OH, good lord, SAT scores back. Retake? Give up? Next year?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
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<p>Short story: Son is a Junior at a very very small new charter high school with very limited EC's available, erratic staff, and few classes offered. He will be graduating/getting state grad cert this year. He would like to start college early, but only if he's going to Stanford. Otherwise, well, I dunno what we'll do, because he's run out of classes to take at his school.</p>

<p>In March 2005, he took the SAT for the first time, and got 740 Crit Reading, 650 Math, 690 Writing. Since this is low, he retook in October, expecting to increase his Math substantially. (The first time, he got "stuck" on a question and wasted time.) We had every reason to expect he'd do well, but he didn't get enough sleep, etc, and choked. October scores: 690 Reading, 670 Math, 660 Writing. </p>

<p>ARGH! </p>

<p>So, here's the "best of" stats now: </p>

<p>SAT Is: 740 Reading, 670 Math, 690 Writing.
SAT II's: Taking in December
GPA: 3.95 High school un-weighted, hardest courses offered. (He has one B, ever.)
GPA: College coursework 4.0 (ongoing coursework in Calculus and Psych)
GPA: Stanford (summer college) 3.85 (A, A-, A-)</p>

<p>EC's:
Millard Fillmore (local research trivia thing) team captain
Quiz team captain, only year they had it. It's been disbanded by the school because the new administrator doesn't think it's in keeping with the school's mission statement. Son is volunteering at tournaments and starting a renegade "stealth" team for the players who have been screwed by this. </p>

<p>There are NO other extracurriculars at the school except Drama club and student government. Both interfered with evening college classes. No sports at the school, no other clubs. Basically, everything son has as an EC, he started himself. </p>

<p>Other stuff: Has done volunteer tutoring. Self-studied Latin and has gotten gold and silver medals on the National Latin Exam via self-study only. Will request a 3rd rec from one of his Stanford instructors this summer who is continuing to encourage his studies. </p>

<p>So, here's the deal. He's supposed to take the SAT II in December, because that's when Latin is offered. We found out about the tanked October SAT scores toooooo late to register for November, so in order for him to retake, he'll have to do Standby, and might not get in. </p>

<p>Do we give up? Should he try to take the SAT again, apply as is, or don't apply at all this year? I hate to say to him, "Well, you didn't ace the second SAT, so you won't be going to Stanford next year, buster", but then again, I don't see that the scores are there for him. </p>

<p>OTOH, his "hook" is his intellectual passion. He immerses himself in studies and manages to keep a 4.0 at school (except for that one B in Spanish) while taking a second load of self-study and college coursework. And he's <em>hungry</em> to be at Stanford -- he really thrived there this summer and already feels so much a part of the campus and community -- the Stanford Quiz team folks, the Unitarian-Universalists, etc. </p>

<p>His high school can't help him at all with these things because they have no college counselling, pretty much, other than, "Next year, you'll do admissions essays!" He'd change high schools except then he'd be getting recommendations from people who have no idea who he is. At least at this school, his recs will be excellent/amazing. </p>

<p>Help? What should we do now? Give up for this year?</p>

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<p>it might be pretty tough for a junior to make stanford...
next year sounds like a plan... also gives him much much more time to have an experience that would make for an interesting topic in his essays...
you can never really tell when those experiences come. i volunteered for an event where underprivileged youth received free toys, and at this event, i was instructed to play simon says with any of the kids that came by. turned out these kids couldn't speak a lick of english, but being resourceful, i did my best to muster every spanish word that i could, and it turned out my part in the event was instrumental -- the kids loved how i could communicate with them effectively, as limited as my communication was, and it was very, veeery gratifying</p>

<p>so what i'm saying is... dont sweat it if you have to wait a year. 1) your son can up his SAT score in april to a score that will be more competitive, as if your son's 2100 is bad.
2) your son has more time to enrich his life. if school is becoming too boring or just not as fulfilling, dive into a passion that really gets his clock ticking. that's the stuff adcoms probably wanna hear about, they love hearing about the passion
3) he has an entire summer to do stuff. one question on the application deals specifically with what they do in the past two summers, another summer would only make that question that much more exciting. two-and-a-half months is plenty of time to get involved in programs that can be life changing and make for awesome topics for essays</p>

<p>if your son really really has to leave high school and can't stand it any longer... see if you can involve him in an outside activity that gets him really engaged and gets his mind off of the lack of opportunites at his school. i.e. dance, sports, volunteer service, there are endless possiblities. that really seems to work for a lot of other kids, and as a bonus, it's the stuff stanford loves to see</p>

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<p>if there are no extra curriculurs you can always MAKE extra curriculars lol ... that looks even better...
i did it just for fun ( i already had good ECs) i wanted to make a guitar club, and enter a rocket competition, so i made clubs/teams</p>

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<p>I really doubt that your son will have any chance applying as a junior with those scores (or even higher scores) and without anything truly outstanding (and excellence in academics is not outstanding - that's the norm...)</p>

<p>Maybe he could graduate from HS if they have nothing to offer him, and take a gap year. Find something meaningful and interesting to do. Then study for SATs, retake and apply next year.</p>

5

<p>I agree with the above posters, TrinSF. The very top students with perfect grades, scores and a lot of ECs are regularly rejected from my son's HS - Usually 8 or so apply, and 1 or 2 are lucky enough to get in.
Some think it's harder for us in CA to get into Stanford than it is to get into Harvard or Yale. At least it seems that way to us. Why the rush? I like the idea of graduating and doing something really interesting with the extra year - travel, service (and retake the SATs) - opportunities are endless.</p>

6

<p>how cool would traveling be?
if he could graduate this year...
the possibilities are endless for the following year. he can study and do better on those college-board tests, and at the same time, engage in some very awesome life-engaging experiences.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the responses. WRT to him getting involved in his passions, <em>learning</em> his is passion. The problem with his school is that he's already so far beyond what they offer, and next year, they offer even fewer academics to Seniors. (Don't ask. The charter changed focus halfway through his time there, and now it's aimed at getting lower performing students into college, not providing challenges for gifted students.) So, if he doesn't go to Stanford this year, he won't be returning to the high school. On the other hand, he moved here in part because he wanted to attend Stanford (he decided this while in middle school), and he really has no interest in other schools. He spent the summer there and he "fits", as far as he's concerned. </p>

<p>On the other hand, if he takes college courses for college credit, he'll end up having to apply as a transfer, which he <em>really</em> wants to avoid, because he's looking forward to SLE. </p>

<p>As far as making clubs, the school isn't allowing it. It's not "in keeping with the school's mission". <em>sigh</em> I also feel it looks very crappy and artificial, especially at this point. </p>

<p>As far as a "summer to do stuff", what he'll do this summer is what he's done every year since middle school -- he pursues the subjects he's really passionate about. Mostly, this has been psychology; he's really interested in neo-Freudian apologists, much to my chagrin. </p>

<p>In short, he exudes passion-about-learning to the extent that it's immediately apparent to everyone he has contact with, in a very warm, engaging way. (He's not "bookish".)</p>

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<p>You can "homeschool" him for a year if all he wants is to take classes. Then it will not count as college credit, and he can apply as a freshman. (SLE is a great program.)</p>

<p>That said he really has to be more realistic, and find some back up schools. Almost no one can count on being accepted to Stanford. He can go there for grad school if he does not make it for the undergrad. It's not enough that he thinks that he "fits" there. They have to think so too...</p>