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Reply to "High Academic -- SAT/ACT and Timing?"

StrainedOblique made an important observation about the high cost of tutors and test prep for the SAT/ACT tests.  With the SAT, my 2017 took it first time with no test prep and did very well.  But knowing he was going to eventually take the ACT later, we signed him up for an unlimited test prep service offered on weekends at a nearby location.  So he retook it and scored 210 points higher, then used the service for both the initial ACT and subsequent retest and did very well and then upped it again another 2 points. 

So was the improvement really worth it?  We are still waiting for admission decisions at several high academics, so it is too soon to tell.  But beyond the admission decision, it almost certainly will be on merit money.  He is likely going to wind up at a D3 with no athletic money, so the private school cost would be out of reach without significant merit money.  Using the Net Price Calculator on several of his interest school websites, the improvement in the SAT/ACT score will add anywhere from $2K to $5K more dollars when I compare the results from his old score versus the improved score.

We can debate whether the SAT/ACT should really be that significant in a college decision.  But for those parents with younger kids who want to play college baseball and don't have GPA's over 4.0, I would argue spending the money and preparing to do very well on these tests should be just as important as finding a strong travel ball team and good private hitting or pitching coaches.  It is a real pain for the kids--my 2017 moaned a lot, said the classes were boring, would rather have cleaned his room, etc.  But the results he got may be the difference in making a strong academic private school affordable due to the merit money.

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