<p>I have a current 8th grade student who does excellent in school and will begin high school next year with 2 credits of high school level foreign language and high school math (Algebra 1 and Geometry). He took the PSAT last October and scored very well in the critical reading and writing sections. He did well, but did not score as high in the math section most likely because he had not completed Geometry or Algebra 2 when he took the test.</p>
<p>He is interested in Government/Political Science and has started thinking about his college plans. </p>
<p>We have heard that for some schools it can be helpful to demonstrate interest early and often. My question is, how can he demonstrate to those schools that not only is he interested, but that he is also has very good grades and is on an aggressive academic track? Is there an effective and appropriate way to get this information to prospective colleges at an early age?</p>
<p>I don’t think there is any point for an 8th or 9th grader to be in touch with colleges, however, if he is interested in government he should look for opportunities to explore those interests such as summer courses at CTD or CTY, HOBY or Boys State. Participating in high school speech team competitions would also be good, especially in congress, discussion or extemporaneous events. Help him develop his talents and interests and schools will be interested - when he’s a junior or senior.</p>
<p>I agree with the posters who said that 8th graders don’t need to be on the radar of colleges. But I’m curious about the following. If a student takes the SAT, he is asked when registering or on test day (I forget which) what grade he is in and whether he wants colleges to send him information. Do students who take the SAT in early grades get college literature in the mail if they ask for it?</p>
<p>Beliavsky…yes. If you check that box about college info, your kid will start getting it right after the SAT scores are released.</p>
<p>My DD actually did NOT check that box. She was, however, a middle school presidential scholar. She started receiving (unwanted) college info the summer between 8th and 9th grade.</p>
<p>To the OP…be careful what you wish for. Once you start getting this mail, it is impossible to make it stop!</p>
<p>There is no need to worry about getting attention from colleges before junior year. He will not get a leg up with admissions by expressing interest in a school before then. At that point your S will have a much clearer vision and more certain goals and you can help him identify schools that appeal to him. For now, he should stay on track with school work and stay involved outside the classroom in meaningful ways that develop his interests and skills.</p>
<p>For schools that care about demonstrated interest, he can go on their website and enter his name and address and email address to get on their mailing list. I would suggest to wait until sophomore year in high school to do this. </p>
<p>FYI, even though you didn’t ask, an 8th grader interested in government and political science might find it interesting to participate in the National History Day contest.<br>
[Home</a> of History Education: National History Day](<a href=“http://www.nhd.org/]Home”>http://www.nhd.org/)</p>
<p>During high school, he should look into appropriate ECs, such as Model UN, JSA, debate, forensics, mock trial, theater, etc.</p>
<p>Regarding Beliavsky’s question: “Do students who take the SAT in early grades get college literature in the mail if they ask for it?”
I think the answer is no. The College Board will have a record of the age/grade of the student taking the SAT, so I don’t think it will fit in the categories that colleges are looking for. My S took the SAT for CTY back when he was in middle school and did well on it, but I don’t remember getting any college mail at the time. We did get a lot of CTY-related emails, with invitations to classes, talks, and other programs.</p>
<p>If your local schools don’t already participate, your S might talk to his social studies teacher (or next year’s teachers) about starting a program. Colleges love kids that make things happen!</p>
<p>I would keep the educational ECs age appropriate. National History Day is totally appropriate and a D of a friend of mine loved the experience making it to nationals from her state. Depending on where you are some colleges have “Saturday” college for young middle school age people. Frankly I don’t know what I would think about a middle schooler “thinking about colleges” and I’d try to keep that to a minimum. There are very big social steps a young boy needs to make during freshman and sophomore year that are important.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback! The link to the Asian male legacy at Harvard was very interesting. I appreciate the EC recommendations as well. </p>
<p>I had decided a while ago that I would try my best to not let my son (or myself) get caught up in adding EC’s just for the sake of his college resume. I like the plan of only pursuing activities that truly interest him. For now that is school baseball, rec. basketball, Youth & Government and drama club. In high school he can continue those plus is interested in debate, culinary club and student government. I can tell he will busy enough with those and any yet to be discovered interests to even think about joining a club he really isn’t interested in just for the sake of padding his resume.</p>
<p>I appreciate the summer programs that were mentioned as well. I hope he may consider a JSA summer program and Boy’s State in the future.</p>
<p>My original question about contacting colleges early on stemmed from a college prep speaker our public school PTA brought in. He was insistent that 7th & 8th graders start contacting colleges while still in middle school to demonstrate interest. Afterwards I wished I would have asked him what the point was beyond getting on their mailing lists. I don’t understand how such early demonstrated interest could have any impact on future applications unless those schools knew that a young student was already on an aggressive academic track with success.</p>
<p>So far I have been the one over-thinking his college prep - and keeping most of it to myself:) However, I will say that for his personality I think it has been helpful and motivating to have him begin to understand some basic differences between types of universities/colleges. Especially the idea that he doesn’t need to decide what he wants to pursue in college in the immediate future, but if he strives to maintain an aggressive course load with good grades he will have many more options to choose from when he is applying to schools.</p>