<p>I have a good friend who has a junior HS daughter who is currently ranked #10 out of a class of 600. Obviously a good student by her school's standards. This family is hoping she will get a full academic scholarship somewhere. The problem is she didn't perform very well on the PSAT last year and she took AP World History and didn't pass the exam even though she has an A in the class. I suspect (knowing our local schools pretty well) that the school isn't all that great and while she is smart and a good student, in a more challenging school she probably wouldn't be ranked so high. Though being ranked #10 out of a class of 600 is pretty awesome in its own right. The average SAT score at this school is 990. Last year the school only had 1 NMSF out of 600 students, whereas the private school my son attended had 10 out of a class of 65. To date, her EC's have consisted of one school play and one year of chorus. </p>
<p>I've been advising my friend that she really might want to look into an SAT prep class for her daughter because having gone through the college application process the year before last with my son, we quickly realized that colleges look at not only grades, but test scores and ECs. Being lop-sided doesn't mean you won't get in but when handing out big scholarships, colleges seem to be looking for the total package. While this young lady would probably get into any school in our state (no top tier schools here) I'm not so sure that a full academic ride is in the cards for her unless her SAT/ACT score is consistent with her grades. While my friend and her family have plenty of money, they are not ones to invest much in this type of thing and the daughter doesn't seem overly motivated to study on her own.The good news is she is planning to take the SAT in the spring and if she doesn't do well, she would still have the summer to take a prep course before retaking it in the fall. However, the parents seem pretty convinced that class ranking alone will get their daughter a full scholarship at a good school. Also, they are only planning to let her apply to 3 colleges.</p>
<p>I'm just curious....am I wrong to suggest that it's important to have test scores consistent with one's GPA/Class ranking when looking for a full ride?</p>
<p>Prep classes can help, but only so much. She needs to put in the time practicing regularly and with purpose. There’s plenty of advice on how to stude for the SATs, but it boils down to effort over a long period of time to really bring SAT scores up. In our town, at the public school, many students start taking a course and doing regularly practice tests in or before 9th grade. I am not voicing an opinion on whether that approach is good or bad, but remember, that is who she is competing against when taking the test (sure there are also naturals, but that doesn’t sound like her).</p>
<p>I guess I wouldn’t be advocating so much for a prep course, except I know they are really counting on a full ride and given her standardized test history, if it were my kid, I would be doing everything I can to make sure she scored as high as possible. I don’t think a prep course is necessary for everyone but it appears she’s one of those smart kids in a school that doesn’t require much effort to get good grades and thus, is only lukewarm in her study habits. The fact that she couldn’t pass the AP history exam and yet had the highest grade in the class speaks volumes to me about the school.</p>
<p>At my son’s college…the state flagship, they only give 10 full rides a year for a class of 5,000. They do give out other scholarship money but it’s not 100% and to get the full scholarship, not only do you need to be at the top of your class but have at least a 1400 on the SAT. I know because my son’s BF and roommate was one of the 10 last year.</p>
<p>Anyway, I was really more curious about whether my hypothesis about needing not only a great class ranking but top scores in order to get a full scholarship was correct. I’m sure there are schools out there that give substantial scholarships for lesser stats but as I said, they are only planning to apply to a few in-state schools, thus limiting their options.</p>
<p>can she take the ACT…some kids do better on this one and vice versa… there may still be scholarships out there for her…just maybe a little lower down in the “rankings”</p>
<p>If a high GPA/class ranking alone netted a big scholarship, then there would be lots and lots of kids across the country with big merit money scholarships. Most colleges require the high GPA/high score combination. My son attends an OOS university. A student needs a 1400+/32 on the ACT and a minimum of a 3.5 GPA to land a full tuition scholarship.</p>
<p>She might look at one of the growing number of test-optional schools. I don’t know how many of them offer big scholarships to no-test kids, but it might be worth checking out.</p>
<p>Thanks, that’s what I figured. I’ll keep encouraging her to get her daughter to take the test(s) more seriously. I think it can be very confusing for parents who are sending their kids off to college for the first time. I learned a ton on CC that the GCs and the college admission counselors didn’t want to come right out and say. I’ll also suggest that if they are really looking for a full ride they need to do some more research on which colleges are more likely to do that and that they will probably need to cast a wider net.</p>
<p>I think this is the type of case where SAT/ACT scores have relevance to colleges. Although she is in the top 10 of her class, the bar is not very high at this school based on their average SAT scores. Also, the fact that she received an A in AP World History but could not pass the AP exam speaks volumes to the rigor of the actual class. What colleges is she thinking of applying to?</p>
<p>@momreads: Does he go to bama? We are looking for the same thing, my D barely makes that (32ACT, 4.0, 10AP’s) We need a full ride somewhere, anywhere.</p>
<p>You’re being a good friend and trying to be helpful to this student. However, I think there’s just so much you can do. Sometimes people have to find out for themselves. I think another way you can help is to advise that they build their list from the bottom up, in other words, have a safety or two that the student would be happy to attend that’s affordable, ad leave it at that. They are barking up the wrong tree here, but if she has a safety on her list, at least she will end up somewhere.</p>
<p>If she’s only going to be allowed to apply to three colleges one of them better be really safe! Test prep can help. Our school’s average scores went up 100 points a section when they instituted a free/low cost course. If they could afford a tutor rather than a course that might be even more helpful. I’d suggest the student talk sooner rather than later about what sort of colleges historically students with this girl’s stats have gotten into and what sort of schools gave out merit money. There are colleges out there that give out merit money for surprisingly low SAT scores, they just aren’t well known places. For example check out the guaranteed scholarships at the College of Saint Rose: [Undergraduate</a> Admissions | The College of Saint Rose](<a href=“http://www.strose.edu/undergraduateadmissions]Undergraduate”>First Year Admissions | The College of Saint Rose)</p>
<p>I’m curious as to how, as a junior, she has already taken the PSAT? My junior son will be taking it in on Oct 12 and I thought all of the juniors in the U.S. took it at the same time.</p>
<p>Maybe she took a trial PSAT when she was a sophomore? If so do you know what her score was?</p>
<p>*@momreads: Does he go to bama? We are looking for the same thing, my D barely makes that (32ACT, 4.0, 10AP’s) We need a full ride somewhere, anywhere. *</p>
<p>Olipond…</p>
<p>my son is at Bama. Yes, your D’s stats would get the Presidential scholarship for free tuition. </p>
<p>Also, if she majors in engineering or comp sci, she’d get an additional 2500 per year. If not, then she’d still get the free tuition. </p>
<p>Bama has a brand new mega-sized Science and Engineering Complex. The campus is gorgeous, the academics are strong, and the people are friendly. This year’s frosh class is over 50% out of state. a new record. The entire student body is about 45% OOS. Bama enrolled over 500 Presidential scholarship recipients this fall. And, enrolled 182 NMFs this fall…another new record.</p>
<p>Here’s a video of the College of Arts and Sciences which gives a view of the school. The Shelby building which is shown in the video was Phase I of the new Science and Engineering Complex. Phase III completes next month. The SEC Complex is huge.</p>
<p>[The</a> University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences “This is How College is Meant to Be” - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>She took it in 10th grade - the school tests everyone. Not uncommon. My son’s school starting taking it in 9th grade. It gives the kids exposure to the test and it’s good practice leading up to the 11th grade when they use the score for the NMSF.</p>
<p>I don’t remember what the score was but I looked up the percentiles for her and I believe it was slightly above average.</p>
<p>you might want to send them this link so that they can see that large merit scholarships typically require more than “high ranking” or “high GPA”…</p>
<p>There is a very large pool of students with high GPAs…(many high schools are graduating kids with 10 or more Perfect GPAs).</p>
<p>There is a smaller pool of students with very high ACT/SAT scores.</p>
<p>There is an even smaller pool of students who have both high GPAs and high test scores. **The students with both have the best chances of getting great merit scholarships **from the schools that give them…as long as the test scores are well within the top 25% (often the top 5-10% of the school).</p>
<p>Some people argue that GPA is more important for merit scholarships, but when you see scholarship offers like:</p>
<p>Then obviously several students could have a 4.0, but the test score is what determined the scholarship award. And, a student with a 4.0 and an ACT 27 would get nothing…while the student with a 3.5 and an ACT 32 waltzes away with free tuition.</p>
<p>momof2collegekids,
D2 might apply to this school. She qualifies for free tuition based on her ACT(PLAN) that she took in sophomore and her 4.0 uw GPA . Does Alabama have 4 seasons? I’ve only been to Alabama in the summer and it was freaking hot.</p>