<p>Both of my sons took the SAT through Duke TIP. Neither did any of the official classes, but their scores got them on a mailing list for a summer college program at an in-state school that they did attend. For three years. They loved it. I seriously think living on a college campus in dorms with varying amenities made their transition to real college that much easier. They made great friends and had profs who wrote LORs for other, later summer programs. Lots of positive can come from these opportunities. </p>
<p>However, I would never force a kid to do it. My kids thought taking the test was fun and an honor, but not every kid does.</p>
<p>My daughter never expressed an interest in testing for these programs despite encouragement from parents of friends, friends and relatives. She was asked in fourth grade if she wanted to test into the CTY program. I let her decide even at that age.</p>
<p>Later, I guess in seventh grade, people started asking/encouraging again. Again, my daughter declined (actually she had a friend do CTY one summer and hatred it). I never thought to push her or even try to convince her to go against her instincts. </p>
<p>I would let your daughter follow her instincts. If she’s fearful of consequences, that’s one thing. but if she truly doesn’t see the benefit of taking the test, let her be. There are many other ways of nurturing her talents outside of these programs.</p>
<p>OT. I’m curious, how does your son like Truman State?</p>
<p>I would encourage my kid to take the test (and did). And quit thinking of it as coercion, it’s not. Teach her that one should never close doors–keep your options open. And this is a pretty easy door to keep open. Simply no down sides. Just because she doesn’t see the upside of taking the test does not mean one doesn’t exist. Afterwards, if there aren’t programs she wants to attend then so be it. Don’t go. But don’t throw the opportunity away before you even know what may come your way.</p>
<p>She night think if she does well you’ll make her go to those camps. Assuming it’s true, assure her you won’t. Maybe she’s worried about what doing well means later.</p>
<p>Or she may be afraid she won’t do well. Either way, she won’t know unless she takes the test. If she doesn’t do well she’s no worse off than she was before.</p>
<p>Seventh graders very often don’t truly see the benefit of things that, as adults, we know DO have potential benefits. It is our job to get them to see the light. </p>
<p>When my S was about that age, I could see that he was a pretty fast runner, but that he was probably going to be cut from soccer, if not this year, the next year. There was drama every year regarding the tenuous existence of a second stream team. I also had been told that indoor track was a great social experience for the kids in the jr high, something that would benefit him greatly. I informed him that I wanted him to sign up for track. He was reluctant. I found out that he did not do so on the designated day. I called the teacher/coach and asked if he could still sign up the following day, he said sure, just come to practice. I informed my S that I had discussed it with the coach, and the next day he was going to track practice, period. </p>
<p>Guess what? He was good at track. He loved track. He willingly ran track or CC all three seasons in HS.</p>
<p>If he had gone and given it a shot and continued to hate it, I would have encouraged him to find some other athletic activity. I think that it was important for him to have a physical dimension in his life, as well as music and intellectual pursuits.</p>
<p>I regard this as similar to our household rule regarding meals: take one real bite. If you don’t like it, you absolutely don’t have to eat it. But you have to take that one real bite. As a result, I think, S was a kid who loved Thai food, pate, and caviar at the age of 5, as well as pizza and hamburgers.</p>
<p>^or perhaps he would have found some other physical activity on his own. I told my reluctant S he needed to find one EC to participate in each year and let him choose. I personally won’t eat pate or caviar, there is no way I would even offer that to my kids!</p>
<p>All 3 of my kids were offered the opportunity to take the SAT in 7th grade. None of them were interested and I didn’t insist or try to bribe them. There is plenty of test taking in their lives. They weren’t bored in our HS have all been successful and happy so far in college.</p>
<p>My younger son was happy to take the SAT in 7th grade - a bunch of his friends were going to be there too - and they considered it a very low stress introduction to the test. My older son very much enjoyed going the summer programs, my younger son couldn’t imagine why one would want to take academic classes in the summer - so I didn’t make him do that. I think you can insist on the test if you like - but not on the summer programs - they aren’t for everyone.</p>
<p>As a current kid in HS who took it, I’d recommend giving it a shot. It’s only one morning and you don’t need to study.</p>
<p>If you get grand recognition you basically have something nice to put on your application for things you apply to during HS. This happened to me, and I think it helped. Correct me if I am wrong but grand recognition is more exclusive than things like NMSF, and it’s just a good thing to have in your back pocket. You don’t have to just do it for the official summer programs; I never even considered them. But many independent programs will recognize grand recognition. </p>
<p>There is no stress or anything either. You don’t need to study for it. I think you can get grand recognition with something like a 25-28 on the ACT.</p>
<p>Hi Slacker Mom. My son likes Truman State but he’s not in love with the city of Kirksville. Off and in he talks about transferring in the future but I believe he will stay to finish out undergraduate program. He has pointed out that profs are rated low. I don’t remember the source but it involves ratings by students. I believe he has a lot if support in campus and as a sophomore he us finally getting involved, mainly in two volunteer jobs that are mandatory to maintain his scholarship. One of his jobs is working at Kirksville Community Hospital. He is training now and it will involve talking to patients in their rooms after they have been admitted to keep them informed about tests/procedures etc. I’m very excited about that opportunity for him.</p>
<p>I plan to have one more discussion and encourage D to take the test. I have been approaching the topic lightly and she seems a little less opposed to the idea. Thanks for all the comments. There is much to learn from all your experiences!</p>
<p>Just wanted to add, that my older son applied for some programs in high school where one of the things you could put on the application was middle school SAT or ACT scores. So if she happens to score well, it may be something that will be useful in a few years, even if she doesn’t want to go to any program now.</p>
<p>Exactly. Don’t worry about the late fee…she can take the ACT anytime in the spring and those scores will be her qualifying scores for Duke TIP all the way through high school.</p>
<p>My two older sons did the Duke TIP in 7th grade. One took the SAT the other the ACT. They both qualified for certain programs and such based on their scores. My youngest is in 7th grade and will be taking the ACT in December for Duke TIP. Honestly I didn’t give them a choice. I just told them that they were going to take it. It’s only 1 Saturday morning and they don’t study for it. Basically I think it helps them see what the test is like and it shows us as parents what kind of colleges that their 7th grade scores should be good enough to get in. Kind of takes the worry out of “will my kid get a high enough score to get into any college.?”
The ACT and SAT don’t report those scores when they apply to colleges as Seniors so there really is no down side to having them take the test as long as the parent doesn’t pressure the kid to study and try and get a certain score. Also you can put down the Duke TIP on your college apps however my oldest didn’t bother.</p>
<p>Op,
Both kids got invited for testing for JHU CTY which is similar to TIP. A few points:
We took the sat or act as no big deal. No prep. Not even the practice booklet. Basically just to see how they would do.
I thought it would be good to take the test just to get a feel for it; like practice.
Would do something fun after the test like go to the beach or amusement park.
If the kids don’t want to take the test, then no worries, really. My oldest didn’t take any JHucty classes, was too busy taking film classes which were more fun for her. Youngest one took an online computer sci class which he didn’t like. Others will spend the money to sent their kids on jhucty summer programs, but my kids wanted to do “more fun” summer programs such as film prod, video game design, or just plain summer camp.</p>
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