<p>So I have been calculating GPAs 15 million different ways . . . cumulative flat and weighted, core academic both ways, core including foreign language both ways etc. Now is the time to bring up any HS class grades that were taken in MS. I am trying to figure out how to thread the needle for academic merit benchmarks and in-state tuition waivers at the non-conservatory options to get a good picture on costs not including any possible talent $$$. Each school calculates a bit differently and the kid hovers between a B- and an A- depending on how you slice it. It looks like Temple uses unweighted core plus language. Does anyone have experience with the range of possible music talent $$$ that might stack with that? I recall someone saying that Temple #s came out looking good for them but that it was in large part academic merit $$$.</p>
<p>Hi @saintfan - my D just got accepted to Temple/Boyer for Voice, and has a full tuition offer - this is an academic merit award & since it is full tuition, D won’t be eligible for music merit. This is by far her best offer; however, it’s between Temple and CSU Long Beach to see which will be the best musical fit for her. Good luck - when will your child be “at bat”?</p>
<p>Not until next year - I am just trying to map out academic admission vs music admission vs cost reach/likely/safety (bad terms but they serve). I have found so far that reports of awards can sound to the optimistic ears much more attractive than they really are when one digs deeper. For example - a good friend has a friend of family who is in another performance field. He reported that friend kid was admitted to NYU with little or no funding and ended up across the river with a “full ride”. When I scoped out that school further I realized that honors is worth 6k, there is a chance of another 2k academic merit and possibly 2k talent. The kid in question, as it turns out, is in-state so it appears that his “full ride” is really almost full in-state tuition comprised mostly of academic merit. Music scholarships are actually quite limited. So . . . factor in OOS tuition and my kid who meets the honors college benchmark with unweighted GPA just barely inching into range (comfortably over on SAT) and it doesn’t look so affordable. Temple academic merit, according to their web site, considers unweighted academic core classes only so he might just squeak into the 9k range agains OOS tuition. Weighting the core would be worth an extra 5k per year and that combined with a marginal improvement in SAT would double it. However, I’ve got to realistically plan for worse case. This is where I half wish that I had known 4 years ago that he would be on this path. It kills me to say it but had he not jumped ahead with some subjects and stood pat with basic honors classes rather than IB/AP his GPA would be worth more $$$. Water under the bridge, though. Now it is about working with what we’ve got and pushing 2nd semester successfully over the finish line. :P</p>
<p>Anyway - I was trying to figure out the realistic range of possible music $$$ to augment academic merit </p>
<p>I just added projected 2nd semester core classes to the spread sheet - it is very much a razor’s edge thing, unfortunately. It’s amazing the $$$ that one can ‘earn’ or ‘lose’ between an A- and a B+</p>
<p>Saintfan – You have my sympathy. My son opted out of APs in favor of honors classes and it’s definitely costing us academic merit money. He has a high GPA, good SAT, etc… but decided to put most of his time into practicing, performing, and auditioning. I still think it was the right choice and that he’s a better pianist for it. Also, he was very prepared for his auditions. Fortunately, there are music scholarships out there and some can be generous. Getting money from state schools is especially tough in this economic environment – the criteria seems to be constantly shifting as legislatures slash budgets. If we had to do this over again, we would have eliminated one or two state schools from our list in favor of privates. For example, my son was interested in Rice, but didn’t have the time to take the ACT. Look at the schools with the most generous endowments. Good luck! </p>
<p>Bachmom - so less merit money due to lower weighted GPA without AP? I need to make more calls but so far online it seems that more schools are not looking at weighted grades and just care about flat un-weighted cumulative or core academic. Of course as they say, the As in all AP/IB classes is the best thing but we’re now in a favorable “strength of schedule” position with variable grades. In a ‘holistic’ review should be fine (knock on wood) but I’m trying to identify where there is ‘safe’ merit for known stats.</p>
<p>Every school seems to be different in how they weigh and calculate grades, extracurriculars, community service, etc… S missed out on a key full-tuition scholarship at one school, which I suspect had to do with his lack of APs. He attends a fairly rigorous high school that offers a lot of AP courses. Apparently, colleges measure students against students in their own high school when making admissions decisions. My son also took a lot of music courses (he’s in the band and orchestra), so his core academic load wasn’t quite as high as it could be. Keep in mind that the SAT is critical in securing merit aid – the higher the score, the better. My son just wasn’t willing to prep endlessly for this test or take it more than twice. He did well, but not well enough to secure academic merit aid from top tier schools. He also didn’t want to take the SAT subject tests because of the prep involved (like many on this board he’s a busy performer). So it’s hard to know which way to go, except that musical talent trumps everything or at least it should. What state are you in? That may greatly expand your options. </p>
<p>Washington - I have noticed, actually that with a lot of posted merit benchmarks the SAT benchmark doesn’t rise as fast. Saintkid will have room to spare on SAT but be just there with GPA (depending on how calculated). I decided that taking the SAT one more time is not the hill I want to die on relative to pushing through with grades. That may change though.</p>
<p>We are in the same predicament. It seems that unweighted gpa matters the most. I’m so upset I let my son take 2 ap classes last fall with a busy music and practice schedule. His gpa dipped below 3.5. He is now scrambling to push it back up and will take a summer school class to help boost it. Sigh. If I only knew. Ap is operated unless your child has phenomenon time management skills which my son does not.</p>
<p>*over rated not operated</p>
<p>Our home school is the IB magnate and houses the HS gifted program. The general population does more AP classes just as a natural progression than some places I think as that is the general vibe. Saintkid started with 4 this year plus IB music (had 3 last year) and dialed back one class to regular at the semester after a tough AP calc first semester. Had I known we would have done it completely differently. Big sister and most of his friend cohort did/are doing the IB diploma so we kind of started down that track early and have been adjusting ever since. Kid is doing 2 camps this summer which I think will go farther than anything at this point. His favorite non-conservatory school (right now) leans more towards holistic admissions and merit so fingers crossed there. I think they will give more consideration to strength of schedule. He’s also got a list of safety admits for academics but it’s that perfect triangulation of lining that up with music admissions and $$$ - however they come. I just don’t want to be that parent who checks back this time next year with a list of unaffordable admits.</p>
<p>My son did well with the honors classes but the ap chem and ap english was too much. He was wanting to do premed and changed his mind in October saying he can’t live without music and put more energy into practicing. We’re not looking at expensive conservatories. We couldn’t afford it even with a generous scholarship. We’re looking at less expensive options with a greater chance of affordability since he will only qualify for loans and scholarships. </p>
<p>Right now he is thinking about applying to 2 conservatories but we’ll see. He’s doing a camp at one so will get a better sense then. It could be a wash out or maybe there’s a chance - to echo all those regular parent threads he does know that the $$$ have to work out. Aside from the ‘wing and a prayer’ places I’m really trying to study up for a solid list of safer options that he really would be happy to attend.</p>
<p>What instrument does he play? My son checked out unt. I know they’re known for jazz but my son did a sample lesson and had a good experience and if you get 1000 in scholarships you automatically qualify for instate tuition. I know we can afford that. Plus many of his students are playing in orchestras right now which is a good sign </p>
<p>yep! He is doing camp there as well. His gig is not usually a generous $$$ thing I gather. But yes, UNT is an academic admit and $$ safety for sure. Their scholarship $$$ are tied to class rank and SAT which is a whole different thing but between projected merit money, in state and even small talent $$$ is would work financially.</p>
<p>I sent you a message, cellomom</p>
<p>Our school only runs ranks October senior year so I can only speculate where he is at. I asked the counselor as I thought they must do them after each semester - nope.</p>
<p>Saintfan, I hardly recognize you without the headphones.</p>
<p>Hahahaha - I figured it was time for a little change :D</p>
<p>Plus I’m less prominent with my new look . . . that yellow was pretty loud.</p>