New 3.0 to 3.3 (GPA) Parents Thread

Parents Forum
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<p>Yes, as Fermata knows, Hood is on our radar. My only real concern with it is if they have enough money so that they don’t close their doors or have to make compromises that seriously impact students. Everything that I have read about Hood points to excellence in teaching. I do have some mild concerns about housing, and a bit more about the food. Also, I have read that campus spirit and student campus life is lacking a bit. I do think that Frederick can help pick up the slack in that regard.</p>

<p>Here is a link of schools that Tokenadult has put together. The more * there are, the tougher it is to gain admission. You might get some knew ideas by going through the lists.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/437362-looking-good-college.html?highlight=wittenberg[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/437362-looking-good-college.html?highlight=wittenberg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Given the current economic climate, we need to be concerned about the survival of all small private colleges. However, I am satisfied that Hood is in good shape financially with a reasonable endowment and strong enrollment. Hood has been in existence for 115 years, and barring a total collapse of our financial system which would of course affect many of the small colleges being considered, I do not think it is going anywhere. A few years ago enrollment was down and it converted from an all girls school to co-ed. It is now operating at full enrollment with a ratio of 60% female to 40% male students. About 1,500 undergraduate students, and 1,000 grad students. </p>

<p>The food is comparable to other colleges we have visited – will probably not win any awards but has a reasonable variety of choices and was not bad. I have to say that having had two older children go through this, I have discovered that in our case at least, this is really not much of an issue, and having a lot of restaurants within an easy walk of campus is a plus for off campus dining should it be desired. </p>

<p>Housing looked okay to me – honestly, I have not been overly impressed with housing at any of the colleges we visited, they have all looked just okay (except for Arcadia, which has some rooms in the “castle” which did impress by D, but I guess not enough) and this is not a critical issue for my kids either, unless the housing is horrendous. </p>

<p>The academics, quality of students and faculty, geographic location, number of majors and minors, and overall variety of opportunities available to students are the issues she weighed.</p>

<p>Campus spirit? It seemed to be there when we visited, but it is not as preppy as some of the other colleges so if that is what you are looking for it may not be the right choice. The students we met all seemed to love it there. I was concerned about it being a bedroom college and students all disappearing on weekends, but have been assured that is not the case. The campus located on 50 acres in downtown Frederick. The grounds are beautiful although I will note that some of the buildings need some cosmetic work.</p>

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<p>Glad to hear that Hood is now about 40% male. USNews still has it 27% male (I know that their stats are probably 2 years behind what is current information).</p>

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<p>Warriorboymom- Your son sound similar to mine. I think with the low gpa/high test scores you really can’t determine what schools are a match or safety. Aside from the schools where his GPA matched and his SAT was high we had to consider all the others reaches. You can’t know how each individual school is going to look at your child.
Our plan went similar to Northeastmom’s. He applied in summer to a rolling admissions OOS public that we knew by the numbers posted that he would get admitted. I was hoping he would get into a few others but it made the process easier knowing he had one option that was a sure thing and affordable. Also he applied EA to any school on his list that had that option.
Another thing we did- Subscribed to the paid addition of US News. I made a list for each of his schools. Items included in the list
average GPA and what yrs it included
verbal range
math range
I went another step further listing what percent of the students had a math score above 700 and what percent of schools had verbal scores between 500-599. This gave us a better picture of where my son stood. We also noted male/female percentages. We were hoping his high math score and being male would help him out at the smaller schools. I think if my son had been female with the same grades and a high verbal but low math he would not have had the success he did.
It didn’t always work. For example Lewis and Clark. The EA acceptance rate at the time was listed at 72%. Only 39% male. Only 13.3 % had a math score above 700. The average GPA was 3.7. We felt he had a decent chance of acceptance. He was outright denied.</p>

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<p>mom60, you were a step ahead of us, because we did not understand that the OOS public U was not going to offer merit or financial aid. Yes, DS was admitted so quickly, but we could not have sent him there anyway!</p>

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<p>mom60 - I have said that it would actually be easier if he had test score/ability that matched his GPA. Then I could easily make a list of schools. I feel like I’m trying to be a mind reader. His GC wants him to go to a “better school”, which would be nice if they would accept him and give him $$$. At this point, after much angst I have been looking for schools that accept a decent amount of kids at and below his GPA that also have a range of students in the upper range. </p>

<p>I spent today printing out sheets on important decision factors. I now see that his GC picked a decent amount of schools where test scores were considered very important. </p>

<p>It really helps to have this thread. It seems as if everyone I know has high achieving, super athletic type kids…</p>

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<p>warriorboy, I think our kids are similar in terms of stats, right? (3.2, 2080 SATs). Except that mine wants a big school. Our GC recommended American as a school my son could get into, but it’s very expensive. We didn’t even look at it. She also recommended Indiana.</p>

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<p>Northeastmom- we just got lucky on the affordable OOS. We knew a kid who was going the year before and his Mom had mentioned it was tuition exchange school with our state.
Warriorboy- I understand. What I am saying is you need to find schools where your son brings something to the table that they don’t have. In my son’s case it was a chance to raise the average math SAT score and to increase male enrollment. If my son had been applying to tech schools he would not be bringing anything special to the table. My son was accepted to many schools that were “better”. I am firmly aware that my son was extremely lucky. Believe me when I say my son’s academic record in high school did not warrant acceptance to Willamette or Univ of Puget Sound or some of the other school he was accepted at. My friend’s D had great grades and many AP classes and was a much harder working student but had low test scores. My son had a much better outcome. She ended up few options at the academic level she wanted. Luckily she got into her reach school where she is finishing her soph year with a 4.0.
If I had not found CC my son would probably have ended up at the local community college or at one of the larger less selective Cal State Universities.
Also due to our inability to be able to make a clearcut list of reach, match and safety my son applied to 11 schools. We felt we needed to cast a wide net to at least come up with a few choices in April.</p>

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<p>I’m really glad I found this thread–I feel like I’m finally ‘at home’ at CC. Our son will probably finish this year with a 3.2 weighted average (UW is only a bit lower, as the AP’s will come next year), but with 2230 SAT’s and SAT II’s so far of 710 (Spanish) and 750 (world history). </p>

<p>mom60, I was glad to read your point about the difficulty of gauging reach/match schools for high score/modest GPA kids, because we’ve really been running into this on our Naviance scattergrams. Our son is all alone–there’s literally nobody in his school’s '09 class with scores that high and GPA that low, so we can’t use anybody else’s results to predict his chances. And there are several colleges of interest–Brandeis, GWU, and NYU, to name a few–where out of dozens of applicants from his school, nobody was admitted with a GPA as low as his, but neither was anybody rejected with test scores as high as his. This makes it very hard to get any kind of firm grip on what his chances are. I tend to be pessimistic and assume that the GPA is more predictive than the scores, but I would hate to shut the door on a possible great fit at a reach school based on this kind of thinking.</p>

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<p>nightchef…welcome to the “no comparable point on the Naviance graph” club. Although, your son’s SATs are higher than my son’s scores. One thing our Naviance also does is let you look by the 1600 scale only, which I love, because I find that many schools only look at the math/CR anyway and that graph thus may be more predictive. (He’s at 1430 for those.) However, as you mentioned, it’s exciting when you see a school who has never turned down a kid above 1400 math/cr, until you realize that none of those 1400s had grades below a 3.5. </p>

<p>What to do…what to do…</p>

<p>P.S. I think your son could get into GWU and NYU if he has some good ecs and I’m assuming your school is a rigorous school in general? Not sure about Brandeis…that seems like a super reach at our school. Of course, the fact that my son is a white Jewish male would not help.</p>

<p>P.P.S. Mom60…do you really think the colleges look at individual scores? My son has a 760 in math, but I figured they would just look at the overall total unless he was looking at engineering. (Of course, the public schools probably won’t really “see” anything…just punch all the stats into a computer…)</p>

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<p>nightchef, having had similar numbers in high school, I suggest your most important goal should be deciding what has kept your child from a GPA which matches his scores–lack of effort? Lack of interest? A psychological issue? Poor teachers? His ideal school may not be the most prestigious which will accept him, but the one which will do the best job of inspiring him to get grades which match his intelligence. </p>

<p>In my case, although my Ivy college was not a nurturing environment, simply going from teachers who marked me down for disagreeing with them to teachers who enjoyed students who did more than just take notes resulted in soaring grades. Discuss with your son whether he will do best in a school with top students and large introductory classes (e.g., an Ivy); top students and small classes with high standards (e.g., Swarthmore); or students with lower scores, small classes and a faculty more attuned to students who are not yet top achievers (e.g., small LACs).</p>

<p>Sadly, I think you are right that his GPA will outweigh his scores and scattergrams will be meaningless and you will not have clear, predictable divisions among safety/match/reach schools. But, like all kids, where he can get accepted and where he should enroll may be very different and dependent more on his personality than his data.</p>

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<p>ReadyToRoll–yes, his school is very rigorous, ranked top 30 in the country for public high schools. His ECs are kind of a one-trick pony (all music, all the time), but very strong and deep, including some notable achievements and leadership roles. </p>

<p>yabeyabe2–definitely not a lack of interest or effort. He’s a very intellectually curious young man, and not at all lazy. Most of his spare time that isn’t spent on music is spent reading nonfiction in science, history, etc. I haven’t seen him play a video game outside of summer vacation in years. When he surfs the web he’s as likely to be on Science Daily as Facebook. He doesn’t watch much TV.</p>

<p>“Psychological issues,” maybe. The homework load at his school is fairly brutal, and requires high organizational skills just to keep up. He did well his freshman year (really his third year at the school, which is a 7-12), and then hit a serious sophomore slump, compounded by avoidance/self-punishment patterns–he had never struggled academically before, and he didn’t know how to handle it or ask for help. Things have been somewhat better this year, but there have been some reversions, including D term grades in math and English for failing to complete large assignments–in the case of the math grade, he actually could have made up the assignment, but chose not to for some obscure reason (see “self-punishment,” above). </p>

<p>Part of the problem is that he’s overscheduled with music EC’s–I raised the red flag about this last summer, but was outvoted by W and S. He is in an advanced program for pre-conservatory students at a local community music center, which involves him in about 8 hours a week of lessons and classes, and on top of that he’s in two afterschool music groups at the HS, adding another 6 hours a week that can’t be spent on homework. Yet he says he doesn’t want to be a music major. [Sound of parent tearing hair out.]</p>

<p>Basically, he’s energetic and motivated, but disorganized and unfocused; he’s always doing something productive, but too often it’s not the productive thing he really needs to be doing at that moment, at least for GPA purposes. On top of that, he doesn’t get nearly enough sleep, which compounds everything.</p>

<p>The trick will be finding a school that will take a chance on a kid whose main problem is that he’s got too many irons in the fire and has been a bit slow to learn how to manage that, rather than a kid who can’t be bothered to make an effort.</p>

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<p>Nightchef, one thought is that he might be better off in a school without too many requirements about breadth of studies–I respect the values of a broad liberal arts education, but, if we would just blow off or flounder in, for example, required math courses, a place which will let him immediately dive deeply into his passions might be better.</p>

<p>Yes, he might be better off in the long term learning to take all courses seriously and become more well-rounded, but some kids do best by sticking to what they love.</p>

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<p>Enjoying reading this as our S will likely wind up somewhere in the 3.3 range. Our D (3.6-3.7) visited, applied to and was accepted at some of the LACs mentioned above and also Wheaton, Sarah Lawrence and Denison and chose to attend Muhlenberg. They appear to be reaches for a 3.1–3.3 GPA. This article " A Schools for B Students" is from last year. </p>

<p>[A+</a> Schools for B Students - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2008/08/21/a-schools-for-b-students.html]A+”>http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2008/08/21/a-schools-for-b-students.html)</p>

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<p>Nightchef</p>

<p>“Basically motivated and energetic but disorganized and unfocused” This is my son exactly. He too is in a very rigorous private 7-12 school and does not get top grades because of the above mentioned problems. He doesn’t watch TV either, loves to read and research info on the internet, i.e. science daily. He is also heavily involved in scouts. I love the comment about(sound of pulling hair out) It is so frustrating and confusing why he chooses to NOT study for school when it would be SO easy for him. I’m glad I’m not alone.</p>

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<p>We were on the 3rd page!! </p>

<p>Did anyone have a chance to look at our list of schools??? I was wondering if anyone has an opinion. I spoke to GC yesterday and we will probably cut down on the number of schools because some are similiar…</p>

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<p>warriorboy, you might want to post your son’s stats again. Is this the list?
So we get the list and it has these schools on it
Allegheny
Dickinson
Franklin and Marshall
Gettysburg
Muhlenberg
Ursinus
Also - not in PA but Oberlin, Emory and Hamilton</p>

<p>I saw that you posted that he has a 3.1, but is that uw or weighted and how many APs and honors classes? I assume that there are 4 years of Enlish, math, and 3 years of lab science, and foreign language, etc. I don’t remember his SAT or ACT score. All that said, I assuming the 3.1 is UW, I thik that Hamilton, Emory, Oberlin, and F&M can be considered reach schools. Heck, but I am just a parent. I see the others as match schools unless his ACT or SAT were really low. I think that you need a couple of safety schools (and make sure that they are affordable and that your son would be happy to attend). JMO.</p>

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<p>Or are we talking about this list?:</p>

<p>Washington College (MD)
U of Richmond
Lynchburg
Roanoke
Emory and Henry
High Point
Elon
Guilford
Furman
UNC - Asheville</p>

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<p>Warriorboy, here’s a suggestion for Univ of Scranton, since you seem to be looking in Eastern PA, and Scranton is a great school for B students (assuming northastmom’s post above is accurate).</p>

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<p>Warriorboy, I think a lot of folks are ready to help, but do not recall which list of schools you are referring to; your geographic preference; your son’s GPA/SAT; his academic interests; and his oreferred school profile (size; city/suburb; preppness; party scene; sports scene; frats; etc).</p>

<p>And I know many on this board will say they were glad they looked at lots of schools because their child’s ultimate favorite was a surprise.</p>

<p>I am not sure your GC is being helpful if he is saying cut down the list without any suggestions as to how. Your list of MD/VA/NC schools had all the ones I have heard good things about, but I do not have enough knowledge to be helpful.</p>