THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412300075
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: Life in the Passing Lane
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
A watershed moment in many students' senior year is the day SAT scores arrive. How well a student does on the college entrance exam can determine admission and influence where he or she will go to school and whether scholarships will be available.
Three of four students with high hopes for the future, whose progress is being followed through the year, learned their test scores earlier this month.
Robbie Scott
For a small pile of numbers, they pack a powerful punch.
Students who took the SAT in October are now bragging about high scores or still quaking from the shock.
Robbie is somewhere in the middle.
He didn't do any better than his personal high of 890 out of a possible 1,600. In fact, his total score dipped a bit. The SAT college entrance exam may be a slugger of a test, but Robbie - who took it once this school year and twice as a junior - won't let it knock him out.
``I'm just glad it's over, out of the way so I can go on to other things,'' he said.
Other things such as applying to colleges, studying for midterms and trying to make his senior year memorable. The way Robbie tells it, there wasn't a lot of drama: No sweaty palms right before the test, no sleepless nights, no bouts of crippling self-doubt.
He tried his best and things just turned out the way they did. Sometimes nothing seems to make sense. Twice he did better on the exam's verbal section than on the math section, although math and science have long been his strong suits.
Does he think his score will hurt him, especially because most colleges like to see scores over 1,000?
Not really. He says he still has his A-range grades and family to help him clear any hurdles. The biggest challenge, he said, will be landing scholarship money to help cover college tuition.
Will Dickerson
He didn't study and he wasn't nervous about the test, and still, Will scored 1210 on his SATs.
``That's good enough for me,'' says the Princess Anne High School student, who plans to major in drama in college.
While the academics are important to his life plans - he can't get into college at all without the grades - the determining factor for Will, unlike most high school seniors, isn't the essay he writes on his college applications or the numbers on his SATs. It's the audition he'll be performing later this spring in his quest to land a spot in a top drama department.
``Everything academic-wise I'm pretty good on, and I'm pretty confident about my auditions,'' he said. ``I really am just ready for it to be over with. I'm looking forward to the end of the year, but not until I know what college I'm going to.''
This month, Will mailed off the last of his college applications. He's applying to Boston University, Southern Methodist University, the State University of New York at Purchase and Carnegie Mellon University.
His first choice is the cold Northeast: Boston University.
Michelle Boyd
It was almost a formality for Michelle.
She signed in mid-November for a full basketball scholarship with Norfolk State University. She needed just a minimum score on the SAT to qualify.
She got 900, more than enough, but she'll try again.
Everything now is pretty anti-climactic. With her college decision out of the way, she doesn't have much to worry about.
She likes it that way. Now she can concentrate on winning in her last season as a star basketball player at Deep Creek High in Chesapeake.
``Now I can go ahead and play without pressure,'' she said. ``I don't have to worry about getting hurt.''
Athletes who are seriously injured after they sign with a college are just benched for a year. An injury before signing, though, can mean the end of a deal.
Norfolk State's basketball coach already has warned her about the hard work she'll face when she gets there.
``He told me I'd lose about 20 pounds,'' she said. ``That's what I need, though.''
Michelle's got more on her mind than athletics and her future.
She met a guy at a football game over Thanksgiving. He's an 18-year-old college freshman named Jamil. He's from Newport News but goes to school in North Carolina. And she's got a huge crush.
She's hoping to see more of Jamil over the holidays. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Robbie Scott
Will Dickerson
Michelle Boyd
by CNB