I am going to be a senior and literally do not know what I am going to do. I have given up on standardized testing to be quite frank. I really want to go out of state, and before I took the SAT I had hopes of getting into competitive college, not Ivy Leagure per say but a respectable college where I can be challenged. After the SAT I gave up. I took it once and got a HORRIBLE, below average score. 470M 470CR 530W 8Essay. I decided to switch gears and take a practice ACT and see how I do. I got a 24C 24E 24M 24R 22S.
So I am taking the ACT in September and hoping I can do better on it than the SAT.
So I have a approx 3.75 UW and a my school calculated, weighted GPA is a 3.9.
I have taken/will take three AP (Psychology (5), Gov, Human Geo) I am very history/social sciences oriented and plan to pursue that in college. The only thing I am probably sure of.
I have taken/will take five honors and one dual enrollment. (Pre-AP world, English 10 and 11, Spanish 4 and 5, Dual Enroll. English)
The last year of math I will be taking is precalc. I know I keep making excuses but I had a really bad freshman and sophomore year (health probs) which in turn made me choose a less rigorous course load.
ECs: pretty weak but it’s the best I could do.
Played Volleyball (club team, freshman)
Had a job since freshman year.
FCCLA (freshman)
Give me some colleges I should look at. I am completely clueless and It would really help.Would it be a good idea to just go to community college? I live in NOVA and literally everyone has like above 4.0s.
What do you want to major in?
What can your parents afford?
You can definitely can get into a 4-year college, you don’t have to go to community college if that’s not something you are interested in. There are plenty of schools in VA you could get into that aren’t as competitive as VT and UVA.
I don’t know enough about schools in Virginia to give recommendations for your instate schools. Most of the Pennsylvania state schools (not the state-related Penn State, Pitt, or Temple) would accept you, and some of them have reasonable out of state tuition, but your own public universities would undoubtedly be less expensive. What can your family afford to pay, and what are you interested in studying? Community college is also a good option. My son, who just graduated from high school and who had SAT scores only a little above yours, was accepted to one of the Pennsylvania state schools but decided to go to community college instead.
@CE527M I plan on majoring in history, and I want to be a high school teacher. I know I am not math/science oriented so I am aiming away from that. For costs I will be taking out loans mostly while my parents pay as much as they can. I know leaving the state is just wishful dreaming! Thanks for all the replies.
Is there a significance difference between my ACT and SAT (24 AND 1470)? I feel it would be a waste of time and money taking the SAT again if my ACT is better and I can just focus on that.
Suggestions are fruitless until you know with certainty what your parents can pay. Pick a state university and one other out of state school, go to the financial aid pages and fill out the cost calculator with your parents. Do not guess the answers for them. When it spits out that they are expected to pay $20k or more have a frank discussion about where the money will come from. You as an 18 year old can only borrow $5500 your first year without a cosigner.
You are in an envious position. As a state of VA resident you have access to reasonably priced universities that attract full pay students from all over the nation! I understand the urge to go out of state but your goal of becoming a teacher will not play well with $500/month student loan payments for ten years after graduation. Try to keep your debt low. IMO state colleges are best for prospective teachers because they will have access to student teaching positions and localities recruit new teachers from them. JMU has a highly regarded 5 year BA+MA program. I know a lot of my kids younger teachers came from there.
If you want to track your chances at various schools, Google “Common Data Set JMU” or whatever school. You can . see the stats the admitted students had. The kids with lower stats are probably in state. In VA 75% of a freshman class must be in state.
Apply to a bunch of the in states Early Action and I bet you’ll have at least one acceptance by Christmas! Good luck!
Post #9 is not quite right. Act composite is better than your sat m+cr. Table 1 in that link only looks at m+cr for sat. Op is barely at 50th percentile for sat, but higher than 50th percentile for act.
@OspreyCV22@mathprof63 Thanks for the replies guys. I just checked the link, my actual SAT score was 940 (CR+M) and my ACT to SAT is a 1110 also (CR + M)… So I am assuming I should just stick to ACT knowing the 170 point difference is actually significant? Sorry I am so new at this.
I think you are a slam dunk for Radford. You probably already know that you can attend a CC and if your GPA is high enough after two years you can transfer to most any state university. Also there is one two year junior college that has dorms and tuition is only about $4000, Richard Bland College of William & Mary.
Longwood has an excellent teaching program. W&M has an excellent history program, and if you did 2 years at a CC and met their requirements you could automatically transfer to W&M.
So what exactly can you/they afford? If you’re going to be “taking out loans mostly” it sounds like in-state would be a much better option to keep the costs down. VA has terrific schools and you have a bunch of schools to choose from.
You can only borrow the federal student loans (~$5500/year). If your parents qualify, you may receive a federal Pell grant of up to $5k/year. Go to the FAFSA.gov [url=https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm?execution=e1s1]website[/url] and do the FAFSA4caster to see if you may qualify. Students can earn a couple thousand over the summer, too, but you may need that for books and travel expenses, so I wouldn’t count on it to help cover tuition.
Run the Net Price Calculator on a couple of state schools (Google ‘school name Net Price Calculator’) to get an estimate of what they might cost, then show it to your parents and ask how much they can pay per year. Add up all your resources – federal student loan, parent contribution, work earnings, and Pell grant (if you qualify) – to get your budget then look for schools in that price range. Make sure you have a financial safety on your list. Are you within commuting distance of any schools? They’re a great place to start.
@austinmshauri thanks for the information. I am within commuting distance of GMU (Fairfax). My whole family basically went there and graduated so hopefully that could help in admission decisions. I also might get a scholarship through my job (not much) but can hopefully cover book costs. It’s a $1000 a year. I’ll definitely take your advice and do some research.
Am I correct when I say most schools don’t superscore the ACT? My act seems to fluctuate a lot. But my highest scores from the practice tests I’ve taken are 27E 26M 27R 22S and with about a month more of prep I hope to see continual improvement. But to get into schools like GMU, JMU, VA TECH, VCU, CNU will those scores be sufficent? And hopefully I can improve a little more before my official SEP ACT. Any input?
@leslieknope4 - I have a rising senior daughter in a competitive NOVA HS where everyone has a 4.0 and amazing ECs, so I feel your pain. According to Naviance, the average ACT score for students accepted from my kid’s HS for GMU and JMU is 27. It’s 26 for VCU and CNU, and it’s 29 or 30 for TECH. Radford and ODU are more like a 23 with a 2.9 or 3.0 GPA so you can aim a little higher than that or CC.
Your daughter’s school seems more competitive than mine. I totally forgot about naviance since school has bee out. I checked it out and for my school the average for GMU IS 25, JMU is 26, VA Tech is 27, VCU is 23, CNU is 24, ODU and Radford is 21. Thanks for your reply. Hopefully I can get it up to a 27. Good luck to your daughter on her senior year as well! @eh1234
