So my son is a Senior at a Catholic parochial high school in Massachusetts and the majority of classes he took where either High Honors or Honors classes. Many of his classmates were very motivated, smart and hard working. The type of students that will go to Villanova, Clemson, BC and George Washington. Although he is smart, he was not super competitive with his grades which has resulted in an unweighted 2.8 GPA. He also was on a sports team nearly every season, had a part time job and was involved in a few clubs, his SAT score was 1320. I think once finds what he is passionate about (leaning towards economics, or political science), he can easily be a good student in college.
My question is this - given the fact that he took High Honors and Honors classes at a private high school in Massachusetts (with an UW 2.8 GPA) and everything else I mentioned above, does he have a chance at getting into a school like U. of South Carolina, James Madison or Michigan State? Thanks
What is his weighted GPA? My daughter attended a Catholic hs in CT. Had a pretty low uw gpa but a .8 higher weighted. She took mostly honors and had 4 AP classes. She did very well with college acceptances (1 rejection, 3 waitlists, 9 acceptances–most with excellent merit scholarships.) Does his school have Naviance? That really helped to show how she compared with other kids in her hs who were/were not accepted to the colleges where she applied. College counselors usually do have a good idea of how rigorous schools are, so a kid with a 2.8 at your school might look more like a 3.4 at a local public. And for sure all his outside activities will help.
Thanks for the info. His school weighting system would add roughly 0.15 to his GPA, 2.95 out of 4.0. I have been on Naviance and based on that data he is looking slightly better than 50/50 for those schools so hoping he gets into at least one of his top three picks.
I cannot answer your question other than to point out that MSU accepts about 65% of all applicants & your son’s SAT scores are fine for Michigan State.
Michigan State is getting harder to get into every year. It’s rolling Admission so apply. They also have a program to help kids that GPA /scores are under their average. My nephew did this program for a year and he ended up with mostly “A”. It was basically being with tutors when doing your homework. Getting the help you need. He thought it was a great program and got him on trzckt.
Look at the Common Data Set for colleges of interest, in Section C7. It tells how important rigor is in the admissions process. Remember that you are evaluated in the context of your school. So if CalcBC isn’t offered, you are not penalized.
Are you familiar with common data sets? They contain the information you are looking for. Here is USC’s info that answers your questions: http://www.ipr.sc.edu/cds/cds2017/cdsc2017.htm
My son was in all honors at a private highly rated Catholic school in Massachusetts. His unweighted GPA was 3.5 and his weighted was well above 4.5. He took eight APs along with all honors. Villanova, Clemson, Boston College only wanted to see the unweighted GPA. I was told by another school not as highly rated - UVM that they first look at the unweighted GPA.
We are doing things very differently with our second child he has a mix of honors and regular classes and has a higher unweighted GPA. Schools lead you to believe that they want all honors but out of the 14 schools my son applied to none of that was true. Good luck
Rigor isn’t enough to overcome performance- and what his actual grades might say about both effort and learning/prep. Or time management.
Unweighted GPA, yes. But they look at the transcript and see where the ABC grades are. Lower grades in cores, expecially related to this major, matter much. Some of the parochial high schools have a number of other course requirements- if so, grade drops in these may be considered less. Sometimes, it helps to recalc the UW GPA, with only cores. See how it then looks.
@Momtofourkids There are so many ways that high schools weight and calculate GPAs that many colleges look at and/or even recalculate applicants’ GPAs on a 4 point unweighted scale. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t also assessing overall course rigor, which is generally rated as very important/important on most common data sets.
Not to mention the fact that you could have three different high schools and one does GPA on a 4.0 scale, another on a 4.5 scale, then another on a 5.0 scale. My kid’s school actually took GPA points away if you were in the easiest of the classes (CP) so an A was not actually a 4.0 but more like a 3.8. I heard most colleges take the HS transcript and apply their own scale.
I’m hoping that his above average SATs, ECs and the fact that he was at a tough HS in honors class will be enough for James Madison, Michigan State or South Carolina to accept him.
Univ S Caro: 1% accepted with a gpa 2.5-2.99. That could be mostly recruited athletes.
You seriously need to be sure you understand his gpa using the trad scale of 4 for A, 3.7 for A-, 3.3 for B+, 3.0 for B, etc. There’s really little explaining rigor and sports affected performance. USC will have plenty of top applicants. 74% of admits sit at 3.75+. There’s tremendous interest in and loyalty to the college in the south.
Of course, he can apply. But be sure to have happy safeties. And be sure of what you can afford.
As suggested in previous replies, study the common data set for each school. Michigan State and USC will be reaches. Both consider GPA, rigor as very important. The SAT scores are in the 25%. James Madison does not report the % of students accepted in each level of GPA, his SAT scores are in the 75% but they also state rigor as very important. Check with the guidance counselor to see if they would tell you how they will record level of rigor in his courses. This will help you to see where he stands in chances for admission at various schools. Many colleges will recalculate the GPA for core courses. Honors and high honors may give a slight bump in the grade for that class, it may bump the total GPA depending upon his grades in the core courses.
Important to note that many schools give merit based on only the unweighted GPA so a child taking easier courses has a better chance and getting more free money than a child who wishes to challenge themselves by taking all of the rigorous courses. We ran into this again and again. With the state of college debt in our nation it is a very important and realistic thing to ponder and address.
Goes without saying schools have different ways of weighting or not of course! Simply saying one needs to be aware that rigor needs to be weighted against merit chances and also if a school measures un/w GPA. When schools tout an incoming classes average GPA they are using unweighted - telling you what they look at!
I did some more research on this issue and found out that the admissions stats that @lookingforward is citing is based on a 5.0 scale not a 4.0 scale. The system that U of South Carolina uses to develop their Weight Core GPA will likely result in his GPA getting closer to the low end of the mid range of admitted students. Additionally Naviance data from the last three years from his HS showed that 7 out of 8 students with an SAT higher than 1200 that also had an unweighted GPA below 3.0 were admitted. He has four safety schools but U of South Carolina, JMU and MSU are his top choices, all three of these schools are reaches but not “out of this world” reaches. I’m keen on all three and think they all have solid academic reputations. Thanks for all the feedback!
OP, I think you’re doing what you can to match him. But “C11” of the CDS is where I got that. It asks for, “following ranges (using 4.0 scale).” So not sure where you got 5.0. If your Naviance shows a good shot, that helps.