<p>@kidzncatz, while I don’t know the answer to your question, my advice would be for you to give the ACT a shot anyway. The fee is nominal in the grand scheme of college expenses. </p>
<p>@kmanshouse…we are out of town for the June ACT, but I see it’s offered in September. I think I will talk to DS and have him do a test out of the book when we get back, to see how he does. Depending on his attitude and wants, July and August he could study with a tutor. He would have to want this…I’m not making him do it. I also understand the OOS issue, about breaking away…going somewhere that people haven’t specifically heard of. So many things to think of and consider.</p>
<p>@conmama - If you and your son are willing to consider OOS schools, you might want to look at Edinboro Unversity in PA. The most recent acceptance rate was 87% and there is a new incentive for OOS students entering in 2014 and 2015, with tuition only 5% more than instate (should be less than $10,000).</p>
<p><a href=“ACT Registration | ACT Testing Dates | The ACT Test”>ACT Registration | ACT Testing Dates | The ACT Test; </p>
<p>ACT test dates for the fall</p>
<p>@kmanshouse Yes, I agree. I’ll encourage my son to prep this summer for the Sept. ACT.</p>
<p>@conmama I would highly recommend you and your son read the BAD TEST TAKER (ACT ). It teaches maximum gains for score with the test (quality versus quantity answers right)
You should be able to get through this on your vacation it’s a easy read 
</p>
<p>It made it easier for my daughter and gave her confidence </p>
<p>@ Kidzncatz, thanks! I’m going to look at that school, if anything out of curiousity. @ Hoosier…I’m going to see if I can get that from the library. I would really like DS to WANT to take the ACT. I have a feeling he might not trust me anymore. I bought this SAT Math strategy book and worked about 30 hours with him. Since I worked with him, it made ALOT of sense to me and had great tips (I think for the average student), their SAT Math score would definitely have gone up. I know mine would have. He took 4 practice SAT math tests in all, each time after spending about 5-6 hours learning new tips. His score only budged 20 points on the practice tests. And of course, his SAT this time was lower than the first SAT. I’m sure he’ll think…well thanks to you MOM and your great study strategy books, my SAT was LOWER than ever! LOL! </p>
<p>Well, my son’s scores in all three sections improved this time around but I did not say anything to him this morning…I think that would be the best he could perform as far as SAT is concerned. About the midday I received several “go to hell” messages from him (he must find out about his scores at school) about how some kids “just walked in” and got 2100s, how his friends boasted about their scores even without any prep while he scored the lowest among all his friends with PREP. I am sick and tired of all these impacts of standardized testing do to our kids. </p>
<p>Sending hugs your way conmama! </p>
<p>@sunnydayfun are the scores in the range for your son? If so print off the common data and show it to him.
My D had a major breakdown when her ACT came in in April the look of her face I’ll never forget, I too damn the system.</p>
<p>Sad because a lot of kids would love to score in the upper 20’s not her group they all were in the 30’s</p>
<p>All teens find acceptance from their peers more important than adults realize or care to remember when we were their age.</p>
<p>Just think in 18 months no one will care or remember what you got on the ACT or SAT. </p>
<p>
You are right! I will remind my son of that. Sometimes he just chooses to let the peer pressure and ego get to him. I am Ok with the scores because the scores will qualify for the minimum OOS scholarships at two schools he is interested in as long as he keeps up with his GPA. </p>
<p>@kidzncatz
For your son who likes to work out, what about a career as a firefighter? They have great pensions and can retire at a young age with a good pension for the rest of their lives. Just brainstorming.</p>
<p>The linked thread of schools with a COA less than 25K per year may be of assistance to some members of this thread. Most of the schools have lower admissions requirements: <a href=“VERY LOW COST OOS COA universities......less than $25k COA for everything! - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1651944-very-low-cost-oos-coa-universities-less-than-25k-coa-for-everything-p1.html</a></p>
<p>Again shout out to @bunheadmom!!!
Thanks for the link and thanks for the support you have given to this group.
My D, if finals go well, will technically (gpa) be out of this group.
But I find this group to helpful and to kind, to depart it. It has served me well the last two years.<br>
I want to be able to celebrate at the end of next year when our dear kiddos are launched, with this great group.</p>
<p>@Hoosier96 please stay. I think D is also technically out of this group but her unweighted GPA still being under 3.5 makes this group more suitable. Certainly, the colleges suggested here are realistic options. The 2015 thread group is great and very supportive but Georgetown, UC Berkeley, Lafayette, or Kenyon are just not options for D. </p>
<p>@slackermommd like I said in the post before I can’t leave until we celebrate launching our peeps!!!
I know your D is retaking the ACT are you starting to see a plateau in scores?
My D refuses to practice but I believe the in action is really a case of anxiety rearing its head; she afraid of disappointment that may happen.
I hope we get a 2 point raise in score because it m</p>
<p>I don’t know why my sentence was not completed. 2 more points make her schools either matches or safeties. </p>
<p>@Hoosier96, while D’s scores have gone up, they don’t seem to have plateaued. Does this mean she can still go down in score? (yikes) You may want to take a practice exam with her. Trust me, with D it worked as a motivator. She felt great when her initial Reading. score easily topped mine, and then she worked hard to beat my Math score and felt great when she did (we started off with the same composite score but different section scores). </p>
<p>Her math has definitely improved from October until now. She says taking pre-calc alone makes a big difference. I can see that with the trig and unit circle problems (I loathe the circle problems). The Reading section has always been her best and she scores in the low 30s so I’m not worried there. Her English still needs work - it hit a plateau without much upward movement. Her Science is the most variable (seriously, anywhere from 24 to 35), so I haven’t a clue what to do about that. More practice tests I guess.</p>
<p>I told her that she’ll now be taking a section test a day until test day. She seems okay with that. I’m hoping also for a two point gain. If the stars align, a three point gain is possible. Three points will place her reaches into high match/low reach and make her a stronger candidate for her matches. A higher score may not make all her matches into safeties but she’ll be at or slightly above the 75th percentile for test scores.</p>
<p>Even with increased scores, she’s happy with her list of schools. We’ve tossed prestige and name out the window and are focusing on fit. So these are schools that fit her current ACT scores and GPA. She’s not looking to move up the food chain of schools. She already has three good reaches (for her) - she wants to present a stronger application to them. Most, of not all, have acceptance rates around 50% or higher, so college acceptance will be really a matter of a strong application rather than the chance of being picked among thousands of equally qualified students.</p>
<p>I am not sure what my son’s GPA will be after this semester because he has not done well this year. His weighted GPA was 3.8+ and unweighted 3.4. Each school we visited seems to have a different way to recalculate GPA. Some don’t give weight to H and/or AP classes while some do. Therefore, I can’t really figure out what his UW GPA is.</p>
<p>I agree that the other thread is very informative and supportive, but my S2 is not a high achiever like some of students there, NMF or Ivy bound so I feel I am out of place most of time. </p>
<p>If anyone wants a traditional college experience, look into Univ of Arkansas at Fayetteville. A nice campus/college town surrounded by mountains. Their auto admission requirements are GPA 3.0, ACT 20/SAT 930 and 16 units of core academic units. COA is less than 30K, I believe. They have an auto non-resident tuition scholarship award for students from Kansas, OK, Tenn, Miss and Texas.</p>
<p>@sunnydayfun, that’s exactly my problem too! D brings home a report card and that says 4.08 on it (weighted GPA) for the quarter and i see mostly Bs (and one C). How the heck? I know the school weights Honors and AP classes but this is messing with my head.So I mentally placed D at 3.4 but she could also be at 3.1… </p>
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<p>@sunnydayfun - It’s a parents thread where parents post unfiltered, less than totally objective views about their own kids (myself included). I wouldn’t take what you read too seriously. Once in college, it’s a new chapter anyway. Continue to encourage him, nudge him as needed, and help him when he misses a step. Keep moving forward is my motto with my kids. </p>
<p>@SlackerMomMD - I don’t know which county in MD you are at but if your grading system is like MC (H/AP/IB 5.0 and regular courses based on 4.0 scale), my “guess” is 4.08 is around 3.6 to 3.4 - depending on how many wt and uwt courses your D took. I am surprised the school system doesn’t tell you UWGPA. </p>