Alabama, for one, does not recalculate GPA for merit scholarships; it uses whatever is on the transcript. That said, the discussion of GPA and scholarships is not germane to the OP’s question.
USC, JMU, and MSU are reaches. Not impossible but do that count on it. Add UNC Wilmington, UNCC, College of Charleston?
I would recommend he apply to St Michael’s, UScranton, st Bonaventure, st Joe’s in Philadelphia - perhaps even U St Louis, UDayton - these schools will value his secondary education and may overlook his GPA somewhat.
Look at Assumption College as a possible safety @ https://www.assumption.edu/academics/programs A small college in a suburban setting of Worcester (pop. 180,000) with ten other colleges including Holy Cross. Clark University, Worcester State College and WPI. They offer both Political Science and Economics majors. They also have articulation agreements with a number of colleges (see https://www.assumption.edu/academics/programs/academic-partnerships).
His stats are not competitive for CofC or USC Columbia.
Thanks carolinamom2boys…I appreciate the feedback!!
Pleased to report that the Original Poster’s son was accepted at Michigan State tonight. His high school must have a better reputation than I thought.
Do colleges really look at UW or do they recalculate it based on AP’s and class rigor?
There are other factors. I have heard that USC recognizes that high schools in CT tend to be rigorous as compared to high schools in SC. That could help your son. Also listen to the poster above from CT, whose DD got into 9 schools with merit, and sounds like a similar GPA. Everything is not as literal as some would lead you to believe (ie, 1% acceptance with this GPA). SAT scores are good and will help.
Good luck!
@riklik - I’m no expert on the process, but my understanding is many (but not all) colleges will take a student’s transcript, throw out the non-core classes (like Graphics, Theology, etc.), apply their own scale to the core classes to compute a weighted GPA based on their system. So a 3.0 in an AP or honors class might be a 3.5 or 4.0 and a 3.0 in the lowest level class would just be a 3.0…something to that effect. So my son had a 2.8/4.0 UW but took all honors classes so that might compute to a 3.5/5.0 in the eyes of a college. As I mentioned, not all schools do this but it is my general understanding of the process.
–Every college has its own system for calculating GPA.
–And FWIW I’ve heard a couple of admissions officers say that they do include theology/philosophy as core classes so not every college will “throw them out” of the equation.
–All you can do is send in the transcript and let each college do as they will. It isn’t worth spending a lot of time on things that are out of your control.
–Congrats on MSU. (isn’t the OP’s son you referred to in post #25 your son?)
OP. You’re saying he got into MSU? Congrats!
Congrats!
Yes, my son was accepted to MSU last night. Posts by Jesse4564 have always been by the father of a 2019 HS graduate. I apologize if it was confusing to people who this was (son versus father). I have never provided my son with access to this account.
Original Poster’s son was accepted at U of South Carolina last night with merit scholarship. Parents and student very pleased. He was quick to point out his college costs will be half of his older brother’s…pretty funny stuff. He and I visited last fall and really loved the campus/people/admissions staff.