Changes coming to the Common App for 2013

[readwithem]

http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/new-common-application-will-be-a-stickler-for-essays/?ref=education

 

The new Common App is removing the “topic of your choice†essay option, an announcement that “was met with gasps,†The Chronicle reported. Instead, there will be four or five topics that may change from year to year.

 

This change has already prompted a discussion among college counselors of the pros and cons of limiting the freedom of this essay.

 

The new Common App will also be a stickler for essay lengths. The 250-word minimum will be enforced. Students who exceed the 500-word maximum will face an error message.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I'm more struck by the elimination of the uploaded resume. I wonder how this will affect homeschoolers who need more room to explain.

[In The Great White North]

Other changes include updates to the user interface and the elimination of the ability to upload a resume, unless specifically requested by the particular college.

 

Maybe we should all start petitioning colleges to request it NOW?

[Gwen in VA]

The last time I had to deal with online applications was 2008, so I may be very old-fashioned, but....

 

Even when my kids did the applications online, we sent each college an envelope full of other things -- book lists, activity sheets, course descriptions, etc. We never did an application completely online.

 

My dd2 will be doing apps next fall. Will I still be able to submit "extra" things by mail, or do colleges no longer accept supporting hard-copy documents?

[elizabeth]

No way would I even consider an application complete for a home educated student without a plethora of supporting materials to validate our transcript. We did the Common App online utilized it to the extent it was pertinent and then sent detailed transcripts with book lists, grading scale and work required therein, report cards, midterm papers, SAT scores, AP scores, PSAT scores and ACT scores. We also wrote a mission statement, my daughter wrote an essay on her home education experience and we enclosed two sheets on extracurriculars. Any supplemental essays required by individual colleges were completed online. So far, so good. The applications that we were sent which were free online remained so other than the cost of mailing the documents. A quick phone call helps and frankly they are pleased to see effort, commitment and external validations of the transcript that is merely a page with grades and subjects. I have heard from more than one uni that they wish they had that much information about other applicants.

[Barbara H]

I don't think the resume is too much of a loss. Every admissions officer I've spoken with dislikes the resume. They feel like the essays, activities list, letters of recommendations (and supplementary materials for homeschoolers) is enough to communicate what needs to be communicated.

 

Getting rid of the topic of choice is a big surprise because it is really popular.

[elizabeth]

Follow up statement about the Common App. It is lazy and promotes the same, we did not use it unless the college /uni demanded it and it actually is horrific for home educated applicants as much of it is ridiculous like the counselor form. Idiotic is the kindest phrase that comes to mind. It was akin to being trapped in Satan's *ss for months. Example of said stench if you try to upload comments and check the teacher box you are stuck in limbo for hours. There are no phone numbers, only email contacts and as I stated in my previous post it is crucial to have a book list so the person who is used to reading the preprogrammed lists of courses can actually fathom why 2.0 credits were issued for a Literature class. Read my book list and then it makes abundant sense and they want to admit my child out of a sense of giving the kid a break. 6000 pages per course is not unheard of around here.I have a highly capable student indeed but no moss grew under her feet either. The highlight so far has been the unnamed Ivy that flat out declared that no one could do that much work. Yes I suppose that would be true as I have seen what you have produced was my answer...I will not answer their calls. And I am, for the record, an elitist snob of the worst sort with regard to education but they pissed this Iowa lady off by suggesting the book list was" impossible." :lol: The others have been amazing and helpful thus far. It is amusing that they require SAT subject tests but not AP exams. That is akin to having a student read a comic book version of King Lear and stating that Shakespeare was not a valid substitute. And yes I am saying the SAT subject tests are simple. I took three of them online while drinking wine and missed 3 questions. In courses I studied 25 years ago. Try writing an essay on the same material and it is time to put on the high waders because you are soon knee high in geese droppings. There is no reason for using SAT subject tests and not AP exams that is apparent to me and my conjecture is most unkind. LEGACIES. None too bright but mumsy and popsy do donate huge sums of money to the alma mater...If any one can think of another reason for this anomaly please share your speculations as it makes little sense to me other than to level the field for wealthy but average students to compete against those who might not be wealthy but are brilliant. After all we cannot have legacy students appearing to be unqualified as we need the endowments to keep coming in and if we do not accept Henrietta the million a year her parents are sending to X University will promptly come to an end. Sad but true I fear.

[FaithManor]

We did not use the Common Ap, not one single time for dd. I called the colleges and uni's, explained that the Common Ap did not work well for homeschoolers, that I would be very discouraged about their institution if they did not want to see more documentation tham what was covered on the common ap, and that every time we attempted to complete it, we would wait two weeks for emails or phone calls to be returned when we had questions. I tried to "kiss up" in such a way that their egos were stroked properly ;); we received a nice application packet in the mail from each. We filled them out by hand - we crazy classical homeschooling freaks - and then course descriptions, reading lists, textbook lists, explanation of grading scales, and copies of a sample of work from each course were sent along with AP scores and what not. This worked! DD applied to 12 uni's and not one rejected her nor had any significant issues with the fact that they received an old fashioned Ap.

 

Elizabeth, I do understand your frustration. Though MIT is not an Ivy, it does have a STEM "Ivy" status and I have to question their motivation as well. My youngest is very math talented - not prodigious, but pretty wowza by any standards, as well, as very adept in physics and astronomy. His heart is set, at the tender age of 12, on attending MIT. He is their perfect candidate and the list of accomplishments should be HUGE by the time he would be applying. However, they require two SAT II subject tests and will not accept AP's. Not only that, his junior year we'll be driving him (should be exhausting) to the U of M Flint Campus, for Calc 3 and college sophomore level physics classes. (Driving him because we aren't comfortable with ANYONE driving around that area of Flint alone anymore...it is getting really, really scary!) They will not accept his AP Physics scores which he'll take his 2nd year of high school, nor the AP Calc exams. Though we won't be seeking to transfer his U of M classes, it seems to me that when a kid is 16/17 and taking that level of coursework from a top tier 1 uni that also makes the top 50 internationally, well, you'd have some proof the kid knows his stuff. NOPE! Must.sit.SAT.II. subject.exams....

 

Here's the rub - where we live, there are NO schools that proctor the SAT much less subject exams. We will have to drive 2.5 hrs. - one way - to get to a testing facility and that's if traffic isn't a nightmare. The nearest school that proctors math and science AP's is HUGE and the number of students sitting exams there is rather impressive. In order to insure students get checked in before exam time, they suggest being in line no later than 6:30 a.m. So, if you figure allowing 3 hrs. of drive time just to be safe and 30 minutes for him to shower, eat, and be ready to leave, then we have to be up no later than 3:00 a.m. or the other option is to pay to stay in the city the night before thus adding significantly to the cost of the exam - $4.02 a gallon for gas here as well.

 

And all that, three.times.over. One math, two science tests. Honestly, for a school that is so selective that despite what can only be described as a mind boggling set of qualifications (this year he just received his first letter of recommendation and that was from a Raytheon engineer that is working on a NASA project - major mamma brag :D) still makes admittance a game of "russian roulette", I have to consider whether or not it is worth the huge added expense and crazy hoop jumping to apply. Every other institution ds is interested in wants to see AP's. We haven't told him yet because he so young, but likely MIT will not be on the application list when the time comes. In an already high stakes last two years of high school for him and the intensity that comes with those Student Launch Initiative projects, I can not see adding that angst to the mix.

 

As for the Common Ap, whatever changes they make, I'll still be sending off my large packet of documentation. I don't want to risk any school not having the needed info to evaluate my hard-working kids properly. And yes, Elizabeth, we also had that "incredulity" from a couple of admin's that just could not conceive that a student would actually do that much work...the look on the face of one, in particular, when dd was on campus and showed him pics of her near space engineering project - she managed almost 80,000 feet - and her working, homemade lightbulb using argon and self-designed filaments along with a 29 page paper on Edison's processes that finally lead to his succes (and hers) WAS PRICELESS! Truly, a kodak moment if there ever was one.

 

Count me amongst the non-common application fans. When these changes come out, I hope someone will post a link. I won't have one applying that year, but I'd like a good heads-up so when I do call, the following year, and ask for those vintage, paper aps, I'll be prepared to tell them what doesn't work for us on the current one!

 

Faith

[creekland]

I don't think the resume is too much of a loss. Every admissions officer I've spoken with dislikes the resume. They feel like the essays, activities list, letters of recommendations (and supplementary materials for homeschoolers) is enough to communicate what needs to be communicated.

 

Getting rid of the topic of choice is a big surprise because it is really popular.

 

:iagree:

 

We had no problem at all with the common app and I preferred schools that accepted it over those with their own forms. We also never needed course descriptions - though did upload a book/reading list as it added a bit of detail as to who my guy is. I can't remember if he picked his own topic for the essay or not to be honest.

 

To each our own.

[elizabeth]

We did not use the Common Ap, not one single time for dd. I called the colleges and uni's, explained that the Common Ap did not work well for homeschoolers, that I would be very discouraged about their institution if they did not want to see more documentation tham what was covered on the common ap, and that every time we attempted to complete it, we would wait two weeks for emails or phone calls to be returned when we had questions. I tried to "kiss up" in such a way that their egos were stroked properly ;); we received a nice application packet in the mail from each. We filled them out by hand - we crazy classical homeschooling freaks - and then course descriptions, reading lists, textbook lists, explanation of grading scales, and copies of a sample of work from each course were sent along with AP scores and what not. This worked! DD applied to 12 uni's and not one rejected her nor had any significant issues with the fact that they received an old fashioned Ap.

 

Elizabeth, I do understand your frustration. Though MIT is not an Ivy, it does have a STEM "Ivy" status and I have to question their motivation as well. My youngest is very math talented - not prodigious, but pretty wowza by any standards, as well, as very adept in physics and astronomy. His heart is set, at the tender age of 12, on attending MIT. He is their perfect candidate and the list of accomplishments should be HUGE by the time he would be applying. However, they require two SAT II subject tests and will not accept AP's. Not only that, his junior year we'll be driving him (should be exhausting) to the U of M Flint Campus, for Calc 3 and college sophomore level physics classes. (Driving him because we aren't comfortable with ANYONE driving around that area of Flint alone anymore...it is getting really, really scary!) They will not accept his AP Physics scores which he'll take his 2nd year of high school, nor the AP Calc exams. Though we won't be seeking to transfer his U of M classes, it seems to me that when a kid is 16/17 and taking that level of coursework from a top tier 1 uni that also makes the top 50 internationally, well, you'd have some proof the kid knows his stuff. NOPE! Must.sit.SAT.II. subject.exams....

 

Here's the rub - where we live, there are NO schools that proctor the SAT much less subject exams. We will have to drive 2.5 hrs. - one way - to get to a testing facility and that's if traffic isn't a nightmare. The nearest school that proctors math and science AP's is HUGE and the number of students sitting exams there is rather impressive. In order to insure students get checked in before exam time, they suggest being in line no later than 6:30 a.m. So, if you figure allowing 3 hrs. of drive time just to be safe and 30 minutes for him to shower, eat, and be ready to leave, then we have to be up no later than 3:00 a.m. or the other option is to pay to stay in the city the night before thus adding significantly to the cost of the exam - $4.02 a gallon for gas here as well.

 

And all that, three.times.over. One math, two science tests. Honestly, for a school that is so selective that despite what can only be described as a mind boggling set of qualifications (this year he just received his first letter of recommendation and that was from a Raytheon engineer that is working on a NASA project - major mamma brag :D) still makes admittance a game of "russian roulette", I have to consider whether or not it is worth the huge added expense and crazy hoop jumping to apply. Every other institution ds is interested in wants to see AP's. We haven't told him yet because he so young, but likely MIT will not be on the application list when the time comes. In an already high stakes last two years of high school for him and the intensity that comes with those Student Launch Initiative projects, I can not see adding that angst to the mix.

 

As for the Common Ap, whatever changes they make, I'll still be sending off my large packet of documentation. I don't want to risk any school not having the needed info to evaluate my hard-working kids properly. And yes, Elizabeth, we also had that "incredulity" from a couple of admin's that just could not conceive that a student would actually do that much work...the look on the face of one, in particular, when dd was on campus and showed him pics of her near space engineering project - she managed almost 80,000 feet - and her working, homemade lightbulb using argon and self-designed filaments along with a 29 page paper on Edison's processes that finally lead to his succes (and hers) WAS PRICELESS! Truly, a kodak moment if there ever was one.

 

Count me amongst the non-common application fans. When these changes come out, I hope someone will post a link. I won't have one applying that year, but I'd like a good heads-up so when I do call, the following year, and ask for those vintage, paper aps, I'll be prepared to tell them what doesn't work for us on the current one!

 

Faith

 

Form over substance, slavish mindset. MIT is terrific but not the only game in town. Guess they will learn that the hard way. Columbia is the bane of my existence for much the same reason. It is dismaying to see so many of the highly selective schools asking for SAT II scores and refusing to accept AP exam scores. I have theories about this bizarre practice some of which I have hinted at in my posts but my relative who is on the Admissions Committee at Stanford does not have an answer either as to the preference . Heck we might end up in New Orleans after all. Loyola here we come...and the music scene for a highly skilled guitarist is simply awesome in breadth. It seems petty and simply questionable as to the reasons or lack thereof for this goofy dependence on SAT II vs AP exams. Who knows??

[swimmermom3]

Follow up statement about the Common App. It is lazy and promotes the same, we did not use it unless the college /uni demanded it and it actually is horrific for home educated applicants as much of it is ridiculous like the counselor form. Idiotic is the kindest phrase that comes to mind. It was akin to being trapped in Satan's *ss for months. Example of said stench if you try to upload comments and check the teacher box you are stuck in limbo for hours. There are no phone numbers, only email contacts and as I stated in my previous post it is crucial to have a book list so the person who is used to reading the preprogrammed lists of courses can actually fathom why 2.0 credits were issued for a Literature class. Read my book list and then it makes abundant sense and they want to admit my child out of a sense of giving the kid a break. 6000 pages per course is not unheard of around here.I have a highly capable student indeed but no moss grew under her feet either. The highlight so far has been the unnamed Ivy that flat out declared that no one could do that much work. Yes I suppose that would be true as I have seen what you have produced was my answer...I will not answer their calls. And I am, for the record, an elitist snob of the worst sort with regard to education but they pissed this Iowa lady off by suggesting the book list was" impossible." :lol: The others have been amazing and helpful thus far. It is amusing that they require SAT subject tests but not AP exams. That is akin to having a student read a comic book version of King Lear and stating that Shakespeare was not a valid substitute. And yes I am saying the SAT subject tests are simple. I took three of them online while drinking wine and missed 3 questions. In courses I studied 25 years ago. Try writing an essay on the same material and it is time to put on the high waders because you are soon knee high in geese droppings. There is no reason for using SAT subject tests and not AP exams that is apparent to me and my conjecture is most unkind. LEGACIES. None too bright but mumsy and popsy do donate huge sums of money to the alma mater...If any one can think of another reason for this anomaly please share your speculations as it makes little sense to me other than to level the field for wealthy but average students to compete against those who might not be wealthy but are brilliant. After all we cannot have legacy students appearing to be unqualified as we need the endowments to keep coming in and if we do not accept Henrietta the million a year her parents are sending to X University will promptly come to an end. Sad but true I fear.

 

:smilielol5:I have nothing of value to add except that, Elizabeth, I have truly missed reading your posts. Your talent for understatement leaves me in tears.:D

[mommamagistra]

There is no reason for using SAT subject tests and not AP exams that is apparent to me . . .

 

I wonder if the preferance for SAT 2's has something to do with the assignment of credits for APs. There is a LOT of variation amongst the colleges for whether or not a student will recieve credit, what scores and exams qualify, etc. Many students expect some kind of credit for their AP scores. In addition to potential financial loss, colleges often prefer that students take the first year classes that APs supposedly cover at their respective institution for academic reasons. The Calc BC curriculum is pretty standard, so that AP commonly gets a student out of first year Calc. However, the AP curriculum in Chem/Physics/Bio/Comp Sci/languages can be very different from the curriculum taught at the college itself. I have personally witnessed students cash in AP science credits only to find themselves struggling in second year classes. I don't dispute Elizabeth's claim that the AP shows real knowledge as opposed to the SAT-- just throwing out a possible explanation for why colleges don't acknowledge them instead of the SATs.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Follow up statement about the Common App. It is lazy and promotes the same, we did not use it unless the college /uni demanded it and it actually is horrific for home educated applicants as much of it is ridiculous like the counselor form. Idiotic is the kindest phrase that comes to mind. It was akin to being trapped in Satan's *ss for months. Example of said stench if you try to upload comments and check the teacher box you are stuck in limbo for hours. There are no phone numbers, only email contacts and as I stated in my previous post it is crucial to have a book list so the person who is used to reading the preprogrammed lists of courses can actually fathom why 2.0 credits were issued for a Literature class. Read my book list and then it makes abundant sense and they want to admit my child out of a sense of giving the kid a break. 6000 pages per course is not unheard of around here.I have a highly capable student indeed but no moss grew under her feet either. The highlight so far has been the unnamed Ivy that flat out declared that no one could do that much work. Yes I suppose that would be true as I have seen what you have produced was my answer...I will not answer their calls. And I am, for the record, an elitist snob of the worst sort with regard to education but they pissed this Iowa lady off by suggesting the book list was" impossible." :lol: The others have been amazing and helpful thus far. It is amusing that they require SAT subject tests but not AP exams. That is akin to having a student read a comic book version of King Lear and stating that Shakespeare was not a valid substitute. And yes I am saying the SAT subject tests are simple. I took three of them online while drinking wine and missed 3 questions. In courses I studied 25 years ago. Try writing an essay on the same material and it is time to put on the high waders because you are soon knee high in geese droppings. There is no reason for using SAT subject tests and not AP exams that is apparent to me and my conjecture is most unkind. LEGACIES. None too bright but mumsy and popsy do donate huge sums of money to the alma mater...If any one can think of another reason for this anomaly please share your speculations as it makes little sense to me other than to level the field for wealthy but average students to compete against those who might not be wealthy but are brilliant. After all we cannot have legacy students appearing to be unqualified as we need the endowments to keep coming in and if we do not accept Henrietta the million a year her parents are sending to X University will promptly come to an end. Sad but true I fear.

 

Back in the day several of the Texas schools required SAT 2 scores from everyone. I think Rice and Baylor were among them.

 

I think the preference for SAT 2 over AP is the sense that it can provide a quantifiable score for disparate courses with the same title. Chemistry in Highland Park can be compared with Plano and Amarillo and Rockwall and South Dallas. Anyone can take an SAT 2 just by signing up with College Board. It is much more intimidating for a student who is not enrolled in an AP course to figure out that they MAY take the AP exam. Plus you have the issue that they are only offered once per year. And that outside students may have trouble finding a testing spot.

 

I agree that AP ought to be considered acceptable evidence in lieu of SAT 2. Of course that just reopens the box of making one test of greater perceived weight than the other.

[Kathy in Richmond]

I think the preference for SAT 2 over AP is the sense that it can provide a quantifiable score for disparate courses with the same title. Chemistry in Highland Park can be compared with Plano and Amarillo and Rockwall and South Dallas. Anyone can take an SAT 2 just by signing up with College Board. It is much more intimidating for a student who is not enrolled in an AP course to figure out that they MAY take the AP exam. Plus you have the issue that they are only offered once per year. And that outside students may have trouble finding a testing spot.

 

:iagree:Better that they use SAT 2 tests for these reasons over APs: they're less expensive to take, offered more frequently, and much easier for homeschoolers to register for online. No testing center can turn anyone down if they offer the SAT 2s. SAT 2 exams provide the colleges with a simple apples to apples comparison. Also, the AP scores aren't nearly as finely graded. More kids get 4s and 5s on AP tests (not that it's easy:)) than 800s on SAT 2s, for instance. I personally did not find the SAT 2s to be easy peasy at all. Latin, literature, and the sciences were challenging for me when my kids were prepping. I thought that math was easy, but hey, that's my field.:tongue_smilie:

 

We found that AP scores from homeschoolers were very much welcomed as part of the admissions package to competitive colleges, in addition to the SAT 2s.

 

Though MIT is not an Ivy, it does have a STEM "Ivy" status and I have to question their motivation as well. My youngest is very math talented - not prodigious, but pretty wowza by any standards, as well, as very adept in physics and astronomy. His heart is set, at the tender age of 12, on attending MIT. He is their perfect candidate and the list of accomplishments should be HUGE by the time he would be applying. However, they require two SAT II subject tests and will not accept AP's. Not only that, his junior year we'll be driving him (should be exhausting) to the U of M Flint Campus, for Calc 3 and college sophomore level physics classes. (Driving him because we aren't comfortable with ANYONE driving around that area of Flint alone anymore...it is getting really, really scary!) They will not accept his AP Physics scores which he'll take his 2nd year of high school, nor the AP Calc exams. Though we won't be seeking to transfer his U of M classes, it seems to me that when a kid is 16/17 and taking that level of coursework from a top tier 1 uni that also makes the top 50 internationally, well, you'd have some proof the kid knows his stuff. NOPE! Must.sit.SAT.II. subject.exams....

 

Here's the rub - where we live, there are NO schools that proctor the SAT much less subject exams. We will have to drive 2.5 hrs. - one way - to get to a testing facility and that's if traffic isn't a nightmare. The nearest school that proctors math and science AP's is HUGE and the number of students sitting exams there is rather impressive. In order to insure students get checked in before exam time, they suggest being in line no later than 6:30 a.m. So, if you figure allowing 3 hrs. of drive time just to be safe and 30 minutes for him to shower, eat, and be ready to leave, then we have to be up no later than 3:00 a.m. or the other option is to pay to stay in the city the night before thus adding significantly to the cost of the exam - $4.02 a gallon for gas here as well.

 

And all that, three.times.over. One math, two science tests. Honestly, for a school that is so selective that despite what can only be described as a mind boggling set of qualifications (this year he just received his first letter of recommendation and that was from a Raytheon engineer that is working on a NASA project - major mamma brag :D) still makes admittance a game of "russian roulette", I have to consider whether or not it is worth the huge added expense and crazy hoop jumping to apply. Every other institution ds is interested in wants to see AP's.

 

Are you sure there's no closer SAT center? A quick search on the college board site pulls up Flint Southwestern Academy as a testing center that offers the subject exams. Maybe that will help you!

 

MIT only requires two SAT subject tests for admissions: one math and one science (your choice of each). Even math level 2 only requires precalculus. So your son could quite easily polish off this requirement in one two-hour morning at the end of his freshman or sophomore year, before things get too busy for him (you can take up to three subject tests in one sitting). And you'd only have to pay the registration fees once.:)

 

MIT will also be more than happy to also look at his physics AP score and any other AP scores that he might take before admissions. They just don't replace SAT 2 scores. All of the schools at that level welcome additional testing from homeschoolers and weight them more heavily than any homeschool grades on the transcripts.

 

Also, when your son does get to the upper math levels, I'd suggest looking carefully at AoPS and EPGY upper level math offerings in addition to U Mich Flint classes. They can be done from home w/o the headache of a long daily commute, and they're both highly respected by schools like MIT.

[FaithManor]

:iagree:Better that they use SAT 2 tests for these reasons over APs: they're less expensive to take, offered more frequently, and much easier for homeschoolers to register for online. No testing center can turn anyone down if they offer the SAT 2s. SAT 2 exams provide the colleges with a simple apples to apples comparison. Also, the AP scores aren't nearly as finely graded. More kids get 4s and 5s on AP tests (not that it's easy:)) than 800s on SAT 2s, for instance. I personally did not find the SAT 2s to be easy peasy at all. Latin, literature, and the sciences were challenging for me when my kids were prepping. I thought that math was easy, but hey, that's my field.:tongue_smilie:

 

We found that AP scores from homeschoolers were very much welcomed as part of the admissions package to competitive colleges, in addition to the SAT 2s.

 

 

 

Are you sure there's no closer SAT center? A quick search on the college board site pulls up Flint Southwestern Academy as a testing center that offers the subject exams. Maybe that will help you!

 

MIT only requires two SAT subject tests for admissions: one math and one science (your choice of each). Even math level 2 only requires precalculus. So your son could quite easily polish off this requirement in one two-hour morning at the end of his freshman or sophomore year, before things get too busy for him (you can take up to three subject tests in one sitting). And you'd only have to pay the registration fees once.:)

 

MIT will also be more than happy to also look at his physics AP score and any other AP scores that he might take before admissions. They just don't replace SAT 2 scores. All of the schools at that level welcome additional testing from homeschoolers and weight them more heavily than any homeschool grades on the transcripts.

 

Also, when your son does get to the upper math levels, I'd suggest looking carefully at AoPS and EPGY upper level math offerings in addition to U Mich Flint classes. They can be done from home w/o the headache of a long daily commute, and they're both highly respected by schools like MIT.

 

I won't take Flint Southwestern - 1.5 hours away - as an option. The gang warfare in that neighborhood is legendary. The last time state solo and ensemble was held there, some music students were attacked. The school is scary - I accompanied that and it was raining outside, so dark and dreary. All of the lightbulbs in the classroom were burned out and other rooms were similiar. So, that's why we have to go further for a testing center.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Dh told me today that the Flint Cultural Center, which includes the U of M Flint campus, is now off limits. He was talking to a co-worker and apparently, something rather bad has happened down there despite all of the campus security. So, when the time comes, if things haven't improved, we'll be "homeschooling" calc 3. Dh will just have to carve out the time to oversee it. He was, after all, the math major. At that point, I'm done after calc 1.

 

Faith

[creekland]

I won't take Flint Southwestern - 1.5 hours away - as an option. The gang warfare in that neighborhood is legendary. The last time state solo and ensemble was held there, some music students were attacked. The school is scary - I accompanied that and it was raining outside, so dark and dreary. All of the lightbulbs in the classroom were burned out and other rooms were similiar. So, that's why we have to go further for a testing center.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Dh told me today that the Flint Cultural Center, which includes the U of M Flint campus, is now off limits. He was talking to a co-worker and apparently, something rather bad has happened down there despite all of the campus security. So, when the time comes, if things haven't improved, we'll be "homeschooling" calc 3. Dh will just have to carve out the time to oversee it. He was, after all, the math major. At that point, I'm done after calc 1.

 

Faith

 

Just :grouphug: from here. There are times when I'm really glad we live in our area of the country. Granted, our schools may be similar in caliber, but here we don't have worries about safety getting to testing centers. Our schools are "safe" (knowing that things can happen anywhere, but...). My particular school doesn't offer the ACT, but I can get to a local Catholic school that offers it twice a year in 20 minutes. We'll be going there for the Oct test actually.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Umm Baylor has never required the SAT II. Both my husband and I are graduates and never took them! My stepbrothers attended and they didn't take them either. Not required now.

 

Thanks for the correction. High school was a long time ago.

[Gwen in VA]

I would not want to eliminate any schools just because the schools required one or two SAT-2's.

 

I understand living far away from a test center, but do you have any relatives you could "visit" and have your student take the SAT-2 at an area school there? Any friends who would be willing to put you up for a night or two so you can visit and the student take the SAT-2 there?

[FaithManor]

I would not want to eliminate any schools just because the schools required one or two SAT-2's.

 

I understand living far away from a test center, but do you have any relatives you could "visit" and have your student take the SAT-2 at an area school there? Any friends who would be willing to put you up for a night or two so you can visit and the student take the SAT-2 there?

 

I wish we did. My relatives either live in this town or within five miles, or the other that does not live out of state, lives in the Grayling/Gaylord area. I thought about seeing if one of those northern/central school districts near my aunt is a testing center for any of the math or science SAT-2's. However, my aunt was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer two months ago and her treatment is not going well. We do not expect her to survive this.

 

Outside of a few work acquaintances of dh's, whom we don't know well socially, we do not have friends in the city. We've never lived very far from Lake Huron well north of the Flint - Detroit corridor. However, I guess if he wants it that badly, we can pay for hotels and gas more than once. I'm just not convinced it's worth the expense or hoop jumping. For even the most amazing students, getting into MIT is a "roll of the dice". Though not an Ivy, the selectivity and chances of getting in are the same.

 

Faith

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I wish we did. My relatives either live in this town or within five miles, or the other that does not live out of state, lives in the Grayling/Gaylord area. I thought about seeing if one of those northern/central school districts near my aunt is a testing center for any of the math or science SAT-2's. However, my aunt was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer two months ago and her treatment is not going well. We do not expect her to survive this.

 

Outside of a few work acquaintances of dh's, whom we don't know well socially, we do not have friends in the city. We've never lived very far from Lake Huron well north of the Flint - Detroit corridor. However, I guess if he wants it that badly, we can pay for hotels and gas more than once. I'm just not convinced it's worth the expense or hoop jumping. For even the most amazing students, getting into MIT is a "roll of the dice". Though not an Ivy, the selectivity and chances of getting in are the same.

 

Faith

 

Could you plan a family trip with a test date as part of the itinerary?