I’m making a list of reach schools for my nephew and I would love some help. On the plus side he is a mostly A student (some Bs), has taken all of the AP classes offered at his school, is a second degree black belt in Karate, runs track, has an after school job, and is geographically diverse (rural Appalachian town). On the minus side he scored a 21 on the ACT on his first go and is planning to retake it though realistically he will only be able to change that by a few points. Also, he is a bit directionless and has no idea what he wants to major in. Any ideas on what are the best schools he has a chance at?
Are there any budget restrictions? If so, one way to narrow it down is to figure out budget, and then go from there.
If the budget/EFC is small, then may need to look at in-state options or schools that have generous financial aid. But some of the schools that have generous aid might need higher test scores.
If his test scores don’t increase too much, then he might want to look at test optional schools.
Can you help him with test prep? It doesn’t have to be expensive - there are free online practice tests (at least there are for the SAT) and he could buy or check out books that have old tests in them. Sometimes kids make huge gains with just a little more exposure to the material or with introduction to some basic test taking strategies.
If he can’t get the test scores up, there are test optional schools so don’t despair. But he’d have a lot more options if he could get raise his ACT or get a good score on the SAT. Has he tried the SAT?
Test-optional good schools he may want to consider –
Earlham–just a lovely school
Bard
Allegheny–you take a major and a very different minor
Hampshire
Goucher–cross reg at Johns Hopkins
Knox
Beloit–relatively cheap
Hendrix
St. Olaf–a very kind, school with great internships and excellent FA–not sure if this is test optional
In-state matching tuition program: U of Maine at Orono
How involved is a parent? I would check about budget and their thoughts in general before going much further. Community college, instate schools are always an option.
I definitely agree that test preparation can help a lot with the ACT scores.
I also agree that he and his parents need to figure out the budget. This is a very good place to start.
Does he want a large school or a small school? Visiting a couple of each can help a lot. One daughter started with a visit to a school that she definitely didn’t want to apply to because it was close – it was an easy trip to give her some sense of what you see when you visit a school and at least some sense of what to think about.
Also, does your nephew know whether he might be interested in a STEM field, or something more “liberal arts” related? I will admit that I have seem students switch between rather dissimilar fields, which might suggest a school with a wide range of majors.