<p>Looks like D will have to put in her EA applications based on her ACT w/writing only, since Coach has scheduled an important invitational on the October SAT date. November SAT date is the same date as the Sectional Championships, so she is left with the December SAT date...</p>
<p>Has anyone had an experience with waiting until a December SAT and rushing scores to schools? I am sure this is going to cost me in more ways than one, but I was looking to see just how much of a hassle it is....D is considering not bothering with SAT since her ACT was great and, although she was National Merit Commended and she will mention that on her Common App, she won't be a semi-finalist since the cut-off for NY is always high....anyone think this will hurt?</p>
<p>Is there any college that doesn't accept the ACT? I don't know of any & I can't see how this would hurt.</p>
<p>Anyone who doubts the time & juggling needed to be a high level varsity athlete should view your post. These kids are faced with this type of conflict constantly, and it is the rare coach who will give an inch & accomodate academic, arts, or other commitments.</p>
<p>Rachacha, if her ACT is great (and you're sure she won't make the NY cutoff), I'd say you're good to go. As StickerShock said, everybody accepts the ACT now; there's no reason not to use it.</p>
<p>I know when I was dealing with prep school admissions and the SSAT, I had to schedule a test on the road while at a tournament. Fortunately, the game schedule didn't conflict with the test time. Not the best of solutions, but necessary as we had hockey conflicts with ever test date.</p>
<p>If you've got game times and locations, can you schedule at a nearby testing site?</p>
<p>Unless your D is of national caliber and training for the Olympics, she should be prepared to tell the coach that she won't be available on a given date. Our D, a pretty celebrated actress, had to skip a matinee and have an understudy ready to do her role in a similar situation.</p>
<p>We had a similar issue - ended up taking test in a different state to accomodate the athletic event. It worked fine. </p>
<p>If this is an invitational, you may want to discuss with coach, if you are that much on the bubble with your test scores. Lets face it - kids DO get sick - and at times they are not able to participate in the athletic event. At the end of the day, some things do end up having to take precedence. And yes, my child will be competing at the varsity level in college.</p>
<p>She should be fine with the ACT with writing. Every school accepts it in lieu of the SAT I. Some may insist on SAT IIs with the ACT, but none insists on SAT I.</p>
<p>Some schools may accept the December SAT score even for early action. But don't bother "rushing" them. Some schools don't even accept "rushed" scores. It turns out that rushed scores don't even get there any earlier in most cases than do regular scores. The only thing you can't do is wait until you see the scores to send them. You need to indicate the colleges on registration for the test.</p>
<p>Check out all the websites of the schools she's interested in, just to be sure. But if her ACT is where she wants it to be, I wouldn't even bother with the SAT I at all, EA or RD.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Unless your D is of national caliber and training for the Olympics, she should be prepared to tell the coach that she won't be available on a given date. Our D, a pretty celebrated actress, had to skip a matinee and have an understudy ready to do her role in a similar situation.
[/quote]
Not necessarily true. She may be cut from the team if she can't go to the competition. An actress at many schools would not be given the role if she couldn't do all the performances, regardless of the reason. Not all schools are flexible. So kids often have to make these difficult choices. Consider yourself lucky if your kids have been given a break.</p>
<p>I totally understand the struggle to find an SAT date that doesn't conflict with sports! It is VERY difficult to schedule around a busy athletic schedule, especially for a 3-sport athlete! Schools often try to avoid such conflicts, but there are times when it is unavoidable. Flexibility may have very little to do with it at the end of the day. The athlete has worked SO hard to be competitive, the team is counting on their contribution, the coach may well be understanding, but the bottom line is they need the performance of their top athletes, especially the seniors. </p>
<p>It might be worthy of note to other athletes to try to schedule in the spring of Junior year. The early May date offered the fewest conflicts for my family. One more reason to HATE the SAT! I wonder why they don't offer a summer SAT? I've proctored in the past and don't believe it would be a tremendous burden to schedule a summer date. After all, some schools are in session during the summer months........</p>
<p>I second the suggestion that says send in the ACT and don't worry about it. Believe every school accepts those scores and there is always the possiblity that the SAT might not be as high as she'd like.</p>
<p>Why hate the SAT for what coaches do? Sports are a wonderful addition to schools, but not the point of schools. Academics should come first; the SAT is important for a lot of students, especially seniors, especially those with a crack at NMSF or NMF. </p>
<p>The dates the SAT is administered are published far in advance, and school coaches could take these dates into consideration when scheduling events.</p>
<p>For the OP, how about a Sunday test, if your D wants to take the SAT? Would that work?</p>
<p>We ran into very similar problems with D. Although she participates year round, the hs season runs from Oct. thru mid/late Feb. No time to prep for Jan or March test dates. </p>
<p>We thought we had the situation under control until we realized the May date conflicted with the state wide orchestra contest. I think I posted about that one! I was never quite so happy when they didn't move on to the next round. </p>
<p>I discovered they would only do the Sunday test for legitimate, religious reasons. </p>
<p>At times I feel sorry for young people. There is so much pressure on them to compete on the athletic field, on stage, in the music rooms, etc. so their college resumes look great. At the same time these activities conflict with their ability to take the tests they need to get into colleges. </p>
<p>I propose all parents stand up and start demanding coaches, conductors, directors, etc. everywhere permit, without questions asked or penalties imposed, one student absence of an important meet, game, concert, etc. for test taking. (said with tongue in cheek) (I can dream ;) )</p>
<p>The schools around here never schedule sports till about 3 on SAT days, although not as much deference to ACT. If a lot of kids want to be taking it maybe they should all go to the coach and request it be changed...the visiting players may have the same conflict.</p>
<p>My big issue with sports is that there is always something going on every weekday, Saturday, Columbus Day and Veterans Day during the school year so we can't visit colleges this fall except for the second day of Rosh Hashana when coaches aren't allowed to schedule anything and we aren't being religious.</p>
<p>Every year our state final track meet is scheduled on the June SAT date, when many kids take SATIIs. As a result, the College Board has enabled an alternate test date during the following week at a local HS for kids who are signed up for tests and have this conflict. Kids have to put in for the change by a deadline that is several weeks in advance, and all athletes are notified by the guidance dept. If you wait until the last minute--or if you decide to go to the state meet at the last minute--you're out of luck, but it is available. </p>
<p>Since our state now requires all juniors to take the May SATI, even more kids are likely to schedule SATIIs in June, leaving the October date for an SATI retake if necessary.</p>
<p>I would think it highly likely that the OP's HS could try to arrange something, since it is likely that a number of area students will be similarly affected.</p>
<p>Rachacha, it sounds as if there is no point in her taking the SATI, but she may need two SATIIs for some schools. Has she taken them?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Academics should come first; the SAT is important for a lot of students, especially seniors, especially those with a crack at NMSF or NMF.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The SAT is NOT required for grades. Therefore you're remark is complete BS. SAT does not equal Academics. It equals a Standarized Test you can take you show how smart you are :confused: </p>
<p>Guess what? I took the ACT + the writing portion and then went straight to a baseball game from there. It's doable. If not, do a better job of scheduling. You have some choice on when you take an optional test.</p>
<p>
[quote]
At a few times of the year, the SAT is given on Sunday for those who cannot take it on Sat due to religious reasons.</p>
<p>Perhaps you could find out if there's an opportunity to take it on a Sunday, if the tournament will be over.
[/quote]
The Collegeboard is pretty strict about only allowing the Sunday option for people who cannot test on Saturday for religious reasons; I called them last year to see if I could do that, as the November test day conflicted with a major dance competition (qualifier for nationals this summer) I had, but the person I talked to said there was no way I would be able to write on Sunday.</p>
<p>As an earlier poster said though, the high school might be able to arrange something with the Collegeboard.</p>
<p>hops...I'm glad you were able to work your situation with the SAT out. While the test is "optional" in that it doesn't count towards your high school GRADES, it is required for college admission (although I agree that the ACT is accepted virtually everywhere). </p>
<p>Where I am, sports coaches cannot require a student to be at any event if the reason is the ACT or SAT administration. AND they cannot cut the student from the team for missing a practice or meet/game for the SAT or ACT. Coaches usually do not have interscholastic events on the days these tests are administered, and certainly not two months in a row. Where I am, the school administration would tell the sports coaches to excuse the student from the sports event with no penalty.</p>
<p>I was annoyed when the regional forensics tournament was changed to the March SAT test date. We had already paid for the SAT, and so the money was forfeited (we didn't realize the refund restrictions). It was a very good thing that my son had taken the SAT in January!</p>
<p>Another peeve is that the National Mock Trial championship is always during AP testing time. My son didn't go to the nationals this year (was on our state's champion team) because he didn't want to miss his APUSH test (and the day after he would have come back was the tough AP Bio exam). I don't understand why they schedule this championship during AP testing time, because it affects everyone in the US! And one would think that students who do Mock Trial on the national level would be of the caliber to be taking AP exams. </p>
<p>If his school team becomes state champs again next year, he won't be able to attend the national tournament again, because he would miss two AP exams during the tournament.</p>
<p>Yes, I know AP exams have makeups, but I also know that those makeup exams are graded on a tough curve because there are fewer test-takers.</p>
<p>OMG! I had no idea there are schools out there that don't consider SAT an excused absence from sports. Even worse, some teams will CUT an athlete/performer for taking the SAT and missing an event. What a sad, sad indication of the state of American education.</p>