3.0 to 3.3 (GPA) Parents Thread (2011 HS Graduation)

Parent Cafe
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<p>I had a quick decision to make this morning - Just send the grades or have son contact teacher to get a letter of rec done and then have both sent(hopefully) early next week. Since guidance is already telling the kids that Dec. 1 is the deadline for transcript requests for December mailings, I decided to just go with the grades sans the new letter of recommendation. I’m sure that our small guidance department is getting slammed with anxious students trying to get in their applications.</p>

<p>So I quickly addressed four envelopes to Colleges he hasn’t heard back from, slapped a post-it on each telling them what I wanted sent along with his birthdate and full name. Son looks at the post-it and for some reason got upset when he saw that I put his brothers birthday on instead of his! I mean, they’re only four days apart and at least I got the year right! After he left I realized that I forgot to give him an envelope for one of the colleges that specifically ASKED for the grades! This application stuff is not for the weak.</p>

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I agree. I have a big spreadsheet with all the important dates and info on it, and I still find it all confusing. Especially, the merit stuff. Some schools have several different apps for for different scholarships, all with different requirements and deliverables and all due at different times. </p>

<p>Any kid who can do this on his own deserves to go to college.</p>

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<p>kathiep and mamom - you guys are cracking me up - I think this process is harder on the Moms than the kids! But on a serious note - can you imagine how kids with un-involved parents do this? Non-English speaking parents? Uneducated parents? Non-computer literate parents? I’m not convinced it needs to be this complicated.</p>

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<p>interesting conversation I had last night: friend in another school district called me for “college wisdom”…VERY late in the process…</p>

<p>in the “you never know” camp, her child has a 3.4 GPA (so you would think is a decent student) in the bottom 25% of her class…grade inflation much???,she wanted advice on the big publics…(Penn State, etc)…I honestly wasn’t sure what to tell her; the GPA is obviously not bad, but in context? other stats are quite low (even for this thread)…</p>

<p>just found it fascinating given the discussion about how colleges look at GPA’s from different schools; this particular school does not rank but the GC told the parent the quartile…it’s not on the transcript…</p>

<p>anyone else feel like the kids in these types of “grade inflated” schools have a distinct advantage applying to “stats only” types of colleges that admit by formula?</p>

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<p>Absolutely rodney, and also for merit money based on stats. My son has applied to a school that gives some merit money based on unweighted gpa. If my son had not taken AP & Honors, he would likely have a 4.0 or very close to it. His unweighted gpa is still good, but maybe not good enough for the merit money. If he had taken no honors or AP, I think he would be assured of the merit.</p>

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<p>My 3.2 S in in the 3rd quartile of his class wrt GPA but upper 5% wrt to SAT/ACT. I almost fell off my chair when his GC told us this. I really can’t understand it and find it hard to believe that he is that low wrt rank. The school doesn’t report rank, but does report what quartile the kid is in. My only consolation is she did check off the box that said he took the most rigorous courseload.</p>

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<p>Yes I do. I also find it unfair for schools that use the inflated GPAs (sometimes with SAT and ACT scores, sometimes without) to award merit money! I pre-screened schools the second time around to some degree, to make sure that my son is not out of “the money” because he attended a school that does not have grade inflation. This was one of many reasons that we took UNC-A off son’s list. He would have just missed the merit money mark. They might have given it anyway, as some schools do bend, but I replaced them with another school that would offer the sure thing.</p>

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<p>blankmind, and I cross posted about the same thing, merit aid.</p>

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<p>good points; I didn’t even consider the merit $$ issue because the standardized test scores were so low…I was just thinking about admission…</p>

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<p>I don’t know how low those test scores were, but you’d be surprised at how pretty average test scores (above the national average scores, but low for CC, say 520-550 range per section, perhaps a shade lower) with a good GPA can result in some merit money. Some schools use standardized test scores along with GPA and they have a “scale” which tells them how much money they can award for academic achievement. Also it depends upon the school. A tier 4 might award a lot of merit aid to someone applying with a 3.4 and a 1500/2400. It is all relative to the applicants that they get. I am leaving out the ECs, geography, diversity, etc. which all make for more discussion about merit aid chances.</p>

<p>There are schools where a 1300+ on M and V with a 3.2 can end up in a student not getting merit money, but at the same college/U. an 1100 with a 3.4 might tip the scale so that the student is awarded merit money. JMO based upon things that I have seen at a couple of colleges. Certainly this is not based in cut and dry science. It can’t be based in science, bc schools can offer merit aid any way that they would like to offer it.</p>

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<p>…and some schools of course, recalculate the kid’s GPA with their own little formula.
Probably take out Band, Physcial Education, maybe Art. A crap shoot at best! An applicant may think he falls into the Merit range, but then again maybe not!</p>

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<p>Interesting question, Rodney. Do high GPA studnets from grade-inflated schools have an admissions advantage in schools that use a stat formula? I suppose, but only if the formula is pretty GPA focused. If test scores weigh in there, too, then not so much. Merit aid? Again, only if the college/u is pretty GPA focused. The advantage would diminish (or even disappear) if the GPA has to be combined with some benchmark test scores. Still, I suppose there are places out there where the student in question would beat out someone more qualified. I hope those places are in the minority, but there are thousands of schools out there, and I certainly can’t claim to know what many of them do.</p>

<p>I might add that each summer, when I look at hs transcripts for the incoming freshman class, I’m amazed at the number of kids with over a 3.0 and in the bottom half of their class. The joke is that all the kids in Lake Wobegone are above average, but my experience would be that it’s another part of the country where that happens! (And I’m not giving it up because barbequed me for lunch doesn’t sound very good.)</p>

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<p>Re the difficulties of getting it all in on time and organized, I suggest to our GC that volunteers be sought to help those parents who felt they needed extra help. The response was “we provide all the help everyone needs.” I said “can you give example, without names, of nonEnglish speaking parents and noncollege graduate parents you have walked through a FAFSA?” Dead silence. Our town, although mostly affluent has a few parents who meet my description and I shudder with how they cope with these forms.</p>

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<p>yabe- same type of response from our GC. If I wasn’t a part of CC I would have no idea how little information I was getting from the GC.</p>

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<p>I’m just glad that our hs does not rank. According to our hs Profile - 42% of the students have a weighted GPA over 4.0. My son’s is just below that - meaning he is at best squeaking into the top half of the class. So, you would basically have to have straight As and many honors/AP classes just to be in the top 20%.</p>

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<p>At our HS, when they released the % of students receiving particular grades in each subject, it became clear that the honors/AP teachers were giving huge %'s of A’s–much higher than the regular classes–accounting for the large percentage of kids over 4.0.</p>

<p>the tag s of honors or AP was scaring off kids who would have easily snagged at least the same GPA with the added points.</p>

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<p>re: uninvolved parents A classmate of D’s called home, Mother said she had a letter from her top school. The girl said “A little envelope or a big envelope?” The mother said “What on earth would the size of the envelope matter?”</p>

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<p>Holy cow, rockvillemom. 42% over a 4.0? That’s increadibe. I’ve seen a lot of transcripts, but I think one from your school kids’ school would still have the power to make my jaw drop.</p>

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<p>Gwen - very funny. Just curious, what did the contents of the envelope reveal?</p>

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<p>We were visiting Winthrop University last week. The admissions counselor told us that all of the SC schools show their average GPA’S based on a 5.0 scale. This is the SC grading system and that’s why all of their stats. seem so high. He did say they make adjustments to GPA’S based on a 4.0 scale.</p>

<p>This school was very nice for those who still might be looking. There is alot of new construction going on around campus and their recreational facility was phenomenal. My D had already been admitted, but this was the one school she hadn’t visited.
She plays LAX and they just got approved for a Women’s Division 1 LAX program. She is also a cheerleader so she had questions about that program too. She was seriously considering attending here and wanted me to deposit. That is until the end of our tour, the admissions counselor couldn’t answer some simple questions, the first one being regarding a cheer team, he didn’t know if they had one or not, second he couldn’t speak to the percentage of OSS students, three he couldn’t speak to the freshman year retention rate and the list just kept growing as to his lack of knowledge. He seemed more concerned about the other SC schools she had applied to and even suggested that she would get into the College of Charleston, since she was admitted to Wintrhop. Very unusual experience that we had never encountered before. This is the first time we had encountered an admissions counselor who seriously wasn’t trying to sell the school.</p>

<p>The next day we visited East Carolina for Open House. What a difference a day can make. She saw the admissions counselor who visited her school earlier this year. When she told him she had been admitted he was was so willing to answer any questions and get her to the right people for information. We kept seeing him throughout the day and he kept saying, “have you made up your mind yet.” At the end of the day, this is where she felt she truly belonged. I mailed the deposit as soon as we got home.</p>

<p>She is still awaiting word from her original first choice, The College of Charleston, which won’t arrive until Mid-Decmeber along with The University of South Carolina. </p>

<p>She is certain she will not get admitted to The College of Charleston, but we will see if her mind changes once the decision arrives. This seems to be her greatest reach school.</p>

<p>She has been admitted to every other school she applied to, we have been very lucky although most of them have been well within her reach. She did apply early and did not apply to any in-state schools. NC and SC both have restrictions on the percentage of OSS students they can accept, so I think her applying early was to ther advantage.</p>

<p>It is still early in the game so her mind might change, but for now she is sporting purple and gold and proudly wearing ECU shirts. </p>

<p>To top it all off she made straight A’s this first quarter with one dual enrollment course and two AP’s. Let’s hope the roll continues until June.</p>

<p>I am so glad to hear of all of the happy news from the others here on this forum.</p>