Closing in on college apps!

[MAC]

Actually, neither Ver nor Vin could have gotten in, because of the asthma thing. Any asthma after 12, even if no longer happening, is a disqualification. I'm STILL amazed that Hannah passed her DoDMERB w/o a waiver because of her ankle anchors. But, we filled out over 7 pages on just that, so you'd think they would have noticed... I'm not going to call them and point it out again...

[vicki]

Actually, neither Ver nor Vin could have gotten in, because of the asthma thing. Any asthma after 12, even if no longer happening, is a disqualification. I'm STILL amazed that Hannah passed her DoDMERB w/o a waiver because of her ankle anchors. But, we filled out over 7 pages on just that, so you'd think they would have noticed... I'm not going to call them and point it out again...

Oh, I know they couldn't have gotten in--but I mean academically, which is kind of funny since Vinnie ended up with a full ride to MIT's doctoral program.

The Navy sent my cousin (Rick, the author) to MIT for his Master's.

[seanda]

Oh Mac, I would love to consider Grove City but the distance is our undoing. Kiera will not fly given current TSA regulations and so we are limited by what we can feasibly drive. From Illinois we had many more options but not in Oregon. Kiera would strongly prefer a christian college as well... and a conservative one at that. This further limits our choices. There are a few 3/2 programs that we are looking at. Within easy driving distance the only 4 year engineering program is George Fox. Obviously we are applying outside the driving range but it is her strong preference not to fly.. and we will likely be working within that limitation.

Academically Kiera is a strong candidate... her testing scores and academics prepare her for most any engineering program already... although if she wanted MIT or Cal Tech she REALLY needs to up her writing. LOL. First, she is NOT interested in those. Second, we ARE working on writing. LOL. However our moving so so often has seriously limited areas of leadership on her application. That is not so easy to fix but we will do what we can, with what time we have left.

[Katharos]

My youngest sister will be applying to Princeton. I'm not sure where else she is thinking of applying. Two of my siblings currently attend Princeton and are on the fencing team there, and my sister wants to follow in their footsteps. I keep dropping hints of applying to the University of Chicago (my alma mater), but my sister will hear nothing of it.

[MAC]

In what does she want to major?

[Katharos]

She's still trying to figure that out.

[seanda]

U of Chicago keeps sending Kiera stuff. LOL.

But Kiera is quite determined to go to a christian college and would REALLY like it to be on the west coast so that she can go back and forth without flying. I can't quite believe that my baby is going to college soon.

You know what else is weird??? That Kiera's highest score on the ACT was English as that is ALWAYS her weakest score but because of that she did the ACT prep books on it for the week before faithfully with great results. Her weakest was science as it was the last subtest and she was so tired. In every practice test she took she never got below a 34 on it. LOL Then on the actual test she got a 27 on science and a 35 on english. WACKY!

[MAC]

Well, the ACT is notorious for having harder tests one time and not-so-hard another time. The last time Hannah took the ACT, the consensus across the US was that it was a killer of a test. I wish she could do better on the SAT,, but it's not a good fit for her.

[seanda]

Well, my solution? Taking the ACT and SAT several times each... best score wins. To some the cost seems high but when a better score can mean a better scholarship the cost is small. Some colleges even take the composite from the best scores from each section and that can really make multiple tests worthwhile. Kiera getting a 35 in her generally weakest area makes retesting for those colleges a really good thing. LOL. Of course the danger is that some colleges take the most recent score and she could end up with a weaker day and get a lower score.

[MAC]

It's all so hard--wish the colleges would decide and all do it the same way! I feel like the rules change continually!