@me29034 It sounds like your S is pushing himself too hard, but in the wrong areas. He should be working less and studying more, which it sounds like you already know. Don’t listen to H - men are usually clueless about these things. They don’t understand how teens’ brains work, and they often think that children are just little adults, which they are not. They can’t help it - they’re just wired that way.
You need to have a serious talk with S and get him to focus on the immediate goal, which is getting into a college. I don’t think (and you probably don’t either) that Pitt will take him with his grades (although it could happen, I suppose). Acceptance into colleges isn’t as easy as he thinks it is, and he needs some tough love to get his head in the game. Otherwise, he’ll have a denied application next fall and nothing else to choose from.
But the first issue is the overwork. If he doesn’t sleep, he’ll be too tired to think, which will make his academics even worse. Sometimes, the money just isn’t worth it. He has his whole life to make money. He needs to shift his focus. Tell him, if he doesn’t reduce his hours, then you’ll make the call for him. Nobody wants their MOMMY calling their boss!
@me29034 I’m sorry for the shift , it’s hard to see them doubt themselves . I agree with @sdl0625 that a college visit may be motivating .DS19 just visited Clemson which has moved up to #2 on his list. He knows that there is no way that he’s going to be admitted directly , and that there is a chance he may not be offered The Bridge to Clemson program with his current SAT or ACT scores. I offered him test prep and told him it’s entirely his decision . He decided to retake at lest once . Good luck.
Thanks all for putting up with my venting and offering advice. We are very familiar with Pitt as my D16 goes there. Despite that, S has never visited. Its far enough away from home that a visit just hasn’t been convenient for him so far. He has seen lots of pictures though and knows a lot about how it works from big sis. The current plan, which he is on-board with, is to visit in August when we move D back in for the fall semester. While classes won’t be in session yet, the freshmen will all be there for orientation so the campus should be hopping. D says that is actually a really fun week to be around.
As far as whether he can get in or not - Naviance and his guidance counselor say he can, though I worry. No one from our high school has ever been rejected from Pitt. I do hope that he is not the first. I probably should note that our high school grades pretty tough compared to what I hear about other high schools. I really haven’t paid too much attention to average GPAs that I read about for colleges because it doesn’t seem at all comparable. I saw some data that said the average GPA at Pitt was something like 4.0. At our high school, no one has a 4.0, and if you have a 3.9 you are Ivy league material. My older D had a 3.65 out of high school - she has a 3.94 now at Pitt. She says college grading is much easier than our high school. Bottom line is that I don’t think his GPA will keep him out, but he is borderline with his SAT and does need to bring that up.
As for the working, I think I will put my foot down about his hours. He needs to cut back. I think I will tell him no more than 15 hours/wk, and we’ll see how that goes.
I just looked at the Naviance data for Pitt from our HS (500 Seniors) and it’s amazing the number of kids who applied this year. Our Naviance data shows the past three years: 2016-24; 2017-41; 2018-60.
I think many apply early as a safety. I suspect next year it will be more difficult to get in.
I have noticed lots of mention of Naviance on CC. Literally none of the Midwestern LACs on S’s list have ever even fielded an applicant from S’s high school so Naviance has no history for us to consider. What is the next best source for accurate info about admissions chances? Niche? Cappex? Something else?
Does this lack of experience with his HS help or hurt admissions with a college (especially with a lower GPA) or is it a non-factor? I have gotten the impression that colleges have familiarity with different levels of rigor at some high schools and interpret GPA for applicants through that lens.
@fwtxmom On Naviance, where you can look at “How You Compare to Other Students From Your High School” there should be a link to click to “Compare me with all accepted applicants.”
When referencing Naviance, which is a better measure to categorize reach, match and safety colleges, “other students from your high school” or “all accepted students”?
I don’t see a tab like that. One of the main tabs is “Colleges” and under that there are “scattergrams” and “acceptance history.” Those sub-tabs only refer to his own high school. Maybe his school has a limited subscription?
@fwtxmom When in Naviance, search for college, click on college name. From main college OVERVIEW page, scroll to the bottom.
On my version, there are 3 or 4 “gauges” (like odometers) for SAT, ACT, GPA. Below them there is a banner in white that says “compare me…” When you click that banner, the metrics toggle between “all students” and “students at my high school”. When I am in the ADMISSIONS tab, I don’t have the information either
Ok now I see that. However, S’s SAT is on an incorrect scale in the Overview tab so the admitted student comparison is completely unhelpful. The Overview compares his score to admitted students on a 2400 scale but the score is on a 1600 point scale. The score is scaled correctly in his profile-?? I emailed the school college counselor to see if she could get it fixed.
I think that might be a problem either with Naviance or some of the colleges because I’ve seen that on some but not all. They say the previous scores are converted from the 2400 to 1600 scale but I’ve seen some saying my d is in the red because her score isn’t in the 1600’s.
Yeah, I don’t find those gauges very helpful. Either my kid is doing “GREAT!!” because of incorrect or incomplete data. Or she has flatlined because of incorrect or incomplete data.
We went through something very similar with my S17 at this point in his junior year. 2 jobs, 2 clubs one of which took a lot of time, spring marching band, a heavy course load, tech for the spring musical and a broken wrist.
Definitely some “I have the worst grades of all my friends “ and “I will never be able to improve my ACT score” talk.
And you know what. I decided who cares. His happiness (and work, clubs and tech made him very happy) wasn’t worth the stress. Could he have upped the ACT score? Probably. But not if he didn’t buy into it. I told him he could be done if he wanted and we could tailor his list (which was nowhere near final at this point) if we needed to. That he would be fine and he would go to college.
And he was, and is.
Now, that’s “that” kid. S19 is a different kettle of fish, with different motivators and needs. Point is though, we need to guide our kids. But we also need to listen to what they need and want even if it’s very different from what we think they should need and want.
Our school does not have Naviance, so I have been combing through CDS’s for the colleges that are far outside our geographic region (which is most of the schools D19 is considering). I find the collegedata website helpful for this, but sometimes their data is old. If there is a better way to do this, I’d love to know.
Also, I learned that our school will send a packet of academic and demographic information along with transcripts so that a college unfamiliar with our high school can interpret rigor/course offerings/performance for themselves. I have not seen the packet so I am very interested to know if it works for or against us. Our school has a bit of a split personality of 25% IB candidates and 30+ percent underserved/ low income students. D, of course, is in the middle. Interpretation could go either way.
@Acersaccharum That packet will be the school profile. It helps AOs see how the student has done in relationship to his peers. It also shows how many APs are offered, the average ACT/SAT scores, and tons of other info that puts the high school in perspective. Our school does not rank, but the profile shows the GPA for the top 10 percent and the top 20 percent so the AOs can still see where the student falls in the top two deciles.
See if you can get a copy. Your guidance counselor has one. Or if could be on your school’s website under the counseling dept. I found ours very interesting.
I think the amount of information in the profiles given to colleges varies, so definitely try to get your hands on it. Ours doesn’t really give much info about ranks/average GPA at all (other than “Our school does not rank”), but does have average SAT and ACT scores (from the previous year’s class), in comparison to the rest of the county and the state. The narrative introduction to the school, if you read between the lines, says “We have a lot of UMC tiger parents.” lol
Well, I got the profile and I must say it is pretty bare-bones. I see that our AP and IB scores are about average but we have a good number of students taking them. No information about GPA or rank. SAT and ACT averages are slightly above national averages and 90% of students go on to 4-yr colleges. There is little to no demographic information about our urban community or it’s diversity. I can’t see how this document has much impact on a student’s application.
Ugh! Just got D19 3rd quarter grades and not great. She ended up with 3-A’s, 2-B’s and 2-C’s. She has a lot of work to do this quarter to try and salvage some decent semester grades. Our school has a wacky grading system where they average the letter grades. If she can manage B’s in the two classes where she got C’s she will end up with a B for the semester.
