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Test Scores and College Admission

Anne gave some great advice for others about test scores and college admission on my Facebook page after getting her own question answered:

I just wish I had asked it at least a year ago. However I have 3 children yet to graduate so I can still use all the help I can get. My oldest son is graduating in May of this year and we have had some disappointments. He did Bob Jones curriculum for the most part all through high school but did take some outside co-op science classes and has taken almost a year's worth of college dual credit classes. He has made straight A's on everything. On top of this he is an Eagle Scout, has hundreds of hours in volunteer work and has been involved in 2 robotics clubs for the past 3 years. He has also been a beekeeper and gardener for the past 5 years. His ACT score was 31 and his SAT 1950. Respectable scores but not fantastic.

The problem has come in his choice of colleges: Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Stanford, Georgia Tech, CalTech, and UT Austin. So far we have been rejected by Caltech and MIT and wait listed for Georgia Tech. We have not heard from Stanford or Carnegie Mellon. UT Austin has accepted him at the Dallas campus and I expect a scholarship offer but it has not happened yet. I am thinking that the test scores are the problem. He did a great job of the transcript and course  descriptions and it was pretty easy because of the majority being Bob Jones curriculum. What I didn't really get was that he needed to test early and set his targets from the test results or study more to improve scores. However, having said that, we also believe that God works all things together for good and Hazen will be a success no matter what. ~ Anne on Facebook

Anne's son obviously has a LOT going for him. Still, getting kids into college is more about "fit" than anything else. A good fit leads to scholarships, a lesser fit may lead to disappointment. Learn how to evaluate test scores and how they can help you determine a good college fit.

If you need some help, check out two of my online training courses: Finding a College and Getting the BIG Scholarships.