My SAT score makes me feel like I won't get into any colleges... but I have a pretty good GPA

Applying to College
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With a 4.23w/1910 and needing financial aid, you should apply to top-tier test-optional LACs like Bowdoin, Wesleyan, and Bates (and perhaps Smith if you’re female). All 4 will meet your full financial need, although unfortunately only Bowdoin is need-blind (as in, applying for lots of financial aid may make a difference in admissions when accepting the bottom portion of the class).

With your numbers, I’d expect you to get into all UCs besides UCB and UCLA. Fortunately for you, they all emphasize GPA much more than SAT.

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@goldenbear2020 thank you! I will apply to some of those and not send scores. :slight_smile: fingers crossed!

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@goldenbear2020 would I have good chances at those schools if I don’t submit my sat score? I am going to have a great letter of rec and good essays

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@goldenbear2020 what would you say my chances are at Bowdoin, Wesleyan… Etc if I don’t submit test scores? I am going to have a great letter of rec and (hopefully) great essays

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@collegebound200 I’ll raise this one more time. Have you run the NPC’s at any of your schools? Those schools that require the CSS profile will need information from both of your parents. I feel like this is a huge gap that you haven’t addressed, unless you have and just haven’t said that here.

“With a 4.23w/1910 and needing financial aid, you should apply to top-tier test-optional LACs like Bowdoin, Wesleyan, and Bates (and perhaps Smith if you’re female). All 4 will meet your full financial need, although unfortunately only Bowdoin is need-blind (as in, applying for lots of financial aid may make a difference in admissions when accepting the bottom portion of the class).”

Are these CSS Profile schools? Will the father cooperate with financials? Does he make a lot of money or have large assets? (OK, I just checked one and Bowdoin does require the CSS Profile. Didn’t check the others suggested here.)

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@collegebound200

Well let’s look at admission rates to figure out what your chances might be, roughly:

Bowdoin admits about 14% of applicants.
Bates, Colby and Wesleyan - in the 20s%

If you applied to all four, I think your chances would be roughly the average, maybe slightly below due to your lack of a hook:

Bowdoin: ~10% (reach)
Bates/Colby/Wes: ~20% at each

BUT you can increase your chances at any school by nailing the essays, really showing them the love in your correspondence, showing how your ECs are important to you and have improved you, etc.

And really, chancing you should be seen as unreliable. Why? Because individual admissions counselors, or teams of them, make the decisions. Who knows what they, individually and collectively, value most in an application? Schools place different emphasis on different parts of the app. So – it may be that you have a better shot at Bowdoin than you do at Bates – it just depends on how you appear to the different schools. I gave those chances arbitrarily based on only the admit percentages and your lack of a hook.

Final note: Colby actually requires one of the following:

  • SAT test
  • ACT test, or
  • Three SAT II tests

So they are not entirely test-optional; they simply give you options on which types of scores you send.

As I’ve said: you’re very likely to get into a decent school. Getting into one of these high-quality, small NESCAC schools would simply provide you another great option when it’s time to make a decision.

If you did do a New England trip, you could fit in Boston U, Boston College, Wesleyan (Connecticut) and Bowdoin/Bates/Colby (Maine). You could rent a car in Boston or NYC and enjoy the week-long road trip. :slight_smile:

Well… your parent(s) would have to rent the car. :wink:

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@prezbucky thank you!

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Word up. :slight_smile:

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Those are respectable SATs, no worries! When you say your GPA is high, though, how have you done in the college level courses at your school? That’s actually very important. Actually, grades in college prep courses are ranked very high per this chart of critical admissions factors below. So, considering that there are two other factors above the SAT/ACT that colleges consider to be very important, that definitely saves you!

More importantly, I think a lot of applicants struggle w/ the standardized tests, no matter how much prep work you do. So, making sure that other parts of the application – like the essays and ECs – are solid would definitely help.

http://www.winningivyessays.com/what-everybody-ought-to-know-about-the-admissions-essay/

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@lana100sf I’ve actually only took 2 AP classes my sophomore year (APUSH & AP Stats) because my school won’t let us take AP classes during sophomore year and only let us take a max combo of 3 APs and honors and last year I took precalc honors along with the two AP classes mentioned above. I received As in both of my AP classes and even got a 5 on the APUSH exam. (Again, really hoping that will help me). This year as a senior I am taking American democracy honors (fall semester) (most likely getting an A), AP Econ (spring semester), AP Calc AB (getting a B, lol suck at math) AP Lit (getting an A). My other classes are regular because my school has a limit of 3. Colleges can see on my schools profile that our limit is 3 but I still fought with my counselor about it (and he still didn’t let me take 4! -_-) what do you think?

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Lol sorry typing on my phone leads to bad grammar. I’ve actually only taken**

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For test-optional schools, other factors such as the quality of your high school and AP scores will matter. How did you perform on your other APs besides APUSH, and how competitive is your high school’s record of sending graduates to selective colleges and universities?

Also, it’s definitely worth spending the time to polish those essays, especially the school supplements!

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@goldenbear2020 my high school does not send many graduates to selective colleges, mostly because it’s hard to be competitive against other students when you can only take 3 AP classes and people at other schools (one school in our district) take 6 in a year! :frowning:

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@collegebound200:
1° what is your EFC? Can your parents afford it? What do NPC’s say?
2° Cal Poly SLO and CPP wouldn’t be the best for history but history will be very easy to get into at Cal Poly SLO since it’s a tech/business school.
3° Apply toclleges such as Denison and Dickinson. Both are test-optional but your scores would not hurt you there. You should add some from: Skidmore, Macalester, Whitman, Centre, St Olaf, Connecticut College, Trinity CT, Occidental, Sewanee (they’re all very different in vibe: check them out -website + Princeton Review’s page or whatever guidebook you use, run the NPCs, and select a couple).

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@MYOS1634 I actually am applying to Skidmore. Do I have a decent chance of getting in? Thanks!

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Also @MYOS1634 for SLO & CPP I probably would only go to those if I knew I would end up switching my major to business. Still though, it’s more like a safety and not somewhere I really want to go.

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SLO makes it almost impossible to switch from an “easier” maor to " more selective" major. So if you go to SL, you have to be ready to ruly major in history. You could always minor in business or other fields but in all the technical areas you’ll be sitting alongside really strong math students.

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Yes, you should apply to Skidmore. Your score is decent and your grades are terrific. I think you have a good shot there.

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@lauriejgs thank you! :slight_smile:

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The key is to take demanding high school classes as much as your school offered them; if your school offered only few until junior year, that’s completely normal.