choirfarm Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I'm looking at his ACT test scores and the percentages ar all 99 or 98 percentile until you hit writing.. Now the combined writing is still 98, but his writing score is 51%. Yikes... sigh.. We are still working on his writing skills. People said that colleges don't really look at the writing, but man...to me that really jumps out at you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 So his writing is average. :) 98 and 99 percent? I wouldn't worry about the writing score at all!!! I would do what you're doing which is to keep working on the writing, but I wouldn't worry about it from an admissions point of view. For the SAT anyway, many colleges only use the reading and math scores - the writing is ignored. I think it's common for those who are heavy into math and science to not have writing as a strength. He has a bit of time before scores are sent to colleges anyway doesn't he? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raceNzanesmom Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Writing is scored different too. I wouldn't worry about. Nothing wrong with average- 51% means he writes better than many. Keep working on his skills, but don't stress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Whether or not colleges get percentages on their reports, adcoms already know them. Your son has great scores. I wouldn't worry. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 He has a bit of time before scores are sent to colleges anyway doesn't he? Well, I had them automatically sent to Baylor, TCU, and LeTourneau. That said, LeTourneau sent him a letter yesterday that thanked him for sending him the scores and saying he looked good for admission. They also sent information on the honors college. So I guess it will be ok. Can you tell this is my oldest and I'm a little paranoid? I am just so scared that he will fail in college and it will be all my fault? If there are any holes in his education, I cannot blame the school. It is my fault!!! I am such a perfectionist that I feel like all of his skills or any of my children's skills should be in the 90's! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Well, I had them automatically sent to Baylor, TCU, and LeTourneau. That said, LeTourneau sent him a letter yesterday that thanked him for sending him the scores and saying he looked good for admission. They also sent information on the honors college. So I guess it will be ok. Can you tell this is my oldest and I'm a little paranoid? I am just so scared that he will fail in college and it will be all my fault? If there are any holes in his education, I cannot blame the school. It is my fault!!! I am such a perfectionist that I feel like all of his skills or any of my children's skills should be in the 90's! I think you've gotten great confirmation that your son did exceptionally well and you've done a great job educating him!!! :D Honors college courses typically require more writing than regular classes, so you'll probably want to continue to work with him on his writing if for nothing else than to make it easier for him in his future classes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 I think you've gotten great confirmation that your son did exceptionally well and you've done a great job educating him!!! :D Honors college courses typically require more writing than regular classes' date=' so you'll probably want to continue to work with him on his writing if for nothing else than to make it easier for him in his future classes.[/quote'] We talked about that very thing. He is preparing much harder for the writing on the SAT. It will also be more to his strengths. He's written TONS of papers using historical and literary examples, but not so many persuasive papers based on personal experience like on the ACT. I don't know that he would do honors college. If he goes to Baylor, I'm thinking definitely not as that is HARD!!! However, they have a summer program called Renaissance Scholars where for a week in the summer between their junior and senior year, they do that for a week: http://www.baylor.edu/renaissancescholar/index.php?id=68853 The man in charge of his ECS visit ( see college board) said he wanted to talk to my son about a program he had in the summer that he would be good for. I'm pretty sure that was it since he is also in charge of that. I don't know if I could get him to go, though. I'm waiting to see how the ECS academy goes and how he likes it. Perhaps this man and the other kids will talk about how cool that program is. We'll see. If he goes to TCU, the honors program seems to be a bit easier and a bit more flexible. TCU seemed to have many more things in place to keep kids from failing. In the honors dorm you have a mentor. They have to meet with an advisor or something throughout their freshman year if they are a "regular" student. I remember being pretty impressed. Baylor was sink or swim when I went. I did really well, but my high school boyfriend and his entire wing at Kokernaught (sp) flunked their first freshman semester. ( Yet another reason I like the idea of the ECS dorm with lots of serious students with freshman-seniors.) I want him to have fun. I sure did, but not at the expense of his grades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 The Renaissance Scholar program sounds great! Don't forget that things have changed at most colleges, so what may have been an impossibly hard honors program years ago, may not be that way today. If/when you go back to Baylor for a visit, maybe he could seek out some honors students to ask them what the program is really like. I can't imagine an entire wing flunking out!!! :svengo: I forget the name of the site, but there's one where you can find out all kinds of stats including the percent of freshman who made it through to their sophomore year, and the percentage of students who graduated after four years, etc.. That might help to give you some idea of whether things have changed. No matter what he decides, congratulations to your son, and to you too!!! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 I can't imagine an entire wing flunking out!!! :svengo: INo matter what he decides' date=' congratulations to your son, and to you too!!! :)[/quote'] Those were not honors students. You could get an honors degree, but there was not an honors dorm then. These were just regular freshman guys that flunked. My boyfriend had gotten C's in high school. He only came to Baylor because I was there. I really wish he hadn't. He had no self- discipline. He transferred to MCC his soph year and didn't do well there either. He always had these grandiose plans: I'm going to do better and get straight A's this semster! I was thinking, what about attending EVERY class and doing EVERY assignment first. That would have been a reasonable goal. I always dated guys that did not do well in school at all. Not that I dated THAT much. My husband was the first "smart" guy I ever dated. It was really cool to be able to talk to somebody! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Too bad he didn't have an academic adviser helping him to make realistic goals and meet those goals. You can be a C student and make it through college, you just have to work harder than most of the A students ever do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Well, I had them automatically sent to Baylor, TCU, and LeTourneau. That said, LeTourneau sent him a letter yesterday that thanked him for sending him the scores and saying he looked good for admission. They also sent information on the honors college. So I guess it will be ok. Can you tell this is my oldest and I'm a little paranoid? I am just so scared that he will fail in college and it will be all my fault? If there are any holes in his education, I cannot blame the school. It is my fault!!! I am such a perfectionist that I feel like all of his skills or any of my children's skills should be in the 90's! Don't underestimate your guy. He's testing into the top 1% of college bound students and math/science folks often aren't as high with actual writing. There's no shame at all in not being top in everything. He's doing great. If he were my son, he'd be doing the Honors College at any of your choices including Baylor. My guy has pretty much eliminated Baylor (closer affordable choices he likes - plus the research offered at Baylor isn't his favorite), but if he were to go there, he'd be doing Honors. I think top kids fit in better with their peers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memphispeg Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 He's doing great. Have him work on writing. LAW is a good little book. Make sure he writes something everyday. Look around for a variety of topics, creative, self-description, argument analysis and even just straight reportage. Having to put pen to paper daily has really helped my dd...even if it is just a paragraph or two. Journalling may also help. There is a lot of writing at some colleges but, there are also writing labs where they can get help. Many fr. seminars are writing-based these days to iron out and improve skills. Writing everyday helps get rid of the onus of the blank page at testing time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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