<p>USC is getting much more selective these days and turning down NMFs (personally know two who had USC as 1st choice who were rejected). In any case, getting full tuition is a real long shot. The kid we know who did get full tuition award was a NMF AND also ran a very successful book reselling business for two years that he started in HS. </p>
<p>Lucky NMFs may get admitted and slightly more than 1/2 tuition. That’s what our S got. His ACT and SAT scores matched 2280 and 34, I think. He didn’t start and run a business in HS.</p>
<p>First, again, thanks so much to all for the advice, which has pretty much unanimous that kiddo should take ACT. I can not put into words how much I appreciate the support, advice, and well wishes. TxArtemis, kid’s non-essay writing portion equates to 700 so they’re fine with SAT score but thanks for the input. Himom, we know a full tuition is unlikely at USC. kid still plans to put their name in the hat though to see what happens. it looks like from the posts on CC that the full schol kids are truly all amazing kids!!! Mine is a good kid, bright, personable, some EC’s, pursued their interests, etc but does not have the super star stats or EC’s of the full schol kids. Sadly, we will likely decide USC is out of reach financially for us but we are truly grateful kiddo has lots of open doors. Don’t know if any other parents had the sticker shock in a good way with the PSAT’s. We knew kid would do well on them and SAT’s but had no idea they would be in the 99th percentile on PSAT’s and not too far behind on SAT’s. This is opening up a lot of scholarship doors regardless of NM status in September and although it has made the college search more complex, this is a good problem to have.</p>
<p>Does anybody know which schools require sat2? Does taking the act negate this requirement? Can you include a link because I’ve been looking at CDS’s and can’ figure it out. thanks in advance.</p>
<p>D kept getting 650 on math in SAT and when she tried ACT, her math score jumped to 35 with the only additional prep being taking 2 or 3 practice tests. ACT math is less tricky, so she had more accuracy and didn’t get stuck deciding between two answers. </p>
<p>She did take the ACT twice becasue her science score the first time wasn’t great. The second time she took it she went up to a 33 from a 27. The only prep the second time were a few more practice tests in science. Her scored 35 both times in math.</p>
<p>omedog, best thing u can do is check websites for each school u are interested in. I believe if you take ACT with writing at yale, u do not need to take subject tests. If you take SAT for Yale, u need to take 2 subject tests. I’ve heard Harvard requires 3 subject tests but have not looked into it much. For USC, subjects tests are recomended if you want a scholarship but are not required. please doublecheck everything I say though. My general impression is SAT or ACT is fine at most schools, the higher the school ranking and whether you want merit aid can make the subject tests a wise move on top of SAT. It also seems that if you take the ACT plus writing component, you may not have to take subject tests. </p>
<p>Bluebayou, thanks for the candid advice. My kid seems to be leaning towards big schools in big cities. We know the 2130 knocks them out of Ivy league contention and kiddo is ok, albeit somewhat disappointed with that. They were leaning against most of the Ivies even before they got their scores and in the case of one of the Ivies, although they liked it, they preferred the huge state school that was close by. For the most part, they are not that concerned about whether the school is Ivy, highly selective, etc. They are more interested in the feel of a school and a city and is this a place that they want to spend 4 years of their life. They are also very conscientious about keeping costs down. For many of the schools they are interested in, they are on track for at least partial scholarships and one they are on track for full tuition. So they are in very good shape even without ACT. I will talk over with them once they’ve had a chance to enjoy their summer some(school ran late this year so they just started summer recently) that they really should take ACT. They’re wise enough to follow everyone’s wonderful advice on here so I’m sure they will take ACT in either Sept or October. We’re visiting USC soon so they can make a judgment call after seeing the campus about how badly they want to go there. If they want it enough, they will be motivated enough to do whatever it takes. And prior to the PSAT, our plan was to start off at a community college and hope to God they could transfer to USC at some point. We also discussed them working full time and waiting 2 years to start college. So coming from that starting point, when we got the PSAT scores I am thrilled they have a lot more options now and they are very happy they will be able to start college and their dreams sooner than they expected.</p>
<p>Regarding SAT Subject Test requirements, this link has a well-maintained compilation of them (click on the school’s name for more detail and a link to the relevant web page).</p>
<p>No school requires three for general admission any longer (I think Princeton was the last), although you can see from the link that both Georgetown and Johns Hopkins recommend three. Some special programs, such as Northwestern ISP, still require three. Home schooled students might also be asked to provide more than the general requirements call for.</p>
<p>OP - I am late to the game, but I also suggest having them take the ACT. I specifically recommend looking up how to excel in the Science portion as it is not really science but rather being able to rapidly identify critical information from charts. Many students do poorly on this section because they read the entire blurb before attempting to answer the question. One method is to basically read the question and seek the answer rather than the other way around…</p>