OOS Florida
3.96 UW
5.0 Weighted
Not sure if Wisc recalculates gpa like UF and FSU?
1 AP freshmen year
1 AP, 2 AICE (equiv rigor to AP) junior year
3 AICE, 2 Dual Enrollment college level junior year
2 Dual Enroll summer after junior year
300 community services hours
Started Club and president of the club. Also launched the same club at 4 surrounding area high schools
2 years Tennis
3 years basketball
UF leadership conference freshmen sophomore and junior year on campus for 3 days each year
@barrons I know nothing is certain but she has all Ap’s AICE and Dual Enroll along with honors. No regular classes. Ranked 14/565 in a very rigorous school
@wis75 she has a 3.96 GPA with 12 college level classes completed and 6 her senior year… total 18 college level the rest at the honors level. so that being said with the 3.96 thats an iffy chance? 1300 SAT
the 3.96 is not the problem. If you look at common set data for Wisconsin a 1300 SAT is at the 25 percentile meaning 75 percent of admitted students last year had higher. Being OOS is not going to help either. My daughter’s GPA for example is 3.925 but her SAT is 1510 and we too are OOS. The school is on her list too.
@Nicki20 so for the gpa. You can’t equate another kids with a 3.96 with my daughters 3.96 with almost all college level classes. not referring to your child just in general not all 3.96 are created equally. So you can have another kid with 3.96 but all regular classes. So when people flash the unweighted gpa it doesn’t mean much. As far as SAT she will take it one more time also those common data sets aren’t always what they mean. But it’s a fairly good gauge.
The only thing I see as comparable is the SAT. Your daughter’s 3.96 could be a 3.80 at my daughter’s school. There is no way of really knowing. Dual enrollment at a college isn’t weighted at our school for example. So comparing weighted classes doesn’t mean that much either. You could be taking College Algebra or anatomy and physiology. No weighting. AP Comp Science principles weighted.
I agree that it’s pointless to argue about the “strength” of the GPA. At D’s school, DE courses were also not as rigorous as APs, and would be noted as such by the guidance counselors. Colleges will make their own assessments about course rigor. Everyone makes their own decisions based on what’s offered at their HSs.
I would be worried about the SAT score, especially if your D is applying to a direct admit program like engineering. Remember that the OOS acceptance rates always tend to be lower at public flagships and then specific majors can make it even more competitive.
I agree. Retake SAT. Colleges will wonder why GPA and SAT don’t match. Obviously your D is very talented just pointing out a potential admissions hiccup that I have read about. I mean no disrespect to the awesome stats your D has but sometimes the difference between can be seen as a red flag.
@Veryapparent not sure why having a 3.96 and a 1300 are a red flag… not like a 1300 isn’t top 85% SAT score… she takes the most rigorous classes in the top county in Florida. I understand everyones comments about her SAT might not be in the middle 50%. but not everyone in that middle 50% has both SAT & GPA in that range… you can have a kid with a 1550 that has a 3.65. We shall see but 70% of her classes are at the AP AICE IB equivalent… and Wis does look at Dual Enrollment as the same rigor as AP as ling as its a class that is not offered at your high school. they prefer you take it at the high school.
The thread started out as chance my daughter. Myself and others have done that. But to better understand my point of view this is what my daughter had taken all four years.
8th Grade
Algebra 2 at the High School
Freshman year
Spanish 2
Band 1
Honors English
Honors Biology
Trig/Calc A
AP HumanGeography
Sophomore year
Spanish 3
Band 2
Honors English
Honors Chemistry
AP Calculus BC
AP Computer science principles
Junior year
Band 3
AP US History
DE Medical Terms
AP Language
AP Physics 1
AP Stats
Senior Year
Band 4
AP Chemistry
AP Biology
AP Psychology
AP Literature
AP Macro Econ/AP Govt
Our School District (5 schools) doesn’t rank. Although they have an award for kids who have either a 3.90 unweighted or a 4.70 weighted GPA. The number of kids varies from year to year but 29 kids out of + or- 500 of the class of 19 received the award at her school. That’s around 5-6% Which I gets is a form of ranking.
Students are evaluated in the context of their HS. This means that taking the most rigorous curriculum means something. Students are not penalized because their HS does not offer as rigorous a curriculum as another HS- eg AP’s.
An average public HS in Wisconsin likely offers a better curriculum than in Florida (note- from WI, retired to Florida, discouraged by the way this state runs things). This means an OOS student with claims to have a “rigorous”, “top” HS may not mean the HS is any better than a typical Wisconsin HS. Getting top grades on AP exams shows the student learned the material. Not all AP courses are taught equally well and an A in them may not mean getting a 5 on the AP exam.
College courses are likely stronger than HS courses. Again, the strength depends on the college.
btw- in the Tampa Bay area I see vals/sals gpa’s reported in the newspaper ranging from a weighted gpa of 5+ to 8+. I guess it depends on available AP/IB et al classes. Wish they would report unweighted grades. Some schools are excellent, others not so within a school district. A lot depends on the student population, not all parents, especially impoverished ones, do the same job with their kids.
Son’s WI HS district never weighted and only did A, B… without +/-. Mother of gifted twins told me her son would do A- work and her D A++ work- both getting the same A.
OP - This isn’t personal. You asked for your D to be chanced. According to UW Madison’s common data set, GPA AND SAT scores are both considered “important”, along with state of residency.
Many posters on CC want to be sure families are being realistic with their lists, myself included. I’ve seen too many kids overshoot and be extremely disappointed in the Fall. The reality is your D’s SAT score puts her in the 25th percentile for UW Madison. To me, that means her chances are not as great, especially as an unhooked OOS applicant, and I would consider this school a reach for your D. Certainly apply, but being realistic and managing expectations is important in this process.
My experience with my D (now a college sophomore despite my user name), was that instate schools are most familiar with their local DE options. Once you start applying OOS, the courses are scrutinized more thoroughly. I’m sure your D would have her rigor easily recognized in FL. It’s much harder to compare apples to apples when you look OOS because there is no federal curriculum and every state’s educational requirements vary greatly, even on a school by school basis.