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

Parents Forum
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Just bought the red ACT book for D, who is using it to take the full practice test. It will be interesting to see how she does on this first go-round.

Teachers are doing their recommendations for next year-she was recommended for AP Stats (which she said yes to), and AP lit, which she said no to (likes the on-level classes in lit better, although she currently has a 97 average in there, but I support that she likes feeling like she’s really good at that class and is crushing it).

We went back and forth about taking the AP micro/macro economics class, she is afraid of it, so she’s going to just do regular gov/econ next year (which her older sister says is a breeze).

If she can keep her grades strong this year (mostly A’s right now) she should end up with a cumulative 3.0 by May. Yay!

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Is it that time already?

S2 is totally not interested in any of this. We have had such a struggle just keeping him focused on high school. As of last year his GPA unweighted was 89.6. This year it will slide a bit I’m sure. Never calculated on 4.0 terms, but guessing we are at low 3s, maybe a 3.2 or 3 or so.

He took the PSAT unprepped. I couldn’t force another thing on him. Score 1290. His dad keeps pushing on test prep, and he sign up to start in March for the May SAT. However he does, he does. I’m not going to keep pushing him at this point.

I’m not sure he’ll be ready to start college to be honest. But 19 months is a long time, so we have to prepare anyway. His talent is in creative writing and film editing. Those far exceed his talent for high school.

We’ll see…

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Hi everyone!

I just joined CC today because of this thread!

My S is at a very small private IB school. GPA is around 3.6 W, slightly lower UW. He took the January SAT so waiting on scores now. Best PSAT was 1260, but he has had SAT tutoring since then.

As to colleges, he is ALL OVER THE PLACE! One week he wants to stay home, the next week he wants to do a road trip to look at schools - big schools, little schools, universities, LACs. Yes, you guessed it, he has ADHD (what gave it away??)

Schools on “Mom’s List” right now - Chapman, U. of Redlands, USF, Willamette, U of Portland, Lewis & Clark, Pacific U. and Linfield. I also like Trinity, but it’s in San Antonio and that might be more change then he can take.

He is a very young, immature but bright young man. He loves the performing arts and is gifted in analytical writing and public speaking. Considering a major in CS, English or Theatre.

He has tons of ECs - theater, dance, a couple of sports, yearbook and writing club. He has done CS with different animal groups and the public library. Considering doing a summer school class at our flagship University this summer.

I hope to gain much from all of you and hope that I can add some helpful (or amusing) information myself.

All the best,
Stitch’s Mom

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Welcome @Stitchsmom !

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Is it common for Juniors to take the ACT Feb, April and June of their Junior yr if they want to see improvement before senior yr? (especially if they plan on doing ED the next fall?)

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I don’t know if it is common, but it’s the strategy we’re taking. I’m learning from my mistakes with D17. They weren’t bad mistakes (she’s going to UA with a presidential+engineering scholarship), but D18 gets the benefit of it.

I will say that D said that the ACT was packed, that there were kids standing outside who were waitlisted, and our first choice of HS had already filled up when we looked back in Dec.

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Big week for S18 next week in the ‘this is really all happening’ stage of the game. ACT scores on Wednesday, SAT scores on Thursday, meeting with academic advisor to go over senior schedule on Thursday and 1st official meeting with college counselor on Friday.

Now, if I could just get him to go see the teachers he needs to see for class options, narrow down his list of possible majors and sit down with me to go over the list of colleges so that he doesn’t look at the college counselor like a deer caught in headlights, we would really be headed in the right direction!

I feel we have put together a pretty good list of schools to go over with GC but after D15 first met with him her junior year, she has since referred to him as the ‘Dream Crusher’. If that is the case, I will look to all of you to pick me back up!

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So glad to find this thread. We are in Florida and my daughter is only looking at Florida public universities. We have a prepaid plan so it’s the best option financially. She really is a good student but compared to the kids on cc she is average. Glad this thread was created for this group of parents/kids.

D18 is in top 5% of her class and takes the most rigorous courses available. She is now mostly an A/B student with 3.6 uw and 4.2 weighted.

We are doing our college tour over Spring Break.

Looking for recommendations for what to do over summer? Is it best to get a job (see what real world is like?); take dual enrollment classes (concerned it really won’t bring up gpa even with straight A’s) or sign her up for one of those crazy expensive summer programs at a college she is interested just to create better application for college? Thoughts much appreciated

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@citymama9 That’s how it might shake out for us. DD took the February ACT, will take one in March that is provided free by the state, and we will go from there. I hope she doesn’t need to take the June one, but it’s an option.

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The prevailing thought is that the expensive summer programs don’t really enhance your college application.

The D’s did nerd camps for fun over the summer, and D17 got into a governor’s honors program over the summer last year (which was free and did help her college resume), but I wouldn’t do the college summer camps for any reason other than enjoyment (they did enjoy them).

D17 is working over the summer, D18 we’re not sure yet, either working or camp.

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Jumping in from the 2017 thread, to say good luck to all!

@MotherOfDragons It is great that your d has given thought to her major. That really helps in narrowing down schools, and in planning her summer between junior and senior years.

My d17 was disappointed when she did not get admitted to governors school like her sister, but turned right around and got a summer internship plus a summer job related to her intended major (theater education). That first job was the basis for her common app essay.

For her, thinking about her future career is more motivating than her high school classes. Our older d is very academic, so it was a new perspective for us.

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Son is taking his 2nd SAT today. It would be great if this would be his last time taking it. I know he would like to be done with testing, but he didn’t do much reviewing for it. He did tell me that they have been working on it in English class and that is where he needs the most help with.

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D18 also took it today. I really hope she gets a good score too. I can’t believe my kid will be a senior in high school in a few months. I’m starting to get emotional

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D18 just got her results from the ACT back-26. Not where she’d like it to be. She just signed up for the May SAT, and she’s going to re-take the ACT in June (without writing this time, we don’t know what her writing score is but I doubt it’s going to move a lot).

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S18 is taking SAT in March. He took the ACT previously and did well so he thought he was done with ACT. The high school now is requiring all juniors take it a specific school day in spring so he’s bummed he has to take it again. @MotherOfDragons my daughter got a similar score the first time she took it, no tutor and little prep. She knew what college she wanted to go to and the cut-off for the higher level scholarship. We did a get away weekend for her to focus on practice tests (used the Red Book and Black book that goes along with it). I encouraged and helped go over what she got wrong. It was eye-opening for me, glad I didn’t have to take it! Anyway it worked for her and she was able to bump up her results in June her junior year and earn the higher level scholarship when she ultimately applied. Don’t know if it would work for your daughter, but I had read about this on CC awhile back and helped her so wanted to pass it along. Good luck to your daughter in June!

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My son took the ACT in October and scored a 35, and in January he took the SAT and scored a 1400. He told me that he thought that the SAT was way harder than the SAT. He told me he will only send his ACT score to colleges !

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@svcamom ,those scores are fantastic!

DS took both Oct and Feb ACT. Got the same composite score on both (29), but his scores fluctuated in each subject. I have a feeling he’ll retake it one more time.

DS and DD (2019) go to different schools. We original planned college visits for the week before Easter because DS’ spring break is usually then. We got special permission from DDs school to pull her out. AND THEN DS school changed to a March break :frowning: So, now our April trip includes 3 schools for DD 2019 to tour while DS stays home.

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For those that might find it helpful as you start putting those lists together, I just updated the 2017 3.0-3.4 results.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20379963/#Comment_20379963

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Great list, thanks for sharing. May our kids have similar success next year :>

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Hello! I,too, registered today to join in on this discussion.
D18 attends a private American/IB school in Europe, so we are OOS everywhere. Her UW GPA is 3.1 and her PSATs were a 680 R and 560 M (her native language is really French, though she is a US citizen). She has moved around and changed schools a lot.
Anyway, she is very much one of those nice, diligent B students. Her GPA is low due to a rough start in 9th grade.

She is more passion-driven. Her two great passions are aviation and medicine/neuroscience. She very much wanted to apply for an Air Force ROTC scholarship in a few months, but I just learned that she would have to give up two of her citizenships. Unfortunately, her college choices to this point have been based on who has AFROTC along with aviation. Sigh. Well, perhaps this will guide her towards a less expensive major, like neuroscience!
It will be fascinating to watch everyone’s kids over the next year!