<p>My D is a jr this year and visited Grinnell in the fall--it is tops of her list at this point. She just got her 1st scores (will retest in spring) and so far has 2060 SAT and 30 ACT. Her math SAT was just at 600 so she is working on that. She is top 10% of class, 4.5 WGPA, 8 yrs in gifted program, many APs this yr and next. She has many ECs, mostly arts and volunteer types, including several art awards in contests, plus law post and jr classical league. She is taking courses at cmmty college during summers 05 and 06. She is very much her own person, artsy and indvidualistic. She plans to major in psych with art and pre-law concentrations. She just got her first C in dual-credit calculus, and she is terrified that will hurt her in applications. Her scores seem in the middle area of Grinnell's 50-75 range to me. Does she have a reasonable shot at acceptance or is Grinnell a big reach for her? She will need decent merit aid to make this or any LAC affordable. and I worry that if her SAT in spring doesn't rise she may not qualify.</p>
<p>this year she sounds like a match (if her gpa is still that high with the C in calc), but since the scores go up every year im not sure, if they go up a good amount it might be a reach, but definately apply!!!</p>
<p>I just got in ED. Your daughters GPA is higher than mine but i had a higher ACT. If your daughter really wants to go to grinnell i would suggest considering ED. But like stated before, test scores are starting to go up. So i'm not completely sure!</p>
<p>I think your daughter will probably be accepted. It may be worth investing in a tutor to help her up her math SAT score. I doubt a 600 will keep her from being admitted, but it may impact the size of her merit award. It may seem expensive now - but when she gets a couple thousand dollars more in merit aide, you'll think it's a bargin!</p>
<p>She's a match. If she shows genuine enthusiasm for Grinnell, that will increase her chances.</p>
<p>Here's a very helpful tip: If you do get merit, do NOT calculate the total cost of Grinnell by simply multiplying what you expect to pay for the first year by four. Tution has been rising steeply for the last several years: in the last five years, tuition has gone up 5, 7.5, 5.5, 4 and 6.5 percent, respectively. Many of this year's graduating seniors, especially the ones who were initially attracted by merit aid, graduated paying several ten thousand dollars more than they had initially expected. So much for a good deal, eh? Tuition is probably going to go up again. If you do apply to Grinnell, be sure to ask the financial aid people probing questions regarding merit aid.</p>