While I am NOT encouraging you to apply to 15 or 16 schools, PLEASE don’t be totally rigid on 7. It could end up being pennywise and pound foolish. We found the $$$ offered by many schools to be unpredictable, even with running the online calculators. There were plenty of surprises - both schools that were very generous and those that we felt could have offered substantially more. We had two applying at once and it was a real roller coaster ride. My point is it could be that 8th school that you nix applying to in order to save $75 that would have offered the most generous package.
You’re also at a disadvantage because you don’t have actual test scores yet. So putting your list together is still somewhat hypothetical. It’s too bad because we found some schools waived application fees based on test scores (and I’m not talking 2400s here!) Still, do take advantage of free applications IF the school has your area of interest and is geographically within your range. Put together two lists - one based on your practice/predicted scores and one based on scores that come in 100 - 150 pts. (or 2 - 3 pts. on ACT) lower than you’re hoping for. I’m not saying that will happen - but you need to be prepared as you won’t have as much time to visit / research schools in the fall when scores come in and you’re in the thick of a very heavy senior year schedule.
And whether or not you’re from Long Island, you should have SUNY Stony Brook on your list. Excellent CS and there is merit $$$ there. If you get invited to their Honors College, even better. I have a good friend whose S is there majoring in CS. They are not wealthy. SB has been very generous.
I know that SUNY SB is an excellent school, but I visited and didn’t like the atmosphere. It was too big for me and it’s a commuter school, and I really want a closer community where most students stay on campus. But thanks for the recommendation I appreciate it
I’m consistently scoring 32-33 on practice ACT Math tests. I’ve only taken practice math sections though I haven’t done any other sections of the ACT yet
I’ve never heard of kids using $8k act tutors. Most just use a prep class, still eacpensive at $600 or so, but nowhere near $8k.
New Yorkers probably leave their “friggin” comfort zone more than most Americans…they travel…and a huge portion of them grew up “somewhere else”, so your rant on that was kind of silly. @lostacount
I don’t know but I know relatives who took them, some got 2400 when the new SAT first came out. But the student already had 1590 out of 1600. Others may not be so successful.
They spent $2,000 or $3,000 back in 2005 (when the writing section was added to the SAT) to get the tiniest possible improvement over that previous 1590/1600 score??? Seems like a huge waste of time and money.
I don’t know, but she was on the Elite Website and was top 3 students who got 2400 on the new SAT when it first came out. She was even on the local news. The $2k$-$3k was 2012 time frame, my daughter heard it from friends. I think she heard one mom had to dig I to her savings like her 401k to help pay for her son test prep.
Still, it is rather strange to spend any money on preparation to go from 10 points away from the maximum score to the maximum score on the SAT. Is there any college where a student with an SAT score 10 points away from the maximum score and top-end high school academic record would gain an admission or scholarship advantage from 10 additional SAT points?
I’m not really spending any money. I got a prep book from the library and I spent like $15 from my job to buy a different used prep book from Amazon. I think I’m going to be fine. I did really well on my practice today, I got a 35 on math and a 34 on science <:-P I really hope I do that well on the real test, but I probably won’t haha. But if I go into the test with that attitude then I definitely won’t, so I’m going to keep a positive attitude!
Ugh. Got a 32 composite.
34 on English, 29 on MATH :(( , 35 on reading and 29 on science. But it’ll be alright. I’ll do better on the SAT math this Saturday.
My brother got a 33, of course. I can’t win
