My son’s dream school is Pomona College. Also interested in Amherst, Brown, U Penn, Occidental, Wash U. Middle income so financial aid is a huge driving factor. Noticing most schools that meet 100% of need are super selective and wondering how we might add some safety schools. Also, chancing for his top choices, please.
3.8 GPA puts him barely in top 25% of his graduating class in a top public high school in our state. This is what worries us…
8 APs, all Honors classes taken whenever they were available.
35 ACT, NOT superscored
Mock Trial State Champion team member 10th grade
2nd place State Mock Trial 11th grade
DECA National Qualifier
JV tennis, Girls JV tennis manager
NHS
State Qualifier for Band percussion ensemble 9th grade
Marching band (9-12) including a leadership position, Concert Band, Select Band
Performer in nationally touring diverse social justice themed choir
Actor in school plays
Works 10-15 hours a week at a tennis shop
Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity
We are in the midwest and he is eager to spread his wings outside of the midwest, if possible.
If the 3.8 GPA is weighted, the unweighted GPA would be a concern despite the high ACT and course rigor.
Occidental should be a match. Pomona and the others would be reaches if that 3.8 is weighted. But those schools are reaches even for students with high GPA/SAT.
3.8 is weighted, BUT I don’t think weighted as much as other schools do. There is no mathematical way to receive a cumulative GPA of much higher than about 4.2 or possibly 4.3 at his school. He receives a .5 bump for AP’s and a .25 bump for Honors and lots of required classes have no honors option, like band, orchestra, 1st and 2nd year world languages, required PE, Health, etc…
1st quarter senior grades are higher and will be sent by his counselor when he applies to Pomona ED. Current grades are:
AP Stat- A
AP Comp Sci- A
AP Lit- A
AP German- B
AP Psych- A
Band- A
Undecided, but possibly economics. He’s creative but wants to use that creativity to possibly start his own business or do some consulting. I could see him doing something unusual like theatre AND economics.
Generally, I have observed that unweighted GPA and rigor are much more important in determining a match school than test scores (high scores are very common). To get his unweighted GPA, you can plug in his transcript grades into a grade calculator and not add the bump for honors and AP.
Often when a student has a mix of As and Bs for freshman through sophomore year, but stronger grades in the midterm of senior year, the ED school will want to see the full first semester of senior grades to make sure that the upward trend has continued (which means that such candidates are often deferred).
WashU if ED1/ED2 is a possibility as well with the high standardized test scores, although demonstrated interest (visits, interview) is highly important.
Your safety should be your in-state public school.
In their Common Data Set https://www.pomona.edu/sites/default/files/cds-2017-2018.pdf Item C10 Pomona reports 94% in top 10% of graduating class, and 100% in top 25%, so “barely in top 25%” puts him near the bottom at Pomona when it comes to class rank.
While class rank is not as important as the transcript or standardized test scores, schools do look at grades/rigor within the context of the applicants HS which class rank can be a proxy for.
A class rank around the 25th percentile is not a reason for optimism at his top choice schools.
You should look at some less selective schools, and your state U system.