Welcome all !!!
An intro and a thread “philosophy” statement if you will 
CC is a funny place. It is self selecting and often filled with extremely high achievers which can make it challenging, discouraging and depressing for those of us with average average kids (versus average excellent for folks who follow that thread).
That said. It is my personal hope and belief that this particular thread is welcome to all, regardless of whether a student “strictly” fits within the GPA range above.
As no student is the same…neither are gpa’s and test scores. We’ve got weighted verus un, scales that go to 4 or 6 or are done on a percentage basis. California schools that do gpa’s that only include 10th and 11th.
GPA is only one item in the mix. Some kids are lopsided. Great GPA, terrible test scores or vice versa. Some have learning challenges, health or other issues, or good numbers but low rigor. Some might be limited on their EC’s or whatever. Or simply…they might not be at all interested in the super selective schools or the parent wants to hang with a group focused on helping their kids be their best selves, while acknowledging the challenges that particular student might face.
I want to celebrate success here and collaborate together. And to provide hugs when tests don’t go well or homework isn’t turned in or whatever challenge our kids face. That could be for a student that has a 2.8 with a 1500 SAT or a 3.7 kid with a few F’s or D’s. The important thing is that we recognize there are hundreds of great schools out there and a “fit” for every student. It’s not just top 25 and the rest are irrelevant.
Ok. Off soap box.
My S19 is one of those Jekyll-Hyde kind of kids. Split personality if you will. If he’s in, he’s all in and if not…he is not. He is on the upper edge of the thread with an UW 3.4 . Our school doesn’t weight or rank for which I am grateful. Very bright, either motivated…or not at all, especially if he doesn’t see the point. As a result, there are far too many C’s on his transcript. 6 to be exact, not that I am counting. 1280 on the PSAT and a 26 on the first practice ACT. So nothing earth shattering from a starting point. I do expect improvement on the tests…the gpa remains to be seen. Against our wishes to some degree, he’s taking a very difficult course load with 5 AP’s. Not that he’s not capable of it but…he will have to turn in homework and that’s a challenge. ADHD and possibly on the Aspie side of things. We have a high EFC with 2 kids in college and a stratospheric one for his last 2 years when we go down to one kid (he’s our 4th to go through).
The EFC with 2 is the absolute max we will consider and our budget really is less, preferably at our flagship price point but it’s probably a pipe dream (both for actual end price and him getting in…not to mention it’s probably not the best fit). As such no super selective schools here, we will very specifically be targeting schools where he can get merit and have a chance at hitting budget. At the moment he has visions of going out of state but I question how well he will do on his own. He is NOT one to seek out help when he gets in the weeds and that makes me nervous. This year will provide some clarity. He does take ADHD meds as of mid last year and we have started working with a therapist and he is scheduled to hopefully have an academic coach from the school that works with the therapist but we will see if that really pans out, lately it’s been impossible with XC and Marching Band to schedule anything.
He is also, quite frankly, a very typical white boy without the outstanding grades or test scores to go with it. High rigor but typical EC’s…wind ensemble, trumpet, cross country and scouts. Oh and he founded and is president of the Philosophy club. Runs a lot for leadership positions but never wins. As such we will also be targeting the more holistic and less stats based schools, a strategy that worked well for his brother. He has a working list of 28 schools that meet his early criteria…and have potential according to their NPC, published merit info or my working knowledge of other offers kids have received in his stats range. Interests at present are all over the board, Computer Science, Physics, Screenwriting, Philosophy and well,…other things I am sure I am forgetting as it’s a moving target. He needs to be somewhere with flexibility.
Looking to start test prep next month, Dec ACT and then maybe mid winter and spring break visits to start to get a feel for school type and then go from there. Many of the remote schools we will not visit until after application and acceptance for cost reasons. If that hurt him, so be it. I personally believe there are many ways to show interest and it’s not all in a live visit.
Right now all I care about is a decent first quarter and seeing that homework turned in. He’s on top of it so far BUT it’s a LOT of homework and I can see is sliding. Easily. Makes me nervous.