<p>I am the legal guardian of 3 nephews, ages 18, 16 and 15. My oldest nephew graduates HS this year and will be attending Carleton College with a very fine financial aid package. We’re so thrilled for him!</p>
<p>I’m writing for ideas about his brother who is currently a high school sophomore. He’s taking all honors classes, and has straight A’s so far through HS. He’ll be adding some AP classes next year. He has a tremendous work ethic and gets his grades largely by dint of hard work. He does not do well on standardized tests. His PLAN test would lead us to believe that he might get a 22-24 on his ACT. We plan to enroll him in an ACT prep course. </p>
<p>Any ideas for schools where he would be able to get a high financial aid package with as little gapping as possible? Hooks for him are circumstances leading to the guardianship and South Dakota residency. I’m certain he’ll get excellent recommendations…his teachers think the world of him. Thanks for any and all thoughts.</p>
<p>I think it’s more than wonderful that you are helping your nephews.</p>
<p>There are a number of really fine schools that are SAT/ACT optional. Look into some of those. Also, you mention the ACT…some students do better on the SAT…some on the ACT…you might want him to try both.</p>
<p>And if standardized testing really is not reflective of his abilities, I would recommend checking out the list of SAT optional schools which can be found on [The</a> National Center for Fair & Open Testing | FairTest](<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org%5DThe”>http://www.fairtest.org)</p>
<p>Check out the catholic schools in the state. Some will have “unadvertised” scholarships for very low income students as a result of the school’s mission. They’ll apply pell, SEOG, state grant, and then cover the rest with institutional money. Since room and board are pretty low in SD, a Stafford and work study may cover the rest. I know a young man with a zero EFC getting that kind of a deal from a Catholic school in a neighboring state, about the same ACT and a slightly lower GPA. (of course he is a resident of that state). </p>
<p>State schools in SD are pretty reasonable, even for us out-of-staters. They might make good safety picks as the Pell grant alone may come pretty close to covering in-state tuition.</p>
<p>Look at Momfromtexas’s thread for full ride scholarships. Her strategies will be useful in getting a list together.</p>
<p>My son fits your nephews desciption in terms of test scores and grades. He used Fairtest to get into 4 of his schools. Both Gettysburg and Holy Cross accepted him without test scores. They meet 100% of need for accepted students. There may be other such schools as well.</p>
<p>Getting a huge financial aid award is not easy when the test scores are not way up there, because the most generous schools in aid, tend to be the ones that are the most selective and that includes test scores in the criteria. The same with merit money. Schools love to buy high test scores.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the thoughts, everyone. His older brother was a bit of a challenge as well but for the opposite reason (high test scores, lower GPA). But, we were very fortunate that Carelton and others saw the reasons behind the GPA during his first 2 years in high school (circumstances leading to the guardianship) and understood that his straight A’s during junior and senior year (with 6 AP’s this year!) were more reflective of his abilities than his 3.6 GPA. I’ll definitely check out the test-optional schools.</p>
<p>Unfortunately schools will buy high SATs over high grades in most situations. I saw this with two of my boys who are opposites in that way. A lot of schools wanted the one’s near perfect SATS and were willing to overlook his not so high gpa. The other one did well with the schools we picked, but he did not get much in the way of merit money like his brother did despite the high grades.</p>
<p>*He does not do well on standardized tests. His PLAN test would lead us to believe that he might get a 22-24 on his ACT. We plan to enroll him in an ACT prep course.</p>
<p>Any ideas for schools where he would be able to get a high financial aid package with as little gapping as possible? Hooks for him are circumstances leading to the guardianship and South Dakota residency.*</p>
<p>Have him take the SAT, too. He might do better on that.</p>
<p>Is he an under-represented minority?</p>
<p>Having low test scores could hurt his chances for getting accepted to the schools that give the best aid. While GPA is important, schools really value test scores because supposedly they can expose grade inflation and because high test scores help schools with their rankings. For instance, a school is more “forgiving” with a 3.6 GPA and a 32 ACT, then that might be with a 23 ACT and a 4.0 GPA. Especially if the there was an upward trend with GPA which your older nephew had. </p>
<p>If after test prep classes and taking both the SAT and ACT, your nephew still ends up with modest test scores, then Cpt’s suggestions about Fairtest and those schools are a very good idea.</p>
<p>BTW…is your nephew not doing well on tests because he’s not finishing sections?</p>
<p>My son took both SATs and ACTs. He barely got 1500 on all three parts of the SAT though he took it 3 times, studied and was tutored along with getting a class. His ACT score was a little better. According to the school counselor, the ACT tends to be a better test for kids who don’t tend to do well on standardized tests. The problem is that though getting into a school and getting a small merit award is not such a problem in this scenario, getting close to a full ride is not so easy in any case, but with low test scores, it’s really a problem. You gotta find schools that want the whole kid, test scores included, and if the schools average test score range tends to be higher than the kid’s, getting money is not easy. That’s where Momfromtexas’s methods can come into play since her kids were not high test score kids either. </p>
<p>My son did get some close to full ride options, by the way. One meant commuting, however–there was another such school where I think the same could have happened where he did not apply. The other was a school where he was a geographic catch and they are looking for boys, and the test scores at the school were in line with his. The only way he could have gotten into schools with higher test scores as averages, is through Fairtest or having more of a specialty handle in some discipline, which he did not have.</p>
<p>Read up on Questbridge. That is an excellent option for students who are low income but have good grades. There is a whole sub-forum on it at the top of this one. Here is a link to the organization itself: [QuestBridge</a> Home Page](<a href=“http://www.questbridge.org/]QuestBridge”>http://www.questbridge.org/)</p>
<p>You wrote:“He has a tremendous work ethic and gets his grades largely by dint of hard work. He does not do well on standardized tests.”’ This is a pattern often seen in students with dyslexia-type issues. It would be a good idea to discuss this with his guidance counselor. If he is identified with anything in the dyslexia range, he would be able to ask for accommodations for his standardized exams (usually more time to complete them). It would also mean that while he is in high school he could work with the LD resource teacher to help find his own best ways to get his work done. Those skills will be extremely useful when he faces the heavier workload in college.</p>
<p>South Dakota has a small population right? I would think a male from South Dakota might do well to look on the East Coast at schools that need more males: Connecticut College (CT), Vassar College (NY) Skidmore College (NY) Wheaton College (MA) etc. </p>
<p>I agree about doing test prep and trying both ACT & SAT. Test optional schools are certainly worth looking into as well.</p>
<p>He is a sophomore in high school - I would pursue both grades in rigorous coursework and test improvement (SAT or ACT). It’s too soon to narrow the field, that decision can come a year from now if need be.</p>