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<p>That will not work forever. It won’t.</p>
<p>It usually takes one big gigantic failure before most people think to change their procrastinating ways…</p>
<p>re: PSAT vs. SAT difference - my son got a 214 on the PSAT but could never pull his SAT score above a 1270/1920 (and he took it 3 times). He finally took the ACT and got a 31 (which is equivalent to a 1370 on the SAT).</p>
<p>His GC said that happens sometimes with kids. Some kids do better on the ACT. My son reports that the SAT is so long, that he loses his focus.</p>
<p>He took the Kaplan review course and only brought his SAT up 40 points (he attended every class but didn’t do the homework). For the ACT, we made him study 30 minutes a day and complete a practice test each weekend. This was for about 3 weeks before the ACT. This was the first time we made him sit down and study daily. We had to threaten to take away his car to get him to do this - it wasn’t easy! It seems to have made a difference - he definitely put in a lot more time in on the ACT.He will be taking the ACT again in Sept and we are following the same regimen, much to his annoyance!</p>
<p>Like a previous poster, we hired a private college counselor (it’s really not as expensive as the press makes it out to be) and that has helped us a lot. Not only do we not have to nag (okay, we still do some) but the counselor was able to sit down with our son and help him really figure what type of school he would most enjoy. The counselor was able to give us a list of schools that would be a better fit for our son than the ones we would have initially gravitated toward. </p>
<p>Son seems to likes working with the counselor. He is still somewhat disinterested in the whole process but at least he has someone else to answer to besides us.</p>
<p>The biggest problem we are having now is son doesn’t want to visit schools and the counselor is, of course (with good reason) really pushing it. Not just your standard tours but going in and sitting through a class, etc. Son thinks this is a complete waste of time, thinks all schools are the same, etc. We’re finally at the point of throwing him the car and dragging him around. Our only problem is he’s a starter for the varsity football time and that pretty much limits us to Saturday tours until late November. UGH!</p>
<p>The counselor says that it is not uncommon for boys to be fairly disinterested in the whole process - especially the touring colleges part. I’ve had a number of people say that their child didn’t tour the school they ended up attending until after they got accepted. Anyone else have that experience?</p>
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<p>I prefer to think of it as an opportunity. :)</p>
<p>Maybe, he needs some guidance and this process scares him so much that he does not even want to start? If so, he would not acknowledge the problem, but rather avoid it as he is doing now. Perhaps you need to give him more guidance but at the same time some freedom to decide what he wants to do later in life, what makes him happy. For all we know, he could be a graphic designer of computer games.
Anyway, here is a step-by-step article that might help him create HIS college list:</p>
<p>[How</a> to Chose Schools for Your College Application List - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com](<a href=“http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2113611/how_to_chose_schools_for_your_college.html?cat=4]How”>http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2113611/how_to_chose_schools_for_your_college.html?cat=4)</p>