When doing a campus tour, focus on "finding your people". Can you see yourself rolling out of bed at 7:30am and fitting in with the people around you. Not the person you want to be, but the person you are.

Apply to schools that might be too expensive and see what financial aid they give you.

Pick the school where you have to take out the least amount of loans!!

I wish I had thought more seriously (or really at all) about ROTC heading into college, especially as a female; by the same token, I should have considered engineering programs (lots of scholarship $ for girls). I am a TJ grad, FWIW, and these options were not discussed as much as you would think.

Some subject tests are required for certain degree programs - for example, Chemistry for early-admission medical school - so as PPs have mentioned, take those upon completion of the relevant class while the material is fresh.

Take the subject tests. You want to take them directly after AP classes junior year. You child may not have decided on schools at that point, or may change her mind. If she has to take them in the fall, she will have to restudy all the material, all the while trying to do her college applications and get good grades. You don't have to submit the scores to colleges unless you want to. In our experience, schools that require "all scores" only include SAT and ACT in that, not the subject tests.

ACT with essay means you do not have to take SAT Subject tests for many schools.

Visit schools sophomore year. MY DD learned that one of her top 3 schools required an A- in precalculus for admission. This gave her incentive and focus for grades as well as something I was not nagging her about. (bonus)
We also have a list of schools already meaning that junior year we could just focus on school and extra-curriculars which has been great.

Wait until Sept. of junior year and have your child take mock SAT and ACT tests (often offered by your school's PTA or local tutoring companies). After figuring out which one they did better on, invest in a good prep class and have them take the real test in early spring of junior year (right after the prep class). They can always take the test again in the fall of senior year if they need to.

My advice is to not bother with SAT II subject tests at all unless you are 100% sure your kid's desired schools require them. And the ones that do are the most elite of the elite, for the most part, so that pretty much narrows things down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ACT or SAT testing schedules. Most students take the test 2X. If your plan is to be done testing in the spring of their junior year, then the first test should be in the fall of their junior year so they have time to prepare. The testing schedule is available thru college board website and note that tests are not given over the summer. Also, some highly selective schools additionally require subject tests.

Thanks for this advice! I'm the OP and I'm still trying to understand when people take SAT/ACT, how often, if/how/when to prepare, etc.

So are you suggesting to take both SAT & ACT twice? Fall and Spring of junior year? Good to know about no testing in the summer. My DD is smart, but is NOT great with these sorts of tests because she takes FOREVER and overthinks things way too much. She has taken the PSAT twice through school (she got 1100 in 10th) and usually doesn't finish - generally math. I wonder if she would benefit from some sort of prep class and, if so, when she should take it. I'm thinking summer (she'll be thrilled). Thoughts?

Then consider taking her for testing to see if she qualifies for extra time. Do it ASAP because College Board pushes back harder if you do it later. We didn't discover this was and issue for DC until the end of junior year (her school wasn't big on standardized testing with time pressure, so it didn't come up and we wrote the PSAT off as jet lag/fatigue/incipient flu), at which point it was too late to do anything about it. So get the accommodation now if you can and, if eligible, she'll have it for PSAT, APs, and SAT/ACTs as well as coursework.

NP here posting to say this. Take her for a neuropsych evaluation to determine if she has slow processing speed. My 9th grade son does and it is so explanatory of so many things -- especially why he gets his homework perfect and then gets Bs or Cs on tests because he doesn't have time to finish or makes stupid mistakes because he's rushing.

My son now has a 504 and we only wish we'd figured this out years ago. But with the 504 he now qualifies for extended time on tests, including College Board tests.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ACT or SAT testing schedules. Most students take the test 2X. If your plan is to be done testing in the spring of their junior year, then the first test should be in the fall of their junior year so they have time to prepare. The testing schedule is available thru college board website and note that tests are not given over the summer. Also, some highly selective schools additionally require subject tests.

Thanks for this advice! I'm the OP and I'm still trying to understand when people take SAT/ACT, how often, if/how/when to prepare, etc.

So are you suggesting to take both SAT & ACT twice? Fall and Spring of junior year? Good to know about no testing in the summer. My DD is smart, but is NOT great with these sorts of tests because she takes FOREVER and overthinks things way too much. She has taken the PSAT twice through school (she got 1100 in 10th) and usually doesn't finish - generally math. I wonder if she would benefit from some sort of prep class and, if so, when she should take it. I'm thinking summer (she'll be thrilled). Thoughts?

Then consider taking her for testing to see if she qualifies for extra time. Do it ASAP because College Board pushes back harder if you do it later. We didn't discover this was and issue for DC until the end of junior year (her school wasn't big on standardized testing with time pressure, so it didn't come up and we wrote the PSAT off as jet lag/fatigue/incipient flu), at which point it was too late to do anything about it. So get the accommodation now if you can and, if eligible, she'll have it for PSAT, APs, and SAT/ACTs as well as coursework.

The things I think would be helpful is to discuss what her/his interest are and maybe work with them on finding jobs to volunteer that are in the field of interest. Also, during the summer there are many internships and summer camps for high school students to participate in that will allow the opportunity to discover their interest and to meet other children their age and get to know the positive views/outlook on life from others. Sometimes hearing from parents and adults, children steer away from and coming from a peer may get them moving in the right direction.

Anonymous wrote:Private tutoring is the best investment you could ever make. Bs turn to As, 90-percentile SAT turns to 95-percentile.

Yeah -- and your kid learns to rely on mom, dad and the tutor to fix everything for her.

Take 2 diverse subject tests, e.g. math II or science and history or english. Don't need more than 2 except for Georgetown which requires a 3rd (and wants it to be a language). Also some schools highly recommend or require a science subject test (Carnegie Mellon for example) so look closely at the requirements for each school when you get to that point in the process so you don't get burned. Or take one after the AP class if the class covered all the material (eg, Physics test is I and II material so self-study may be needed if you haven't finished both by end of junior year which is common).

Private tutoring is the best investment you could ever make. Bs turn to As, 90-percentile SAT turns to 95-percentile.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ACT or SAT testing schedules. Most students take the test 2X. If your plan is to be done testing in the spring of their junior year, then the first test should be in the fall of their junior year so they have time to prepare. The testing schedule is available thru college board website and note that tests are not given over the summer. Also, some highly selective schools additionally require subject tests.

Thanks for this advice! I'm the OP and I'm still trying to understand when people take SAT/ACT, how often, if/how/when to prepare, etc.

So are you suggesting to take both SAT & ACT twice? Fall and Spring of junior year? Good to know about no testing in the summer. My DD is smart, but is NOT great with these sorts of tests because she takes FOREVER and overthinks things way too much. She has taken the PSAT twice through school (she got 1100 in 10th) and usually doesn't finish - generally math. I wonder if she would benefit from some sort of prep class and, if so, when she should take it. I'm thinking summer (she'll be thrilled). Thoughts?

The advice we got was for the student to take a couple practice SAT and ACT tests, and see how he/she did, then use that to decide which he/she would take officially. The ACT has more time pressure than the SAT, so the SAT might work better for your daughter, but practice tests would help her figure that out. And a prep class and/or self-study could be a benefit, showing her which areas she needs to review more.

That it's more important to identify a safety school or two (which here means a school that your DC can get into AND that you can afford) that your DC is enthusiastic about than anything else. If the worst case scenario is something that sounds great, the angst goes way down.

That ED/EA puts a lot of pressure on your DC to choose "the one" very early in the process and in an environment where that's a really messed up way of thinking. Hedge DC's bets, if possible, with public and/or foreign schools that offer rolling admissions or early notification.

That Canada is an oasis of sanity. Simple admissions process and standards. Worth exploring in advance because most of us know less about Canadian universities than US ones.