<p>I have many colleges in mind, but I was wondering how a stranger might view my college potential off of a few basic facts</p>
<p>I'm looking at small liberal arts schools, but I'm open to other options. I am a white female junior coming from a tiny high school with few AP classes in Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>ACT Composite: 28
English: 34
Math: 27
Reading: 28
Science: 21 (did not know what to expect)
Essay: 9
English/Writing: 32
Will retake, especially trying to improve my science score</p>
<p>GPA: 3.9
Class Rank: not sure, top 10%
A few activities/achievements: class president, student council president, national honor society, hopefully a sport captain my senior year</p>
<p>I'm in many more clubs and do volunteer work, but that's just a brief taste of me. So...what kind of school can I get into?</p>
<p>If you can get that test score up, then you will have a great many options. I suggest you try the SAT (after practicing). It doesn’t have a science section and your excellent English score suggests that the Critical Reading and Writing sections will play to your strengths (two of the three sections that make up the SAT). </p>
<p>Assuming you get a test score over 2100, you would be a viable candidate at most of the top LACs. The bigger question is what can you afford? Most of these schools cost around $50k p.a.</p>
<p>What is your intended major, by the way?</p>
<p>My sat scores were not so hot, I think I can do better on the ACT though, I just wasn’t prepared for the timing so I could only finish the English section and screwed up my essay</p>
<p>My best SAT combination is
CR: 580
M: 650
W: 640</p>
<p>I plan on most likely majoring in economics or political science.
I’ve toured a lot of expensive school and I’m eligible for some financial aid but not tons</p>
<p>
You should clarify your financial position before you go any further. Many Eastcoast private schools only offer need based aid. Ask your parents to use an on line calculator to get an idea of how much need based aid you are likely to get. If that works then you can proceed with a wide list. If not you’ll have to explore schools that offer merit aid which is a different group.</p>
<p>Your scores will neither get you in or keep you out of any school. Try again and then forget about it.</p>
<p>Your grades and rank are very good. It’s your ECs, essays, recommendations, demographic and life experience that will make the difference in admissions.</p>
<p>The key point now is to consider only schools that you can afford.</p>
<p>I have an older sister who attends a private liberal arts school and my parents are able to afford it with the financial aid that she receives, so I do have a general idea of what will work, so at this point in my search, I am not ruling out colleges by cost. I’ve done my research in schools. Thank you for the advice though–it’s nice to hear human feedback after obsessing over college books</p>
<p>If you’re sure that finances are open ended then the next step is for you to narrow your list by your personal wishlist. As I said before your scores (and everything else) won’t keep you out of any LAC in the country. Some will be reaches, sure, but not out of the question. </p>
<p>So after researching and visiting you come up with a few that sound good you can then widen your list to include others in the same ambience, personality. Just be sure to cover a range of selectivity.</p>
<p>In other words, the quesion isn’t where you can get in; the question is what do you want?</p>
<p>CR: 580 and 34 English?</p>
<p>You must have incredibly overperformed on the ACT English section. If you are looking for financial aid, you need to get your SAT/ACT up. Retake ACT and assess your college options at that point. You old ACT score is obviously an anomly, overperformance on English, under on Science. You should break 29 points with a decent performance on science next time.</p>
<p>Fyi, your SAT of 1860 = 28 ACT on most conversion charts.</p>
<p>I was waiting for that response to the English, that was the only section of the test that I didn’t leave at least a column and a half blank for. I have a good feeling about the June test because I had never taken an ACT practice test before and now I actually know what is on them. At least I know I can’t do possibly do (much) worse on science!</p>
<p>First of all you will get into many colleges with the scores and grades you list. If you want even more choice stick with the ACT but do yourself a favor. Hire a reputable tutoring service and take a very systematic approach to the exam. My kid improved his scores dramatically this way. First try 25 in English. Second try after study, a 34. Similar story with every other score. Go for it.</p>
<p>Colleges vary in how generous they are with financial aid. Try running the net price calculators at each college’s web site.</p>
<p>For LAC type schools with lower list prices, consider University of Minnesota - Morris and Truman State University.</p>