If a student’s grades are a bit lower than the test scores would predict (in my son’s case a 3.5 GPA unweighted (in honors and AP classes) vs. almost-perfect SAT and ACT scores and AP exam scores), how should that affect (if at all) the kind of Common App and supplemental essays he writes? I would describe my son as very smart but a bit erratic in dealing with schoolwork, sometimes turning in assignments late or not at all. We have talked to him about this.
This is not that uncommon. If you are lucky your son has teachers who love him anyway and will write good recommendations. If your son is creative, funny, especially insightful a good essay may give him a nudge. But mostly you should be extra cautious and assume that he may be judged on his grades more than his scores, so make sure you find safeties and matches that he likes.
Sometimes kids like this flourish in college where they can take mostly courses they like. Sometimes they crash and burn as the lack of structure proves impossible to deal with. I’ve known a number who ended up on waiting lists, so senioritis can be especially problematic for this crowd.
My son was in a similar situation. I think he was helped in admissions because he went to a nationally ranked high school. He is currently attending a very fine university but he did not get into the few elite schools he applied to. He also applied to engineering and CS programs that tend to have higher admissions standards. My son didn’t directly address his GPA in his essays. However, his Common App essay illustrated how he independently pursued an academically related interest. IMO it showed that he is intellectually curious as well as willing and capable of independently pursing an interest. His interest involved a cross over between arts and technology. I’m not sure what was in his recommendations, but his teachers and guidance counselor were aware that he wasn’t struggling to grasp material and that it was more of an issue of not putting in well timed extra effort or occasionally cutting it too close and turning in something late. I did speak with his guidance counselor about his academic style. The counselor he had for three years left and he had a new counselor senior year so I touched base with a quick phone call. This was the only time I had ever contacted a counselor or teacher in his high school career.
I’d be studying the Naviance results from his HS very carefully- just so you aren’t wasting time, energy and love on colleges which have a solid history of rejecting kids like your son. There ARE colleges which love high scores-- and hopefully, your son can fall in love with a couple of those. I’d also make sure he addresses this head on with his guidance counselor- to ask directly “how are you going to write about me?”. He might not get an answer- but there’s a difference between a counselor’s report which highlights what a joy your son is to teach-- and teachers love his passion for the subjects he cares about… vs. a report which signals “does what he wants, when he wants”.
One of my sons had that profile and is diagnosed with ADHD. He wrote about it in the context of his summer job on a farm. Because we didn’t know how he would do with admissions he applied to 4 reach, 2 match and 4 safety schools. I would advise this approach, as it’s harder to predict with these kids.
He ended up getting in everywhere but 2 of the reaches. He’s thriving in college, probably because there are fewer small assignments, which he had a harder time managing in high school. I wish the same outcome for your son.
Essays should be written about a subject that displays what type of a person he is, what he’s passionate about, and why he would be a valuable member of a university’s community.
I don’t think that trying to explain grade/test score variations in essays would be a valuable exercise.
Clarification: not just who he is, but that shows “who he is” is the sort they want in the class. An essay (and the supps) that shows thinking and traits relevant to college. Sure, it means you need an idea of wat they want, beyond grades and scores.
As for Naviance, it doesn’t reflect why an app succeeded. It would have shown college X usually took 2 kids/year from that hs. But after D2, there was a drought. One year, no kids. The next year, only one. Then none for two more years after that.
Btw, since adcoms for top colleges look at the transcript, it’s not simply gpa. It’s what rigor and what grades in the most important classes: cores and those related to the possible major. They don’t care about gym, electives, and district mandated extra courses as much.
I think my son got some forgiveness because his lowest grades were all in Latin. It also happened in our school that Latin had fewer honors courses (because not enough people took it to make an honors section), so they got slightly dinged on the weighted GPA.
It all depends on where he is trying to get in. If it is a top 20 school then there might be an issue. If not one of those schools then he will probably be fine and get into plenty of schools.
Are you asking if he should write about his grades vs his ACT score in any of his essays? If that is your question, I would say…NO.
If there is some compelling reason why there is this (small) difference (major illness or something), let the counselor deal with that in their letter. Anything your son writes is going to sound like he is trying to make an excuse for his grades. That shouldn’t be the subject of his essays.
There are thousands of colleges in this country who will welcome him as a student.
When our school’s college guidance counselor asked for a brag sheet I mentioned that some of my younger son’s lower grades might be explained by the fact that he chose to drop a 504 plan that he’d had in middle school so he no longer had access to a keyboard or extended time on tests. I don’t know if she mentioned it or not. If there was a brief grade drop resulting from an illness or special family circumstance, I might mention it in a line or two in the “is there anything else we should know about” section, but not as part of any essay, but even in that case, it might be better for the GC to address it.
It’s a long time ago now, but my D was like this.
I wouldn’t address it in an essay, but if you can afford to do so, and if he happens to want to apply to a top college which has early decision rather than early action, apply ED. Montauk’s book https://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Into-Top-Colleges/dp/0735204098 recommends this.
Colleges accept legacies, athletes and children of donors in the early decision round. Usually, people in these categories can get in with slightly lower test scores. However, the top colleges don’t like admitting that ED gives as much of an advantage as it does–far more than early action. Taking a kid with outstanding test scores in this smaller early pool means being able to take that star hockey player with a 1300 SAT–good, but not usually Ivy worthy–without lowering the average SAT score for the early pool vs. the regular round as much. And the college can be fairly sure it’s “locked in” that high score to help with its stats–especially the 75th percentile.
Now if he’s dreaming of a college with Early Action, this doesn’t work as well–though it still helps a bit. But if his dream school is Early Decision–and Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, Duke, Northwestern, U Penn, Johns Hopkins, etc. all are–then IF you don’t need to compare financial aid offers and if he’d be very happy to get into one of these colleges and wants to attend a reach school, consider applying ED. Kids with this profile have the best odds of getting into reach colleges in the ED round.
For schools where a 3.5 is competitive, no need to write about it. For some of the elite schools where 3.5 is not competitive, writing about it won’t make it so.
My son will be similar, so interested in following up on this when the time comes. His downfall was Spanish. Even though they’re supposed to do a language for 3 years (he’s a junior now), they just added a Linguistics course which they let you take instead, and he loves it (and is doing great).
If he stays where he is now, he’ll end up with probably a 3.55ish (unweighted, they don’t weight and all courses are considered honors, so we’ll have to calc a weighted one if necessary). If the 2 practice ACT’s are a decent indication, he’ll probably get a 34 or 35… which doesn’t usually go along with a 3.5.
Grades and test scores are only part of the application credentials. Colleges look at EC’s for good reason. They may reveal what motivates the applicant, but more importantly perhaps they may reveal the applicant’s interests and commitment to work hard on things he’s really attracted to.
My best case in point is my son. He got decent high school grades (about a 3.6 average) in a strong curriculum. He got extremely high SAT scores. And he had outstanding achievements in EC’s that demand thinking ability, for example he was a state champion debater; he won statewide awards in journalism; he was 2nd in the state in a math competition. Competitions excited him. Schoolwork not so much.
He got into many fine colleges; attended UChicago.
So my basic advice in this case is to focus on performance and achievements and qualifications overall. You don’t have to explain away his grades. It’s likely that his letter-writers, if well chosen, will also emphasize his special talents and achievements.
Find targets that match the record.
Dont assume a kid with problems in organization and meeting deadlines shoul only choose based on scores. Do him a favor.
Grades reflect effort, learning, and readiness. No essay can change that.
And try to know enough. If the lower grades are in gym or some odd district requirement, so what? Why is this focus just on gpa? Top adcoms look at the transcript, itself.
Strategy? Be informed.
If the total GPA isn’t impressive but there has been an upward trend, an essay about what changed in the applicant’s relationship with school could be an interesting essay - without mentioning grades or ACT. For example, if he spent the early part of high school hanging out with friends from middle school and was reluctant to be part of a high-achieving crowd at high school, why did that change.? If grades fell during a transition from regular classes to honors, why did he decide to take that risk?
No AO wants to read a story of “I am smart but bored/disorganized/ etc.” But any story that helps AOs see who the applicant is today helps put the whole picture together, including a story of growth.
Look at Colleges That Change Lives schools. These are schools that totally get these kids.
My D is the poster child for this. Her test scores showed her potential. Her grades reflected her mindset that if the teacher gave stupid busy work or wasn’t great she wasn’t going to expend the effort.