Help, I think my college counsellor may have screwed me over

Applying to College
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i met my college counsellor on the 9th of august. while talking i asked if the 24th august sat was the last opportunity i had to write the sat if i wanted to apply early, to which she said yes. she realised that i had not yet registered for the sat and pushed me to register, as the deadline to register was the day we met, which i did.

i had taken an sat exam in march, and got a 690 in english and performed considerably worse in maths. owing to the shortage of time, i decided to devote almost all of my studying time to maths, so that i could do better.

when the results for the exam came out today, i had only improved marginally - my math score shot up to a 700, while my english went down. it was at this time i had learnt that unlike what my college counsellor had said, i could have in fact, written the october sat and colleges would have still accepted my test scores.

i am certain that i would have performed substantially well in the october sat, as i would have had more time to prepare. even for the august sat, despite having only two weeks of preparation time, i improved on my previous score. this is what angers me, as a superscored 1390 is not at all representative of my academic abilities and i feel this mistake has cost me a shot at many universities. furthermore, my score is only made to look worse by the fact that i am looking to apply to history and journalism - and my (not so great) 690 english score is less than my math score (700).

while the next obvious step would be to take the sat test in october, my dad lost his job recently, and money could be better spent on other things, than taking what would be my third sat exam. i have read about fee waivers, although i don’t think i qualify for this, as i live in india (although i am an american citizen).

can someone please give me advice on what i should do, please? anuthing would be much appreciated.

i also apologise if i may have come off as coping, my mood has been really bad since i learnt about this.

tldr - my college counsellor gave me incorrect information about early applications, which led me to writing the sat with very little preparation, and i am sure it has limited my score. what do i do?

cheers

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Can you register for and take the October SAT?

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You have absolutely NO crystal ball that would tell you that you would do better in October…but if you think you will…register for that test and take it.

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4

A 10 point difference is not such a big deal. What you need to do is find colleges that are good ones for YOU to apply to.

And maybe you should NOT be applying early decision. Or are you looking at early action?

What colleges are you targeting?

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I have one kid who would have been thrilled with that SAT score. That kid didn’t improve one point when taking the SAT the second time. They still got accepted to college. Oh…and they were top 5% of their high school graduation class. They got accepted to the colleges of choice because they chose colleges where acceptance was likely.

My other kid had that high 1390 or so SAT and also got accepted to his colleges of choice. But he was a musician so his SAT score didn’t matter so much.

Your goal now…find a list of colleges where you have a good likelihood of acceptance. They are out there. If you do a chance me thread, folks here can offer you some suggestions.

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I could, but as I mentioned, my family is in a tight spot financially, so it would probably be best not to write it in October.

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Do some babysitting or pet sitting. Or something like that. If you don’t have a job, get a part time one (jobs are a good EC for college). That way you can contribute to the costs of applying to college.

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I get it. But, your choice is clear. Go with the score you have or take the test again.

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I am looking at early action, due to personal commitments I feel would hinder the quality of my applications.

As for colleges that I am targeting - Maryland, Georgia and Wake Forest were all ones I had in mind as targets (these were before I got my SAT scores.)

My academics are on par with these colleges, although I can’t help not including my SAT score would harm my application, or worse, it drags my application down if I choose to include them in my application.

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Sure, will do so.

Thank you so much for helping, you truly are a god send!

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Let’s just appreciate that this student is not in the US. “Do some babysitting” is insensitive advice. In many cultures, teens don’t have that available to them as paying jobs and even if so the payment is very unlikely to cover the cost of the exam.

OP: if you are a US citizen you probably qualify for a waiver. However, your tone and attitude could probably be improved and why the advice you are getting is “deal with it.”

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UMD does not need SAT. I would not include it. (Do you know cost of OOS at Maryland? FA for OOS does not exist there.)
UGA will superscore.Your SAT should be fine there.

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Unsolicited advice…while you can vent on a forum like CC, do not include any excuse for your SAT (especially saying it was your counselor’s fault) on a college application. I get it is more difficult overseas, but you could have researched the best time to prepare and take the SAT on your own.

If you can retake then do so, if not seek out colleges that work for your (already strong) scores. Know that many schools do super-score (use the best score from each section among the different testing dates).

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I think your SAT superscore is absolutely fine. You are US citizen living abroad. If you play your cards well, you will end up in a good affordable school (not Ivy, not tippy top, but well respected. ) If you shooting for stars, stop now. You have limited resources and you need to focus on quality education and not prestige. Many US citizens are in the same boat. Not everyone is in top school.

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If money/college budget is an issue, Maryland and Georgia may not be affordable (you likely won’t get financial aid at either.)

Have you run the net price calculator at any of the schools? Here’s Wake’s.
https://npc.collegeboard.org/app/wfu

Also note that while Wake does have EA, it is only for first gen students…is that you?

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You need to come up with a realistic list of schools that provide FA to OOS students or provide merit with your SAT range. Stop blaming yourself or your concelors. You have many open doors in front of you; stop trying to enter the closed ones.

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If money is tight, I’d suggest running the NPC at any school you are interested in before applying. Most public colleges do not provide need-based financial aid to out of state students so if the published cost isn’t affordable, you should eliminate them from consideration.

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This comment may explain the student’s heavy focus on standardized test scores at a time when US colleges & universities are moving away from them.

OP: Many US colleges & universities are test optional (TO).

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Not to put too fine a point on it, but is it realistic to apply to US colleges if your family’s financial situation is precarious? Virtually no college is going to give a generous enough financial aid package to cover all the costs of attendance including transportation to/from India.

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Note that even when colleges do meet “full need”, that scholarship does not always include things such as travel, health insurance, books, spending money, etc. which can run into thousands of dollars. Understand what a “full scholarship” means at each school and be sure your family can manage any other costs.

If your family can pay the application fees, it is fine to give it a shot and apply to some US colleges that appear to be affordable – but you should look at affordable college options elsewhere as well.