<p>Hello everyone, I am a long time lurker who thought I knew it all as I sent DD1 and DD2 off to their top LACs with "no problemo" only to realize DD3 is not so easy. So, I could use advice.</p>
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<li><p>Her ACT is 26 which she achieved with a 31 English, 31 Reading, 27 Science and...16 math. Yes, she had a prep class and yes she had a math tutor. Her issue is a "processing problem" she was diagnosed with in 8th grade but which I ignored (not that smart, I know)</p></li>
<li><p>Her GPA is 4.18 weighted and 3.46 unweighted mainly because she followed the non-honors track in math and got a mixture of Bs and a C. She has honors/AP in other classes (APHuman Geography, APLang and Comp, APLit, APUSHistory and APPsychology) Her science classes were honors, no AP. She goes to an inner-city high school that is well-regarded in our state. She is not URM.</p></li>
<li><p>Her Xtra-currics include Speech team (4 years, interp co-captain) and she also is the lead in her schools fall play in a very large and active drama dept. She has a few other recognition awards from her school.</p></li>
<li><p>She has a mega-watt personality and is undecided about major, but lets face it, most likely the humanities, maybe communications field. Unfortunately, she lacks confidence about college because she compares herself to her sisters (top 20LAC types) which is crazy but she is 17 and crazy. She says she wants an LAC but I don't know if that environment is too small. She is politically and tempermentally liberal and thinks schools dominated by Greek systems are the devil's spawn. She won't go "back East" (we live in a big, square state). I chose some small LACs (CTCL-types) including Lawrence University, Knox College, Willamette and University of Puget Sound. She visited and pronounced them all "fine" but has no fall in love school.</p></li>
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<p>My QUestions</p>
<p>How do colleges really look at students with her obvious weakness, counterbalanced by strengths. Are these LACs (which I consider matches) now reaches because of her math score?</p>
<p>Speaking of reaches, what would people suggest? Are there any larger but not huge schools that might work?</p>
<p>Financially, we are a full pay family but somewhat price sensitive. Do you think there is any chance for merit money? </p>
<p>She hates our state flagship although she does have an in-state, just in case, public she might consider. Her ACT is without writing. She does have one score with writing but it was 2 points lower and all over the map. Should I send both? Any advice appreciated.</p>
<p>You are in the right ball park with your college choices it sounds like, but you just haven’t hit on the right one yet. Take a look at Coe College, Cornell College, Lake Forest, Beloit, maybe Denison, St Olaf? There is a good match for her out there, you are just going to have dig a little bit for it.</p>
<p>Wow-- you just described my D. She’s a junior, hasn’t taken SAT’s yet, but this is about the result I expect. She’s good at algebra but geometry is a black hole-- she can barely tell a circle from a square, and the visual/spatial problem manifests itself elsewhere too. (Maps? Forget it.) There’s a thread somewhere for ‘lopsided’ kids that you might look at. My D is crazy about theater so we’ll follow that route but-- what on earth to do about a bright, curious, caring, very alive kid who simply can’t do some things at all?</p>
<p>…I do think an LAC is a good idea-- more support, more individuality. And I’ll be watching this thread-- I’d love to hear from parents who’ve dealt with this and found good strategies…</p>
<p>Beloit kept popping into my mind as I read your post. Has she ever taken the SAT? There’s still time to take it in November - who knows, she may score better on that, although I don’t think her overall ACT score will keep her out of the running at the schools you’re looking at. I would guess she’ll have to submit the one with the writing score though. She sounds like a hard working interesting and friendly kid with a real strength in humanities. </p>
<p>And don’t forget, there are some test optional schools around - quite a few. You might want to check into those! You can look at fair test .org (take out the spaces). Check into it soon - I just happened to look at American university just now, because I was surprised it was on the list, and even thought their website says SAT is required, i came across a Wash Post article form this summer that says it’s waived if you apply by Nov 1st. i couldn’t find anything like that on their website.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’m not recommending AU, I’m just saying there are lots of schools that are SAT/ACT optional these days, but it may take some digging to find them!</p>
<p>Is it too late for her to consider taking the SAT instead of the ACT? I have the perhaps-incorrect impression that people tend to look more at the composite in the ACT and more at the individual section numbers in the SAT.</p>
<p>She sounds a lot like what real estate agents say about a beautiful house, but without immediate curb appeal: you gotta see this! Your daughter has lots of wonderful strengths and I love your description of her megawatt personality. At first that 26 ACT doesn’t look so good, but with further probing, the admissions folks will zero-in on her strengths. Be sure to visit the colleges. It’ll positively influence the application and will allow her to fall in love. </p>
<p>Consider Kenyon, Oberlin, and even Conn. College (I know, it’s back east). I do agree that a smaller LAC will give her more support with her “processing problem” and may also have more flexible graduation requirements.</p>
<p>thanks everyone! I love the analogy about a great house that maybe lacks a little curb appeal. The problem with schools like Kenyon (which is a terrific school) is that my Naviance doesn’t show them EVER taking a kid with a 24/26 ACT from our school–of course the sample is kind of small. Do you think schools see a student like this as a potential ACT 29 (her 31 plus 31 plus 27) with a 16 anomoly we’ll ignore–or is she just a “26”. BTW, we did visit Beloit but she just “wasn’t feeling the love.”</p>
<p>WRT the SAT, I see that as a total disaster waiting to happen for a girl who got 16 on her math ACT! Her testing in math will always be poor so I figured it better not be half the test!</p>
<p>By saying you “ignored” your D’s processing issue, do you mean she never had accommodations in school or extra time on her ACT? If so, what a shame! If her school had her on record as having a learning disability, her guidance counselor could have worked that fact into her recommendation letters, to explain her poor math performance. In any case, please do have her professionally re-evaluated soon so she can take advantage of disability services at college or maybe even get exempted from certain requirements (her 8th grade diagnosis will be considered too old). And when looking at schools, do take into account the strength of the disability offices and the extent to which math and other classes that require processing skills are part of gen ed requirements–they vary considerably.</p>
<p>Is it ok if she doesn’t “love” a school? I’m worried that my kids are too in love with their ED schools, if that makes sense, and have really tried to steer them towards the “hey, they’re all great places, it’s what you make of it” mindset. IOW, can “fine” be good enough?</p>
<p>(BTW, I share with you your impressions of Lawrence, which is on my D’s list. It was charming and it’s like this hidden gem, I think.)</p>
<p>Well MommaJ, you are 100% correct–I dealt with it by letting her take the standard track in high school math and not following up on special accomodation at all. Partly because she had a fit about needing “special help” and partially because she overcompensated so much with strong verbal that I never thought how horribly it would affect her scores. OTOH, I guess the disability is now rather self-evident but I don’t know exactly what to do now. As I said, she goes to an inner city school and GC is a very good guy who has kids with problems way beyond this which I respect. Exactly how does my daughter go about explaining this to colleges (other than admitting her mother is a moron!)</p>
<p>PizzaGirl, I know my daughter wants to fall in love with a college because that is what happened with her sisters. I have tried to tell her that this is not what happens with everyone. Geez, I only had the option of falling in love with the state flagship so maybe too much choice is bad! Still, DD3 wants that intellectual environment and so we will keep looking. For the folks who brought up Denison, my D thought it was too preppy and St. Olaf was too conservative. Anyone else have suggestions about slightly bigger places where she might thrive?</p>
<p>I’m not so sure about the LAC idea. Those folks want their students to be well rounded and that includes taking maybe 8-12 hours of math. Look closely at the core requirements of every school. She might be better off at a U that requires, for example, 3 hours of algebra and that’s it. </p>
<p>My son has a very severe problem with foreign languages. We initially thought “oh, well, he’ll just have to buckle down and do it.” But he can’t seem to pass anything past the first class. His LAC requires 4 semesters and won’t waive the requirement, so it is likely we’ll be shopping for a U and a degree that doesn’t require foreign language.</p>
<p>Even with all of the accomodations in the world, your DD would never major in something or enjoy working in a career that required math skills. So, not going the honors math route is not the end of the world. However, usually “processing” issues affect more than just math. You may want to have her tested and see if she can strenghten other areas once she understands what she needs to accomodate herself. This is not to “improve” scores, rather, just to help her develop skills she may need in real life - to make life easier for her. </p>
<p>As others suggested, I would look closely at Beloit and other colleges like that. I would contact or have your daughter contact the admissions office to discuss how they would like her to address her lopsided scores. Beloit (I’m a grad) gives a lot of individual attention to prospective students. I’d just call and ask. In fact, I’d call and ask several of the colleges she is interested in. Good luck!</p>
<p>Sounds as if you should check out the College of Wooster in Ohio. Educators (like me) tend to revere it because it has a history of taking students with a shortcoming here and there and lighting their fires, intellectually as well as socially. The Greeks there are decidedly low-key. And the merit money situation is nothing short of bizarre - they give out merit scholarships to 81% of the student body that run between $14,000 - $20,500 (note: the student at the 19th-percentile got a $14K merit grant!) and 95% of the student body receives aid of some kind. To your D, COW may seem Eastern - to me, it’s not in the East.</p>
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<p>Assuming that you’re not one of the 50 or so residents of Wyoming, you may be surprised to find that Colorado isn’t actually a square (or a rectangle) - it has a wrinkle in its border with Utah. :)</p>
<p>Never knew about that wrinkle. Yes, my D does think Ohio is “in the East” but I have heard good things about COW and now I think we will add it to the list. It’s difficult to justify the expense of visiting so far away for 1 school–in her situation, would you advise it?</p>
<p>Missypie, I feel your concerns are very valid. My D has tons of math anxiety at this point and although I think she could “get through” one class (such as stat) anymore than that would be very, very tough. She is the type that attends all help sessions, volunteers to come in, will do any extra credit, nominate her teacher for “Professor of the Year” etc. (Maybe this is why she passes math now)</p>
<p>If there is a state U that your daughter likes, it might be beneficial to take whatever math is required for her major at a nearby community college. The benefits would be a small class size in the subject she struggles with and it won’t impact her university gpa because it will show up only as a transfer credit - LAC’s may or may not allow the transfer for credit but it doesn’t hurt to check out that option as well.</p>
<p>What about taking her to visit some mixtures…some big state schools offer such a great variety but with small communities inside them…Ohio State, Missouri, ,she may well find that she needs to be in a place where she can find an interesting major that isn’t so liberal artsy and offers some coursework with immediacy …also a place where she can explore her love of theatre. Those schools are so big that there is room for a large greek community and lots more. On the small side…I think Kenyon and Oberlin are major stretches with her stats but what about Centre College in Kentucky? Tiny but very accomodating for my brother with dyslexia so much so he majored in English and now is a very successful engineer! See if she will at least consider appllying to Beloit; she can reconsider if she gets in and it sounds like a great fit for someone who spurns the conventional…I know at least one of my son’s friends has gone there on full ride and is quirky and fun and excited to go to such a cool school…Last year we had a rule that one applilcation was “mom’s choice” for a school that I thought would be a great fit but he had never met anyone who went there, it sounded too big…well, he did get in and he did get merit aid and he did seriously consider it so you may want to insist on one mom’s choice application to keep her options open until April.</p>
<p>My D1’s math SAT and SAT II were horrible; she did have calc. She landed at a great LAC. She will probably never take another math class unless it’s dumbed down for general ed requirements. But, she shines in classes in her strength areas.</p>
<p>Look for schools where you think your dau is a match based on her non-math strengths, her non-math ACTs. Look for schools with academic support resources- I don’t mean for kids who wouldn’t make it through otherwise. There are many schools with writing, science, math, etc, help centers for any kid who is motivated enough to seek it out. This could make D3 less embarassed about seeking support, should she ever need it. I think this points to LACs where, in general, it’s harder for kids to slip under the radar.
A greater concern: her lessened confidence can haunt her, make or break her attitude in college. Find a way to let her know it’s typical for a 3rd kid to compare herself to the older two. Add to that, if there’s a processing issue, she needs to know she is not necessarily crippled by it. Don’t hold yur breath for her to fall in love with a school- all these factors may make the pressure too much. Just keep visiting, stay cool. Kids change soo quickly in sr year.</p>