Penn State Summer Start Required?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - it doesn’t matter. First choice acceptance just arrived, much earlier than expected! Super happy and relieved.

Congrats, which school?

W&M!

Ahhh, congrats again! He's going to have a great time!

Thanks! He is thrilled!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It is within range. But OP said her kid had taken through second year Calculus and 14 APs. The SAT score for math alone should be close to 800. Given the kid isn’t a stem kid, the english scores should be very high too. A 1380 is a red flag when compared to the applicant’s other stats. Why is the GPA so high if they can’t crack 1500 on the SAT. Or even 1450. The SAT isn’t that hard for high achieving kids.

We need to stop this nonsense about the test score equating to intelligence. We're in the process of hiring a test prep company and they've all said the SAT is NOT an intelligence test. A high score is related to learning the tips and tricks of the test, using those to pick the answer the test writers want, within a set time frame. That's it. If you have the resources (time, money etc), you have a very good chance to achieve a high score. If you're able and willing to pay $1000s, some of these companies guarantee a 200 point increase or a 1500 +. And I'm not even getting into the multiple test and super score game that many kids play, taking the test 2-3 times. There are definitely some "one and done' kids, but there's no advantage for those kids.

Blah blah blah. For some kids your paragraph is true.

For others, smart kids, a few hours of review or FREE kahn academy the day before and poof! High scores just as we thought. No expensive prep company or tutors. None. One and done. Enough with this "all parents pay $1000s to get their kids high score." Please GMAFB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - it doesn’t matter. First choice acceptance just arrived, much earlier than expected! Super happy and relieved.

Congrats! Problem solved! Divulge where?? (or name 2 places to protect privacy?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the new trend. IMO, it’s a money-grab.

Several of DD’s friends got in at their top choices but only if they did summer start. This was at FSU, Richmond, and another I’m forgetting, sorry.

A professor friend says this will be the new norm in 5 years because there simply aren’t enough spaces at the colleges to accommodate all the kids who want to go to college. Not just at that specific school but in general.

Nope. This happened in the 80's too. Tuition was v. cheap then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the new trend. IMO, it’s a money-grab.

Several of DD’s friends got in at their top choices but only if they did summer start. This was at FSU, Richmond, and another I’m forgetting, sorry.

A professor friend says this will be the new norm in 5 years because there simply aren’t enough spaces at the colleges to accommodate all the kids who want to go to college. Not just at that specific school but in general.

How does having a summer start help with the issue of lack of spaces? These summer kids will still be there in the fall right?

But they will have already taken the big intro classes, so more kids can take English 101 (or whatever) in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the new trend. IMO, it’s a money-grab.

Several of DD’s friends got in at their top choices but only if they did summer start. This was at FSU, Richmond, and another I’m forgetting, sorry.

A professor friend says this will be the new norm in 5 years because there simply aren’t enough spaces at the colleges to accommodate all the kids who want to go to college. Not just at that specific school but in general.

How does having a summer start help with the issue of lack of spaces? These summer kids will still be there in the fall right?

But they will have already taken the big intro classes, so more kids can take English 101 (or whatever) in the fall.

Not really, if you are making kids with tons of AP credit do a summer start. Then those kids are just piling into even smaller, higher level courses come fall.

Penn State bills the required component of this as a way for kids to academically ease into the college experience. But is that really true if you are making kids with at least 30 AP credits (assuming I am reading correctly that you can only get AP credit for a subject one time) do this?