No idea where my niece stands - any advice any advice appreciated

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hey all - first off I appreciate any advice you could give me regarding my questions about helping my niece (a hs junior) who I am mentoring apply to college. When i did this ~8 years ago I was lucky enough to be in a household where I had access to SAT tutoring, etc. and got a 1500 out of 1600, applied to ivys, etc. and just went where I got in. It's going to be different with her due to standardized testing difficulties, so I would like help knowing how to approach a list of schools for her to apply to, and deciding what's reasonable, a reach, and maybe not worth it, based on her stats.</p>

<p>NJ Resident</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9/4.0, a bunch of honors classes, slated to take a few AP's senior year.</p>

<p>SAT: right now she's scoring 550 per section, putting her around 1650. She wants to take it for the first time in February or March. If anyone is able to direct me to any 3 month study plans or any longer term study plans that would be amazing. I have suggested she use the Kaplan online materials, Kaplan SAT 2400, Kaplan course guide book (she took a kap course), Hot Words for the SAT, some vocab flash cards, Word Power Made Easy, and the blue book. We're going to set a study schedule.</p>

<p>EC's: Let's assume average to below average EC's. The only thing I know she does is spend a lot of time volunteering with children at a day care.</p>

<p>Other questions I have: how many SAT II's should she take? Back in my day we had to take the SAT II writing (which now is part of the SAT), and a couple others.</p>

<p>Assuming she ends up with a 1700, what is a reach school for her? What about a 1900? 2000? </p>

<p>These are some schools she's looking into:
Columbia, Hopkins, Cornell, Georgetown, Brown, NYU, Rutgers, BU, Drexel, Penn State, TCNJ, Tufts, BC, Lehigh, Northeastern, UConn, Maryland, Syracuse, Fordham, Haverford, Vassar, Hamilton, Wesleyan, Colgate, Bucknell, Lafayette</p>

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<p>How about skipping all of this and choosing schools that don’t require scores for admission?</p>

<p>I’m not talking about Dinky Middle of Nowhere College. There’s a growing list of reputable schools (places you’ve heard of) that have made SAT/ACT optional. You can find them elsewhere on this site and at a site for Fairtest, an organization that has crusaded against the tests for years.</p>

<p>Then you can start with other questions: what she wants to study, where she wants to go (city, country, middle of nowhere), kinds of degree requirements she’s ok about (language, math, lab science, gym, compulsory chapel, community service, and so on), how much she can afford. </p>

<p>It’s true that high test scores can help her get merit aid, but it sounds like she will have lots of trouble getting those high scores.</p>

<p>If she enjoys working with children, she may end up in a field that doesn’t pay very well. So she should keep her debt very low. Your list includes a lot of expensive, very selective schools I’d never choose for elementary or early childhood education.</p>

<p>See if there’s a NJ public school on the test optional list. From some work I did recently, I know there’s at least one SUNY school there, though I don’t remember which one. Look at women’s colleges and Catholic colleges, too. They tend to admit more holistically, and some of those are test optional.</p>

<p>Instead of spending your time and money on the SAT industry, take her to a few places she thinks she’ll enjoy. The Discover NJ Arts website lists a lot of suggestions, from mainstream to edgy, and offers discounts. You’ll broaden her world and have some fun together.</p>

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<p>About the testing issues: are these challenges she had had for a long time or are they new? Typical causes for this type of discrepancy between the HS GPA and standardized exams are:
English language learner (take the TOEFL as well to help colleges interpret the SAT scores)
Miss-match with SAT (take the ACT instead)
Poor exam strategies (pick any exam prep course or software or just study at home with Xiggi’s method)
Test-induced anxiety (get help from the guidance counselor and school psychologist to develop strategies for coping with the anxiety, and/or get help from your own physician)
Previously unidentified processing issues (again this needs sorting out with the counselor and school psychologist and possibly an outside expert, but with proper documentation can result in extended time or other accommodations for testing)
As you see, each cause on this list has a different “fix”. Some are short term issues, but others are long term and can continue to pose challenges for her in college. Help her get this sorted out now. </p>

<p>What does she want to study, and how much money is available? Has she identified a rock-bottom dead-on safety where she can be happy? Has she looked at the no-test and test optional list at [The</a> National Center for Fair & Open Testing | FairTest](<a href=“FairTest Home - Fairtest”>http://www.fairtest.org?)</p>

<p>One bad tester I know who finished HS with a 4.0 was very happy at Guilford. But that may be too small, and a bit out of your cousin’s geographic range.</p>

<p>Wishing both of you all the best!</p>

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<p>Add a few test optional schools to the list - Holy Cross, Gettysburg and maybe Bates.</p>