I guess Northwestern and Northeastern are directionals.
Just kidding! 
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Same. We have grade deflation, and that causes an issue when looking at schools that award scholarships based on GPA.
In fact, the grade deflation can result in extra college tuition costs of $20,000-$40,000 over four years. So, attending the private school is even MORE expensive.
After my 23 graduates, I will bring this up with the high school.
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Schools that are state unis/colleges but not flagships. Many kids choose these based on their career interests. So, someone that does not get into NCSU might choose to attend UNCC or someone interested in premed might go to ECU, which has a med school.
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Where I live - we have a private school - and I was looking at their placements. Yes, they have the Harvard, Princeton, Gtown - but they also have the Auburn, UTK, MS State, etc.
Iâd assume - when parents initially send their kids to these high fallutin schools they are banking on a similarly prestigious college. At least initially - although I suppose there may be other reasons for choosing the school (perhaps learning disabilities).
Makes you think though - that parents should, after learning what we have on this board, have a thought toward college costs before choosing a private school for the reason you just mentioned.
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Ok⊠would it be accurate to say that a âdirectionalâ school is
- A state school (not private)
- Considered to be a lower tier than a state flagship
- Primarily serves students in its region (part of a state)
- May have primarily commuter students
- But also not a community college
In CA, CSUs are designed to serve a local region and most do have a large commuter population, but they may also be considered to be pretty strong schools (at least in some area). For example SJSU is a major feeder for the tech industry but is also a regional commuter-type school. Would it be considered a directional school?
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Same with UMD. An AO there was reported to have said the school is the University of Maryland and not the University of Montgomery County.
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The GPA definitely hurt my son in auto merit at Arizona, but not at Alabama. The UCs are evaluating recalculated weighted gpa and unweighted. One thing theyâve done to help level the playing field is they designate students as ELC- eligible in a local context. My son is UC-ELC, top 9%, even though his 3.75 unweighted GPA sounds low by some metrics. It hopefully gives the context that his school doesnât have kids graduating with 4.0s.
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When people say directional, theyâre talking about schools with direction - so youâre W Michigan, E Kentucky, etc.
But itâs just a term people use - but it means your non-flagship/main schools.
Is a Truman State directional especially when thereâs SE Missouri or Southern Missouri State?
Is UC Merced a directional? Or Cal State East Bay?
You can make your own distinction. Iâd personally say that Cal Poly SLO and SDSU are not directional. But a Cal State Fullerton - while not directional (itâs not Cal State Inland South) - but itâs the same feel. Same with a San Marcos or Bakersfield.
Itâs like the whatâs anLAC forum - it is what you want it to be.
The schools with directions on them are gimmes. How you define UVA Wise or Florida Gulf Coast - itâs up to you. To me, theyâve got the same purpose as a directional, etc.
Whatâs in a name?? Thereâs no formal definition of any of these things - itâs all in how a person defines it.
But Southern Illinios and Western Michigan are nationally respected names for what itâs worthâŠbut yep, still directional 
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Bama just has a 3.5 for the highest level but requires a test score that Arizona wonât even acknowledge.
Miami of Ohio uses weighted.
Others - Ms State, Murray State, Truman State, Mizzou and many more seek your GPA - so thatâs without regard to rigor.
It really depends on the type of school - and of course those with rigor, even at schools that donât check that box, but with rigor, you often come in with credits whereas if you take a regular schedule, you wonât.
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The UCs will primarily consider kids academic performance in context of their HS. And since you are in-state, they likely have a VERY good understanding of the local context.
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Once again, this only matters for colleges that practice holistic admissions. Auto merit schools do not care about which classes you take â AP Env Sc is the same as AP Calc BC to get that GPA.
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Not in Virginia. UVA Wise is a Satellite campus, often used as a pathway to UVA for Arts and Science majors. Few schools are named after their location, Radford, and Norfolk maybe.
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There are other reason people send students to private schools, not just as a means to get into certain elite colleges. I teach at a private classical Christian school and I would say the quality of the public schools, teaching methods, and cultural values are more often driving our families to enroll in private school, as opposed to college outcomes.
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I was specifically reassuring @socalmom007 about the UCs.
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This is, naturally, part of whatâs going on with this.
But people tend to remember the past very, very badlyâof course grades were less inflated back then, right? Well, no.
(Which is a large part of the reason that anecdote is most definitely not the singular of data.)
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Cool was that last year and is he at Northwestern now? My son just got into Northwestern ED and is thrilled.
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Yes, that was last year.
Heâs a freshman at MIT.
Good luck to your son at Northwestern!
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Many colleges (selective colleges too, i.e. University of Michigan), recalculate the applicants gpaâs and do not take +'s and -"s. An A- is the same as an A and A+. So your kid has a high probability having a 4.0 to many of the colleges he applied to without you even knowing. And these same colleges donât even look at weighted gpa (again University of Michigan) and only look at courses taken for rigor and types of courses taken based on applied major.
This is why âthe kids with A minus averages do just fine in admissionsâ. They are recalculated to be 4.0âs
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Some families choose private or independent schools because they think (ETA) the education is significantly better than the public option, and they are willing to pay for that. Small classes, no behavior problems or threats of violence, engaged, motivated and smart student body with supportive families, close relationships with teachers, robust college counseling, etc. Iâve taught in both public and independent schools and my children have attended both, and in our experience, there is a world of difference between an independent school and even a âgoodâ public school district.
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My daughter was accepted into the DâAmore-McKim School of Business and we were curious about the General Education requirements. Are students required to take language and science courses or is the program 100% business classes? Thank you.
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