<p>Yes, I know the list is reach heavy. I said that myself at the outset of my post. Goal of SAT prep is to improve math by 50-70 points. If she can pick up 10 to 20 in reading and writing as well, she could be in the high 2100’s, maybe even break 2200, which should make her more HYPS competitive. Thing is, she knows kids from her school who got into HYPS with similar stats. One kid she knows got into Penn with a 2040 SAT and no obvious hooks. She thinks, “if X, why not me?” She’s not interested in CSU’s. Pretty confident based on school history that she will get into at least one of the 4 UC’s she is applying to with her stats.</p>
<p>m2ck: disagree… for my neck of the woods, my income is upper-middle-class (I’m looking around at my 1900 sf suburban tract home that is barely above water and two 5 year old cars, both still with loans out on them, and I’m pretty sure I’m not rich). Also, as I’ve updated in more recent posts, college money is no longer an issue. Further discussions among wealthy GP’s, DD1, and me has led to a deal: I pay the CSU equivalent ($15-20k/yr) and they will pay the difference. Hence merit $ would be nice, but not critical to the decision-making process.</p>