Hello Parents! Thank you to CC and all of you. All these posts are tremendously helpful for “first-time” college parents like me.
Would you help with some tips for my son? We have a Low GPA - High test score scenario.
Stats:
Illinois resident
Desired Major: Mechanical or similar Engineering Or Applied Physics
GPA: 9th grade 3.06/4.0 UWT 3.35/4.0 WT
GPA: 10th grade 3.73/4.0 UWT 4.0/4.0 WT
GPA: 11th grade 3.58/4.0 UWT 4.26/4.0 WT
Current: 3.4651/4.0 Unweighted and 3.89/4.0 weighted
ACT: 36 (taken twice, first try was 34) - this would have been great in a non-Covid year but not sure if it has much value since most schools are test-optional.
SAT: 1470 (taken once as it was required by school)
Race: Asian (Indian) - (“Non-tiger type” - haha) mentioning because it matters for admission chances
Will most likely not qualify for any need-based financial aids.
No other Hooks
Class standing: 25th percentile
Recommendation letters: Probably not strong - Not sure how well these teachers know him due to online classes.
Extra-Curricular:
Karate (10 years - Brown belt),
Piano (14 years) - probably not considered EC.
Sunday school and community volunteering (15 years) - probably not considered EC.
some medical research work and some volunteering activities
no school clubs (or leadership positions) due to Covid.
Spent a lot of time on cross country in freshman year and made the selection for sprinting and pole vaulting, but that all stopped in Sophomore year due to covid
Got a few Cs in the Freshman year due to prioritizing Cross country and genuinely not realizing the importance of GPA! - two C’s in Spanish(honors) and one C in History (honors). Sophomore year final grade was “fudged” by the school that adversely affected my case.
Has taken regular art electives - digital imaging, guitar, acting, photography with mostly honors or AP core courses
|A+|4|
|A|12|
|A-|12|
|B+|3|
|B|13|
|B-|1|
|C+|0|
|C|3|
|C-|0|
He has picked up the grades year over year with increasingly challenging coursework.
Sophomore year - 1 AP - Physics - scored 4 on the test.
Junior year - 5 APs (English Lit, US History, Calculus BC, Biology, Psychology)( awaiting test scores).
Senior year - 5 more APs signed up (Chem, Physics with calculus, Comp Sci, Micro/Macro, English) and Honors Multi-Variable Calculus (no more AP available in Math) - could take AP statistics instead.
Q 1 : Do you think if all that hard work is necessary in his senior year in his case as he might not be able to get into the top 25 schools due to a lower GPA (as per Naviance)? I feel he should scale back a bit and enjoy the non-Covid high school senior year. What do you think?
Naviance doesn’t show any kid from his school with his combination of GPA & Test Scores (applied, rejected, waitlisted, or accepted) for the top 25 schools (low GPA high score). Naviance top right-middle section is mostly blank for top schools as these schools get high GPA and high score students in abundance and GPA and test scores typically correlate! But I am surprised to not find any applied or rejected ones either showing low GPA high score students probably don’t even apply to top schools. I am disappointed that despite taking mostly Honors and APs and working hard to constantly improve his GPA, top schools seem to be out of reach for him. Freshman year mistakes have proven to be a lot more lethal.
Q-2: Do you think we should just accept Naviance data and look at lower-ranking schools?
Q-3: Does anyone know if schools will round 3.4651 UW GPA to 3.5 from a scholarship point of view? Or does 3.5 cutoff means 3.5000?
If we are going to the lower ranking school’s route, then might as well make the dollar go further and perhaps find the best scholarships for a decent engineering school, then he can try to get in a top-level graduate school. I know he won’t stop at the undergrad level.
Q-4: What engineering schools would you recommend that would likely offer generous merit aid? Where he can have a chance to go to top-level schools for masters?
UIUC is great with affordable in-state tuition, but I am not sure if he can get in the engineering school.
We are open to all US locations as long as it is not too remote and is accessible within two hours of any major airports.
Here are some schools my S (engineering major) applied to and where he received very good merit aid (3.0 gpa with good rigor/32 ACT). Top 25 is going to be tough for your S even with the upward gpa trend. IMO engineering is pretty much engineering, especially is he’s going to continue beyond four years. What kind of school does he want with regards to size? You might also try RIT, WPI, Bucknell)
Clarkson
UMaine - honors program
Manhattan College
University of Hartford
Quinnipiac U (attending)
COA after scholarships for all were ~$30k. Hands down my fav is Clarkson. So many good stories/outcomes from people who attend/attended. S ended up at QU because it’s a small program with capped class sizes of 24, and he has ADHD and EF issues. It’s a new program but 100% placement. Many of the students have engineering parents, which made me feel good.
My strategy would be to target states he will be happy to move to and live in. Then go to the ABET page and find accredited engineering programs in those states that interest him. Pro tip – this can get very overwhelming if you choose multiple majors and many states. One option is to pick a single major and ALL states with the assumption that a related major is available. Make a list of about 20 colleges. Look up IPEDs and common datasets to see what kind of merit money the school gives. Visit the webpage on scholarships. Many give auto merit as a combination of GPA, rank and test scores. Some examples are Texas Tech and Michigan State.
Pro tip #2: Typically, engineering schools will have GPAs and scores near the 70-80th percentile or more of what is on common dataset or IPEDs. Many engineering schools will straight up say what it is. Here is an example: First-Year Admissions | College of Engineering (T100 ranking, engineering rank much higher)
Some engineering schools that come to mind that will give good aid at that range are Christian Brothers, Texas Tech, Lipscomb, Wentworth.
You are correct, as far as admissions decisions go; I just thought that in case you didn’t want your son to go too far from home, it might be an option. You might also check the NPC and investigate whether he might qualify for merit aid there.
He seems to have an idea what he wants to study. What type of atmosphere does he want to study in? Engineering has the advantage that so long as the school is ABET accredited the education will adhere to high standards. Does he want urban, rural, suburban? Does he want a large school, small school, private or public school? Does he have a preference for specific areas? Does he want to co-op, do research, etc.? While it maybe a challenge for him to get accepted to the most selective engineering programs, he can still get into many excellent programs. I am from Ohio so I’m mostly familiar with the engineering programs at Ohio schools but just about all of them with the exception of OSU and Case Western would be pretty sure bets for him. Some publics would be U of Cincinnati (very good with a mandatory co-op, Miami University, U of Toledo (has a surprisingly good engineering program), Ohio University and several others. Most of these programs might be competitive cost wise with UIUC after scholarships and I think he would be eligible at many of the schools. There are private schools such as the U of Dayton that have excellent engineering programs and collaboration with the local Airforce Base. I’m sure most other states have options as well (one to look into would be the University of Alabama Huntsville with it’s proximity to NASA). They tend to offer good scholarships and test scores are a major component of their scholarships. Good luck.
@SP001 First thing is remove the term T25 from your vocabulary. The only last that matters are schools that are the perfect fit for your son.
When I see a mismatch in grades and test scores I think that there may be an issue with how your son likes to learn. Start looking into different types of schools and see if they would be a better match to his strengths and interests. Take a look at Drexel in Philadelphia where students rotate through a number of different Co-Ops. Look at WPI outside of Boston where students are focused on Engineering projects and research all 4 years. Some other RIT, RPI, Manhattan College, TCNJ
My son was a high SAT not as high GPA applicant. Does your son go to a strong high school? My son attended a very strong high school so I think GPA wasn’t as important. Schools also recalculate GPA to make GPAs more comparable between different systems and give more weight to what they feel are priorities. For example, some schools may not include freshman grades or may not include all electives.
It looks like you are getting good suggesting for matches and safeties. My recommendation is to also throw in a few reaches just to see how it goes. This is especially true if your son didn’t exactly stretch himself in terms of effort in high school. My son got into a high match/reach (Northeastern) school and is thriving in engineering and CS. He also got a great offer from UT Dallas which is a school your son might be interested in applying to.
Here is the freshman profile for UIUC by college. He would be below the 25th percentile in GPA but above the 75th in ACT. It is worth an application IMO.
Here are some Engineering options in the midwest for you
Reach: Wisconsin, University of Illinois Urbana Champagne UIUC,
Target: Purdue, Iowa, Michigan State
Safety:: Iowa State, Texas Tech
Penn State Target for main campus and 2nd choice they have a 2 plus 2 program where you start at a satellite campus then transfer to main campus your junior year. ( You can apply first and second choice of campuses on application
Yes, and your point? Iowa State is still recognized as the better engineering school. It doesn’t take much research to find that out. The RAI scores are state mandated and have nothing to do with the quality of the university or engineering program. Furthermore, Iowa State is the only university with a National Energy Lab on campus, nevermind it’s international recognition in some programs.
