Test Optional and Merit Aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Merit” aid means just that. Under an 1100 doesn’t cut it, especially when the grades, while good, aren’t outstanding. Honestly why do you think a good college should give him “merit” aid to attend?

This is worse than uncharitable, it’s untrue. Many colleges will give merit for this GPA, even test optional.

This, my son went test-optional at half of the schools he applied to - he was offered very significant merit aid - even with his GPA not up to DCUM's standards. With that said, the schools he was applying to are not the popular ones that only give aid to DCUM Wunderkids. We used Jeff Selingo's concept of buyers and sellers and looked for places that were a good fit AND gave merit. Its possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid is going to be a senior. 4.0W/3.6UW with all honors in core classes all 4y, 1AP/5 IB/1 DE + lettered in a varsity sport (wasn't offered COVID year) + National Honors Society. But he BOMBED the SAT (under 1100 with a prep class...yes, we can talk grade inflation...but also ADHD and being a poor test taker.) Clearly he will be going TO and isn't applying to top schools (looking at Towson, Temple, GMU) but wasn't sure how being test optional affected merit aid. Any insight? We need all the merit he can get since we won't qualify for financial aid.

Have your son try the ACT. With extra time, it is a much easier test to master than the SAT. My ADHD kid got a 34.

This is a good advice. Since he is going TO anyway, give it a shot at ACT (and also retake SAT??). What do you got to lose?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted on a recent thread about my kid getting lots of merit aid and he applied TO. Most schools gave him around $20k in merit money and he didn’t have anywhere near the GPA your kid has.

+1000

There are plenty of great schools that will provide merit for kids with 3.5UW, kids that don't take AP courses, kids that score less than 1200, etc. Key is to find a school with over 50% acceptance rate (ideally 75%+) and a school where your kid is at/+ the 75 percentile for statistics.

My own 3.5UW, 1 AP (with a very bad grade), 1200 got 35% from two schools in the 80s (kid was at 50%), and 67% tuition from one around 120th (kid was at ~90th%) . And we were not chasing merit. We were not chasing merit/did not need it. But if we had, they could have gotten into several schools that would give over 50% merit. It is not that difficult to do, just look where your kid is at/above the 75-80th percentile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Merit” aid means just that. Under an 1100 doesn’t cut it, especially when the grades, while good, aren’t outstanding. Honestly why do you think a good college should give him “merit” aid to attend?

This is worse than uncharitable, it’s untrue. Many colleges will give merit for this GPA, even test optional.

+1

Some kids just do not test well---I have one. 30+ hours of test prep and they were at .....drumroll....the exact same score where they started (~1250). ADHD and anxiety are often an issue with standardized testing. Kid has graduated college, employed for 2+ years with the top raise each year. I'd call that successful. Kid graduate college with a 3.4+ and it was "only that low" because of first year premed attempt that failed miserably and killed the gpa. If they had started in their actual major, they would've been over a 3.6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid is going to be a senior. 4.0W/3.6UW with all honors in core classes all 4y, 1AP/5 IB/1 DE + lettered in a varsity sport (wasn't offered COVID year) + National Honors Society. But he BOMBED the SAT (under 1100 with a prep class...yes, we can talk grade inflation...but also ADHD and being a poor test taker.) Clearly he will be going TO and isn't applying to top schools (looking at Towson, Temple, GMU) but wasn't sure how being test optional affected merit aid. Any insight? We need all the merit he can get since we won't qualify for financial aid.

Have your son try the ACT. With extra time, it is a much easier test to master than the SAT. My ADHD kid got a 34.

This is a good advice. Since he is going TO anyway, give it a shot at ACT (and also retake SAT??). What do you got to lose?

well you might just stress your kid out for no reason. I wouldn't retake the SAT. Give the ACT one try and see. My ADHD kid did better on the ACT---could only muster 1100 SAT but got 26/27 ACT. But with TO being a thing and you are not trying for elite schools, you can also just go TO---schools still give merit with TO

[Anonymous]

15-20k so called "merit aid" is less based on "merit". Just a discount on COA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted on a recent thread about my kid getting lots of merit aid and he applied TO. Most schools gave him around $20k in merit money and he didn’t have anywhere near the GPA your kid has.

+1000

There are plenty of great schools that will provide merit for kids with 3.5UW, kids that don't take AP courses, kids that score less than 1200, etc. Key is to find a school with over 50% acceptance rate (ideally 75%+) and a school where your kid is at/+ the 75 percentile for statistics.

My own 3.5UW, 1 AP (with a very bad grade), 1200 got 35% from two schools in the 80s (kid was at 50%), and 67% tuition from one around 120th (kid was at ~90th%) . And we were not chasing merit. We were not chasing merit/did not need it. But if we had, they could have gotten into several schools that would give over 50% merit. It is not that difficult to do, just look where your kid is at/above the 75-80th percentile.

May I ask where your kid ended up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could he get a job? If he goes to temple, for example, he can live inexpensively off campus and also work. I think he would get a little money from Temple but a job would help a lot.

NP here

At Temple? No way would I encourage my kid to do that, especially as a freshman. It's in a very violent neighborhood and walking home at 1 am from your job at the local bar, convenience store, restaurant is just asking for trouble.

[Anonymous]

Alabama

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted on a recent thread about my kid getting lots of merit aid and he applied TO. Most schools gave him around $20k in merit money and he didn’t have anywhere near the GPA your kid has.

+1000

There are plenty of great schools that will provide merit for kids with 3.5UW, kids that don't take AP courses, kids that score less than 1200, etc. Key is to find a school with over 50% acceptance rate (ideally 75%+) and a school where your kid is at/+ the 75 percentile for statistics.

My own 3.5UW, 1 AP (with a very bad grade), 1200 got 35% from two schools in the 80s (kid was at 50%), and 67% tuition from one around 120th (kid was at ~90th%) . And we were not chasing merit. We were not chasing merit/did not need it. But if we had, they could have gotten into several schools that would give over 50% merit. It is not that difficult to do, just look where your kid is at/above the 75-80th percentile.

May I ask where your kid ended up?

Marquette University

[Anonymous]

My DD had a similar profile, also ADHD and poor test taker but 3.8 W GPA. WVU and I think Tennessee and some others do offer merit aid for test optional applicants but be aware many of them calculate GPA themselves based on core subjects only so in our case once they took out some of the electives her GPA wasn’t high enough for the merit aid. She did get significant money from Ohio University but decided to stay in-state (Virginia).

Depending on major your kid may be stronger than you think. Mine was interested in a less popular major and was accepted at JMU and Va Tech.

Also consider giving ACT a shot - it might be a better fit. Best of luck to your student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid is going to be a senior. 4.0W/3.6UW with all honors in core classes all 4y, 1AP/5 IB/1 DE + lettered in a varsity sport (wasn't offered COVID year) + National Honors Society. But he BOMBED the SAT (under 1100 with a prep class...yes, we can talk grade inflation...but also ADHD and being a poor test taker.) Clearly he will be going TO and isn't applying to top schools (looking at Towson, Temple, GMU) but wasn't sure how being test optional affected merit aid. Any insight? We need all the merit he can get since we won't qualify for financial aid.

How do you take all honors for 4 years with only 1 AP? By junior year at our school I don’t think there even are honors options that are not AP. I guess Physics. But math/history/English are all AP or nothing at our school by 11th grade. Is he in public school?

Did you see he had also had 5 IBs and a DE-- that's the equivalent of 7 advanced courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid is going to be a senior. 4.0W/3.6UW with all honors in core classes all 4y, 1AP/5 IB/1 DE + lettered in a varsity sport (wasn't offered COVID year) + National Honors Society. But he BOMBED the SAT (under 1100 with a prep class...yes, we can talk grade inflation...but also ADHD and being a poor test taker.) Clearly he will be going TO and isn't applying to top schools (looking at Towson, Temple, GMU) but wasn't sure how being test optional affected merit aid. Any insight? We need all the merit he can get since we won't qualify for financial aid.

What were the IB test scores?


Towson gives all MD residents merit aid for the merit of living there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid is going to be a senior. 4.0W/3.6UW with all honors in core classes all 4y, 1AP/5 IB/1 DE + lettered in a varsity sport (wasn't offered COVID year) + National Honors Society. But he BOMBED the SAT (under 1100 with a prep class...yes, we can talk grade inflation...but also ADHD and being a poor test taker.) Clearly he will be going TO and isn't applying to top schools (looking at Towson, Temple, GMU) but wasn't sure how being test optional affected merit aid. Any insight? We need all the merit he can get since we won't qualify for financial aid.

How do you take all honors for 4 years with only 1 AP? By junior year at our school I don’t think there even are honors options that are not AP. I guess Physics. But math/history/English are all AP or nothing at our school by 11th grade. Is he in public school?

AP Precalculus?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:15-20k so called "merit aid" is less based on "merit". Just a discount on COA

Does it matter what it is called? If it helps to reduce the cost of attending college? If my kid gets a "discount" of 30K at a $60K school and its not called "merit" we are taking it.