3.18 20 ACT Questions

Applying to College
1

Hi. My daughter is a junior with a 3.18 and scored a 20 on the ACT (her 1st attempt). She will take it several more times. We are residents of PA. She is also a swimmer and has appeared in the PA State Meet for 6 events(2 individual, 1 relay x 2 years) for her 1st two years. Volunteers in church, Captain of swim team as a Junior, Lifeguard, Key Club and a really good kid. High School is highly rated at 6th best in the state. If you add the electives she has a 3.8 I would like to ask a few questions:

  1. Other than the PASSHE schools (I graduated from one of these…very good experience. Spouse graduated from private university in Erie), any other schools she would have a decent chance to be admitted into?

We did take a visit to Clarion University…We both enjoyed it until the student tour guide (very nice and bright kid) told us that he wanted to go to Drexel but it was too expensive. He also stated everyone goes home on the weekend. The rest of the tour was very good.

  1. Understanding that the PASSHE schools do not provide much financial assistance, any other schools for this level of student that provides merit for her stats? I think York College of PA is a possibility. She could likely swim at a DI, DII or DIII. I would prefer that if she does chose to swim in college that it is not as serious as major DI programs. I would like her to experience other college opportunities as well.

I see so many folks on here with such amazing depth and understanding…I thought I would ask. It is never too early.

Oh…together my wife and I have a decent income over the $100,000 mark likely making financial aid more of a challenge. I am open to your thoughts and suggestions.

Thank you

2

try the Super Match link on the left side here. Focus more on her GPA and tests. While her ECs are meaningful for her, the sorts of schools she’ll be targeting won’t be the ones who evaluate EC involvement but purely transcript and test scores.

I’m not saying she should drop them – but most kids overestimate the value of ECs – most schools don’t use them as eval criteria.

Good luck.

3

Major? What can you afford?

4

Major is undeclared. We could likely swing $20 - $25,000 per year from our finances. Also - T26E4 - thank you for the suggeation

5

Excuse the typo…“thank you for the suggestion”.

6

Possibly Guilford, in NC? They are test-optional and might offer her an athletic scholarship, but I don’t know for certain. If that’s an unweighted GPA, then she might have a decent shot. If it’s weighted, she still has a chance, but merit aid outside of an athletic scholarship is unlikely.

7

Thank you for the suggestion.

8

Your D should focus on grades (bring that GPA up as high as possible to show an upward trend); test scores (ideally, get >25 ACT); swimming (reach out to coaches and keep improving).

9

Thanks. I believe her grades are trending upwards. Her goal is a 30 on the ACT (far from it at the moment) and she wants to swim faster. Interesting times for us.

10

So it looks like for the $20,000 - 25,000 range we are likely to sending her to a PASSHE school in PA unless some thing major changes.

11

A possibility may be to check out PSU-Behrend in Erie, or PSU-Harrisburg.
If she applies on Sept1, checks DUS and Fall but optional Summer session, and can bring her weighted GPA to 3.5 + ACT to 25, she has a decent shot at Penn State Main Campus. With either a lower GPA or a lower ACT, she’d have to check DUS and the straight “summer session”. They factor addiional “rigor” if 1° the student didn’t stop at Algebra2 but went to Precalculus or Calculus + 2° took all three from Bio, chem, physics, plus an extra one +3° took up to level 4 or 5 in a foreign language.
However I don’t know whether it’d be affordable for you.

She could apply to several PASSHE schools. WCU is the best one. Some have strong Honors Programs where a student with a 3.5/25 would be fine. All in all though, the PASSHE schools have suffered tremendously in the past few years, first from major budget cuts, second from strange directions taken by leaders then replaced by others who went another direction etc. For instance, there was talk to turn Mansfield into what SUNY Geneseo or UMD-StMary’s managed to do, an Honors/public LAC, but that went nowhere and was diverted to building new residence halls, then to leadership focus, to de-emphasizing the business program, to re-emphasizing the business program… and this is pretty typical.
Check out the Honors program at these colleges. They offer nicer housing, priority registration, and the chance to go on a trip abroad (2 students go each year, all expenses paid).

Pennsylvania has more than 200 colleges (no, I’m not kidding) and there are hundreds more in surrounding states (OH, NYS, MD, NJ).
If we imagine your child ends 11h grade with an ACT 22 and GPA 3.3, she would still have choices: Hiram, Elizabethtown, Gannon, John Carroll, Capital, Juniata, Lycoming, Lebanon Valley, Arcadia, Moravian, Washington&Jefferson, Lemoyne, Nazareth, LaSalle, Rider, Manhattan, Manhattanville, Chatham, Duquesne, Siena, St Bonaventure, UScranton, Ithaca…
Some of the above are test-optional, so that if her course rigor and GPA were good but her ACT score didn’t rise, she could simply not submit her test scores.
Perhaps, purchase a little book called Colleges that Change Lives. Lots of good choices for serious, B/B+ students.

12

Hi MYOS1634. Thank you for the response. I appreciate your detailed response. Wife went to Gannon. It was a good experience. She wants to swim as well. She is excited about taking the ACT a few more times. Her courses have been “rigorous”. She is in physics, trig and honors English in 11th grade. Finished algebra 2, bio, chem, geometry and all of the others. She is scheduling for 12th grade now. She wants to take AP Biology and another AP course but I can’t remember what it is? She like York College of PA. Not sure if you are familiar with that school or not?

13

Then she could apply to PSU with the criteria I cited, and have a shot.
AP Bio is VERY difficult. I wouldn’t recommend it unless she got an A in regular biology (or B+ in Honors Biology).
If she wants an AP science that is less difficult, AP Environmental Science is a good one.
York specializes in the health professions. Run the Net Price Calculator because it doesn’t meet need, meaning it doesn’t provide sufficient money to most students it admits.

14

Do you have an NCAA counselor at your school? That might give the best guidance with swimming.

Also, do you have other children? That will impact financial aid in a positive way.

A 3.8 with electives is a different story completely. Do you mean gym and choir or do you mean an academic course such as psychology?

15

Thanks MYOS1634. She is considering AP Environmental Science. Funny like you almost knew that. She is interested in health professions. Seems like a solid school (York).

Thanks SeekingPam. Our district is very well thought of…but we do not have an NCAA coordinator. Electives included psychology, Greek mythology, art and gym.

All of your thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

16

Electives would be counted in her GPA but would add weight, except for gym.
For swimming, do you know how good she is? Denison is a D3 swimming powerhouse and they’re test-optional.
(I realize that if she hopes to swim in college, PSU isn’t possible. Just in case, apply. Also, apply to Temple with the Temple Option - keeping mind that her essay’s quality will be used to decide on her admission and scholarships. Same thing for the Honors College.)
Have you run some NPCs? Do you know what your budget is?
Juniata is another good school for B students interested in the Health Sciences. Hiram has a very interesting program called Medical Humanities and good scholarships based on community involvement and EC’s.Capital (OH) has a good nursing program. Chatham has a guaranteed program called IDP for Physician’s Assistant, Occupational Therapy, etc - students need to have a 3.5, 7 classes in math/science, and 26 on the ACT; they complete their Master’s degree in 5 years.
With a 3.8, she could look into test optional colleges like Ithaca and Muhlenberg.

17

Thanks MYOS1634. I think both the 3.5 and 25 on the ACT are achievable. Do you think some of the PASSHE schools will likely close their doors as they appear to be poorly attended and enrollment is falling. They just seem to be the most affordable option and I would like her to graduate without any or much debt.

18

I don’t think the PASSHE schools will close because they’re state-backed, even if poorly financed.
When the matter of debt occurs, sticking to the federal limit (27K for all undergraduate, or: 5.5K freshman, 6.5K sophomore, 7.5 each of jr and sr year) is doable if necessary - not optimal but if the choice is between, say, Slippery Rock and St Lawrence, go for St Lawrence and a little debt.
(St Lawrence, Hobart&William Smith, Goucher… are all other possibilities).

19

Thanks MYOS1634. Interesting thoughts. Will the difference in education between Slippery Rock and St. Lawrence be that great?

20

I’m not familiar with PASSHE (I’m from IL) but…I read about these schools for my D…

Susquehanna, Elizabethtown, Albright, Wittenberg (in Ohio). Lycoming.

What about Temple? Arcadia? Ursinus?

Definitely have your D take the ACT another time or two, a higher score will help.