Parents of the Class of 2019

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Thanks! I found a few discussions on College Confidential. I looks at his score closer. He got 5 more correct math questions but his score dropped 10 points.

My daughter told me that she has 5 friends in her summer Research program that took the June SAT, and every single one of those high-achieving really smart kids got a lower score on Math than their prior tests. They all also got more correct but had lower scores. Lots of disappointment there, as they all felt they had scored better. Something seems out of whack???

Congrats to all the kiddos on their AP test scores!!! Way to go!! My DD got AP scores back too—4s on both AP Lang and AP US History. I was so happy (considering the teaching situation last year) but I know she is kind of beating herself up for choosing to take the May dual credit mini-mester which started right before AP testing week and was so time intensive that she felt she did not get to focus on the AP tests the way she should have. She is so hard on herself sometimes!!!

And good luck to all who are taking the ACT tomorrow!!!!! Sincerely hoping this goes well for all of our kiddos. I hate early mornings and I especially hate them on weekend morning lol, but I’m going to try to be a nice mom and get up by 6:00 to cook DD some protein for breakfast to keep her going tomorrow through the test. LOL!!! Her bag is packed and by the front door with all she needs for tomorrow, because she is not a morning person either. Haha

And finally, in further news from my DD constantly frustrating school (1 more year, deep breaths), it seems like every few days we hear that another good or great teacher at DD high school is not coming back next year. It is getting bad. Basically the only academic department that has mostly experienced teachers and their business together is the history program. Got an email yesterday from the new principal introducing himself—4th principal in 5 years. Hard to keep good teachers when the admin team is constantly a revolving door. But sure is tough on the students to have first year brand new out of college teachers trying to teach AP classes who have NO CLUE how to teach for the Tests. DD is totally rethinking her schedule now for next year and will maybe take more dual credit than AP, since at this point we don’t know who will be teaching most of the AP classes she planned on for her Senior schedule. I got the feeling last school year they the new principal last year wanted to push out AP classes and have the kids focus more on dual-credit—maybe this is how they are doing it—by putting teachers in who have no experience teaching, much less any experience with the AP curriculum or how to teach toward taking the test.

I am really enjoying reading about all of your campus visit and summer activities. Thanks for posting about them!

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Maybe this will help someone: If your child has an interest in Engineering or computer science or other STEM fields and you are looking for a school that gives significant merit aid, take a look at University of Texas at Dallas. The McDermott scholarship is the headliner with a full ride plus stipend plus enrichment trips plus study abroad included, but they have many endowments scholarships. They do give merit aid for out of state applicants. Also a lot of research opportunities (this place started out as a research facility for Texas Instruments). The downside is not much "campus life".

 

[yeahdisney]

DD took ACT today. He will now start the applying process for colleges. He still wants to stay in our state. He seems low maintenance. I offered him another college choice on the way home from the ACT and he said I'm good with U of IL.

So I guess that is his plan. He will apply to a few colleges in IL, we will look at offers.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Well, DD took the ACT for the second time last weekend, and we had our second meeting with the college solutions company we hired. They've got DD down to a list of 11, (10 really but 1 is a "Leverage School") and have started working on the Common App that many schools use, as well as the basics of an essay for them to tailor and use on applications. In addition, she has an "academic resume" that she can give to department chairs on school tours, and even instructions on what to do on a tour. DD has had 2 senior planning sessions with them and gotten all of this done! I'm stunned!

We have her signed up for the SAT subject tests in August, and then it will be time to start getting applications completed! We aren't going to go for early decision anywhere, so we'll wait to see what aid they all come back with before she decides.

 

[bjscheel]

Before DD went back to camp we found a school that just might work. Has all the potential majors. Colors and mascot aesthetically pleasing. Drive doable (4 hours). Not in Nebraska . Auto merit puts price at our budget and her stats put her in the pool for competitive merit. No one else from our school goes there. Campus compact enough for walking. Extended family within 1.5 hours. And if it's still a thing at the time, boyfriend's house is on the route at the halfway point. DD says she'll just go there and be done with it but we'll definitely get a visit in ASAP, maybe end of August. Wish me luck!

Four hours is probably the driving distance limit I would want, but she did just drive herself 3 hours to camp so I'll find out how she felt about that. The drive to the college would be pretty similar, no cities, just county roads and small towns.

 

[StephMK]

Sounds like things are moving along for everyone!

MerrissaandMom-thanks for posting that! I'm not sure if TX is on DS's radar but will definitely have him check it out.

DH is taking DS to drive through 2 more colleges today and 1 on their way home Sunday after visiting family. DS is over taking tours so well see if these make the cut. I can t askk him up this fall if he is serious. He has friends at one so I'll be curious to see if that sways him.

It's going to be an interesting year. The unknowns are going to drive me crazy but I don't think ED will work. At this point, his top choice doesn't send out acceptances until late March.

 

[mjkacmom]

Dd is at Lehigh now with her friends, heading over to Lafayette after. It’s a nice day for tours.

 

[laughinplace199]

DS’s list of colleges is finally made! He’s applying to 8 schools and met with his college counselor today to make sure it’s a well balanced list (couple of safety schools as well as some maybe and reaches). I felt like narrowing down the list was hard, so it’s a relief to have that done.

 

[PollyannaMom]

DS’s list of colleges is finally made! He’s applying to 8 schools and met with his college counselor today to make sure it’s a well balanced list (couple of safety schools as well as some maybe and reaches). I felt like narrowing down the list was hard, so it’s a relief to have that done.

Congrats on getting that step done!

My DS is a little overwhelmed by it all at the moment, but we're working on it.

 

[Eureka]

We sent scores to schools today. He’s got six on the list. One we haven’t visited yet but will next month and then he’ll decide if he wants to apply. He considered a couple more but ultimately didn’t want to apply to more than six or seven.

 

[mom2rtk]

Things have slowed down a bit on this thread! I hope everyone is having a great summer. School starts 3 weeks from today. DD had senior photos taken today. I've had 2 graduate from high school, and both have graduated from college. But seeing her don a cap and gown today for senior photos was kind of hard. It's different when it's your last one.

No AP exams here. Our school is moving more toward dual credit classes. Even her AP Chemistry class converted to dual credit this year.

She did retake the ACT in July but came home very unhappy with how it went. She got bogged down in the science section and ran out of time. Ended up having to randomly guess on the last 15 questions. Ouch. So we were all pleasantly surprised when she did well enough on the other sections to still raise her overall score another point. But she still needs to conquer that dang science section. I bought the book recommended by @bjscheel but she didn't seem to do well with it. Other suggestions from anyone? Any online sessions? Not sure if she'll go for September or October for her next try. We have until the end of next week to sign up if she wants to do it in September.

 

[soccerdad72]

Picking up my son in a couple hours from Univ. of Cincy engineering camp. Didn't hear from him much during the week, which I take as a good sign. I texted him a couple times and he said he's having fun and that's it's been pretty cool. On the subject of roommates (he's sharing an apartment-style dorm with 4 other guys), his comment was that "some are better than others", so we'll see what that means. It will be interesting to find out if he liked living on an urban campus, since his Ohio choices right now are completely opposite from each other, campus wise (Cincy and MiamiOH).

I just got an invite to tour a company headquarters of a place we're doing a new contract for in a couple weeks and it's in Rochester, so I might bring him along to do a tour of RIT while I'm there. That, and Carnegie Mellon are still on his stretch school list.

Oh, and he said his ACT scores aren't posted yet, but he probably just needs to be home to access his account - he did say that he felt a lot better about this time around, thanks to his many sessions with the tutor we hired.

 

[mjkacmom]

Things have slowed down a bit on this thread! I hope everyone is having a great summer. School starts 3 weeks from today. DD had senior photos taken today. I've had 2 graduate from high school, and both have graduated from college. But seeing her don a cap and gown today for senior photos was kind of hard. It's different when it's your last one.

No AP exams here. Our school is moving more toward dual credit classes. Even her AP Chemistry class converted to dual credit this year.

She did retake the ACT in July but came home very unhappy with how it went. She got bogged down in the science section and ran out of time. Ended up having to randomly guess on the last 15 questions. Ouch. So we were all pleasantly surprised when she did well enough on the other sections to still raise her overall score another point. But she still needs to conquer that dang science section. I bought the book recommended by @bjscheel but she didn't seem to do well with it. Other suggestions from anyone? Any online sessions? Not sure if she'll go for September or October for her next try. We have until the end of next week to sign up if she wants to do it in September.

Private tutor, worked for dd22, ds20, and dd17, and dd15 and ds15 will also have tutors (classes and books did not work for my kids). Dd is at a NYC music festival with friends today, thunderstorms are in the forecast. She’s been shadowing a neighbor who is a physical therapist, which is good, to cut down the hours she needs during the school year.

 

[mom2rtk]

Private tutor, worked for dd22, ds20, and dd17, and dd15 and ds15 will also have tutors (classes and books did not work for my kids). Dd is at a NYC music festival with friends today, thunderstorms are in the forecast. She’s been shadowing a neighbor who is a physical therapist, which is good, to cut down the hours she needs during the school year.

I have offered a private tutor. I just can't get her to commit to the time for it. And school starts in less than 3 weeks. Between tennis and school she'll have 12 hour days most days already. She really only needs one more point to be where she wants, so we're thinking of some sort of online tutoring she can do at odd hours.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I just got an invite to tour a company headquarters of a place we're doing a new contract for in a couple weeks and it's in Rochester, so I might bring him along to do a tour of RIT while I'm there.

Definitely worth a look! I grew up in that area, and it was on my short list.

 

[mjkacmom]

I have offered a private tutor. I just can't get her to commit to the time for it. And school starts in less than 3 weeks. Between tennis and school she'll have 12 hour days most days already. She really only needs one more point to be where she wants, so we're thinking of some sort of online tutoring she can do at odd hours.

The tutoring was only an hour or two a week (dd has track/xc after school and then dance from 7 -9 four days a week), but the practice tests were what kept her up late many nights.

 

[mom2rtk]

The tutoring was only an hour or two a week (dd has track/xc after school and then dance from 7 -9 four days a week), but the practice tests were what kept her up late many nights.

I'm still not likely to talk her into it. She feels overscheduled already.

 

[soccerdad72]

ACT scores are back - composite up 3 points, with each section except reading going up 2-3 points each. Unfortunately, reading (24 this time) is still pulling his overall down.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

The tutoring was only an hour or two a week (dd has track/xc after school and then dance from 7 -9 four days a week), but the practice tests were what kept her up late many nights.

I'm still not likely to talk her into it. She feels overscheduled already.

I'm glad this discussion is happening on this thread. Very helpful to me--thanks! DD took the ACT for the first time in July. I was thrilled with her score, but she feels she must have another go at it and raise her Math score. She knew all the concepts but has always been slow at math and she did not finish. She is going to sign up for the September ACT. I am the one worried she is overscheduled (and she really is--I get how your daughter feels @mom2rtk !), but I have undertaken the search for a private tutor. @mjkacmom -- I hope you don't mind a few questions I am wondering about. Was the actual tutoring in person or via skype? If by Skype, did it seem to matter to any of your kids that it was not in person?? In the month leading up to the test, about how much time per week were your kids putting in total with the tutor, practice tests, and tutoring "homework"? Do you think your private tutor helped your kids gain speed on the math? Did the private tutor also do prep for SAT math subject test?

@mom2rtk -- my DD bought and read the For the Love of ACT Science that was recommended here ( thank you!), and it really helped her understand how to take the Science portion--she got a 33 on that part. She did A LOT of research to try to find a book to study for the ACT Science before she made the purchase, and this was IT--big dearth of prep materials focusing on ACT Science. I know your DD tried it already, but maybe you can get her to take another look if you don't go the private tutor route??

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm glad this discussion is happening on this thread. Very helpful to me--thanks! DD took the ACT for the first time in July. I was thrilled with her score, but she feels she must have another go at it and raise her Math score. She knew all the concepts but has always been slow at math and she did not finish. She is going to sign up for the September ACT. I am the one worried she is overscheduled (and she really is--I get how your daughter feels @mom2rtk !), but I have undertaken the search for a private tutor. @mjkacmom -- I hope you don't mind a few questions I am wondering about. Was the actual tutoring in person or via skype? If by Skype, did it seem to matter to any of your kids that it was not in person?? In the month leading up to the test, about how much time per week were your kids putting in total with the tutor, practice tests, and tutoring "homework"? Do you think your private tutor helped your kids gain speed on the math? Did the private tutor also do prep for SAT math subject test?

@mom2rtk -- my DD bought and read the For the Love of ACT Science that was recommended here ( thank you!), and it really helped her understand how to take the Science portion--she got a 33 on that part. She did A LOT of research to try to find a book to study for the ACT Science before she made the purchase, and this was IT--big dearth of prep materials focusing on ACT Science. I know your DD tried it already, but maybe you can get her to take another look if you don't go the private tutor route??

Thank you so much for your input on "For the Love of ACT Science". I'll chat with her again. I still don't know if she's going to do the September or the October test, but it really doesn't matter since she's going to be crazy busy with class and tennis until mid-October. These next couple of months are going to be a blur. This was so much easier with our boys. One didn't do any sports and the other did a spring sport his senior year. So fall wasn't quite as crazy.

But I'll give her another "word on the street is....." talk. She knows that's code for this thread.

In some ways it's sort of nice to have one particular area to focus on. Good luck to your DD in raising her math score!