D26 felt ok about the test. She’s a little peeved about one math question in particular, which she felt like was incredibly hard. She said there were no practice test questions that were like it!
Two weeks and we shall see!
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Ugh. I never even learned about radians! I swear. And I went right up through calculus in high school. Fingers crossed for your daughter this last test!!
So this time, my daughter is sure that the second module for math was the harder one. Last time she said it was the easier one and she knew that meant her score was capped. Which probably contributed to some anxiety during the test last time. Fingers crossed that this is the difference she needed to get to a number she is hoping for!
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Our D taking SAT for first time in a few weeks during school. Probably will try at least a couple of times.
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We cancelled the March SAT. She just couldn’t bring herself to prep anymore. She has the mandatory school administered test next month. She’s made her peace with her scores and has shifted her focus to her AP exams. But… She’s got a few recruiting open houses in April booked, which takes away from AP test prep. 
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SAT report from D26 is that it was “kinder than the ACT last month” 
She did say that the math felt really hard but is hoping for decent scores. I saw on the “Paying for college 101” Facebook page that several kids suffered computer glitches mid test and some had to stop mid-test and their scores were cancelled. I feel horrible for those kids. In any case, she is happy to have this behind. her. She still has one more ACT (4/5) and her final SAT (6/7) and then she is done. If a few of her top schools were not test required she would not have even bothered.
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Oh boy… I couldn’t imagine! Sure hope College Boad comps the families who paid for it and this happened to.
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Oh dude. Reminds me of when D22 was at home taking AP exams during Covid in May 2020, and it was a big freaking debacle.
I still have trauma, and I wasn’t even taking the exams!
That was me last week when my son told me he signed up for 5 AP classes for senior year and is considering adding a 6th AP class… 
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I just saw on a college counselor page that College Board emailed all the testing centers that had issues and are refunding the students, giving them a “free” registration for any future date, and test centers who are able to accommodate testing on 3/22 may do so as a “make-up” day.
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My daughter’s testing center had a bit of an issue yesterday. I think they heard about some glitch that was happening where at 11 am the test would auto submit even if the students still had time remaining. The proctors instructed the students to all shut down and restart the blue book app during the break before the math modules started.
A tech person had to help her do it though, because she was in the middle of the exam so the app was being weird. Daughter said that for some reason the tech person had to “start” Module 1 math in order to do whatever needed to be done (not sure why….daughter said the tech person seemed a little clueless), and then it took the tech person a while to do whatever needed to be done. Daughter lost about 5 minutes of time for math module 1 as a result!!
She still finished the module without feeling too rushed or like it really impacted her answers. Would’ve been really bad on Module 2. Crazy!!
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That sounds stressful- and losing 5 whole minutes is significant!
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My D26 had a very similar thing happen in her testing center today. Someone came into the room and said they’d have to restart during the break. Then they came back in the room a few minutes later and said “never mind”. In the end, she didn’t have to do anything different, just someone coming in during the middle of the test to tell them they might have to restart.
Definitely all seems messier than it should be.
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I don’t know — we need financial support and Miami University (Oxford) has the potential for a lot of support. It’s a rare public that gives a TON of scholarship money to OOS students. There are even some full-ride scholarships. She wants to go to grad school -so substantial scholarships is certainly a big carrot. Also - for us - it’s drivable. If she needs medical care not supported in her state – we have the ability to go and get her within a few hours. Plus I spoke at length to the faculty -and they are doing everything they can to provide a rich educational environment. It’s REALLY strong for undergraduate teaching. And Kenyon -well it’s a private LAC -and again, good with need based and merit aid (at least for our situation).
Honestly – I would rather see her in a blue state like New York or New England states or Pennsylvania – or perhaps better yet Canada. But we have to chase financial support – and I’m already worried about her being able to get into a place we can afford. Hence why Ohio remains on the table. If it weren’t so drivable though - it too would be off the list.
In the end - I’m hoping she has many places to choose from -and can do what she is most comfortable with. We also have another few months before she applies --and another few months after that to make a decision. We will see how things go politically.
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My D26 and Hubby had a great first College visit yesterday to Miami University (Ohio). My Daughter confirmed that it checked all her boxes. She loved the Campus and the Town of Oxford. The size of campus was a good fit she felt comfortable with the location of the Dorms, Academic Buildings and Athletic Complex. She had already done her research on her intended program but it was nice to see that they confirmed what she liked regarding undergraduates ability to do research with Professors; add minors easily; change major within Engineering etc. She was able to get all her questions answered about her sport, she also was able to get her questions answered about continuing to Coach while at school. She loved both tours but her favorite parts was dropping my Hubby for a couple hours and hanging out in the dorms going to the Cafeteria with a friend who did a great job showcasing the school and introducing her to other students who were a wonderful source of information. My Husband knew nothing about the school before visiting! He came home confident that our D26 would be safe and happy on Campus. He was impressed with the Campus overall cleanliness, he was surprised in a good way with the small class sizes, access to professors, student services. He was not as impressed with the Engineering building, he definitely would like our Daughter to tour a school with a bigger more advanced Engineering program. He did say their computer science department was more updated. He was impressed with the “Vibe” of the campus he said the students all seemed happy and “normal”, he also reminded himself that if she did attend a school that was more focused on Engineering that the School may not have quite the same “vibe”. This will be the School my D26 will compare to all other schools so it was the perfect first College Visit. Yesterday was a balmy 60 degrees so everyone was out of the dorms soaking up the Sun 
, so that definitely affected the overall mood
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A retired counselor gave a volunteer talk to our local juniors about college enrollment, making a list and how to think about applying. It made a big impression on S26, for the first time ever I got a strong opinion from him on what he wants.
He wants to be in socal, we have visited before and I honestly don’t know how he came to that conclusion but that’s what he wants. He’s been to the east coast several time to visit my sister and he thought that’s too far, he wants to be away from home but not that far. So that makes his list a lot more manageable, he has the UCs, USC and he started looking at some smaller colleges. He liked Occidental which I had never heard of but turns out Obama went there. It’s a tiny school with less than 2k total students for comparison his HS has 2400 kids in it. I am seeing UC results come for the class of 25 now, it’s crazy that in less than 12 months he’ll know where he’s going.
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Oxy is definitely known at our NorCal school. We have a couple of athletic recruits among the class of 2025 and I think a few graduates each year go there.
It’s great to hear how useful the talk was.
I think Occidental College is a great school!
We spent the last two days touring Lafayette and Lehigh.
Impressions of each:
-Lafayette admissions officer strongly stressed the importance of demonstrated interest. Interviews seem to be important for this school, if you hope to be admitted. The environment is very collaborative, supportive. Small class sizes, a student will absolutely not be able to be anonymous here! As a parent who wants to be sure there will be support in case my student needs it, I loved the feeling/culture at Lafayette.
-Lehigh seems a little better resourced. Purely opinion, but the Lehigh campus is gorgeous (if you are a fan of gothic architecture). The admissions officer who presented was super personable and down to earth. My daughter really enjoyed his presentation. Unfortunately Lehigh students are on spring break right now, but even with that we got the sense that there is a little more going on at Lehigh (that may just be a function of the size - Lehigh has about 3 times more students as compared to Lafayette).
Both schools have about a 30% acceptance rate. Only about 20 minutes apart.
Post visit, my daughter has taken Lafayette off her list at least for now (she thinks it’s too small), and Lehigh is a potential add!
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Thanks so much for sharing out your report!
For you (and anyone!) who has a kid visit a campus, it’d be great to share their thoughts here:
It would also be great to have the thoughts on Miami U. shared here:
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