<p>This is a somewhat different take on the 3.0 -- 3.3 and 3.3 -- 3.5 students threads. In many communities it is rare to find students, even the top ones, who have scored 600+ per section on the SAT. Yet many, if not most, of these students go to college and quite a few end up with successful college careers.</p>
<p>Certainly less selective state colleges and universities accept these students, but where else to they go? I'd be particularly interested in hearing about "un-hooked" students who received acceptances from commonly-accepted "good colleges," as well as those who received decent financial packages from private colleges despite less than stellar standardized test scores.</p>
<p>*I’d be particularly interested in hearing about “un-hooked” students who received acceptances from commonly-accepted “good colleges,” </p>
<p>as well as those who received decent financial packages from private colleges despite less than stellar standardized test scores. *</p>
<p>What do you consider to be “good colleges”???</p>
<p>What is your EFC? How much can you contribute? </p>
<p>Not many schools that give great FA are going to accept unhooked sub-ACT 26 students. However, depending on your state, your EFC, etc, there may be some schools.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids – The question isn’t in reference to our family or anyone we know. I’m just curious about where the more average stats students are finding admissions success. Our local experience has been that kids who have high test scores but lower GPAs have had better success at getting into schools such as RPI, Northeastern and American (to give 3 examples) than those who have high GPAs but average test scores. I’ve also heard the opposite from CC posters.</p>
<p>Regarding what is a “good college,” I put that in quotes because “good” will mean something different to individual posters. Some might consider nothing outside the USNWR Top 50 any good, but I’m not part of that camp.</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see the responses. Students with ACT 25 and below test scores can be in that “gray area” of being good students, but not strong enough to either get accepted or get the great FA packages to the schools that give great aid. </p>
<p>The ones who are in states that give state grants on top of fed grants and who have the lowish incomes to qualify sometimes can get good FA packages.</p>
<p>What kind of FA did he receive (gov’t grants, instutional grants, loans, work-study)? What was his EFC?</p>
<p>I think there are MANY schools that will accept kids with those stats, but I think the number of schools who will give lots of institutional grants is much less.</p>
<p>Nephew (current senior): (ACT 24 and 27, 4 APs, 3.45 UW) Univ. of Louisville, University of Kentucky, and a small junior college in Illinois where he signed a letter of intent to play baseball w/a full ride for two years. FAFSA EFC is ~$4,000. Withdrew other acceptances before getting FA awards.</p>
<p>Niece (graduated last year): (1720, 3 APs, 90 avg) Augusta State University, North Georgia College (where she’ll be attending ROTC/National Guard, so her expenses are pretty much all covered between the ROTC and Guard pay).</p>
<p>Private schools were never really on the table for either, unless my nephew got an athletic scholarship.</p>
<p>DD had 1230 on the CR/Math SAT (her writing was about 650, I think but was not used in admissions). She graduated from Santa Clara University. Was also accepted at U of South Carolina with a McKissick Scholarship. She got accepted to U of San Diego and Salve Regina (got a Presidential Scholarship at Salve).</p>
<p>HOWEVER she was top 5% of her class (8th in a class of 187 students). She had a great GPA and aggressive courseload. I believe her colleges took this all into consideration…not JUST her SAT scores.</p>
<p>^^CountingDown, your nephew had a hook (baseball scholarship)!!</p>
<p>I’m sure there are LOTS of schools for the under 1800 crowd - - but mostly state schools and SAT optional schools. And for UNHOOKED sub-1800 students, finaid and merit money will be hard to come by.</p>
<p>Sub 1800 male, 1270 reading/math, math was a 710. From our experience schools that take students in this range don’t count the writing.
Acceptances-
Univ of the Pacific- with merit aid
Willamette- no aid
Univ of Puget Sound- no aid
Mc Daniels- with merit aid
Warren Wilson-no merit aid
Univ of Redlands- with merit aid
Northern Arizona Univ- with merit aid
Several Cal States
From my research there are schools that might give merit aid to this range- Univ of San Francisco, Seattle University, Univ of Denver.</p>
<p>First of all, 1800 is not a bad SAT score, it is still substantially above the average of all SAT test takers. Second, “low” SAT or ACT scores need not be an obstacle to admission to good colleges and universities as long as the applicant has a superior high school GPA. Visiting the admittance thread on the UC Berkeley site it is possible to find many students who had SAT scores below 1800 but were accepted because of their strong GPAs. The converse is not true as my younger son found out to his grief. His SAT scores were way above 1800 but a poor GPA resulted in rejection, even to a middle tier CSU.</p>
<p>Best friend of DS had 3.8W GPA, 3APs and sub 1800 SAT. He was accepted at Hanover (some merit aid), DePauw (some merit aid), Goshen (merit aid and one theater scholarship). He was waitlisted at Wabash and rejected from Knox. He actually did better than I thought that he would. he showed improvement in GPA each year after a mediocre freshman year.</p>
<p>25 ACt, 3.0 - 3.3 GPA…applied to Univ of Cincinnati in the fall, and was admitted shortly after application was complete.</p>
<p>We are out of state for UC (known to everyone as UC, unless you’re from California!) Kid just liked school when we visited. Didn’t apply anywhere else, since admission was received quite early.</p>
<p>(Caveat: DAAP and CCM …Design and Conservatory programs at UC are much harder to get into and may not be an easy admit for a 3.0 - 3.3, 25 ACT student.)</p>
<p>You may find that many of these slightly above average academic and EC kids are realistic about their chances at various schools as are their parents. So…our obsession with CC is either due to other kids in the family or other aspects of college life. Or…we just like the type of people who are on this site!</p>
<p>My child was sub-1800 with a GPA in the 3.3 range and did very well with college admissions. Acceptances from Rutgers (in state), Binghamton, Clark (with merit aid–only school to give any), Pitt (spring admission), George Mason, UMass, University of Denver, University of Colorado. Will be attending Binghamton (where, to be fair, I am an alum, so there may have been a hook there).</p>
<p>An 1800 SAT score is in the 81st percentile. Since the kids achieving this score did better than the great majority of their peers, it shouldn’t be surprising that they would get into many excellent colleges (although perhaps not up to the high standards of the average CC poster).</p>
<p>Anyway, my son’s score was around this mark, and he was accepted into all of his private schools with merit aid ranging from 12K to 18K per year. None of these colleges were SAT/ACT optional (or at least he didn’t apply as such). No hooks of any kind, just good grades and the standard ECs. He also go into our state flagship (no aid there, but it’s much cheaper than the privates to begin with). We’re very happy and proud of him, as should any parent whose child gets this score, IMO.</p>
<p>The key is to apply to schools outside of the top USN&WR 40-50. There are many fine schools that aren’t necessarily well-known and are eager for more applicants - and are willing to entice them with merit aid.</p>
<p>*Sub 1800 male, 1270 reading/math, math was a 710. From our experience schools that take students in this range don’t count the writing.
Acceptances-
Univ of the Pacific- with merit aid
Willamette- no aid
Univ of Puget Sound- no aid
Mc Daniels- with merit aid
Warren Wilson-no merit aid
Univ of Redlands- with merit aid
Northern Arizona Univ- with merit aid
Several Cal States
From my research there are schools that might give merit aid to this range- Univ of San Francisco, Seattle University, Univ of Denver. *</p>
<p>Good to know…congrats!</p>
<p>How much were the merit scholarships?</p>
<p>First of all, 1800 is not a bad SAT score,</p>
<p>Of course it’s not a bad score. :)</p>
<p>but…the question was about those with below a 1800 (also not “bad”). And, the question included merit money. </p>
<p>The awarding of merit money is not: Yes to good scores…No to bad scores. </p>
<p>It’s… Yes to higher scores for the school. No (or not a lot) to avg or less scores.</p>
<p>My daughter had a 1800 SAT (560/580/660) a weighted GPA of 3.76 with 1 AP (Psych) and she got into UCF and FSU in Florida. She is currently a Junior at UCF and doing very well there.</p>