<p>My 16-year-old had been in a gifted program since 3rd grade. The program had been good for him through middle school. However, the stress of the straight A prospect of HS took him to quite a detour during his 9th and part of 10th grades. He got hooked to online gaming and trading (though he did make almost $3000) as an escape from the pressure. We finally moved him out of the program. He is now in a regular HS, 11th grade and accelerating in every subject. Nevertheless, his GPA is only 3.1 at the moment. He has two APs under his belt, one scored 4 and one 5. He is taking 5 AP course this year and I anticipate that he will do well (4 or 5). He is taking SAT & SAT II tests in the Spring. He doesn't do much sports, really likes business, policy and law related topics. I am looking for advice on what schools may be realistic for him to apply, what subject tests he should take and anything else he can do to boost his credantial. Thanks so much from an overwhelmed parent. </p>
<p>His gpa this year will be very important as well as his first semester Sr year. I don’t think he should take that many AP in one year, for fear of it backfiring and he get overwhelmed far into the semester, plus prepping for SAT. I really don’t think taking 5 vs 4 is going to help that much. Focus on the key ones. Did he take the PSAT or any practice test for you to estimate his score range?</p>
<p>What state are you in and what is your budget? Don’t worry, he will have choices.</p>
<p>He may not need SAT II’s. </p>
<p>It sounds like it is a good idea to keep the stress down, as BrownParent said.</p>
<p>What are his strengths? Does he have activities after school or outside of school?</p>
<p>I wonder if there is something healthy he can do to relieve pressure in the same way gaming did.</p>
<p>Does he like computers, programming, that sort of thing? Maybe he would enjoy creating games. A community college or other resource might provide classes in that direction.</p>
<p>Has he had any kind of neuropsych. evaluation of his giftedness? Giftedness is actually considered a “special need” and maybe more information on his learning needs would help.</p>
<p>We were a bit late in transferring to the current HS, so his class choices were limited. He’s been able to handle the AP load well as he’s used this type of vigorous curriculum. He’s now realized that he needs to catch up and is motivating himself to do that. Thank you for the idea of having him try some practice tests and see where his strength is at. He took his PSAT, but doesn’t know the score yet. We are in WA. Budget is okay as we planned from a long time ago. </p>
<p>His strength seems to be in leadership, business, debate and public speech. He is in a couple of different clubs (JSA, DECA) and will start volunteering at the local aquarium as a dosant in Jan. His favorite activity by far is the summer business camps sponsored by the State. He went for the CEO position both times he attended and got it. We did test him for giftedness when he was younger and he scored above 99.5%, which was why we put him in the program. I felt like the hardest part has been to keep him motivated. </p>
<p>Once he gets his psat look for the projected SAT, then compare that against the 50% ranks of each college’s common data set. </p>
<p>Schools where the predicted SAT is in the norm are matches for you.
Schools where the predicted SAT is at the bottom or just below the norm are reaches.
The ones where the SAT is over the norm are you safeties. </p>
<p>Get a collection of schools from each category. It sounds like he might be interested in a business college. Foster is a good one. </p>
<p>Which APs is he taking this year? For example if he’s taking APUSH the SAT is a snap, both my kids got 800s without studying because they were reviewing for the AP test the same month. Math 2 usually is easy if you are taking Pre-calc, but may need a bit more review if you are taking a more advanced math course and have forgotten basic algebra and geometry. Where he should apply will depend a lot on SAT scores and his junior year GPA and how that GPA looks in the context of his school.</p>
<p>First school that came to mind is Babson College - <a href=“Best College For Entrepreneurship | Babson College”>http://www.babson.edu/Pages/default.aspx</a></p>
<p>SAT: Math 2 (if he’s in precalc), US History (as I assume he’s taking APUSH or US History Honors), a foreign language. This would be good for Georgetown for example (even if with a 3.1 he would need excellent scores and a good explanation from his guidance counselor to qualify for G’Town).
For law, schools with strong programs in English, Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics would be best.
it’s too early to determine what his safeties, matches, and reaches would be, but check out American University, GWU, G’Town, Tufts, Kenyon, Hamilton, Hobart&WilliamSmith, Goucher, Hendrix, NYU, Fordham, DePaul, Saint Louis University, Colgate, Butler, Earlham.
For Business/entrepreneurship, Babson, Bryant, Bentley.
For International Business, University of South Carolina/Honors.
For various branches of business including finance, Indiana-Kelley, Emory, Pace, Baruch, Fordham-Gabelli.
Those are all very different colleges, with very different selectivity levels. That should also show him what he can aim for, what type of environment he’s interested in, and that there are MANY colleges he could attend.</p>
<p>My D was in a similar spot, kind of bombed 9th grade in the honors program but slowly brought up the GPA in 10th and 11th grades. She is now thriving at the Honors College at WSU, had to get special approval based on her ACT and recent classes; her lowish overall GPA (3.4x when she applied) did not meet the threshold. The Carson Business College there has a good in-state reputation and a history of solid results. You can pair that with a visit to Gonzaga’s School of Business.</p>
<p>Foster at UW has a very good program but, in my experience, GPA is their #1 criteria for getting into the college. Only a few high-stats kids are admitted directly, the rest have to apply end of sophomore year. About 50% are accepted.</p>
<p>Similar story here. D fell apart in 10th grade and ended that year with a 3.4 uw. Managed to bring it up to a 3.6 by application time. On top of that, she stubbornly didn’t take all the key classes expected of her. Didn’t take any subject tests. Only 1 AP (though took 10 community college courses.) I think what saved her was high SAT/ACT scores, unusual passion based EC’s, great recs and a good essay about what happened to her in 10th grade. It’s almost funny how clear the decision cut-off lines were. Anything under 20 percent acceptance rate she was rejected, between 20 and 30 she was wait-listed, everything 30 and over she was accepted… often with merit money. She landed in the perfect place though and is the most fulfilled that I’ve ever seen her. I tell you all this to say that there is a great place for your S and not to know that all is not lost (and I will remind myself of this as my current 9th grader is floundering a bit.)</p>
<p>My advice, some study for tests, leadership and casting a broad net in regards to college applications!</p>
<p>Lots of excellent advice from everyone above.</p>
<p>If you do not want to wait until PSAT scores are returned in December, you can have him take a practice test from the Blue Book under timed conditions and have a starting point SAT score.</p>
<p>Re: Subject Tests. Agree that they may not be needed, but could demonstrate his renewed commitment to academics. If he is feeling the pressure from all the AP exams, the subject tests would be the first thing I would jettison. Much more important to nail the SAT I score, and he may find himself running out of testing dates. (Hence, my suggestion that he take a practice test now so that he can see how much prep time he will need and/or proceed to scheduling SAT date.)</p>
<p>Re: AP-USH subject test. I believe that CB tweaked it a bit so that the SAT II will not align as closely to the AP as it has in the past. They also revised computer programming AP and created two algebra-based physics AP courses from what had been one. I hadn’t realized there was an algebra-based physics as our school doesn’t offer it.</p>
<p>I like @MYOS1634’s list, but do not know some of the midwestern schools other than what I have read on CC. We did not get a good feel at Goucher, so I would suggest visiting that one.</p>
<p>I would add Tulane for business…perhaps Villanova or Bucknell?</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for the great tips, and for the list of schools. I will look into them. Once we get his PSAT scores, I will likely seek more advice. </p>
<p>He is taking AP Cal, Psych, biology, Eng lit & French.</p>
<p>I am intrigued by the online gambling and trading. That is quite an attention-getting extracurricular. There has got to be an essay in there if pitched the right way.</p>
<p>Gambling is illegal for minors, so it’s probably a good idea to stay off that topic. However I think trading is open to minors with parents’ permission and since he’s done well, it could be something to elaborate on (both in terms of time commitment, learning, and essay-writing).</p>
<p>You may want to take a look at this thread: <a href=“Parents of the HS class of 2015 - 3.0 to 3.3 GPA - Class of 20xx Community - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/class-20xx-community/1483143-parents-of-the-hs-class-of-2015-3-0-to-3-3-gpa-p1.html</a> Also Post #15 on that thread contains links to other useful threads. Also take a look at the Colleges That Change Lives. <a href=“http://www.ctcl.org”>www.ctcl.org</a>. </p>
<p>Actually it’s not gambling. The online games he played are those where one can get together with others following millitary ranking to win wars. I watched a couple of them, they seem quite realistic and elaborate. Probably why he was attracted. He has his earphone on, talking to people, “covering” each other, like command center. 
As for the trading, I had to confirm that it was legal because I was freaking out about it after I learnt it. He wrote a blog on the online social media about how he does the trades and he got 17,000 views. It boggles my mind how different things are nowadays. </p>
<p>oh, okay! Actual games! They’re called MMPORPGs :p. Sorry.
Coordinating teams, especially international teams, and rising to a certain level, is hard. There are competitions that people watch and this would be recognized (there are even professional players, like for sports).
Has he read <em>For the Win</em> by Cory Doctorow?</p>
<p>Not sure if he’d read that, but will let him know. I am sure he’ll be interested. He is at a JSA conference this weekend. He was indeed telling me about the international teams competing, or some of the top player “demonstrating” online. Apparently they make a good living out of followers who watch them play and donate money. Like I said, mind boggling to me. </p>