Hi, looking for a college for a friend....

Applying to College
1

<p>I feel really bad for a friend of mine. I know he's really intelligent, but SATs aren't his best friend.</p>

<p>He has a score of a little over 1400, yes on the 2400 SAT. He took it three times to, which is amazing. He hasn't taken any subject tests, or the ACT, and doesn't plan to. </p>

<p>Anyways, are there any good colleges that he can get into? He has a GPA(W) of about 3.6 i think, and dreams of going to USC... which I painfully doubt as he's not a california resident.</p>

<p>Anyways, how are things looking for my friend? Any good colleges he can get into?</p>

2

<p>Well- USC is a private university, so the California resident thing doesn't matter. I would suggest he prep for, and take, the ACT. He might do better on it.</p>

3

<p>"While I personally scored 2160..."</p>

<p>Did you really need to say that?</p>

<p>Anyway, yes...but he should try the ACT...or take it again</p>

4

<p>sorry about that, don't know what i was thinking. Anyways, I guess I'll tell him to take the ACT, since that seems to be the unified response. I don't think taking the SAT again will help. </p>

<p>Can anyone recommend some schools that he should think about? (college application season is kind of flying by, wouldn't want him to get left behind)</p>

5

<p>You might suggest he add at least a few schools to his list that don't require SATs. There are many great schools like this. You can pass along this link to your friend that lists them: <a href="http://www.fairtest.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.fairtest.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Also, if you are in California, many of the Cal State schools do not require SAT scores if your GPA is over 3.0, although some have higher admissions standards for certain majors that require higher scores. The cal state's compute their GPA like the UC's, using only certain grades in 11th and 10th grade, but with a 3.6 GPA including some honors classes, he should be above the requirement so his test scores won't matter at many of the cal states. He'll need to do some research on specific Cal State school requirements, based on his major, but he will definitely have a solid shot at many of them. He can find out more at <a href="http://www.csumentor.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.csumentor.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>As long as he has one or two "safe bet" schools like a cal state, or a school that makes submitting SATs optional, I wouldn't waste too much effort trying to discourage him from applying USC, but as you already suspect, he does need a backup plan for sure.</p>

6

<p>Whoops, I just realized that he's not a California resident. You can check the details on out of state requirements for non-residents at the same cal state site.</p>

<p>He should also check out the requirements of your local state system.</p>

7

<p>Drew is a good, non-SAT school, that people seem to like in NJ. Lawrence in Minnesota doesn't require the SAT anymore, and I know kids who went there and did very well.</p>