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Wow, thank you for your candor! I'm less bothered by your daughter's friends hacking into the counselor's scores than I am by the counselors getting a preview, ha.
I'm impatient because one of the NMSFs at our school this year qualified as a sophomore. A junior now, she is already applying to certain schools like MIT and Carnegie Mellon with strong computer science programs and which do not actually require a high school diploma, being specifically tech-focused rather than more broadly education-focused. My current sophomore a very strong student but one whom I don't necessarily anticipate being a NMSF, and besides my child isn't interested in computer science one whit. But I'm still anxious to know!
Thank you Suzy... I do not know how many of the 9 became finalists and received scholarships (I’ll research that).
I’m assuming the essay question is posted somewhere on the sites you recommended. Do you have any tips on selecting people for recommendations?
I think she has a pretty good extracurricular record with leadership roles (e.g. founded a HS club, HS sports co-captain, applying for Girl Scout Gold award). She also does a lot of volunteering (will receive presidential volunteer award) and is particularly strong in music (state recognized, performs with Chicago Youth Symphony). She wants to major in chemical engineering, and perhaps double major (or minor) in music performance, so maybe she has an opportunity for scholarships in these areas.
She will not qualify for needs-based aid, unless maybe at a more expensive private school (though I doubt it).
We toured some schools (Columbia, Penn, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, Caltech) that had chemical engineering and music programs she’s interested in, and I believe several mentioned they do not award any merit aid at all. We have a few more schools she wants to look at. But maybe she won’t have access to National Merit $ for the college she chooses.
It looks as if her options are going to be to either pay full freight and end up with some debt or consider schools that do offer merit aid. Frankly, she could get just as good an education in an honors program in a school that offers merit aid as she could at the ones on her list.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoCUBS1
Thank you... But maybe is worthwhile to pursue as a feather in the cap for the college admissions process?
That has not proven yet. If your kid’s application is strong through ECs and grades then naturally the Finalist is a product, not because of it.
I also wouldnt retake the SAT. Waste of time and effort.
But both of kids score were just as lopsided. The math kid got 780 in reading, but less in Math, not 800. The reading kid got 800 in math, but 700 in reading. Go figure. I don’t think it’s an indication of their real natural strength. But who knows what adcoms are looking into nowadays.
What’s weird is that she got a perfect score on the Math section of SAT but lower in Reading. On the PSAT, she received a perfect score on the 2 Reading sections and her only mistakes were in the Math section. Go figure.
Maybe a dumb question, but will colleges evaluate her PSAT scores along with her SAT scores and see her strong PSAT Reading and will that balance (superscore?) her lower SAT Reading 730 score? Or is the PSAT not even considered as it is an easier test?
Since she did so well on the PSAT reading, I feel she could raise her SAT reading score since she has only taken the SAT one time. But then I worry she could jeopardize her perfect 800 SAT math score if she doesn’t do as well on Math next time, and she’ll have to report both tests.
What’s weird is that she got a perfect score on the Math section of SAT but lower in Reading. On the PSAT, she received a perfect score on the 2 Reading sections and her only mistakes were in the Math section. Go figure.
Maybe a dumb question, but will colleges evaluate her PSAT scores along with her SAT scores and see her strong PSAT Reading and will that balance (superscore?) her lower SAT Reading 730 score? Or is the PSAT not even considered as it is an easier test?
Since she did so well on the PSAT reading, I feel she could raise her SAT reading score since she has only taken the SAT one time. But then I worry she could jeopardize her perfect 800 SAT math score if she doesn’t do as well on Math next time, and she’ll have to report both tests.
She will be fine. The only reason to take the SAT again would be to have a stab at a perfect score. Her score is already so high there is very little room for improvement.
Colleges will not really be considering her PSAT. If she retakes the SAT they will look at both scores.
The National Merit Scholarship process appears to have gotten much more involved over the past few decades. Back in my day, I think you just took the test and that was it.
It looks as if her options are going to be to either pay full freight and end up with some debt or consider schools that do offer merit aid. Frankly, she could get just as good an education in an honors program in a school that offers merit aid as she could at the ones on her list.
Absolutely.
Thanks again... She wants a strong chem engineering school with a high level orchestral program she can join, so that somewhat limits her options. At one point, she considered a music conservatory but has decided on an engineering school that enables her to also take advanced courses in music and participate in high level orchestra.
E.g. She looked at Columbia engineering because of the Julliard partnership, she looked at Johns Hopkins engineering because of the Peabody Music double degree program, Caltech engineering has a double degree with Oberlin Music, both UCLA and Princeton have top chem engineering and music depts. - so that is her thought process behind those particular schools... There are a few other schools she wants to investigate (e.g. Wisconsin, Boston U, Northwestern, Stanford, Vanderbilt, UChicago...) but IDK if any would offer her merit aid. We appreciate any suggestions on other schools to consider which may offer merit aid.
Congratulations to your daughter! That's quite an accomplishment and I imagine it will open a lot of doors for her, but I don't think it will offer much in the way of merit aid for highly selective schools.
Here in Texas, it looks like UT Austin doesn't offer a scholarship for it, Rice offers $1000/year, Texas A&M offers enough to cover most of in-state tuition & Texas Tech will cover the full expected cost of attendance as long as the student puts Texas Tech down as their first choice. My son most likely will attend Texas Tech, but part of the reason why I think it will be a good fit for him is because it doesn't attract a ton of the hyper academically competitive students.
I remember a while back there was an article about a young man that turned down pretty much every top school in the country because he decided accepting a National Merit Scholarship to the University of Alabama was the best choice for him.
There are a few other schools she wants to investigate (e.g. Wisconsin, Boston U, Northwestern, Stanford, Vanderbilt, UChicago...) but IDK if any would offer her merit aid. We appreciate any suggestions on other schools to consider which may offer merit aid.
I know Stanford doesn't offer any merit aid because how could they possibly rank one over-achiever over the other thousands that go there? My son's high school g/f went there and graduated with a boatload of debt, just to become a public school teacher. MIT only offers need-based scholarships, according to Google. I have a friend who went there for molecular biology, but she has her own very lucrative business so it was worth it for her. I'd guess that will be the case for a lot of the top-tier schools - scholarships for financial need only. If she can audition into the orchestra, which is tough given the quality of the music majors, UCLA is probably the best and most cost-effective choice since she can pursue both her interests there.
My son had a 4.5 GPA with all the AP classes (completely skipped algebra in school) and high SAT scores, and excellent extracurriculars, but we sent him to a smaller school where he got almost a full ride with two scholarships. Then he went to a more prestigious school for graduate school, but since he had a teaching fellowship, it cost him very little. We're glad he didn't leave school with student loan debt. It's like a mortgage with no house, and often not with a job that repays it very quickly.
Thanks again... She wants a strong chem engineering school with a high level orchestral program she can join, so that somewhat limits her options. At one point, she considered a music conservatory but has decided on an engineering school that enables her to also take advanced courses in music and participate in high level orchestra.
E.g. She looked at Columbia engineering because of the Julliard partnership, she looked at Johns Hopkins engineering because of the Peabody Music double degree program, Caltech engineering has a double degree with Oberlin Music, both UCLA and Princeton have top chem engineering and music depts. - so that is her thought process behind those particular schools... There are a few other schools she wants to investigate (e.g. Wisconsin, Boston U, Northwestern, Stanford, Vanderbilt, UChicago...) but IDK if any would offer her merit aid. We appreciate any suggestions on other schools to consider which may offer merit aid.
Congrats to her on her achievement. I am fascinated by your two interests. I am a retired Chemical Engineer though I worked outside my field most of my career. I am from a musical family. two brothers got PhD in Music and worked in that field. One was PhD from Julliard and ther other a UT PhD in conducting. Both had the math and science skills to get engineering degrees as well had they chose to. I was all state musician in high school but no interest in pursuing music further
I am curious how she landed on these diverse but related through math interests and what she plans to do with those.degrees if she has a plan. I do not want to side track the thread so leave it to you to decide whether a short answer is appropriate.
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