Starting a new thread for Parents of the HS class of 2022 with kids that have lower GPAs. I found the 3.0-3.4 thread to be a great resource for information and support during my D19 college search and so am starting it up early in D22 journey.
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To begin, I will say that D22 is an introvert who requires a ton of down time. HS is a stressful place for her, even without anything explicitly stressful going on. She is not a kid who thrives in a tightly scheduled, structured environment. What that means is ECs on weekends, homework, tutors and regular exercise during the week. Her thoughts on college are pretty vague at this point. She came on a few of the visits we did with D19 but did not develop any strong preferences. Unlike D19, she says she’d like to look at schools in our home state (California). She’s crazy about football and has been for years so she definitely wants to go to a school with a great football team. She found her passion on the HS yearbook staff this year - which got my head churning on a communications/marketing path for her. It is looking like she will end freshman year at the lower end of the range for this thread. Hopefully, we will have an upward trend story to tell when it comes time to tell that story. ? For now, I am focused on choosing the classes and schedule that set her up for success and ECs she genuinely enjoys and will stick with through HS. She would like to get a job when she turns 16: for now we are telling her she needs to focus on school, but I feel like a job might be a great thing for her.
That’s all for now. Interested to hear about your kids.
Hi! I have an S20 so he will likely be my focus for the next year, but my D22 will likely fit in here. She’s an extrovert and is just learning what “studying” means. I would not be shocked if she finds that going to community college first and then transferring in is best for her. She is a field hockey goalie recovering from shoulder surgery-both shoulders this year, is in mostly advanced classes, is managing boys lacrosse (yes, she has 3 brothers so she understands boys more than girls a lot of the time and was going to play lax, but then shoulder surgery happened) and this summer has a job coaching a summer swim team and life-guarding. She is awesome is SO many ways, and very smart, but the social stuff wins out over the school work, which can be frustrating.
@Turquoise52 how did you get this thread started on the Class of XXXX forum? I’d like to start one for the Class of 2021 3.0-3.4 kids, but don’t know how to get it placed here, rather than on the main Parents Forum page.
Thanks for starting this, @Turquoise52 – jumping in early as my S22 will likely fit in here. We are wrapping up the search and decision process for D19 where we learned so much. However, S22 will be searching for different majors and has different likes than his sister.
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Thank you @Turquoise52! I have been following the regular Class of 2022 thread, but my D22 definitely will not fit in with that group. I had been waiting for this thread to start! D22 is our 3rd and last kid to go through this process with a D15 and an S18 coming before her. I didn’t discover CC until S18 was a sophomore and it was beyond helpful and made the process a million times easier than it was with D15.
While D22 is my most conscientious, organized, studious child, testing is her downfall. She gets A’s in homework, projects and labs and then, despite fanstastic study habits and not for lack of trying, gets C’s or below on mosts tests. She is an English kid through and through and that class is always her highest grade. History is her next highest grade, with Math coming in next. Science is the bane of her existence and is always her worst grade.
Looking forward to taking this crazy journey with all of you!!
Mine might fall in here too for his unweighted GPA. He looks like he’ll be a weighted 4.0, but he’s so lazy! He spends so little time on homework, and never just “studies.” I think he’ll fall into having a lower gpa, but super high test scores. Right now, he says he doesn’t care where he goes to college as long as it’s warm. I’m hoping he picks it up starting sophomore year…but who knows!
@4kids4us - I did not trust my ability to provide instructions, so I started thread for you. You take it from here!
@Turquoise52 thanks so much! When I am in the Class of XXXX sub forum. I do not see a NEW DISCUSSION button for starting a new thread. I appreciate you setting it up for the 2021 class. Thanks!
Of course! @4kids4us Do you think @eandesmom would mind if I copied her posts to the 2022 thread as you have for the 2021 thread?
I’m sure she would not mind! I think she’s happy to have the information spread to those who are following in the footsteps of the previous app cycles.
Pasting here the helpful information/guidance from the poster who started the 3.0-3.4 thread for 2017.
As a guideline, this is not a chance thread for students. It is for parents of kids roughly in the B to B+ range with any range of test scores. Of course, all parents are welcome, but it is not meant for the top of the line, applying to Ivies sorts of dilemmas. Advice from parents of other years is definitely appreciated!
Things to talk and think about now
- Test Prep
- School Visits & casting WIDE nets
- Fit & LOVING ALL OUR SCHOOLS
- Possible Financial/Merit aid
- Books to assist our quest of the perfect school for our children.
- Requesting LOR's before school gets out
And as we get close to and into senior year:
- Applications (EA vs. ED vs. RD), essay prompts, etc.
- Auditions (music, dance, theatre)
- Senior year visits & overnights
- The Waiting Game of acceptances
- Reviewing award letters
- Committing and sending in that check!
So, pour another cup of coffee (or tea), bookmark this thread, and start posting!
Next, I will post the links she shared in prior 3.0-3.4 threads.
And a few links eandesmom provided that might be useful even though this are from previous classes:
The final outcome list for the class of 2017 can be found here. They rocked it!
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20605533/#Comment_20605533
Current 2018 thread may be found here
Current 2019 3.0-3.4 thread where people are still making decisions and posting outcomes.
I believe Eandesmom is going to recreate a final outcome list (like linked above for 2017) for the class of 2019 so you can see where many of our kids applied, what their stats are and what their outcomes are.
Hi! I just found this and would love to join in. I have twins who are HS class of 2022. I stumbled on this site while looking for information for their elder brother (2020). I wish I had found CC years ago. I feel way behind with my eldest, even though I don’t think I really am. But I think his brother and sister will benefit with what I can find here. I know I will.
My twins are young, finishing up freshman year, and not sure what they want to do. Which is where they should be, really. I’m not looking for them to figure it all out, but what I would love and try to make them understand is the choices they make now, in school and in extracurriculars, will give them more choices later. I also think keeping ahead of things helps me not feel stressed!
I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you.
Fun! I’ll join too! I have a D17 who did ED so it was quick and easy, a S19 who waited until May 1 to decide where he was going, and now my baby a S22. We’re not starting a search or anything yet, but obviously seeing the other 2 go through this, he is at least aware that college is looming! I’m sure he’ll be in this GPA range as he’s super smart, and super social, and a B is just fine with him. Looking forward to the journey ahead.
Well, it’s official. S22 finished with a 3.3 unweighted (4.0w). His last quarter was better, but it wasn’t enough to pull up the full year grades since they don’t do semester grades. We talked to him about putting in 4th quarter effort all year next year, so we’ll see.
I haven’t been around much due to moving in my D19 into college but now we are starting the “college chats” with S22. He is a little similar to my D in that he will not take all the APs offered and will be a mix of AP, honors, and some on-level classes.
Current discussions are focusing on just how much music he should do at/outside of school. He is in the school orchestra, an outside orchestra (meets once a week) and he takes private lessons. He would like to do some theatre set work, too, after school.
Now he’s trying to decide if auditioning for senior regional orchestra would be too much. I think he is going to ask his orchestra teacher, who would surely know more about the time commitment
Our D19 was slightly above the 3.4 but not ny much and we found the 2019 thread to be a great resource. Our S22 is another story. He had a very rough freshman year resulting in failing several classes. He was able to make up the classes over the summer and received A’s for both. He still has two more classes to repeat and seems to have turned over a new leaf this year and is doing well, all A’s/B’s. Unfortunately, he dug himself a pretty big hole so it will be a struggle to get the GPA up. Currently has a 2.72 (2.94 weighted). He is re-taking two classes next semester to hopefully improve on the the current D and E with at least B’s, which will get him to 3.00/3.28.
He is taking 3 Honors classes and 1 AP. Hopefully when the time comes he will have a nice upward trend in his grades.
He is also taking the PSAT tomorrow at school which should gives a good indication of how much prep he will need. He has been granted 50% extra time for the SAT and AP tests due to ADHD.
@ElonMomMD – I hope your S22 had a good PSAT test day today. My S22 also has ADHD but does not need extra time accommodations. (My D19 did, though – I think she is thankful all those standardized tests are done!)
My S22 also has a freshman year set of grades where he needs to “show an upward trend.” So far the 1st quarter is showing a big difference. Only 7 more quarters to go. 
Hello! I have lurked on CC for about a year now but this is my first post. My S22, will probably ultimately fall in this range. He did have a 4.0 freshman year but has had it easy and didn’t have to work for good grades…until this year. His HS only allows honors classes (no AP) for sophomores and generally only allows 3, however he petitioned to take 4 and it was granted. Bad choice, he is struggling. We had a meeting at the school yesterday to drop one. They are hesitant to let him since they believe he is capable and admittedly isn’t putting in the effort to do better. Basically, he has gotten to this point without studying and now that the content is getting harder, he needs to study and doesn’t know how.
With that said, his passion really lies in sports (hopes to play basketball in college), community service and ASB. He loves those things and is pretty good at them.
We live in CA and before this year started, he had his sights set on some of the hardest admin schools in the state. We actually had already visited many of them. I can see those slipping away, although he hasn’t figured out that that is happening due to his apathy about his decrease in grades.
I am looking for recommendations, for schools in this range, based on his very particular criteria.
- No snow
- Near water (preferably warm water)
- At least 5000 students
- Has a football team
- Panda Express and/or Chic-fil-a on campus a plus
Being from California, he also does not want to go to a state that is traditionally conservative.
He is leaning towards a stats or kinesiology major with a minor in communications. Ultimately, interested in a career as a sports analysis or statistician.
Budget is approx $30K but merit to lower this would be amazing and keep me from having to go back to work 
Thank you for any suggestions you have.