Hello! I find great value in the threads about students with 3.0-3.4 gpa, and of course on CC we read a lot about the journeys of the 4.0+ group. But what about the kids in between? I’d love to hear college search and application strategies and successes of the 3.5-3.8 group. Thanks!
Give some ideas of what you’re looking for? Every college in America admits students within those gpa ranges.
I like the idea of this. Are you thinking about the B+ to A- hard working student who is not really considering T20, but may not make the honors cut in state flagships anymore due to competition? Has normal ECs with some leadership roles, but no national acclaims? Ranked somewhere between 25% and 10% depending on the school?
Many threads are relatable about one of my kids who was the high high achiever, but the 3.0 to 3.4 thread does not quite capture my other kid.
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Yes exactly—how are kids in this gpa range thinking about school choice and how have students already admitted this cycle fared? We hear often about the struggles and journeys of the 4.0/1500+ students. My S20 opted out of this particular circus by choosing a university in the UK. I have an S23 coming up who will probably end this year with an UW 3.7. It would be helpful to hear more stories in this range. Thanks!
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Another type of student who falls in this group is the smart but disinterested kid who does the minimum necessary to get by, and has barely any ECs, eg participated in a couple of HS sports/clubs with no leadership roles. That’s a better description of my S23 and many of his friends (all boys). He’s probably the smartest amongst them, with NM Commended (barely qualifying after no practice) and Calc BC as a junior, but also the least interested in doing any work, so he either gets B+s or barely scrapes an A- (got a 4 in Calc AB last year has around 3.65 UW). He’ll do APs in Stats, Physics C and Latin next year but no APs in English or history, and wants to do astronomy or astrophysics in college.
We actually have serious doubts about whether a four year college is really the best option, as opposed to going to community college to grow up a bit more, as we’ve seen a lot of kids like that crash and burn.
But if he does go the dilemma is whether it’s worth paying more for a supportive environment (eg a private college).
His (similarly talented but much harder working 4.0UW) siblings had great experiences at public flagships with different levels of selectivity, which were much cheaper, and with that in mind (being in CA) we are also considering places like CPSLO, UCSC, SDSU, Arizona and Utah (ordered roughly from hardest to easiest admit).
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Would this help spark interest in S23 https://reachcentralcoast.org/space-at-vafb/? Your S23 sounds like my S24. I’m just waiting for the spark that will inspire passion and drive in my S24.
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Lol - agree! My son would take the rubric for a project and spend more time figuring out how to get an A- with the least amount of effort based on the points in different categories. It was infuriating and also back fired on him a few times.
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And my S24 refuses to do extra credit to bring up grade.
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Absolutely. Or do rewrites of drafts the teacher has given feedback on!
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Thanks for this. I think he’s reasonably happy with astronomy, by a process of elimination:
- doesn’t involve essays (hence no classics or liberal arts, even though he’s good at Latin), which is also a consideration in picking colleges to minimize the number of required general ed classes.
- doesn’t involve practical work (hence no engineering or CS)
- isn’t the same major as his parents (hence not math or linguistics or working specifically in the space industry), even though he might end up doing a PhD like his parents (because it does have the advantage of delaying getting a “real job”).
He’s planning to take astronomy as an elective next school year and also go to an astronomy camp this summer, so should have a reasonable idea if he actually wants to do this before attending college.
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I will start with a few colleges where kids in this range do get accepted and do well.
Loyola in New Orleans seems to take the time to read recommendation letters and look beyond the basic stats. Made connections with professors.
College of Charleston- they may not make the honors college, but should apply early action to show interest. The only tough part for some is getting to 202 in foreign language.
Furman can be a match in this range.
Hollins provides merit and aid in this range.
Some of the reaches that are need aware will also look at ED and EA in this range for those who are full pay. UMiami.
Colleges that are overlooked on CC that accept in this range are the military academies. There are many career opportunities that families are not aware of.
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I’d recommend CU Boulder as it has a planetarium, but astronomy is part of the college of Arts and Sciences, and thus all those pesky liberal arts classes are required; writing courses, a couple of sciences, a foreign language (although he may be done if he’s taken latin), etc.
I think the problem with the old ‘Schools for 3.0 to 3.4 students’ was that many people with kids with 3.5+ would post because ‘their child wasn’t really living up to his potential or his SAT score was lower than it should be.’ If they really had a 3.7 and got into one of the top LACs, then everyone on the thread thought those schools always worked for 3.2 kids and they don’t (always). Many of the schools on those threads are fine for the 3.7 kids too.
I’d look for schools he wants to go to, that have his major, and not worry too much about the gpa. It’s the total package that matters, including test scores and outside interests.
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In addition to CU Boulder, check out U of Arizona which is a top program and for smaller Embry Riddle.
Thanks for this. I do notice a few posts on the 3.0-3.4 threads from parents describing the success of their 3.9-4.0 kids and wondered what that was about! My DS23’ current three likelies have average gpas lower than his and fairly high admit %ages. Hopefully this is the right approach!
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Yes, Arizona is definitely on the list.
Less convinced about Boulder given that Utah is a fraction of the price and has fairly similar attributes (eg skiing, nice city, beautiful campus). We also know SLC very well and it’s easier to get to from CA (a day’s drive).
We added AP Latin precisely because of the foreign language requirement at Arizona (Utah doesn’t have one for a BS). It’s surprising how big the difference is in core requirements at different universities and something we didn’t consider at all for our older kids. Some colleges allow as many as 70% of courses to be in your major and only require 30% GEs, for others it’s more than 50% GEs.
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This is where my D22 fit in. She has a 3.5uw/4.5w / 1410 SAT / 31 ACT, and wants to major in CS, so finding the right place for her was a big challenge. I think her path has been a good reminder that you just never know where they’ll land. 5 years ago I imagined her at a small, highly ranked school. Maybe a LAC or maybe a school focused on STEM. Her interest in CS meant she had to pivot to find the kind of program she wanted and that she could get into.
For years she has been adamant that she wanted to get as far away from us as possible and go to a small school! So where did she commit to? Indiana University-Bloomington! I would have never guessed that she’d end up falling in love with two B1G schools — Pitt and IU. A year ago we visited Denison because of the small size (1/2 the size of her HS). Then she stepped on IU’s campus and just could not stop gushing over it. She really likes IU’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering because their CS program is not under Engineering (they don’t offer traditional Engineering options). She does not want to be an Engineer. She loved the urban Pitt campus most, but in the end price — and wouldn’t you know it — being farther from home tipped the scales away from them. So she’s going to a huge school that’s the closest to home of all of her acceptances!
In case this is useful for class of 2023 in the 3.5-3.8 category with hopes for a CS major:
Acceptances listed in order of her preference:
- Indiana University: DA to Luddy school for CS — committed
- Pitt: deferred, then accepted, SCS w/ intent for CS
- CU Boulder: CoE BACS (she really liked their BA option and I think this program was exactly what she wanted, but the OOS cost was just too much to justify)
- Virginia Tech: waitlisted, then accepted, CoE interest in CS
- Iowa State: LAS for CS
- Michigan State: CoE w/ intent for CS
- Purdue: Exploratory Studies (denied CS)
Denials:
- UIUC (her only in-state option): Denied CS+Astronomy, waitlisted DGS
- Rose-Hulman: Waitlisted
- CWRU: Denied
- Cal Poly: Denied
- William & Mary: Denied
- UW-Madison: Denied
None of the rejections were surprises, so it was all fine. This spreadsheet was incredibly helpful. We used it to craft her list and highlight likely schools based on her stats. Her acceptances all lined up with the data shown. Well worth the $42!
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My kid has a 3.94, with just a tiny amount of rigor (5 APs, 1 DE), so we weren’t going for highly selective schools, plus we wanted merit. She has narrowed her choices down to DePaul and Willamette.
Last night was prom and at the pre-prom photo event I talked with lots of parents that I’ve known for years and was refreshed to hear their kids’ college choices–places like Cal Poly Humboldt, Cal Poly SLO, Oregon State, Sonoma State, UC Santa Cruz, CSU Fort Collins, Ithaca, with a couple of UCLAs and Tufts thrown in for variety. Normal kids going to normal schools for the most part. Their parents are successful, middle to upper middle class families and it’s very likely that the apples will not fall far from the trees.
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Only on CC is it possible to describe this as a “tiny amount”…
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Exactly. And I’m spending so much time on here, which is why it was refreshing last night to hear about “regular” kids.
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We just went through the admissions cycle. Our experience this year is that SLO and UCSC acceptance varies wildly by major. I was really surprised by the kids who were accepted, waitlisted, or denied by both schools.
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