@nijadad
I hope this helps. My son applied to several of the same schools on your son’s list as CS major. He had a 34 ACT (35 super score), 800 Physics, 750 Math II, 3.33 UW/ 3.55 W GPA at beginning of junior year with steep upward trend. Hispanic. Average EC’s. Back story of overcome adversity in his home life in his first two years of high school. His results were as follows :
Purdue -Accepted Admissions as a CS major
Umass Amherst- Accepted as CS major
University of Rochester -Accepted
Northeastern-Rejected
RPI-Waitlisted
WPI-Accepted
CWRU-Accepted
I think what helped my son beyond the good test scores and URM status was that he had a good explanation for his earlier lower grades and that after sophomore year he never received a grade lower than A- in a math or science class. After the end of sophomore year when his living situation changed, he turned into a very strong student. Although his cumulative GPA was relatively low, his report card from the second half of high school looked like a sea of A’s with an occasional B in a humanities class. If he had continued to get mostly B’s in math and science classes his junior and senior year, I don’t think his outcome would have been as good. After his sophomore year, I strongly encouraged him to not over do it on his EC’s and concentrate on improving his grades. In his case, I definitely think, the interviews my son had helped him in the admissions process. My son did not interview everywhere but was accepted everywhere he interviewed.
@Sybylla said “Does said kid have any opinion on all this?”
I think that this is a very good point. It is not clear to me exactly what is wrong here. A couple of things however do come to mind.
One issue is that he might be in some sense rebelling or withdrawing into his video games because he is not entirely happy with what he is being expected to do. It is possible that he might find the “work hard and don’t have any fun” world as one that he doesn’t want to fully participate in. Perhaps where a different kid might buy a motorcycle and black leather jacket and do drugs to rebel, he instead plays video games to rebel. Perhaps a hobby that involves physical activity (sailing, skiing, ???) might be better than a prestigious private school.
It is quite common that academically gifted kids can be socially awkward. There may be multiple reasons for this. One issue is simply that very smart kids are different from most kids, and different in a way that affects behavior and attitudes. Different is difficult, and it takes reasonable people time to figure out how to be happy in a world there they are different. Also, for very smart kids intelligence is rarely equal in all dimensions – some kids can be exceptional in some areas and quite challenged in others.
It is also possible that he just didn’t realize that he was neglecting his school work until it was too late to fully catch up (he apparently did catch up moderately well). This might be a problem that doesn’t repeat.
If you son is very smart, he probably has some ideas what the next step should be. Just having him have the opportunity to decide, or give significant input to where his life should go next might be an important part of giving him the motivation to put in the consistent effort that is needed (even by very smart people) to do well.
Small comment: to one poster…There is no test for ADHD. A questionnaire is often used (available online or at MD office). Testing for attention deficit in a one on one testing situation, even with the radio on, simply does not mimic real life. We have been told my many professionals that there is no reliable test.
Virginia Tech takes a limited number of OOS students, making it harder to get in. It’s also used as a safety admit for the kids at TJ, who come with many post-AP math and CS classes.
Drexel might be worth a look. They do co-op, are engineering oriented and offer merit $$.
Agree that the downward trend will be concerning at the more selective schools, even though it reflects his willingness/ability to take more advanced classes. Broaden that search.
Honestly think OP’s list is pretty spot on too. IMO don’t think they have too much to worry about. What matters more GPA or test scores, frankly I say test scores. GPA can vary so much from HS to HS naturally. Rigor makes a huge difference and it appears that OP’s son has demonstrated rigor. I worry far more about admissions chances for a kid with a high GPA and a mediocre test score.
It depends on the college as to whether admission or scholarships favor high GPA / low test score or high test score / low GPA. For example, in http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ , you can see some colleges are more GPA biased (e.g. Tuskegee, Prairie View A&M) while others are more test score biased (Mississippi, Louisiana Tech) in awarding scholarships.
Some colleges trade off GPA and test score points according to a formula. At some other colleges, chances for admission are best estimated by using whichever of GPA and test score is lower relative to the colleges’ ranges.
I agree on applying broadly and adding several less selective schools to the list in light of the downward trend. IMO selective schools like those listed want to see rigor but they also want to see that that the student can successfully handle what they have taken on. I don’t think having extreme rigor with dual enrollment classes helps the case if it comes at a cost of getting a 2.8 gpa junior year. The 2.8 is a guess on my part based on the gpa for the previous years I could be wrong but I am thinking it was prettly low to pull the OP’s son’s earlier GPA average down.
I am not sure how many years ago your D applied to Georgia Tech. However the number of applicants has gone way up since they went to the common app. Every year it gets harder to get in and I’m not sure how they are going to look at dual enrollment where a student is not getting mostly A’s.