Analise

Let's just say they've made my reports much quicker to prepare.

Not sure they know! But I like your thinking. My response is to ask the parent how often her parents contacted her professors to dispute grades.

zippy the pinhead

Your response is excellent. Apples of gold in settings of silver, no question.

Regarding those proffies, gambling is most unwise, but I would wager heavily that they do not know. It is unfortunate. Ever get any of them to come down to the trenches to meet & greet prospective students and helicopter parents? I've heard a few stories regarding the entitled attitudes displayed at "college night-" type events. Most discouraging.

Analise

Thanks!

Not in my experience. One or two have gone to accepted student gatherings.

AMflier

In the counselor's defense, she advised against that tactic

I disagree, those 3 books, the early visits, and the spreadsheets were helpful in starting the conversation with the counselor.

I love it as well, but I first thought that an OP with an id like that would be from Baltimore. Makes you want to say "Hon".

zippy the pinhead

Since the last time I posted in the thread, we sat down with our school counselor to talk college possibilities and we're firming up our travel plans. My son has been reading
which was suggested by a respondent in the thread, but it is hard to say if it has influenced his plans much. He included Ursinus College in his spreadsheet after reading about it in that book, and we might include it, but the admission rate and SAT range were a little off-putting, to be direct.

We're still waiting for test scores. He just took the SAT that was recycled, so who knows if the scores will be invalidated. Regardless, the counselor-- very seasoned, long tenure at this high school where my son is in the IB program-- believes that he has a reasonable shot at the campuses we're looking at. So we're for sure planning to visit U Penn, Drexel, Princeton, and Cornell, and probably Lehigh on the way to Cornell. We're on the fence regarding USMA or USNA.

If you were redeeming miles to fly from LAX to either PHL or EWR, would you prefer AA or AS? We're looking for business class availability.

amanuensis

Analise

Don't count on it. The College Board announced only those caught cheating will have their scores invalidated.

This particular student from the LA Times article has a bigger problem than his SAT scores especially if he goes on interviews.

Perhaps he should have parceled some of the 200 hours on mastering elementary school grammar? Perhaps he should have asked for anonymity?

This caught my eye. FYI — If your son is considering either of these two academies, he might want to secure the nominations he needs for the application as soon as possible. Some legislators might only nominate one candidate from his/her district.

zippy the pinhead

At the location where he took the test there were a pair of "limo buses" that arrived carrying Chinese students from mainland China, who had come over just to take the test, so when the story emerged-- many of his friends were also testing-- of course they were discussing it with considerable energy. (At least one of them had spoken with a few of the students who came in on the busses, which is how they learned where they had come from.) We made him an offer regarding his scores on the test; I'm more concerned about having to pay up than I am regarding the invalidation of the scores.

I find it hard to imagine the struggling LA Times can afford to pay reporters to stand in front of a testing center to interview students as they exit. They must have gotten him on Twitter or Reddit or some equivalent. (Rancho Cucamonga is a bit of a drive from downtown LA.) His school doesn't rank very well in comparison to many around here, but at least he took the SAT. In some of the high schools around here, a good number of the kids don't even bother.

After watching some YouTube videos of Plebe/Cadet life, I think he has concluded that sort of thing is not for him. If we go, it is purely to see/experience the campus. Military life is not for everyone, but a couple of my friends told me that USMA is really pretty interesting just to visit. When I was younger I read some books by William Manchester, including "American Caesar," and I often thought that if I get out that way, why not have a look?

zippy the pinhead

We really appreciate the advice and contributions of everyone on this thread.

Our plans are firming up... flights are booked, and now we're considering the on-ground portion. We're flying in to Boston on a redeye from LAX on a Sunday morning. Six days later, we fly out of PHL on another redeye. As an added bonus we were able to get MileSAAver deals for both flights, and instead of the ~220K AA miles I expected to spend, they will set me back only 90K miles.

We're wondering about a few things. The general idea is to get from Boston to Philadelphia, but never having been in the area, I saw no harm in asking what anyone in the thread thinks of our tentative plans. We're renting a car in BOS and dropping it at PHL, so we're mobile.

We're looking for a stable base in the Philadelphia area for 3 nights, give or take, at the end of our week. I have a good number of IHG, Hyatt, and Hilton points, so I am looking to use some, and I was thinking suburbia (maybe King of Prussia) vs. downtown or closer to the airport. Those of you who are familiar with the area, is there a better choice? My son is a swimmer, he eats a good amount, so free parking and free hotel breakfasts are OK with me.

We're still waiting for PSAT scores-- no idea how much they might influence our plans-- but at this point we are thinking to visit Rensselaer, Cornell, Lehigh, Princeton, U Penn, and one or two others as the schedule permits. We have SAT scores and his mathematics scores, in particular, are very good, but we've not sent them anywhere yet. From what other parents who've been down this road tell me, the flow of mailers will probably increase once the PSAT scores are released.

Our flight home is on a Saturday evening, so we expect to have Saturday morning/afternoon to do something in/around Philadelphia, and we're open to any ideas/suggestions.

MSPeconomist

What will the drop off fee be for the rental car? Also, why fly into BOS when you aren't visiting any colleges near Boston? For this group of schools, I'd stay south and west of NYC.

zippy the pinhead

Car was booked through Costco Travel; fees are not broken down, but fees and taxes are around $150. If you have a better idea, I can cancel and rebook.

Regarding Boston, we talked about seeing the USS Constitution and, time permitting, the Springfield Armory Museum. So when I saw the MileSAAver redeye in first, I thought "why not?" We're coming in early on a Sunday morning.

MSPeconomist

That seems very reasonable for the car.

BTW, it's a nice set of colleges.

zippy the pinhead

Hertz wanted around $1000 for the same rental I can get from Costco for less than $500.

We arrived at this list of colleges in part because of all the advice and ideas we got from this thread. We're very grateful. To be direct, I probably would not have considered Cornell or Lehigh without the input we received here.

Regarding southwest of NYC, do you have a favored location (or locations) in mind?

Mickidon

Wow, this thread has really taken many turns! As to the Philadelphia Hotel, I would consider staying in the city, not in the suburbs, to have more access to sightseeing, etc.
Philadelphia is a great walking city. There is a Hilton on the Penn Campus which is decent, and staying there would allow you to really feel the campus, eat at the many food trucks, etc. It is walking distance to the Amtrak Station, as well, if you have ditched the car by then.

One of our children went to Princeton in Engineering - she picked it over MIT - because of the ability to have a well rounded college experience. The program is small and
excellent but, of course, many would not make the same decision. Another of our children went to Penn...seeing one small college on our tour (in this case, Swarthmore)
took small schools totally out of the running, so I agree with the advice above about seeing smaller schools.

This process is fraught for many reasons, but there are an endless number of fantastic colleges out there, so have fun doing this. It is true quality time with
your children.

zippy the pinhead

We have a couple smaller schools that are also being considered. In a short time he (my son) will spend a few days at Letourneau, and his take on that experience will help finalize our plans. His plans have evolved, and I'm sure that evolution will get a rapid increase after these trips.