My S20 is applying to UofSC, and it is first on his list. We are OOS. S has a 4.0 UW, but goes to a small private school with no AP/IB offerings. They don’t designate “honors” for any of the classes, as there is one level of each class. S has a 34 ACT. Off the record, the school principal says the curriculum is comparable to IB, but that is not indicated on the school profile.
S’s stats do not fit neatly anywhere on the merit chart. Any speculation as to what we might expect? We asked two UofSC reps about this when we visited campus earlier this year. An AO said that he would have a 4.0, period, and would be measured against peers who’d had more opportunities. A rep for the Honors College said that of course they would look at his GPA in context.
I think S would be a good candidate for the Honors College and maybe even Top Scholars. I get that the only way to know for sure is to apply and wait, but I’m curious if any of you have been in this situation recently and how it ended. Thanks.
I haven’t been in the situation, but I’m sure the first Admissions Officer said that because their initial review of students (esp EA) is basically stats related, and he has the stats to get into the University, so there would be no in depth review required.
His ACT score and GPA will trigger the request to apply for the Honors College. It’s my understanding from various discussions that the Honors College reviews all applications holistically, so everything becomes important. If they liked your son’s application overall, I’m sure the lack of AP’s, etc would not be an issue.
What I’m not sure about is scholarship funds. The general scholarships are not Honors College/Capstone dependent (except Top Scholars or other Departmental Scholarships). The general OOS scholarships are given by the University. I do know the university translates your high school grading scale to the Uniform South Carolina Grading Scale (so everyone’s grades are weighted the same), but that won’t help you because your son will still end up with a 4.0. As such, I would prepare for a smaller scholarship than you think he otherwise would be awarded.
We are in a similar boat with Clemson. Their OOS merit scholarship are specifically tied to class rank and D’s school does not rank (not even by decile). Clemson says they will examine each application where the school doesn’t rank, but I’m not holding my breath.
Most adcoms say that students are assessed within the context of their own school and lack of AP/IB won’t be held against them.
My D’s roommate at a different state flagship went to a HS with only a couple of AP courses. She was still accepted to honors college. No merit award though but that’s always a cr*p shoot anyway at the flagship level schools, especially for OOS applicants.
You have your answer from the school. You might want to get something in writing to be with your son’s file.
I say this because that is a stick answer Admissions often gives. IRL, it often does not work that way. Some of my kids went to private schools where like yours, none of the courses are designated AP or even honors. The schools were highly selective so there was massive grade deflation there no Weighted GPAs. The outcome was , YES, as you fear, kids are penalized in the scholarship and some college acceptances, certainly Honors College , particularly at State schools. The smaller LACs, selective private colleges had no problems reconciling the transcripts. Kids did get accepted to highly selective schools with GPAs that would, in general, be unacceptable.
In fact, for Academic Index purposes, there is a whole separate chart for certain independent schools, with the schools actually named, that Ivy’s and highly selective schools used to use to come up with a pertinent class rank number. I don’t know if this still exists but I sure do know that these schools are still getting kids into top colleges with some break on the GPAs. The old “A is for Admissions “ book had examples of such charts.
But for scholarships in general, state schools and other schools not familiar with a rigorous high school with grade deflation, yes, getting shafted that way was not at all unusual for all of the assurances of the Admissions people
The honors college highly weights the essays. They are read carefully. There are kids with top scores and “better” GPAs because of weight that don’t get in while kids with stats like your kid will. Make a visit with an appt with honors people. And definitely put time into essays (IMO - this is the one thing that grabs their attention for the top scholars.) They really matter.
Make sure the Guidance Counselor provides a school profile that emphasizes the school’s rigor. Better yet, have the GC call the Admissions department on your student’s behalf. It certainly can’t hurt.
Thank you so much for all of the input. S is about to submit his application and is eager to see the Honors/Top Scholars app.