<p>thought you guys would like a chuckle today; mail just came: In it, a letter introducing my daughter to…wait for it…The University of Chicago…
now I know how they received 44,000 apps this past admissions year…</p>
<p>no idea how they got my daughter’s address since she never signed up with College Board (she’s an ACT kid) and never checked the box on the ACT…</p>
<p>maybe she’ll apply as a hoot; on second thought, I don’t want to encourage these shenanigans from Uof C…</p>
<p>I’ve gotten a letter from Harvard, Yale and Princeton and I have a 3.2…Marketing shenanigans indeed.</p>
<p>we also have gotten mail from the Ivies. It goes straight into the recycling bin unopened. What a waste of paper and money!</p>
<p>Yabeyabe2, she wants to stay in the northeast. We live in Jersey, her doctor is in Boston, so probably she’ll go somewhere in between. We’ve been looking on Naviance, but schools that match her SAT scores appear to require a way higher GPA.</p>
<p>Finished this semester with 7A’s, 4.0 GPA! He now has a @ a 3.1 UC GPA!I cannot believe it! He had a 2.0 UC GPA mid sophomore year! </p>
<p>There’s hope, parents of unmotivated sophomores!</p>
<p>I’m in. S’s SAT’s are very, very good but his GPA is right here in the 3-3.3 range. Big disconnect between the two. Assuming schools are more interested in GPA than SAT scores we are using the GPA to find reaches/matches and safeties. I am very concerned that schools will look at his stats and figure he is the kid who can but doesn’t. oh well, it is out of my hands. </p>
<p>S took last final yesterday and will be sleeping in late today I am sure. He has another week off before he starts work as a camp jr. counselor. He is really looking forward to making some money and I am glad he found work, many of his friends haven’t.</p>
<p>shrinkwrap…that is wonderful…congratulations!!!</p>
<p>Congrats, shrinkrap! Congrats to everyone for a junior year that is DONE!!!</p>
<p>A lot of kids here have a GPA of one type and scores of another type - a lot of kids all over CC (and may I guess all over the US?) have similar “imbalances.” I would say that a high score/low GPA kid could just as easily be thought of as “hasn’t blossomed yet but could do great things here” as “doesn’t want to work up to his/her potential.” I’d like to think that adcoms have a little imagination.</p>
<p>mamom, I’m with you in trying to remember it’s out of our hands. That’s the only way I’ll get through this year. I feel like my job is to help make a good list, and then let it go. A good list should give some good options, and that’s the most we can ask for, whatever kind of kid we have. I do recommend doing some EAs and rolling admissions, to set your mind at ease. </p>
<p>If your S has a reach that’s more in line with his scores, I’d say let him go for it. Read the “3.6 and applying Top 20” thread from last year - many wonderful outcomes there, and at least a great learning experience. </p>
<p>This thread is so great because it represents so many real-life situations: a slow-to-blossom kid, a kid who would rather create than conform, a kid who had a tough year for some reason, a kid who is a wonky fit with their particular HS, a kid who has certain passions instead of the all-around success story. I think they’ll be fascinating college students, and I’m glad we’re all in it together.</p>
<p>mamom,
I suspect–based onthose very limited facts-- your son’s gap will force you to decide which is a better fit:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The reaches his SATs will get him into and where you will hope he will rise to the level of the competition and find himself, perhaps because he can concentrate on the subjects which inspire him, or</p></li>
<li><p>The GPA matches among small schools, where his SATs may get him into an honors program, with substantial merit aid and where he may get a psychological boost from feeling he is one of the better students, or</p></li>
<li><p>The larger, mostly public schools, whose sports and parties may appeal to him, but where you may feel he will continue to coast because he does not get personal attention.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>Although my D has the opposite issue, I’d like to second Emmybet’s thoughts on mamom’s kid applying to some schools based more on the SAT range. Several students from my D’s school who graduated this year got into schools far more reflective of their test scores than GPAs.</p>
<p>So a quick update on my S. Toured Clark today and LOVED it! Top 3 right now! So any suggestions from parents for next year? His schedule is : AP Euro, AP Psych, AP Lit, French III, Intro to College Math(he hates math) and Art History. As I said prior he has a 3.2 at the moment and we are praying for a 3.5. He will most likely not be submitting SAT’s because his scores are not great, but he will take them again next Fall. We are thinking about applying Early Action…thoughts?
Thanks
Rachel</p>
<p>Congrats about Clark! It is a wonderful school, and since practically the only downsides ever mentioned are the location, the fact that your S loved being there is terrific! </p>
<p>It is very helpful when people on CC know little EA/ED quirks of particular schools, because otherwise I’m inclined to say go for EA or rolling whenever possible. That early acceptance is a wonderful feeling, and a deferral or rejection is also a helpful wake-up call (even if it’s a little depressing … but better in December than April, when there’s something you can do to change your plan).</p>
<p>I think Clark will be impressed by the courseload. I believe it is a very good school, with a clear sense of mission. Best of luck.</p>
<p>I believe there is a separate Clark forum, which might be helpful on EA. Altough i hear rumors of a few schools being tougher with admission and/or aid EA, in general I think it is as excellent idea for the reasons Emmybet said.</p>
<p>ACT’s! Anyone else have a child doing the ACT’s this morning? Son decided on four colleges to send the scores to - we’re making progress!</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>^^ good luck to all the ACTesters!</p>
<p>In a flush of confidence after all the A’s, son registered for Ap Eng lang next year, although it means he will have to take AP Govt and Econ too. Initially he only wanted the english, but since the school is so small, he could not schedule one without the other.</p>
<p>daughter took the ACT test also. Do you have a time limit when you can pick colleges to send the scores to. Same with SAT she has taken it twice but never sent scores.</p>
<p>Hey, Shrinkrap and others who are seeing a turn around junior year: My son just finished sophomore year. I truly believe he is bright enough to do the work and towards the end of the year he starting showing more motivation, but test scores continue to be a problem. How have you helped your student learn how to study and take tests? I’ve asked counselors at the high school for recommendations, but have gotten nothing. We’ve hired tutors, but haven’t seen the improvement we expected. Has anyone tried Sylvan or any of the other learning centers like that? I’ve heard such mixed things about them. I worry that this is a problem that will continue into college if he doesn’t get better at studying and test taking. Any tips or suggestions?</p>
<p>mitchwebb, You have until next Thursday to pick four colleges for the free test scores. I just added son’s four choices yesterday morning. It actually says something like, “list six colleges that you would like to send your scores to. The first four are free” I thought that was a little sneaky.</p>
<p>Tulare, I truly think that the motivation to be a better student has to come from the student. Sometimes though, it’s a matter of realizing what those grades will accomplish school choice-wise. I remember going out to PSU main campus with my daughter in the Spring of her Junior year. Her gpa at the time was about a 3.3. They told us straight up at the admissions info meeting that the avg. accepted student gpa was a 3.5 (uw). We had a great tour afterwards and spent the night. The next day on the way home we stopped at a popular (next tier down) State U’s open house where the admissions person told us the avg. accepted student gpa was a 3.0. Our tour was conducted by a slacker girl that looked like she had just rolled out of bed. The buildings were all brick and quite similar and the girl spoke about her classes as if they didn’t matter at all. The difference between the two colleges was startling, but the accepted GPA was not that much. Daughter went home, applied herself and was indeed accepted to PSU. She graduated HS with about a 3.7 GPA. My daughter changed her mind about the kind of college she wanted mid-way through senior year and did not choose PSU, but did very well at her college and graduated there with close to a 4.0 GPA. She told me her first semester in College that she was working harder then she ever knew she was capable of working.</p>
<p>However, we did the same thing with my older son and did not have the same outcome. I really think this is something the kids have to want. Which is where the “love the kid on the couch” comes in to play.</p>