<p>S1 was sorry he didn’t take AP Lit, mainly because it would have held his interest and had a better teacher than the Honors version. He took AP Lang junior year, got Bs but got a 5 on the AP and an 800 Writing.</p>
<p>S2 took AP Eng Lit cold, just on the strength of what they did in IB HL English (which is different). Got a 4 and found that offered just as much credit as a 5 in AP Lang, so he didn’t bother with the AP Lang exam senior year.</p>
<p>My daughter just got her first SAT scores back (she is going to be a senior) …had no idea kids were taking them in the 8th grade. Anyway she got a 1780 with reading 630 and math 570. Her GPA is around 3.6-3.75…so my concern is not getting into a school…but paying for it! As a single mom who does not qualify for need-based (what a joke, I make nothing)…are these scores and GPA enough to earn some sort of scholarships somewhere? Any thoughts!
Oh, she wants to major in Graphic Design…MICA is her LOVE but tuition is 30000</p>
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The GPA is high enough to earn merit aid at lots of places. The scores might be a bit of a limiting factor, but you should have some options, I would think.</p>
<p>Are you absolutely sure you don’t qualify for need-based aid?</p>
<p>mollymoo: my D’s stats were similar… she was offered $10k/year and honors program at University of Rhode Island (not our state). She is not going there…</p>
<p>There’s a lot of info on CC about various colleges and merit aid. Definitely worth researching. I’m sure it’s out there (although I don’t know about art schools).</p>
<p>kids take SATs in 8th grade to qualify for certain selective summer academic programs, notably CTY (JHU’s Center for Talented Youth). Our DD took the SAT then, and got into CTY. Not cause we were college mad, but because it was a great program for her.</p>
<p>mollymoo: I’m a MICA grad and while I’m sure things have changed in the past 20 years, back when I applied, the portfolio review carried a ton of weight in scholarship allocations.</p>
<p>mollymoo…check out the fine arts forum and you can learn tons about the programs and what kids got for scholarships this year (general squee thread). I still haven’t figured out how to put the links in the messages. I think things may have changed ina subtle but very important way since PTmajor graduated</p>
<p>My S just graduated and is going to CMU for fine arts…he applied to lots of art programs including MICA and received some very generous offers of merit aid, MICA’s was one of the most generous. We do not qualify for FA either. He received merit aid at VCU (great DEAL that university and good art program), SAIC, MICA, RIT (very generous with merit aid), Ohio State…no aid at UW-Madison, CMU (well, tiny little scholarship came through after he accepted) or WUSTL. MICA is expensive but S was very tempted…in the end he wanted a university with not only a great art program but also a strong computing/engineering/robotics program …thus CMU.</p>
<p>I think the very active group of parents and students on the art forum this year would agree that portfolio is critical for getting in and getting aid BUT the big bucks went to the kids with really good academic stats (my son’s stats are – 2150 SAT but 3.4 UW but takes both BC calc and IB Art --a somewhat atypical combo for art kid). Do not underestimate the importance of showing a strong academic side to getting merit aid at top art schools. I know at MICA half of my son’s money had to do with his academic side (Hispanic scholar status, support from academic references and the math/physics side). RIT and VCU same thing–scores and grades and diverse curriculum gave him a boost from decent offers to very generous offers. So he has a good portfolio in animation/digital as well as some decent traditional stuff but I am quite sure that the combination of nerdy, academic, techy with good art made these schools offer him more merit aid than based on his portfolio alone. See the art forum…kids with really outstanding portfolios (apparently) but medium stats were disappointed with their aid from SAIC, MICA, RISD but kids with good portfolios (based on self assessments) and really strong stats seemed to get more aid. Don’t get discouraged but find ways to make your Ds stats as strong as possible to try to max that merit aid.</p>
<p>If your daughter is a rising senior she has time to significantly improve her sats if she studies this summer and/or takes a class. Also, she may do much better on the ACT… Rising grades first semester can help too and strong letters of rec from academic as well as art teachers…</p>
<p>Does anybody else here have a lopsided kid? My kid, both gradewise and testwise rocks anything verbal but definitely does not rock the math side. I am guessing there are kids here with a similar disparity and am wondering how that plays out in this college search process. </p>
<p>D has a particular passion (theater) and is pursuing it deeply which is great. And she truly is very successful in anything that calls on her verbal/creative abilities. I try to focus on that and not the math piece (which is not awful, just average which seems to be awful through the college search lens.) Many of the colleges she is interested in will be most concerned about how she performs in auditions. But because auditions are so chancey, she needs strong non-audition options. And here is where it seems to get funky for a kid with such a disparity in her profile. </p>
<p>I guess I am just looking for some commiseration from other parents of the lopsided.</p>
<p>@LeftofPisa, I too have a “lopsided” kid - SAT 800v/590m/760w. He was accepted EA at the University of Chicago and will be attending in the fall. </p>
<p>At one of the college admissions roundtables at my son’s high school, a former admissions dean from a top 20 school said that many schools now realize that these types of kids have an unusual and valuable perspective and are a great asset in the classroom. I think this is most definitely the case with Chicago, and I suspect it’s true for many other great schools. Good luck!</p>
<p>I think that it would helpful to start a thread for mismatched and lopsided kids. They are so confusing, and perhaps other parents could help.</p>
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<p>Congratulations. I enjoy readying this kind of outcome on CC. I think the top universities in America pay too much attention to a student’s “good resume” in protecting their classes. They should see one of the challenging job of education is to dig a mine and make him/her a piece of shining gold! Go Chicago :)</p>
<p>I will commiserate, Leftofpisa-- D is in the exact same position. A visual/spatial LD means math and science are tough no matter how hard she works. In English and History she’s naturally good. Also crazy for theater/music and puts heart and soul and intellect into it, wonderfully. So auditions will be make or break and backups are hard to find. (D graduates 2012 so there’s some time for us, but I will be watching you with fingers crossed for success!)</p>
<p>Lopsideds unite!
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/949857-parent-thread-mismatched-lopsided-skewed-students.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/949857-parent-thread-mismatched-lopsided-skewed-students.html</a></p>
<p>We are still on the fence about a “reachy-reach,” where her high-20’s ACT and UW 3.6 with upward trend, plus her geographical oddity, might all add up in her favor. I guess it’s up to her. She’s reading through the Princeton “Best 371” or whatever it is this weekend and musing over that question. I’m not worried so much about her being skewed - she’s much better in verbal, not so great in math, but kind of a typical Humanities type - but whether she’s the “type” for a “tippy-top” school even if she can get in. </p>
<p>Many people here have talked about their feelings about why not just try, or why set them up (fortunately we don’t have the financial aid factor). I’m just not sure where I stand. I guess she’ll just have to make that decision for herself. I’m curious how she’ll go.</p>
<p>Ahhh I’m a lopsided person too! And now I’m going to Plan II at UT, you guys should <em>really</em> check that out for mismatched kids. (the stats are intimidating but keep on reading, you’ll understand.)</p>
<p>My understanding was that at Gtown, you couldn’t EA there and ED elsewhere - that while they don’t label it SCEA it basically is. Am I mistaken?</p>
<p>^Pizzagirl I think you couldn’t apply ED elsewhere, but you could apply EA elsewhere. So it’s not as onerous as SCEA.</p>
<p>@oddblood- Thank you for sharing that! My kid reflects the same lopsided scores so its nice to hear those success stories.</p>
<p>@Gwen Fairfax- Yup. We have a crazy ride ahead of us with these theater kids.</p>
<p>@levirm- Thanks for starting a new thread. I will go check it out.</p>
<p>ACT score went down a point. She was bummed, especially dropping her Reading score (mostly why it went down). Just the unpredictable nature of these things. </p>
<p>She had a rough day yesterday, but is much better today. They’re so often more resilient than we expect. </p>
<p>She’s been talking to friends and looking at the college books. I’d really like to make a chart of the likelies, get the details straight about what do do and when to do it. I think she’s about ready.</p>
<p>I was in Iowa over the weekend. U of Iowa is such a terrific school, a great campus, tons of spirit, and a great college town. And driving home I took a 5 minute detour to look at Cornell College. Extremely pretty. In a small town, but 20 minutes from Iowa City. Apparently the entire campus is on the National Registry. Really beautiful. I’d forgotten it was a block-schedule school (that makes 2 I know of, including Colorado College). It makes me wonder if she might like that. I don’t think she’d like the very small town part, though. Anyway, it’s a CTCL school, and looks wonderful, in case anyone’s wondering. A match for the kids on this thread.</p>
<p>Parents, we are dormant for too long! </p>
<p>Our '12 D1 fits this thread and unless something heroic or catastrophic happens, I won’t be leaving this thread any time soon. She’s our second child in this GPA range.</p>
<p>Although she showed some interest in economics since this summer, she still does not have a strong preference on what she wants to do in college. Her older brother had the fortune of being taught by a great teacher who whipped up a passion in biology for him. Unfortunately that teacher did not teach the class when it was D1’s turn last year. </p>
<p>The good news is that she just recently won an award in a drawing contest and got us thinking about her future direction. She may be interested in architecture design. Any recommendations?</p>