Good thing I didn't see this until now, as I put your FREE FERRARICHAT.COM MUG ON TODAY'S UPS SHIPMENT. THEY JUST CAME IN TODAY AND LOOK GREAT!!!!! I WONDER IF I CAN CALL AND GET IT BACK.......... STAY TUNED. DM
The Bibles for the college search: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php http://www.princetonreview.com/college/default.asp
My little brother goes to Drexel. Its a reputable Philadelphia school and he seems to enjoy it a lot. The area seems a little ghetto though, (he's seen people be robbed in the streets), and I don't know anything about their music program. How about Johns Hopkins' Peabody Institute?
A good thing for him to do would be to decide which Tuba performers he likes best (that are profs at colleges), then apply to those schools - that is if he wants to do music. There are many good colleges out there that have great music programs. Good luck.
I have checked into costs at some of the schools. Wow, and I thought SMU was high...............Oberlin is about $34K per year right now for a standard 15 hour load with one lab. J.J. had better get that scholarship that he is shooting for. His band director told him last week that he is the most talented high school tuba player that he has ever directed and he has been directing for over 25 years and is a nationals judge. Sometimes I listen to him play and am amazed that this is the kid that I have watched grow up for the last 15 years..... He is sitting in front of TV right now, watching the Simpsons and practicing the "Hinnimith (SP)" sonata. Very difficult tuba piece. Sometimes it goes so high it sounds more like a high trombone
I know you gave some general stuff about the PSAT, but what was his actual score (total?). I'm not sure if they changed it along with the SAT's, was his composite above 200?
Let me find a copy of the results and I will get back to you. I honestly do not remember the total composite. I do remember that it was pretty high but cannot recall the total. BTW, thanks for the PM. J.J. read it with interest.........
Your SAT score will be higher than your PSAT. I think my PSAT composite was like 217 (I just made it into National Merit by a couple of points). I got a 1530 on the SAT plus an 800 on the SAT II writing, so that'd be like a 2330 under the new system, and that was without studying. Most people go up about 100 points, so the results are actually better than they seem.
I'm not going to say what I got on my SAT, but graduating in the top 10 in Texas gets you automatic admission to any public university in Texas, so I went drinking the night before... If I would have taken it seriously and actually had it mean something, I could have gotten a lot higher.
Cali does the same thing (top 10% are guarenteed into a UC. Top 4% are guaranteed into the UC of their choice). But I didn't want to stay in Cali
I'm pretty sure there's a question on the PSAT where you check off if you want schools to contact you after seeing your information. So they have access to your scores and address. I always put down no because I didn't want junk mail. I knew the schools I was applying to and that was that.
James, I have been through this twice. My daughter graduates in June from Dartmouth. My son will start at Emory this Fall. Right now the number one thing that your son needs to do is to keep his grades up. Don't listen to all this other BS about this and that. You can't even get your foot in the door without the numbers. My son screwed around his Freshman and Sophomore year (chasing girls) and let his grades drop to a B average. He has busted his ass ever since and now has a 3.6 average. This along with a 1450 SAT got him into a top 11 to 20 school. If his GPA had been, say, 3.8, he could have gotten into a top 6 - 10 school. (He would have needed a higher SAT to get into a top 1-5 school.) The bad joke is that they all cost the same. So you might as well get into the highest rated school you can. Oh, and another thing. Make sure your son takes every AP class that he can. Don't fall into the "Honors" trap to try and get his GPA up. Every top school discounts GPA scores if they don't include AP classes. The funny thing, though, is that it all works out in the end. My son initially wanted to go to Princeton, then Northwestern or Wash U. However, I really do believe that Emory will be the best fit for him. I'll let you know in 4 years! Dale
Like i said in the 3rd post, I hear really, really great things about Berklee. Know a few kids there, they love it. Boston is a great town...I'm getting ready to move there, actually.
Dale, He is taking every class he can AP and is going to also next year. He just found out that his gpa is 93.7. I thought the last I heard it was 92.4. I have preached to him for a long time about how important the grades are. He seems to be gifted in some areas and has to work hard in others. Now that he started getting the letters his interest is picking up. I think they actually may be creating some motivation and that is a good thing..........I think.. He has only brought his books home for homework one time this year. He says he has time in class to do the work. I do not see how he can do that as when I was in school I brought work home every night. Then again, he is definitely more gifted than I was.
Yeah. I go to Penn: Ranked 4th, Ivy League, blah, blah, blah. My twin sister goes to Loyola Marymount, which is a great school, but no where near in the same league. And her school actually costs a little bit more!
You are probably right. He had a couple of schools he had expressed interest in but the letters have really peaked his interest and he is getting more motivated to get to where he wants to go. We are going to inquire to several of the ones we have received letters from and go from there. The ones he shows most interest in right now are: Julliard Rice Eastman Texas A&M He thinks he wants a double major: Music/engineering We are also going to check out Oberlin and may check into Berklee that has been mentioned a couple of times.
Try not to put to much pressure on your son. While you should stress working hard, I really appreciated the fact my parents let me make the choices I did. I didn't face any pressure when picking a school or major. (decided on St. Joe's). Also, they always stressed getting good grades, but I never felt like I wasn't able to enjoy some of the other things high school was about. Going to sports events, activities, and a few parties . Erik
It was either Texas A&M or UT for me, and when Bonfire fell my senior year in HS, and wathing the Aggie family come together, my decision was made. My HS counselor LOVED me and knew several people in the admissions office at Rice on a personal level, and she told me that all I had to do was take the SAT II and apply and she'd do the rest, but I needed out of Houston for a while.
Also, not to throw water onto the fire or anything, but I would not get too excited about the letters. They are letters for information and that is it - they are just to get you interested in the school and to consider them and what have you. You will seriously get BOXES and BOXES of those letters before the whole process is over. It basically just means that you got on their list somehow (not really sure how they do it), so they sent you the mail. Do you know his class rank or just his GPA (I guess average in your case)? GPA's obviously vary a lot from school to school so its better to know your class rank. Another important thing to consider is the reputation of the high school he attends. At some schools, the top 10 students in the class go to whichever ivy league school they want to. At some schools, 1 or 2 kids get lucky and get into the ivy leagues per year. If the latter is the case, you are going to have to work a lot harder to get what you want.
