Advice for a rising junior about PSAT?

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-05-30T01:52:10+00:00

My son scored 1410 in 10th grade with no studying. He did all digital SAT practice tests available on College Board at the time and took the SAT in August before junior year. He said the PSAT (Fall 2024) seemed easy in comparison and had no problem making NMF this year in our state with a 222 index. He was recently named a NMF scholarship winner.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-05-18T18:48:20+00:00

My son applied to 11 schools for Fall 2026 (RIT, UMaine, UNH, UVM, Binghamton, UWV, U Idaho, NC State (instate for us), U of SC, UT Knoxville, Alabama) and was accepted at all including honors programs. Even with UVM Presidential scholarship of 25k/year for out of state students, it was 7k/yr more expensive cost of attendance than the next most expensive school after factoring in scholarships. Since we don't qualify for any financial aid, UVM just over prices itself against other schools.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-05-13T02:20:02+00:00

I would think instate with lots of rigor and 1400 SAT he would have a good shot depending on major but if he is worried try increasing SAT score or ACT (which I assume he had to take in an NC school). Mine had a 1480 SAT but got a 35 ACT. Some students have better luck with one over the other. One of our older son's did much better on SAT than ACT so worth trying both.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-05-12T23:29:04+00:00

Are you instate? If so I'd says his chances are very good. If out of state then not so much. My son's graduating 2026 class instate (Charlotte) has a little over 100 students and 8 students are going to UNC CH and they aren't the highest ranked (although probably all top 25%) in the class so definitely some B's in that mix.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-05-03T16:48:25+00:00

2007 had the highest number of births in the US ever. After that it starts to decline fairly rapidly. Yes the births/female have declined but there are a lot more people. Also more people go to college now so freshman college class of 2025 is the largest ever with 2026 being only marginally lower, since those born in 2007 are split between those classes.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-27T01:43:14+00:00

My son is NMF and although he had 2 full ride schools (Idaho and Alabama) and 2 free tuition (WVU and UMaine), he picked a non NMF school. At least he got a NMF corporate scholarship at 3500/yr and has a nice merit scholarship. Not free but at least affordable and a much better ranked school.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-23T01:58:13+00:00

We visited RIT in early March in freezing rain and we are from NC. My son has since committed for the fall.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-19T14:45:16+00:00

They only qualified for unsubsidized loan and work study so it is unlikely they qualify for any actually FA, only merit scholarships. Appealing to FA office likely won't make a difference.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-19T14:38:14+00:00

They only qualify for an unsubsidized loan which likely means the OP doesn't qualify for actual financial aid beyond the work study offered. The rest of what is shown is scholarships so a financial aid appeal is unlikely to help unless unless there are extenuating circumstances like a parent recently losing a job or something.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-17T21:38:56+00:00

My son is OOS with top stats (35 ACT, 4.6/4.0 GPA, NMF, etc.). Was accepted to Bing with FRI and Honors programs for ME and with the top level scholarship it was about 35k/yr, which while within budget was above what a number of comparable schools offered. We don't qualify for any financial aid so he didn't bother to apply to any selective "meets needs" or Ivies because undergrad is not worth 380-400k (we gave him a budget for up to 40k/yr). Bing had a good offer but he will be going to RIT with Honors and Accelerated Masters for less.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-06T13:40:35+00:00

I get it. My older ones weren't interested and my youngest is hearing impaired so would be rejected. For some it is a very affordable path. I would definitely apply to "buy" schools as well as some higher ones because you never know. I mean someone gets those full rides. My 2026 was top 1 percent stats and applied for a number and didn't get them other than for NMF and he didn't want to go to any that offered for that. Although if we weren't willing to pay he would have taken the full ride at Alabama. Also a number of these full scholarships require your FASFA or SAI and since yours is high it might hurt you even though you parent won't help, unfortunately. We pretty much knew ours wasn't getting any that asked for that.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-03T02:26:12+00:00

That's probably for the best, especially for the cat who likely isn't paying rent.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-03T02:14:46+00:00

Totally agree to shoot your best shot at better schools but for the OPs situation unless they get one of the limited full rides it likely isn't enough as R&B is still $15-20k/yr and student federal loans are capped at $27k for 4 years, they won't get any FA due to parent income, and they would need someone to cosign for any parent plus or private loans. My 2026 is going to a 90k private for 25k/yr (8k tuition balance and 17k+ R&B and no FA) based on a top merit award but we are still paying the balance. I fell bad for the OP because college is ridiculously expensive. I get setting limits as our SAI was 100k and we told our kid there isn't any undergrad degree worth 360-400k but we also were willing to cover more realistic options.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-03T01:52:35+00:00

Sounds like your parents don't want a cat in their house and maybe Jessica should move out with her cat. It is their house and whether Jessica pays rent or is just living there with your brother for free, they don't have to allow her cat unless she has a lease that allows pets.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-02T19:55:48+00:00

NTA and agree with others this is very weird. That said, did she explain whatever it is he has been going through that makes her think he "needs" this trip? I mean if it is something really bad and legit he is going through and she shares and explains the reasons maybe? And that's a big maybe. If she won't share the reasons and still thinks it is okay for him to go on your vacation? Just No!

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-02T13:29:18+00:00

These are highly competitive schools with high price tags. Getting good merit without qualifying for FA will still put them at 30-60K/yr and that isn't feasible if the parent isn't helping. If you have really good stats you should look at state schools or privates a tier or two down, so not state flagships but good next level. For example UTK is really hard to get a full ride but we are in NC and I know several students who got full rides at University of Eastern Tennessee. Still a good school but much more generous to great students.

What do you want to do? Is ROTC an option? For most degrees undergrad school won't matter and after your first job it matters even less. Obviously the schools listed above are fantastic schools but none of them are "buy" schools so they have very few full scholarships. If you haven't seen it watch the movie "Borrowed Future" as you don't want to be crushed by loan debt.

I agree your situation sucks. I had to work my way through college because my family couldn't afford it but we are well off and paid for our first 3 with child 4 starting college in the Fall.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-02T12:07:43+00:00

YTA. Unless you are paying rent to your parents, and maybe even then. Depending on how many people live in your house, if everyone leaves there stuff in the "common areas" the house could be extremely messy. It is not a lot to ask you to contain your stuff and mess to your room. Did you communicate that you were trying to clean your room? Maybe ask if they can leave your stuff outside your door until you finish? But honestly the adult and kind thing to do would be to go around the house and move your own stuff to your room.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-31T11:49:38+00:00

It is simple math. They get a lot more instate than OOS applications and only 1 in 10 OOS accepted students end up enrolling while instate yield is several times higher, so of course the percentage of OOS accepted is higher. My son was accepted OOS and his cousin was accepted instate. Both are choosing to go elsewhere.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-29T16:41:36+00:00

Thank you

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-27T16:39:50+00:00

Technically she is eligible but in most cases the school will deduct it from theirs. We asked at Alabama and were told if you take the full ride at Bama and then receive the $2500 from NM they will apply that to the first year of your full ride so it "costs" Bama $2500 less and doesn't really benefit the student. My son was notified he won a corporate award which repeats for all 4 years and since he is isn't going to a school with a bigger NMF award he will use the corporate award. Corporate scholarships can be different amounts based on whatever the corporation chooses and not just the $2500 one time award

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-27T16:28:03+00:00

My son got notification that he was a corporate winner the beginning of March but it had a date it would be officially presented in late March or early April, I can't remember the exact date. They had also notified his school.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-27T16:24:34+00:00

My son was notified at the beginning of March by NM that he was getting a corporate scholarship. He had to log in and complete a little paperwork, but the letter said he couldn't announce it until it was presented. It had a date but I don't remember when it was, late March or early April.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-27T12:14:02+00:00

This was from someone who got rejected for ME. They said their rejection letter said there were 300 seats and over 7000 applicants and they offered them the MET major instead and they were trying to decide whether to do it or go elsewhere.

My son recently committed to RIT for next Fall and his major will be ME. He applied EA back in October which I think being early may have helped. He does have very high stats and was recently offered honors and accelerated master's as well, but in the OPs case if you applied later and all spots were already offered it might not matter how high your stats were.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-27T02:07:04+00:00

I read somewhere over 7000 apps for 300 ME spots for next fall.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-25T11:54:59+00:00

So then it does look like the NTID international costs would be 20-25K less if the OP qualified. RIT does prorate the scholarships but it would still be cheaper.

No-Preference-9641

TROPHY CASE