This is my second ACT and I got a 27 without studying but I got a 23 English and a 32 math but I learned some grammar rules so I’m praying. I took Honor World freshman year and DE US History my junior year and I am currently in DE Gov. I am apply early to UMD but idk if my ACT would come in time and my optional LOR is my sponsor who was also my nutrition and wellness teacher.
I took AP Lang but English/ Reading Comp is definitely my weakness. Thank you!
For Fall 2027 college start, FAFSA uses 2025 tax returns. So how the $140k figures into your aid depends on what you family did with it. If it’s just sitting in a parent’s bank account it’ll be assessed at approx 5% rate. If they used it to – just as an example – pay down their mortgage and their equity isn’t very high, it could be excluded. Just depends on details.
Also keep in mind that OOS public univ are fairly expensive (>$55k/yr), but – again, depending on the specifics of your family’s finances – private colleges outside your state could offer net prices much lower than OOS pub univs.
And NPC takes into account the costs your parents are incurring w/ other kids in college.
Bottomline: you have to run NPC to get a good estimates. I suggest doing so for in-state pubs, as well as private colleges outside your state. You may be surprised.
Lots of public colleges out of state are less than $55K full pay - starting at low 20s - and others have lots of merit. You can go OOS for cheaper than UVA in state.
But OP has to be flexible, etc. in that regard. At the same time, VA has a wealth of public colleges - and really nice ones with beautiful campuses (like CNU, W&M, JMU) and highly rated food at many.
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If you’re planning on med school, you really need to keep undergrad borrowing and spending as low as possible. I don’t think that you’re going to have a high test score, based upon your reported ACT results. I don’t think that you’re going to be able to get into the extremely selective schools that offer high fin aid to middle income families, so I recommend that you plan for an in-state public 4 yr college, as cheaply as possible. Seriously, commuting from home to the closest in-state public may be your best option.
I realize that you are carrying a challenging class load. Plus I bet that you’ve grown up in a household where your first language was Vietnamese, and you didn’t hear a high level of college-educated spoken English at home. This is where reading a lot comes in. The more that you can read of books from lists like 100 best American and/or British literature, the better (and look up every word you don’t know the meaning of). Do English sections of ACT or SAT in practice books, and learn the grammar rules for the questions you’re getting wrong.
The MCAT does have a reading comprehension section, and med schools like to see a high score on that subsection, so the prep I recommended above is going to serve you well for the MCAT, too.
Some NPCs take this into consideration. Others do not.
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Thank you! I actually just ran a few and the aid was a lot higher than I expected and definitely affordable as Case Western came to be ~30k per year.
Are you the student or the parent?
@MWolf for input on Posse.
Student
I got a 34 on reading and a 34 math for the October ACT with a composite of 32.
On the October ACT I got a 32 composite with 34 Math and reading.
Update! On the October ACT I got a 32 composite with 34 Math and reading.
Great job! I would submit these scores to all colleges. I don’t recommend applying test-optional in any schools in your case. I assume your ACT English score is a 28 which is still very good.
Since @whhdlsen is from Virginia, that would mean that they they are art of the Posse Virtual program. The students from Virginia have two Posse partners - UVA and W&M.
As @whhdlsen stated, if they are selected as a Posse finalist, they will be considered as applying through binding ED. Unlike other binding ED, pulling out if they are selected because it is too expensive is not acceptable. While, as far as I know, there is no legal recourse for Posse, that doesn’t mean that it will not have repercussions. It will have negative impact on the finalist’s high school, which means that the finalist’s counselor will not be happy with them, and the RD applications have yet to be sent.
It is also a dirty trick, since the partner college accepts ten finalists, so accepting a finalist position and then withdrawing after acceptance is stealing that scholarship from another finalist. Of course, there are still legitimate reasons to withdraw, like a family crisis.
In any case, unless an accepted Posse Scholar’s family suddenly needs them to drop out of school to work or take care of a family member, they will be able to afford to attend UVA, because UVA is full need met. So an accepted Posse Scholar will receive additional financial aid to meet any need that they have that is not covered by the scholarship.
As I wrote above, unless you are committed to attend UVA if you are accepted as a Posse Scholar, do not accept a position as a finalist.
While I’m not 100% certain about how Virtual Posse selects finalists, I assume that you may be matched to William & Mary instead. If so, would you be interested in attending W&M?
Great job. I personally would submit those scores…
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Is this true? Even if the school’s NPC is inaccurate, to take one example? If this is true, with verified instances of issues, that’s quite sad. I would go so far as to say the college would be violating NACAC’s SPGPs because I would question the ethics of punishing students who had nothing to do with a different student withdrawing from their ED agreement.
It’s full need met based on how the school calculates it. There are many families who can not afford their SAI or school calculated family contribution. This isn’t seemingly an issue for OP, but it is for some students, including some who are accepted thru Posse.
Great job! In terms of the list in your OP, that 32 is below the mid-50% range for Rice and Emory. Ask your HS counselor and/or your AO from those schools for guidance. I would encourage you to submit to all other schools on your list.
With a 32 in hand, I would stop treating this as one yes or no decision for the whole list. A 32 is a strong score in general, but whether it helps you depends on the school, and on the section scores behind it. Your 34s in Math and Reading are the part of this result that lines up best with biochemistry, because they show college level reading and quantitative work. Colleges see the section scores, not only the composite, so a composite that was pulled down by the other two sections does not erase those 34s.
Use a school by school rule, and check it against each school’s published middle 50 percent range, which you can find in its Common Data Set or on its admissions page. If your 32 is at or above the 25th percentile for that school, and reasonably close to its median, submit it. It confirms the grades and the coursework. If your 32 is well below the 25th percentile, and the rest of the application is stronger than the score, withhold it for that school only. That is the practical meaning of test optional. It does not mean test blind. A submitted score will be read, and a withheld score is not held against you in the way a low submitted score can be.
Applied to your list, that rule points in different directions. For GMU, VCU, and NOVA, submit the 32. It strengthens an already solid application and leaves no question about readiness. For Pitt, UMD, and Rochester, submit it in most cases, but still do the range check first, because a score that is in range at one of those schools can be below range at another. For Case Western, UVA, Tulane, Emory, Wake Forest, Rice, and Tufts, the range check is the whole decision. These are the schools where a 32 could either confirm your 3.85 unweighted GPA and your 4.73 junior year GPA, or sit below the range and draw attention away from AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP Physics C, your FCCLA state win, the NYU Simons work, and the pharmacy technician work. Withhold only where the published range clearly says the score is the weakest part of the file.
Check merit scholarships separately, before you decide to withhold anywhere. Some schools use test scores for specific merit awards, or have a separate score deadline, even when admission itself is test optional. That matters a lot in your case, since cost is a real constraint and you are chasing scholarships. A score that you withhold for admission at one school could still be worth sending for a scholarship at the same school, so read that school’s merit page, not just its admissions page.
I would not rush into another ACT sitting just to chase a higher composite unless a specific school on your list has a range and a deadline that make a retake worthwhile. Your Math and Reading scores already tell the story you need for a science major. Spend that time instead on the range check for each school, and on making sure the activities that show sustained science work, like Science Olympiad, the health platform, and the CVS job, are described with concrete numbers and results. Those are the parts of your file that a withheld score lets a reader focus on.
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whhdlsen should be done with ACT testing. No need for an additional attempt.