<p>My daughter is in a GT Center school in Northern Virginia and was invited to take the SAT in the CTY competition. She’s 12 yrs old, in 7th grade, and scored:</p>
<p>CR - 640
Math - 540 (she skipped a lot of grid-ins)
Writing - 640 (essay - 8)</p>
<p>Total score 1820</p>
<p>We think she’s nuts, but she signed up to take them again in May to try for the SET program with a score of 700. She really wants to go to TJ. Does that help her get in? (Shouldn’t matter - but she’s also Non-Asian and has an IEP for Austism Spectrum Disorder.)</p>
<p>Also, she will be in Albegra 2 as an 8th grader (currently taking Geometry). Thanks!</p>
<p>Not from Northern VA, but the parent of CTYer (who is now a junior in high school). The SET thing is nice, but hasn’t made a huge difference for our child. I don’t think it matters a great deal for admissions to selective high schools either. What I would look at are the numbers for the CTY camps which are a great thing. There’s two levels of camp - the higher level one is very cool.
Assuming she didn’t prep much the first time, she probably could hit the SET number, but I’m not convinced it is worth the time and energy.</p>
<p>Thanks! She qualified for the CTY summer camps, but decided to do the CTY online course instead. Maybe next year she’ll feel more comfortable going to the camp.</p>
<p>From the area actually, just not Great Falls. My children have both qualified for CTY but we have opted out – the expense as well as the fact they are in a challenging indepdent school. For free time, they pursue their passions. I had a tester tell me what a msitake I was making by not enrolling the oldest in CTY camp/online programs, especially over the summer. Maybe. Mine went to a “regular” sleepaway camp and had a blast. Sometimes kids need to be kids too.</p>
<p>My older son scored a 99th persentile (2350) on the SSAt by the way and had zero prep. No tutor, no classes, he just looked at the book from the SSAT place you can buy and did one of the tests. </p>
<p>Re TJ, my understanding from many kids we know who made the first cut, is you have to take their test first, and then they cut a whole bunch of kids. Now you actually apply and it matters what else you have going for you.</p>
<p>greatfallsmom, your daughter did really well for 7th grade, congratulations. I don’t think it hurts to mention this to high school admissions, but I also agree with nemom that it isn’t all that important in terms of placement. It does show a certain courage and persistence, which is nice. By the way, there are prep schools which accept the SAT in lieu of the SSAT provided all three scores are 500 or higher.
My kid did break the barrier and get into SET; I forwarded the information to admissions, but at the end of the day it seemed like it wasn’t a deciding factor - it was icing on the cake for the schools that were going to offer admission anyway, and did not change the minds of those that weren’t.
best of luck</p>
<p>Your daughter did fabulously on the SATs, congratulations. @crar24: CTY truly is a “let kids be kids” kind of program. That is what is so fantastic about it. The kids get to pursue college level material without the stress of grades and homework (unless taking and individually paced math or high school science). It is an intellectually and socially stimulating experience that was life changing for me. I know it costs quite a bit so if you can’t afford it it’s of course not the end of the world, but just don’t discredit its merits as both an academic and social experience.</p>