Parents of the HS Class of 2022

This past August, the prepscholar website compiled a list of schools and their various positions on SAT Subject Tests. It’s not all colleges (e.g. no Rose-Hulman, RIT, etc.). But it gives a feel for which schools are interested in applicants’ subject tests.

You can see schools like Cal, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Lehigh have the tests as recommended. Others have them as required: Rice, Harvard, Caltech, Cornell. Some schools only have the SAT Subject Test recommended/required if you also submit the SAT itself. If you only submit the ACT, then no SAT tests are expected (e.g. Duke).

Plenty of schools don’t expect the SAT Subject Tests at all.

CC doesn’t like prepscholar URLs (my comment gets put into moderation when I include a link to the article). If you’re interested in reading the article, just google: ‘Complete List: Colleges That Require SAT Subject Tests’. In those search results, there’s a second site, thoughtco, which also lists schools interested in applicants’ SAT Subject Tests.

Note: I personally haven’t gone through all these colleges’ websites to verify prepscholar/thoughtco findings.

Rice no longer requires subject tests but recommends them. https://admission.rice.edu/policies/standardized-testing
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/2077757-rice-subject-tests.html

Busy time of year for S22 as several seasons converge. School soccer winds down this week. S22 has been the starting striker most of the season, which has been fun. Track has started with indoor and it looks like S22 will be on varsity running the 100 and several relays. He has a couple indoor meets coming up where he will run the 60 and get a feel for his speed relative to others. He has clocked some good times in practice and is beating the juniors/seniors on the team, but I don’t think the times are very accurate. Then this week he has lead roles in a couple of one act plays at school, and he is in the midst of auditions for the spring musical. We had talked to him about skipping the spring musical because he will be on varsity track and playing club soccer, but he wants to participate with a small role. Hopefully, the director will find a fun, smaller role for him.

S22 is starting scheduling for 10th grade. They had an assembly to go over it with the kids, but he missed it. We’ve had 4 snow days this week, so he hasn’t been back, lol. He’ll get the form tomorrow. We can set up a parent/student/counselor meeting in the next couple of weeks. But, he has space for 2 electives next year. He has a short list of AP Statistics, Intro to Engineering Design, Mechatronics 2, and maybe a programming class that would be online. He keeps changing his mind about how he’ll prioritize them.

@luanne, my kid would kill for that schedule. He’s at a very traditional, Jesuit school heavy on the liberal arts. But it’s a good fit for him in other ways. Best of luck to your kiddo!

I hope he ends up with a schedule he enjoys @luanne!
My d23 made her choices a few weeks ago, but we won’t know anything for quite awhile. Sometime in spring we should hear if there are any conflicts, but her final schedule won’t be available until August.
She’s planning on doubling up on math and sciences, crazy kid ?

Nice schedule @Luanne ! My S does not have a great deal of options in his schedule as he wants to take four years of orchestra. He does not meet with his school counselor for another two weeks, and then he will submit his schedule request.

@OrangeFish when my D gets there, she’ll likely be in either band or orchestra, so fewer choices. S does marching band, but it is only after school and not a school-day elective.

While they do the paperwork in Feb., they don’t get their schedules until August. So, hopefully he gets what he wants, but I know sometimes there are conflicts. The required classes are: pre-calc, Chinese 3, chemistry, and a language arts and social studies class. He has a couple options for the English and social studies class. We were happy to see he had quite a few elective choices for next year!

S22’s choices for 10th grade are limited. He has 8 classes, and the schedule is mostly set. Religion is required (Catholic school). He has two engineering courses, because he’s in the Engineering Program (Javascript, Advanced Engineering). And then the classic stuff: english, math, science, spanish, social science. The possible variations? Which science to take: Chemistry or Physics (Chemistry likely). And which history to take: AP World History or Modern World History. He’ll likely hold off on AP, he’s a happy STEM warrior. He’ll keep his focus on the STEM courses.

My d22 isn’t ready to really think about colleges and has absolutely no idea what she wants to go for yet. She is familiar with looking at schools etc from her sister (high school class of 2018)

If it is like in the past with her older sister (4 years apart) she will pick classes after 3rd quarter so they can get feedback from semester teachers if needed. She won’t have many choices - 7 classes but needs all 5 core classes, will want to stay with chorus and will need two semesters more of gym so will probably try and take those.

She has happily been doing jv gymnastics which is a winter sport even though she doesn’t have much gymnastics background. She practices 3 times a week and is scorekeeper for JV and Varsity. I think she had her last two competitions this week then next week is senior night which I think involves parents coming to watch and a banquet. She also does figure skating both for a rec program and for the high school team. She has two competitions and two recitals coming up in March. She is a junior coach working with beginner skaters in one class and is leading a group of young beginner skaters in their group song for the recital.Unfortunately to me the song is Baby Shark which I’m tired of hearing. She also does a group song and solo in the show. She has also helped out at special needs skating and does other activiites when they fit in.

Our high school has all 10th and 11th graders take the PSATs so she will do that and down the road figure out when to take the SAT. Unlike many here I don’t see my daughter willingly spending time studying for standardized tests right now.

S22 got promoted to the varsity soccer squad for the playoffs! First round he did not play, in the quarters he was in for about ten minutes, but then in the semifinals he played over half the game as his team won to advance to the state finals this weekend! Being on the varsity soccer team is a huge deal at his school, and there is almost never a freshman on the team. He is having a great soccer year.

My daughter’s water polo season ended a couple of weeks ago, and swim started straight away. One more week left of the academic trimester, then finals week.
Next year, she will definitely take one AP, possibly two max. She wants to continue with marching band and water polo, still undecided about swim, but I am thinking she will want to stick with it too.
Marching band is a year long course, plus one trimester of marching band P.E. So first trimester, out of five periods, she will have two taken up by band.
At her school, sophomores typically take AP European Civilization, and AP Bio if they are on the advanced math track. Some may take AP Spanish if they attended the dual language immersion program or are native or heritage speakers.
My daughter is still considering her options. She can attend AP orientation sessions throughout the coming month, and meet with her school counselor once before the deadline.

@InfoQuestMom , I have great respect for swimmers and water polo players. I think they are up there for toughest sports, both physically and mentally. We have finals for the 3rd quarter coming up in 2 weeks, and so the teachers are piling on the tests. Good luck to your D on her finals!

DD took a test and was placed into Algebra II and Precalculus for her sophomore year. Hope she can handle it.

Exciting news here! DD got her summer job lined up-lifeguard and Asst swim team coach-she was a year-round swimmer until 2 years ago, so it’s a good fit. She is going to love coaching, I’m so thrilled for her. Plus, one more off my payroll! DD’s course selections came in an email. It’s not too bad, she’ll take her first AP (Gov’t and Pol) and she’s taking Precalc Honors. Chem GT, English 10 Honors, French 3 Honors, Exploring Computer Science Honors (this is her required tech credit), and strength and conditioning…apparently this course is mostly boys but she has 3 brothers, she has no fear.

She had shoulder surgery about 6 weeks ago and had her first field hockey tournament this past weekend. She was a little rusty, but not as bad as I thought she would be! She can’t wait for outdoor season.

I think she may have FINALLY figured out how to study and hopefully the grades will be excellent this quarter. Her midterms were good, so I feel like she turned the corner a little bit. She had one not great grade Q2 but the rest were great, so we worked out a schedule and are using it as a teachable moment instead of punishing. Plus, with the shoulder issue/surgery she missed more school than I would have liked. Hopefully things continue to improve.

@vistajay Thank you! To be honest, I knew my daughter was interested in joining the swim team, but I never anticipated her to get into water polo. A sophomore friend from band got her excited and she turned out to love it! Good luck to your son too!

@SilverGrass My daughter will be finishing the second half of Integrated Math III, then Pre-Calc next year too. Does your daughter’s school run on quarters?

My D20 (I have a D22 as well) has been a pretty serious swimmer for many years. An option to play water polo in high school has her hooked. I think if there were a college option to be recruited for wopo, she would ditch swimming in a heartbeat! It is a very aggressive sport – there is much going on below the water line.

@redfraggle Congrats to your daughter on her job. I think here they have to be 16 at least to be a lifeguard, so one more year before my daughter can try out.
It’s good she is turning the corner regarding study habits. So important to learn that! It sounds like she is doing a great job.
Good luck with her shoulder too!

@MAandMEmom Yes, very aggressive. There’s kicking, scratching, grabbing, etc. You have to be a tough cookie to love this sport! I wouldn’t do it, but I love that my daughter does. It’s such a contrast to her other activities like dancing and music where she is expressing her sensitive side!