<p>Has your daughter thought about the Cronkite school at Arizona State?
It is one of the best media / communications / journalism schools in the nation, and they give HUGE merit aid to national achievement scholars. Please take a look if you haven't - it could be an almost free extremely high caliber communications degree, if I'm understanding their web site correctly.</p>
<p>Wow! Please allow me to thank all of the CCers that have responded, including a few who sent me PMs - your advice and encouragement are really appreciated. </p>
<p>A couple of answers to questions that were posed in replies to my OP:</p>
<p>I will encourage DD to add the ASU Cronkite school to her list, as well as USC, Northwestern, and some of the LACs that were mentioned in this thread.</p>
<p>She has taken math during all semesters/quarters in her High Schools (note plural, as she has attended two high schools - in two different geographical areas), and has earned all As, with the exception of one B during the 2006 Winter quarter (her only B in high school). Additionally, she plans on taking AP Calculus during her senior year.</p>
<p>In regards to the question from momrath as to why there is a discrepancy between her M and other SAT scores, we are trying to figure that out...
I wish we could pinpoint the exact problem so that we could address it. I have even offered to pay for a private tutor to work with her, but she was not too enthused with this idea.</p>
<p>DD has agreed to take the SAT in October - not sure how this will work if she applies EA to her dream school, which at this point is Stanford, but may change. She will also take the ACT in June. I encouraged her to take a look at the Xiggi method, and will work with her on it.</p>
<p>I would, again, like to thank all CCers that responded to my original post. Your advice, comments and encouragement have really helped us.</p>
<p>The October SAT works fine for EA application. Some schools also accept November SAT scores.</p>
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<p>In that case I would really encourage your daughter to enlist the help of a math teacher to write an explanatory note as an addendum to one of her references. At selective schools, references are taken very seriously so she should choose her recommenders carefully and give them background information to help them write a comprehensive report.</p>
<p>Another idea, depending on the personality involved, would be to ask the high school college or guidance counselor for help. If s/he knows your daughter s/he could consolidate the teachers' impressions.</p>
<p>She should take the ACT, take the SAT one more time, then forget about it! Work on controlling what she can control her essays and the overall quality of her applications. Also, round out the list of schools to include a few more in the less selective range and consider a few LACs. </p>
<p>On the subject of Stanford I think this is one of the most selective schools on her list. All of my sons classmates who were accepted had perfect scores (plus being outstanding in every other field). I dont mean to be unnecessarily discouraging as I sincerely think that your daughter has a lot to offer, but I think she needs to strategize carefully on how to compensate for her weak math scores. I believe it can be overcome, but it needs a thought through plan.</p>
<p>To me, this is not just a case of being lopsided. A kid who gets almost all As in math and does AP Calculus is not lopsided; shes actually quite good at math. Theres just something thats not clicking in her standardized test taking. Has she taken a basic SAT prep course?</p>
<p>(By comparison I thought my son was a classic lopsided kid: Total concentration on arts, humanities. No math or science senior year. All B's and an occasional C in math/science. His math SATI score, however, was only 60 points below his verbal.)</p>
<p>I would encourage her to take some practice SAT math section tests. I take it your DD is in precalc now. The test contains arith. Alg I and II and geometry, subjects that may be remote to her as she is in more advanced math. Taking the practice tests allows you to see what mistakes you are prone to make.</p>
<p>My SAT scores were very similar to your daughter's. I, too, was concerned my low math score was going to keep me out of a good college. If she's interested, I highly recommend the SAT-optional LACs. There are some excellent ones including Bowdoin, Bates, Hamilton, and Holy Cross. I'm going to Bates next year, and I'm so thankful that there are some top colleges out there who consider more than just standardized testing! Best of luck!</p>
<p>And Middlebury: requires some form of standardized test but it does not have to be either SAT I or ACT; it could be SAT IIs, which sounds like it mightwork well for your D.</p>
<p>Ok, anyone who can get A's through trig has got to be doing something technically wrong on the SAT. </p>
<p>I speak as someone who still has horrifying anxiety dreams about math, who would wet my pants if I had to take AP Calculus-- but nonetheless I managed a 690 in math (in the old days, before recentering!) because it is EASY math on this test; alg 1 and geo. My guess is she's probably overthinking the questions, or getting tripped up on time (doing the problem rather than eliminating obviously wrong answers). I'd be surprised if she's having an actual problem with the level of skill. </p>
<p>I agree with above posters, learn how to take the test, what trick questions look like, etc. Her 590 is probably not going to keep her out of a good college with everything else going for her, but why not polish up that math score a bit for some peace of mind?</p>
<p>Have her do her app really early for Michigan (rolling) and you'll find out fast whether or not you need another match/safety. I agree with other posters that Mich and Syracuse are very reasonable for her. Emory or Vanderbilt would be others that fit the general "feel" of her list.</p>
<p>Even a kid with your D's stellar list of achievements should make sure the matches and safetys are schools she'd be HAPPY to attend.</p>
<p>SBMom, I think that some kids just need more time. They may need to work out a problem on paper through several steps, for example; they do fine in school because that's the kind of work teachers like to see. But for the math SAT they need to come up with a quick answer and move on .... "show your work" doesn't matter; there is no such thing as the partial credit that a math teacher may give for getting the formulaes right even if the answer is wrong. </p>
<p>So what happens on the SAT is that the student either fails to complete all the questions, or they rush to get through but then make errors along the way.</p>