group of girls taking graduation pictures and they all looked the same and also straight out of Bama Rush. Having said that, everybody looked gorgeous. All the cliches you might have of a SEC school, here they were (yes, the football stadium is big and beautiful too).
Actually the whole campus is absolutely beautiful, the academic quad is like out of a picture book. Students were out and about everywhere (and they started to look a little bit less alike 
). Then we stopped by the business school and went inside just to take a look. We happened upon a student pitch competition and the director of the entrepreneurship program approached us and talked to us forever, invited us to stay and watch. He was a very enthusiastic guy. S26 was pretty taken. We’ll stop by the admissions office in the morning before we are off to the rival school, Ole Miss.
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Glad S26 liked the program – now you have a solid option on the table! Isn’t it funny how opinions can change like that? Was he also put off by the stereotypical stuff initially, or just you?
We had a similar experience at Miami Ohio – initially we were like, yeah, this is fine, but everything looks the same, the students all look the same, not feeling any particular kind of vibe. But then when we toured the specific program that D26 is interested in, she was blown away – it checked so many boxes.
Incidentally, one of the smartest guys at my daughter’s school went to Ole Miss a few years back, to their flagship Arabic program – which is a crazy intense and selective program to get into. These SEC schools offer far more than just the cliche!
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That’s an excellent score, and a 35 certainly won’t be a barrier to entry at any level of school.
Whether she keeps trying for a 36 is totally a personality thing. If it would be worth it to her for personal satisfaction, then sure – within reason. We know a kid who has gotten a 35 on the last four ACTs he’s taken. He finally decided to stop and be satisfied with that, lol.
I think my D26 has a little niggling voice in her head to try the ACT because her older sister got that coveted 36, and she wants to see if she can as well. But she got a stellar SAT score first time out (not perfect, mind you), and she has so much keeping her busy at school that she thinks it would be unwise to waste time on it when she doesn’t really need the test.
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Juice isn’t worth the squeeze. 35 composite is a score most students would dream of. If your kid is a glutton for torture and she really wants to try 1 or more additional times, then sure…go for it.
But, honestly, at that end of the testing spectrum, a 35 vs a 36 isn’t going to be “THE” thing that will guarantee (or not guarantee) her acceptance into some reachy reach schools.
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D26 wanted to talk this evening about the timing of her 2 foot surgeries next calendar year and her working at Walmart. I’m glad she brought it up because I’ve been thinking about it, too.
Between the 2 foot surgeries and a 10-day graduation trip that she’ll be doing with my sister, she’d need to take almost 4 months off of work.
So what we concluded after spending some time trying to get the planets to align on the calendar is that it kind of makes the most sense for her to quit her job just before surgery #1 next March. Because after surgery #2, she’ll basically have maybe 2-2.5 weeks of being able bodied and no physical restrictions before it’s time to move into the dorms freshman year. D26 said that she’d prefer to leave her job on good terms rather than do 2 back-to-back medical leaves and then only work 2-2.5 weeks before quitting entirely.
It’s a good thing that my kid isn’t doing any competitive sports and she won’t be doing any athletic recruiting! 
Because this would make all of that pretty challenging.
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Sounds like the Mississippi State visit was definitely a hit! It’d be great if you wanted to share your thoughts on this thread, as well:
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It’s all ok though. I’m grateful that we have health insurance and will be able to afford the cost of both surgeries. Grateful that we will be able to get this all addressed for our kid before she heads off to college. Trying to figure out stuff like that when you’re trying to get your career going an be pretty stressful, so doing it between now and college move in is just the right time. 
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That is a LOT. Sounds like she’s really thinking through the best way to approach leaving the job, which is great.
I hope all of this goes smoothly for her – nothing like two surgeries on top of all the rest of the stressors senior year! 
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