Need Advice

Parents Forum
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<p>Ohiogolfer, parents here are offering you some advice from personal experience with their kids and from having been through the admissions process at least one time. I'm offering my perspective as a mom (originally from Ohio and familiar with the school systems in your home state) who has learned a great deal in the past year and has been fortunate to have a D who has had some success in the process (accepted 5/5 schools, see the accepted thread to see which ones). Please read the advice carefully and you will indeed have the "sanity check" you request.</p>

<p>You note that your son has a WEIGHTED GPA of 3.9. Unfortunately, weighted GPAs are difficult to interpret, and though they sound impressive, don't have much meaning to college admissions officers. What is your son's UNWEIGHTED GPA? More importantly, what is his class RANK? To be considered seriously for all of the colleges on the list you mention ( especially if he is white, not a recruited athlete, and you can't donate $10 million to the college...these 3 things are called "hooks" in the college admissions process), except possibly CWRU, he will need to be in the top 10% of his class. How many AP classes are OFFERED at his high school? His GPA and class rank will be interpreted by the schools on your list in the context of the rigor of the curriculum he has taken compared with the rigor that his school offers. If he has taken 3 AP classes/exams and scored 3s or 4s at a high school where 20 AP classes are offered and the top kids take 6, 7 or more with average scores of 4 or 5, this will be interpeted as his not taking "The Most Demanding Curriculum Offered" (a category that guidance counselor would check off on the GC letter...and the category these highly selective schools you are considering require in their applicants unless they are "hooked"). His ACT scores are low for all of the schools on the list (again, except possibly CWRU where there are still somewhat low). Even if he has taken "the most demanding curriculum offered" and is ranked in the top 5% of his class, the 25 and 25 are very low and the 32 is probably 50%ile for applicants to these schools. If he did not prep for the exam in a systematic way and truly wishes to apply to the colleges you mention, I recommend that he do so and take them again after dedicated prep. Do an advanced search on this site for "Xiggi Method" and you will find a prep method that does not cost a lot of money and which students and parents have found especially helpful. Fortunately, my D didn't have to go through that process. A few of my D's classmates worked with private tutors and were successful in raising their scores into the range that, along with their academic records, secured acceptances at the very elite schools such as those on your list. If you can afford this, and your S is not a kid who works independently enough to follow the "Xiggi Method", AND (MOST IMPORTANTLY) he wants to attend these colleges, it is something to consider.</p>

<p>You didn't mention whether financial aid would be necessary for him to attend these schools or if merit aid will need to be in the equation. This may have some impact on his admissability. Looking for schools with the 3 characteristics you outline (physical sciences, humanities, and music program) plus an Ohio and midwest bent, either liberal arts colleges (or LACs, most small) or mid-sized universities would seem to fit the bill. With his current grades and test scores (and not knowing the rigor of his curriculum compared to his high school peers and class rank), I'd suggest he look at University of Cincinnati, Bowling Green SU, Ohio University, Miami University, University of Indiana, some Ohio LACs such as Wooster, Denison, perhaps Kenyon, Kalamazoo College (an excellent LAC), Lawrence U in Wisconsin, CWRU as you have noted, and, if he's a free thinker or "quirky", Beloit and possibly Earlham. If he can get his ACTs all into the 30 - 33 range or SAT M + CR into the 1400 range, then add back Northwestern, CMU, WUSTL, and JHU and add University of Michigan. Good luck.</p>

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<p>Bravo, quiltguru, wonderful post, I don't have much to add. I know a kid in the Wooster marching band and he is having a great time. They even took a spring break trip which I heard the kids did not have to pay for. I think that Kenyon is a big reach based on the results from my S's school, but being a male is a plus. I would add your alma mater, Wittenburg to the mix. Lots of individual attention and great merit aid opportunities.</p>

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<p>As we are just finishing up this process, I can verify that quiltguru is giving you excellent advice. Things are tough out there. Most of the schools you've listed are far reaches given your son's current test scores. </p>

<p>For a reality check and to give yourself an idea of the admit/reject patterns at these various schools, you should go to the individual fora on College Confidential for each of the schools you're considering. Look at the threads for RD and ED/EA official decisions where all the kids have posted their stats and their admission results for the individual school. If necessary, you can use the search function at the top of the page to find this thread. By seeing the credentials of the accepted/rejected/waitlisted, you'll have a better idea of how your son's credentials stack up and, perhaps more importantly, the fact that many high stat kids (great gpa and test scores) still get rejected by the schools they've applied to. Take a close look at the Wash U thread and you'll see how "unpredictable" (at least from an outsider's vantage) college admissions can be. </p>

<p>Has your son taken the SAT? You do not say whether he has or not, but from the way you worded your initial post, I am wondering. You should know that it is a good possibility one or more of the schools you've listed will require or recommend the SATII. In that case, all his SAT scores will be forwarded on to the school, both for SAT I and II. (You have no control over this. The ACT people let you pick and choose the results you send, but not Collegeboard.) There have been lengthy discussions on this board as to whether ACT appliants are penalized when they send in lower SAT test scores. I don't know the answer to that, but in this crazy admissions situation you should at least be aware of that possibility.</p>

<p>I would strongly second the suggestion to have your son study the Xiggi method and retake the tests. The nice thing about the ACT is that you can retake it as many times as you want and only send in the highest score. My son also had a 32 on the ACT plus a 1350/2020 on the SAT. He followed Xiggi's plan and pulled up his SAT score some 240 points. Ironically, in the first round, he had official SAT prep but this did very little good. It was only when he sat down, took personal responsibility for his scores, and used practice tests that things improved. </p>

<p>One word of warning about the ACT science section. It doesn't test science. It tests your ability to read quickly and to interpret charts and graphs. The most common failing in the science section is that kids don't get through the section. Look and see if your son was able to complete all the questions. If not, he might want to consider ** not ** reading the preliminary info. Just go straight to the graph and interpret. Believe me....99.9% of the questions can be answered by skipping the lengthy introduction. (Take some practice tests, do it both ways, and you'll see what I mean.)</p>

<p>One more caveat..... Wash U is one of those rare schools that combines ACTs by taking the highest score for each section from more than one test. (Schools routinely do this with SAT but not very often with ACT.) So, if he's applying to Wash U and he takes the ACT a second or third time, he may want to send in more than one sitting of the test if the subsection scores vary from test to test. They'll put them together and come up with a higher score.</p>

<p>I'd like to second the suggestion to look at Kalamazoo College. I am an alum. The school sends a large number of its kids on to grad and professional schools, and has some great interenship/study abroad programs. It's one of those strong colleges where a bright kid with somewhat lower test scores can still get in.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all of the wealth of information. Let me clarify a few points. He has taken the top classes available in each area, though has not had a chance to take a couple of the AP classes, simply due to scheduling problems. He was one of three sophomores elected to take AP History that year. He got a 4 on the AP Exam -- not bad considering he had a 102 degree fever that day. ;-) </p>

<p>His class standing is 29 out of 597. He will be taking the AP English and Government tests this coming year. He has taken Honors English every year. His band commitments, and participation in an applied robotics/astrophysics course have conflicted with some other classes. </p>

<p>Our school does not recognize an A+, so that impacts the average a bit, and 2 B+ grades in Jazz Band also impacted it a little. He had an unweighted GPA of 3.7 freshman year, and an unweighted GPA of 3.95 since then. He has a weighted average of 4.2 since freshman year.</p>

<p>Please keep the input coming. </p>

<p>Jeff</p>