<p>My son attends The International Academy in suburban Detroit, which is a top ranked public school. It is an IB school, with all students required to apply for the DP and take a full IB DP class load. He is presently getting a 3.65 unweighted average.</p>
<p>Compared to my older son who attended a very well respected high school and graduated with an unweighted GPA of 3.9 carrying all AP classes (2 as a sophomore, 5 as a junior and 6 as a senior) his AP work load was no where near the work that my IB son is receiving.</p>
<p>Therein lies the dilemma. In order to receive a "you're admitted" letter from Rice (everything else being equal), is my 11th grade son better off sticking with the IB and obtain his diploma and a 3.65 unweighted GPA or would he be better off transferring back to his home school, taking 6 AP classes and ending up with a 4.0?</p>
<p>i don’t mean to sound rude, but being a junior and transferring just for senior year is a little late even if that was an option at one point dont you think? Considering that a lot of people apply to schools with their GPAs up to junior year. Also, i’ve learned from experience that as late in the game as it is, a 4.0 isnt going to bump up his GPA as much as you would expect.</p>
<p>xuladude10–you are not being rude, so don’t worry about it. He knows that the net affect on his cumulative GPA is small. I was just trying to get a feel on whether admissions at Rice would put any weight on the difference in difficulty between his present school (it apparently has a lot of prestige academically), obtaining an IB Diploma and ending up with a 3.65 for his junior and senior years versus going back to his home high school with his 3.65 for his junior year from The International Academy and taking 7 AP classes his senior year and ending up with a 4.0 from that school.</p>
<p>I understand that the net effect on the cumulative GPA for his junior years will be minimal. I just didn’t know whether admissions looks at the increase in grade point from the junior to senior year in a better light than they would sticking with the IB program, obtaining the DP and graduating with a cumulative 3.65.</p>
<p>Ultimately, it is his decision anyway–I am just trying to understand how the admissions game is played at the schools he is interested in. Thanks to all for your advice.</p>
<p>FAFSA Parent, I’m glad to see a fellow Michigander here on the Rice thread. I currently attend a very rigorous private college prep school located just a couple miles from IA (yeah I know there are a couple but you’ll probably narrow it down by the end of my post). Anyways, my school has both AP and IB program. With the exception of history classes, the IB class is the AP class and vice versa, we just combine the curriculum. Let me just tell you that the prestige of the high school carries further than the classes. AP at my school is definitely harder than AP at the public school I would go to. UMich is known to accept students who have a subpar GPA from my school over somebody who has the same GPA from a public school, yes, I know this sounds very arrogant but I’m sure as a parent of a son who goes to IA, you understand how much harder college prep schools around our area is. Now, I have friends who go to IA and the other big private school (there are two big name ones that you probably heard-one of which is mine). Their experience are the same. I have a friend who attended IA and graduate two years ago. He is at Duke. He was smart but his GPA wasn’t very good, it was a 3.bad according to him. He didn’t pick it up until the second half junior year, where he got all A’s the second semester, which brought his GPA up. But guess what, he got into Duke ED and students from less rigorous schools that had much higher GPA.
Now, I will admit, and this might sound harsh, that 3.65 is a fairly low GPA. BUT compared to non-college prep schools around our area, his effort is much higher than that of the surround school, as you probably seen. I will advise that he work hard, A LOT, during second semester because you want a upward trend and to show you can take college courses. I advise him not to transfer as it will only look bad, it gives the impression hat he can’t take the college intensive courses. It won’t be easy, but he has to make a lot of sacrifice. Change his study habits, take a way distractions. Tell him that this is serious, he can sacrifice half of year of his life for the next 4 years. That’s what my friend did and guess what it worked. I may sound harsh, but that’s my experience and that is what he should do if he wants to be one of the best. IA is hard, but if he does well, it’s rewarding. Don’t transfer as it looks bad, stay and just be more strict on his studies. I know he can probably do better, you should push him. Junior year IB is a wake up call, it’s a test to see if he can handle it and he has to show that he can.
Best of luck, by now you probably know my school.</p>