Daughter says she is satisfied with a 540 math SAT score
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Anonymous
| I think that is quite low, as most of her peers have gotten in the 600s. She's a B average student. With a couple of AP classes which she hasn't done well in, but says college prep classes are too easy. She also scored a 22 ACT, with a 25 English and 23 math score. She says she's done with standardized testing, but I fear that her options are limited since she had her eyes set on decent colleges, like Emory. I would sway her towards state schools, but she isn't looking for a population over 10k and I thought Temple would be a great choice since she wants to be in a city and surrounded by diversity. Any suggestions? |
Anonymous
| Community college. |
Anonymous
| enlist in the military |
Anonymous
| Make her scrub your toilets. That's what she'll be doing for a living if she doesn't get her act together. |
Anonymous
| escorts in DC make a lot more than an indebted college grad. |
Anonymous
Seriously? A kid with a B average and 1600 SAT is no superstar, but under no circumstances is doomed to scrub toilets for the rest of her life... |
Anonymous
Read this from George mason: http://www.amazon.com/Average-Is-Over-Powering-Stagnation/dp/0525953736 I hope for OP's daughter's sake that she brings other things to the table....very outgoing, excellent networker, perhaps very attractive/sociable, great communicator, etc. |
Anonymous
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The snobs should hold their snark.
Take her to visit some schools this summer, it might light a fire under her. She could still retake the test in the fall. There are colleges that don't look at scores as well and she might look into those. She's going to have to either rise to the challenge of schools she's interested in and retake the tests or adjust her goals. But she'll end up somewhere thats fine. |
Anonymous
it isn't snark. perhaps she's not at the stage where she's mature enough for college and something like a stint in the military could prepare her well for UG a few years later intead of going at 18. |
Anonymous
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OP, it's hard to advise you because families differ a lot with respect to values and philosphy about higher education.
Some people here act as if your only choices are Ivy, State Flagship or community college. They'll tell you she's doomed to community college at best. FYI, there are many colleges that are SAT/ACT test optional. Maybe she should look at those schools, particularly if the issue is standardized tests and her GPA is decent. FWIW, I have two kids who are great on these tests -- like National Merit Scholar level -- while my third child sounds very similar to your DD. She isn't very good at standardized tests and would be content with a very average or even below average score. I plan to have her do SAT test prep over the summer and take another shot at the test this Fall. After that, it is what it is. I'm not going to make her miserable about this test. It just isn't worth it. |
Anonymous
| Honestly, I'd be satisfied with a state school, but it's just that she doesn't want large classes, although she really likes VCU, Towson, etc, a 200 person lecture hall is a turn off. |
Anonymous
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OP, your daughter will be just fine at a mid-range state school somewhere. Her scores are not especially high, but they're not in the toilet, either. She doesn't need to go in the military or to community college. She is a solid, average student. Thousands of kids get into schools with those grades and those scores, graduate and do just fine.
There are worlds of advice and lists of schools out there for solid "B" students. This list has a ton of good state schools for her: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/a-plus This list has a ton of good liberal arts schools for her: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/a-plus If you go through the schools on the list, I'm sure you can find some schools that are the right size, have her major, and are in the right score range. I highly recommend small liberal arts schools for students who are solid, but need some space and time to breathe and grow as students. Small campuses with community of learners encourage a lot of intellectual development in a non-competitive setting. They do an excellent job growing students as people and scholars. If I were going to pick just a few schools to look at, I would look at these: Augustana College (IL) Cornell College (IL) Agnes Scott College (GA) Siena College (NY) Sewanee (TN) |
Anonymous
| What about Longwood or Radford or ODU? In state and not enormous (I don't think). |
Anonymous
| Is she attractive |
Anonymous
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An ACT of 22 means she did poorly on the science section, and I'm guessing the reading was only so-so. It might be worth making a deal with her - if she takes the ACT one more time, she only has to prep for those two sections - then hope her colleges superscore the ACT.
Temple sounds like a good choice. Sounds like DD may need a reality check with her list of wants. A population under 10K means most of her choices will be privates. Your financials will determine how picky she can be. Maybe look at catholic colleges, quite a few urban choices there - St John's in NYC? |