I hate to be that guy but in an emergency case like this, you could buy a laptop, have her use it and then return it the next day. Lot of places have open stock/floor models. If your kid has spent a ton of time studying and ready to take it I would do that rather than cancel.
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We have had very good luck changing the battery on my Dâs laptop! Amazon battery, not very expensive, and a good screwdriver. Remember to back up everything first. And worst worst case, take it to a repair shop and get the battery replaced! After we replaced the battery on my daughterâs, it lasts 12 hours instead of 20 min
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Weâre going to borrow somebody elseâs ipad.
D26 has accepted a part time job as an online grocery order picker person at a local Walmart. Pays more than Taco Bell did, so thatâs kind of nice.
D26 got some more info from the admissions rep @ U of Aâs CAST (College of Applied Science & Technology). She emailed them after the college fair we went to recently and asked some more questions.
About how many students graduate each year in the Cyber Operations and Intelligence & Information Operations majors?
In 2024, close to 200, Cyber Ops having more than Intelligence.
Do they recommend that a student come into the Cyber Ops major with some prior programming exposure or experience? (our HS doesnât have a programming class)
CAST takes the approach that most students donât know programming and focus a lot on the entry level, and then ramp it up. Cyber Engineering emphasis does a lot more programming & coding than the other 2 emphasis areas. Exposure prior to those courses is not required, but could help you come in more prepared.
(parent commentary: I know that every place is different on this sort of thing; was kind of glad to hear this)
What orgs/companies do grads usually get job offers from?
Most students in these 2 majors look to work for govât agencies â both federal, state, & local. Large # also pursue working for defense contractors. Students also recruited into private industry sectors like banking, healthcare, utilities, & others. Intelligence: most look at law enforcement agencies, incl. Dept of Homeland Security, FBI, NSA, US Marshalls, DEA, etc.
(D26 thinks all of that sounds âreally coolâ)
Close friend of a relative works for the FBI investigating cyber crimes. DH is planning on inquiring if maybe D26 could do an informational interview w/the person.
Recently talked briefly w/D26 to ask her if sheâs interested at all in joining the military. She said âdefinitely notâ to that, which is totally fine with us. I brought it up given her huge interest in US military history and didnât want her to think that anything is off the tableâŠthe world is her oyster and all that. She said she definitely doesnât want to join the military, but would love to work for a federal agency or as a civilian employee for the DOD. Didnât rule out law enforcement, but said she doesnât want âto be a police officer in a patrol car sort of thing.â
Every kid is different! So far, this journey is way different than the one we went on w/D24.
If I look into my crystal ball and fast forward to decision time senior year, I think itâll come down to her choosing between U of A and Univ of Tulsa.
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Iâm glad you found a solution!
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D26 said SAT this morning went fine. Some students w/laptops had problems connecting their PCs to the schoolâs wifi and ended up having to borrow loaners from the school that hosted the SAT.
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Iâm glad it went well for her. My son said he though the English was tough, but math was fine. Heâs definitely a math kid, so that makes sense.
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Mine struggled to finish module 2 in each sectionâsaid he spent too much time on some questions. And he had been sick all week, and he didnât study at all. Iâm sure his score will not be all that great. At least he knows what heâs getting into now.
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Mine gave virtually no feedback at all â except that it was harder than the PSAT she took in October. I am not feeling very confident, however. After saying she didnât want to talk about it, she looked at me while putting in her Airpods, shrugged and said âmaybe Iâm an ACT person.â 
(She is required to take the ACT at school this spring. But it will be her first time ever seeing an ACT formatted test. Up until this year, our state used the PSAT and SAT as the state mandated test for high schoolers.)
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My son was running out of time on the English practice tests. He does best on grammar questions, so he now does those last. He skips to the middle and does the questions that are harder for him first. Then he goes back to the beginning. He finds once heâs done with the hardest ones, he knows he doesnât have to rush though as much. The grammar ones take him less time per question, and he can always quickly skim and eliminate a couple answers, so even if heâs guessing, itâs a better guess.
If practice alone doesnât help, try doing them in different orders.
On the paper SAT, my daughter always did the grid-in math first and then the multiple choice. Grid-in caused stress, so getting them done helped.
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Yes same with our state, my D26 decided not to take the SAT until the summer, but plans on avoiding it if she does well on the ACT. She is a fast test taker so maybe the ACT will be her thing. Who knows 
with no previous experience it is hard to say, but if she doesnât score well o. It she wonât retake it she will just take the SAT instead because traditionally she has done well on all the PSATâs Currently her number one college choice has a super high acceptance rate, so she is not concerned about her test scores. There is a lot I like about her first Choice school we can get there in a little under 5 hours, it is affordable, she can do her sport and it has her major. It certainly will make next year less stressful, but if she changes her mind - she probably will regret not caring about her test scores 
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Hell has frozen over, my so far very reluctant S26 agreed to do his first college tour last weekend. Though Iâm not sure how much it counts, because it was at his sisterâs school. They had a Louisiana Preview Day for students from LA and she is a tour guide and was on the student panel. Of course he has been on the campus many times but it was still a good experience (and Tulane tracks demonstrated interest, so there is thatâŠ). If he ends up applying it would be his big reach school. He attended an âinsider application tipsâ panel and told me he walked out with the idea for his common app essay, score 
! Itâs a good and unique topic.
Iâm using the momentum and am signing him up for two more tours this month, one at our flagship, LSU, and one at a regional public, both not far from where we live. Then he would have seen three different kinds and sizes of campus. Iâd like to take him to see a SLAC but there is none in easy driving distance. We were in Jackson, MS not too long ago and I asked if he wanted to tour Millsaps, but that was a clear no. We at least did a drive by and once he saw the campus was gated, it was a very forceful ânoâ. He says he could go anywhere, except for gated campuses we learned 
And we have a decision on the soccer front, he will not follow through on getting recruited. As a male goalie opportunities are tough to come by and it would be very time consuming.
I will sign him up for the February ACT and then they will take it in school again shortly after. Hopefully he will be done with testing then.
We are making progress
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Was poking around online recently and learned that University of Dallas has a 4+1 cybersecurity program which might interest D26. You get a 4 yr BA or BS in Business and as a junior or senior, you apply for their 2 yr MS in Cybersecurity program and you take Cybersecurity grad-level classes during your senior year. The MS-Cybersecurity program is rated by the NSA as CAE-CD (center of academic excellence in cyber defense).
Whether or not that college is affordable is debatable at the moment and would be entirely based on merit scholarship $$ awarded.
AND it requires SAT/ACT test scores. Boo.
Another couple of items that put it in the âlikely not applyâ category are the collegeâs strict âno intercourse outside of marriageâ policy (i.e., if youâre caught, thereâs disciplinary measures taken), you can only have students of the opposite gender in your dorm during very limited hours of the day, and their policies about trans students are really strict. D26 isnât LGBTQ+, but has a close friend who is non-binary, so pretty sure all of these policies will put the college in the firm ânoâ category since it doesnât blend well with her personal values. Pretty much way too socially conservative for my kid.
Thatâs ok, though. There are plenty of other fish in the sea. 
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Our HS sent out trimester 1 report cards yesterdayâŠwhich didnât include the calculated GPA. Learned this morning via an email announcement sent to all parents that the report cards sent yesterday went out by mistake. They are not finalized. Looks like theyâre using new software this year. Good times!
D26 starts her new job at Walmart this weekend with an orientation session. Woo!
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Yay for the new job! It sounds like a much better match for her. I hope she enjoys it!
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Our school started using a new system too this year. Senior parents apparently are very unhappy with the new look of the transcript. Hopefully the issues get resolved this year.
Good luck to you daughter with her new job. I am in awe of kids who can handle part time jobs in junior and senior year of high school. My older one did too. Thereâs no way S26 can handle that. He has his hands full this year with just the school stuff.
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Can someone explain something about the PSAT scores/NM please. My understanding is that the cut-offs for commended and NMSF are only announced next year. What does it mean then when a current score report says, under the selection index score, âyou meet entry requirements for the NM scholarship programâ? It seems to imply some kind of cut-off has been met?
The NM program is for current juniors. So itâs saying youâre entered because of that. If someone takes it as a 10th grader, they are not eligible for the contest.
Itâs my understanding that scores from the recently administered PSAT will be released today. Did anyoneâs kid receive theirs today?
Compass Prep has a blog that is good at explaining the ins and outs of NM. Look up your state to see if your student is in the range for NMSF predictions.
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My DD got score 208 and it says eligible for NM but I guess by the time they announce cut off here in NY she wonât qualify.