No, I thought the idea (OP’s) of a library computer was a good one.
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@EastH – I want to build on the recommendations above about the PSAT. In my opinion, one of the very best things you can do right now is practice for the PSAT/NMSQT. This test is given in October each year for high school juniors, and it is not just a preparation for the SAT. It is also the test for the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Doing well on this test can open up doors to merit scholarships, even to a couple of full rides (full ride means free tuition, room and board. This is important, because sometimes other scholarships might just be free tuition, but room and board can still cost a lot – sometimes as much as $15k.) Only Juniors can use the PSAT for scholarship qualification, so it’s important to take it this coming year.
I know you did really well on the ACT, which is great. But the PSAT/NMSQT is worth studying for anyhow. It is similar to, but not identical to the ACT, so you should consider spending time this summer preparing. Qualifying for the National Merit scholarship is odd – it is state dependent – you have to be in the top 1% of your state test-takers, and the cutoff for each state is different. It’s a pain, but worth the effort.
Here is an overview of the PSAT.
The PSAT/NMSQT – SAT Suite | College Board
To practice, you should get copies of previously-released official practice tests. I recommend the ones from College Board. I personally don’t like the non-official tests (like the ones that companies like Baron’s will sell) because as I recall from when my kids were prepping for the PSAT, the non-official practice tests seem to be either too easy or too difficult (in a non-helpful way). If you run out of official PSAT practice tests, you can (and should) take official SAT practice tests.
You can find official practice tests on the College Board site and also on Amazon. If your high school doesn’t administer the PSAT, you should contact other local high schools to see if you would be allowed to take it there (at least in the past, schools would do this as a favor to students whose own high school didn’t administer it).
Be sure to take these practice tests as timed tests, and try for mastery and appropriate pacing. It is worth spending the time, even to the extent of taking 4 or 5 or 6 practice tests (PSAT and SAT) to get really, really good at them.
Here are some links:
Full-Length SAT Suite Practice Tests – SAT Suite | College Board
The Official SAT Study Guide, Second Edition: The College Board: 9781457316845: Amazon.com: Books
I don’t seem to be able to post to a link that lists the colleges that give a full-ride for national merit finalists and/or semi-finalists, but you can google for that information. These colleges may or may not be colleges that you have heard of or want to go to right now, but having an opportunity for a no-cost, four-year degree may be really helpful in the future, and your college decision is still almost 2 years away, and a lot can change in that time – you may be very glad to have one of these schools as an option in May of 2027.
(Note that the University of Tulsa is one of these colleges, and the president of the University of Tulsa often posts on this board and will answer questions from applicants. Just something to keep in mind over the next year or two.
Wishing you the best of luck.
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Assuming that OP’s school and familjy are hostile to the PSAT, is there another location that she can take it - and not on a Saturday?
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Exactly…her school and family likely will not allow a Saturday test. But I do think there are alternate dates for this reason…maybe. @Mwfan1921 do you know?
Well I think the no-Saturday is going to be a requirement, but my concern went further. I think it’s likely that both family and school are neutral to hostile about the PSAT in the first place.
A lot of the time, a student has [at least] either family or school support for the college process. Without either one, it’s going to be an uphill climb. The public library or the local public high school could be resources. I would start with looking into “PSAT for homeschooled students” to see if there are any possibilities there.
ETA - typically PSATs are given on weekdays and that’s fine for shabbat, but those are the in-school dates.
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Maybe this is helpful:
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Another school would have to allow her to do so. Since Covid, many won’t allow this…for example, it has become very difficult for homeschool students to find seats for PSAT and AP testing.
As I stated earlier in this thread, OP needs to find out if her school is administering the PSAT and if not, contact her counselor ASAP to help her find another school that might allow her to take it there. If she doesn’t want to go thru her counselor, she would need to contact counselors and/or the testing coordinator at all the schools in her area until she gets a yes. I would start with parochial schools, then other private schools, then publics. I agree many/most PSATs are given on a school day.
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Students should only use the digital practice tests for both PSAT and SAT that CB provides via Bluebook, which are adaptive, like the real tests. Both PSAT and SAT are only available digitally now (unless one has an accommodation that requires a paper test.)
Hopefully OP will check in about taking the PSAT test this fall.
Sadly President Carson is not at Tulsa anymore. He was a great spokesperson for the school.
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Maybe start with a local Jewish high school - if OP is in Cleveland, there are non-yeshiva/non-beis-yaakov Jewish high schools which certainly have non-shabbat and non-holiday PSATs this fall. Unclear if they’d allow her to take it there as you noted.
BTW the Jewish holidays are weekdays this year and with the October overlap, this could come up at nonJewish schools.
You are right that some schools are restricting seats. My son needed to take two AP tests that were not offered at his private (Jewish, non-Orthodox) school. One of them he could do where I worked, but that was a special case. The other also wasn’t offered where I worked, so we looked around. Another Jewish (Orthodox, not yeshiva) school said OK but ultimately so did our hometown public school so he went there instead since it was closer. My point is it may take some research.
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This was going to be my suggestion, find a coed jewish day school and speak to the principal.
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Totally agree to start with Jewish HSs…early morning slow synapses. With that said, we’ve seen many parochial schools open their doors for non-students to take tests in the Chicagoland area, so that’s why I suggested those before a typical private school. And it’s become quite difficult to get public HSs to open the doors to outside test takers, especially on school days. Sadly.
Finding a site definitely takes some research and time. That’s why OP has to get on it, some schools will administer PSAT in September.
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Great idea!
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Thanks for the info re: the digital practice tests. My kids were right before the change to digital, so not something I have experience with.
But…College Board is still releasing (via Amazon at least) updated books (2025) of practice SAT tests. If OP wants extra practice after going through the digital prep materials, couldn’t it still be useful to take practice tests in the old, printed format? She would need to be aware that the formatting is different and that the digital tests are adaptive, but the printed books would still provide SAT/PSAT level questions that would help her assess her mastery.
Truly just curious, as the digital tests are after my family’s direct experience.
OP, here is a link you can use to find schools in any area that are administering the PSAT/NMSQT – even though it says SAT it’s also for the PSAT.
SAT Suite Ordering and Registration
There are three types of PSATs offered: PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10 and PSAT 9/9. The one you need is the PSAT/NMSQT. It is only offered once for each student – you can’t retake it like you can the SAT or ACT – and doing well on it can open a lot of doors for you financially which is why several of us are recommending that you prioritize studying for it AND finding a location where you can take it if your own high school doesn’t offer it.
You can try contacting the various schools that the link suggests during the summer. Sometimes these schools have staff who can help even when school is closed. If not, please prioritize this for as soon as the school year starts (note that public schools and private schools may have different start dates for the school year so some may be able to talk with you in August).
This is not something that can be left to the last minute – as others have noted above, it may be challenging to find a school that will let you take the test (sorry) although it should definitely be possible – and they school has to know early enough to make plans to have you there and (based on our own experience years earlier regarding AP tests) to make plans with College Board to have a student who isn’t their own student sitting for the test at their location.
However, since the link above is for schools that offer the test, you can see if (hopefully) your own high school offers it, which would of course be the easiest route to go.
Finally, College Board says that the fee for the PSAT is around $18.
Editing to add – when you call the school, I recommend introducing yourself and say that you are a local student who wants to take the PSAT and whose high school doesn’t offer it. Ask if you can be put in touch with the school administrator who is responsible for this type of test administration. (I know that many kids your age hate using the phone to communicate. If that is you, when you call and end up talking to the person who answers the phone, you can instead ask for the email of the person who administers the test and send them a polite email, if you think that would be easier than talking to them on the phone directly).
Again, wishing you well.
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Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but if merit awards fail to cover enough of the fees, you might look into Berea College, whose students work off most or all of their fees. (ETA – after grants and scholarship $$ is applied… the balance is worked off.)
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Some food for thought to consider…
Your situation is a little challenging, but there can be a variety of possible solutions/options. Everybody has given some really thoughtful advice. 
If, for example, you were my niece or I was a family friend who you’d come to for advice, I’d probably suggest the following for consideration:
- Your parents love you. Wanting to venture out & carve your own path in life is normal. Your mom also probably wants/needs some assurances from you that you’re not going to go wild and abandon all of the values that they’ve taught you while they’ve raised you.
- So even though you really want to leave the Orthodox Jewish community, if you want your mom to help pay for some of your college expenses, then you need to figure out how to appease her a little bit, figure out how to play the game in order to reach your goal.
- That means you need to stop talking in front of your parents about how your religious community has too many rules, is too restrictive, how you don’t like the requirements of what to wear/what not to wear, etc. Find somebody else to vent to about it but keep quiet about it in front of your mom & dad.
- If your current methods of persuasion are not working with your mom, then continuing those same methods are going to yield the same results.
- I agree w/the advice from others to lean in a bit into focusing on & explaining to your mom how you want to help heal people, treat the ill & sick, help others.
- Then do some additional research on different nursing programs, and different paths that would get you to, eventually complete a BSN degree. Write it down in a Word or Excel document. Go on some colleges’ websites and make note yourself of the required courses, which programs are ‘direct entry’ BSN programs and which ones have a ‘pre-major’ and require you to take some prerequisite courses first.
- You should also look in your local area at some of the community colleges, many of which these days have 2-year RN/LPN programs…perhaps there’s one in your area where you could live at home and attend it. Then get your RN/LPN license and start working full or part time after that…and save money to pay for doing a RN/LPN-to-BSN program (usually ~ 2 yr bridge program). This could help minimize total college debt acquired.
- for any 4-yr colleges you’re interested in, contact the college’s local Chabad organization directly before you go on a tour. Ask the rabbi about shabbat dinners available to students, ask about when & where religious services are held. Ask the rabbi if there’s a current Orthodox female student who you could speak with if you had further questions about what it’s been like to attend that university & be an Orthodox student there. And then…you show the information to your mom. Even better if you arranged a phone call with you, your mom, and the rabbi so your mom would have an opportunity to ask questions, too. Ask if you could meet at the Chabad house/meeting location when you do a campus tour. And communicate all of this to your mom in a calm way. My daughter’s conservative Muslim best friend followed this approach because her parents were originally dead set against her going away to college…it worked out for her and it really helped that there was a conservative mosque within close walking distance of campus & a community of Muslim students to connect with. She lived freshman year last year in the dorms on campus and this summer, her parents finally allowed her to get her driver’s license.
- Re: college tours - the tours are often done by students. The student leading the tour isn’t going to care how you look, how you are dressed or anything like that. And it’s not the student tour guide that you’re trying to impress anyway. Purpose of going on a tour is to see, in person, if that school would be a good fit for you, is it the sort of place that you could see yourself being happy/content for 4 yr, etc.
- By the way, high school students go on college tours all the time not looking like your average American high school kid. My older daughter, for example, has conservative Muslim friends who wear hijabs all the time and nobody gives a care or looks at them sideways when they’re on campus, going on tours, etc.
- Your mom might also be looking at this whole journey from the point of view of this: “My child has had a very different experience than the average college student out there has. If I let this kid go off to college, is she going to be bullied, targeted, harassed, attacked, etc. for being who she is? If she stays in our community, I can ensure that she’s safe. But if she goes out into the world, I can’t protect her anymore and I don’t know how to handle that.”
- …therefore, make sure that when you’re doing research on colleges, gather some info on campus safety. For example, if you’re at the library late into the evening, can you call campus security/campus police to escort you back to your dorm? (usually the answer is yes, but if your mom has lived most of her life in an insular religious community, she might not be aware of such things). Also, are there any dorms which are female-only or male-only? (might be preferable to your mom given her religious views). Do you need to scan/badge in in order to enter the dorm (many dorms have this set up now…again, a question that your mom might not think to ask about)?
- You should also do research on colleges’ Kosher meal options. Some schools are better at this than others. Sometimes even the college’s Hillel or Chabad organizations have special Passover meal plans where you can eat all of your meals there during Passover. University of Arizona’s Hillel organization, for example, also has a program where if you’re sick, they’ll bring you kosher matzo ball soup and other kosher comfort food.
And lastly, just remember that there are often multiple routes to get to your targeted destination. Sometimes you might have to take a detour and that’s ok.
…for example, that 2-yr community college RN program example I mentioned earlier? Where I work (big healthcare organization), they have special programs where my employer will provide tuition reimbursement for things like:
- employees in positions like patient care tech or surgical tech - tuition reimbursement to pay for a 2-yr RN program
- RNs/LPNs with good performance reviews for the past 2 yr - free tuition to attend a 2-yr RN-to-BSN program part time while you continue working at your current job
So that’s another option to consider.
Hang in there. You can do it. You’ll get there.
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Thank you so much for your advice.
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One more thing (which may be obvious to you) - do not agree to any shidduch (arranged marriage). This would complicate things enormously, particularly if you have babies, in leaving the community.
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I had been thinking about that, or just pressure to marry in general even without a shidduch. Not sure if that is part of the mom’s reluctance about college.
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This thread has focused on college and trying to reach a compromise with your mom, but I wonder if the driving issue isn’t what you describe in the quote above? If you really mean this, and if you believe your mom will not budge, you may want to reach out to organizations that help/support people who are struggling with whether (and/or how) to break away their Orthodox communities. I have no experience with such things, and maybe someone here knows something about this or other organizations, but one such organization is
THE CHOICE TO LEAVE AN ULTRA-ORTHODOX COMMUNITY IS NOT AN EASY ONE.
No one else can make the decision for you. At Footsteps, we offer unconditional support without an agenda.
Our members come to Footsteps at various stages in their transition out of ultra-Orthodox communities. People who arrive at Footsteps may be:
- questioning the tenets of ultra-Orthodoxy;
- opposed to entering into an arranged marriage;
- already married with children;
- seeking a secular education;
- out of the community but looking to connect with others like themselves.
It sounds like you are in a very difficult position and face very difficult choices. I feel for you and wish you the best.
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