My DS really wants to find the best school he can qualify for with his current stats/ high school junior. He is looking to go for Information Systems or Business Major / IT dual or minor. He came up with AU and wants to visit in spring. It is across the country for us so I want to make sure he is even in the running before we go all the way there. I looked over the CDS and I know the stats on paper but I find that people on here often know a little more backstory.
I’d appreciate your opinion
GPA 3.5UW 4.0W
ACT 32
SAT 1510
Goes to an accelerated program at a public school where students are only accepted on merit or achievement.
Extra Curriculars
He started his own charity organization - funding teachers unmet needs with grants and private funding
Started Classic studies club for Roman/Latin Culture - 2 years as president
Started a chapter of National Teenage Republicans 2 years as president
Hands of Honduras Retreat - building clean water systems for local rural residents
Awards / Honors
Honorable mention Bennington young writers award 2016
Published short story in the Claremont Review young authors edition 2017
Does your school use a weighted 5 point scale? If so then AU will take his weighted GPA and the combination will make him in the top 25%. Either way your son’s stats are very competitive for AU. You should definitely visit as AU holds interest as one of their top 3 criteria in the admissions process. One thing that concerns them is that some high stats students see AU is a fall back for GW or GTown and they are not fond of those students. If during the college search process, your son feels that AU is his top choice, then ED is the way to go as it was over 85% acceptance last year. Just a note AU is ranked as the 26th most liberal college, so I would make sure your son is comfortable with being in the political minority. It may even help in admissions if they want to broaden the political spectrum of the school, but that is just a thought of mine.
Thank you for the heads up sahmkc! I hadn’t thought of the political alignment of the student life and neither has he, I am betting. He is a very vocal, very conservative Republican - he had some great debates during the election year and even made the news locally for his activism but in light of your advice on the liberalism of the school he needs to think about that as he barely survived the last round of fights with Hilary and Bernie supporters (Youtube trolls, Instagram trolls, Facebook vandals, hate mail… they came at him hard). Great advice, thank you so much!
You are welcome. I use the Niche website - college ranking - to review all colleges for my DD & DS. It has really great information about the climate of the school in addition to the usual factors. One of the most important things in the college search to me is that you can see your student “fitting” in with the student body. We went to a preview day and in the student-only question and answer session, the topic of how conservatives would be treated was brought up. The answer was as long as they back up their opinions with facts they would be fine - that reasonable discussion was welcome. But still, it may not be something he would want to deal with in his transition to college life.