Check out Montclair State in NJ, there’s in-state tuition merit for OOS, theater programs, proximity to NYC.
Thanks for the suggestion. Montclair State will be at an audition event she’s attending, and the price is pretty comparable to some of the other schools on her list. We’ll explore more if there is mutual interest after auditions. I haven’t said much about it because I don’t want the proximity to NYC to cloud her academic and fit decisions at this point.
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Question for my peeps here — D22 got a 28 on the ACT and does not plan to take it again. Would you submit that to Test Optional schools? I was just logging into Powerschool to double check her grades so I could calculate her unweighted GPA to run some of the NPCs on schools and I got a form asking me if we wanted to share the ACT score with colleges and universities.
Her GPA is 3.75 Weighted and a 3.5 Unweighted if I did my math right. She’s just taken 1 AP class and 4 honors so far but this year she is taking 2 or 3 APs and 1 honors.
For background she has a homeschooled friend who is going to school this year who got a great GPA from her mom and some community college classes and who did not submit her not very great ACT score with her applications and she got a bunch of scholarship offers. I don’t think D22 will get the kinds of scholarships the homeschooled friend got (major money) but I’m wondering if the ACT would help or hinder scholarships at test optional schools? She is mostly interested in Targets/Safeties, but still formulating her list. We are in NC, not applying to any test blind schools right now, but most would be test optional I think.
The general feedback I have received is to look at the Common Data set mid 50% statistics. If a 28 falls in the mid or upper range then, yes. It’s debatable if the score is at the 25% range. Hope that helps a bit.
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That does help. Thanks, I appreciate having a rubric to follow. I think she has good chances of admittance at all the schools on her list so far.
Her ACT composite is very unbalanced (basically aced the English/Reading and did not so hot on the Math) if that factors in.
Thanks for this! We’re looking at Beloit, Knox and Lawrence for D22 and S22 so this is helpful. We don’t have much money for visiting.
Do you have any idea what the deal with Knox was? Was it just the lack of hills?
Hey @1822mom did you ever get that Hendrix story up?
I have a D22 who seems like she’s interested in the same schools as yours, and a S22 too who maybe isn’t quite as competitive but good enough for this thread.
Regarding Lawrence… there are a couple nice buildings, but the rest of the campus was not so hot. The dorms, art building, and athletic complex (which is way off campus!!) were severely lacking IMO. There was a lot to like about it, though, aside from the campus. And I would say right on target for a B student.
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Greetings
Looong time lurker…first time posting. My child (from the NE)- class of 2020 chose Centre College in Danville, KY over many other colleges (some top 20, some top 50 LACs). As tough as 2020 -2021 was with covid, I feel Centre did a great job. He’s found challenging academics, supportive professors, and fantastic friends - he’s found his “ home”. Centre does offer many merit scholarships, and their COA is lower than peer schools. He is thrilled with Centre College!
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My D19 visited Knox, interested in their writing program, and felt the campus was pretty, and the people very nice, but she didn’t love the surrounding area. It felt a bit hard to get to. Which is something that did not occur to us during her search and we will 100% consider with S22! She had narrowed it down to Lafayette or Kenyon, and chose Kenyon which has been wonderful. BUT getting to Kenyon from the San Francisco is not easy! There are few direct flights to Columbus (an hr away), which means it takes all day coming from the west, and it’s expensive. Lafayette is an hr from Newark (1.5hr from Philly) and there are a million direct flights and lots of sales to both of those cities. Ultimately, Kenyon was the right choice for her. But if S22 comes down to a 50/50 choice, we will definitely factor in cost/ease of travel!
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I’ll start with the questionable decision I made at the beginning of high school. D22 had expressed interest in pursuing a musical theater BFA. In order to redirect her, I took her to tour Ohio’s most beautiful campuses - Kenyon and Denison. Also, we live near Ann Arbor. Her bar for campus aesthetics is pretty high. Knox was cute enough for an LAC but the landscape was flatter and drier than she’s used to. The dorms were cramped and 1970’s dark, but there was a cool new fine arts building.
I think she could really thrive in the culture at Knox. Students take three classes per trimester, which would be great for ADHD - not overwhelming and not long enough to get bored. Active learning was really emphasized, as if the faculty were more facilitators than lecturers. I found it kind of bold to hand over the process to B students and let them figure it out. All the students we talked to were very involved on campus in multiple ways. The academics didn’t seem particularly rigorous. D22 sat in on an intro class as a high school sophomore; she jumped right in the discussion and wasn’t intimidated at all. I think what kids learn at Knox is to be very effectual, perhaps a little undaunted, in their lives.
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My D21 got a 29 on her ACT, although she had a 4.2 W and 3.8 UW GPA. That 29 was also deeply unbalanced, with near perfect scores on English/Reading and 24s in Science/Math. She submitted her scores to all schools and got into every school but one, where she was waitlisted (incl prestigious big 10 schools and all of the Ohio 5 LAC except wesleyan, where she didn’t apply). She was waitlisted at Macalester.
Hope that helps!
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Thanks. I appreciate the reply. Did she get any merit? I would love to get some merit $$, but not sure if the unbalanced 28 will help or hurt. I guess it depends on the individual school.
Oh yes, lots of merit! She applied to a total of 17 schools (I know, but covid), and every school but 4 gave her merit (wisconsin, illinois, toronto, and mcgill - they just don’t give merit as a rule, period). Every other school gave her a merit award, ranging from $10K to $37K. The average merit award was low $20Ks, roughly.
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That is awesome. So sounds like her ACT score definitely didn’t hurt on the merit. I’m sure her good GPA helped, though.
Thanks @Juno22. That does fill in the blanks a lot for me. Knox may be a good place for my S22. In fact it sounds great for anybody.
@packacards I hadn’t been looking into travel time and cost either. We’re coming from Sac, so a similar problem plus maybe a drive to SF. Not sure how many trips home we could afford anyway!
My D22 is fixated on Puget Sound and Hollins right now, though both of those didn’t fare well enough on the NPC. Her fingers are crossed, but I need her to look more broadly.
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This is a great thread, so glad I found it. My rising senior son has a 3.3 uw, 3.5 weighted (2 APs, 2 college classes) and a 1300 SAT. He really loves UVM and Colorado Boulder–having a hard time figuring out if these are reaches or matches (know they’re not safeties).
Thanks!
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I don’t know about UVM, but Boulder is 78% accept rate, average GPA 3.6 and the SAT range is 1140-1360. Not a reach at all. This is the scattergram from our school in the Bay Area (CA):
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Look at York College in PA as well. A friend’s daughter is there in the nursing program and is happy and said it was reasonably priced after aid.
I am trying to complete both Coalition App and Common App before school starts next week and wanted to clarify a few questions.
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Can I apply and submit my application to colleges without official transcripts and recommendation from the counselor and Teacher’s LOR? I have self reported everything on my end in the application.
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Also when do I need to send my official SAT score from college board to all the colleges I am applying to? Is it now or only once I get accepted?
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how about sending AP score report? Now or once get accepted? Thanks