How important is this? Daughter is in a hard school “no sports” just academics and clubs and it is very small 88 kids in the graduating class. When she started as a freshman there were 119 kids, but there has been a ton of attrition (principal left) and the new principal is a bit strict (lost many bright kids).
She is in a helluva pickle not that she can do anything about it except apply to schools and cross her fingers. The top 15 kids ( I could name them) have .04 separating them in (unweighted GPA).
My daughter is ranked # 14 or 16% rank lol.
What do you do or what schools do not care about this as much? She likes small competitive lacs Trinity University Texas, Davidson, Rhodes, Richmond, W&M, Emory, etc.
Her safeties are shoe ins. Just trying to find other schools like those that don’t care about rank as much since her’s will be meh.
3.92 UW
AA by graduation common these days from University of Texas and a local CC.
31 ACT (35E, 30M, 30S, 30R) 9 months ago will take again, but who knows if she increases or not.
315 hours volunteering at hospitals and special needs children’s center (cumulative)
40 hours tutor at local elementary school (Reading)
Typical kid stuff works, still volunteers so the number is increasing, and will take ACT (July) and SAT (Aug) then just apply and cross fingers lol.
@roycroftmom I agree all the schools she loves she has a small chance of getting into, so I thought what other schools were similar just not quite as competitive? I’m going to Google lol.
She visited a 15 schools over the last two years with friends and us. All of her tops choices are serious reaches imo.
Admissions is looking at the whole package. ( not just academics) You haven’t mentioned anything about her hobbies or clubs. In certain school districts there is no class ranking but college counselors may say student should be in the top 10% of their class.
W&M is hard to get into instate/ out of state since the student population is at least 60% if not more female. She would also need higher academic stats.
I agree I don’t expect her to get into any of her top 7-8 choices aside from just luck. We are from a small town 20k people there is a public high school and a gifted school. They sold us at the time every student graduates with a AA, avg exit ACT was 27 at the time, everyone was pretty driven.
Classes are hard and school is from 7:50pm-4:50pm 9 classes only 3 clubs unless student led and sponsored by a teacher very unorthodox place. She is in 2 of them, but there is nothing that is typical just robotics, programming, and social/volunteer.
Looking back I question our decision and wonder if AP classes at the public with a high rank, higher gpa, etc would have been better, but no question she has learned a ton. Just not real applicable to most public high schools at least in our experience.
Just wondering what other schools feel like Davidson, W&M, Richond, Wake, but are less competitive
Based on her stats, she should get into both Rhodes and Trinity, with merit aid. The others are a bit tougher, but she may also get into Richmond - she should apply EA. I’ve looked at their CDS (my S applied to those 3) and she is well within their range.
Whichever colleges she applies to I believe her high school will send a school profile with the transcript so when an admissions office reviews her app they will get an idea of what was available at her high school. Has she thought about what she would like to major in college?
W&M though a public university is pretty small in size. For those interested in W&M their best shot would be applying Early Decision.
So many colleges report less than half their applicants reprt rank. Eg, Wake shows 29% and Davidson shows 33%. Where it can matter is when there’s competition from your high school (or sometimes, other local schools) and they’re equally good or better.
But remember, that’s not just about stats. Try to get a read on what those colleges really look for. Then, she can work to make her best presentation. The sooner you get an idea of what more, it also gives a chance to fine tune any ECs or how they’re presented- and what you show in the writing.
Many small high schools do not rank students. Find out if your kid’s school does. The GC’s LOR will rank your student nevertheless. Check out the LOR format and see what categories GC will be checking off. If I remember correctly, it asks if your student took the most rigorous course load (top 1%, 5%, 10% etc), GPA percentile, leader, etc. I would sit down with the GC to find out how he/she is going to fill out the LOR, what the GC check off is probably going to be more important than what he/she actually writes (may not be the case at a small school is the GC knows your student well).
If your kid could bring up her ACT up by few points I think she probably could aim higher. She may want to consider some all girls school because their admissions are higher and they are ranked fairly high. Ranking is not the only way of looking at a college, but I have found it to be a fairly good barometer.
What sort of schools have previous graduating classes gotten into? If the school has an excellent reputation then not being in the highest tier may not matter.
I know girls who have gotten into Rhodes with lower stats. If she likes Rhodes, has she looked at Millsaps and/or Hendrix? They are also on the CTCL website and are near Rhodes (if geography is taken into consideration). Agnes Scott is near Emory. I only know what was on a direct mail piece D20 got, but that might be worth a look.
@ninakatarina (small town 20k) people no one is thinking ivies here lol. UT, TAMU, Vandy, Duke, Rice, Texas State, Trinitity cost is a major factor for most families. Most kids pick Texas school though I would say 80-90%. It is not the school for the Gifted and Talented in Dallas ranked 3 in the nation.
@tutumom2001 she did the area is sketchy, but being so close to the city offers so many perks, She loved the campus itself. Millsaps is too far south, but Hendrix is a possibility.
@Oldfort all kids take the same course load give or take 1-2 classes. The only option are electives towards their AA degree, but the core is all the same.
I don’t expect her to get into any of her top 7-8 choices aside from just luck. We are from a small town 20k people there is a public high school and a gifted school. They sold us at the time every student graduates with a AA, avg exit ACT was 27 at the time, everyone was pretty driven.