S will be taking them on 6/4. He has 2 APs in May. He didn’t want to be overly stressed.
You may want to check out this scholarship website Raise.me. Just saw a news piece about it on ABC.
DS 18 will take math 2 and physics in May he likely won’t need them but it’s much better to take them near the end of the course they cover them have to go back and deal with it later.
D18 only has one AP exam, but it’s chemistry, so he felt she could kill 2 birds with one stone that week.
D will be taking Chem and Math2 on 6/4 also.
My D is also planning (reluctantly) to take Math 2 in June. Not sure if we’ll add another test or not at this point.
Dd16 only took math 2 but she said she wished she had signed up for two subject tests because they made her stay and sit there through the second test too anyway.
Our DD’18 will take the SAT in May. We want her to get one in under her belt before the PSAT and her varsity sport consumes all the Saturdays in the fall.
@1822mom If I understand it correctly, as long as they sign up to take 1 test, on the day of the test they can take up to 3 tests and you will be billed at a later time. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Just an FYI - the deadline to sign up for the May 7th SAT is April 8th - after that there is a late fee.
DD’18 will take AP WH in May and Math 2C and SAT Subj WH in June. I forgot about Chem. She is taking Chem Honor this year, a weighted class and she has some struggle to maintain a solid B. Her Chem teacher said Chem Honor covers lots AP Chem material and ask her to take AP Chem next year. I wonder if she should take SAT Subject Chem? We forgot to also take SAT Subject Biology last year as well after Bio Honor, but I don’t think her class is preparing students to take subject or AP tests (unlike @2014novamom school), many students will take private tutoring classes to prepare if they need to take any kinds tests.
S’18 will also take SAT Math 2 and WH in June. He is also in Chem Honors, but will be taking AP Chem next year and that seems like a better time to take it, if we feel like he needs to take it at all. Frankly, I doubt 3 subject tests are needed. Almost all schools that require (or strongly advise) subject tests only require 2 tests. I think I recall only one school requiring 3 when S’13 was going through this process and he didn’t apply there. Not having a third test made no difference in outcomes, so I’m not sure it will really be worth it for S’18 unless he decides to go for a school and major where it would help to have a science subject test on file.
I just thought I might quote two posts written by a class of 2016ers on the class of 2018 thread about the college application process. It was helpful to many on our thread, so I thought I might as well spread the message.
"I posted this to the class of 2017 and I’ll post it here if any of you should find it helpful.
This is some my journey through the college application process:
Just to start, I will tell you what my results were then I will go into stats.
Major: Computer Science
I will add acceptance rates after schools because initially this was a numbers game. Then it turns into a game of good fortune.
Accepted:
University of Michigan (CoE) (circa 10%-20% for OOS College of Engineering)
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (CS major) (8% for CS major)
Georgia Tech (CS major) (25% general, probably lower for CS and OOS)
University of Washington (General Admittance) (35%-40%)
Rejected:
Stanford (General Admittance) (circa 5%)
Carnegie Mellon University (SCS) (less than 5%)
MIT (General Admittance) (circa 8%)
UC Berkeley (EECS) (circa 5%)
Quick Overview of My Stats:
ACT: 32
GPA: 3.9UW/4.85W
AP classes: 11
ECs: Various clubs and things that were very pertinent to my major (e.g. built websites, web apps, mobile apps, etc.)
Class Rank: 4/650
How I went about applying and such:
I knew I wanted to major in CS years before I applied to college. I used rankings of CS schools (namely US News) and researched the schools in the top 10 and ended up applying to many of the top 10 schools. Now using rankings like US News’ probably isn’t the best strategy because you will inevitably neglect underrated schools and some that are just as good that didn’t make it into the top 10.
I toured some the schools I was unfamiliar with and then I had a list of schools I would then apply to. As for standardized testing, arguably the most stressful portion, I took the ACT without any prep during December of Junior year. I earned a (What I view to be) poor score of 24. With some minor self studying, I raised that score 8 points to get a 32 after a few more tests. Just keep in mind, the ACT (and SAT) don’t determine your, or anyone’s, intelligence or real academic ability. More than anything they are a cash cow for their respective organizations. If you ended up with a poor score, there is always a way to raise it. I felt the significant raise in my score just came from staying calm during the test and practicing with the timing. Timing is everything with the ACT (can’t speak too much of the SAT) and with a bit of practice and familiarity, you can surely raise your score. I felt I could have raised my even more, but I was tired of paying the money and wasting a weekend writing on that waste of paper.
Throughout HS I made an effort to partake in ECs that pertain to my interests and my major which seems to help for college admissions. But I think it is also important to branch out and create a diverse portfolio of ECs, but depends on the situation. But more than anything, just do what you love and if you are being honest throughout the application process, colleges will see your passion for whatever you choose and that, above all, is most important.
As for essay writing, I tried to focus on writing something unique, something that expressed who I was and what I was interested in. Don’t worry about what you think the admissions office wants to read, write about you, make the writing yours. I would recommend the book On Writing the College Application Essay by Harry Bauld. It is a great read.
Try to apply early, for some schools it could give you an advantage and saves you the stress.
Apply to safeties because college admissions is a unpredictable and competitive game.
Apply to schools YOU want to attend. Not ones your parents want you to go to, or ones that your friends want you to go to.
Most of all, stay positive and try your best. If it doesn’t work out, it’s that college’s fault they will never get to experience how awesome you are.
No matter where you go you can become successful, you just have to work for it.
Looking back:
Now that it is all said and done (kind of scary), I have to say that I am not surprised by the outcome. It was fairly heartbreaking to be denied by the very best of the best schools that I dreamed of going to, but the schools I was accepted to are no joke either. I like the schools I was accepted to and am humbled that they chose me in this competitive season with such a competitive major. I think it is important to make sure you stay grounded during this process. Make sure you understand that the top 10 schools in the nation are VERY hard to get into. People with perfect scores, essays, and ECs who saved babies from drowning in Africa when they were 6 can be denied from such institutions. It’s not just a number game, it (and I don’t like to say this) is pure luck. There are so many great schools out there that offer just as much and for a cheaper price. The sooner you understand this, the less painful the application process is. But by all means, if you like these seemingly impossible schools, go ahead and apply, it can’t hurt. May you have better luck than I. The am very fond of the CS programs at the schools I was accepted to and I will probably attend UIUC because it is the cheapest out of these similarly ranked options and it is ranked 5 for CS in the nation thus opening many opportunities.
There are, of course, many more factors to this that I left out. If you have any more questions feel free to ask me. After all, this is a community where we help each other to achieve success. Enjoy your junior year and I hope you end up where you want to be! "
The Second Post
"Hey, I’m popping over from the Class of 2016. My sister is in the class of 2018, and one of my advice to her is to choose your favorite, hardest classes. Junior is going to be hard. We’ve all heard about it. What makes it survivable is the classes that you genuinely like. That’s what I did, even though I was worried it was too unbalanced on the side of math and sciences and even though it didn’t align with the focus of my top choice school. It all worked out; I didn’t die. I got in to my top choice ED and saved a **** ton of money. “Do what you’re passionate about” is becoming a cliche phrases repeated in the world of education and on CC. I’m only going to say it to help you survive Junior year. Maybe your parents want you to be a doctor, but you’re more passionate about history. Go take those history classes and get in to a good pre-med school for your parents. (I personally disagree with sacrificing your own desires for your parent’s, but we all have different situations). I repeat, Junior year will be near torturous, since most of you will be taking hard classes, but as long as those classes are subjects you like, you’ll do fine.
Getting your standardized testing out of the way during Junior year will help a lot for later, so you can focus on your applications more during Senior year. At the same time, maturity, both educational and mental, can really help boost your scores in a way that cramming or preparing cannot. Remember that you are a unique individual, but with the same time as everyone else. How you organize that time should be specific to you. Do your standardized testing as early as you can, but don’t waste too much time preparing for it. Maybe leaving it to a later date might be better for you in the long run. The SAT/ACT is only one part of a much larger application, and your time could be better spent improving your GPA, acting the leader you are, or just having some fun experience.
Which leads up to my last point. Have some fun. I don’t even mean this in the “you’re a kid, stop worrying” kind of way. I always worried. I spent Junior year spring break somewhere on a school trip, when some of my friends were preparing for the SAT (granted I had already finished my SAT1, but I did need to prepare for SAT2). I ended up including that experience in my CommonApp essay. Basically, don’t be a boring person. You could be the most perfect boring person with 1600 or 2400 SAT or 36 ACT and a 6.0 weighted GPA, be the President of pretty much everything at your school, but have nothing interesting to say in your essays. I want to both stress and destress the importance of essays. Yes, it shows a side of you that your transcript will not. No, it does not mean that it deserves or that you should spend hours agonizing over it. Remember that every part of your application plays a small part, some a little bigger than others, so you do not need to obsess over just one of those parts.
Well, congrats if you read all that. I didn’t expect to type an essay when I popped over. I really like CC because I really like to help people, and I’ve learned a lot (from CC) about the college process, so I don’t want to let it all go away. Message me if you want help, although I may be slow in responding. At the risk of sounding arrogant or narcissistic, I have been helpful in helping grade SAT essays (old SAT so nvm), finding out about colleges (the few I really researched and loved), and HS tips that include those I listed above."
DD’18 actually studied for the SAT a little this weekend. She reports that the Kahn Academy website is helpful.
Anyone’s DC taking Chem Honors and struggling but found a way to overcome? My DD’18 knows the material, can do in class worksheet and homework with perfect score but somehow did really poorly on tests! This is weighted class, so her teacher said he doesn’t need to teach them, the students took this class should be capable of self-study and figure out how to do the homework. My DD spends most of her time watching YouTube videos and Khan academy videos learning Chem this year, but can only helped her with homework but not tests! Anyone can offer good tips, online tutoring, etc to help her preparing for the final??
My son is getting bombarded by college emails, most of which we don’t think he’d have a chance to get into based on weak ECs (he is on the autism spectrum and is lucky to have the few he has).
Any thoughts about schools which don’t stress ECs?
He’s also been invited to many summer programs, but many have a lot of social events listed like dances and mixers, so he is very turned off by it. I know that when he went on his 8th grade trip, they had alternative activities, like a dance and also there was a game room open at the same time with pool and video games. Don’t the pre-college programs know that some kids are not going to want to dance?
@jjkmom, no real advice for chem, my S has that problem with math.
Maybe it’s because they have to apply the knowledge to other problems which might not be as clear?
Does she have a group to study with? My D’s chem teacher used to have a test review for each test and they would go over it in class the day before the test and students could ask questions.
My S is not taking chem until next year, and not honors.
@rhandco Pitt does not require a list of ECs or LORs for their college application. My son (S16) had very few school ECs because he was not interested in any and didn’t want to be part of a club just for the sake of being able to list it on a college app.
ECs seem to be important for some of the admissions slots at highly competitive colleges and smaller colleges that work hard to build a balanced class. The ECs can be less important at some of the larger schools. Best of luck.