@ucbalumnus , law school was her interest. There is no pressure from parents. Actually we’re concerned that if her personality suits that field. We’re all from STEM/IT background.
Suggestion - lay off your kid. She’s burnt out. The year is late in school. She’s done. Maybe you can revisit in Summer.
Maybe she can take the test site unseen - my kid had an 8 point swing in English - sometimes one sitting is more difficult than another - yes, he had a 32 and a 24 on the same subject. You should need one or two points total - to get your superscore to the next leve (if you’re at 28 even, you need two points…if you’re at 28.25, you need one point (on the four sections) to go to 29.
But each time you bring it up, you’re pushing her back.
I showed above - many of the schools above are in range with a 28 - which is a very good score.
American and GW will be more about demonstrated interest than the test. IU will be a given as will George Mason. CMU is likely not right for her…but it’s ok.
At IU, for example, you’re above the 25% - oh, and only 59% even submitted.
Kids have spells - maybe something is wrong at school or the student is depressed or classwork is boring, etc.
Law is mainly reading and writing - so it needs to come from them - and frankly just because someone says they want to do something at 16 has zero basis to they actually will. And where she goes - whether Indiana or Western Carolina won’t matter for law school attendance. Just look at the colleges kids go to Harvard Law from - 174 of them.
So relax. She has a 28. She’ll likely come around on her own. But the 28 is a high score!!
You wanting to push it, seeking strategies to push it - is going too far.
I was you - and I wish I knew better. Now I do 
Good luck.
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@tsbna44 , you’re totally mistaken me. This is all just preparation and I am definitely going to take her opinion on what she wants to do before signing up on anything. I am just gathering information. I totally agree Law school is heavy reading and writing. We very well know that she’s not good at both but still we’re ok with that hoping that she will learn and work hard if she’s really interested. I am not at all putting any pressure on her. I will definitely ask her, also all this enquiry is for Summer only if she’s interested. Anyways thanks for your suggestions.
ahhhhhh - sorry - yes, i’m mistaken.
I guess I’d say - you offered her tutoring but it’s fair to say, if you don’t do the necessary in between exercises, why would I pay?
And then let it go. Til she’s come around to it - and she likely will with some down time.
Sorry about the misinterpretation.
Even at a 28, good schools are already in the mix - and if she likes GW but it’s too urban, look at Charleston.
But college prep and app time is far more stressful to these kids than it needs to be. I don’t get it - it’s not that hard…but it is 
Good luck.
@tsbna44 , no problem!
I totally understand that application process is very challenging. We’re experienced with our older kid. She is actually much more motivated and stron academically but still it was tough and it’s going to be much more tough with D24.
Thank you so much for your time and suggestions.
A counselor would not handle diagnosing ADHD or learning challenges, though some might bring up the possibility. Sometimes, in 10th or 11th grade, kids who have compensated up until that point, begin to hit the higher work load and certain issues can emerge. I am not into pathologizing. Only encouraging you to look a little deeper if the apparent motivation issues continue in other areas.
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@compmom , thank you! I think she’s ok with friends, texting and enjoyed PROM this weekend. So hopefully that’s not the issue. I am interested in hearing from any experienced parents with these issues.
Stop the tutoring. Tell her you are proud of her. Explain what your max budget is per year for colleges for her. Let her finish her junior year without anymore college talk.
My son was the opposite, he totally lost motivation and dropped his gpa to about a 3.3-3.4. This was a kid who was pushed 2 years ahead in math and was in the gifted and talented program. With many schools going test optional or even test blind, his high ACT score only helped at a few random schools.
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I agree with this.
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Thank you all! If she decides not to take it again, should we submits the current score or no?
It depends on the colleges she applies to.
As noted above, for some colleges, a 28 ACT will be fine.
@tsbna44 mentioned this upstream.
What is her GPA? And has she taken a strong course of study?
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If it makes you feel better, Uconn is supposedly looking for OOS kids because they want the extra tuition money.
You may have a shot at Uconn.
We’ve never visited Uconn but supposedly it’s in the middle of nowhere (lots of cows and homemade ice cream).
CT resident here. What is this student’s class rank and GPA….and has she taken a strong courseload in HS.
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@thumper1 , she’s currently at 3.74 ugpa and 4.1 wgpa. She took apush, ap bio, ap micro, ap macro, ap comp and ap gov till now. Planning for ap psych and ap stats next year. School doesn’t rank and counselors doesn’t share that information.
If she wants to study Econ, she may want to take AP Calculus.
If your school offers a lot of APs and the colleges consider rigor, she may want want to take a few more APs in core classes.
I’d look at that more closely than taking the ACT. That’s just my opinion.
Agree!
@CFP , she took ap calc AB in the 1st sem but unfortunately she couldn’t handle it that well and ended up with C. She noticed that some if her from dropped out of it in the 2nd semester and even she wanted to do the same. So she changed it regular calc 3 in the 2nd semester. I had to accept her decision as she was stressed out that time. She had some gaps in alg 2 during covid. Our school didn’t do a good job during covid, they just tied up with some online school without much support. So I strongly feel she has some fundamental gaps. I think she should take some prerequisites in college and work calculus to have some good math background.
Deleted. I see @thumper1 covered.
I’d add and the CDS is two years old but UCONN rates the test very important but less than half submitted. So a 28 is above the 25th percentile so it’s not going to hurt. But maybe not help.
The UCONN website shows a 1318 - doesn’t say avg or median for last year so that’s a 28 equivalent.
Again if she’s taken it just once, sue may well very go up just by taking it again in superscore.
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What we have been hearing from colleges we visited this year is do not submit if below the median score.
Please note that for schools that use the FAFSA, having more than one student in college at a time will no longer create a decrease in the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) next year. The NPCs are still basing everything on this past school year and have not yet been adjusted to reflect the forthcoming change. It is not yet known how schools that use the CSS will handle the situation of more than one kid in college at a time.
What is your budget per kid?
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