<p>I'm new to CC. DS attends private selective-enrollment college prep HS in large midwest city; about 1/3 students who apply are accepted, and perhaps another 10% "wash-out" during attendance due to heavy academic load. DS tested into "all honors" classes at local large suburban HS, but didn't test into honors/accelerated classes at his college prep HS we selected. He likes school, and teachers like him. DS' GPA is presently "B-3.0" at end of 1st quarter Sophomore year, with this term's grades tending more towards "B+" range (grades are letters, not decimal numbers). School administration thus far vague about its benchmark GPA, but its "Honor Society" is triggered at 3.3+ GPA and majority of last year's grads enrolled at decent name-brand colleges. DS's our only child and we're late to parenthood, so we've little direct current experience regarding college choice and admissions. It seems early to go buttonhole a HS college advisor. DS recently took PLAN. But as I 'm reading CC, I'm also getting very worried.</p>
<p>I'd appreciate feedback regarding role of GPA in admissions, and whether there is a large variable concerning same. He's interested in math, but it's too early to tell.</p>
<p>My D went to what sounds like a similar private school. My advice is that if you are worried (and IMO first quarter sophomore year is a little early to worry) by all means go see the college counselor. Trust me: You won’t be the first anxious parent of a sophomore the counselor at this school has seen, and private college prep schools are used to this. Ask to see school’s Naviance for a range of schools and see what kind of GPAs get in where. Also ask to see the school description that goes out with the applications which should give you a decile or quintile breakdown for last year’s class by GPA. Finally, take everything you read on CC (except obviously this post!) with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>I’d wait till you get the PLAN results and then ask to talk to the college counselor about what it all means. The counselor should have a pretty good idea as to what sort of schools would be his targets if his scores and grades stay in the same range. What you do once you are armed with that information? Well that’s another matter!</p>
<p>CC makes many feel inadequate. Realize there are thousands of college; CC posters focus on a self-selecting group of schools.</p>
<p>I don’t think it is too early to open up general discussions with the High school counselor. </p>
<p>The prep schools are designed to get your kid in college; parents are sold this as part of the “value” of the high school. But, most of the prep schools do not “rank” to purposely avoid the kids taking courses beneath intellectual ability and to avoid ultra competition. So, when talking to the counselor, be clear that you are trying to keep junior on target for a certain range of colleges, not trying to game a GPA.</p>
<p>This means before you talk to the school know what level of college you want for him (ie, top 50 on the rankings, etc). Ask for the counselor to recommend if he is on track both academically and with ECs for the colleges you have in mind. </p>
<p>As I am learning, the role of GPA may be important for big state schools that are strictly be statistics. This is especially true for some of the merit (a good example is Alabama who has clear cut GPA/SAT ACT stats for scholorships). Many LACs will look more closely at the transcript and the high school reputation. None of this is to say that GPA is not important, but to say 4.0 is not everything. </p>
<p>Usually the prep schools have a list of college acceptances/merit for the last 3-5 years on the website. You should review that list before contacting the high school. I know my son’s high school have some well known colleges on their list, but they also always have a large number of regional colleges. The regional colleges aren’t top Tier 1 US News ranking schools, but they are repsected regionally and they know the calliber of student my kids high school produces. At these regional colleges, the kids GPA is not too important because the high school name carries a good deal of weight.</p>
<p>One of the nice benefits of a private college prep high school – and one that you are paying for each year – is access to a bonafide college counselor. It is indeed not too early to meet with him/her once you get the PLAN (although I wouldn’t put too much stock in the results). The counselor can help you sort out the wheat from the chaff in the PLAN report, give you some additional insight into the admissions process and give you some ideas as to where students who ended up in the 3.0 – 3.3 range have ended up (and you don’t know where your son’s GPA will be come fall of his senior year. </p>
<p>The parents of sophomores (and sophomores) on CC who appear to be freaking out over college admissions are largely those who are hoping for a top LAC or Ivy-caliber university. If you don’t fit that bill there is no reason at all to panic. You still have a long road to travel before college application decision time.</p>
<p>The selective private academic school that your DS is attending is very likely well known to selective colleges. That many students are accepted at selective colleges confirms that. In practice schools such as yours often grade much more conservatively than public schools. Colleges know that and adjust for that. Also in practice many of the classes in such schools are the equivalent of public high school honors or AP classes, and in senior year, some of the classes are equivalent to college classes.</p>
<p>The PLAN scores should provide you with an indication of where your DS stands. I expect that your school’s counselors will initiate a dialog with you and your DS after the scores come in.</p>
<p>That your DS is enjoying the school is a very a good indication that you made the right decision to go there.</p>
<p>My kids attend a similar sounding school (all boys)and that is a common concern here as well. Getting a 3.8+ is very difficult and the boys are always complaining that their gpa would be WAY higher if they attended the local public school, in addition to their transcript reading “all honors and APs”. The regular classes are the equivlent of honors/APs at most schools, thus most kids can only take a few honors/APs per year, if any.</p>
<p>Having said that, I’m fairly confident (and certainly hope it is true) that colleges DO take this into account. Our oldest S is now a sophmore at a selective university and out of 200 boys in his graduating class, a very impressive number attend an Ivy league school, top 20 university or selective LAC. I saw the GPA breakdown of his class and the vast majority were in the 3.5 - 3.9 range. That tells me that the kids that were admitted to Harvard, Yale, Duke, etc., did NOT have GPAs over a 4.0 - quite opposite of what we read here on CC.</p>
<p>Tell your son to keep working hard - it is a cumulative effort. Junior year is often the time boys “crank it up” and he can certainly end up with a very respectable GPA.</p>
<p>My '11 S is a B student with high SAT scores. IMO he will look like a lazy underachieving kid. But as they say on CC love the kid on the couch, and I do. He is applying to 12 schools because as his GC has told us, we don’t know how schools will react to the GPA/SAT mismatch. During our research we found lots of good chalenging schools that will accept many B students. Good luck to you and your S.</p>