<p>Our school encourages sophomore and juniors to take the PSAT. They encourage the SAT in May or June of junior year. Very few students take SAT 2 tests - very few are going to schools that need them, so there’s no need here. If a student wants a school with them, then their GC will talk with them about it, but usually those kids are intelligent enough to see it on the college web page.</p>
<p>We do have a College Prep adviser from one of those “Teach for America” types of deals (not that one, but one like it). We had one person for 2 years, and now are on our second person - finishing his first year. If the school doesn’t raise the funds to keep him, he won’t be back next year. Having him has been a GREAT addition to our school when it comes to college prep.</p>
<p>beadymom- I’ve had the same experience at our school with SAT II’s. The GC and the teachers have never heard of SAT II’s. </p>
<p>Our school does very little. The top 50 at the beginning of Junior year are invited to take the PSAT. All students in the state take the ACT. Our school is part of a pilot that took it twice this year- October and March. There is some questionnaire they fill out at the end of Junior year for their GCs so the GC knows “who they are” when they do recommendation letters. </p>
<p>After the first ACT, the GC told my son (28 composite- no prep at all- he wanted to see how he did without doing anything and knew he was taking it at least one more time) his score was high enough to get in anywhere he wanted. Most kids don’t apply anywhere more selective than the University of Michigan. There are a handful who shoot for some of the lottery schools. We’ve had two Ivy admissions in the last ten years and it wasn’t because the GCs helped at all. We’ve had a couple Northwestern admissions, a Wellesley admission and, of course, a Barnard admission. </p>
<p>At high school orientation, they emphasize the incredible vocational center program they have. </p>
<p>My D and her friend at Wellesley are composing a list of how their high school did NOT prepare them for college- how they feel their high school didn’t measure up compared to the high schools of their peers at these schools. They intend on sending it to the school board.</p>
<p>I am not sure what son’s GCs do. After reading about Naviance here last fall, I sent an email to his GC asking about it. She responded that their school didnt have it and didnt know what it was. I explained (to the best of my understanding) and said something to the effect of ‘maybe you have something similar?’ No. <em>sigh</em> Thank goodness for this website! Everyone (for the most part) has been extremely helpful! </p>
<p>I think we may be finished with our tours. Son is still considering looking at American, which has an open house in August. And we keeping kicking around the idea of Alabama (since he does like big schools, but it is so far away). </p>
<p>But so far, it looks like son’s list, in order of preference, is:</p>
<p>William & Mary (reach)
James Madison University
Virginia Tech
Roanoke College
Elon</p>
<p>Elon at the bottom hurts me! I LOVED that school and actually had a moment during the tour. But we were surprised that they separated students and parents for the tours and son was NOT a fan. I wonder if it would help to go back and tour during the week and not during an open house. </p>
<p>Thoughts/opinions/advice re our list would be very welcome!</p>
<p>eyemamon–Just read your post about the restaurant and leaving your son…I’m on metro in DC right now, on my way to work and tears are streaming down my face. I can literally feel that sadness and longing. Brought me back to the day I dropped off Swimboy '04. OY! Still can’t go there. Kudos to you for raising a young man who was able to articulate his feelings to you!</p>
<p>minnymom – congrats on the great internship! All expenses paid – wow!</p>
<p>eyemamom – I felt tears well up when I read your post – I’ll be a big soggy mess at leave taking time, I’m sure.</p>
<p>spritle – did you visit College of Charleston or Clemson? I’m surprised Elon is last on the list – I really liked it too.</p>
<p>Just got back from the dentist – had to get an emergency crown. Does that mean I’m now considered part of the royal family? Would S be…a dauphin? Anything to help him stand out in the application process :)</p>
<p>cheermom - whatever you do don’t drop your tissue - we don’t want the metro police bringing you downtown I can still cry thinking about the dropoff. One of the most emotional times of my life driving away from him knowing he wasn’t quite settled yet.</p>
<p>My kids always went to private schools so every student takes the psat’s in 10th and 11th. </p>
<p>Spritle - I feel like our lists are circling around each other. Except William & Mary would be beyond a reach for my d though we do love Williamsburg. Not to be all college board on you - but if he liked JMU and VT did you check out Clemson and USC? My nieces both went to Elon and loved it, d thought the campus seemed boring. But after seeing Clemson the day before I get it. And if he liked Roanoke did you consider Christopher Newport? She really liked that one. </p>
<p>I’m going to put JMU on her list, though just driving through the middle of campus a couple of times made her think the school was essentially on the highway. Do you hear cars driving by day and night there?</p>
<p>Santa Clara has long been a favorite for Northwest kids who don’t want to be too far from home, and is especially popular for kids from the local Catholic high schools. It has the geographical advantage Stanford does (in the same Silcon Valley with high tech and start-up opportunities). We’re going to visit it this summer. Definitely a “feeder” school for our students.</p>
<p>Eyemamom, I was also so touched by your son. I could see my own 13-year old making that same kind of comment. Love those boys. They smell, they forget their homework, they constantly need to be reminded to do x, y and z…but they sure love their mamas. </p>
<p>DD’s ACT score went from registered to tested but the glitch didn’t work for me this time. I guess, we, too, will have to wait. Sigh.</p>
<p>Thanks for the additional info on your school’s college prep. I am going to incorporate all of those ideas into one document I can pass off to the school. I think the key message is --start earlier than later.</p>
<p>@eyemamom, your drop-off conversation with your son at the restaurant just made me all tear up. I can totally see my son sitting there feeling the same way next year. I am fully warned to brace myself.</p>
<p>@Minnymom, congrats to your DS’s acceptance to the summer camp. That is an awesome opportunity to explore future career option at no cost.</p>
<p>@CT1417, That is a nice timeline of offering from your GC about college guidance. It’s interesting that your school don’t offer PT conferences at high school level. Our public schools have them all the way until high school graduation. However, they don’t do a good job with parents/students on advising of college preparation process. By the way, I agree with you that SAT in Jan of Jr. year is a bit late – DS14 (my Ginnie pig) took it in Jan and I will make sure DD17 takes it in the fall of Jr. year. </p>
<p>@spritle, I am also jealous of other schools using Naviance. We have none of it at our public school.</p>
<p>This made me laugh!
And eyemamom – your story about your son made me tear up.</p>
<p>Regarding Santa Clara, I have heard through the grapevine that they don’t give great merit aid. Santa Clara is on the federal government’s list: [College</a> Affordability and Transparency Center](<a href=“http://collegecost.ed.gov/catc/]College”>http://collegecost.ed.gov/catc/) for having one of the highest net price for a 4 year college.</p>
<p>99–interesting about lack of merit aid at Santa Clara. I was wondering what was prompting three from this year’s class to fly across the country, so am guessing it is not money. Will ask around, as I am curious what has put it on the radar in CT.</p>
<p>4 bear doll—wish we had P/T conferences, but they are on their own as of 9th grade.</p>
<p>It’s on the radar at my kids’ small private school. Several kids go there every year. I hear that it’s a beautiful campus in a desirable area (for kids who want to stay on the west coast but not in the northwest) and doesn’t require the highest stats to get in. It makes sense to hear that they have a high COA since private school applicants tend to have more money for tuition, on average.</p>
<p>Spritle, I was at Elon’s open house and DD and I absolutely loved it! I only remember being separated from her for one particular session though, then we paired up again to do the actual tour. I have been at other schools that had separate sessions for parents and students too. It was only kind of weird the first time (because it was unexpected), but neither of us had an issue with it.</p>
<p>Re. Naviance, After watching my school’s college counselor entering data supplied by graduating seniors, I realize that it is only so good as the information provided. It’s better than nothing but can be pretty inaccurate if your students don’t share their application results with the high school guidance office.</p>
<p>I keep telling my son that he needs an in state school (we’re also in VA), and he does not seem too enthusiastic about any one of them. Does not like William & Mary (too old). Not overly crazy about UVA, but would consider it. VT is out (too many kids from our school are there.) He loves Richmond (although it’s private), but the school is ending its track and field program, so the incentive to go there is gone. JMU does not have track, so it’s not on the list. He probably will use CNU or GMU as his state school. VMI is also a possibility. I will add that Roanoke is an excellent school. One of my fellow teachers went there and loved it.</p>
<p>Why only an in state school? I went to Va Tech, so I’ve nothing against VA schools - esp that one - but I’m curious as to why you’d limit your search to in state… My guys all wanted to get away from home and explore more areas and some places give extra aid for geographical diversity. Some parents around us give time limits (generally 4 - 5 hours by car), but not state limits. We started telling ours they had to stay East of the Mississippi, but that ended by middle son (who applied to two west of it). Both olders ended up east of it, but youngest might end up in HI…</p>
<p>Creekland - If memory serves momreads older son is at an OOS public on a great scholarship and this son would like to do the same. While exploring these options I believe she wants him to include a/some Va school(s) on his list as well. Please correct me if I’m misinterpreting momreads.</p>
<p>Oh, I have a terrible time keeping things straight!! Momreads reached out to me via PM when S2 was searching for schools in 2010, so quite a while ago. Her son is at one of the schools he was considering, and reeealy stretching memory now I think his gf was in S2s prospective major. Anyway, she was very kind and helpful. I’d been lurking but had just joined cc officially so it stuck with me. :)</p>
<p>I’ll confess I do know more about some folks due to personal (online) contacts, so I’m not above such cheatin’ myself when it comes to keeping posters straight in my mind.</p>
<p>blueiguana: You are right. My oldest son will graduate from an OOS school in a week. He loved his time at Alabama. My younger son only wants to check out the OOS schools, but VA does have excellent colleges and universities.</p>
<p>It’s important that a student has options. Too many of his friends gave themselves few options, and they could be sorry for that. He has one friend who had a big ACT score, so he suggested that he apply to Alabama, where he would receive a full tuition scholarship plus a $2,500 per year engineering scholarship. The young man snapped at him and said he was going to VT, and he did not want to hear anything about any other school. Another friend who overheard the conversation explained that my son just wanted to offer an option. The young man did get into VT, but not the engineering school. He will have loans, big loans, every year. He also needs to take a particular class, which is pass/fail. He has two chances to pass it. If he doesn’t, he will not earn admission to engineering.</p>
<p>The friend who came to my son’s defense? She just signed an offer sheet to attend a small, OOS, D2 school where she will major in engineering and receive scholarship money that will leave her folks to pay very little. The money could increase with her swimming performances. When this came up in discussion the other day, the kids were shocked that a school would give this young lady big bucks for her grades (which are outstanding) and swimming (which is also outstanding). Schools do that, they asked. The only person who got what she was saying was my son. Use your scores and stats to gain opportunities. BTW, she is very excited about her school, too.</p>
<p>Creekland: Truthfully, my son does not want to go to college with many of his classmates. I just him to check out an in state school or two – in case he changes his mind.</p>
Having him has been a GREAT addition to our school when it comes to college prep.</p>
I can still cry thinking about the dropoff. One of the most emotional times of my life driving away from him knowing he wasn’t quite settled yet.</p>