Parents of HS class of 2020

[Mickeypooh99]

yes. our youngest is a freshman, so she is going along for all of the college visits with our current junior. not planning to repeat all of this in 2 years again.

Are your kids doing both ACT/SAT or just one? we had only planned on doing SAT as it seems both are not necessarily needed but now wondering if i should have her do the ACT as well.

My older DS who is a college freshman only did the SAT. He apppied to 6 colleges. He was only rejected from 1. My younger son just took the SAT, and has no plans to take the ACT.

 

[WVMomof3]

My last one is class of 2020! Time is going quickly! He took the SAT free at school last week. Has taken the ACT last fall but is signed up for June as well. Hoping to improve by a few points. If the SAT was not mandatory at school, I don't think he would have taken it. Though he is signing up for SAT subject tests in June. Older DD only took ACT even though I think she would have done better on SAT as she is stronger in English and Writing. Second DD took both but only because she had to take SAT for National Merit, otherwise would not have bothered as she was happy with her ACT.

 

[mtemm]

We just finished our 4th college visit of the week. Last one until summer or fall because DS is slammed with school and activities the rest of the year. We did take our twin freshman on 2 and they were really interested in the process. One said he thought it was going to be boring but found it so interesting. Fodder for them as they continue their high school career!

As for my junior, he is keeping an open mind at all the schools he looked at. 3 were in DC, which align with his interest in International Relations. Not sure we can swing the financials, they are very pricey, but have told him to apply at a range of schools he likes and we will make the best decision once he is accepted and any money comes his way. I do wish we could just write a blank check though.

As for testing, he did take the ACT and the SAT based on his school’s recommendation. We were told some kids do better on one than the other, and we found that to be the case. He did well on both but killed the ACT so as far as I am concerned testing is behind us.

I am spending time on some college forums and finding they can be helpful but also so stressful. I wish I had a crystal ball! Trying not to be stressed about the process.

 

[Minnie824]

mtemm i agree it is getting more stressful! so question for all of you...do your kids schools use the 4.0 or 5.0 scale for gpa? Looking up gpa reqs for colleges, our school uses 5.0 scale so then I try to convert that to 4.0 using just the old basic scale, but then there is weighted and unweighted and some schools use just core class gpa which DDs transcripts don't list. trying to figure out how she is looking w/the numbers for some schools, but based on so many different combinations it is difficult to determine.

 

[fireworks fan]

My dd’s school uses a 4.0 scale, but it is weighted. I think it must be difficult for colleges to try and reconcile all the different grading systems for admissions purposes.

 

[Mika02]

My daughter's school uses a 5.0 Scale, She started in a special stem program so she's been taking all Honors course from freshman year so her GPA is higher then most. We use a program called Naviance that has a program shows us on our weighted scale who has been accepted, waitlisted or denied for most colleges. We don't use the unweighted scale except for National Honor Society acceptance you had to have over a 3.5 unweighted.

 

[WVMomof3]

Only AP classes here on a 5.0 scale. Everything else including honors classes are a 4.0 scale. From what I understand, colleges will look at the rigor of the kid’s schedule compared to what is offered at their school, not necessarily grades so much. I would think ACT/SAT and AP scores are more of an indicator than grades because they can vary so much with different teachers and are not standard.

 

[Mika02]

Only AP classes here on a 5.0 scale. Everything else including honors classes are a 4.0 scale. From what I understand, colleges will look at the rigor of the kid’s schedule compared to what is offered at their school, not necessarily grades so much. I would think ACT/SAT and AP scores are more of an indicator than grades because they can vary so much with different teachers and are not standard.

I think it's the opposite of late more schools are doing away with ACT/SAT some schools you don't even have to submit them at all, many don't accept AP unless the scores are 4 and up and even if they are they aren't giving credit for them against college courses. They put a lot of emphasis on the GPA and the Rigor of the courses available at the school.

 

[Monykalyn]

Our high school has a weighted GPA applied to honors/AP classes, 5.0 scale. Although 4.0 non weighted classes is considered straight A's too...but yes the 5.0 curriculum is definitely more rigorous.
Trying to light a fire under my junior to get her to decide on colleges to visit so she can start applying..Like her older sister she will graduate with several college credits as well. Huge help when getting to college and paying for it!

 

[mtemm]

Our school uses a 5.0 scale for AP, 4.5 for honors classes, 4.0 for cp (college prep) classes. but I believe no one can actually attain a 5.0 because of the limit of classes. They explained it at a parents meeting and I don’t really remember why. We know my son’s weighted vs non-weighted gpa, but from what we were told on college visits each college re-weights them anyway (and core classes only, no art/gym/health).

I think it’s funny how fast I whiplash between, “he isn’t getting in anywhere” to, “he will get in and get good merit money!” Lol. I think what I am trying to remember is it will all work out one way or another. We will make sure he applies to a range of schools and this time next year we should know where he will be heading.

 

[Minnie824]

SAT scores out today. Is anyone doing additional testing? DD has one this Sat as well, then we'll see how she did and determine if she wants to do more in Aug maybe?

 

[Mika02]

DD daughter took hers in December. She has AP testing next week and then she's going to retest SAT's June (with Essay this time) and Take the ACT in July then we will go from there. Hoping between those she won't have to retake again. Want her to focus on Essays for the summer and trying to whittle down our list of colleges to apply to we have way too many right now lol

 

[mtemm]

DS took them in March. He mentioned wanting to retake the SATs because he didn’t do as well as he wanted, but his ACT was so good I don’t see the need and I think the more we tour schools and he hears he can just submit ACT he is starting to see the point. He may need to do some SAT subject tests, but with AP tests coming up I told him to hold off till summer.

Good luck to all!

 

[Monykalyn]

2 more days of school and she is officially a SENIOR! Ack!
She took the ACT and did well for first time: 31, with perfect score in reading, lower science score. She is scheduled to retake in July, and she is hoping for higher sciences score to boost overall score.

 

[Mika02]

Welp they mailed out the appointment Dates for Senior Photos and now DD is having mini meltdowns. I think I'm going to need a lot of prayer to get through this upcoming year smh.

Question anyone's school do class rank yet? My daughter's counselor said this spring which doesn't seem to make sense.

 

[Vicki926]

Welp they mailed out the appointment Dates for Senior Photos and now DD is having mini meltdowns. I think I'm going to need a lot of prayer to get through this upcoming year smh.

Question anyone's school do class rank yet? My daughter's counselor said this spring which doesn't seem to make sense.

They do class rank as they go along here. It changes(or can change)with every marking period throughout high school. It’s locked in after the 2nd marking period of senior year for college/graduation purposes, but continues to be updated until graduation.

 

[Mika02]

They do class rank as they go along here. It changes(or can change)with every marking period throughout high school. It’s locked in after the 2nd marking period of senior year for college/graduation purposes, but continues to be updated until graduation.

I spoke to the principal at my school and it looks like they are moving away from class rank and rather is doing percentiles except for the top 2.

 

[WVMomof3]

Our school will no longer tell them their rank. And this coming school year will be the last year for Vals and Sals. Maybe after they get rid of the Vals and Sals they will resume telling them their rank. It got too controversial with how they figure it out. I assume they must tell their colleges somehow on applications, but not sure.

 

[Mika02]

Our school will no longer tell them their rank. And this coming school year will be the last year for Vals and Sals. Maybe after they get rid of the Vals and Sals they will resume telling them their rank. It got too controversial with how they figure it out. I assume they must tell their colleges somehow on applications, but not sure.

Apparently college ask specifically if your school ranks or not and where does the student fall percentage wise.

We definitely need to know DD percentage because some colleges have programs where you can apply early based on junior year but you have to be ranked in the top 10 or 20 percent.

My daughter is pretty excited right now she got the summer internship she wanted and she got the leadership opportunity she wanted for her school.

Just need to finish up her testing and write her essays and away we go for applications.

 

[Monykalyn]

And justlikethat---summer is nearly over and we have SENIORS!! Not ready for this. Although as my oldest reminds me-she is a senior too-just 4 years ahead! For some reason having a college grad is less shocking to me than my middle baby graduating from HS LOL