Extremely bright kids can have problems being challenged in HS classes. You can use his ACT score as ammunition for dual enrollment or placement into classes beyond his current grade level if your child is in a public school without a G&T program.
OP - thanks for bringing up this topic. My son is in the same boat as yours. 35 on the ACT and 1500/1520 on the PSAT and he is half way through his sophomore year. Mine is an athlete (hs baseball) and participates in many of the clubs mentioned in this thread. As parents, we all have challenges raising our kids. There is certainly a balance between building a resume and letting them be kids. It’s a fine line. Should he be in this club? Should he volunteer? Go to this or that summer program? All difficult choices. In the end, I’m trying learn all I can about the process so that we will get the big things right. But his choices will ultimately be made by him; and we will respect and honor them.
That is where I am - I’d love to hear others opinions on the topic.
ETA: He will take the ACT again because he wants a 36. I’m fine with with a 35, but he says ‘there’s still work to do’.
If your son does end up doing research over the summertime, encourage him to enter the research into your local science fair. The kids enjoy science fairs because they can win awards, but I think the best part is that they learn to summarize their work and present it to adults they don’t know, and answer questions on the spot. Really fantastic experience. And they don’t have to do the research at an institution. Both my kids did well at our regional fair over the years and they did all their projects in our house. Once it involves my son building a working aquaponics system.
"I don’t know what separates the 5% admitted from the 95% rejected at ultra-elite colleges. But I suspect that authenticity goes far. "
I’m going to echo this statement. I’ve never had a kid interested in any of the HYP schools, but I do know several who have been over the years. I’ve also known kids who, academically, are in that 1% with tons of the “right” ECs who didn’t get accepted to any Ivy. The kids I know who have attended an Ivy or other top-ranking school rarely have achieved what I would consider to be one of those stellar, prestigious awards (one exception - a kid who won an Intel Science Fair or something similar). None of them was an “academic drone.” What they did all possess was a passion about SOMETHING, whether it was music, dance, athletics, biochemistry, or volunteering at the local food bank, AND an ability to communicate that passion so that you know it’s genuine. Thus, I don’t think it’s the accomplishment that puts one child over another per se, but rather the years of passion and determination behind that accomplishment that become truly visible to the admissions decision makers.
Let your child choose his ECs based on his interests and passions. Then, regardless of where he attends college, they will put him on the path to the right college for him. If you follow your heart, it all works out in the end.
You don’t need a lit class or writing class to do well on the writing portion of the ACT. Read some articles on how to beat it and you can easily ace it. It’s all about following the script and making the key points. The guy who grades it is taking about 90 seconds to go over it. If you cover what they want with good spelling and grammar, you will get a perfect grade. I told my daughter to flat out lie about experiences and “research” that supports her argument. 12/12
This ninth grader is fine for now.
I still say…let the standardized testing go until he is ready to prep for the PSAT at the start of junior year.
And I’m quite sure the OP (who seems to have disappeared) knows this.
The top focus should be to keep outstanding grades.
Secondly, I would also begin to explore colleges and potential majors early. If he likes Big State U, then he is probably going to get in easily. If he wants Harvard, Columbia, Penn, or MIT, then he is going to need to demonstrate the involved passionate doer mindset that @tutumom2001 expressed well:
“The kids I know who have attended an Ivy… None of them was an “academic drone.” What they did all possess was a passion about SOMETHING, … AND an ability to communicate that passion so that you know it’s genuine. Thus, I don’t think it’s the accomplishment … per se, but rather the years of passion and determination behind that accomplishment that become truly visible to the admissions decision makers.”
You are in an enviable situation – you have a kid who is going to end up with great stats without having to kill himself to get them. Use the bandwidth this frees up to help him figure out who is really is and who he wants to be in the world. Let him volunteer, compete, read, build things, do outward bound, study something else. IMHO, one of the hardest things for kids who can “do it all” is actually deciding what to do and what to let go of. While he’ll probably end up pursuing some competitive activities, whether math competitions or robotics, I would also counsel to do everything possible to keep him focused on the process rather than the outcome (and on chasing prizes.) There will come a point in life when he’ll have to find happiness himself rather than having someone hand it to him in the form of a prize or award or score. (Most of those Nobel prize winners invested decades of their lives in their research because they were really jazzed by what they were doing, not because they thought they’d get that call in the middle of the night.) One of the greatest gifts you can give him is that ability to discern whether he’s on that path to happiness or not.
"ETA: He will take the ACT again because he wants a 36. I’m fine with with a 35, but he says ‘there’s still work to do’. "
I would highly recommend that he NOT do this this. Most top tier schools will look at this as a negative. Just like kids taking every AP course offered they will view the student as grade grabbing.
I appreciate all the replies. It is a lot to consider.
My son does want to retake the ACT, so at some point he will. I don’t think it is a big deal if he takes it a second time. I let him decide and he wants to improve his writing score at the very least. It is good to know about PSAT/SAT. His school has 9th-11th graders take the PSAT.
He has an interest in a rigorous university experience. He has not been challenged in school, and he doesn’t relate to the kids at school. I am hoping he will have a better college experience in that regard. He is not interested in our big state universities. I don’t know for sure if he will reach for any of the Ivies, but he has strong interest in one top 20 school. We don’t need to decide what all colleges to pursue yet. I just want to make sure I am not limiting his options based on my busyness.
I think that our area has fewer options than where some of you live. There is no robotics at his high school, for example. I think I will reach out to his school to see if there is more he can do there.
I have looked at the camps you all have mentioned. We will consider those. Thanks!
I’m curious as to why people are discouraging him from taking the ACT a second time seeing as he is only in the 9th grade. If he were a junior taking it 3 or 4 times trying to get a perfect score it might be a different scenario.
I think it’s fine for him to retake…but it do NOT think this is something to do NOW. I think it should wait until the end of junior year.
Just be aware that some schools require all standardized tests to be reported. There is a chance he will do worse and have to report that as well. I would take the “one and done” approach.
I tend to agree with @CottonTales. As I said early on in the thread, I think the only reason to retake a 35 is if he hadn’t taken it with writing or if his writing score were truly abysmal. And even then, I’d probably want to see how he does on the PSAT and SAT before thinking about taking a 35 ACT a second time.
In retaking the ACT, he runs the risk of not doing as well or of seeming like to much of a perfectionist (His comment that ‘there’s still work to do’ leads me to believe that the latter is indeed the case).
Neither scenario (i.e., not doing as well or having perfectionistic tendencies) will serve him well in college admissions. Moreover, being a perfectionist will not serve him well in life.
OP, just wanted to encourage you to encourage your S to keep trying to meet new kids, getting to know his classmates and practicing his social skills. Maybe starting a robotics group or a community service project would be of interest to him and help him connect with like-minded others? Obviously, he may not have yet found his exact tribe since he’s only a 9th grader, but as far as having a healthy life, the ability to get along well with others and form strong interpersonal bonds is important and I believe that the top schools to which he is aspiring value it as well.
OP - Are there other schools that might offer a more challenging curriculum and/or have a greater number of bright, higher achieving kids? Your son might thrive intellectually and socially in a different environment.
My kiddo felt similarly at her school, but - for better or worse - stayed put. Consequently, she remained an intellectually big fish in a relatively small pond. Her experience this past summer in an elite summer program with some exceedingly bright kids, however, was a very positive one and made her realize that she wanted to be at a college with a lot of really smart kids…
(And BTW, the thought of retaking a 35 ACT never even crossed her mind; she ended up becoming a NMSF and getting a near-perfect SAT score in her senior year (1580–one and done) so my advice to you about testing (or anything else, for that matter) is not completely coming out of left field).
The work to be done comment was another poster on this thread’s quote of her son.
My son took the ACT this early because he was encouraged by a family friend to take it. We had in mind it was just a first try to see what he might need to work on. I hadn’t considered that he wouldn’t take it a second time. I wouldn’t consider a kid obsessive or a perfectionist for having a second try.
Anyway, he currently doesn’t have much in the way of ECs. His learning is done on his own through books or online, so I do appreciate the suggestions of ways he could direct that interest in learning into an extracurricular. I do think the suggestions will be helpful.
@Firstof5 - Sorry about the misattribution of the quote. My comment about perfectionism (I never said obsessiveness, however) was based on my thinking that your son made that comment about needing to work on a 35.
My advice to not have him retake it still stands for the reasons stated (i.e., he may have to report all scores and very well might do worse than a 35; he’s got better things to do with this time; he might be perceived as a perfectionist by someone looking at his file wondering why he retook a 35.)
Glad you have found some of the advice re: ECs useful. It would be especially good for him to either find (or better yet, create) something that he will stick with and eventually be able to show leadership through. Finding a teacher willing to help create and advise a robotics team (or even helping to create curriculum for an elective class) might be a great start…
I am mom of 2 college grads. (Both very bright - ACT 35. 33… but junior year). In retrospect one of the best activities they ever did was a week long summer church youth group trip helping on an Indian reservation in SD. It was after DD’s hs graduation, and it didn’t even merit a mention in DS’s college apps. But it was an eye opening experience for them to see extreme unemployment/poverty and help with painting, childcare etc. So my advise to families is to keep an eye out for worthwhile endeavors regardless of whether they will have value during college admission. You are getting them ready for Life, not just for college.
At least some colleges won’t accept 9th grade test scores. It would be wise to take it again.
For example, Harvard’s site says
https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/application-requirements Depending upon when he took it and when he applies, the ACT may not be acceptable. Remember too that requirements change over time. Wait until closer in time to when he applies and then check the current rules at schools of interest.