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

[dunv-i.livejournal.com]

I think you probably have all of this already but I'll jump in because I'm a current high schooler in this process right now *dies*

PSATs: It's becoming more common for students to take the PSATs in 10th grade, as a practice. The important PSAT year is October of 11th grade because of NMSQT which someone else talked about. I will just throw in that the NMSQT qualifying score changes depending on state and whether you go to public or private school.

You sit SATs either 11th or 12 grade. Most students take them once, in early 12th grade, but it depends; a school or student that puts a lot of emphasis on getting into college will probably take May of 11th grade, and then again in 12th grade fall to try and increase their score. A gifted student is usually encouraged to take it first in 7th grade, up through.

You apply to college fall of senior year. Prep schools will start in winter/spring year previous, at other schools you may not start until senior fall. Deadlines are usually January, with November for Early decision. Acceptances start coming as soon as you apply, depending on the school and how you applied. The majority are in by about March, which is where Senioritis comes in; after March, why do you still care about High School? But yeah, you are still taking classes when you get in; the important year for college applications is your 11th grade. Even Senior fall term isn't very important comparatively, because some people apply before those grades are in. Colleges will often ask that all grades be forwarded to them when they do come in, but they mean less.

Average ages for High School are:
Senior: 17-18
11th grade: 16-17
10th: 15-16
9th: 14-15
But it really depends. Many kids skip the really early stuff, while a lot of others are held back at the beginning. It especially gets twitchy around the cut-off dates for ages; a child who is at the cut-off date and not excelling may be dropped back, while at a very small school a child who is at the cut-off date and totally wiping out his class mates may be pulled up.