Parents of the HS Class of 2018 - 3.0 to 3.4 GPA

Parents Forum
1

With thanks to @eandesmom (who started the 2017 version of this thread), here it is for the 2018 kids.

I’ve copied over some of the initial guidelines from previous threads.

As a guideline, this is not a chance thread for students. It is for parents of kids roughly in the B to B+ range with any range of test scores. Of course, all parents are welcome, but it is not meant for the top of the line, applying to Ivies sorts of dilemmas. Advice from parents of other years is definitely appreciated!

Things to talk and think about now

  1. Test Prep
  2. School Visits & casting WIDE nets
  3. Fit & LOVING ALL OUR SCHOOLS
  4. Possible Financial/Merit aid
  5. Books to assist our quest of the perfect school for our children.
  6. Requesting LOR's before school gets out

And as we get close to and into senior year:

  1. Applications (EA vs. ED vs. RD), essay prompts, etc.
  2. Auditions (music, dance, theatre)
  3. Senior year visits & overnights
  4. The Waiting Game of acceptances
  5. Reviewing award letters
  6. Committing and sending in that check!

So, pour another cup of coffee (or tea), bookmark this thread, and start posting!

2

Here’s the skinny on my 2018 daughter:

Freshman year: 3.0 with mostly honors and AP classes at a very large, uber competitive public high school
Sophomore year 2.66 with honors and AP. Yikes! This led to a battery of testing which came to the conclusion that she is a bright kid who doesn’t like doing her homework and only works on stuff she’s motivated by. @-)

Junior year: So far she has mostly A’s and a few B’s in her on level courses. Together we made the decision to drop her from the higher level courses to improve her cumulative GPA. She’s finally having lightbulb moments about the effects of not studying or doing your homework on her options.

Test scores-so far only the PSAT’s 590v 620m sophomore year, 670v 590m this year. She did score a 23 on the ACT when she was 12, which got her into Duke Tip, and she’s currently studying for the Feb ACT.

Probably the best thing to happen over the past few months (other than the improved grades) is that she has decided she wants to major in marketing or hotel/theme park management.

She has a 2017 sister who is high achieving, and when the girls were little they used to score the same on all the achievement tests, so it’s been an adjustment for me to understand that my 2018 D is not as academically focused or driven as my 2017 kid, and to work with her strengths instead of getting upset at the stuff she’s not interested in.

3

Both our S16 and S18 fit into this category, but there are big differences. S16 was a NMSF who didn’t advance due to grades. If he didn’t want to do an assignment he just didn’t do it. He almost failed AP English, but got a 4 on the exam. He’s now at Temple, where he got a nice scholarship. S18 started out in a very competetive program. He did well the first semester, but then the anxiety got to him. He dropped out of the program after the first semester sophomore year and started getting help for the anxiety (it’s amazing how many bright kids we know have the same kind of issues; I wonder what that says about the state of our schools). He immediately returned to being the 3.5 or so kid he’d always been. He got a 1280 on the PSAT wIthout any preparation; he doesn’t think it’s that good, but it’s in the top 8 or 9 percent.

He hasn’t wanted to talk about colleges much so far. We think he might do better at a LAC, but he may have other ideas. He’s a big sports fan, but he said that won’t dictate his decision. So far he’s said he doesn’t want to go to the west coast (transportation issues; he doesn’t dislike that area), any deep red state, or anywhere in Pennsylvania (is a big Nationals/Ravens fan who doesn’t want to live with too many Phillies/Steelers fans). I think he’d find that there are many LACs in PA where that wouldn’t happen. Like his brother (and me), he’s never really liked school. It’s kind of a necessary evil.

4

Here are the test dates and deadlines for the ACT this year:

Test date/deadline/late deadline:

Feb 11, 2017**, Jan 13, 2017, Jan 20, 2017

Apr 8, 2017, Mar 3, 2017, Mar 17, 2017

June 10, 2017, May 5, 2017, May 19, 2017

SAT :

Test date/deadline/late deadline/online release
January 21, 2017 December 21, 2016 January 10, 2017 February 23, 2017
March 11, 2017 February 10, 2017 February 28, 2017 April 13, 2017
May 6, 2017 April 7, 2017 April 25, 2017 June 8, 2017
June 3, 2017 May 9, 2017 May 24, 2017 July 12, 2017

Right now her plan is to take the Feb ACT (already registered), and the May SAT. Then if she’s not happy with the numbers, she’ll retake the ACT in June and the SAT in Sept.

She’s using Magoosh as a study aid.

5

Son just registered for the March SAT last night. His brother talked him into choosing Temple as one of the schools he has scores sent to; it almost sounds like he’d be happy having younger brother there.

6

Thank your @MotherOfDragons for starting this thread! I was beginning to hijack the 2017 thread a little too many times so it’s nice to have one speficially for our year.

S18 is signed up for the January SAT (which was recommended by his SAT math tutor) and will sign up for the Feb ACT. In looking at future dates his next chance for the SAT would be May as the March dates falls during his Spring Break and the June SAT falls during his final exams.

I have been through this process once before with D15 but it was a huge learning process for us and I am excited to have cc along for the ride this time.

7

So I’ve done a thing I call ‘college chat’ with D17 over the past 8 months, and I’ve started doing it with D18. Basically it’s a standing date on sunday after dinner to spend an hour (sometimes less, sometimes more) going over any college issues/ideas that come up. It’s on all of our google calendars, and we really make an effort to prioritize it over everything else.

I originally started doing it because I was driving D17 crazy by talking about college constantly and overwhelming her. Having the college chat on our calendars works really well for all of us-I take notes all week on what needs to be discussed/emailed/checked on/called, and then we go over the notes on sunday and they do all the “to do’s” that come up from the discussion.

This week with D18 we did college chat last night because we were all busy on new years. She created a cappex account (I really like that website because of the scattergrams for kids who got in/denied, etc, and the chance ranges), and started putting in her numbers. We cross referenced the schools she liked with the princeton review best 380 colleges book (D17’s book from last year), tossed out ones that were too expensive or didn’t have her major, and came up with a good initial list of 12 colleges.

So her assignment this week is to look at all of the schools on the list and request info from them, and to watch all the initial subject area videos for the act on Magoosh.

With D17 several times the “to do” list didn’t get “to done” and it piled up until she kind of got in gear and realized it would snowball if she didn’t tackle it. I’m assuming D18 will be similar.

8

@MotherOfDragons , thank you for starting this new thread. I too would read the previous classes thread and found it really helpful.
I have a son who is in HS Class of 2018. In October he took the ACT for the first time and scored a 35 ! He will be taking the SAT on Jan 21, and I hope he does well. My son has ADHD( inattentive type) and struggles with turning homework in, but still manages to have a 3.0 g.p.a. He tells us that he wants to go to college, but has’nt shown a lot of interest. He has mentioned that he wants to go out of state( we are in the bay area), where it snows. We visited NJ and Ohio last summer.

9

@svamom One college that might suit him is Muhlenberg. They may give him merit with his high ACT. It’s a supportive environment, well-rounded school. And I’m pretty sure that it still snows in PA!

10

@Dustyfeathers , Thank you for that suggestion ! I hope that they have Electrical/Electronic Engineering, since that is the field that my son wants to get a degree in.

11

My son may fit this thread. We are hoping he gets a 3.0.

He took redesigned SAT (1260) and ACT 29. He is retaking the ACT with writing in February.

He wants Army ROTC and Environmental or Civil Engineering.

He is his own worst enemy. Won’t ask for help. Procrastinates. He has good variety of ECs and works. All in all, a good kid who just isn’t focused on homework.

I also have a 2019 daughter that fits the GPA and is expected to have lower standardized scores. My oldest is in college.

12

Hi @svcamom

Sadly I don’t think Muhlenberg has any kind of engineering, but there are a few schools that take that level of GPA that DO have that.

South Dakota Mines and Tech has electrical engineering. It’s a small, well-regarded school with excellent academics. My DS went there for a summer camp once and he liked it a lot–of course this was the summer. But I kept it in mind because it was a small school that seemed to be able to focus on the students. I didn’t want my kids to be in really huge lecture classes for their difficult intro courses. SDMines also has really low OOS tuition as these things go (est. total for OOS including Room and Board is like $24K) and a high acceptance rate. It’s ABET accredited and the the employment prospects are some of the highest in the country. The starting salary is like $64K on average, which in some years is above that of Harvard’s. It definitely has snow!

Wentworth Institute is another that is solid and seems in a snowy region and seems to be the target GPA.

Clarkson University is definitely in snow territory and will have lots of winter sports. The GPA is slightly higher, but I think your son may be in the range.

UMass Lowell is another, but you’d be paing OOS tuition. And it’s a larger state school.

Finally, you may want to seriously consider SUNY Maritime. This school has an excellent reputation. The employment prospects are stellar. The grads pull down some of the highest salaries of any school like measured ten years out. This school worked hand-in-hand with my DS’s high school and I trust the leadership. That being said, anyone who decides that this is the school for them has to really be into ships! But they also get to travel the world. So there’s that . . . If you’re into this school, the kids I know really love it. But as with any school, you really need to be excited by the program.

13

Sorry, I meant for SUNY Maritime, they get to travel the world at least in their careers. I don’t think they are traveling the world as undergrads, although they might, but there is definitely time on decks of ships for undergrads! And they get snazzy uniforms.

If this seems like a possible path for you, here is a list of other maritime academies–
http://www.marineinsight.com/careers-2/the-best-maritime-colleges-in-the-united-states/

14

BTW I commented on another thread about the U of Maine, Orono tuition offer to OOS students. It’s worth mentioning here.

https://go.umaine.edu/apply/scholarships/flagship-match/

They are apparently matching flagship tuition across the country for OOS students.

They seem to have electrical engineering – https://ece.umaine.edu/

Orono is about 40 miles north of Acadia National Park – a gorgeous area. Also there’s a major airport there for getting to and from the school from other areas. And of course SNOW! There’s great hiking, skiing, everything outdoorsy you could imagine. Orono is next door to Bangor, which is a fairly sizeable city for Maine.

15

We had Junior Night at school last night. While I have done this before with D15, it was funny to see the wide eyes in most parents as the speakers gave us information overload. We had admissions directors from 2 colleges and because they came from 2 very different schools, it was a great mix of advice and information.

When I asked my son if he learned anything, he said ‘Yes, the admissions people are on my side. And I have to learn how to do my own laundry.’

Success!!

16

I just felt like bumping this thread to let people know it’s here. I don’t know how we fit in but I’m very, very grateful for @MotherOfDragons for starting. I anticipate this thread sharing invaluable information for many of us.

My DD is currently at 4.0 UW but will not have super high SATs or the kind of rigor I usually see on CC. So I think I might fit this group well, if you don’t mind my company.

Right now we are waiting for the scores of DD’s first SAT and considering the ACT.

We are obviously after merit. We are low income but have savings and own our house, which has affected our FAFSA EFC but will have worse effects at CSS Profile schools. I really want to avoid Profile schools because filling out financial forms is stressful to the point of being traumatic for me. We have almost nothing in specially designated retirement accounts and two more kids after my 2018 D who have mild special needs and will probably need more support, so limiting our college expenses is really important.

Since D is very unsure about what and where she wants to study (except nothing too big and nothing urban), I have been making lists of less selective schools with science offerings (no engineering but ideally with neuroscience) and merit and student health insurance plans.

Air Force ROTC is on the table but there’s the possibility of a medical disqualification, so we don’t want to put all her eggs in that basket.

I look forward to learning much and sharing your experiences over the next few years.

17

Yes, thank you for the thread. The 2017 thread was filled with invaluable information as I’m sure this one will be! My S18 is above the GPA, but is more laid back and doesn’t like to be the center of attention. Although many of his friends are looking at state schools, he feels they are too big. He would probably do well at collaborative LAC’s. We will be following fit and merit.

Anyone looking at scheduling tours over spring break? We toured a few over the summer and plan to use this spring break to tour more now that he is starting to slowly engage in the process. I have a D16 we went through the process with. She knew where she wanted to go and was excited when she got a phone call she was the first to make a deposit. I have a feeling this will be a whole different process!

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@MACmiracle welcome and I think anybody who feels like they fit on this thread, fits on this thread!

Currently D18 is studying hard for the upcoming Feb ACT, and I need to sign her up for the sat (still!).

She also just got her braces off and we found out she needs all four wisdom teeth out, so that will happen this summer (along with her 18 yo sister who’s getting them out before she heads off to college).

In the 2017 parents thread I referred to the CSS Profile as a financial proctology exam. Tell your checkbook to bend over and relax, because it’s ugly…

19

@MotherOfDragons

I missed the sign up for the Feb ACT, so we’re looking at March, or is it April? There are so few places where the ACT is offered here and they rotate. It’s hard to find a convenient place.

The dentist has said nothing about D 18’s wisdom teeth, but he just told D 13 that she needs hers out. They are showing signs of decay so we can’t put it off. We will do it after her graduation in May but I am not looking forward to it. She has TMJ, and I’ve been putting it off because I’m worried about aggravating it and causing further problems. It’s something I have to talk to the oral surgeon about so he can make any necessary accommodations.

20

Thank you for this thread!!! I have been lurking a lot. I feel so out of place in helping my son find a university that is an financial fit and a academic fit. We are in Texas and so many of the universities on this site I have never heard of or so far removed that my son would not even consider them. A 4 hour drive just hits the basic universities in Texas for us. My in laws are 9 hours away and still in Texas!
I would say S18 is very average in grades 3.17 unw and 4.12 w. He took the SAT with no practice in November and has an 1240. Not great but with a little help he hopes to get it at up to a 1360. He takes the SAT 3/1 and hopes for a better score. 1360 would auto admit to most state schools in Texas.
Looking forward to the journey they are all to embark upon!