Goldilocks academics

[choirfarm]

Like the title? This is too hot. This is too cold. This is just right! As I have looked at old threads, it looks like you want to find a school that will challenge your student and yet for your student to have upper scores for that university so you can get merit aid. So how do you do that? I am particularly interested in the Christian college thread down below. (Thanks for doing that.) One of my boys made a 520 as a 7th grader on the CR SAT. The other one made a 22 composite on the ACT as a 7th grader. So I'm thinking they would probably both be in the mid 600's to 700 range by the time they are juniors. So how do you know what would be a good fit?

 

Christine

[creekland]

Like the title? This is too hot. This is too cold. This is just right! As I have looked at old threads, it looks like you want to find a school that will challenge your student and yet for your student to have upper scores for that university so you can get merit aid. So how do you do that? I am particularly interested in the Christian college thread down below. (Thanks for doing that.) One of my boys made a 520 as a 7th grader on the CR SAT. The other one made a 22 composite on the ACT as a 7th grader. So I'm thinking they would probably both be in the mid 600's to 700 range by the time they are juniors. So how do you know what would be a good fit?

 

Christine

 

For us, the academics are just a start to weed out schools where I feel they really wouldn't fit in academically. I teach at our local high school. I know teachers can only teach to the caliber of their students. That said, remember those are only the mid 50% scores. 25% are higher and 25% are lower than those listed. 25% is not a low number of students.

 

In my particular case, my son (score wise) could have been accepted at all of those schools as he would have been in the top 25%, so we then went on to look for his major (a MAJOR way of eliminating so many of them - pun intended), and later, when we got down to choosing, we went on merit aid coupled with need based aid, feel for the school, and our particular "flavor" of conservative vs liberal balance. That list is intended to provide names of schools to start with - something I really wish I had found personally - therefore, something I thought others might appreciate.

 

So, for us, scores set the lower limit on where we looked for more info. Major also had a huge factor in it. Then he applied/visited and we went to scholarship competitions, etc. In the end, our choice was clear. But in the meantime, there was a lot of research done.

 

In general, for merit aid, be sure your student is in the top 25% - the higher they are, the more merit aid there will be, but be wary of an unchallenging academic environment if one gets too high (pending major on that too - and department - visits help with those).

 

Another thing to check are MFT scores (Major Field Tests). These are tests many schools give their graduating students in their major. There's nowhere online I've seen these published (other than which schools give them). However, schools will send you their reports if you ask (beware of those that don't!). Covenant College, the school my son chose, had top of the top scores nationally in their Business Dept - one of the majors my son is likely to pursue. Yes, it's a test, but one has to distinguish in some manner. Therefore, that meant a lot to me too - indicating he's likely to get a great business education there. His 2nd choice school only scored in the 85th percentile.

 

We coupled good academics in his major with good value and reasonably close to our Christian views.

 

Happy hunting! It's not a "one day" job.

[choirfarm]

Thank you. That was very helpful. I have a copy of Rugg's and was just looking at that for majors, but he is only a 9th grader so he is really fuzzy: math, science or computers.

 

Christine

[creekland]

Thank you. That was very helpful. I have a copy of Rugg's and was just looking at that for majors, but he is only a 9th grader so he is really fuzzy: math, science or computers.

 

Christine

 

At that age I'd mainly be visiting some schools so he could get a feel for what size and location he likes. You might also be considering who more closely matches your particular beliefs. My oldest didn't decide on his major till spring of his junior year. My sophomore was dead set on biological research, but now that he's doing chemistry he's told me he might switch. He loves chemistry too...