My oldest was sent home with a letter from his school saying that because he scored in the 95th percentile or higher on the MSA's last year he's been chosen by John Hopkins Center of Talented Youth to take the SCAT's and to be possibly chosen for special summer programs and online classes that are advanced, etc. I've googled the heck out of it and can't find any more then the info they sent home. I guess I'm just worried that because you have to pay close to $100 bucks just to take the test that its some sort of scam.

Has anyone else gone through this program? Any positives and negatives?

It's pretty much BS...check with Kwillia..I think her oldest got this letter and she researched it. My oldest son got the same letter years ago.

Well I took the test when I was younger. It was somewhere in Waldorf, and I don't really remember much about the test, it was pretty standard SAT type thing. I got a letter a month or two later inviting me to an award dinner because of my reading scores....I couldn't go, and every year after I got invitations to be in different academic summer programs..even one at Brown..(who could afford it though.) I also think that it may have contributed to the large amount of mail I got from colleges all throughout high school..so I would say it is worth it for that reason...they do try to get you to buy something..I will have to ask my mother if she remembers..but getting invited to spend the summer at Brown because of my scores was pretty cool, even if I couldn't actually go.

I don't think we had to pay to take the test though :confused:

That's been around forever. Back in my day it was the SAT the wanted us to take. I noticed when I was preparing for college, the score was still showing up on my record and being reported to colleges.

I know a lot of people who took it and as far as I know only one person among my friends qualified for the program. His parents decided not to put him in the program, though. He was one of these genius-types who turns out to so over the top that they drop out of school to pursue their genius only to wind up in a mental hospital. There was a chapter on him in my "Abnormal Psychology" textbook.

I don't think we had to pay to take the test though :confused:We had to pay for the SAT. A couple of years later, the same group of kids took the PSAT for admission to a county run accelerated program and the county (Charles) administered it and paid for it. Most of the gang DID end up in that program, but it was paid for by a grant.

thanks y'all. Looks like I'll pass it up.

That's been around forever. Back in my day it was the SAT the wanted us to take. I noticed when I was preparing for college, the score was still showing up on my record and being reported to colleges.

I know a lot of people who took it and as far as I know only one person among my friends qualified for the program. His parents decided not to put him in the program, though. He was one of these genius-types who turns out to so over the top that they drop out of school to pursue their genius only to wind up in a mental hospital. There was a chapter on him in my "Abnormal Psychology" textbook.I just re-read that. That sounded REALLY bad. Although, the description of my classmate and the fact that when I took my class on Abnormal Psychology, I kept thinking his picture should be there, and that fact that I lost track of which mental hospitals he'd been in, is entirely true, well....most of my other geeky friends who were with this group are living perfectly normal productive lives, mostly happily married with well adjusted children.

The program, or even just taking the test, may very well open doors for your child....but unless she scores well off the charts, there will be an admission charge.

you can certainly tell this isnt a PG county forum.

all they get invited for over the summer is jail

It's pretty much BS..

:yeahthat:

Daughter got one last year and again this year...after speaking w/some ppl found it to be a bunch of BS & $$$$ spent unecessarily.....

That child CAN'T be yours...:lol:

My son gets those letters. He took the test after getting it the 2nd year. We never did anything further. He sometimes gets mail and brochures from them for different programs but we don't participate.