Has your child taken the SAT or the ACT multiple times — but never scored anywhere near his or her ability level? This happens more often than you think. Some students just don’t do well with standardized testing, no matter how hard they try. Even though they’re going to make great college students and end up having wonderful careers.
So — what’s a parent to do?
You could have your kid take an SAT or ACT prep course. See the helpful article I’ve written about that here.
Or—you might look at colleges that don’t require standardized testing.
There’s a growing sentiment across the US that standardized testing doesn’t actually help in the admissions process. More and more colleges every year are saying, “We don’t even want to look at standardized tests anymore.”
You can find a complete alphabetized list of all the US colleges that don’t require standardized tests on Fairtest.org. There’s a massive number of them.
(Just stay away from “for-profit” colleges. To determine whether a college is “for-profit” or not, look up its name on collegedata.com for free. If you see the shortened word “PROFT” in the search bar, pass that college up.)
Many very good colleges don’t require ACT or SAT standardized testing at all.
I once had a mom try to tell me that “only culinary schools and barber colleges” don’t look at standardized tests. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you want proof, this page on the Niche college search website provides an excellent list of test optional colleges and universities that are thought to be especially high quality.
I tell students, “Don’t worry too much about standardized testing.”
If your family is following the clear, step-by-step instructions in my book LAUNCH: How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt-Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward, you’ll know dozens of ways to help your children become extraordinary college and scholarship candidates—even if their standardized test scores aren’t the greatest.
Learn a little-known way students can make themselves highly desirable to colleges and scholarship committees—despite lower grades and test scores. Take a look at pages 31–33 of my book:
It’s a reference book, so nobody reads the whole thing cover to cover. Pick out what you need to read in it using the fast-paced, 10-minute video instructions here.
You can see hundreds of reviews of this book on Amazon by going to:
You can see why financial advising professionals love LAUNCH, here.
You can see the top 9 questions parents are asking me about LAUNCH, here.
Read just one chapter of LAUNCH every 1–3 months while your child’s in middle school and high school, and you’ll know every viable strategy for debt-free college at exactly the right time to implement it.
And if your child’s already well past middle school? That’s OK; you can run to catch up. But the process of getting your kids through college debt-free goes more smoothly the earlier you start it—especially if you’re not planning to save up any money to pay for college.
Take a step on this right now. Get regular, inspiring help from me—every Monday morning.
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Who is Jeannie Burlowski?
Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and sought-after speaker for students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them. Her writing, speaking, and podcasting help parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free, ready to jump directly into careers they excel at and love. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents Magazine, and US News and World Report, and on CBS News.
Jeannie also helps students apply to law, medical, business, and grad school at her website GetIntoMedSchool.com.
This article was most recently updated on October 3rd, 2022. No part of it was written using AI.