<p>My daughter is a freshman in high school. She has approximately a 3.3 GPA, and has worked very hard to get it. She has problems with math and science and I honestly can't see how she'll get a decent score in her math SAT when the time comes. She has been in some activities this year, but each activity in her high school seems to be all-consuming/intense. For instance, being on the soccer team means you have a 2-3 hour practice or have a game every school day for the first two months of school. Being in a play means you go to rehearsal nearly every school day for 2 months - and the last 2 weeks before the play, you often don't get home until 9 pm. Being in chorus means you miss other classes every week for sectional practice, plus miss a significant number of other classes for local performances, plus of course, more after school rehearsals. </p>
<p>She will probably have to drop most ECs if she even wants to keep her 3.3, much less raise it. She isn't a star. She doesn't have some outstanding talent. She's just a nice, average high school student. Why does it seem these days that you have to be a star in order to get into a decent college? And by decent, I mean PSU/University Park, Univ of Delaware, etc. Even West Chester University wants a 3.5.</p>
<p>So ... finally my question. lol If she ends up with @ a 3.3, and not too many ECs, do you have any suggestions as to where she could apply? We are in Pennsylvania. She'd prefer a bigger college, and not a commuter campus. </p>
<p>I know she's only in 9th grade. But this is who she is ... who she always has been. So I'm just trying to figure out what her options may be. Thanks!</p>
<p>SS - deep breath and check out the ‘Where to send my 3.0-3.3 child’ thread. Agree she may need to focus her ECs, but I wouldn’t give them all up. Ask her to prioritize what she likes and focus on it. </p>
<p>Perhaps once she’s past the core math/science classes, she can focus on classes that are better suited to her gifts.</p>
<p>She sounds awesome. Don’t buy into competitive academics as a hobby, you’ll go crazy and she’ll be miserable. She sounds like a good catch for any school. If she’s not a 4.0, that’s not deal-breaker. And for some students, being busy keeps their GPA up, so don’t be too quick to take out her EC’s if she loves them.</p>
<p>S1 and S2 had average (3.2/3.8)grades, S1 had really great EC’s, S2 had better grades and nearly no EC’s but was admitted at UP, Syracuse, Ithaca, Susquehanna and Ship. S1 got into UP, Susquehanna, Ship, and …I can’t remember now …My point is that S1 was no academic star by any means, and S2 is not a joiner or displayer. But both had lots of choices. </p>
<p>Susquehanna is a school I like because they really look at you as a person. West Chester is an overlooked, good, solid, school. Shippensburg has a great journalism department and a great music department. Westminster is lovely, Juniata is great in the sciences…there are lots and lots of choices. Even Cal (s of Pittsburgh) is an up-and-coming state system school in some departments. </p>
<p>As the parent of 'average" students, I know what you mean. But honestly, don’t believe the hype – lots of schools will want your nice, steady, strong girl, who maybe hasn’t found her passion quite yet.</p>
<p>Thanks, guys - I’m going to look at the links. I went to a college night at her h.s. last night and the rep from West Chester said the average GPA for accepted students was 3.5. That stunned me, actually. My daughter has always wanted to go to PSU/Univ Park because that’s where I and her dad went. And we go back to visit on a regular basis - we still have friends in the area, and go to events such as the Arts Festival. But getting into PSU is SO different than how it was when I went! I had a 3.2 and had no problem getting in … yeah, I’m old. LOL </p>
<p>And she’s the one dropping ECs … not all of them, but most. She doesn’t know that she wants to try out for soccer again. She likes soccer but isn’t that good at it and needs to get in better shape. It was very tough for her last year but I really admired how she stuck with it. But I’m not going to push her - she has to want to do it again. Also, chorus has taken up an ungodly amount of time and has actually impacted her other grades with the classes she has had to miss for rehearsal. So she might just try out for plays and try to find another school activity, or maybe an out of school volunteer activity.</p>
<p>She’s a worrier - and I don’t want to add to it. I generally keep my mouth shut, actually. But I’d love to be able to offer suggestions if she asks. Thanks again!</p>
<p>A lot of schools like West Chester use weighted GPA when they quote it, you might see if it is. </p>
<p>If she gets an ACT score around 23/24 (or the equivalent SAT score), she could probably get into Iowa and Iowa State.</p>
<p>Kansas only requires a 2.5 gpa.</p>
<p>I am not familiar with east coast schools but I know that there would be lots of midwest schools that she could go to. Many of them (like the Iowa schools and Kansas) pretty damn good.</p>
<p>SansSerif – some points to keep in mind:
(1) some kids take awhile to get their stride in HS, and your daughter’s grades might improve as she finds her footing. Also, she might discover a talent or passion in some specific area and get stronger grades in those classes, lifting her average.
(2) a lot of talk about GPA refers to <em>weighted</em> grade point average, which gives extra points for honors classes. Your daughter may take honors classes in her stronger subjects when she’s an upperclassman, and that may raise her GPA relative to what you’re seeing in her freshman year.<br>
(3) some schools may have more grade inflation that yours. Colleges will see that in the School Profile that your daughter’s GC will submit as part of her college apps, and will take that into account.</p>
<p>Encourage your daughter to do her best to keep her teachers happy, participate in class, enjoy her studies as much as possible, and engage in extracurriculars that are meaningful to her. When the time comes, look for colleges that will appreciate what she has to offer. That is what finding a good “fit” is all about.</p>
<p>It sounds to me like she will be successful because she is choosing ECs that matter to her and because she has a good work ethic. </p>
<p>My son was a late bloomer and did not find his passion till about junior year. And I think for many schools ECS are overhyped. Many schools go more by GPA, class rank, letters of recommendation and the essay. Don’t sacrifice GPA for ECs that are not that important to her. ( she is making the right choices)</p>
<p>I think for a kid like her, you will need to find schools that are great fits for what she wants to do. Then visit, write a great essay, and apply. She will be fine!</p>
<p>You may see big changes as time goes on too. My son was a low B student in his freshman and 1 st half of sophomore year. Then he grew up a little and started to focus and things got better, but he is still a 3.6 student. And he got accepted everywhere he applied and even got a 20k scholarship.</p>
<p>Also, you may want to consider starting early on ACT vs SAT prep. Princeton review offers a free test that helps you determine which test is best for you kid. Seems like 25% do better on SAT, 25% do better on ACT and 50% do the same on both. The math is not that advanced on the tests( it only goes up to trig and a teeny bit of precalc) so with some studying, she could learn to do the math required.</p>
<p>Remember too that college confidential has a very motivated group of students and parents, so understand that your daughter is still doing better than most.</p>
<p>If the math sections of the ACT ad SAT are just too much for her, look at the many wonderful test optional colleges.
[url=<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional]SAT/ACT”>ACT/SAT Optional List - Fairtest]SAT/ACT</a> Optional 4-Year Universities | FairTest<a href=“If%20you%20click%20on%20the%20top%20of%20the%20third%20column,%20you%20can%20sort%20the%20list%20by%20state.”>/url</a></p>
<p>A 3.3 is not far off the AVERAGE of a 3.5. Keep in mind, to achieve that average, for every 4.0 there is a 3.0 as well (basically). So she falls in that range. I agree with others here, there are 2500 or so 4 year colleges across the nation and 99% of them would be perfectly viable candidates for your DD.</p>
<p>DO NOT let her drop all of her EC’s. I’m surprised that your state allows that many games for soccer. That is a busy schedule. You could have her look into less time consuming activities like Cross Country or Track. I will agree that being in theater productions means you are at school a lot but the kids I know in theater aren’t busy the entire time they are there and in their down time do their homework.</p>
<p>What kinds of classes is she taking? Since she isn’t looking at HYP, etc., it would be perfectly reasonable for her to not take 5 AP classes every year and maybe only take 1 or 2, lessening the load some. </p>
<p>Since she is not a strong math student, I would suggest that she take the ACT as that tests more well rounded knowledge vs just math and reading like the SAT.</p>
<p>Finally, don’t get caught up in the name game so many here do. I would venture a guess that there are 50 schools within 5 hours of you that are fantastic schools, just not top 50 schools, yet, their graduates get a very good education and find wonderful jobs too. I just ran a search for medium to large schools in the mid-Atlantic, New England areas for schools where most students live on campus, have an median score of 500 on all parts of the SAT and a 24 on the ACT and came up with 38 schools. If you add in the smaller schools with those same numbers there are 81 schools.</p>
<p>SteveMa, are you saying that the average gpa of high school students is a 3.5 or are you saying that this student isn’t far off from achieving a 3.5 gpa? I am really just curious if the first could be possible in some parts of the country. GPAs always seem very inflated to be compared to SAT/ACT scores.</p>
<p>There are many, many schools for your daughter. She should focus on those ecs that she enjoys. Colleges primarily look at grades, then scores. Lots of colleges don’t care one bit about ecs and really hold something else in 3rd place (ability to pay, state of residency, religious affiliation or commitment). Lots of the things bantered about around here are really factors at top schools.</p>
<p>My kids attend a suburban public. The average unweighted gpa accepted to UDel is a 3.38, a 3.1 to Penn State and a 3.2 to West Chester. There are lots of students with gpas below your daughter’s gpa who get in at Penn State. </p>
<p>My biggest advice to her is to do her best in school, take college prep classes and concentrate her time on the things she really enjoys. My biggest advice to you is to save $ for college. Most people think the issue is getting accepted. The truth is, unless you are aiming really high, the issue for most families is paying the bill.</p>
<p>She sounds like a great girl! It can be really crazy-making, getting caught up in all the college hype. But, she sounds like she is doing well and she will have plenty of options. As for ECs, she should find something that she loves and stick with it. It will help her to have balance, help her socially etc.</p>
<p>One point that OP touches upon is that the EC’s have gotten a little too intense for a lot of the students. Is there really a need to put so many hours in rehearsal or practice? It may be good for the stars but it is not necessarily good for some of the other students, many of whom are told that they need these EC’s for their college admissions. It seems that athletics and the play have gotten so much more intense now than 12 years ago, when our older son graduated.</p>
<p>Just wanted to address a few points you guys have made --</p>
<p>First, I agree, I definitely want her to chill out! She is the one freaked out about college. She got a D in a math mid-term and thought her life was over. No, a D is not a good thing, but let’s keep some perspective. I tried to kid her about how when she was 30, she’d still be moaning about the day she got a D in 9th grade and her life came to a screeching halt … Anyway, she knows a lot of kids taking AP and honors and studying less than she does for plain, college prep classes. It bums her out that it’s just very hard for her. So I’m just trying to get an idea of what it’s like for average kids who haven’t started a charity/cured cancer/been admitted to MENSA by the age of 16.</p>
<p>So she doesn’t take AP or honors level … regular college prep is hard enough for her. She wants to take honors history next year. I’m not going to stop her, and I think she can do it … but I don’t know if she can do it without impacting the time she needs for the rest of her classes. For some reason there is no honors level French class in 10th grade, which is a shame because that’s her best subject - a 97 average!</p>
<p>SteveMA - about soccer – she doesn’t have a game every day, probably once or twice a week. But every day that there isn’t a game, there is a 2 hour practice. </p>
<p>She is doing the ECs she likes - except some of them take up so much time she no longer likes them, which is a shame.</p>
<p>SansSerif–depending on how your school works, our CP classes have WAY more homework than that AP classes. The thought behind that is that the AP kids work at a faster pace because they “get” the material faster (not always true but that is the thinking behind it anyway), so, instead of having 30 math problems, they might have 15 or 20. When they have to read for History or whatever, those assignments are longer, but there are fewer of them. Something to ask about at your school anyway.</p>