<p>I agree with mom2collegekids. My kids have varied as to which was the better test for them, but their scores have not been equal in conversion. One child’s scores were significantly better on the SAT compared to the ACT.</p>
<p>It is worth taking to see. </p>
<p>@ozziemom your DD is a good achiever - she needs to put her best foot forward and also give colleges what they want to get the merit award(s) you are looking for. Accepting the standardized test score is part of the formula and working to get that score to be the best is important.</p>
<p>Both my DDs had to work to improve ACT score - lots of practice testing and tutoring/prep courses (and if your DD might score better on SAT…) - DD1 took SAT twice and knew that wasn’t her test; DD1 retook ACT in senior year Sept, Oct - got the score needed, otherwise would have taken it again Dec; the one point gain meant $3K/yr ($12,000 total for 4 year scholarship at her school of choice). DD2 took ACT Sept, Oct, and Dec; improved score Sept and again in Dec - so ended up with Presidential Scholarship (full tuition and improved engineering scholarship - a huge increase in money at her school of choice). DD2 also took SAT for second time in Oct of Senior year w/o specific prep because there was a chance to improve scholarship - she did better but not better than ACT score. DD2 - really decreased other activities senior year so time/energy could go into this test taking. DD1 uw gpa 3.8; DD2 uw gpa 4.0 at college prep school. Both took ACT prep courses through junior year, and had individual test prep tutoring and taking practice tests early senior year.</p>
<p>Maybe you need to have a sit-down with DD. Understandably she wants to continue all her athletics and AP courses, really be a high achieving HS student, but do you want it at a financial cost (and it could be a major financial cost) or college opportunity?</p>
<p>I do know students who got ‘stuck’ on ACT 29 - however not doing the test prep that could have been done, nor taking advantage of testing opportunities. The test does vary a little at each sitting. Your DD having different subscores higher indicates to me she could get the 30 or 31 or maybe even 32. Practice to not miss the easy questions, and learn all the test taking things so that does not reduce her score.</p>
<p>She might be applying to different schools for different academic opportunities.</p>
<p>MS State has a pre-vet program that allows ?45? students to get accepted freshman year, and can continue into vet school if their grades/academic progress are good. I know two students that have taken advantage of that - they were passionate about being veterinarians. Another student I know was accepted to that program, but instead is going to AU (with less financial aid) because he is in love with many things at AU (including his friends); IMHO he will never be a vet - he had an opportunity and he decided his path. MS State didn’t hold any bells and whistles for my kids.</p>
<p>UAB has a nursing scholars program, that you apply to in HS early senior year (prior deadline has been Dec 1). UAB offers many different honors programs (very strong medical center, med school, dental school, etc) and offers decent scholarships for OOS - ACT 29 with GPA 3.5 is $12K/year for 8 semesters; ACT 30 with GPA 3.5 is $15K/year for 8 semesters. NMS and NHS get 4 years tuition, fees, and housing. If she is intent on biology, she could declare a double major (or at least nursing and be sure to have the biology courses to stay on track). The nursing scholars take up a pretty good portion of the entry junior clinical nursing seats - otherwise it is student GPA and maybe interview. There are many students that realize nursing is a good path for them, and being in the scholars program is a good safety (my DD1 is now a junior in nursing at UAB, and in honors).</p>
<p>ACT 30 (plus 3/5 GPA) can get you full tuition at UA in engineering (plus eng scholarship too, $2,500/year); otherwise you need ACT 32 with 3.5 GPA. 60% of UA freshmen last year were OOS. UA has an awesome honors program. DD2 is entering UA, studying civil eng, honors, and STEM MBA - yes, they offer a track for STEM students to take business courses during UG and then 5th year business to receive MBA.</p>
<p>Good luck with assisting your DD and helping her focus on getting to the college and program ‘best fit’ and also good on the merit. It may mean getting a fair amount of applications out, and then do some visits second semester of senior year. Be sure to get in all the deadlines during the fall. Some applications and scholarship applications are easier than others. UA and UAB applications are easy. My parenting style may be different than yours but DD1 was really reluctant to put in the effort for testing again - we held her feet to the fire about it ($12,000 is a lot of money after all) - and she did achieve the score. Much celebration also with DD2 and her Presidential award and engineering scholarship award. Both girls also received band awards at their schools, but this was totally secondary to the academic awards.</p>
<p>You may want to check out Clemson. It has a great nursing program and animal and veterinary sciences major. COA for OOS is around 40k. OOS students who rank in top 10% of HS class and have at least 1250 (CR + M) or 28 ACT receive at least 7500 annual merit. OOS students with test scores above those levels are considered for merit up to 15k annually. There are other merit opportunities in addition to these. So this could easily land you in the 30k ballpark. </p>
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<p>We’re in Illinois also, and my D had gotten two 31s on the ACT in junior year with wildly fluctuating subscores. She signed up to take the September and October tests her senior year, as well as the SAT. She got another 31 in September, but in October, the planets aligned and there was a test that played to her strengths in every subject. On that particular test, she managed to get her highest subscore in each of the 4 subjects so, even though her superscore didn’t move, her composite for that sitting jumped 2 points. That was enough to get a full tuition merit scholarship at the school she’s now attending. It was well worth the time and the test fee. When there are fluctuating subscores, you know the student is capable of getting a higher composite - it’s just a matter of getting that sitting where the high subscores come together. If you need merit money, have your daughter continue to test.</p>
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You may want to check out Clemson. It has a great nursing program and animal and veterinary sciences major. COA for OOS is around 40k. OOS students who rank in top 10% of HS class and have at least 1250 (CR + M) or 28 ACT receive at least 7500 annual merit.</p>
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is that still true? clemson has expected higher stats for merit recently. and OOS coa is over $45k (OOS tuition is highish at Clemson)</p>
<p>^ Yes, that was the OOS scholarship criteria for 2014-15.</p>
<p><a href=“Types of Aid - Student Financial Aid | Clemson University”>Types of Aid - Student Financial Aid | Clemson University;
<p>OOS tuition, fees, R & B at Clemson for 2014-15 are $40,182.00. That figure includes the full unlimited meal plan and average board charge which varies by dorm (upper class suites are on the higher side, freshman dorms mostly on the lower end). The 45K COA includes an estimate for books plus an additional @3700 in personal expenses (entertainment, laundry, etc.). I try to compare figures without the estimated variable costs because the figures used by each school are so different and many items can be obtained at lower cost. </p>