Where do I begin?

Parents Forum
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<p>Too funny – I started reading this thread and immediately thought “SAT II’s! Don’t wait to start SAT II’s!” and then I see dear friend Consolation has already put the light on that path. </p>

<p>Any tenth grader who has even the vague notion that MIT, Ivy or Stanford might, possibly, be of interest, is well advised to take an SAT II this spring. Math Level I (or II) may be a good choice. Physics is another for those students finishing a year of high school physics. One of the languages might be a good choice for someone who is strong in that language. Three SAT II exams are a must for the elite colleges – and very hard to fit into the Junior and senior years of high school. </p>

<p>Keep in mind that your student will want to embrace some leadership paths – and that these suck up gobs of time. The junior year goes at a great gallop.</p>

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<p>Do NOT take a science SAT2 without going through a review book and seeing what will be covered on the test. As another poster pointed out, AP classes don’t always cover enough material and you do not want a lousy SAT2 score stinking up the joint (some schools don’t let you use score choice…).</p>

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<p>“I don’t anticipate much assistance as it relates to Financial Aid given our Family income. I believe it likely that there will be merit based aid at a number of Colleges. It seems likely unless she smashes her SAT’s to pieces(positively) that she will be a young person who is accepted at a one or two of the lesser Ivies. (Of course this is speculative) until it happens we have no idea.”</p>

<p>Besides Ivy’s not giving any merit aid, most of the little Ivies give no merit aid and very few of the other top schools do, either. The top school which do give merit are not automatic, must be applied for and are given to the very tippy top applicants. </p>

<p>We also didn’t start doing anything until our son was a junior since at his school all kids take a ‘getting into college’ class beginning second semester jr. yr. </p>

<p>If I were you I would start by buying one of the college guide books - like Peterson’s or Fiske’s and let her read through it at her leisure to get some ideas. </p>

<p>Then wait for her scores (have her take both SAT and ACT as some kids do much better on one test than the other.) </p>

<p>If you live in an area with a lot of colleges over her spring break go visit a few (large, medium, small, public, private to see if she gets a preference for one type over another.)</p>

<p>Also, to lessen stress, don’t talk "college"constantly and don’t make every decision on courses or EC’s with an eye on how it will look to the colleges.</p>

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<p>Also to lessen stress, come to CC if you need to talk “college” with someone. :)</p>

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<p>This is WAY too late for students whose plans may include applying to colleges that require SAT Subject Tests. Course choices for 11th grade should be made with the Subject Tests in mind, and those choices are made during 10th grade.</p>

<p>Also, I think that families need to understand their finances and how they will impact their child’s college choices far earlier than this.</p>

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<p>^ It’s also late for anyone considering EA or ED. DD’s school required than all EA/ED schools be submitted the first week of senior year classes. YMMV of course. I’m just saying …</p>

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<p>Marian, several other posters had already commented on not doing anything until jr. yr. and I was just adding that we didn’t either.</p>

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<p>Sorry, emilybee, I didn’t intend to single you out. I read through the thread too quickly.</p>

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<p>Marian, no worries.</p>

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<p>We didn’t start til junior year and dd did all EA except colleges that didn’t participate in EA and we were fine.</p>

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<p>Three more pieces of advice:</p>

<p>1) Have your daughter create a new email address that she’ll use only for college admissions. It should have a serious sounding name like <a href="mailto:firstname.lastname@freeemailserver.com">firstname.lastname@freeemailserver.com</a>. That will keep her “main” email box free of all of the college junk, which continues to flow for years afterwards. Many parents think it’s a good idea if they have the password to this email account. That allows you to keep an eagle eye and make sure that no serious deadlines are missed. But you have to resist any urges to read emails before your child reads them, or to send email in your child’s name.</p>

<p>2) Start your college search by finding safety schools that your daughter will love. Or will at least be OK with attending. It’s easy to find plenty of schools that your child will love that will be difficult to get into, and will be expensive. It’s much harder to find likeable schools that are affordable and easy to get into. Don’t just figure on using your local state school if your kid hates it! </p>

<p>3) The main pieces of info you need to get the best help here on CC are your child’s GPA and standardized test scores, and your budget and EFC (Expected Family Contribution as calculated by FAFSA–you can easily find calculators that will give you a quick estimate of this).</p>

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<p>Yes, agree with several other posters that you need to evaluate the family finances and make it clear to her what the net cost limits are well before application season. This will avoid the let down of applying to schools which are not affordable, getting in, and not being able to go. If a school will only be affordable with a big merit scholarship, she will know that she is shooting for the big merit scholarship, not just admission.</p>

<p>You and she can try the “net price calculators” at colleges’ web sites to get financial aid estimates.</p>

<p>Also agree that the safety schools should be found first – these must be schools that she likes that she will definitely be admitted to and will definitely be able to afford.</p>

<p>Don’t forget to consider what she is interested in studying or, if undecided, all of the possible things that she may want to study. Some schools are stronger or weaker in different subjects.</p>

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<p>Download this years college application supplements for a few of the schools in which she has shown some interest. Have hear fill them out by hand. For any area where she does not like her answer, have her work on that aspect of her high school life (ECs, gpa, etc.) Also, get the College Board Blue Book and start practicing those darned SAT questions.</p>

<p>Best of luck - she sounds like a great kid.</p>

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<p>Not sure I have anything new to add, but that won’t stop me. Like everyone else, finances are step number one. Decide what you can afford and make sure your daughter knows what that number is, so that she knows that some schools are only on the table if they cough up enough money. </p>

<p>Unless you have a good handle on potential scores and class rank/GPA it’s hard to get a handle on what schools will be in range. Not all A students will be looking at all top schools, not all B+ students will be shut out of top schools. If your school has Naviance that is much more useful than the college averages. </p>

<p>If your daughter is taking an AP course now, she should definitely consider taking the SAT subject test in the same subject. Double check with how well the curriculum line up, but my kids both had fabulous scores on US History - even the one who hates history.</p>

<p>I’m also not sure that looking at colleges this early is very useful. Kids change a lot and what looks big now, may look way too small by the time they are seniors. At some point though (for my family February junior year) you might want to start looking at colleges - especially ones that aren’t too far away. Don’t try for more than two a day, and I think it’s better not to see more than four or five in a trip, though others here have been happy seeing more. For my younger son’s first trip we saw two colleges - one was very small and rural, the other was still small (but large for an LAC) in a small city. The next two he saw were two medium size research colleges both in suburbs of a large city. Finally he saw three colleges in DC. He also saw a couple of colleges without me with friends.</p>

<p>I think it’s best to schedule SAT 1 in January and March of Junior year, SAT subject tests in May and then you have June to retake anything you are unhappy about. If you can take a subject test earlier that’s great, but neither of my kids did and neither minded taking three subject tests on one day either.</p>

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<p>Thank you for everyone’s replies. I am very appreciative and I am finding them very helpful. There is a lot to do but this is helping to create a path.</p>

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<p>I’m way past this point now, but I’d give a bit different advice.</p>

<p>1.Start with a good basic guide book to the process. I’d suggest Fiske’s Guide to Getting Into the Right College (2010 edition)–not to be confused with the Fiske Guide to Colleges. It gives a good overview of the entire process, which I personally think is essential for making sense of the process. There are certainly other books that others may suggest. However, I think this one is a good one to start with. </p>

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<li>Keep in mind that getting into a top college isn’t a reward for doing well in school. Nor is it an assessment of your D’s potential. Top colleges are trying to craft a class. The analogy I like to use is that it’s like a director casting a high school musical. (S)he isn’t going to pick the 20 best singers, actors and dancers and make that the cast. Instead, each person is vying for a particular role. Say the play is “Guys and Dolls.” There might be 30 sopranos with good voices and dance training vying for the role of Sarah Brown, the lead. There might be two boys who have deep voices who are a little plump and are trying for the role of Nicely Nicely, who sings “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat.” The boy who gets the part might be a lot less talented than most of the sopranos vying for Sarah’s part. Yet, he’ll get a part because there’s less competition for the role of Nicely than there is for the role of Sarah. The director will need so many girls and so many boys. The director may think that the third best Sarah looks better with the boy who is going to play Sky Masterson than the girl with the best voice, who might be 10 inches taller than he is. She won’t get the role for reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with her voice. </li>
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<p>When students apply to college they are competing against others of their “type.” The competition will be a bit different at every college. But your D won’t really be competing with all the students applying to the same colleges. She’ll be competing with the ones who can play the same role. If she’s not an athlete, for example, she’s not going to have a chance of getting one of the slots for athletes. </p>

<p>White and Asian female students with two college educated parents are the “sopranos” of college admission. (That’s not entirely true for those who are interested in STEM majors other than biology, but it doesn’t sound as if that’s your D.) Realize that the rate of admission for them at colleges that admit fewer than 20% of applicants is probably roughly half of the overall admissions rate. If they are from the Boston to DC corridor, applying to Ivies, it’s even less than that. </p>

<p>I say that not to discourage you, but to let you go into the search with the right mindset. Most “newbies” seriously overestimate their children’s chances of admission to a top college. That’s NOT because they overestimate their children’s “wonderfullness.” It IS because they don’t understand that no matter how wonderful their kids are, if they can’t fill the role of athlete, legacy, URM, the ratio of applicants like them who will get in is nowhere near the overall admissions rates. </p>

<p>If your child does get in–great!!! However, if she doesn’t, it helps for her to know going into this that rejection has nothing to do with her worth as a person or even as a student. </p>

<p>It also means that the mantra “love your safety” is important. Build a list from the bottom up.</p>

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<p>Another thing to consider is that if she takes the SAT-R and is not satisfied with the score is that she can try the ACT (and vice-versa). Some students “naturally” (i.e. without extensive test-specific preparation) do much better on one test compared to the other.</p>

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<p>I love this entire paragraph.</p>

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<p>Sophomore year is a great time to start looking at college campuses when convenient. They don’t have to be ones she would consider applying to. When you visit a city for a weekend or a vacation take some time to see any colleges in town or on the way. She (and anyone else in the family) should see city/suburban/rural settings, public/private, large/medium/small campuses to get an idea of what is the same and different about each one. Spring break of junior year is an ideal for the student and one parent to take a trip to see colleges of interest. By then you and she will be familiar with college campuses and can focus without being overwhelmed by the concept.</p>

<p>Never assume your D will get accepted to at least one Ivy even if she has a 4.0 and perfect test scores. There are many students with perfect stats who don’t get in- too many top students for the number of available places. Be sure she applys to her public flagship U as a backup to other schools- financial and academic. State flagships will have her academic peer group, regardless of her ability.</p>

<p>Do follow the advice about taking SAT subject tests as soon as possible after finishing the course, she needs to study for them despite any classroom reviews of subject matter (my gifted son said he didin’t have to study the math material because they were currently reviewing it in Calculus- hah! His score could have been higher). Retaking the SAT or ACT depends on the score- an ACT of 35 and trying for a 36 is not worth it.</p>

<p>Be sure, as others stated, that she owns the process. You can offer information and advice but SHE needs to do the research, decide where to apply and do the applications when the time comes. You get to provide the credit card for online fees. It doesn’t matter if she is under or over age 18- schools don’t need parental permission to accept students.</p>

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<p>Unless things have changed drastically in recent years, AP courses provide good preparation for the SAT Subject Tests in US History, Biology, and Chemistry. Physics, not so much. Math, not at all. (The Math II SAT Subject Test mostly covers material taught in the last year before calculus. The AP test is all calculus.)</p>