<p>Why not CCNY? Am I missing something?</p>
<p>OP should definitely check out the fairtest site. If her D took AP exams and scored 3 or above, some schools (Conn College?) wiss accept those scores in lieu of the SAT; they may also accept SATII in lieu of the stardard reasoning test. </p>
<p>(“SAT optional” doesn’t always = “no SAT” or “no standardized testing.”)</p>
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<p>30 years ago a low SAT might gain you entrance to these schools. That is NOT the case now.</p>
<p>I agree with others…virtually every state has a state college with open admissions or admissions that would accommodate this student. We know many students with “modest” grades and SAT scores who DID go to college. Some started at the community college and transferred to four year schools. Others went to schools that were less selective but still fine colleges.</p>
<p>How about Manhattanville? It’s located in Purchase NY?</p>
<p>CW Post? Monroe College? College of New Rochelle?</p>
<p>Endicott,</p>
<p>I would still encourage your daughter to apply to schools she is really excited about attending, even if her SAT’s are below the range. My son took SAT’s three times (prep courses twice) and his scores went down each time. A test taker he isn’t! His GPA was good though and he did take challenging courses. He was accepted at his first choice school, which everyone told us was he probably wouldn’t get into because of average SAT’s. He did not have any other hook, so go figure.</p>
<p>Salve Regina in Newport, RI.</p>
<p>There are many schools that do not require the ACT or the SAT. Many have already been mentioned in this thread. I can think of Bates, Bard and Franklin and Marshall off the top of my head. Check out this website.</p>
<p>[Optional</a> List | FairTest](<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional]Optional”>ACT/SAT Optional List for Fall 2025 - Fairtest)</p>
<p>Doing a bit of prep work and trying the ACT seems worth a try as well.</p>
<p>Thumper, I was not suggesting that OP’s friend would get into SCU, UCB and UCSB now. My point was that some schools, even now, value GPA more importantly than SAT scores. Case in point, the CSU’s that are not impacted accept students with a 3.0 GPA in required coursework without considering SAT scores. If the GPA is below 3.0, they look at SAT scores and have a formula about the combination of the two to determine eligibility. If a student has a 2.0, they must have a much higher SAT score than if they have a 2.9.</p>
<p>I would think there would be other university systems in the country with similar acceptance criteria. This girl’s scores would not even be an issue in such cases because of her high GPA.</p>
<p>Do any of these schools have good Financial Aid?</p>
<p>D also tests horribly and we looked at the FairTest schools. Be cautious, however, because “optional” apparently means different things at different schools. Over two days, at three college interviews, we were told:</p>
<p>School A: “Sure we’re SAT optional but we’d still like to see your scores. If they’re bad, we won’t hold them against you.”</p>
<p>School B: “Sure we’re SAT optional but merit scholarships require SAT scores.”</p>
<p>School C: “Sure we’re SAT optional. If you choose to go that route, just submit a couple of graded papers. Scholarships? No problem, we definitely consider you for scholarships if you submit the papers.”</p>
<p>^^^ As I said in post #42, some schools on the “optional” list require AP tests or SATIIs - - or require a certain gpa (3.6) or require that the applicant be in the top 10% of his class.</p>
<p>just a quick note to Queens’ Mom, referring to her post 37 about the ACT. I believe I’ve read in this forum and other places that in the early/mid-80’s the ACT had a thorough re-working and students that took the test after that re-work generally score 3 or 4 points higher than those that took it before.<br>
So, ACT test scores before that time should add 3 or 4 points to be a fair comparison to today’s scores.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned UNC Greensboro and I second that. It’s not hard to get into but has a lot to offer academically.</p>
<p>I’m a real fan of the UNC system and UNC-G is a great school - - but the middle 50% of succcessful applicants presents SAT scores of 490-570 and 39% of the successful applicants have a gpa of 3.75 or higher; that may still be a reach for a student (oos?) with a weighted gpa of 3.7 and “horrendous” (860/1600) SAT scores. And Greensboro isn’t really “urban.”</p>
<p>Not to be argumentative…and the student in question may not be the least bit interested…but… Greensboro,NC is a city of 241,000. UNC-G is in the middle of downtown G’boro. There are museums, bars, restaurants, theaters, etc. nearby.
Greensboro is home to five colleges …UNC-G, Guilford, Bennett College, Greensboro College and NC A&T State University. S2’s friend attends Greensboro College, a private just a few blocks away from UNCG, and loves it there because there are so many college kids.</p>
<p>The College Foundation of NC website shows the admitted freshman class scores as
SAT V…41.71% of admited freshmen scored 400-499
SAT M…35.08% of admitted freshmen scored 400-499</p>
<p>I think the girl would have a good shot if she were interested. </p>
<p>UNC-CH is the only NC public that you hear of reaching the 18% oos cap. The other state u’s don’t usually meet the cap so there is room for oos’ers.<br>
For some reason there is a huge population of kids fr. NJ at S2’s sch (ECU).</p>
<p>UNCG cost for OOS is $21,491 according to CFNC.</p>
<p>Do test scores or GPAs indicate success in college? Who knows? Two students at my daughter’s high school went to the same college (where I happen to work). One had a mediocre GPA but was a National Merit Semifinalist. The other was in the top 5% with her GPA but had an abysmal ACT score. The first student was suspended from college at the end of the first year because of low grades. The second has a 4.0 GPA after the first year. </p>
<p>I know some think the standardized tests are an equalizer to compensate for differences in high schools/level of difficulty, but some students are better at taking standardized tests than others. In this case the hs gpa was a much better predictor of college success than test score.</p>
<p>Neither gpa nor SAT individually is as good at predicting college success as gpa/SAT together.</p>
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<p>As for UNC-G, the info in post #56 is consist w/ the info in my post: 41%of the students may score below 499 on the verbal section, but only 25% are below 460. For a student with a combined score of 850, UNC-G is probably a reach - - but by no mean impossible. </p>
<p>As for Greensboro, OP said the applicant wanted urban like NYC. I live in NYC and I’ve visited Greensboro - - both the city and Greensboro College (most recently this past spring). If NYC is the applicant’s “ideal” urban environment, she will likely find Greensboro flat/lacking. (Greensboro College is a small, fairly conserative school with a definite southern feel - - about 70% of the students are from NC and most of the remaining 30% from SC/VA. A student who loves Greensboro College would probably be overwhelmed by the experience OP’s applicant is seeking.)</p>
<p>Having said that, Greensboro is a great town (we found a great Thai restaurant, the cheesecake shop was phenom). It is smaller and slower than our everyday NYC pace, but a great choice for a big city kid wanting to stop and smell the roses.</p>
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<p>Guilford, also mentioned in post #56 is SAT optional (portfolio submission in lieu of test scores) and a 3.7 gpa would put OP’s applicant in the to 25-30% of the applicant pool (I don’t know whether test scores are required for merit aid).</p>
<p>Some suggestions that might work – Buffalo State, University of Arizona, Univ of Tampa, Hofstra</p>
<p>I just re-read the first post - - OP has already suggested SAT-optional reach and match schools; she’s looking for safeties. (Only about 6% of students admitted to Hofstra had SAT scores of 400-499.)</p>
<p>For SAFETIES, I think the wisest course would be to stick to the SAT-optional list and focus on schools where a 3.7gpa would put OP’s applicant at the top of the pool. Schools in that category include: Guilford, Goucher (Baltimore), Drew (not far from NYC), Ursinus (outside of Philly) and Muhlenberg (Allentown?). There are plenty of others, though many are in smaill college towns.</p>
<p>Good luck!!</p>