<p>How did this become a sports thread?</p>
<p>Agree with DisneyDad. Please keep this thread to things you did that you felt were smart during the college process. Parents are in need of tips and ideas to help them navigate this difficult and often overwhelming process. Thank you!</p>
<ol>
<li>Begin the decision regarding SAT or ACT in Fall of the Junior Year. Take real versions of both that are offered by some testing prep company and that they will score. Based on analysis of both, choose your poison. (There are false rumors that go around yearly that one test is preferred by universities over the other. Totally inaccurate. Take the one in which your child does best or has the potential to raise the scores the highest.)
<ol>
<li>Begin prepping in earnest by December of Junior Year for the test you’ve chosen. (The tests are different and thus, you must prep for the one you wish to focus on.) If you can afford it, take a tutorial program. Expensive, but ideal, is a private tutor from one of the testing prep companies. They will tailor the review program exactly to your child’s needs. (E.g., if he is terrific in math, then the focus will be on other subjects.) Next expensive is a course with other students. (Many high schools offer them right on the campus after school.) Cheapest is to get some good prep books and start a systematic preparation. I cannot emphasize enough how essential it is to having the sections, directions, timing, and expectations down cold BEFORE the test. </li>
</ol></li>
<li>Begin taking the REAL test (either SAT or ACT, depending on which one is best for the student) in winter or early spring of Junior Year. Take it again in June, just before the testing season ends. </li>
<li>If you’ve done all of the above, the final test of the Junior year may be so high as to avoid the necessity of taking it again a few times in the fall. If you’re still not satisfied, go back to #2 above and keep prepping for the fall administrations of the tests. </li>
<li>My two, youngest children followed this strategy and ended up with Ivy League-quality test scores–one by June of her Junior Year and one by October of his senior year.<br></li>
<li>Extra notes: If your student takes the ACT, take the writing portion every time. Most universities require ACT+Writing, so you’ve wasted your time if you don’t add it in. Also, if your child knows some of the universities to which he will apply, request that SAT/ACT send them the scores at the time of registration for the test since you get 4 free reports. The universities generally require all seatings, anyway, so save the money.</li>
</ol>
<p>Father of three sons: One chose a small southern LAC, one chose the large local State University, and one chose a northern technical institute. Here is my $0.02: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Visit schools as a HS Junior. If possible, visit northern schools in the winter and southern schools in the summer - Spring break is beautiful and comfortable almost everywhere!</p></li>
<li><p>Particularly if your DS/DD is not sure about what they like or dislike, visit local schools of various kinds (large/small, urban/rural, public/private, etc.) to develop insights and narrow down likes/dislikes. If the school itself is not of interst, skip the admissions brief and go straight to the tour focussing on the student body and the physical campus. If the school is one to which your DS/DD plans to apply, stop by and sign in at the admisisons office every time you visit (some schools track visits to gauge level of interest.) </p></li>
<li><p>The students who do the walking tours and “student sessions” are great, but my sons did not connect perfectly with the guides who all seemed to be triple majors with straight As and the presidents of 3 clubs. After the walking tour, go to the student union and people watch. Also go to the places that would interest your DS/DD (e.g., gym, theater, or coffee shop) and reach out to students at those locations for perspectives. Almost every student one of my sons approached was very helpful.</p></li>
<li><p>Unsrtuctured, large Q&A sessions are likely to be a waste of time. Most questions are either too specific to be helpful or, more likely, bragging with an irrelevant question at the end (e.g., My son/daughter has 25 credits from a local community college already as a HS Junior . . . . is the good?)</p></li>
<li><p>Appoach key/popular/busy HS teachers for recommendations at the end of junior year or as soon as possible as a senior. Start, or better yet finish, aplication essays during the summer before senior year and finish applications as soon as possible before senior year activities and accademics kick in (especially if DS/DD is taking a lot of AP or IB classes.) There is nothing wrong with having RD applications in early!</p></li>
<li><p>At the end of the process, if your DD/DS has more than one strong option, try to attend accepted students days. My sons found those very helpful.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Understand the realities of the percentages. If the acceptance rate is 5%, the student does not have a 5% probability of getting in because of recruitment, legacies, etc. It’s much lower. Also, that 5% is against all the APPLICATIONS! Your talented student is one of many.</p>
<p>Don’t fall in love with a school that you can’t afford. Be aware that there will be variable financial aid offers. Use good offers to leverage so-so offers. </p>
<p>For my family, kids 1 and 2, who have ADD, Aspergers, LD, etc. community college was the path to a four year school. They have not been held accountable for college costs.</p>
<p>For kid 3, he knows that loans in his name (stafford, etc.) will be paid by him. It’s possible kids 1&2 would have done better in college if they were responsible for more of the financial load. </p>
<p>Let your child know that college apps really are a lot of work, even with the common app and that this work takes time away from school, extra-curriculars and FUN. They may be wait-listed or declined at colleges which do not feel the student is actually really interested in attending. Only apply if there is a SERIOUS chance they will attend, and convey that they really do want to attend (communicate separately with the school - email, visit, phone, etc).</p>
<p>Discuss the realities of course offering differences between huge, medium and small schools, as well as the problem of overcrowded schools.</p>
<p>Good luck! Kid 3 is in a good school back east. We are from California. I think he THOUGHT he was prepared for bad weather, but now I think he knows he wasn’t. He still really likes the school.</p>
<ol>
<li>Visit different size schools.</li>
<li>Do visits Jr. Year.</li>
<li>Have your child shadow a student at their top choice schools.</li>
<li>Spend time in the area immediately surrounding the schools to get a feel for the area.</li>
</ol>
<p>I have a son in the middle of his 7th grade and here I am reading all this info here already. I don’t feel so bad thinking that I am starting the college thing way too soon.</p>
<p>I’m on this process for the second time. One of the smartest Things I did was try to keep my kids from falling in love with a particular school, and letting them know EARLY that Money matters. (In theory we agreed to pay as much as in-state tuition room and board, but went above that for one kid). My oldest wanted to go to a top 15 school, but wound up at a top 40ish, we’ll respected school for about half the cost, with a significant scholarship. My younger son wants to go to our state flagship, but he’s received a couple of significant scholarships at similar schools, one where we’d pay a little more than room and board each year. The second son is more frugal than I am, and I’m encouraging him to pick any of his top schools (in-state or significant merit already known).</p>
<p>Engineerson4me: You are doing the right thing. I started helping my D write her resume in 8th grade. That way you don’t lose info, and student can see where their resume needs beefing up (work experience, volunteer experience, extracurriculars, etc.). Read “Rock Hard Apps”, where they discuss how applications are scored by readers. Great book. Also agree re: Cal Newport’s books.</p>
<p>Re: EA & rolling admissions. D has 5 acceptances right now from rolling & EA schools. We know rejections may come from reach schools, but this makes the process much less stressful.</p>
<p>Oh, and RELY on YOURSELF. DO NOT rely on your school counselor or high school “college info” nights. Our supposedly first class school district has provided barely adequate info on testing, scholarships, admissions. Luckily I have read extensively re: college admissions, I know much more about strategy and the process than D’s well-meaning counselor, who didn’t know what the CSS profile was…their hands are just too full. Take it on yourself.</p>
<p>engineerson4me, research all you want but don’t involve your son now, not for a while! There is enough stress without making it a 6-year process for a kid who is maturing and changing every year.</p>
<p>Ditto what CheshireCatMom says! Perfect advice!</p>
<p>I would say the best advice that I could give is to collect all information you can for a long period of time. Read extensively. There is NO SUBSTITUTE for that. Use the library to borrow books. Buy the good ones so you can re-read them periodically, and ask your student(s) to as well.</p>
<p>Then put the info through the sieve of what is relevant & important for your family, in particular. After that, make your decisions as a family. At some point, consider yourself the expert (if you’ve done your homework), and discard other families’ strategies.Don’t worry of they are different. They SHOULD BE. Your family’s strategy should be unique to your financial situation & your students’ academic situation(s), etc. Then be confident. </p>
<p>Consider the temperament(s) of your student(s) re: whether to do SAT prep (or not), and/or how academically challenging a college they will thrive in. As they get older, our students have been making more and more of their own decisions, after discussion- which extracurriculars, which classes, etc.</p>
<p>If you have more than one child, consider the overall cost of college educations for all (not just the first) when you decide what you can afford to pay.</p>
<p>And I differ from some in that I have discussed our financial picture and college/scholarship options with our D for a long period of time, which has given her a long time to learn about the process, visit schools, attend classes & feel comfortable. She is therefore very realistic in her expectations. I say discuss away, and your student(s) will mature with the exposure to issues important to their futures.</p>
<p>I wish I’d had my junior daughter take the SAT in her sophomore year, and in the fall of her junior year, to take a bit of the pressure off after the PSAT/NM results. We started early with the ACT, but didn’t know it would be a good idea for the ACT, too.</p>
<ul>
<li>Testing: Disagree with prior poster. I would not wait until Junior Year to start this process. Take the PSAT sophomore year, no pressure, no prep and see the raw score. Explain the value of the testing to the student and then let them decide if they want to prep for the PSAT or the SAT or ACT.</li>
</ul>
<p>If (and only if) the answer is yes, think about their learning style. My son loves tekkie stuff so we bought a subscription-based online program and he enjoyed doing it the summer before Junior Year. My daughter bought a book. She may take a class this summer (her choice).</p>
<ul>
<li>College Visits: I don’t think jamming them all into Junior Year is feasible if you have a difficult curriculum Junior Year (as his high school does). We did a visit senior year during a 4-day weekend, and it is hands-down his favorite school. I wonder if he was more ready to evaluate schools as a senior?</li>
</ul>
<p>If I were to do it again, I would have my son prep for the PSAT so he could qualify for National Merit. He’s not a good test taker sometimes, and really benefited from the ACT prep class he took. If I had known that, I would have done the same fro the PSAT. </p>
<p>What we did right was to start looking at colleges the summer between 10th and 11th. He really loved several of the schools, and I think it further motivated him to do well in school so he might get accepted.</p>
<p>Hi, I agree with Picapole about PSAT. I had both boys take it their sophomore year. It doesn’t count but they get a sense of the test & how they perform on it. S #1 scored high enough to take it as a junior & qualify as NMF; S #2 score o.k. & chose not to do the work to increase his score so he did not take it junior year and doesn’t regret it. </p>
<p>In terms of the ACT - there is some knowledge base for the test so taking it too early if you are not ahead in math may be discouraging. Again, S #1 took it in October of Junior year and scored high (naturally good test taker). S #2 who is a junior now took it in December & we just signed him up for February since we think he can do better on the test with some more practice & tutoring. Math was his strongest subject so we know he needs to focus on English & Scientific Reading. </p>
<p>Right S #2 is a 3.4 GPA student with a 28 on the ACT. Suggestions for midwest schools where he could do computer science? We live in Illinois & while he could get into U of Illinois in liberal arts, he will not get into Computer Science there. Any possible merit $$ with those stats?</p>
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</p>
<p>This is particularly important if your student is likely to need SAT Subject Tests. Opportunities for good scores can be missed if students don’t consider whether they should take some of these tests sophomore year (or even freshman year in some instances).</p>
<p>For example, let’s say that your child’s school has an excellent chemistry course, taught by a very skilled teacher, that closely follows the expectations of the College Board. And let’s say that your child takes that course sophomore year. Taking the Subject Test at the end of the course would be a very good idea. </p>
<p>I know this because it’s what happened to me (way back when the tests were called Achievement Tests). It got me my one and only 800. </p>
<p>If I had waited until the next year to take the chemistry test, I would have had to re-learn the material, and I don’t think I could have scored anywhere near that high.</p>
<p>Here are the top three items that helped everyone in the family stay sane during the college admissions process for both kids:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do a rudimentary college visit during spring of sophomore year or summer following sophomore year as a preview of what the applicant will be facing, and do college visits during junior year.</p></li>
<li><p>Apply to at least one school with an early response date, e.g., rolling admissions, EA. This will relieve some of the pressure.</p></li>
<li><p>Create and update Excel spreadsheets for college visits and applications; for visits - tour info, specific departments to check out, etc., and for applications - application and interview deadlines, details about schools, applicant’s test scores, notification dates, outcomes, etc. Pinned to our kitchen bulletin board, the application spreadsheet played the biggest role in keeping us on task.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck to all in the future!</p>
<p>Oh - by the way, generally the local libraries will offer practice exams sessions (they did for the SAT and ACT in our area). Before the student takes it for real, they can attend a practice session (or two). </p>
<p>Just go online and search on free practice exams at library (with your local library name).</p>
<p>Yes, I agree that a student needs to carefully schedule the timing of the SAT subject tests to times when the info is fresh in their mind. They also need to have some early SAT tests out of the way so that they have one or two free test dates for SAT subject tests. This is especially true because there are no SAT tests over the summer.</p>
<p>Every student should take both the SAT and ACT tests. It is common for a student to do much better on the ACT than the SAT if the student is better at science than math.</p>
<p>There are posts on this website to links to previous SAT tests.</p>