Stop Me From Jumping The Gun!

[teenage_cliche]

I would agree with trying to have testing done by the end of junior year. I'd say PSAT in October, SAT in December/January with retest in March if necessary, and then SAT IIs in May/June. I also agree with looking at the list seriously starting in March or so, doing college trips during February and/or spring breaks. By the end of junior year, I'd say, you should have a better idea of how reachy/matchy/safety your current list is as well as have a better grasp on the whole rural or urban?, big or small? sort of thing.

[marite]

I'd suggest doing some college tours now to set some parameters: location? social scene? size? sports? then reserving junior spring for more serious looks at colleges that made the list. Also, consider that schedules can be wrecked by weather or other emergencies, so it's best to plan ahead and do as much now as you can (I have never taken a personality test but I suspect I am in the worry wart category).

[Marian]

Rising juniors? As in plural? Wow!

It's not too early to be thinking about the college selection process -- and even doing a little preparation.

I would suggest that you ask each student to work with you (and with a couple of college selection books and the Internet) to come up with a longish list of colleges that they might possibly, conceivably want to apply to. This is for two purposes:

1) Once the lists are made, you and your students can visit the colleges' Web sites and find out what each school requires or recommends in terms of SAT Subject Tests;

2) You can see whether the lists include appropriate safety schools, and if they don't, you can work with the student to come up with some ideas for safety schools.

SAT Subject Tests are usually taken during 11th grade -- or earlier. Now is the time to plan for them, if you haven't already done so.

As for other tests, juniors routinely take the PSAT in the fall. In my opinion, any student who is considering applying to college ED should also get the SAT and all Subject Tests (and the ACT, if the student chooses to take it) out of the way during 11th grade. A student can't make an informed choice about what schools to apply to until all the test scores are in hand, and anyone who is considering applying ED has to make that choice by the end of the summer after junior year. (Yes, the application deadlines are several months later than that, but you will find that the deadlines set by your high school for requesting transcripts and counselor recommendations and by teachers for preparing recommendation letters are much earlier than the colleges' deadlines.)

In my experience, many students would like to have the opportunity to take the SAT twice. Often, they are disappointed with at least one of the scores they obtained the first time around. And most students who need to take SAT Subject Tests at all will take at least some of them at the end of 11th grade. Therefore, it would make sense for a student who might apply to college ED to register for one of the SAT test dates in the winter. This allows the opportunity for the student to take the SAT a second time, if desired, in either May or June (reserving the other end-of-year test date for SAT Subject Tests). If the student has extracurricular activities that might conflict with any of the SAT test dates (such as a spring sport), it may be necessary to take some tests earlier than this.

The school sent you a mailing on the PSAT, and will do the same for SAT's I would assume.

Do not assume this. Students usually register for the PSAT through their high schools, but they must register for the SAT, SAT Subject Tests, and ACT on their own. It can all be done online, at :: College Planning Made Easy | Inside Source for College Admissions Requirements and ACT, Inc. : A Student Site for ACT Test Takers

Students take AP tests in May of the year when they take the AP course. There is no flexibility here. Usually, students do not register for these tests on their own. They do so through their schools, which hand out the paperwork mid-year.

I think that this summer is not too early for some college visits. It's not ideal to visit a campus during the summer because regular classes are not in session, but nevertheless, some important information can be gleaned from a summer visit. Additional visits can be done during spring break of junior year or perhaps by taking a day or two off from classes at some other time during junior year. If your high school closes for any Jewish holidays or teacher conventions or other such things during the fall, that might provide another opportunity for a college visit.

Personal opinion: I don't think students need to visit every college they apply to before they apply. But they definitely should visit any school they're considering applying to ED, and they should visit their safety schools. They may also want to visit schools they're uncertain about applying to because the visit might help them make their decision.

If you will allow me to inject a another personal opinion here: Even though your circumstances allow for the use of ED, I wouldn't push it on a student who doesn't want to make a commitment that early or who has any reservations about attending the college in question. In fact, I would discourage it under such circumstances. For example, at one point, my daughter considered applying to Columbia, but she had reservations about its Core Curriculum. If she had wanted to apply to Columbia ED, I would have argued very strongly against it because of the possibility that if she was admitted, she might regret the decision.

I don't object to ED in general -- in fact, my daughter did apply ED, just not to Columbia. But ED isn't the best choice for everyone -- even for those for whom financial aid is not a consideration.

Students who apply ED should have their FULL list of colleges finalized by the beginning of senior year. This is because of teacher recommendations. A student applying ED will need to approach teachers about recommendations at the very beginning of senior year. Both of the teachers who agreed to write recommendations for my daughter required her to give them all of the paperwork for ALL of the colleges she was applying to a month before the first submission deadline. This meant that she had to have her entire list finalized in September. I understand that this is not unusual.

[Pizzagirl]

Yes, twins (boy/girl). And no, they are not sharing my enthusiasm for this process :-).
We are planning to do a tour of some local colleges, including our state flagship, just to acquaint them with the idea of colleges in different locales, urban/rural, etc. and what appeals to them. They know Northwestern's campus well and they've seen Tulane, but nothing else.

I need to figure out the key to giving them the reins instead of me as I recognize that's best long-term, but the J in me gets all scared :-).

[jym626]

Hi pizzagirl,

I never thought I would have recommended this, but it turned out to be a great thing for my s, so here goes:

He prepped for the Oct PSAT (b/c based on earlier practice tests he was hopefully close to making NM.) It was recommended that he go ahead and take the Nov. SAT since he'd have been primed, having prepped for the PSAT. I initially thought it would have been better to wait 'til spring of jr yr rather than taking it in the fall at the beginning of jr yr, only for the extra exposure to the English/vocab/writing stuff (the math on the SAT was already covered in classwork-- the jr yr math he took was not on the SAT). Anyway, it turned out to be a great plan. He did well enough on the fall SAT that even though he signed up for the retake in spring, he decided not to bother, and used that time to review for his APs and SAT II and enjoy junior spring prom for which, if you recall, we hosted that after prom all-night party.. but I digress..)

Anyway, now with the option to send only selected parts of the SAT (like the ACT) there seems to be even more reason to consider taking the SAT in the fall of jr year after the PSAT. I highly recommend it, especially if the twins are considering prepping for the PSAT. And as you recall, all this worked out very well for him.

*** by the way.. I am a "j" on MBTI also, tho close to a "p"

[menloparkmom]

Son took PSAT in Oct of JR year, SAT in March, 2 Subject test in May,[ as well as 3 AP tests] 2 subject tests in June, and repeated the Sat in Oct of his Sr.year. He took 4 more AP tests in May of his SR year for college credit/ placement.

['rentof2]

I just wanted to throw in, that despite much admonition here to finish all testing by end of junior year, that we did not do that and my son applied ED with no problems. He re-took the SAT in fall of his senior year (and threw in an extra SAT II that, as it turns out, he didn't really need... but could have needed in RD).

The Oct. test date in senior year is no problem with ED, and in many (if not most) colleges the Nov. date works too.

We did three college visit trips. Spring break of junior year, another four-day weekend (of our own creation) in spring of junior year, and a four-day weekend very early in Sept. of senior year. He found his dream school during that Septemeber trip. We also tossed in random individual college visits starting early in his junior year when we were in the vicinity of a college. Not usually that he was so interested in that particular school, but just to get a feel for differences and cast a little bit wider net.

[rocket6louise]

I just finished my senior year and my testing schedule was rather simple
PSAT in Oct(first and only time)
ACT in Feb(first and only time)

it worked for me, as a few of my schools will accept the ACT in lieu of subject tests(ie Wellesley and Pomona)

Don't over test them unless they'll NEED SAT IIs

[Marian]

I just wanted to throw in, that despite much admonition here to finish all testing by end of junior year, that we did not do that and my son applied ED with no problems. He re-took the SAT in fall of his senior year (and threw in an extra SAT II that, as it turns out, he didn't really need... but could have needed in RD).

The main reason for recommending that kids who are applying ED get their testing done as juniors is that if they wait until the fall of senior year and then happen to get sick or have an unresolvable conflict on the test date, that could prevent them from applying ED. Re-taking a test early in senior year, as your son did, is not a problem.

[kathiep]

We're planning to do Jym's method for our rising Junior son. He took the US History this past June and the PSAT last fall as a sophomore. This fall he'll take the PSAT and the SAT. We've hired a friend of my daughters for private tutoring and hoping that he will do well enough on the SAT to not need to take it again. Junior year is pretty intense and our school district also has a so-called senior project that is done junior year, due in the Spring, and state testing in April so the AP classes get overwhelming at the same time he would normally take a spring SAT. We'll think about another subject test and re-take the SAT in June closer to the time. We've got one college visit scheduled for this summer at PSU and have started to talk about some more that were suggested on a thread I started regarding his potential major.

[nngmm]

The Oct. test date in senior year is no problem with ED, and in many (if not most) colleges the Nov. date works too.

True. But kids who are taking 4-5 APs senior year, and, in addition to their normally full schedule, are trying to fill out college apps, are pretty stressed out at that time of the year, and not having to deal with SATs helps quite a bit.

[mom in virginia]

Pizzagirl--I hear you about anxiety over the process--I think I had general free-floating anxiety starting about now and all thru Junior and Senior year for my DS. If you can get testing done in Jr. year, that's good because come Sr. year, they will be focusing on applications and essays. That being said, mine did take his again early Sr. year because he wanted to improve the math portion (it worked). As Junior year starts, if they are in a remotely competitive HS, all they will hear about is college, so you might be able to back off a bit in terms of talking about it alot. I agree that the decision for ED should be taken seriously, as these guys do change their minds in Sr. year. Are there early action or rolling decision schools they could consider? We visited very few schools--my DS said he wanted to apply first, visit later if he got in. Very contrary to today's MO of visiting a bunch but it worked out for us. Also remember that your relationship with your kids must survive this process, so try to keep things as pleasant as possible. Visit here, CC, to vent and to see that you're not the only one.

[Pizzagirl]

You parents are awesome!

[applicannot]

I had no idea it was the J in me that made me always want to jump the gun. I want to finish my common app NOW. I want to do this or that NOW. I hate having unchecked things on my to do list - I can't relax, not even if the deadline (or feasible start date) is months away. I can't contribute anything to this thread, but that was an interesting thing to learn.

I'm an INTJ.

[jym626]

ENFJ here.

I agree that trying to do college apps, senior stuff and prep for the SAT in fall of seniour year is really intense.

Good luck to your s, kathiep!! It worked for us, and it sounds like your s will have a lot onhis plate come spring.