<p>Most high schools compile profiles, which are sent to colleges along with the student’s transcript. Info on the profile will include median SAT or ACT score, percentage of National Merit Scholars, etc. So, if your high school is particularly competitive, colleges will know that. Being at the 58th percentile at a school with a 1250 median SAT is not the same as being at the 58th percentile at a school with a 970 SAT. </p>
<p>Moreover, thousands of good colleges in the US admit almost everyone. I’m sure there will be a good one for your D when the time comes.</p>
<p>Don’t be discouraged- one thing we have all seen is how our kids grow by leaps and bounds, each year (even from one semester to the next.)<br>
The advice to find a great school for B/B+/A- kids is great- you want her to feel empowered in college, not behind the 8-ball. She can do a little vol work now- though a lot of kids like the idea of working with animals or children, she can also vol at a soup kitchen or something through a religious organization that has lots of community involvement. The smaller orgs often need help so much that a kid can, over time, find ways to pick up addl responsibilities or tasks- and start to show that “leadership” that colleges like.
Don’t worry. Be proud of her. She’s trying. Kids in hs are so young that it’s so hard to compare them with those tippy top kids. This will work out.</p>
<p>-she can also vol with the theater group- do tech crew, help with set building or even be a kid who sells tickets and passes out the programs.</p>
<p>SansSerif–I would say no, that is not a competitive average, but an ok average. Others may have a different take. That is about 160 points below the average for our high school, which is a lot.</p>
<p>Average total can be misleading- the highest kids will head in one direction; the lowest scorers may have other plans in mind. Plus, it’s really CR and M that matter most. </p>
<p>For Bloomsberg, 3.32 and about 1600 seem to be the mid mark (I don’t see it on their site, but elsewhere.) Millersville puts it this way: 1540 average SAT I (CR 517, M 524, W 500) Google the U, admissions, profile, and SAT- whatever words are needed.
Too soon to worry her. What’s important is she is trying.</p>
<p>If you haven’t, get the Fiske Guide or Princeton Review and let your fingers do the walking- you’ll get ideas and info.</p>
<p>I’ll second all of the above. My daughter has about a 3.25 and is ranked 58% (she went down in rank even though her GPA went up between Jr and Sr year). 96% of the students at her school go to college. AP and dual enrollment earn a 5.0 instead of a 4.0 - but preAP, advanced (as opposed to college bound) do not earn a bonus. There is not an “honors” choice - I guess advanced is the same. Her standardized test scores match her GPA.</p>
<p>I was really worried last year at this time, but I don’t think it’s going to affect her college choice too much. She would not enjoy an uber-competitive college, and I would not encourage it for her. She has chosen to apply to well regarded but not top tier schools, and I think all will be fine.</p>
<p>She is doing a specialty program in Mass Communications in high school - I think without that she would have been miserable. It offset the horrors of math and science. The irony is that the Mass Comm program is designated as a Governor’s STEM Academy!</p>
<p>And it can depend on the school. For example, our local high school’s class rankings are not used by some colleges because they are skewed. They are skewed because there is a large population of students who live in our district only to go to this school, and live only to make the highest grades. The valedictorian has to be decided by a coin toss because a number of students have perfect GPAs. On the other hand, these student have no social lives or extracurriculars so they can study more. And that bites them when colleges ask about life outside of classes.</p>
<p>Hey Katwkittens, I was going to post something very similar–thank you for that message. My middle daughter is also sandwiched between two brilliant sisters and she felt inadequate from the start. Yet this girl, who learned early on to face discouragement and pick herself up and keep going, developed skills her sisters didn’t and she’s persevered and excelled. She’s a sunny and very hardworking person who works very hard and is valued by friends and professors for her conscientious attitude and competence.</p>
<p>High school wasn’t easy. She was surrounded by those tippy top kids and worked very hard to achieve average grades. It’s frustrating. H and I were her cheerleaders; we saw her qualities clearly and knew that our challenge was getting her out of high school with her sense of self intact. Because she was willing to risk rejection, she played 2 jv sports, played in the school orchestra, got into the chorus of a school play one year, and worked on the yearbook. She went on to a very good liberal arts college where she now serves as a representative for her major and is working on an honors thesis. She’s worked as an R.A. and on leadership committees at the school. </p>
<p>Encourage your daughter to keep trying and make sure you repeat over and over and over that high school is but a tiny chapter in her life. As long as she’s giving it her best shot, she’s doing beautifully. The one who aged me was my eldest who worked only when it suited her and who thought grades were a trivial nuisance not worth her attention.</p>
<p>Being in the middle of a class sounds fine to me, first of all.</p>
<p>But I would discourage focus on GPA, rank and grades and show respect for hard work and good character. I would also discourage thoughts about college, this early in the game.</p>
<p>Help your daughter find things that she is genuinely interested in (not for the sake of college admissions, don’t even mention that) and that she could be good at, so that her confidence can be boosted.</p>
<p>Howard Gardner’s book on Multiple Intelligences can be helpful.</p>
<p>One of my siblings actually did poorly in school until his mid-twenties, when he volunteered at a tv station. Now he is an executive with a major network. You just never know…</p>
<p>I am sometimes so grateful that my kids did not go to a competitive high school.</p>
<p>Our HS sends 95%+ to college but doesn’t weight GPAs or rank beyond decile. I have mixed feelings about it but most college admissions folks I know have said they take only the unweighted gpa and weight according to their own formulas anyway. Rank I suppose means something in certain cases, and our school does do top 10%, top 20%, etc.</p>
<p>I’d think your D would have a lot of really good options,regardless of what happens with the standardized tests.</p>