I remember reading about it when I was in college. They sent me a package in the mail with a DVD of the program and I wanted to go so badly!
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We had a somewhat similar problem with our kid & SRAR for a math class. We consulted with kidâs registrar people and wrote it exactly as it appeared/would appear on the transcript. They were the ones who advised us what to put and how, so I wouldnât do anything before asking them.
I just had him go ahead and submit. Too trivial to worry about. Itâs listed exactly as itâs on his transcript so that should be good. If they cared that it was a 2 credit class they would have a place to mark that. Also considering his HS is about 8 blocks from Temple and they get plenty of apps from it every year they probably already know.
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2plustrio - Iâve thought about this a lot. One reason why kids have high grades/and not super high test scores is because of the schoolâs student population. A school with a very high % of low income kids is basically trying to get these kids to graduate; so standards are lower and its easier to get high grades without much work. Weâve lived this first hand.
eg: S20 had 10/500 kids in his class get a 32+ on ACT. (published info). Our midwest state U offers tuition scholarships to kids with a 31/32 ACT each year; and each year around 15 kids get these scholarships (published info). Some go; some dont. but those have been the pretty stable number for this 73%+ low SES school during the 8 years our two middle kids were there.
in 2022; the state U went test optional. Those 15 av. full-tuition scholarships rose to 45 last year ; based on GPA alone. We know a kid who had a low 20s ACT who received one. Good for that kid, honestly! parents were so happy.
But whatâs interesting is that the number of full tuition scholarships didnt raise by 300% at the neighboring school district with 3% low SES. They grade harder because they arent overflowing with lowest levels/immigrants/ESL students trying to graduate. So - when you are perplexed at why super high 4.8 GPA kids sometimes score poorly - thatâs one reason. The school make-up and mission. just my thoughts â carry on!
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Iâm just seeing this - been college touring for 5 days! - so please ignore my thoughts right above this about GPAs/test scores!! 
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I teach in a high school that is majority upper middle class, but my students are seniors in danger of not graduating. The reality is that kids who do not get a high school diploma cannot even get a job as the school custodian. I struggle constantly with how to fairly give grades. It is an incredibly complex issue with lots of conflicting agendas.
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yes! the low income school wants these kids to have a HS diploma! i can only imagine how complicated it all is. from our point of view we figured our kids were learning things with passing AP scores and good ACTs. Otherwise . . weâd really have no idea!
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To play devilâs advocate, my own kids go to a private school. Many of those families can afford private tutors, expensive SAT prep classes, and the ability to take the tests multiple times. I teach next door to an AP History class. It is an absolute formula to pass that test and it can be, and is, taught. So I am not really sure test scores are really that objective. I also see that my son and his friends donât need after-school jobs. Getting good grades IS their job and their parents supply them with cars, spending money, phones, etc.
Obviously, I am not opposed to that as we pay for our own children to have that experience. Itâs just eye-opening to see the difference and understand how much easier it is for some kids to get those âobjectiveâ scores.
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i do not envy admissions officers in trying to discern all of this!
** we did switch kid #4 from low income large public to small private. i get it!
(and btw - thatâs MY personal word for the year. Discernment. last year it was industrious 
)
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I may be old school, and many of you may not agree with me, but if a 4.0 kid doesnât do well on SAT/ACT, I think you have to question the quality of that 4.0
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Why not question the quality of the SAT/ACT score?
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I donât disagree with that, but how do we define âwellâ? What is the acceptable range of an SAT score that says 4.0 has meaning? My son applied to schools where they have advised schools not to submit scores less than 1480. Now we have kids spending hours of time and hundreds of dollars on test prep, taking the tests 4,5,6 times to chase a score.
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Can we please stop again?
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1480 definitely is in the range of âwellâ in my book. However, being advised not to subimt less than 1480 is the world of college admission weâre experiencing now.
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I donât want us to keep belaboring the standardized tests score issue and see the point on both sides. I do caution parents though to try and help their kids see beyond just high school. Some jobs/ programs still require tests we can consider high stakes like NCLEX, GMAT, MCAT,LSAT etc. I think parents need to let their kids know it doesnât always end with high school and I am sure some trades also have exams students have to take to practice.
Maybe we the parents should stop making these tests out as be all end all and the students will take it like any other school test. I donât know the absolute answer and I am not sure there is one as people are so varied in their experiences.
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Exceptional is the objectively better term - itâs at the 97th percentile.
So when we are proud that kids are in the 1st decile (top 10% of their class by GPA), how can the top 3% not be celebrated as outright exceptional?
Hereâs the break-down, page 5:
So many (or actually⊠few: 2%) people are bragging so loudly about 15xx scores that too many REALLY, REALLY VERY good SAT scores are not even submitted. As a result, the college admission statistics show hyper-inflated SAT ârangesâ - which have no basis in reality (self-selected sampling) if you looked at the SAT range of the people actually ENROLLED!
Keep in mind, every single of the 15xx applicants, who each apply to 10 top schools, at the end can only ATTEND precisely ONE of the colleges they had been accepted to (yet each of the 10 colleges included that one 15xx figure in their dreamworld admission stats).
So the other 90% of people enrolling are the bulk who make up the (much âlowerâ) ârealâ SAT score range.
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My contribution to the thread is that now that apps are out Iâm really anxious! I hope D23 is distracted by other things and not worrying about it obsessively like me. Her list is nowhere near reach-y but I hope we did ok with the list. I hope she gets in! I hope they offer her some $$! All out of my control. She should start hearing back pretty quickly but man - this process is just a perfect storm for agitating my control issues and anxiety. Please send Xanax.
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The wait is hard. Congrats to getting it all in!
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My original entry into this conversation was not to debate test scores. I replied to a comment about grade inflation and kids who are struggling to meet graduation requirements.
In my limited experience, kids step it up on the tests ( and everything else) when they see real value for themselves.
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If thatâs what it takes to get into a particular school and the student and their family decide thatâs a worthy goal I donât see the problem.