Questions for my Amerifriends...

[kellifer]

I swear these aren't for my SPN/HP story that I'm not writing because I have dozens of other things I should be writing.

*looks shifty*

So:

What age do you (approximately):-
- sit your SATs
- Apply for college
- Get accepted for college
- Are a senior in high school

I'm not really sure because in Australia people can be a year older/younger depending on when they started school and I also started thinking that maybe you guys get all your college stuff before you finish your senior year unlike us who apply after we get our results and then apply to Uni. I was always a little confused because it seemed like people had their college acceptances and were still going to classes?

ETA: Wow - you are all very awesome. I'm going to mem this as a reference for US school stuff because there is a *LOT* of info here.

Comments

[libitina]

Most people put of taking the SAT until junior year of high school (16-17 years old -ish) so that they can have their results when they start applying to colleges their senior years. If you are applying early decision (to just one school), you want that application in by November-ish (and then I heard back on early decision mid-December). Regular application deadlines were January-ish. Larger colleges or state school often have rolling admissions, so you can apply later. When I transferred for a year to the University of Mississippi, I applied in May or June to go that next September.

Oh, but I was in a gifted program, so I first took the SATs in 7th grade, and then I kept taking them for the next four years, and my score went up about 70 points each time. cf Johns Hopkins Talent Search

Note that there are two standardized tests for getting into college with a geographic divide. On the east coast, north takes the SATs and south takes the ACTs, but I'm not sure how it splits in the central and western parts of the country.

Senior in high school: 17-18 with standard progression, but people could be one (or occasionally 2) years younger and a few years older. My school district had a policy that would not let you be held back grades more times than would make you 3 years older than the other people in the grade. I don't know whether that would mean you were automatically promoted beyond your ability or if you were required to withdraw from regular school - I suspect that both happened, depending on the kid.

[libitina]

Some schools will accept particularly dubious students provisionally and then require them to take classes in the summer to prove their willingness to adapt to a college environment. I've also taken a class through one of those programs, if you wanted to put someone through that.

[floydsir.livejournal.com]

Hey, I did that Johns Hopkins Talent Search too! It's nice to come across someone else who went through that process; I almost never do.

[libitina]

I'm in the northeast still, so it's not as rare as you'd think for me. Did you go through and do CTY? I was at F&M in the early 90s.

[floydsir.livejournal.com]

I think CTY found me through my standardized test scores. I took their test in 5th and 6th grade and the SAT in 7th and 8th. I'm sorry to say that I don't remember the specifics of how it all worked and that I don't know what F&M is.

[libitina]

Ah. After the talent search, you had the option to take summer courses. And for that I went to Franklin & Marshall College. And I knew someone there who went by Floyd, so I figured that there was a wee outside chance that this was worth mentioning.

But, hey - fun meeting someone else.

[libitina]

Oh, and National Merit is a crock as well. Sure, if you score above a certain percentile in the PSATs you are considered a National Merit Finalist. But you don't actually get to consider yourself a winner unless the college that accepts you gives a damn. Both my sister and I went to colleges that did not consider national merit business, so neither of us actually "won" the thing... Sort of.

Basically, the ETS (Educational Testing Service in Princeton, NJ) is out to screw everyone in the country over with their expensive standardized testing.

Also, Jensen and Jared, if you are going by the actors' calendar birthdates, are different generations for the SAT. Between the times each one would have taken the test, there was a major revamp and formatting change. Let me know if this matters to the story, and I can try to dredge up actual detail from my memory.