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Self-Evaluation
Choosing a college is often the first major decision students will make for themselves, and needless to say, it requires a great deal of thought and research. The college search is, in essence, a research project, which requires students to look within themselves for many of the answers.
Before students can begin identifying specific colleges, they will need to think about themselves and their own educational objectives and values. As Kenyon College puts it, ‘Don’t begin your college search with rankings and reputations. Start with yourself: your priorities, preferences, and personal style.’ In the Junior Seminar, we will discuss this process of self-evaluation and work through several interests and personality surveys.
A Sampling of Questions for Students to Begin to Consider:
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What is your learning style? Active or passive? Hands-on or abstract?
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In what environment do you learn best? What qualities characterize this environment? Small or large? Lecture or discussion-based classes? How much interaction do you want or need with your professors?
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Will you need support services such as a Writing Center or Learning Resource Center?
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Do you have a specific major and/or career path in mind?
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Do you want the freedom to design your own major or would you benefit from the structure of a core curriculum or distribution requirements?
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How do you respond to pressure, competition or challenge?
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What is the desired outcome of your college education? Graduate school placement, employment, personal and/or intellectual growth?
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Would you prefer an urban, suburban or rural environment?
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How close or far from home do you want to be? Are you willing to get on a plane? To be in a different time zone?
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Are you looking for a new and different experience or something familiar and comfortable?
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How important is diversity to you? Politically, socially, economically, culturally?
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Coed or single-sex? Public or private? Religiously-affiliated or not?
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How important is school spirit to you? Do you hope to play a sport in college? If so, at what level?
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Are you looking for a creative environment? An academically intense one? A school with a balance between work and play? A community that cares about the larger world?
Required Questionnaires
Students and parents are also asked to reflect on their interests and backgrounds in two required pieces: the College Questionnaire for Students and the College Questionnaire for Parents. Both of these pieces should be submitted at least one week in advance of the family meeting. Students and parents would be wise to invest time in fully and thoroughly completing these forms as they serve several purposes. The questions and information asked in the student questionnaire parallels the Common Application, so this is a good draft for students to later work from when filling out their actual application. The College Counselors also use these forms when compiling an initial college list for the family meeting, and when writing the School Letter of Recommendation. The more information you give us, the better we can guide and advocate for you.
Admission Profile
In order to find the right college fit, students also need to understand their admission profile. If you were to liken finding a college to buying shoes, you would need to think not just about style (college criteria) but also size (admissibility) and cost (affordability). After all you might like the looks of a particular pair of shoes, but if they are not available in your size, the shoe just won’t fit. In considering a student’s admissibility, colleges will look at three primary factors:
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Academic achievement (including both course selection and performance)
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Extracurricular accomplishments and personal qualities
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Standardized testing (if submitting)
In class we will work through exercises and discuss ways to assess individual admission profiles.
Standardized Testing
What do all the terms mean? What are the differences between the SAT and ACT?
The SAT consists of two majors sections, each worth 800 points for a total maximum score of 1600: Evidence Based-Reading and Writing and Mathematics. The SAT is a digital test taken on a computer and is approximately 2 hours and 14 minutes in length, not counting breaks
ACT
The ACT currently is a paper-based test and consists of four major subject areas: English, Mathematics, Reading and Science as well as an optional Writing test (Essay). Each section, excluding Writing, is worth 36 points for an overall composite score of 36. The length of the exam is 2 hours and 55 minutes (not including Writing). There are changes coming to the ACT beginning in the spring of 2025, as it transitions to a digital test. Please see below for more information.
The SAT consists of two major sections, each worth 800 points for a total maximum score of 1600: Evidence Based-Reading and Writing and Mathematics. The SAT is a digital test taken on a computer and is approximately 2 hours and 14 minutes in length, not counting breaks.
SAT
SCORE CHOICE REPORTING POLICY
The vast majority of colleges allow students to choose which scores (by test date for the SAT and ACT) they send for consideration.
ADVANCED PLACEMENT
Friends discontinued teaching Advanced Placement classes at the close of the 2020-21 academic year. Friends is still making certain AP exams available based on relevancy to our Advanced Courses program. These exams are optional for students in the corresponding Advanced courses.
AP ENGLISH EXAMS
Although we do not offer an advanced English course at Friends, we give juniors the opportunity to take the AP English Literature or AP English Language exam if they would like to do so. To take one of the AP English exams students need to prepare independently. Generally those with a strong interest in English and have done B+ or higher work in their English classes might consider sitting for one of these exams.
CHANGES TO THE ACT
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The science test will soon be optional, just like the writing test.
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The remaining Core ACT test (English, reading, math) will be about 2 hours long, which is almost an hour shorter than the current test. There will be shorter English and reading passages with fewer questions.
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Overall, the test will have 44 fewer questions.
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The new Core ACT will be available for online national testing only beginning in April of 2025. Paper national testing and international online testing will switch to the Core ACT in September of 2025.
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This means that the April, June, and July 2025 national test dates will offer the new Composite score made of three sections. However, paper testing during those same national dates will include a Composite score of all four classic sections: English, reading, math, and science. In September of 2025, all tests, regardless of format, will offer only a Composite score based on the three core subjects.
The above changes were taken from the Compass Education website, which includes even more detailed information.
What do colleges require in terms of standardized tests?
Traditionally, most colleges have required students to submit the results of either the SAT or ACT for admission. During the pandemic, most institutions in the United States adopted a temporary test-optional policy and have continued to keep that policy. This means students in the class of 2025 have the option to share test scores or not in most cases. Our advice to the members of the class of 2026 is to continue to take the SAT or ACT as they can since colleges typically do not announce changes to their testing plans until the spring or summer.
What is a typical testing schedule for a Friends student?
We recommend that students begin their college testing in earnest in the spring of junior year, following a concise period of preparation, undertaken with a workbook, online materials, course (group) or tutoring program (individual). We recommend that students take the SAT or ACT twice in the spring of junior year, and possibly a third time in the fall of senior year. That typically would be April/June/September for the ACT or March/May or June plus August/October for the SAT.
A sampling of colleges that do require SAT or ACT Scores:
Brown University
Caltech
Carnegie Mellon University (2026)
Cornell University (2026)
Dartmouth College
University of Florida
Georgetown University
University of Georgia
Georgia Tech
Harvard University
MIT
Purdue University
Rice University (2026)
Stanford University (2026)
United States Military Academies
University of Tennessee
University of Texas-Austin
Yale University
A sampling of colleges that are test blind:
University of California
Hampshire College
Pitzer College
Reed College
WPI
For an up-to-date list of these institutions, check out
the Fair Test website at www.fairtest.org.
When is the best time to do test prep?
The most effective test preparation leads directly up to the exam. Taking a prep course in the summer and then not sitting for the exam until the spring is not ideal. If the student’s school year schedule precludes preparation at that time, then summer preparation can of course be done and should be supplemented by additional review and practice tests in the weeks immediately before the exam.
Juniors are not encouraged to sit for the SAT or ACT in the fall, particularly in August, September and October, because many seniors will be retesting at this time, putting juniors at a disadvantage. However, juniors planning to study away from Friends in the second semester (for example the High Mountain Institute program) should consider testing in November or December before they leave the state or country.
Courses versus tutors?
Whether or not an individual student should invest in preparation with a course or tutor is dependent on their particular learning style and budget.
True, as a general rule most students tend to do better in one-on-one situations. However, many companies now offer a few individual tutoring sessions as part of a course package. If a student is not a strong standardized test-taker in general, a course may provide the best overview.
Students who are strong standardized test-takers may simply want to focus on certain areas, and therefore tutoring may be a more cost and time effective option.
For all students, practice tests, particularly in a simulated situation, are the single most effective means of preparation. All students should take advantage of as many opportunities as possible to take practice tests.
Is there such a thing as too much prep?
Yes. Test prep, whether on your own or with a tutor or company, is time-consuming. The adverse effect of intensive preparation all fall or all fall and winter of junior year is that the work those courses entail can undermine junior grades. Often students feel the pressure to complete their SAT or ACT prep homework before studying for a test, revising an essay, or undertaking some research. Please do not let your academic work at Friends suffer. The single most important part of a student’s application is the transcript, that is, the quality of courses taken and the grades earned.
Please also bear in mind that there is such a thing as test prep burnout. As the old saying goes, quantity does not necessarily indicate quality. For example, taking multiple SAT prep courses but never fully committing to doing the homework, taking the practice tests, etc… is far from effective.
Design a test preparation plan that is appropriate and reasonable for your schedule, budget, and learning style.
If a student has received testing accommodations in the past and will be requesting these for tests in the future, such as the PSAT/NMSQT, or SAT, a current (less than five years old) psycho-educational evaluation will be required, along with a special application requesting the accommodations.
On the College Board (PSAT, SAT and AP Exams) application Friends will need to verify that the student has been receiving the same accommodations in school for at least four months.
The ACT application requires that the full psycho-educational evaluation (less than three years old) be submitted as well. It is not unusual for a student who has qualified for accommodations from the College Board to not qualify for the ACT.
For more information, please see the Applying for Accommodations on Standardized Tests handout on the College Counseling Web Board. If you have specific questions, please feel free to contact Justin Holmes at jholmes@friendsseminary.org or call 646-979-5124. You can also obtain more information by consulting the College Board’s web site at www.collegeboard.org/ssd or the ACT website at www.act.org.
Testing Accommodations
What is a good score?
There is no such thing as a “good” score, a magic number to reach. Even a score of 1600 on the SAT or 36 on the ACT is not the key to admission success. Ivy League schools love to talk about the number of students with perfect scores that they deny admission.
Students are encouraged to think about their scores in relation to their individual learning style, strengths and accomplishments.
How do colleges use the optional ACT Writing section?
West Point is the only notable college that requires the optional Writing section for students who take the ACT.
How does my child register for the exams?
Students should go to the College Board website or the ACT website to register. Registration deadlines typically fall four weeks before the test date.
Students will need our School/CEEB Code (333 645) to register and the first time it will take about 30 minutes. Students are required to upload a photo during registration and to bring an acceptable photo ID on test day.
Where will students test?
Though Friends is not a weekend test center, students who have already been approved by the College Board or ACT for non-standard accommodations such as 100% extended time will test here. All other students should select a test center site that is convenient to their home or in general familiar to them. Please note that space for students with 50% extended time at the national test centers is often limited; students would be wise to register as early as possible.
Is assistance available to help with the costs of testing and test prep?
Many test prep companies have financial assistance available for their services. Further, juniors on financial aid at Friends are eligible to receive individualized tutoring at a reduced rate for the SAT or ACT via Compass Education Group. Students should speak to their college counselor with questions.
Students who receive significant financial assistance at Friends can see their College Counselor about fee waivers for test registration.
Do students need to have official SAT or ACT results sent to colleges?
Today, many colleges will accept the self-reported scores on the Common Application or their own applications in the admission process. Those schools only require students to have official scores sent from the ACT or College Board if they are admitted and choose to enroll. Since some colleges still do require students to submit official standardized test scores during the application process, though, it is important to review each individual institution's policy on its admission website.
