I agree with this, and I think it’s an important distinction to make. For whatever reason, our kids do not have super high GPA’s-that’s the metric for this thread. I’m not saying you can’t participate if your kid has a weighted 4.0 GPA, but you may not find the information applicable to you.
I’m also on the 2017 parents thread that is not the 3.0-3.4 one for my older daughter, and if your kid is scoring over 30 on the act cold, the 2018 version of that thread is probably going to be a lot more helpful for you.
D scored a 26 on the latest ACT, which is up only 3 points from when she took it as a 12 year old (seriously, kid, did you learn nothing in 4 years???). If I can get her to crack a 30 it’d be a miracle and open up a lot of options for her, but I’m operating as if 26 is the best she will do, and looking for good, solid options there. I want her to be happy and successful
I should also add that the Venn Diagram of where the 2017 kids and the 2017 kids 3.0-3.4 GPA go has a surprising amount of overlap to it. BUT-how they get there is very different!
Thank you so much @twoinanddone . Really helpful. Hopefully we will be able to visit these schools but I’m beginning to add up the travel costs and unless I can use frequent flyer miles, it doesn’t make much sense unless he gets accepted. I think he would be fine being on the outskirts of a big city (one of the reasons we looked at Xavier). My stress level with this whole process is going up–I feel like I should check out until we get that next SAT score on the 13th.
So I’m a bit confused over this since my S did receive a 34 on his first try. I did not calculate his WGPA, but I’m guessing we’d be lucky if it is 3.4. Is it your recommendation that we run with the Middlebury/Carleton/Vassar crowd? I’d be happy if I thought he could, but having zero hooks and only average ECs I guessed we’d be wasting our time, but perhaps not? I don’t know where to look now.
So I’m a bit confused over this since my S did receive a 34 on his first try. I did not calculate his WGPA, but I’m guessing we’d be lucky if it is 3.4. Is it your recommendation that we run with the Middlebury/Carleton/Vassar crowd? I’d be happy if I thought he could, but having zero hooks and only average ECs I guessed we’d be wasting our time, but perhaps not? I don’t know where to look now. I have zero desire to have him overreach, at the same time letting him coast would probably spell trouble as well.
@chippedtoof I’d follow both threads and see which one applies more to your son. There is a LOT of very good information about kids who test high and can get automatic merit scholarships on the 2018 thread that will likely not be on this thread.
FWIW, yes there are a few kids going to the schools you mentioned above, but there are also high stats kids going to UGA and UA (mine on full tuition scholarship thanks to her 33 act). Watch the acceptance announcements coming in for both 2017 threads, you’ll see a lot of overlap (as I mentioned above).
The other thread is NOT elitist (well, the 2017 one is not, I would hope the 2018 parents are as cool as the 2017 ones), but it does have more pertinent info for your son that I think ours will in the coming months.
Also, if you haven’t calculated his wgpa yet for his core classes, here’s a good calculator:
@MotherOfDragons Thank you, I’ll review the 2017 thread (ack 2000+ pages!) and follow this and the other 2018 thread. We’re mostly interested in LACs vs research univ’s (I had him read CTCL and he had a lot of enthusiasm afterwards, plus the UCs are pretty much out for us) and, as I mentioned, our tour of berkeley and stanford merely confirmed our stance. He has an affinity for Puget Sound and Santa Clara for now (I believe one for the area and the other for the facilities
[If anyone knows how I can delete post #82, please let me know… despite living in the bay area, my internet connection is wonky and has a mind of its own]
My advice re: the 2017 thread is to go back one year in time on that thread and follow from there because a LOT of the stuff is seasonal. I don’t feel the need to “keep up” as much, I just read it in chunks-it will show you where they were when their kid was in your kid’s shoes right now.
@chippedtoof, I wasn’t on CC when my older daughter was applying for college (fall of 2008). But as I look at threads now, this thread and its equivalents seems most on point for students with her stats (a 3.4-ish GPA, ACT score of 34). She was the child, of my two, who ended up at a school I had never heard of before she mentioned it was on her list. And many of the schools that were applied to by students whose parents frequent the “parents of the hs class of 2017 etc.” thread were also on her list.
@lr4550 Whitman would be great! I hope my son’s gpa measures up. Any comment on rigor there?
@MotherOfDragons I’ve just spent the past 1.5 hrs perusing the 2017 thread from a year back. That thread is content rich… I think I need a coffee break Thanks for the additional guidance; I just need to familiarize myself with the various parents so I can narrow my focus a bit.
@rosered55 Thank you for your advice; I haven’t read CC for too long; (I was on studentdoctor for years helping my sibling and that was pretty crazy, but CC is still quite a doozy in comparison) My first guess is like yours, that the previous 3.0-3.3/3.4 threads were more relevant than the regular threads (the stories of ~15 AP classes don’t really help me understand how my children should approach their school life) Because of the lack of familiar colleges in this kind of thread, I found it to be more conducive to broadening my knowledge. I will confess though that i do also see that the “broader focus” that the other thread has has some insights for us “statistical outliers”
@chippedtoof Whitman’s academics are strong. It’s what I consider a sweet spot type school- one that challenges top students and at the same time supports bright kids who are still finding their academic stride. From everything I hear about Whitman I would have full confidence that the curriculum is rigorous and that the students are deeply engaged in their academics.
I’m going to weigh in with a slightly alternate POV from the 2017 3.0 thread.
I think what makes our thread special is that there is an openness and welcoming aspect that isn’t gpa or test score dependent. I too participate in both threads but am far more comfortable on the 3.0 one. It’s not that the main thread is unwelcoming or not chill, but the reality is that the types of activities, schools, challenges, scholarships etc being discussed are in many cases, light years different and it can make it hard(er) to relate.
That all attracts a certain parent and student. I personally welcome posters that have students slightly above our stated stats. As well as those below. Maybe they are lopsided with high gpa low test scores or vice versa. Maybe they have a learning disability or zero EC’s. Maybe they had a 3.3 when they joined the thread and have gone over a 3.4 since then or that 3rd ACT put them into a new level. Or maybe they just want to be on a thread that is more focused on getting our kids to simply pass calculus than a SAT 2 score. Bottom line is they all have a reason for being there and add value.
Some of those parents have chosen to “out” themselves with the results thread and others have not for fear of being judged. Either way I feel like we have a lovely balanced mix and I am glad for each and every poster on our thread.
As for the weighted gpa aspect I personally find it a bit meaningless. It can vary SO much by each school you can really only compare UW and “rigor” in my opinion.
Just my 2 cents for whatever it’s worth.
@Kardinalschnitt gotcha. FWIW PSU is very much a commuter school. Reed is a funny one. I wouldn’t let stats hold one back if it’s really the right fit. It’s intense though, stats aside.
My kid is so unmotivated for his senior year coming up. Right now his SAT class is at Sarah Lawrence…maybe it will rub off on him and he’ll get interested in applying for colleges!! This has been such a tough year, frankly, I’ll just be glad if he wants to go to college, regardless of which!
@eandesmom Yep, I’m aware of the PSU thing. I suppose that’s going to be an issue in many, not all, urban schools. I’ve heard it’s an issue at Barnard, for example.
Listen, I don’t want to get everyone confused all the time, so I’m just going to say now that dd is a very interesting person with a huge array of interests – the typical renaissance girl. We have been all over the map in the last several years in terms of how she would like to spend her post-secondary years. From trade school (ie. woodworking or boat building) to art school to specialty craft schools to medical school to the military! She got the medicine bug early this school year. She says medicine/neuroscience/neurology gives her the same physical buzz as flying planes. She is obsessed, reading everything she can get her hands on. Anyway, please, let me warn you that I am going to be all over the place as I try to keep up with her and help her figure out what’s best for her. I’m still not sure that the academic life is going to be a good fit.
My dd may have a 4.0 gpa but she’s got some real qualifiers. She’s not at a very competitive high school, she doesn’t have the highest rigor even there, and her SAT scores very significantly lopsided. She a medical history but consistently good mental health, and I never want to see her in a highly stressful, competitive college environment that could risk her physical health again or threaten that wonderful gift of emotional stability. (I have two kids who have had depression and that has impacted my perspective tremendously.)
I love reading the regular parents’ thread and will celebrate all that their kids accomplish, but what I can relate to and learn from is limited there. Here is where I relate and learn. I hope I continue to be welcomed here, because up to now I very much have been.
And besides that, I have younger kids who will really, really need what I learn here, much more than this one.
Dd told us last night she was planning on quitting one of her favorite ECs next year. It made me sad because it’s actually something that could continue to enrich her life long-term, through college and beyond. But she is worried about balancing academics and a community service EC. She likes that EC but the reason she would give it priority is primarily because people depend on her there and have high expectations of her, not because she is devoted to it. So we had an opportunity for a good talk about learning to say no and not letting pressure from others–even me!–make the decisions she should freely be making for her own life and happiness.
This sounds terrible but this particular child has such a calming presence, I hate the idea of her going far away to school. My special needs kids have taken so much of my attention that I feel my relationship with this one never developed as it could have. Now we are enjoying and appreciating each other more than ever, and in less than a year and a half she will be gone. I hope not too far. And I wish money would mot be the deciding factor.
3.2 weighted, less than 1200 new SAT, bottom 25% of class, likes schools where she perceives people to be nice and not insanely competitive. We’ve toured schools that at first appear matches for those stats but I find them to be less intellectually stimulating than her high school (coloring books in org chem! no real research highlighted, business majors afraid to travel, no distribution requirements in a liberal arts program). She does great projects and presentations and tests poorly. So I want to follow this and see where she might fit and thrive. She will have several APs and math through calculus so not an easy course load.
@treschicos , my older daughter did well on standardized tests but hated being graded in school by tests, so she looked specifically for colleges with alternative grading possibilities and ended up at one. We had highish financial need, which the school was able to mostly meet, so it worked out quite while for our daughter and for our family.
My understanding is not heavy on details; I was ready and happy to not be overly involved in my children’s academic lives once they were in college. With that caution, here’s what I recall: the students could take classes within or outside the living-learning community program (sometimes called the “school within the school”). All courses were part of the entire university’s offerings. For courses taught by instructors outside the program, the student would set up a contract with the instructor, which could include alternative grading, if the instructor agreed. This might consist of doing a paper instead of taking a test, for example. My daughter loves to write, so she did a lot of papers. She thrived in college, after seeming to have had her love of learning killed in high school, so I was happy she found this school.
