What to do in 7th grade to prepare for high school admissions

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There is a lot of information to wade through in this process, so it is a good idea to stay chill and spread it over time. You can get swept into the hysteria of this process in the fall, but if you do a few things early, you can avoid that panicked feeling.

  1. Consider if you are going to prep for the SHSAT. There is no one way to do this. It depends on your child and your expectations. Some schools have deals with tutoring companies for a discounted class. Some people sign up for small group or individual tutoring in the winter or spring of 7th grade. There are also intensive workshops in the fall, if you just want to cram. Some people (not many, but I admire them) buy a book of practice tests and set the kitchen timer every few weeks and do it themselves. Your child doesn’t have to take this test. You can opt out, but the 8 schools that are covered by this test are very strong and the dreaded “lottery number” is not part of the admission calculation with these 8 schools.
    Take a practice test (with a tutor or by yourself) to get a baseline, and consider how you want to prep if at all.

  2. If you are considering a school with an audition or portfolio requirement, keep nice artwork safe and handy. Consider making a relationship with a teacher or coach who can help put together an audition piece. Make yourself aware of what is required for an audition (it is not what some families assume.) Generally, you can wait until the summer to get down to the details of putting this together.

  3. If you are in a public school or school that ends in 8th grade, talk to your guidance counselor and find out where students from your school have gone in the past.

  4. Start to make a short list of 2 dozen programs. You can do this by filtering the search in the MYSCHOOLS Directory. You don’t need an account to do this. If you put your address in, the search will be weird and limit your options. Do it with your address, but mostly without it. Get creative with the filters, make sure to resent each time and see what comes up that looks interesting.
    You should also do this on InsideSchools. Do the advanced filter and make sure to filter for their recommendations.
    Don’t be too narrow minded at this stage. There will be a few schools everyone is talking about, you want to find some quality outliers. You will eventually need to find some quality schools to act as “safeties” on your list. Those will be schools that have Applicant : Seat ratios of 1:1.
    You will cull this list even further in the fall, but do yourself a favor and have around 2 dozen possible contenders now.

  5. Once you have your list, start to go to the schools’ websites to check them out. There will often be lots of information there; last years virtual open houses, the school’s course catalog, information about the school culture like clubs and sports. I made a list of schools that had good online information here.

  6. You don’t have to talk to me, but I can help you wade through the choices.