<p>Years ago we immigrated to USA. I need you advice as this will be our first kid to college in two years. In our family history our first kid decided to go to a prep boarding school. Fortunately, he received a good financial aid without which it would have been hard to send the kid to a boarding school. Few days ago, I just happen to stumble on this web site. </p>
<p>I see a lot of student having straight As or having 4.0GPA. We just received our kids transcripts and it says that his GPA is around only 3.5. We are worried about his performance but to add to confusion I called the registrar office, they said he is top 2-5% as he is among the highest scorer in his school from a class consisting of more than 200 kids in his school. However since this is our first kid going to prep school, we have very little idea about grading.</p>
<p>Our first kid is taking a very tough course load. In their remarks many teachers have written that they are very impressed with him and they can count him as one of the best in their span of carrier. I dared to ask some teacher about his low grade, to my surprise the teacher told me that he rarely give A in their class unless work is of superior quality. I find this mind-boggling. </p>
<p>I consider myself very good in math and science. I was looking for his final test, I found myself bogged down in a couple of problems. We are lost, as we have no clue that the prep schools are so tough. Before going to prep school, he has easily scored 4.0 GPA in one of the well known public school. Is this meaning he is doomed in college admission as he will not be able to compete with 4.0? This is worrying me.</p>
<p>Relax, grab a nice mocha and take a break. A 3.5 with being in top 5% of the class will let your son into 98% of the nations universities very easily. Also keep in mind some "students" will put of false stats in certain forums to discourage people from applying to some schools so they feel they have a more competitive advantage.</p>
<p>Good gawd, I hope not! :D No, it sounds like your son is working hard and achieving wonderful results. He's in the top 2 to 5 percent at a good school, his teachers have good things to say...you have NOTHING to worry about, PNY. My advice to you is to relax and enjoy this time with your son. A week before finals, I would give my right ovary to see my son end the semester (junior year) with a 3.5 GPA!</p>
<p>Reading these boards can drive anybody crazy. That's why I stick to the Parents Forum (which can be overwhelming enough sometimes) rather than the student posts -- where you would get the impression that having anything less that a 4.85 weighted GPA and a 1580 SAT is a failure. If your kid is in the top 5% of a good school, then congratulations! He's doing GREAT. The school he's attending is obviously very challenging and does not engage in grade inflation -- and college admissions people will know that when they see his record.</p>
<p>There's a huge difference between the GPAs at private boarding schools and the GPAs at large public high schools. My son got into MIT (ranked second in his class) from his private boarding school with half As and half Bs. What matters to the colleges are relative rank, objective test scores (such as the PSAT, SAT, AMC, AP tests, IB tests, etc.), the kind of courses being taken (APs vs. general courses), and the overall grading policy of the school.</p>
<p>If your son is a junior, you can schedule a phone consultation with the college counselor and find out where kids with similar GPAs and test scores have gone in the past. This is a good time to do this, since most counselors have finished with the seniors, at least for a while. If your son is a sophomore, you can still talk to the college counselor, but phrase it as "helping to figure out if there are any colleges we should visit this summer." (In other words, this is a very preliminary consultation.)</p>
<p>Dmd he is a sophomore. So you mean I can ask the counselor for help. I just wanted to add few additional info:</p>
<p>His PSAT is 231 in 10th grade, Math IIC 800 in first try, 1490 in 8th grade SAT. </p>
<p>His biggest problem is that he is not good in arts. This is the subject that brought a non-honors grade, which resulted in tumbling his GPA down.</p>
<p>Okay, I'm trying to be patient, but c'mon, you're kidding? "Tumbling down"???? A 1490 in eighth grade, a 231 PSAT, top of his class, and you want to know if he's "doomed"?</p>
<p>If he is a sophomore, chances are his GPA will bounce back next year when he isn't stuck in an art class. By the way, most colleges don't consider art classes to be "college prep" classes and thus many recompute the GPA dropping out things like art, PE, etc. With a PSAT like that in 10th grade, don't worry - he will have lots of choices.</p>
<p>Nor am I, after that info. Parentny, if this is a legitimate message and you are actually concerned about your child's future after the information you have provided, then I don't know what to tell you. Neither I nor any of the other parents on this board will be able to convince you that your son is not tumbling down, he's excelling. I hope you aren't making HIM feel like he's falling behind because he clearly isn't. </p>
<p>If you are sending the same message to your son that your are sending to this Board, then you have no idea what kind of stress you're putting on him. Please relax and consider what he's accomplished: </p>
<p>Sophomore PSAT that, if repeated next year will probably result in a National Merit Finalist award</p>
<p>An SAT score in 8th Grade that puts him in, what, the upper 1% of college-bound juniors</p>
<p>An 800 on an SAT Math test </p>
<p>And you're giving him the impression that you're concerned about his academics?????</p>
<p>Yes, you can certainly consult with the college counselor. In a private boarding school, you can take full advantage of the services provided without feeling like you are wasting their time; that's what the big-bucks tuition covers. (If your son is on a scholarship, he should still feel entitled to use the services; he's more than earned them.)</p>
<p>With such excellent test scores, your son has a good shot at pretty much at any school in the country, if he also writes good essays, shows a sincere interest in one or two extracurricular activities (preferably with some leadership by his senior year), and manages to maintain good grades.</p>
<p>My son was also somewhat unbalanced, with relatively poor grades in history and French (and art). Nonetheless, I did not allow him to stop taking those courses, as I felt strongly that they were important to his overall development as a person.</p>
<p>You're getting some flack, I notice, for being concerned about your son's grades. I don't know--and no one else on this board does either--whether you are pressuring your son to make all As, and whether that pressure is reasonable. If your son is naturally gifted in math and science (as it would appear), one concern may be that his study habits are poor, since answers come easily to him. If he's struggling in non-math courses, he may need to learn how to study. Helping your son to learn to study effectively--which is not the same thing as spending more time studying--may be very valuable to him.</p>
<p>However, your son's grades and scores are excellent, and you should be very proud of him. </p>
<p>Incidentally, your son may want to consider applying to college during his junior year, if he's hitting the limits of what his high school can offer him and is relatively mature. My son entered MIT after his junior year because he's pretty much maxxed out the math and science offerings at his high school. Both MIT and CalTech (among many others) offer early entrance to high school juniors who qualify. Applying and being rejected does not damage his chances of being accepted as a senior.</p>
<p>Okay I am just a parent whose kid has always done extremely well in school before going to prep school. I am not stressed with his grade and I am proud of his effort. However, I am trying to educate myself as I have very little knowledge to compare the high school educational standard. I have come to USA as a graduate student and did okay. However, I am not familiar with high school or undergrad schooling in this country. I see here many threads that say that many kids have 4.0 GPA. I have asked the counseling office but they just told me not to worry. Without relevant information or say lack of information, I rather made a title of a thread, which was mistake on my part. Sorry about that, but I am trying to educate myself.</p>
<p>Like sluggbugg, I'd give an important but non-vital body part to see my sophomore son bring home a 3.5 GPA from his private school. It just Ain't Gonna Happen. His standardized tests will be good -- not the best but good -- and he has some outside activities that he's good in. And yet I persist in the belief that even <em>HE</em> will have excellent choices in colleges when his time comes. It won't be like his current HS senior brother, who comes close to walking on water :-), but even my sophomore will have choices and will find a fit.</p>
<p>Sometimes we all need to remember that the majority of students coming here seem to do so because they're on the edge of being the best of the best, and feel they are competing with the best of the best, and are stressing about it for whatever reason. Those are the ones we read about here so much, which skews our vision about what's normal and possible and good for the majority of capable students. </p>
<p>I'll check back with you in a couple years and we can see whether both our sophomores are able to find a school where they fit and are happy. I'm willing to bet we'll both be watching them smile.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have asked the counseling office but they just told me not to worry.>></p>
</blockquote>
<br>
<p>They are right. Stop worrying. Worrying won't change anything anyway. As a sophomore, your youngster is doing well. Not every student applying to college has over a 4.0 GPA (although I can see why reading these forums, especially the student ones, might give you that impression). MOST students don't have SAT scores that exceed 1400 even as seniors. RELAX. Your child will get accepted into college if he wants to go. Honestly, most parents would be bragging about a child with such statistics, not worrying.</p>
<p>Parentny,
Most Prep schools keep very good records and profiles on college acceptances and matriculations. You should be able to get some detailed information from the college guidance office on where students with certain GPA's and test scores have recently matriculated. (They call them scattergrams.) They provide such information in order to help the students find colleges that are good matches. The college acceptance success rate is something certain prep schools use as part of their marketing efforts. They want your kid to be successful.</p>
<p>You should also keep in mind that colleges are well aware of the differences in GPA's from prep schools and other schools. The school my son attended did not even track GPA's on a 4 point scale. Many prep schools don't. The colleges are probably familiar with the grading system and rigor of your son's school. If he is in the top 10% of his class, he should be fine.</p>
<p>My son's school actually has a grading scale of 6 (not 4 I just recalculated it). For some reason this school is nicknamed as "big blue" school Northwest of Boston. Whom do you ask for scatter gram? Counseling office or registrar? Is scatter gram information provided when you are in 10th or 11th or 12th grade? My son told us that the school placement is very good. But most of the people are telling me that most of the kids who go to very competitive colleges from this school are coming from very well off and have connections. We are okay but have a very modest life style. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, we have never found any parent to whom we can ask any questions. As far as we know, ours is the only kid who has gone to this school from our local area. Many immigrants from my country have not even heard about the school. My son wanted to go so we let him go as he came to know about school from his buddies in some summer program. We have excellent communication with our kid but he himself is not aware about school placement specific. Thus, we are looking for information. The school web site just give information but do not tell us the whole picture. Anyway thank you all for your suggestions.</p>
<p>At a sister school ("Big Red") , the students are assigned to a college counselor at the beginning of upper year (grade 11). That counselor works individually with the student to identify schools that are good fits. The students were required to develop a preliminary list of 15-20 (I think) colleges based on their interests over the summer. The counselor then printed out scattergrams on these schools, and helped the student develop a reasonable final list when they were ready to actually apply. It is suggested that each student develop a final list that included reach schools, match schools and safety schools. They recommended picking 6-8 final schools for actual application submittal if I remember correctly. The counselor provided the student with an estimated ranking (reach, match, safety) for each school based on the individual student's statistics, interests, ec's, and knowledge of a particular college's acceptance history based in part on the scattergrams provided.
We found the college counselor to be quite helpful and straightforward.</p>
<p>It is difficult (as I know from experience) to know what to do about college applications when your child is at boarding school. I would suggest a call or email to the college counselor, explaining that you have no personal experience with the system (being an immigrant), and asking for a general description of the process your son will go through. </p>
<p>Among the questions you may want to ask are:
Does the school arrange for any group college visits?
If you do visits with your son, when would they recommend you start?
What schools might your son consider?
What should you (as a parent) do to be supportive and helpful, both to their office and to your son?</p>
<p>Good lord,
What kind of whacked out world have we created when parents and kids are worrying about a 3.5.
Anyway, what the heck is it with these strange GPAs above 4.0? Reminds me of the creative tag sizes in women's wear... "Size 1"</p>
<p>You can get a GPA above 4 two different ways: the scaling is done out of some other number than 4 (IB is done out of 7, for example), or "harder" courses are given super-credit, as in an A in an AP course counting as 5 points.</p>
<p>And if my child were in a school with a weighted GPA and the top 25% all had GPAs above 4 (as is the case in a public school near here), I'd be very worried about a 3.5 GPA. Context is everything.</p>
<p>Parent NY. . .given the likely academic rigor of your son's school and his challenging schedule, that 3.5 is a very strong gpa. In addition, he will have chances to raise it, and apparently is more than capable of superb test scores.</p>
<p>So I echo all the posters who tell you to relax and trust the counselors at the school. You and your son should take the next couple of years to explore his academic, career and personal interests so you both can take the college search past the numbers.</p>