ACT/college question

[Danzig]

my daughter is in 11th grade, and took her act for the first time a couple months ago. she got her score back, a 25. is that good? is it good enough to possibly qualify for any type of academic scholarships. i'd imagine she'll re-take it next year, just to hopefully get a higher score--but where does this fit in??

anyone who can offer any advice--please, let me know.

and should she take the sat? are both required?

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

my daughter is in 11th grade, and took her act for the first time a couple months ago. she got her score back, a 25. is that good? is it good enough to possibly qualify for any type of academic scholarships. i'd imagine she'll re-take it next year, just to hopefully get a higher score--but where does this fit in??

anyone who can offer any advice--please, let me know.

and should she take the sat? are both required?

I think I scored a 27 or something. I don't know if the test has changed drastically in the last decade, but a 25 is better than a lot of kids I knew that took it.

[Danzig]

she is starting to toss around different ideas of what she's going to do after graduation.
she was thinking navy, or maybe navy or air force reserves and college..or just college. and which college....yeesh. just trying to start on all this-somewhere.

Z I dont know a whole lot about the ACT except that more colleges are accepting this test than used to. The SAT is still the main test but it has undergone significant changes, so the ACT is a known.

My daughter is also in the 11th grade. I think its best at this time to keep an clean slate. I have asked my daughter what she wants to do (she does plan on attending college) and she has no flippin idea what she wants to do after that. I think thats fine. Plenty of time to check out diff. courses and get a feel for what she is good at and what interests her. As for your daughter, look at yourself. You were in the military and look what you are doing now...

I would only add that I think the 3 most important attributes that all of our kids need to keep in mind, while understanding the world has changed and we are now competing globally, are:

1. Reasoning and logic are terribly important. If you are not good at this, get good at it. This time frame (high school to mid 20's) is the prime time to get good at higher order reasoning skills. And these kids never know when their brain is ready. Something problem that totally befuddles them one year, will be a piece of cake the next, and they will ask themselves why they were such retards. I have seen it happen so many times. The light turns on suddenly, it is not a linear type of steady build up. Those neurons make the connections, and one never knows exactly when in early adulthood this happens, so you had better feed them the good stuff (higher order thinking problems) Once one gets to my age, forget it. The logic pathways are burned in and solidified.

2. Understanding people and getting along with them. Nothing like a good mind that can read people and play team ball. (Some will say I have my own website and I make tons of money buying and reselling off of e-bay blah blah blah... we will see how long that solitary game lasts)

3. Resourcefullness... if asked to do a job, get it done. Even if you dont know how to to begin with. Perservere, talk with people, use all resources possible to complete a task and do it well. It is so important to just get things taken care of, no matter how difficult or out of your area expertise something might be. This of course, in addition to the above, requires two bad words... Hard Work

Our kids are probably going to have to be well versed in a number of areas. The ecomonic/job landscape is changing rapidly as is not entirely predictable. These are the things I tell my students and my daughter. Just my view of a pretty tough world. Much tougher than the one I grew up in. But a world that can be very satisfying if mastered.

[paisjpq]

I never took the ACT just SAT's...I remember being told (mind you this was 13 years ago) that since more people took the SAT test that colleges preferred them as a way to measure entrants against one another...but I have no idea if that is still the case...and my SAT scores were not that great I think I got an 1150 or something (with a monster hangover from the night before studying in highschool was not really my thing) and I still managed to get into college...sounds like your daughter is on the right track.

[brianwspencer]

25 is not a bad score at all, it puts your daughter above the average for sure. As you get higher in the 20s and into the low 30s, the number of people receiving those scores declines dramatically. Out of my class of about 600 kids, I think we had maybe six to eight who scored over 32. The majority of them scored in the low 20s. The good thing about the ACT is that taking it again does not count against her. There is absolutely no downside at all to taking it again.

As for which test to take, when i was applying to school five years ago, I found that most schools had a preference mostly related to their region. The East Coast schools by and large preferred the SAT and the West Coast schools would take the ACT, and most midwest schools didn't really care (at least that's how I found it.)

I think most schools have taken many more things into account since I applied for school...these raw numbers don't tell them much about the person in the long run. In my school, the kids who got the high scores were the kids you knew were going to get them (ie me ). GPA matters too. If you've got a 2.2 GPA and drop a 33 on your ACT, then that doesn't match up. If your daughter has a 25 ACT and a 3.2 GPA, then she should be okay. I think her personal essays may very well be more important depending on what kind of school she's going to, what she says and how she writes it.

Figure out what parts of the ACT she did the most poorly on, and study for those sections for next time..I bet you see a couple points better. Having a 28 or so behind her separates her from the pack dramatically when it comes to trying to earn scholarships.

[/ ACT infomercial]

[Seattleallstar]

I took the SAT and had no problems. It would be great if the education in this country would take more of an initiative to push math and science. Those two subjects I believe are the most important and sadly its whats lacking.

[Danzig]

thanks guys.

she did all the parts, and math was her lowest-no surprise there. they haven't offered the sat as yet.
her gpa is also pretty good, again her low point being math. my boys are the exact opposite, fantastic in math-not so much in english. she's thinking about journalism so her writing skills are a match.
she's loading up her senior year, taking as much as possible-unlike her classmates, who plan to skate thru for the most part. my oldest did the same thing.
thanks again!

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

my daughter is in 11th grade, and took her act for the first time a couple months ago. she got her score back, a 25. is that good? is it good enough to possibly qualify for any type of academic scholarships. i'd imagine she'll re-take it next year, just to hopefully get a higher score--but where does this fit in??

anyone who can offer any advice--please, let me know.

and should she take the sat? are both required?

Danzig, a score of 25 put her in the 81st percentile (based on HS grads in the past 3 years)...that's not bad! Factor in that she's got another year and I'd say she in great shape. A 32 or above places one in the 99th %...

[brianwspencer]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

A 32 or above places one in the 99th %...

Are you kidding me? I don't remember it being that high....

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Danzig, a score of 25 put her in the 81st percentile (based on HS grads in the past 3 years)...that's not bad! Factor in that she's got another year and I'd say she in great shape. A 32 or above places one in the 99th %...

well thanks! good to know where she falls in, i'll tell her when she finally drags out of bed. i don't know how they sleep so late...
but she was sick yesterday, poor thing.

thanks again all of you!

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by brianwspencer

Are you kidding me? I don't remember it being that high....

i think it goes to 36...

going to encourage her to get extra help in math. she doesn't like it. of course i so helpfully told her she didnt' need to like it!

The first time I took the ACT I got a 22. I probably had a .24 blood alcohol content during the test. Scored horribly on the math part.

Retook the test sober and got a 28.

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by brianwspencer

Are you kidding me? I don't remember it being that high....

Brian, I got that directly from the student ACT site. That sounds right, I remember I was in the 99th % way back when I took it but I don't recall my score.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Pillow Pants

The first time I took the ACT I got a 22. I probably had a .24 blood alcohol content during the test. Scored horribly on the math part.

Retook the test sober and got a 28.

.24 alcohol? good lord man, you were pickled...

[brianwspencer]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

i think it goes to 36...

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Brian, I got that directly from the student ACT site. That sounds right, I remember I was in the 99th % way back when I took it but I don't recall my score.

I guess I didn't know how to read the percentile thing when I took it. I got a 33, but didn't realize that it thinned out THAT much after 32.

Damn, I would have gloated a heck of a lot more had I known that then.....

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by brianwspencer

I guess I didn't know how to read the percentile thing when I took it. I got a 33, but didn't realize that it thinned out THAT much after 32.

Damn, I would have gloated a heck of a lot more had I known that then.....

well, just catch up on the gloating now!
i didn't take it, or the sat, since i had no college plans.

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by brianwspencer

I guess I didn't know how to read the percentile thing when I took it. I got a 33, but didn't realize that it thinned out THAT much after 32.

Damn, I would have gloated a heck of a lot more had I known that then.....

Yeah, I took it way back in 1965 so I suspect the rankings have changed...

[brianwspencer]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

well, just catch up on the gloating now!
i didn't take it, or the sat, since i had no college plans.

nah, because after high school/early college, nobody cares anymore. it's not a badge of honor anymore.

all it says is that i used to be smart

though it is a good piece of conversation for people i've met AFTER high school after I lost all my ambition, because it shocks the hell out of them that with one try I scored that high. Most of my friends who I consider to be super intelligent ended up with like a 29 or 30 or so....I think it was a fluke, but I was REALLY good at math. 36 on the math baby!

Originally Posted by Danzig188

.24 alcohol? good lord man, you were pickled...

I figure Makers Mark employees got a nice Christmas bonus that year due to my loyalty.