The SAT

Emily takes her SAT again today. Before she took it the first time, I purchased online prep from Kaplan for $77. That turned out to be a waste. The whole thing frustrated her, so she didn't spend enough time at it. She may not have completely understood how to use it, but apparently when you take the practice tests, you don't get specific feedback on what to work on. You just get a score. Turns out the College Board practice books are more useful.

This time, she used the practice tests in conjunction with the book Up Your Score: The Underground Guide to the SAT. It was written by some Ivy League students who provide helpful tips and strategies. The authors say that taking lots of practice tests is the most important thing you can do. So she would take a test, score it, and then read about the kinds of questions she missed. The book is pretty engaging. We'll see how useful it is.

Before she took it the first time, I was prepared to send her to one of those $1,000 prep courses, but she wasn't up for the time commitment. I still think it would have been helpful, but kids make choices. Actually, I have to say that while I don't think Emily spent enough time preparing on her own, she spent more than I would have when I was her age. It's a good investment for kids who won't do it on their own.

It's hard to tell how much the SAT's will affect Emily's chances to get into her top choice school. It's been such a long time since I posted anything, you have to know that has all changed. The top two schools are now 1) UCSD and 2) UCSB. UCLA is out of the running because they're phasing out their undergraduate art history program. Sorry UCLA, maybe you'll get a shot at grad school. Ha!

I'm nervous about the whole UCSD thing. I think I want Emily to go away more than she wants to go. I'll be okay with it if she lives on campus, and works on or near campus. But I really don't want her trying to continue to live her pre-college life and fit school into it. I personally think UCSB is the better fit. Would it be evil to hope her scores don't go up too much?

It's Coming

It’s almost September. My children have been in school for an entire grading period. So here’s where we are:

Senior year consists of AP English, AP Gov’t, Honors Anatomy & Physiology, Spanish 3 and Health (district graduation requirement). No math class this year. I hope I don’t live to regret my part in that. At this point, it looks as though Emily has straight A’s, which will raise her ultimate GPA, but doesn’t mean much when it comes to applying for college. SAT round two is October 9 (round one didn’t go so well in math), and then it’s time to apply! She is already applying for scholarships, hoping to get herself a laptop before the year is up.

But we also have a freshman in the house, so it’s all starting over. Get this! My little laissez-faire baby is hovering between a 3.8 and a 4.0 right now. That’s so cool! She’s also joining the golf team! I couldn't get Emily to even consider athletics, but Hannah wants to try. I'm so glad she goes to a newer school that is just forming their teams. Amazingly, she can be a beginner and be on a high school team. There has already been friendship drama, but Hannah just picks herself up and moves on. I’m so proud of her, and so excited to see how this all plays out.

As for my part in this process, I have recently been up Highway 99 to the Sierras, and then down Highway 101 from Santa Cruz. It makes me hope that Emily chooses UCSB over UCSC. That’s a long haul!

The Just-Right School

I found a report about why students don't complete college (see link at right called "From Access to Success"). I thought I knew what it was going to say, but I found something surprising.

Obviously, the report discusses the fact that many students are academically underprepared (for example, in California there have been reports about students who enter the CSU system having met the minimum entrance requirements, and end up dropping out). But I hadn't heard about the phenomenon of "undermatching." These are students who don't select the very best college for which they are eligible. It suggests that,

"Many students and families choose less-selective institutions because of the price of attendance, proximity to home or similar factors that may seem reasonable—yet graduation rates are actually lower for individual students who enroll in less selective schools, rendering a seemingly cost-effective choice ultimately quite costly."

That's huge, especially in today's economic climate. It does seem more intuitive to save money by starting out in a community college or a local university that is more affordable than effective. But if students don't thrive intellectually, they may not stick with it.

I can't wait to show this to my husband!

Junior Year Redux

Since junior year is the big one, I thought a brief re-cap would be helpful. Colleges and universities use the grade point average of the sophomore and junior years for admission purposes. So here are some important considerations for sophomores and juniors hoping to compete in the UC or CSU systems:

1. Make sure your child is taking the required AND recommended A-G courses. This is what the UC and CSU systems call their entrance requirements, and they are usually a bit different from the district high school graduation requirements. Make sure your child is doing both. Here’s a brief summary (for a detailed explanation, see my links to the UC/CSU admissions requirements):

a l History/Social Science – 2 YEARS REQUIRED
b l English – 4 YEARS REQUIRED
c l Mathematics – 3 YEARS REQUIRED, 4 YEARS RECOMMENDED
d l Laboratory Science – 2 YEARS REQUIRED, 3 YEARS RECOMMENDED
e l Language Other than English – 2 YEARS REQUIRED, 3 YEARS RECOMMENDED
f l Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) – 1 YEAR REQUIRED
g l College-Preparatory Electives – 1 YEAR REQUIRED


2. Your sophomore or junior should be taking the highest level courses he or she can handle. Honors and AP classes are important because they are usually based on a 5.0 grading scale instead of a 4.0. This is where those high GPA’s come from that get students into the schools they want.

3. Good grades are REALLY important! Your child’s class rank is REALLY important! Insist on extra help if necessary. Current juniors who are in the top 9% of their class (top 4% for class of 2011) will be guaranteed admission to the UC system. This is called “Eligibility in the Local Context,” or ELC. Not all campuses admit these students automatically. Lately it has been UC Riverside and UC Merced, but check the individual campus websites to read their policies.

4. If your high school doesn’t administer the PSAT test in the fall of the sophomore and junior year, you should make that happen. An important indicator of SAT success is familiarity with the test. More is better. You can find the dates and locations on the College Board website (see my links).

5. Sometime between January and June, your junior should take his or her first SAT Reasoning test. Apply on the College Board website. Students may re-take the test up through December of their senior year.

6. SAT subject tests won’t be required for 2012 admissions (woo-hoo!). For the class of 2011, however, the UC system requires two. Many students took those at the end of the school year when they were preparing for AP exams in the same content areas.

7. Extracurricular activities are critical. Sports; clubs; leadership positions; work experience and focused, sustained community service make a huge difference. There are lots of kids out there with high GPA’s. How will your student stand out? These are activities that should be happening throughout high school. It’s easy to rationalize them away or put them off because kids have to work so hard just to get good grades. But these are things worth pushing. If your child wants to attend UCLA or UCB, it’s a must!!

I hope I remembered everything! I’ll be discussing some of these in more depths in future posts. Right now, though, it's time to get the girls off to school for their first day! I'll keep you posted!