<p>@sammyxb, That pharmacy program is fascinating. I’ve not heard of anything like that before. Your ECs look impressive to me. For the math, are you already familiar with the website khan academy? It’s free and is an amazing source for instruction on specific math concepts. He even specifically covers questions that are on the SAT. Not exactly the same as the ACT, but if you know what concepts you struggled with you can find them there. I keep trying to get my D to look at that site again as she also wants to improve her math scores.</p>
<p>Ummm, “Nevermind” in my best Emily Litella voice. ACT score is out. Her SAT is better but the ACT is good enough that if she really prefers it and is willing to put in the work, she could take it again in the fall and probably do well enough. Decisions, decisions.</p>
<p>@SammyxB, I don’t have anything to add to this discussion but I wanted to add a vote of confidence. I’m very impressed that you came to this forum to post and really listened to what people had to say. You show some remarkable maturity. No wonder you’ve been chosen as a College Prep Scholar.</p>
<p>Based on what people are saying about the process you’re following, I’d get some prep materials for the ACT and work hard at getting the scores up a bit. It sounds like you’ve got the determination to make that happen. Maybe take a look at the ACT forum and see if anyone has posted helpful prep tips? </p>
<p>I second the use of the Khan Academy for free help/tutoring for math and other fields. They have really expanded their offerings and explain concepts very well.</p>
<p>SammyxB,</p>
<p>I think you should be competitive for a number of colleges, but honestly, I would take MIT off your list. With a 450 in math, even with all your strengths, I think it isn’t the right school for you. I have a son, URM (half-Puerto Rican), who scored an 800 on the SAT math in 8th grade (and a 700 in 7th grade); he’s that kind of kid. He’s a rising junior at MIT and it is an <strong>intense</strong> place and he has been plenty challenged. They do expect a minimum of 700 on math, though I know there are some students who do get in and score less. But it’s <strong>hard</strong>, really hard, even for many so called “math geniuses”. </p>
<p>I think your other choices are good. Vandy is a really good high reach for you. Since you seem to be stronger in English/Reading, you might go for more Liberal Arts Colleges on your list. </p>
<p>I also know that I worked with a girl last year (I do very part time college consulting) who, on her first go around with the SAT, got a similar score to you. On her second go around, she got a 1600, so she had a solid improvement. She got into a number of solid colleges and will be happily going to Providence College.</p>
<p>Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t go to a good school, but do have a good, realistic list. Above all, keep working hard because hard work will get you to where you want to go.</p>
<p>And btw, congratulations on the Questbridge College Prep Scholarship!</p>
<p>MIT actually has non-math/sci majors and courses of study - is heavy math always required?</p>
<p>I join in congratulating you on QB College Prep!</p>
<p>@LadyArwyn I think the Running Start program in WA state is a bit unusual. My D has taken some classes using Running Start because she could not bear the slow pace of science classes at the high school. It has worked out well for her in terms of a better environment and faster pace, but it is really a challenge to coordinate the two school schedules. If your daughter is interested in attending a WA state school, I think the credits should transfer over fairly easily. That said, it really helps to look at the conversion tables that are posted online. We have also talked with an academic adviser at the state college my daughter is most likely to attend, and we have chosen classes that will take care of many of her major prerequisites. We are also trying to take year long science series so that they are more likely to transfer if she attends a university out of state. The quarter/semester differences can make transferring credits challenging. I am not an expert, but we do have friends who have done Running Start. As far as I know they did not apply to the top tier schools, but they did have many acceptances at private schools out of state and public in-state schools. If you want more details, let me know.</p>
<p>OhMom, they require everyone to take Calculus, Calc-based physics, bio and chem. They do have levels for the sciences, but even the “easy” levels are intense. I think I would want to see a math SAT much closer to 700 before I would recommend someone apply. Now they do have a summer program before freshman year where they get kids prepared for calculus, so its possible for someone who may not test well but has done, say, Calc A/B or B/C during high school. I just wouldn’t want to see kids go into MIT unprepared or kids get their hopes up without sufficient background.</p>
<p>I can see students like SammyxB doing better applying to schools like Harvard since it’s a liberal arts education. (In fact, Harvard should be on the list if MIT is on the list).</p>
<p>My 2015er got a 750 on SAT math and seems to be doing well enough now to get through Calc I or II during high school, but I would not recommend MIT for him even though they consistently come up on top schools for game design. It is not for the faint of heart. The amount of work they do in their p-sets can be pretty insane. </p>
<p>There’s a lot I like about MIT, but I think it’s good for people to know what they’re getting into.</p>
<p>I highly doubt I qualify for Harvard and I do not have the money.</p>
<p>In fact, sometimes I can’t help but think how crazy I am of thinking of desiring college when I cannot afford it.Hell, I can’t even afford my cap and gown for next year or be able to do senior pictures or prom.</p>
<p>I used to want/like Harvard but lost interest in it.And I only am trying MIT and other schools if I get national college match via questbridge…</p>
<p>But I don’t know really…this is all just stressful and tiring.</p>
<p>Sammy you have gotten some very good advice here and on the parents thread, but it still appears as though you are upset about a lot of things that are beyond our assistance. You mentioned that your sister attends college- this indicates to me that your family has been through the process at least once and should be able to help you work out the details. Additionally, it has been mentioned that the QB program serves as a guidance counselor. I urge you to find a trusted adult or counselor to speak with in your community who can help with the college process and some of the other issues that you appear to be struggling with. Although our parents group is great, I doubt we can give you all of the help and advice that you need. Good luck to you- you are an amazing young woman who will have many opportunities available. </p>
<p>D has her senior picture on July 6 and finally came to the realization that she should do something with her hair that at the very least requires a brush. She originally thought she would keep her hair " as is" so that it looks the way she typically looks. Thankfully she has had a change of heart. </p>
<p>She is still plowing through the essays in her quest to be finished by the time school begins. In the meantime, she is taking her friend out for ice cream tonight and giving her a graduation gift. Today we went on a 5 mile walk! </p>
<p>Sammy, the amazing news with top schools is, if somehow you can get in (and that is the challenge for you and all of our kids), it will literally be free as far as the billed amount (tuition, room and board), or if it’s not, you can borrow the difference. Also, you will want to apply for outside scholarships. Those can help.</p>
<p>Even with families like ours (family of 5 with a 75K a year income), these top schools offered boatloads of money. Vanderbilt was the most generous of the schools that are on your list. MIT is actually less generous than some others. Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Vandy, Dartmouth, Davidson are all more generous according to calculators. I don’t know about most of the liberal arts colleges.</p>
<p>You need to run some net price calculators on all of the schools that claim to meet 100% of need and see what you come up with.</p>
<p>Again, I love the other schools on your list, not just the Questbridge match schools. I think you’ll find something. Do the best you can in studying for the tests, go for great letters of recommendations, and then write great essays. Let’s see what happens!</p>
<p>I sure hope Sammy’s stats are good enough for UGA or my D may be in trouble. I’ve seen the data on the UGA site, but we kept it on our list because Naviance shows accepted students from our school with a 21 ACT and 3.25 GPA. We decided D had better stats so it was worth keeping on the list. I hope we aren’t wrong since we’re about to fly half way across the country to visit.</p>
<p>Sammy, good luck to you. You have a lot to offer. I would suggest with the others that you broaden your list, not necessarily because of risk of not being accepted, but because of financial aid offers that you could be passing up. </p>
<p>@jennie11 It varies with applicants. Based on what I’ve been told by people who just got accepted/know UGA so well and have connections, admissions are funky. Lowest I’ve seen is a 3.0 GPA and some sort of test score I forgot that get accepted. </p>
<p>It really all depends because I’ve seen many rejections of GPAs 3.0+ and ACT scores from 22-36 and SAT scores from 1500-2400. </p>
<p>They take you by surprise sometime in admission…Only thing I know is Val/Sals get auto admit for high GPA no matter what.</p>
<p>And thanks…and honestly I am trying to see how to broaden since it’s very complicated for me.</p>
<p>If only money wasn’t an issue. It’s irritating that such a piece of paper that can be easily ripped/burned(or cotton material whatever it is) has so much influence and power over so much .</p>
<p>@SammyxB good for you being so proactive. I agree with @twogirls start a thread on the Parents Forum there are lots of parents from lots of years with great info that can help you-</p>
<p>Why is the forum so quiet today? Are you all out actually doing things besides sitting in front of your computers? My family always seems to have the problem that we can’t all get motivated to go do something at the same time, so we end up hanging around the house a lot.</p>
<p>I was playing with the net price calculators again. Do any of you sometimes feel worried that you might have been better off just not researching colleges so much and just going with the local or state school…or whatever the sure thing might be for your kid? It really seemed at first that there were a lot of good options on the table, where D might get good merit, smaller schools, etc, but then they started getting crossed off the list, and now it seems that options are limited: lottery schools, places I am not so sure about, or places she doesn’t like. Of course, starting out with just the state schools would have been more limiting, and I may have always been left wondering “what if…” , but I just hate to be, quite possibly, setting her up for disappointment.</p>
<p>@shoboemom funny that you say this we went on a tour yesterday and the conversation on the way home: “no more tours the only people I’m interested speaking with from now on is the person who will be advising my kid and the person who will tell me how I paid for this” per husband.</p>
<p>I think the reality for a lot will be clearer once they throw their hat in the ring and the real results are reveled. Until then we can only go through the process, with enough information to make it not so fun.</p>
<p>I have been on CC most of the day but have not been posting. We went out walking earlier in the day and I spent some time vacuuming- fun stuff LOL. </p>
<p>I play with the NPC all the time. Looks like we may get a small bit of money ( I think) to some schools while I have two in college- they will overlap by a year. As soon as D12 graduates they will take it away. I realize we need to go after the merit. </p>
<p>I spent most of the day feeling stressed about this process because I have no clue what will happen. She can get into our top state school without working as hard as she did. She has the stats to make it into their honors college and if she chooses to apply to their early assurance medical school program, she can- not a bad deal. . We narrowed the list to 12 schools and each school seems to have kids that she will connect with, so technically any of them should work, but of course she has her favorites. </p>
<p>She went to her friend’s birthday party the other night and was upset because most of the girls were sitting around completely obsessed with " likes" on Instagram. My D is not into that at all and came home questioning why these kids are so obsessed and how she does not enjoy participating in that activity. She said this is why she chooses not to go out and prefers to only go out when it revolves around school events. Of course this only partially true- she is obsessed with her schoolwork and this is why she dos not go out much. The kids she connects with the most ( a different group than those at the birthday party) are those who are not glued to their phones - essentially she enjoys going to dinner and having conversations about books, activities, etc. She also enjoys going to games but is not into the partying that may ( or may not) accompany that. Ugh. I hope things work out. </p>
<p>@twogirls, the College Access program was very informative today. the UMD application will be released the first week of August. The AO did not give an exact date. She said the short answer questions will change this year.</p>
<p>Merit aid is based on test scores + transcript only. They will recalculate to a weight GPA to make GPAs consistent for all HS. Essays, ECs, and recommendations are not considered when merit aid is being determined. They will use the CR and Math for SAT and all scores except for W on the ACT. UMD superscores both the ACT and SAT.</p>
<p>@twogirls my D had to write a 280 character statement about herself on what she could bring to the community for the class of 2015.</p>
<p>She thought she couldn’t bring anything until I pointed out that she was quiet with a sense of strength and that people like talking to her. (Mediator team since 5 grade)</p>
<p>Sometimes the most obvious are the lest obvious. After the talk she wrote that high school was hard and she could listen to other problems she may not know the answer but they could always find an ear with her. So I think you may be worrying about the minute areas when the big picture is clear: your D is a strong student who is mature and knows herself well.</p>
<p>Hoosier thanks- yes and that is why I am starting to pull away a bit and let her direct the process and the list. She has done an excellent job at narrowing down the schools. I come here to vent and gain strength LOL. </p>
<p>4CookieMonster I called UMD-CP last week ( didn’t I just say I am pulling back? LOL) and they said they will release the new app mid August. </p>
<p>If she goes to our state school it is perfectly fine as it will give her an excellent education at an affordable price, she will have study abroad options, and plenty of internship opportunities. </p>