What does your daughter want to study ?
Right now, psychology or journalism. She’s definitely a liberal arts kid.
For journalism, the University of Missouri should be considered.
@ProKap She should look at other colleges which are SAT optional. I was thinking that Emerson would be an excellent choice for somebody with interests in journalism, Hofstra is both has excellent journalism program and is test optional. I would second @Publisher’s recommendation for Bucknell, which is also test optional. Arizona State is another university which is test optional and has a top journalism program
Quite a few of the really good liberal arts colleges are test optional, and Beloit is just around the corner from you.
I think that both Beloit and Arizona State would be safeties.
While NYU is a reach because of its low acceptance rates, it is test flexible, meaning that three AP scores can be submitted instead of ACTs or SATs. So if your daughter does well on three AP tests, she will be as competitive for NYU as anybody with a much higher ACT.
It should be more than considered - it is one of the top journalism schools in the country.
With so many test optional colleges with excellent journalism programs, I think that your daughter has excellent chances at attending a great college, even if her SATs and ACTs do not improve all that much.
PS. I first thought that your daughter went to my kid’s HS (very large and diverse in IL), but her high school doesn’t any National Honor Societies to which a student could be inducted before their Junior year.
^ re NYU being test flexible, the 3 APs have to have breadth - at least one STEM is required, so that weakness can’t be hidden (I don’t believe I saw the science ACT score but assume it’s not great?) Also, full pay is only an advantage in that it allows one to apply ED (where there is indeed a definite advantage at NYU) - admissions is needblind for domestic applicants so it confers no general admission advantage. ACT mid50 of the entering class of 2022 was 30-34, by the way.
While it’s been correctly said above that American shouldn’t be generally regarded as a safety, if OP’s D really likes it, then it should be noted that there is a very high chance of admission if applying ED (north of 80%). It’s my understanding their Journalism program is very good, and admission is to the college and not by school.
“BU, BC, and NYU are all reaches, not targets.”
That depends more on the applicant than the college, you can’t really generalize like that. Since all use ED and BU/BC use ED 2 as well, the admission rates are distorted and they appear more selective than they are. In the neighborhood high schools, for NYU anyway, the acceptance rate was 40%, and if you’re over 3.9/1500, it’s a match school.