<p>We just got our DS's SAT score back. M 710, CR 700 W 670, Essay 8. Total 2080. Seems like he qualifies for CTY's SET and Duke TIP's grand recognition ceremony. We definitely planning for a CTY's summer course as well. We are little bit disappointed that he won't be able to apply for Caroline Bradley scholarship as he was born outside US, although both of us (parents) are naturalized US citizen. We talked to CB people twice and it seems like a no go. This we think is totally unfortunate, as there is nothing he can do till he is 18 to qualify for citizenship automatically. DS feels little dejected as he had couple of private schools in mind for his high school which without a scholarship we won't be able to send him. He is also brooding a bit because he was scoring 760-800 in Math for all the practice tests he took at home.</p>
<p>There is no point keeping this score for college, so I guess we will just let it go. Just checking with you to see if there are any other merit scholarship etc. we could apply to cheer him up. He knows his scores are OK, and we told him it can only go up from now on, however, he is not satisfied mainly because of CB scholarship.</p>
<p>With those scores in 7th grade, he will likely get a 2350+ by the time he takes it as a junior. That results in tons of scholarships to all colleges but the Ivy’s and top 15 really.</p>
<p>If he continues to increase his scores and do well on the SATs (and GPA) he should have his share of college scholarships. He (and you) should relax and let him learn.</p>
<p>He should not be disappointed one bit. I’m honestly astounded by that… in seventh grade, I wouldn’t have known how to do more than 10 questions on the SAT math, wouldn’t have understood any of the words on verbal, and would do absolutely horrible on the essay compared to my writing skills now. If he continues to do well in school and challenge himself (doing summer courses as you mention is a great way to do so), he will be in line to receive many other top scholarships.</p>
<p>I would encourage you to not give up on private school. My older D was a CB finalist (many years ago) and I thought I could never afford private school without that scholarship. She ended up attending a private prep and my D2 was “discovered” by a private prep (one I would have never considered a possibility) due to her association with the CB scholarship and is graduating this spring. There are some terrific schools out there that do have endowments that allow many kids to attend. Most of them are financial aid based - but there are merit awards too. In my experience a well endowed prep school expects less “EFC” than a well endowed Ivy. You can PM me if you like.</p>
<p>7th grade … that’s something. However, while impressive, what else does he do that is interesting? That is your goal between now and Junior year. Find out what he is passionate about and let him go into it deeply enough to be able to develop a passion, a future leadership role or a significant achievement because of it. Don’t worry about collecting awards just because of this score as that is not a skill in itself, but clearly he is above most if not all of his peers academically already. A nice proud moment, but smartness itself doesn’t mean much unless he can do something with it that changes the world. Good luck … I hope he finds some fun summer programs that work out for him and allow him to be with like-minded kids within his age range.</p>
<p>Drac313, Keabie18, DS and I say thank you. Keabie18, school does not interest him. Writing computer games does. Onmyway2ivy, Swaqqq, Thanks (I guess).
Afdamron, I am not complaining. Not really. My complain is really about the Citizenship requirement of CB. I was working as an expatriate in a different country when DS was born. We both are US citizen but he wont be until he is 18. Oh well
Erins Dad, yes I guess we are one of those over achieving, extremely hyper, child labor exploiting parents! Kidding aside, if I leave him alone he will design and write computer games. He is near obsessed with Java and game writing. This is something I can indulge, but without knowing the basics of CS just to become a game writer is something I cannot encourage. I simply try to channel the energy to other things like SAT/AIME/USACO if and when he lets me. Seriously, he really did not stress a lot as in 6th grade he took ACT and scored 33 E/ 32 M/ 30 R/ 27 S. This helped I guess.
NewEnglandMother, I will PM you. We like to learn more from your experience.
SnowFlakeVT, As I wrote above he loves to write video games. Else, he plays whatever he gets his hands onto, guitar, violin, piano. Guitar he is good at. Only game he loves is chess. Unfortunately nothing outdoors entices him.</p>
<p>you guys shouldn’t worry, he’s a 7th grader after all, there’s many people who are a few years older then him trying to achieve a score like his. *cough</p>