@moooop …we are in Texas. Hoping to make the NMSF cutoff with a SI 221. Trying to have a back up plan if everything goes south on the NMSF.
Tgirlfiend, you have good questions, and should probably open your own thread.
I just want to add that with a 34 you should be able to get merit aid many places, and unless your income is above about $150,000 (or even more, depending on the school and how many family members are in college) you might also qualify for “need” aid at the Ivies and other wealthy elite colleges.
I think it depends. A student with a 34 ACT score and a 2.5 GPA might not get such terrific merit aid.
Pitt only looks at the math and english subscore and my 35/34 (superscored) got full tuition.
Pitt doesn’t look at high school grades too?
@SlackerMomMD The test costs $40, with another $20 to get your test back, so $60. For eight tests, that’s $480. That doesn’t seem unreasonable at all to get a merit scholarship worth anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000.
@EarlVanDorn - Everyone’s different. To me, that is a lot of money to spend on a test and the eight Saturdays are also a lot of time to devote to an exam. I didn’t want to put that much emphasis on a single factor, even an significant one. But as you say, if a child gets a high payout then one can say it’s worth it (but what if the child does not?)
My child would not take it even a fourth time even though she may have received more money. I understood her feelings and didn’t push it. Trust me, I wanted her to reach that 32 and I felt she was capable. OTOH, since I was taking the practice tests with her, I also didn’t want to spend the time taking more practice tests. (call me lazy.) In any case, I would not have suggested a fifth time, no matter what the score on the not-taken fourth try.
Pitt absolutely looks at GPA and/or rank. Know 2 kids that applied with virtually identical, high SAT score. Only the one with high GPA who was likely in top 10% of his class got merit money.
Thumper, nobody was saying GPA isn’t a factor.I established that in post #19.
Actually, if we stay with the Pitt example noted above, I’d say that there’s a significant difference between “a decent GPA” and the top 5% class rank required for scholarships at Pitt.