Parents of the Class of 2019

[lovesdumbo]

Well, DD has found another way to cross perfectly viable colleges off of her already too-short list...

I feel your stress. DS has 4 maybe 5 schools on his list. All but 1 (the one currently on the bottom of his list) are reaches.

I'm still working on him to sign up for Oct SATs to improve his chances.

He got an email today from his current number one choice inviting him to apply "priority status" with fee waiver and priority scholarship consideration. I think it's likely because he did a tour last week but I told him it was likely because he wrote a very nice thank you note to the professor he met with for over an hour. Still it did give him hope. I think if he could add 30 points to his math SAT he would really improve his chances.

My DD(2017) only applied to 5 schools but only 1 reach, 2 matches & 2 safeties and I thought her chances in a male dominated field were higher. Our school is relatively small - about 90 per grade and both kids say they want to avoid schools where their classmates are going so we have little info on how kids with same stats from their school do at their choices. My DD is the first one from our town going to her SUNY school.

 

[Colleen27]

I feel your stress. DS has 4 maybe 5 schools on his list. All but 1 (the one currently on the bottom of his list) are reaches.

Practically every school DD is looking at feels like a reach to me. It doesn't matter how good her grades and scores are - when looking at schools with acceptance rates in the 20s and below, *everything* is a reach! The school she has her heart set on is the least selective of the schools still on her list, with an acceptance rate of 22 percent. I suppose I should count myself lucky that she does have one safety on her list that she really liked, but I don't like it so much because it is likely to cost us $10-15K more per year than either of her top-two schools.

Her school encourages them to apply to 4-6 schools by the Nov. 1 early action/decision deadline. So far, she only has three she's interested in applying to at all! I'm encouraging her to apply to some of the schools she's gotten invites/fee waivers from, just to see how they respond and what kind of financial aid they offer. It'll mean taking the time to withdraw those apps if she's accepted (binding) early action to her top choice, but it would also mean more time to make a decision if she doesn't get in to the schools she's absolutely sure she wants to be at.

 

[mjkacmom]

Dd doesn’t have that many reach schools, her ACT is about 10 points higher than the average, prep scholar calculates most at 99% getting accepted. It’s all about merit scholarships. I think Villanova is the most difficult with a 48% acceptance rate, although I just read it dropped to 29.

Prepscholar puts her chance at 85%, so probably get in, but not a lot of merit for a very expensive school.

Is it true that sign ups for AP tests is September 4th? We haven’t started school by then, never mind not knowing how the classes will go.

 

[tink1970]

Well, DD has found another way to cross perfectly viable colleges off of her already too-short lis

My DD still has 21 on her list, still! I'm having her narrow some of the reach list after SAT results next week. I think 4 safety/likely, 5 target and 5 reach plus UF which is now (for everyone in state anyway) considered a wild card (as in there's no telling who gets in and who doesn't). I could be mean and tell her absolutely no international universities (currently 1 in Canada and 4 in the UK are on her list) but I'm hoping once she's done applying to US schools she'll be too exhausted to apply. We'll see how my strategy works (insert evil laugh here...).

Good news is she scored 2 points higher than the reported cut off for NMSQT (as I expected from combing blog after blog); bad news is she won't be a Finalist due to her grades last semester. I can't be disappointed in Semifinalist status though! It's going to be a long 6 days for me to wait for her SAT scores...guess I'm learning patience

I hope she'll apply early action to at least a couple of schools just so we know she has a place. Sewanee called Tuesday and asked if she was applying early action, where they were on her priority list, etc. Not sure why they were calling me so I don't know if my answers were totally correct.


We're down 3 weeks already...time is flying by.!

 

[Colleen27]

My DD still has 21 on her list, still! I'm having her narrow some of the reach list after SAT results next week. I think 4 safety/likely, 5 target and 5 reach plus UF which is now (for everyone in state anyway) considered a wild card (as in there's no telling who gets in and who doesn't). I could be mean and tell her absolutely no international universities (currently 1 in Canada and 4 in the UK are on her list) but I'm hoping once she's done applying to US schools she'll be too exhausted to apply. We'll see how my strategy works (insert evil laugh here...).

I've suggested some international schools to DD, hoping that given her obsession with Japan she'd consider it. U of Tokyo has a degree program in her major that is geared specifically toward international students, with most classes taught in English along with intensive Japanese instruction. But as much as she wants to go back and to live there eventually, she wants the American undergrad experience. And I'm getting enough grief from the extended family over her determination to go out of state, I suppose I should be glad she's sparing me hearing all their thoughts on her going out of country for her education!

 

[tink1970]

I suppose I should be glad she's sparing me hearing all their thoughts on her going out of country for her education!

Small comfort, but true. She sounds perfectly suited for a semester or year abroad during undergrad though

 

[bjscheel]

Today we visited the school I've been rooting for and she has been set against. I'll count it as a victory that she actually kind of liked it, though she's not ready to commit. She liked talking to the professors in her possible major and minor. She liked the food, the dorms, the campus, and the school colors. It's close enough to home that we could go to her theatre performances easily without an overnight stay. At lunch we met my nephew who has been there as a transfer for 2 weeks and hates it- when he got up for more food I said to DD, you know how he is and you are not him. She agreed that his commentary wouldn't color her opinion. (BTW he changed his major and his outlook this afternoon so I'm hoping that helps in the long run and he doesn't drop out.)

There are only two other schools that have the major she wants that she is somewhat interested in and are affordable-ish, but they are more than twice the drive, more wintry, and more expensive. I really don't want to make 9 hour round trips to visit each of them and I don't want her having to make that long of a drive home especially in winters. Finances are a real concern too. So I'm torn between trying to let her have options or being practical- especially now that I know she is pretty cool with the practical choice.

Also she wants to visit the school where her friend/crush goes (too expensive but she could get to meet up with him)...and one not too far away from it that could work but she'd have to choose a different major. We might at least make that trip so she can see some more schools.

 

[mjkacmom]

Dd came home from school today, says that for AP classes, it’s true, they need to register for the exams by the 14th, or else they get kicked out of the class. I was planning on signing her up for her 3 classes, and dd15 for her class, but this is crazy, in the past, you didn’t have to take the exam (they also have to take a final a month later). She’s so done with HS

 

[soccerdad72]

I thought I saw somewhere that SAT scores for August come out today, so hopefully, that goes well.

Just booked a campus tour and engineering department info session for a week from Monday at Virginia Tech. My wife is taking him to this one - he has the 17th off from school, so it works out well. He wants to go to one or two southern schools and we were given a lot of recommendations about VT, so we'll see how that goes.

I think he's up to 6 or 7 schools he's applying to, but still no clear front runner. I personally loved RIT and I think he'll feel most comfortable at a 'tech' school, versus a university (like Univ. of Cincy) that has a strong engineering program, but does not specialize in tech. Something about being on a campus that just seems geeky (for lack of a better word), I think our son will fit in best at.

 

[Eureka]

Dd doesn’t have that many reach schools, her ACT is about 10 points higher than the average, prep scholar calculates most at 99% getting accepted. It’s all about merit scholarships. I think Villanova is the most difficult with a 48% acceptance rate, although I just read it dropped to 29.

Prepscholar puts her chance at 85%, so probably get in, but not a lot of merit for a very expensive school.

Is it true that sign ups for AP tests is September 4th? We haven’t started school by then, never mind not knowing how the classes will go.

Our county has sign ups by November. It's new this year. I still think it's too early to decide but with the fees for cancelling or deciding late, I might as well have my kids plan to take them and hope I can get reimbursed for some of them. (3 or above).

 

[Eureka]

I thought I saw somewhere that SAT scores for August come out today, so hopefully, that goes well.

Just booked a campus tour and engineering department info session for a week from Monday at Virginia Tech. My wife is taking him to this one - he has the 17th off from school, so it works out well. He wants to go to one or two southern schools and we were given a lot of recommendations about VT, so we'll see how that goes.

I think he's up to 6 or 7 schools he's applying to, but still no clear front runner. I personally loved RIT and I think he'll feel most comfortable at a 'tech' school, versus a university (like Univ. of Cincy) that has a strong engineering program, but does not specialize in tech. Something about being on a campus that just seems geeky (for lack of a better word), I think our son will fit in best at.

DS has a couple friends who just started at Virginia Tech. We're in Maryland, so it's a frequent choice for the engineering students. It's got a great reputation around here anyway.

 

[mjkacmom]

Our county has sign ups by November. It's new this year. I still think it's too early to decide but with the fees for cancelling or deciding late, I might as well have my kids plan to take them and hope I can get reimbursed for some of them. (3 or above).

We don’t get reimbursed no matter what they get on the exams, and if you don’t take them you get kicked out of the class, so no late fees or cancellations. I’ll make sure to have them sign up this weekend.

 

[tink1970]

We don’t get reimbursed no matter what they get on the exams, and if you don’t take them you get kicked out of the class, so no late fees or cancellations. I’ll make sure to have them sign up this weekend.

That seems...excessive

I actually didn't know there was a fee nor sign ups for AP tests; I guess it's covered (as well as IB tests) in DD's program. I'll keep it in mind when I'm frustrated (so ...daily) with her school. This year she has 1 AP test but 5 IB tests so the number of standardized tests keeps growing.

Picked up her class ring and formal photos yesterday. Most of her classmates received their ring last year but she didn't tell her father how/where/how much to pay for it so it's been literally 4 blocks away from us for months! Kids...

I've been stalking the college board website and so far, nothing but "check back in later." Grrr...

 

[Eureka]

We don’t get reimbursed no matter what they get on the exams, and if you don’t take them you get kicked out of the class, so no late fees or cancellations. I’ll make sure to have them sign up this weekend.

That is crazy. If the school isn't willing to pay for them or reimburse, they shouldn't get kicked out of the class. Some AP classes at my kids' school, like stats, is the only stats class available. I think same with calculus.

 

[Eureka]

That seems...excessive

I actually didn't know there was a fee nor sign ups for AP tests; I guess it's covered (as well as IB tests) in DD's program.

$94 per test. When you have one kid taking four and the other taking two this year....pricey!! I already got my reimbursement for the two DS scored high enough on last year, so that's something anyway.

 

[mom2rtk]

No reimbursement her on AP exams either. They pay for the kids on free and reduced lunch, but everyone else is on their own. If you don't take the class, you don't get the extra weighting on your grade.

 

[mjkacmom]

That is crazy. If the school isn't willing to pay for them or reimburse, they shouldn't get kicked out of the class. Some AP classes at my kids' school, like stats, is the only stats class available. I think same with calculus.

At our HS, if there is an AP, the only choice is regular or AP, an honors class isn’t offered, and same here with statistics, only AP. They gave the kids a one week notice, many of these kids are seniors, with all of the extra costs associated with senior year (photos, yearbook, cruise, college applications, testing, prom...). Now parents have to cough up potentially hundreds of dollars at the last minute, no heads up.

 

[design_mom]

We don't get reimbursed here either. If you want to take an AP class, there's a $95 testing fee due at the beginning of the school year. I guess they do the sign-ups at school because my son has taken 5 APs so far (plus 4 more this year) and we've never had to sign him up at home. They administer the exam at school.

 

[soccerdad72]

Well damn SATs are in and he basically scored the same score again. So much for the tutor (at least for this second attempt).

 

[tink1970]

Well damn SATs are in and he basically scored the same score again. So much for the tutor (at least for this second attempt).

I am so sorry--I couldn't "like" your post since I am sad for your son (and you!). DD improved her math by 20 points (really needed to by 50 to get the total we wanted) but now we can knock off the list some of those 21 schools. It's frustrating but at least this part is over.

Has anyone started officially applying for schools yet? DD will meet with her college counselor Monday and they'll submit for her 4 "likely"(safety) schools. Then the 4 targets plus UF will be next. Our goal was to be done completely by Labor Day but taking the SAT again changed that. Guess I'm hoping to be done by her October day off (fka Columbus Day).