<p>I have said this on so many threads that it’s something of a joke around here, but it’s valid:</p>
<p>Do some research on the topic of SAT Subject Tests. Check out the Web sites of a variety of colleges (and specific majors at those colleges) that you think your son might possibly want to apply to in a few years, and see whether they require these tests, how many of them they require, and what specific tests they require. </p>
<p>Then, consider what tests he will need to take and when. This depends on three things: 1) what the colleges require (which you just found out from your research), 2) what your son’s strongest subjects are (which you and he already know), and 3) what courses at your son’s school have curricula that match well with the content of the tests. This last part is the hardest to find out.</p>
<p>Never assume that a high school course necessarily provides good preparation for the corresponding SAT Subject Test. Often, they don’t. Only a small proportion of students take these tests, and the needs of this small group are not among the highest priorities considered by the officials who design state/county/district high school curricula.</p>
<p>This is something to start investigating in 9th grade. Ask families with older students, or have your son discuss the topic with teachers and his guidance counselor. Sometimes, it makes sense for a student to take an SAT Subject Test as early as the end of 9th or 10th grade. For example, your school may have a top-notch biology course that is usually taken in 9th or 10th grade and provides superb preparation for the Biology Subject Test. If your son is in that course and fails to take the Subject Test at the end of it, he may regret it later. He may find that he needs a science subject test and that the other science courses he takes later omit some material covered on their corresponding Subject Tests. He could be stuck either trying to learn the missing material on his own or trying to re-learn biology a year or two after the fact. Neither is much fun.</p>
<p>A couple of other facts about the SAT Subject Tests: 1) the right time to take Math II is at the end of the course that immediately precedes calculus; 2) anybody who takes a well-taught AP U.S. History course is also well prepared for the U.S. History subject test.</p>
<p>In many school systems, there is a course called precalculus that comes just before calculus. It includes some trig. Usually, kids take Math IIC (or whatever they’re calling it these days) at the end of that course. But some schools teach trig earlier, and some teach parts of it in one year and parts in another. My kids’ school system taught part of it way back in geometry! So I’m not really sure about whether the end of Trig would be the right time to take the test.</p>
<p>Stumbling blocks at our high school that closes doors to some colleges:</p>
<p>1) kids are told that foreign language is optional or that only two years are needed. Some colleges want three or four years</p>
<p>2) Counselors don’t know what SAT Subject tests are or when they matter (not for most LAC’s but a must for MIT, other highly selective schools) So, a good time to take Subject test in Physics is after 10th grade physics in May/June. </p>
<p>So, do pencil out the four years so that your student has some doors remaining open.
Do NOT freak on the cost of college at this point. You won’t know your cost until your kid applies, is accepted and has the April letter in hand (the “award” letter). Do all you can to get ready but you may not have to pay full freight . . .</p>
<p>I agree that 9th grade absolutely matters for all the great reasons previously listed. Some college applications do ask for 9th grade grades. What I would add is to make sure the foundation is solid with challenging classes & good grades, resepectable test scores, ECs that interest and a happy personal life. Then when you start the college tours in jr year, you will get heartfelt feedback from your child as to which universities they like…and which they don’t. Don’t fret too much on out-thinking what will be perfect. The process will evolve and your child will wind up at the school that is right for him/her.</p>
<p>I completely understand the OP’s concerns. I had to keep colleges in mind when deciding which high school to send my son to as they all don’t offer 4 years of math and 4 years of science. With his inteded major at this time being CS, I had to make sure that he would meet the min requirements for acceptance into most programs without too much hassle in trying to make up the requirements on our own. And with over 3000 colleges to choose from, I realize that maybe the top 50 or even the top 100 might not have the school that would be best for him. I’m doing all of this in the background, but I am looking at different schools and what they offer and don’t offer and making a list. I’m paying attention to what other parents who have been there and done that have to say. My hope is that when the time comes, and yeah he might have done a complete 180 in academics, interests, and/or personality by the end of 11th grade, that things won’t feel so overwhelming for either of us. I don’t know what to expect in help from his school so I am planning on having to do the bulk of college planning myself and it’s a lot to think about/to do. I see nothing wrong with spreading it out over 3 years instead of 3 months.</p>
<p>Just to combine the schools of thought here I would:</p>
<p>Chill when it came to ECs and building a resume’ </p>
<p>Encourage your S to take the current load and if it does become too much adjust</p>
<p>If you S is showing an interest at this point in a specific school as mine is, pull up the admissions info on that school so he can see how he needs to stack up vis a vis the current frosh class.</p>
<p>Don’t bring up college let it all flow from him at this point.</p>
<p>However, I would suggest that without your son’s knowledge, you do your own homework so that you are prepared to discuss relevant issues – such as high school course choices – with him when the time arrives. No ninth grader should be expected to be savvy about the college admissions process to soon; he has other things to focus on right now. But there’s no reason that you can’t become well informed.</p>
<p>If this is your first venture into high school (ie, no older kids), then I recommend you buddy-up to parents of older kids who can guide you with your HS’s administrivia. For instance, we didn’t know that my son’s foreign language was only offered certain semesters (we’re on block scheduling.) Therefore, when he registered for just first level in 9th grade, we assumed he could take 2nd level in 10th grade. Not. Both had to be taken in 9th grade due to the way the school schedules this particular language. So now he won’t be able to take 3rd and 4th levels until his senior year. Same thing happened with a history course he wanted to take. We had no way of knowing that as HS ‘noobs.’</p>
<p>Here’s my 2 cents, based upon what I did, what I didn’t do, etc.</p>
<p>Ninth grade is not to early to start thinking about colleges. Your S doesn’t need to have a specific school/major in mind (most don’t) but it doesn’t hurt to be aware of the process.</p>
<p>He should take the most challenging course load available that he can handle. Remember that the little things like doing homework/class participation may make the difference in the grade you get. You mention needing merit aid. The more successful the child is academically, the more merit aid he will potentially earn, thus the more options he will have.</p>
<p>Parent and S should make an appointment to meet the guidance counselor. This hopefully will get your child “on the radar” an you can ask specific questions regarding scheduling, etc. Child should check in with GC every so often.</p>
<p>Five EC’s is a lot (although I personally love how well rounded he is), so S should figure out which 2 or 3 he enjoys most and pursue them more in depth. </p>
<p>Keep a list of all awards, honors, EC’s (both in & out of school), volunteer activities starting freshman year and update every semester. This is very useful when filling out apps for schools and scholarships.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned preparing for the SAT/PSAT/ACT’s. Good advice.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t get overly stressed out, but it is never a bad idea to be prepared. Good luck.</p>
<p>Yes. Marian I forgot that…I started researching on the sly even earlier than this but didn’t share anything until summer between soph and Jr year.</p>
<p>momofthreeboys wrote: “Financial planning, yes, good to start running some financial calculators and famiiliarzing yourself with the process and the costs of college.”</p>
<p>This is really, really key. There are calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org), [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>How Much Will College Cost – BigFuture | College Board) , and several other places on the web. You have got to know your financial options. You may want to spend the next couple of years re-adjusting your financial life so that you are better prepared for when your child is in college. And please, be absolutely clear with your child and spouse/co-parent/grandparents/whoever-else-is-helping-pay, so that you all are on the same page about the money.</p>
<p>The other advice I have is to stand back a bit and let your child’s interests develop. My kid wouldn’t even tolerate hearing the word college until the end of 10th grade. It would have been impossible to push her into any particular course, or pressure her to pull down any particular GPA. When she started to hear her older friends talk about where they wanted to go to college, and she started to see them graduate from HS, things began to change. By the end of 10th grade she had also developed a clear interest in a particular career, and she remains completely focused on that goal. Her 11th and now 12th grade courses were chosen with this career in mind. Only one of the courses she is enrolled in this year could have been predicted given the ones she took in 9th grade. None of them could have been predicted when she was in 8th grade.</p>
<p>My son is in a small private school (PK-12th). Great for knowing teachers; Not great for large course flexibility. It has allowed him to take some “advanced” classes (ie Honors Math, early Foreign Language). I thought this was great until it suddenly hit me he may “forget” subjects before normally standardized testing grades.</p>
<p>Marian – so great to know he can take SAT subject tests prior to 11th grade. I ignorantly thought the tests were only good if taken in 11th or 12th.</p>
<p>I’m jumping in head first & starting all the research for standardized tests, etc. I’ll also be a frequent CC lurker. I broker the news to Son & told him just let me research & start some files of “possible” colleges that aren’t on the rader of his HS (namely OOS Honors Colleges). He should just consider it my new hobby. </p>
<p>As far as ECs – I’d prefer to just let him be & not try to resume build or hyper focus on a few. Realistically he’ll never be a top athlete or musician but I don’t want him to drop these “outlets” to focus on the ECs that could get him “noticed”…As I lurk my opion on this may change in the next year or so…</p>