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Post by Mayleng on Mar 9, 2010 17:32:00 GMT -5
Ds is more into writing novels not so much TV or screen. All that you mentioned is exactly why I think it is a great opportunity for him IF that is what he wants. This year he seems to be more confident and vocal and comfortable talking/debating with his teachers LOL! Today, he actually took on his English Teacher (the tough grader) who was yelling at his class for their low grade in a recent test on the Catcher in the Rye. Son was telling him why the test was difficult especially when the teacher expected answers that he wanted, not what the students got out of it ie. difference in intepretation LOL!. Which the teacher had told them at the beginning of school that when reading a book different people would get different opinions - he threw that one back to the teacher. Told the teacher, being a Harvard Grad, he must have read the book many times and know it in minute details, Juniors like him who had read the book once cannot be expect to know the indepth minute details he expects. He was winning the argument it seems, the teacher told him to discuss it with him later. So he went to finish his debate with his teacher later, when the teacher had no more arguments for him, he told son they will have to continue another day because there was someone waiting. Son was not happy they did not finish their "debate". He thought his teacher was going to send him to detention. It seems son was quite passionate in his arguments, he was not rude or anything. I wish I was a fly on the wall. A year ago, he would never say boo to a teacher. So I am hoping that if it is something he is passionate about, he would rise to the occasion be it at Emerson or some other college.
My neighbour's son went to Champlain. My son used to snowboard but since he broke his leg he has given it up, and seem very gun shy now with sports.
He wants somewhere warm, I think I can sell him Emerson because of all it has to offer, I am looking closer to home and some in the south.
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Post by Mayleng on Mar 9, 2010 18:33:23 GMT -5
Ok somebody pinch me quick and tell me it is not a dream.
Son just said, "Mom can you tell me what else I can do with a writing/english degree just incase I am not a successful novelist. What other jobs canI do and what kind of Graduate Degrees can I go for. I intend on getting a Graduate Degree of some sort." (I had told him before that one does not become a success overnight and sometimes it takes years to get published if one is lucky and meantime you need a job to support yourself). My neighbour had been writing mystery novels for years and is only just getting published, his novel is coming out in June.
Then he says, "I like Emerson." So I told him what you said Jisp that he needs to be able to compete with the best, and standout and take advantage of the opportunities and can't be shy. He says , "I can do that". A week or two ago, he would have said then he won't bother to apply because he wasn't good enough. I also told him that many other colleges were around there and he will meet other college kids. He said, "Ya! I think I would enjoy that." I did warn him not to be disappoint if he does not get accepted.
Wow! Who is this boy and what have they done with my son? I guess debating with his English teacher has pumped him up or maybe they had a conversation which is making him think. He is so full of confidence which is so unlike him, when I could not even get him to talk colleges at all.
I like this dream, I don't want to wake.
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Post by healthy11 on Mar 9, 2010 19:32:07 GMT -5
Have you actually visited any colleges yet, or taken a "virtual tour" online? In any case, it certainly does sound like he's quickly "maturing" and realizing that college (independence?) is just around the corner!
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Post by Mayleng on Mar 9, 2010 19:39:37 GMT -5
Nope, we have not gone on a tour yet. He has been busy the last couple of weekends doing SAT prep course, and then this weekend he has to take his first SATs. So we will probably start sometime in April. It would be just for colleges around here to give him an idea, he has played volleyball at some University facilities before.
However, for the ones that are out of state maybe except Boston, I am thinking we won't be visiting unless he is accepted then we will visit before he accepts. Does this make sense?
But I did take virtual tours online, he hasn't.
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Post by healthy11 on Mar 9, 2010 19:41:24 GMT -5
Yes, I know several families who have taken that same approach. Being able to do "virtual online tours" is not a bad thing to do in the interim!
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Post by jisp on Mar 9, 2010 21:07:44 GMT -5
Yeah, Mayleng is going to come to visit Boston......Then you can meet Michellea and me and momfromma and others. We can all have a Millermom party.
FYI Mayleng, I know a wonderful really amazing impressive young man who is a Sophomore at Emerson. This is the boy who lost his mother this past winter. He actually transferred to Emerson from McGill and is much happier. I would be happy to see if I could arrange for your son to meet him if he comes to visit. Also my neighbor's son who is very dyslexic is probably going to go there next year and would also likely be wiling to host your son.
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Post by Mayleng on Mar 9, 2010 21:15:50 GMT -5
Thank You so much jisp. That is very kind of you. It would be nice meeting all of you.
Will have to see if I can convince hubby to make trip to Boston.
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Post by teacherabc on Mar 9, 2010 21:56:59 GMT -5
I am trying to convince my daughter to go with me to visit some schools in Boston--NYC has a cheap bus to Boston, D.C. (she refuses to go there), Philly and Baltimore (Bolt Bus), so right now I am willing to go to those places. She went to Boston once but didn't like it...but there are so many schools there. I think we are going to hit Philly and NJ first: U of Penn, Princeton (both a stretch but possible depending on SAT scores), Swarthmore or maybe Haverford. That's great that your son sounds like he's maturing. I hope if it is a dream it is a very long one.
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Post by Mayleng on Mar 11, 2010 21:32:46 GMT -5
I wrote to the Admission counselor of Emerson asking how much weight they put on the SAT writing portion and this is his response
"Typically, we look to see that the writing portion isn’t out of place with the Critical Reading and Math scores, but it is not given too much weight. Instead, we look for strength of writing in the application. Also, we take the highest Critical Reading+Math+Writing from different sessions of the exam, or the highest composite ACT score. For some students, that can really raise scores. Glad to hear of your son’s interest. Keep in touch if you need anything."
I thought the college board would only send the highest scores, it sounds like they send all scores and the college picks the highest one. And the colleges would know how many times a kid has taken the test. In fact, my son's SAT prep teacher told him take 3 SATs, not to take 5, since some colleges like Harvard will average out all the tests taken if too many tests were taken.
Is this true?
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Post by healthy11 on Mar 11, 2010 23:17:27 GMT -5
From what I know, what you've heard is true. Up until recently, I thought the College Board automatically did report all scores of all SAT tests a student had taken (which was another advantage of the ACT, because you could opt not to put down the school code, or just have results sent to yourself "as a homeschooler" and then later go back and select which test results would get sent to which universities) HOWEVER, I thought the SAT College Board had just changed their approach this year to match the ACT policy about giving students the choice of score reporting.
As far as what colleges do with the score(s) once they see them, it really does depend on the individual university in terms of only taking the highest numbers, or averaging them, or using any other approach.
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Post by teacherabc on Mar 12, 2010 6:26:39 GMT -5
My daughter (and I think your son Mayleng, am I right?) sit for the SATs tomorrow morning--please wish them luck...
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Post by Mayleng on Mar 12, 2010 6:58:03 GMT -5
Thanks teacherabc, goodluck to your daughter as well.
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Post by Mayleng on Mar 12, 2010 7:22:50 GMT -5
So taking too many test may not necessarily be a good thing.
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Post by healthy11 on Mar 12, 2010 9:14:40 GMT -5
My son took the ACT multiple times, but virtually all the colleges he was applying to said they take the highest scores, and wouldn't average them. Because we could say which scores went to which universities, there didn't seem to be a downside for him. To tell you the truth, I think the last time he took the ACT was in fall of his Senior year, after he'd already submitted applications to his desired colleges, because a few said sometimes scholarship amounts could change based on improved performance on the ACT/SAT. (At least one of the college websites said that scores above a certain percentile would make a student eligible for the honors program at the school, etc.)
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Post by Mayleng on Mar 12, 2010 9:16:55 GMT -5
My son is not taking the ACT, should he take it?
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Post by teacherabc on Mar 12, 2010 9:56:41 GMT -5
I don't think there is reason to. The ACT is more common out west. But schools will take either and the testing is all very stressful. My daughter was not feeling well last night--headache. I think she was overstressed between school work load and SAT.
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Post by healthy11 on Mar 12, 2010 10:10:30 GMT -5
Mayleng, most colleges accept either the ACT or SAT. Many kids do better on one than the other. My son had taken the PSAT and did okay, but the ACT scoring doesn't subtract for wrong answers. The ACT has 4 sections, including science, and since my son was interested in a tech career, we felt having solid scores in science and math could help offset what was bound to be weaker scores in english and reading. In the end, he did well in everything except english and the writing section. I'm quite sure SharonF's daughter did better on the ACT than SAT. I would encourage your son to at least take it once. There's a study book called "The Real ACT" which gives actual examples of past tests, so he can look over that and decide. My son refused to open any study guide, or take any prep course. I really believe his scores improved just by taking it a few times, and he wasn't as nervous or anxious after the first time, either.
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Post by Mayleng on Mar 12, 2010 10:22:22 GMT -5
Since my son is taking his first test tomorrow, one in May and one in June, what would be the benefit of the above? And since we have not decided on which colleges where would we even want to send them?
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Post by Mayleng on Mar 12, 2010 10:25:10 GMT -5
Healthy if his strength is not in the sciences does it make sense to take the ACT?
Oh, and when can we expect to see the SAT scores?
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Post by momfromma on Mar 12, 2010 10:28:09 GMT -5
My son also did better with the ACT than the SAT. His SATs scores were abyssal. His ACT scores were average, but high enough to enter the colleges of his choice.
It seems that the difference is that the ACTs are more based on academics than the SATs.
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Post by Mayleng on Mar 12, 2010 10:32:38 GMT -5
"It seems that the difference is that the ACTs are more based on academics than the SATs"
might not be a good idea for my son to take it then. LOL!
When my son was doing the SAT prep test, he told me that the math portion was more like reading comprehension then actual math.
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Post by healthy11 on Mar 12, 2010 10:36:50 GMT -5
Mayleng, if your son can read and interpret graphs, I think he would do okay on the science part of the ACT. I've heard the biggest complaint is lack of time to finish all the sections of the tests. My feeling is give it a try. You can leave out his high school code if you don't want them to get a copy of the results, and put in codes 7000 (unlisted institution) to get formal reports sent to you, then if you decide you like the result, you can have the scores sent to a college at a later date for a small fee.
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Post by momfromma on Mar 12, 2010 10:42:03 GMT -5
"When my son was doing the SAT prep test, he told me that the math portion was more like reading comprehension then actual math."
Absolutely. I know some very bright math students who did not that great on their Maths SATs because it is so language oriented and they are much better at grasping math concepts than interpreting the traps of a few lines of text. ds got his worse score in maths, even if in theory he is better at maths than English.
If he does not get a score he likes at the SATs, I would recommend he looks into it. However, if he is gifted at verbal expression, the SAT may be a good test for him.
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Post by Mayleng on Mar 12, 2010 10:48:13 GMT -5
I think I will have time, he takes his first SAT tomorrow, and the next ACT test in his school is June. So I will have time to see how well he does in the SAT before deciding if he should take the ACT.
Do you take the ACT with or without Writing? I see there two options.
I think the ACT would definite be a better test for my younger son who is much better at concepts than language.
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Post by momfromma on Mar 12, 2010 10:52:58 GMT -5
ds took it with writing expression, but it depends of what the colleges he is aiming at wants.
A question for those who have already been through this. Do the accommodations granted by the College board for PSAT/SAT also apply to ACT or is it a separate process. ACT is definitively a better match for younger ds, but he needs extended time and access to a computer.
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Post by aterry on Mar 12, 2010 11:01:27 GMT -5
A lot of what College Board suggests is just to benefit them. They're making it seem like you should be sending out scores left and right; if you send enough they make money.
Most of the schools Dd applied to allowed her to choose which scores to send. SUNY Purchase wanted all scores but I think they were the only one.
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Post by Mayleng on Mar 12, 2010 11:09:48 GMT -5
OK, so how do we control which scores goes out for the SATs?
Any answers to my post #167 ?
thanks again all of you for your help.
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Post by jisp on Mar 12, 2010 11:50:57 GMT -5
momfromma, ACT is run by a different company and therefore there is a separate application and procedure for getting accommodations on the ACT then for the SAT.
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Post by healthy11 on Mar 12, 2010 13:42:53 GMT -5
Mayleng, I can't say for sure how the SAT College Board is operating this year, but I'll bet you'll have the scores back from tomorrow's test before June 14. If you know your son has scored well enough (at or above the average for kids admitted to the colleges he's considering) then you can probably have them sent... If he's not happy with the scores, wait and see how he does on some of the other tests. Worst case, you have to pay a few dollars to have them sent later.
FYI, you may also want to check with your son's high school counselor, because I've heard of some schools that include SAT/ACT scores when they send out grade transcripts (don't forget, if you include the high school's code, they will get a copy of the results every time)
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Post by Mayleng on Mar 12, 2010 15:03:39 GMT -5
Thanks healthy.
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