There can be a lot of variation in what is the “bare minimum” from 1 high school to another, so I’d take the comment about a high school sending a lot of athletic students to Ivy’s & top LACs who take the ‘bare minimum’ with a grain of salt.
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Yes a couple of grains. Thanks. Reading this thread makes me realize that there is a huge differentiation from school to school.
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For example:
High School #1:
Requires non-honors/non-CP English, history/social studies, math, 2 yr of science for HS graduation. No art or foreign language requirement.
High School #2:
HS graduation requirements include 1 yr foreign language, 4 yr of honors/CP English, same for history/social studies, same for math, 3 yr of honors/CP science. AP classes optional.
High School #3:
HS graduation requirements include 3 yr foreign language, 4 yr honors/CP science, 4 yr honors/CP math, 4 yr honors/CP english, 1 yr arts (music or art classes), pass 2 AP exams of any subject, take capstone (200-300 level college course equivalents) classes in senior yr, + a 3-month internship or independent research project in senior yr.
And there is an enormous difference between hooked and unhooked applicants and those with a spike and those without. Even at the same school if you look at scatterplots there are huge variations on SAT and GPA ranges for highly competitive schools so there is more than just rigor and grades.
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That’s a very valid point!
Hi parents, the SAT/ACT prep company we work with and have had great result with our son has a few SAT prep boot camp sessions from 2/20 thru March and it’s free. DM me if you are interested. I don’t get paid for any referrals.
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Only you can see your school. Perhaps your school is very large and the data you are seeing includes Div I athletes and other hooked candidates on the same scattergram across multiple years.
At my kids school, which is tiny, top candidates have it all and often in many buckets often with/out hooks. There might be a kid with a weak SAT who has a higher GPA, or who is an outstanding leader/ athlete etc to balance it out. But an “enormous difference” no way.
For us, the numbers are pretty close. I only saw one SAT below 1150 for a top school.It stood out. Because it was the single accepted data point in that low range. For others most kids were 1450 or higher and high GPA. These were top kids.
Then again it depends on what highly competitive means. My definition may be very different.
@MommaLue Thanks for all of your insights. How would we DM you?
You can message me on here. I don’t think I can message you? I tried to message you. Let me know if it came thru.
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I think just looking at the metrics will not give you the context of the student. They may have had things in their background and insights they shared on their app that no stat can truly reveal.
We have the smartest and brightest kid who delivered everything out of the ballpark academically and then my S21 (albeit he did have a 36 ACT but it was not even considered) who was 3.8 something with less course rigor, yet, one got into Berkeley and the other one straight up rejected. Their essays and what they do outside of school were drastically different.
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For those with students in LA who are interested in engineering and research, the deadline to apply for USC’s SHINE program is March 1.
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Cool! This is a great Engr school!
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@MommaLue your profile is private, so i don’t think there is an easy way to DM you through college confidential.
I never said they would. If you look at the thread someone else mentioned that there were “enormous” differences in stats between candidates at their school. to top schools.
Your example of a 3.8 with 36ACT v. the “smartest and brightest” kid are both in the same category in my opinion. Both are outstanding stats that would not differentiate one from another except maybe for Caltech or MIT where they are looking at other things as well.
I said there are enormous differences between hooked and unhooked students., didnt mean my school in particular but in general. You can’t apply the criteria for one for the other. My school sends a few hooked students to top schools a year (medium sized suburban public school) and you will see they have significantly lower sat and gpas. But if you look in general this is the case across the board. THe most important thing for this discussion is not how these kids get accepted with lower rigor and grades, but that kids with the highest rigor and grades do not get it. So working on your passion and doing things that you want and writing an exceptional essay must be the difference. If my S was not an exceptional musician there would be no way he would be considering top schools. There are hundreds of other wonderful places that he would be equally happy why spend your entire life working on something with a 5% acceptance rate?
The applicants I’m referring to are hooked athletes and have a spot as long as they meet the cut off for the standardized tests and unweighted GPA. The non-athletes that get into the same schools have tippy top stats and ECs.
My point to the other poster was that if their child is good enough in music to be hooked (get a likely letter or equivalent) they need to take the college prep classes, make good grades, and have solid test scores if they’re required. They don’t need the rigor that regular applicants need.
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For recruited athletes to ivy/top15 schools at our school, it is common to have much lower rigor and SAT scores(around the middle or lower) than the non athletes(need to be top20% gpa with max rigor to have a shot). For non athletes rigor is way more important than gpa, but the recruited athletes have a different path. A private school across town has very similar trends—recruits are different. Our honors and AP have the same weight so it is easy to have a very high gpa and avoid the hardest APs.
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Hope he feels better soon.
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Hi! Happy to have found this thread. Last time I was on a parent forum like this was when I was expecting D24. 
D24 left home in 8th grade to attend a ballet conservatory and enrolled in an established virtual school. (Perfect timing really because COVID hit six months later.) She’s leaving behind dance, re-entering mainstream public school, and plan to apply for early admission into direct entry nursing programs - she really wants to attend Creighton.
I totally appreciate the Physics conversation … it is one we are having now … D24 has 4.2 GPA and by the end of this year, will have completed Bio, Chem, and AP Bio. Her school would not permit any Physics without Algebra 2 and she is enrolled in that now - so AP Biology was chosen. I have been warned AP and Honors Physics (taught by same teacher) is incredibly hard and the teacher is horrible - straight A students getting D’s. Bad idea to take Honors Anatomy junior year and AP Physics senior year?
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Hello! I am in KY and my best friend’s child just decided to go there next year. So, I can tell you what she has told me. She has toured the school and met with counselors. They love that it is small. The faculty seems to coddle the students more - if a student misses classes, a teacher will follow up and check on them. They guarantee you’ll kid will graduate in four years and if they don’t, fifth year is free. You have to live on campus all four years and the study abroad program is strong. She had about a 3.25 and a 31 ACT and got a very large endowment and is interviewing for several other scholarships. No one pays full tuition (just reputation locally).
I do not know if you know KY, but it is in the sticks. If your child needs more activity, I am not sure it is the right place. It is a very small town.
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