ACT advice and college summer programs/ extracurricular activities

Lindagaf
Thu, 05 Mar 2020 16:51:05 +0000

He has a good score as an 8th grader, but it counts for nothing right now, as far as college is concerned. The best prep is for him to learn and grow for a couple more years, at least. He can’t be considered for National Merit without taking the PSAT as a junior. He then needs to follow that with a very high SAT or ACT score. Not that National Merit is a huge deal, but its it literally years too early to even think about test prep. The tests could be redesigned or have important changes by then anyway, so slow down.

By and large, unless a student gets a seriously prestigious award or accomplishes something pretty outstanding as a middle schooler, colleges do not consider anything done before high school. There are a ton of summer activities for a kid to do in the summer, and now is a good time to look. But it’s also important to let your kid be just that. High school is coming soon. Save the stress for now.