<p>I’m an obsessive researcher and list maker-- have come here because I think I will need the collective wisdom available here. My daughter has been at boarding school ( where they do a comprehensive job with college counseling) but she has decided to come home for her last 2 years of high school. </p>
<p>So now I’m trying to educate myself – in addition she’s a bit complicated ( high IQ plus learning disabilities) so I’m uncertain as to the best fit for her. She needs an intellectual but laid back, low stress environment. So, I’m all ears, especially if anyone knows about WUE schools. We are gearing up for testing, she will self prep over the summer, and take the ACT in October I think. That will give us an idea where to start looking and visiting I hope. </p>
<p>@class2020 I just inquiring about testing? Will she be testing with accommodations? Is she back room in neighborhood school? Only reason I ask is if she is testing in October will her accommodations be in place?
I just been through this will D15 and SAT were great to deal with but not so with ACT. Eventually both granted her much needed accommodations.
I’m deep in the process with D15 and will start with S16 soon. The only prep he will do will be for PSAT for October. He also will sit Oct test because of prepping for PSAT. No ACT till April then June test either SAT or ACT depending on results of the first. He will sit two subject test in the winter depending on his pending school list and how well he finishes this year.</p>
<p>She’s already been approved for accommodations by the College Board. The learning specialist at her current school is helping me with ACT accommodations-- starting now so I hope they’ll be in place by then. She’s motivated to prep for PSAT in October, so I thought it might make sense to do the ACT then too. If she does well, we’d be done, but with plenty of time to re-test in case she’s not happy with the results. </p>
<p>She’s on the waiting lists for 2 charter schools here and we’re hoping one of them comes through, otherwise yes, she’s going to go to our local public high school. </p>
<p>classof2020: tell me a bit about accommodations for the college board. I think DS should have that, but he doesn’t want it “I don’t want to be different”…but, he really needs them, I think. For school too, but he also is not wanting me to pursue this.</p>
<p>College board includes PSAT, SAT’s and AP exams; I can’t tell you too much about the process because the learning center at school handled it all, but it was very quick, no problem getting it, and once given, it applies to all those tests monitored by College Boatd. </p>
<p>She gets extra time and small setting for testing–these are accommodations she gets at school also. From what I understand it’s not possible to get them if you don’t have or use accommodations at school however. Has your son been tested? That’s probably the first step. </p>
<p>I believe that getting accommodations for the ACT is more difficult, which is why I’m trying to get it set up now, while we have the support of this school and learning center teacher-- she says she’s had 100% success getting them, so we’ll see. </p>
<p>Drmom123 hello, my D had accommodations from both organizations. College board was very easy to acquire because they use IEP and 504 standards for granting accommodations.<br>
ACT was a bit more challenging because they use American Disability guidelines and they like a paper trail of use for and of the accommodations.
If you apply now and are granted accommodations they will be good for PSAT; SAT and AP’s until he is finished with school. Good luck</p>
<p>Good luck drmom, I’d pursue it. Yes, it’s hard to be different than your peers, but I’ve seen first hand what can happen without them in another family member who was unwilling to take them, and ultimately was unable to fulfill his academic goals. </p>
<p>classof2020/Hoosier96, yes, that is my fear. His own stubborness, and immaturity might “do him in”…or delay his eventual career goals. I handed in the initial form today. I hope to hear from the guidance counselor what the next step is…thanks the support and the advice. I hope this works out! I figure, we might as well try to get it (and get it). That way, even if he tries one set of exams without using the accomodations…he may “realize” and then use them next time round…it’s getting him to accept this…</p>
<p>drmom123 my S is bagging to be tested! He would love extra time on standardize test. D was concerned at first about needed them (accomodations) but was fine the moment when she walked
into her first test (semester finals) and found a roomful of students, then it was okay.
She realized that if she wanted to compete she had to be playing on the same level of playing field as the others who did not need them, and that is what extra time has done for her; level the paying field.</p>
<p>Anyone’s kids here taking AP tests this month? S finished the AP Chem test on Monday, has another next week. He thought it went well - guess we’ll wait and see.</p>
<p>H and I were just trying to figure out a vacation +college tour plan for August. Since S is home only for a brief period and we really won’t have much time to take him on college visits until next spring, we thought we’d take a brief tour around this summer before he heads back. It would help though if he had some sort of an idea of what he’d like to do At the moment, we are planning on visiting colleges in the area he thought might be interesting (DC/Virginia area).</p>
<p>My son is taking APHG test but decided not to take the APCS test. He has a state test in Chemistry in May and is studying for the ACT in June. He went to TSA States competition last weekend and he is working on his Boy Scout Eagle Project this weekend. </p>
<p>Oh and we go to pick DD up from her freshman year of college Memorial Day weekend. </p>
<p>Arisamp, S is taking Calc AB as we speak, and Music Theory next week. D is taking Comp, but I don’t remember when.
The school bus didn’t show up this morning, so I had to drive the kids in. The AP is first thing this morning-- darn lucky I was home to drive, or we would have had a disaster on our hands. The transportation office would have gotten an earful if S had missed his AP because of their screw-up. He needs the AP for his dual enrollment placement next year, as well as for the test itself.
Dragon, they took AP Human Geo last year and I’m told it was fairly easy. We have state end-of-year tests coming up, as well. Is it awful I don’t know the dates?</p>
<p>Re: accommodations: D is eligible for small group/extended time, and categorically refuses to pursue it. She did fine on her first AP without them (a 5 in APHUG last year), though I thought her PSAT could have been higher. Maybe not. But anyway, she refuses, totally and completely, and since part of her issue is anxiety, I’m not pushing it. She could probably be applying to a higher tier of schools, but again, the anxiety…so I’m inclined to let her do it her way. So far, so good. They’re all so individual, though, I wouldn’t take her as a test case.</p>
<p>my S just does not want to have any attention paid to him. Also, the testing he has had, not on medication, indicates he is not elligible. so, that may be okay. At least he won’t feel “different”…but, he may also not get into the schools he is wanting to get into…which, in my opinion, may also be really fine. Better to be at a school where he can feel confident, and therefore do well, than at a school where he feels always inferior and therefore “gives up”…which is what he tends to do. But, he’s only a sophomore…we will see what happens…</p>
<p>@arisamp – We’ve just finished this whole college selection process w S14. I’d caution you about visiting schools that are not in session, i.e., those that are off for the summer. On our first-run through of college visits (when he was a prospective student) we toured some schools in-session and some schools during spring or summer break. Although obviously there’s a lot to learn about schools even when they’re not in session, one can’t get the total gestalt without the students around.<br>
For example, during April we toured Colby (in-session). The Colby campus was spectacular, and there was a ton to like about the school (academics, all sorts of opportunities available to the students), but the guys by and large looked like they played lacrosse and walked out of a J.Crew catalog. My son just couldn’t see himself there. We would have come away with a different impression if there’d been no students around.
In June, we toured Emory during their summer break. We sort of liked it, and my son applied, but it didn’t really make a clear impression on us. This April we re-visited, and my son just loved the kids, the atmosphere, the vibe, etc. A whole different experience than the prior visit.</p>
<p>We know several families who went on summer college tours, some of them involving a lot of expense, and felt similarly. I’m sure that there are other opinions on this, but thought I’d share our impressions.</p>
<p>@AsleepAtTheWheel - thanks for your input. I do understand what when you visit does affect the impression you have of the school. With D, we visited U of R on a glorious spring day - she loved it! Visited CWRU on a rainy, chilly day - she hated it But she did revisit and change her mind! Unfortunately with S, since he’s away at boarding school, we are limited with the time/opportunities we have for visits. I am looking at this summer as a very preliminary visit to some of these schools - more to give him an rough idea of these schools. Then next spring break, we could try and hit the ones he’s serious about.</p>
<p>I’m itching to do college visits–but am trying to wait till next year when school is in session. We did do a drive-by of the first college I attended, and this weekend will spend a little time in the town and on campus where I graduated. Looking forward to it!</p>
