Many schools list percentages in different grade bands, eg ours says something like 10% above 4.2 (weighted), 12% 4.0-4.2, 15% 3.8-4.0 etc.
Oh thatâs nice! I wish ours did.
How did you get the school profile out of curiosity?
Our school doesnât rank either, or have valedictorians, or disclose percentages. In general they are very sensitive to discourage anything that involves creating the implied pressure of acknowledging academic achievement for some and not all. They privately gave the NMSFâs their letters (called them to the office and the secretary silently handed them sealed envelopes, no words spoken) the day before the national press release but did not disclose it any way themselves. Graduation speakers are selected by student committee unrelated to any academic reasons. Etc. I just assumed that merit scholarships dependent on rank make exceptions when the information is not disclosed by the schools but no idea if thatâs true. Perhaps they simply make guesses based on GPA of current and past applicants?
Got our first totally unsolicited college mail today. Wartburg College. Odd.
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Our school featured photos of everyone (NMSF, Commended and Hispanic scholars) with their certificates in the weekly newsletter and used it as encouragement for this yearâs PSAT takers. I think thatâs more typical.
What merit scholarships depend strictly on rank (apart from places like Texas with scholarships for the valedictorian)? Everything Iâve seen that isnât strictly GPA or SAT based is based on a holistic review (including things like AP scores, course rigor etc)
The school profile is posted on our schools website under the guidance department tab
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I thought that merit scholarships for some colleges are based on a combo of the rank and SAT score. So I was just wondering how they come up with the merit amount if they are missing the rank piece of the equation.
Its been buggy the last couple of days. Sometimes I see them, sometimes I dont.
The buttons are there, just not visible.
Interesting. I searched the school website and they donât (publicly) link to it anywhere but then I did a Google crawl of it and found a profile. Even the profile doesnât offer any hint of grade distribution or tiering. It does have some interesting info on the average test scores (number of NMSF and commended, average SAT, ratio of students who score 3+ on AP tests, etc.) and stats on the colleges that intake the most students from the HS over the prior 4 years. Seems like they remain stubborn in consciously not providing any data on GPA ranking of any kind even to the colleges.
High school profiles are often very difficult to find, but every school has one.
Schools that donât rank seem to do fine getting kids into colleges where rank is âvery important.â I think colleges realize rank isnât done everywhere.
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I have been lurking around for a while and was a long time CC poster prior to one of the huge redesigns that required new passwords/logins and I lost my previous account. I think about your question a lot with our senior now. With older siblings admissions seemed much more predictable. For example #2 did âreachâ for a sub 10% (and got it) but also had the likelies (might get some, but b/c of odds and %s not likely to get into all), and then had the one safety that they would happily attend in the event it all went south. Our first went to super safety on full ride, knew in September and relaxed. Had a great education, an awesome experience, and fully employed in field by graduation. Now, I have no idea where this one stands and what exactly ARE the reaches/likelies/safeties. I think reaches and likelies are interchangeable in many cases now since test optional and class of 22 results. Maybe not. We are just lost and worried this time around.
This child has good stats but much lower than siblings and lower than most here. We have no idea what their safeties and likelies are. We thought University of South Carolina, JMU, and Tennessee were likely and with merit money. Digging deeper, for out of state they may not even get in to these schools so they are no longer considered safeties. Child is looking for large/mid size, good school spirit, and south of mid-Atlantic region - they have pretty good ECs, 4.5 gpa, 7 APs, 30 ACT. They need merit $ or lower cost schools that come in at or lower than our state school (Pitt/Penn State so about $40k max). There are not many schools that seem to fit what they are looking for so we are unwisely sticking with a small list and hoping that just one comes through. They have already applied but none are rolling admissions so it has the potential to be a bloodbath later this winter. Reading recent result threads from last cycle, reading updated stats from the schools, and I am lost about each of the levels now.
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I can reply to individuals but canât seem to find the post button anymore.
My last kid was class of 2017. The college landscape is vastly changed in the last 6 years. I had a pretty good idea of where my daughter would be competitive, and my predictions were spot on. She got into some reaches she wouldnât get into now. I feel much more uncertain about S23, even though his stats are way higher. The last two cycles have been bizarre and I think we all need to be careful and make sure to have ample target and safety schools.
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Yes, sheâs doing well now as a junior, thanks. We did discover today, and I donât know why I never realized this before, is that since she never finished Algebra in 8th grade (school shut down in March 2020 and they had no assignments for the rest of the year, then went right into new school and Geometry in 9th grade) her ACT math scores are low, despite taking Algebra 2 as a sophomore. Finally made the connection that itâs the basic algebra that she needs to relearn!! Tutoring is helping.
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Hi ⌠againâŚI think 
Happy to suggest some schools with a bit more info on what your kid thinks they want to major in; we also are in PA and searched far and wide for my D19.
She ended up at WVU, which would be happy to have your kid and would give plenty of $$. Depending on your kidâs major, the program might even be well-regarded, even if WVU is considered meh by most on CC.
My S23 is higher stats but weâre still on the merit hunt, so we are seeking âlowerâ schools than ones he could get a straight admission to, by virtue of needing the $$.
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I am completely open to suggestions. WVU has been pitched to #3 multiple times - we know it is a great school and we (parents) are not prestige seeking at all. I have 2 nephews there and it was the safety for my #2 who would have happily attended and had a great time and a great education. (My first went to the huge southern merit school everyone thinks is meh but it turned out to be the best place for her). This one has some confidence issues and is much more name conscious than we would like. Covid did a number on her (academics, ECs, test scores, and mentally). She is also following siblings who were much more accomplished and much higher stats that appear as if they were better students. In actuality, she is as strong or stronger than her siblings and up to the pandemic she had outpaced them. We have told her she has a few weeks to find a EA safety that she must apply to before Nov. 1. WVU may be that place. Currently she does not want to be where her cousins attend (grandparent comparisonsâŚ).
It has taken a long time for her to determine what she is interested in doing. There are dozens of things that she knows she does NOT want to do. She is interested in forensics. She loves math and data and also loves biology. She is not sure if she wants data/information forensics or forensic sciences (crime scene lab work). She says she would love to work for the FBI (and WVU is a good choice for that direction and better than her choices).
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UNH (University of New Haven in Connecticut) is supposed to be very good for forensics and criminology. Not selective.
WVU does seem like a great option for your daughter. But if looking for additional suggestions for mid to large schools south of the mid-Atlantic region with good school spirit that would be under $40k for your daughter, has she thought about these schools? Iâm pretty sure theyâd all be acceptances, probably with decent to very generous merit aid for most of these:
⢠Appalachian State (NC)
⢠East Carolina (NC)
⢠Louisiana State
⢠U. of Arkansas
⢠U. of Central Florida
⢠U. of Louisiana â Lafayette
⢠U. of Louisville (KY)
⢠U. of Mississippi
⢠U. of South Florida
⢠U. of Southern Mississippi
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This is a really big problem with upper- and upper-middle-class cultural norms around postsecondary education right now, this focus on the prestigiosity of a school in general while ignoring both finances and the simple fact that individual programs donât match the USNWR (or any other) rankings.
I mean, itâs not like Middle Tennessee State is going to be up there on anyoneâs ideas of a prestigious school, but for audio tech? Easily among the top. Or in reverse, yeah, Harvard may be the single most prestigious college in the country, but if youâre interested in linguistics? Solidly meh. And so on.
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Oh well forensics, heck, WVU is one of the best places, as you know.
Has she visited? Oct. 22 and Nov. 5 are Discover WVU days, and we did one of those and found it very well done - better than any other college tour we did that year. It sealed the deal on applying for my kid.
Info here:
I know that WVU will be more than happy to set up individual interviews and tours on specific majors, so again, I know sheâs pushing back against the following-in-footsteps thing, but if you went to the Discover WVU day and had personal interviews set up, the whole experience might really help.
You could go there early Friday, do personal interviews with profs etc., maybe take a hike out at Coopers Rock, then do the Discover WVU event on the Saturday. Her stats would definitely get her into the Honors College, which has its own dorm (and itâs on the Discover WVU tour).
I did a really long review of WVU just recently:
As to other schools, I did research USF; itâs only about $30k for OOS. And it has an $18k scholarship for stats that would totally be reachable for your D.
LSU Ogden Honors College is well-regarded and entry threshold is a 3.5 GPA/ 30ACT.
Olâ Miss scholarships are also in reach, and of course you know sheâll get auto-merit at Bama.
I would just say on the prestige thing, my D felt this pressure immensely, as she went to a private school where classmates went on to Ivies and top LACs etc. She took a long while to realize that her full-tuition scholarship puts her in a sweet financial position, post-college, with only one $5,500 student loan. And, as I said in the review linked above, she has gotten the full range of skills and resume enhancements and networking from attending WVU. The rest is up to her; prestige doesnât matter one whit in that calculation.
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