<p>I have heard that some very strong students take ACT/SAT without any prep. relying on fact that their strong academic background might carry them. Wrong! Advanced kids might not even remember most of math, for them it is middle school material. Do not retake test in hope to get higher score. Prepare first, then retake.</p>
<p>How about UC Santa Cruz? They are division 3.</p>
<p>Boy, SDiegoMom, you could be ME posting all these same questions! My DS has 4.5 weighted GPA, has multiple pre-AP and AP classes, doesn’t do well on the AP exams, had a 21 ACT and a 1030 SAT (math and CR), he’s in National Honor Society, was named to Academic All-District teams for both football and soccer last year, and he’s a goalie!! Difference is he wants to stay in Texas. There are only two D-1 universities in Texas with men’s soccer (SMU and Houston Baptist). Only 7-8 D-2’s, but lots of D-3’s. We have one D-3 coach who’s been looking at him since last year (came to our high school game to watch the other school’s goalie, who was a senior last year, but my son, who was a junior, ended up winning the shoot-out for us. Coach saw my husband filming the game and shoot-out, and asked him “Are you the [Other School’s] goalie’s dad?” DH says “No, I’m the WINNING goalie’s dad.” :)</p>
<p>MDAP, ^ I think the op has indicated that the kid did take prep courses and still did not do well in SAT/ACT… with number of tries.</p>
<p>The problem is that OP cannot afford 50K/year even the EFC is 99K…</p>
<p>I think the OP should consider a real safty for a local CC and transfter to UCB or UCLA later. This will be the absolute last resort, regardless how hard it is to take. Can’t believe a Bowdoin quality kid ended up in local CC…</p>
<p>Another thing I am thinking of is that OP should disregard the Scoccer stuff and concentrate on the merit scholarship, which is much important. When we disengage a D3 sports from the acadamics, there are many more options. D3 sports normally do not associated with merits anyway.</p>
<p>I would search and inquire those schools on the test option only list and find out if it is possible to get merit aid without the test score. If the op has done that with all 100 of them(most of them are specialized school), then I have nothing more to say.</p>
<p>Wabash give $15000 for Top Ten automatically, plus additional aid for results from Honors Scholar weekend (which all potential students attend). Athletic facilities are amazing and education first-rate. Many guys don’t think they can handle the all-male stuff, but it is not a problem for most once they get there. </p>
<p>[Wabash</a> College: Future Students - Merit Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.wabash.edu/admissions/finances/scholarships]Wabash”>http://www.wabash.edu/admissions/finances/scholarships)</p>
<p>I hope that OP and everyone in a similar boat will keep reporting on the schools to which they are admitted. I don’t think test scores are a good predictor of college success at all, given my own son’s experience. </p>
<p>If I was a college admissions officer, I would GRAB the kids with test scores in the lower range but with very good high school grades (esp those with heavy ECs)-that means the student is a very hard worker, which should count a lot more than showing up on a Saturday morning and acing one test.</p>
<p>Not sure arts and sciences at a community college would be a good fit for a 4.0+ kid. (and FWIW i’m a big fan of cc). Remember a kid with a 24 composite is at the 74%ile. He’s hardly an academic lightweight.</p>
<p>Why not look in the midwest? Smaller LACs here have total cost of attendance way below 50k. NAIA schools offer athletic money.</p>
<p>artlover,
Prep. class is not as good as self prep. In fact, D. said that her SAT prep. class was complete waste of time. She did not take one for ACT. She prepared herself based on her strenghts/weaknesses. She took ACT one time and it was enough for her goals. There is no reason why high GPA hard working student would get low ACT, if he just applied himself the same way as he usually does in his classes.</p>
<p>We arranged for one on one tutoring for DD on the ACT. For most sections she was fine but science was killing her overall score. A few hours with someone who knew how to take that part of the test and her scores zoomed up. The 24 is really just the overall number - to figure out what needs to be done, you need to look at the sub scores and see if all are in the 24 range or if one section is pulling things down.</p>
<p>On the subject of community college, merit aid for transfer students can be extremely hard to find. That is only a real solution if you can afford to pay the last two years at the university without merit aid or if you find one of the schools that has merit aid for transfers. Many scholarships are designated for incoming freshmen only. CC is a great financial safety but people need to go into it with eyes wide open about this issue.</p>
<p>I think a student with his grades would be very bored at community college. I think they are great, I went to one myself that is pretty well regarded here, but it was two of the most boring years of my life. I made the best of it because I had tons of free time which I poured into ECs and community service, but I really had to be proactive to keep myself engaged. And my high school grades were much lower than OP’s S. I did not become a a really dedicated student until after community college. It was a great experience, I don’t think I’d have turned into the student I am today without it, I learned a LOT both in and outside of classes, I was prepared for university level work at the end, but it’s just not the same as a university.</p>
<p>I would not send this student to a community college either. Are we so jaded on these forums that 75th percentile kids are “not college worthy?” I certainly hope not. As someone pointed out 24 is above average for college bound students (74th percentile) and that coupled with a decent GPA and some AP classes is a student prepared to tackle college. Hopefully the OP will come back and report in on their feelings about the midwest or the south as the costs are definitely more favorable and lots of great schools and perhaps we can lend some good targeted suggestions.</p>
<p>I suggested CC for the kid as the LAST RESORT, I would not think OP’s son will go there. My DD is attending UChicago, but our safety was an CSU not far from home with the major my DD is interested in. I would not imaging my DD will go there, but we have to apply to that school as a SAFETY, the last resort.</p>
<p>The OP never said any thing about how much he can afford, so I assume if he cannot pay 50K, with an EFC of 99K he should be able to afford 30K to goto UC. </p>
<p>We have a mismatched stats here. The kid is probably 1-2% in acadamics and 25% in test scores. He is also on the fringe of recruited athletes. On top of it, he has no chance to get FA on needed basis because EFC is 99K. When we talk about USNEWS top 25 or so, we are talking about 1-2% top schools in the nation, you cannot match a 25% tile test scores to a top 2% schools and expect merit aid. I think everyone here should agree. Unfortunatly, in CA, the in state flag ship or even lower tier schools are pretty competitive when test scores are into consideration. So, here is my thinking for this kid:</p>
<ol>
<li>Find an school that matches his gpa and test score in the private or OOS public with merit aid and that OP can afford after merit aid is considered.</li>
<li>Goto an CSU that is test score optional, which exclues Cal Poly.</li>
<li>Apply to top tier schools that are test score optional AND for merit scholarship regardless if they need the score or not. This is just shoot in the dark.</li>
<li>goto a cc and transfer to flagship UC later in hope that OP can afford 30K/year later.</li>
<li>If the OP is living in an expensive area in SD, sell his house and move into a lessor house, get the equity out to pay for Bowdoin or Wake… Some thing has to give, right?</li>
</ol>
<p>Without knowing how much the OP can actually afford with EFC 99K, the above are the options I can think of.</p>
<p>“5. If the OP is living in an expensive area in SD, sell his house and move into a lessor house, get the equity out to pay for Bowdoin or Wake… Some thing has to give, right?”</p>
<p>Not a good reason to sell a house, so kid can go to school A instead of school B…which probably doesn’t make a bit of difference in the long run. There are many great reasons to sell a house, this isn’t one of them. We spend so much of our lives and energy sacrificing for our kids, can you imagine selling your house so kid can go to school A? And then he decides to transfer, screws up, or takes a couple of years off college.</p>
<p>Unlike many of you, I think a California community college could be an excellent spot for this boy. Not the only good choice, but a solid choice. His test scores, particularly the 1 in AP US History when he had taken a course in AP US History, suggest that he would benefit from small classes where he would get intensive practice in writing-- that’s just what he’d get at a community college. </p>
<p>He is a hard worker. He’d get As in community college, work hard, learn a lot and then be able to transfer to a top tier UC. His parents would save tons of money and he’d get a good education.</p>
<p>I have, for my own entertainment and edification, taken quite a few classes from my local community college. I know what happens in classes there. The classes are small, and students who want to learn will learn. </p>
<p>Almost no community colleges have dorms, so he’d miss the dorm experience. That might be good or it might be bad, depending.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>^^That is true. OTOH, in the extreme, an house in SD could go as much as $3 million or more, the 99K EFC could went to pay for the mortgage alone and left nothing for the school. The OP is totally over extended in this case, perhaps a lessor house in the $1.5 million range is going to serve a better overall financial conditions.</p>
<p>Again, there is no indication of why a EFC 99K cannot afford a 50K tuition, thus the speculation. We have an efc 50K and we are paying for Uchicago now.</p>
<p>I think priorities need to be re-evaluated. Soccer is great—I too am a soccer mom–but college is for getting an education. If you can play soccer too, all the better. But it sound like this kid is not going to become a professional soccer player if he is playing D3 right now.</p>
<p>Find a school that fits him academically/emotionally and fits your budget. Then jump to the soccer question. Maybe he can be a walk on if the school has a team. But I cannot tell you how great the world of Intramural sports is!
My D was a D1 keeper in high school but knew the pressures of playing for a college team was not what she wanted. Mostly she would not have wanted to go to the schools that may have wanted her as a player. She wanted a BIG high profile university—and the level of players they were looking for was WAY above her skills. She accepted that and has loved playing the game via IM for the sake of loving the game. </p>
<p>If you can walk away from years of playing soccer and still love to just go out with your friend and kick the ball around…then it was all worth it.</p>
<p>I used to say No Way to Community college. I have since changed my tune. It depends on the kid and the specific CC. The same CC could be a bust for one kid and not another. I have one top of the HS student who went off to a 4 yr and crashed emotionally but not academically. After a break she went back to a CC in Florida and I was shocked at the education she received. Not as much selection as our local CC in Ca but excellent teachers and for the most part motivated older peers wanting to make a better life for themselves and their families.
I live near an excellent Ca CC. High transfer to 4 yr college rate. It is an excellent choice for a student who wants or needs to live at home. Good programs for LD. Kid 3 is taking classes as a HS student and I am extremely happy. Kid 2 has many friends who are attending yr 4 at the CC. For my son it would not have been a good fit. Not due to the CC but due to the fact that he would have been surrounded by his friends who were lazy in HS and are still lazy. He would have followed the pack. He went off to a 4 yr and will graduate in 4 yrs.
I have also seen a number of athletes go to the CC so they can play. They didn’t have the grades to go off to a 4 yr or some did not want to go off to school and sit on the bench.</p>
<p>Just got back from being gone and did a quick read but will print this thread and read later when I have more time. A lot of good advice but my only question is what is CTCL?
Community College is out of the question and something does have to give. Not sure yet what that is yet. Thank you to everyone!</p>
<p>[Colleges</a> That Change Lives | Changing Lives, One Student at a Time](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/]Colleges”>http://www.ctcl.org/)</p>