Okay. Sounds good. Thank you so much! Is there a way to direct message any parent on this portal?
@DS2012 Welcome. For any specific school just do a search for its Common Data Set. The schools prepare one each year. I also find Collegedata.com a good resource.
To direct/private another poster just go to the top of the page and you will see an envelope click it and you can start a new message and use the name of the poster as the recipient.
Thank you @burghdad , very helpful of you.
I did download CDS from few colleges. But I found, most of the state univs donât mention the GPA of candidates, only SAT scores. Also they do not mention requirements for any particular program. Or do they?
@DS2021 GPAs wonât be mentioned because high schools all figure GPAs differently. I think you can maybe see which percentile students are in their class on CDS - top 10th percentile, top 20th percentile - and what percent of admits are in those ranges. Requirements for programs? I donât think thatâs usually a thing. Every high school offers different classes, AP, honors, IB, or none of the above so colleges canât require certain classes. In general, for elite universities, four years of the five major subjects are what they want - science, math, social studies/history, English, and foreign language.
@homerdog thanks. I meant college requirements for a particular program.
Like say my child wants to go either Biomed or Biotech route. Isnât there a separate admission stats( HS GPA, SAT scores etc) by the major/program you apply for in a college?
I mean while a certain GPA might get you into a less sought after engg. in a good engineering college, the same GPA will not get you into say Computer Engg. right ?
@DS2021 huh? Just get as high of a GPA as you can. Thereâs no requirement. Itâs not cut and dry like you hit a certain GPA and SAT and youâre admitted. Admissions is holistic. Schools look at GPA and rigor in particular. SAT/ACT scores. Extracurricular activities. Teacher recommendations. Sometimes kids with the highest scores donât get in and kids with a well-rounded applications do get in.
@DS2021 I get what youâre saying about a big state school and that certain majors may need better stats to get in. CDS wonât break that out for you. You may be able to find that out on the schoolâs website but most likely not. You might be able to get info from your schoolâs guidance counselor and see what scores/grades kids have from your childâs high school who get into the programs your son is interested in.
@homerdog LOL!! Yeah that would have been good advice for most. My child goes to a rigorous pubic magnet (highly ranked in US news type) where every other kid has the greatest GPA :-p Kids all take same courses so no weightage or anything.
She loves the program she currently goes to but I am afraid her GPA (which is low given her school) might not land her the direction she wants to go in college.
She of course does not realize that and I am trying to figure if I am getting overtly worried or should just let the future take its own course!
@DS2021 colleges know the high schools. If your high school is rigorous then they will know. It really will be impossible to know what gpa a student needs to get into a certain program. Like I said, you can ask your guidance office for the range of gpa the kids have who get into certain colleges or programs. Usually they are willing to share that. Many schools have Naviance which shows each collegeâs acceptance history at a high school. Ask if your high school has that.
@DS2021 and it wonât help to get GPAs for accepted students because they come from all different schools. From your school, it might be fine to have a handful of Bs. Or maybe more than that if you have a ton of rigor. At other schools, kids might have to have all As. You canât compare.
@ds2021 Naviance is probably your best best, if you school uses it. D21 just got the information this year. If there are enough applicants at a certain school, it will give you a scattergram showing every app, the GPA and SAT score and the admission result.
Yeah we do have Naviance. It shows a scatter plot pertaining to college admissions. The GC never replies to emails :((
@NJWrestlingmom yeah we do have Naviance. So far I have seen scatter plots showing the schoolâs past GPA and SAT scores for particular colleges. No idea what area those students sought and got admission in.
@DS2021 probably because our kids are sophomores. Our GC is busy with the juniors and the seniors. The only thing sophomores should be doing is focusing on doing as well as they can. Too early for much else.
@DS2021 Naviance wonât break it down by schools within a college like an engineering school within a big state university. Youâll have to wait and talk to your GC when itâs time. Assume the kids in the engineering school have the highest grades of the accepted kids. You might get your GC to give you info on what you might need GPA and score wise for engineering but it will have to be info sheâs out together separately. You wonât find it specifically on Naviance. I also think itâs too early to be doing this. Kids have another year and a half of grades before they apply.
@DS2021 Welcome!
Here are statistics for the admitted students that applied to Rutgers for 2018.
https://admissions.rutgers.edu/applying/admissions-profile
They indicate GPA/SAT and ACT/rank range for different campuses and schools within those campuses. This will give you an idea of where your child falls. Applying by the early deadline will boost chances (and get an earlier, non-binding decision) which can take some of the pressure off for your child. You can also search here for threads about the Rutgers Honors program to see what the level is for that and for merit scholarships. It sounds increasingly competitive. But as @homerdog says, if your school is nationally ranked, admissions officers will know how to interpret your childâs academic record in the context of the school. Also, engineering and CS tend to set the bar higher.
Hey @mamaedefamilia thanks. I saw that.
- Our school grades in 100 and we kind of know what it translates to in a 4.0 scale
- Rutgers says on that page -- Grade-point average is on a weighted scale from 0 ("F") to 4.5 ("A+").
How do I match 1 & 2?
@homerdog yes its early. I wanted to get some data to show my child as a motivational factor, like something to target for. She is good but seems to have lost the drive among high performing peers 
As to Naviance also keep in mind that the scattergrams can be skewed by athletes. Our large public school has incredible athletic programs. So when you look at the Ivies, and other elite colleges, you will see stats for kids that are only getting into those schools because of football or swimming etc. Not transferable to a kid who is not a recruited athlete.
I picked up S21 and some teammates from practice last night, and the discussion surprisingly included college talk. All three are interested in continuing their athletic career in college. Player A wants to go to college in-state, and named two schools as a possibility. Both are very good schools. When I later told S21 that I thought one of Player Aâs in-state options might be of interest to him as well, he scoffed. Has no interest in staying in-state, even if itâs 2 hours from home.
He mentioned going as far as NC (weâre in NJ). I asked what he thought of Elon, which we did a drive by with him and D19 last summer. His response âToo white and preppyâ. And this comes from a kid who attends HS with mostly white preppy kids.
I have a feeling his college search is going to be quite interesting. It already got off to a blazing start when we did a tour of Gettysburgh and he was appalled they call âfreshmanâ first-years instead.