D’s were on HS transcript- but several schools (esp those where she was accepted) wanted “official”
I’m not a fan of having the scores on the transcript. It gives up your control of what you do with the information. What if you take the test more than once? How do you know the HS transcript is up to date with the version of the scores you want to send? What if you take both the ACT and the SAT but only want to submit the test with the best results? What if you do really poorly and decide only to apply test optional and not send the scores at all?
One of the things I would recommend is meeting with GC before transcripts are sent. At D’s school every senior/parent had a meeting with counselor to discuss application process. We looked at her transcript then and talked about things that were optional vs required (I think whether or not to include scores was a part of that- at least, I remember saying we were using ACT rather than SAT ) D was taking the October ACT after the meeting (she had a number in her head she wanted to hit) and I sent an email to counselor after scores were out to make sure the new number was on transcript.
It has been discussed on other threads, but I think is worth bringing up again- the BFA process is not like “normal” applications- and often guidance counselors are confused/concerned about large #s and variety of schools. Just smile and nod and tell them not to worry about it 
@halflokum! Not all who decide not to send test scores make that decision because they have done poorly! My alma mater, described by most as a progressive liberal arts college, was one of the first schools that said, “We not only don’t require them, we don’t want them!” - and several years back chose to look only at what they felt were better indicators of success when making admission decisions. This is a school that doesn’t test in general; I don’t think I had a test in the 4 years I went there (40 years ago) though wrote a zillion papers, participated in small class discussions, and met with the teacher frequently in conference to discuss my work. It’s an educational philosophy I strongly believe in, and I guess I passed that on to my daughter because she was thrilled when one of the schools she applied to didn’t require ACTs/SATs, not because she did poorly, but because she thought it was a good sign that it was a cool school. We discussed whether it would be risky for her to not submit them, but in the end she chose not to, and wrote in one of her essays for the school that she was impressed with their progressive philosophy regarding testing. She not only got in, but got a huge Presidential scholarship. Alas, in the end she chose not to go there, but we were both happy to learn that the school that she did choose went testing-optional last year.
@Calliene, hopefully you know that I was not implying that a test optional school is only for people that did poorly on their tests. Yikes that would cross off some if the most coveted schools in the country from many a top applicants list.
I was just randomly picking scenarios where one might care about the control of their information. Frankly, I’m not sure why the ACT/SAT results are the business if the high school at all nor why they even receive them. Does anyone know a reason?
Idk why schools get ACT/SAT. You do need to put your school code in test- even if you take it at another school (D took hers in a neighboring district). Schools get ap scores too, but that makes more sense to me b/c of teachers etc. (though these days I see my student’s scores from college board site)
@halflokum, I know you well enough to know that is not at all what you meant; just wanted to make sure that “the other side of the story” is well understood by all. :-*
And I agree that high schools really do not need to receive test scores and don’t understand why they do, though I am 2+ years out and don’t exactly remember the process. Seems like unless the student specifically wants the HS to have them, it is a privacy issue. Maybe the counselors on here could enlighten.
@toowonderful, I was actually hoping you or one of the other teachers here might know the answer. I can’t think of a logical reason why a test that isn’t mandatory, and is paid for privately, and has nothing to do with the school should be the property of anyone other than the test taker. Not a hill to die on but it is curious that it just automatically works like that. If there is a legitimate reason, I’d love to know what it is.
Is there an option to have them not go to the school that you can check out when you apply to take the test? I don’t remember either since the last of my kids took that test 3 years ago.
I will check with my guidance dept (I don’t pay too much attention to those types of policies) and get back to you
To keep the high schools from getting your child’s score, you simply use the code for homeschool. Then the scores are only mailed to the home. I had my children do that and we were able to decide which scores we sent to which colleges. Very simple. We also decided to send a copy of one score to the high school, but did that after we saw the scores. It did not matter to anyone that we used the homeschool code when my kids were never homeschooled.
Well, gee, @Dusing2, you are a smart cookie to figure that out, but I’m not nearly as smart and never would have thought of checking homeschool when my kids were never homeschooled. It is not exactly intuitive. Why the heck don’t they just have a box you can check that says something like, “Yes, I want my scores sent to my high school” or “I only want my scores sent to my home address” ??
They might- remember that kids are filling these out- and might not be looking for a box like that
I’m impressed @Dusing2 that you thought of it. Never dawned on me but yes, if I had to do it all over again I might take a page out of your book. To be honest, I had no idea those scores might be on a HS transcript so it didn’t then occur to me to think about what listing the school code might mean. To this day, I have no idea if they were or they were not on my own kids’ transcripts.
What we did do though is not list any schools to automatically get the scores. The 6 “free” ones. Free… I love that word. It’s like “free laundry or free transportation passes” in a college. Who pays for those free things? Santa Claus? Anyway, my paranoia and control reared its head there and we chose to not send the scores to any school until we saw them first. To get your “free” ones, you need to make that choice before the scores come out. My kids were done with standardized tests with their try spring of junior year and we might have been able to use some “free” and to save on the per test fees to have them sent separately but I don’t think we even had a school list figured out by then.
We didn’t use the ever-so-generous “free” ones, either, because D wanted the schools to only get her best scores, and she took the test 3 times: once February of her junior year, once that spring, and once that summer. (None of the ones on her list asked for all scores from all tests.) It’s a racket that we can’t choose the 6 schools after receiving the scores instead of before.
Besides that, D’s list was still in flux wen she took the tests.
D did her 1st test junior year. We knew she would probably want more than one run at it (as mentioned earlier, she had a number in her head) so didn’t list schools on 1st round. She did list them on 2nd (summer before senior year) where she was one number lower than the number she wanted, and therefore took it a 3rd time (October senior year, like there wan’t enough going on…) I think she listed same schools- really don’t know.
Do you have to send in all of this with the videos or later?
I am trying to send in my videos by October- does that mean i will have to have ALL of this by October?
If you mean SAT/ACT scores, transcripts and letters of recommendation, no you don’t need to have it all in by October. Do check each school’s website for deadline dates though. Many schools have deadlines for scholarship consideration, but I believe most will be later than October.
Check websites - or contact MT departments if it’s not clear - to see:
- what you need to have submitted in order to schedule your audition. That will probably be the video and/or whatever paperwork the MT/Music/Theater department requires in order to get that moving forward. Auditions slots for some of the MOST competitive will fill up by mid October (ex: when S was a junior, CCM told us their Chicago unified slots filled up in the beginning of October, followed closely by on-campus dates.) This will vary by program.
- What other materials need to be submitted to meet the specific program deadline - for many programs it will be November 1, or December 1. Some are later. This is often when EVERYthing must be submitted. This will also be the date to be considered for TALENT-based scholarships.
- what needs to be in to the university as a whole in order to be considered for scholarships - MERIT-based, or other categories. Those deadlines GENERALLY vary from December 1 to January 15 (or thereabouts). Some are later, a few may be earlier.
There is no way around checking this out for each program you want to apply to. Good luck.
So I send in the video first to get an audition slot? then send everything else later? Also, when do i need my headshots by? Should i get them specifically done or will my senior pictures work?