Should my son take more tests?

Parents Forum
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<p>My son's profile:
GPA- 4.2 weighted (all A's except 2 B's in the AP classes)
Honors everything, plus AP Lit, AP History
Will take AP Physics and Calc Senior year</p>

<p>PSAT Fall Junior year: 70 M, 56 V
1st SAT March: 660 M, 620 V
2nd SAT June: 710 M, 700 V</p>

<p>Plays 2 Varsity sports
Student Government, NHS
Lots of Leadership positions, Boys State, etc
Part time job
Math and Academic teams, Band (no stand out, just enjoy)
100+ community service hours (various, mostly sports-related)</p>

<p>Relatively weak verbal skills and interests (compared to math/science). We were ecstatic with the huge improvement in his verbal scores over the course of a year, which we attribute to taking AP Lit and History and being more relaxed on the second test.
Unfortunately he scored a 2 on his AP Lit exam, expected but disappointing (it was a challenging class and he knew he bombed the exam), although he received a hard B in the class with a lot of sweat. He opted to challenge himself and take AP classes in his weaker subjects during his Junior year for the express purpose of improving his reading/writing skills.</p>

<p>Will the AP score detract from his application? </p>

<p>His counselor is encouraging him to take more exams (ACT, SAT II's) but we're leary about another disappointing score, especially since he gets nervous about tests and after the AP test experience, will be more anxious than usual. </p>

<p>Why not just leave good enough alone and submit the SAT score? Could too much information hurt rather than help? A freind of his did well on the SAT (1350) but ended up with a 24 on the ACT. Further, will the contrast in the SAT scores lead administrators to write off the higher scores as a fluke?</p>

<p>His school choices:
University of Virginia
University of Florida
Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech
NC State
Duke
University of Maryland</p>

<p>Are these realistic?
Any suggestions for reach, match, safety?</p>

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<p>In-state Maryland or Virginia?</p>

3

<p>You do not need to submit AP scores to colleges! Make sure they are not on his HS transcript, and don't submit them. Lots of kids take ap classes but don't take the tests. His SAT scores are good, but not excellent. If you don't need merit aid, I would just let him stop testing right there.</p>

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<p>We live in Fla. Will this affect his acceptance to the out of state publics?</p>

5

<p>taking the ACT will not effect anything. the ACT is completely score choice--and not only that, you can take it as many times as you'd like and only submit your BEST score.</p>

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<p>An SAT of 1410 is a very solid score and will not keep him out of any school- But for certain schools, we probably needs the SAT II's in addition to the SAT score. I know UVA required 3 SAT II's 2 years ago. If your son takes the ACT's, this could avoid having him take the SAT II's - so I think your son may have to TAKE ADDITIONAL TESTS, BUT YOU NEED TO DECIDE WHICH ARE THE BEST ONES TO TAKE. (</p>

7

<p>I didn't mean to send it yet, and I certainly didn't mean to be in CAPS, but I guess it did emphasis the point. I'd vote on your son taking the ACT's. especially if he is stronger in math or science. Please check the admission requirements of the schools. Many selective schools require the ACT or the SAT & SAT II's. I am sure U of Florida is an absolutely safety but as he is applying to all Out of State public U's, you may want one other true safety under your belt. Good luck.</p>

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<p>UVA and Maryland (along with the UC's) are some of the more notorious ones for being a good deal more difficult out of state. </p>

<p>You or your son are going to have to go through the list of schools to verify if the old SAT is accepted. If it is, stand on it.</p>

<p>The SAT II's are not as obnoxious as the SAT or the AP tests. They are straightforward to prep for.</p>

<p>Simply don't report poor AP scores - as anxious mom says, make sure they are not on the HS transcript.</p>

9

<p>My daughter will be a first year at UVA next year. (Out of state.)</p>

<p>She took but did not send her ACT score to UVA. She sent the SAT scores, plus scores for three SAT IIs. </p>

<p>Does your son's school rank? If so what is his rank? UVA and Duke looks at Rank/class difficulty.</p>

<p>I would stress his leadership positions. Good luck.</p>

10

<p>His school (private) doesn't do class rank (absolutely refuses under any circumstances) because of class size and admission selectivity. It provides a profile with average SAT scores, scatter plots, and that sort of thing. The funny thing is about the school is that being private, it seems that about 10 to 20% of the students admitted are academic "ringers", that is super-high academic kids. 10 to 20% are in because they're propping up the football, basketball, or whatever team and have mediocre/abysmal academic records. In the middle are the solid students. But the outcome of all this is that the average SAT scores (which range from 700 to 1600) are higher, but not SIGNIFICANTLY higher than the general population. Do you think this combined with the lack of class ranking will affect his chances?</p>

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<p>Your school may provide a correspondence between GPA and decile that they aren't telling you about. Whan school starts up in the fall, you need to talk to guidance - they should have information showing GPA/SAT and admittance, rejection, wl'd at colleges that the hs students applied to. That information, if available, will show where your son stands better than we can guess!</p>

<p>Also - sports. If your son is good, and wants to play in college, that can be a very good thing in terms of admissions. If he is not DI material, he could still be a catch for DIII schools.</p>

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<p>When my older D applied to colleges 4 years ago, I remember there being a space on the Common App for AP test scores. This go-round it's gone.</p>

<p>Unless it appears on a supplemental form, there is no place to submit the scores. Also, every single school I called about AP scores told me that they do NOT factor the scores into the admissions process.</p>