Tomorrow is a big day in the Barnett household. Our youngest child’s SAT scores will be posted up on collegeboard.com, and with that small milestone, we will officially commence our second (and final, thank heaven) great American college chase.

Perhaps a bit of an acronymic explanation might prove handy at this point. The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), given by the College Board, is required when applying to many east coast and private schools. It is made up of three parts: verbal, math and a writing sample. The PSAT, also called the PSAT/NMSQT, is the Pre-SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. It is generally taken in the sophomore year and provides qualification for some merit (academic) scholarships.

The ACT (American College Test) is administered by the ACT organization, which also administers other standardized tests, like the EXPLORE and the PLAN tests, generally given at earlier ages. The ACT is used in applying to many Midwest schools. It is divided into several parts, and now, like the SAT, also includes a writing section.

My kids are five years apart, and in some ways, they are light years apart (temperament, academic interests, and hobbies). In some ways, they are only microns apart. Both are sensitive and intelligent. Yeah, I know. Whose kids aren’t when viewed through the parental lens? They are both good writers and have similar musical tastes. One is a good student (son) and the other (daughter) was (in high school, anyway) so far above the curve she couldn’t feel the stones being hurled at her by the merely good students below. Five years, two very different kids, two very different college searches.

I thought it might be fun (and maybe helpful to others) if I chronicled this little adventure (which I am dubbing “In Pursuit of Ivy: A Parental Guide to the College Hunt”) and shared it with other parents. Part informational and part commiserational, the point is to both draw on the wisdom of others and hopefully impart a bit of my (meager) own.

Full disclosure: I am not a college counselor, a teacher, or a guidance counselor - nor do I play one on TV. I’m the mother of two kids, a dog, and a rabbit, living in a very modest house in the very modest middle class Chicago suburb of Wheeling. My children were both privately educated until high school, when they transferred to our very fine melting pot of a public high school.