<p>Thank you mathmom :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>correction:
UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND {President’s Scholarship $68,000 ($17,000/year)}</p>
<p>THANK YOU! Thank you for coming here and updating this thread. I have a D13 and I very much appreciate hearing how things are going for your kids. Congratulations on their accomplishments and acceptances. I agree that CC can be a very intimidating place and it is important to focus on what each individual child is bringing to the table- there are a wealth and variety of gifts out there and all are necessary!</p>
<p>Hoping more parents chime in!</p>
<p>vandygrad, you’re welcome!</p>
<p>There are so many possibilities for our kids, despite the HYPSMC bloodbath you hear on CC. I know from experience with S1 and D1 that ‘unhooked’ kids with 3.5 or below GPA can be admitted to top 10 or 20 colleges with a carefully crafted strategy. No college is off-limit to our kids. They should be encouraged to put together thoughtful applications to the best schools of their choice as long as the finance works out and the right expectation is set. It doesn’t have to be a tippy-top college, but they don’t have to resign and settle for a safety or a low-match from the start. Just don’t fall too much in love with any one school before you receive the decisions. In the end, we are responsible to instill a can-do attitude and a confidence in them that they will succeed in whatever colleges they attend and in whatever pursuits they go after.</p>
<p>This is a great thread. Trying to bump it back to life. I have a wonderful S14 who seems a lot like the kids you’re describing. I wouldn’t change him one bit, but he is definitely more of a challenge than his S13 as far as matching schools.</p>
<p>I don’t think GPA is always the most important thing. I want to let everyone know that my unweighted GPA was about 3.6 and I got into Vanderbilt. My friend’s GPA was closer to 3.3 and she also got in.</p>
<p>I keep hoping some of the ‘parents of the class of…’ thread posters will chime in here. This is a great thread topic. My S14 managed a 3.1 or so freshman year and slightly better than a 3.5 this year. I keep checking Naviance data from our HS for him. We have a ton of schools in-state, which is our focus (VA by the way). Wonder where these kids are matriculating?</p>
<p>I will be applying to colleges this fall, and I am enthusiastic about my prospects. As a student with very difficult classes, a job, community service, many ECs, and many passions, I find that gpa is not my top priority. This thread brightens my day, despite those on CC who are determined to believe that students with good gpas (the 3.0s are very good, even if it isn’t a 3.9!) are not “good enough”. I will be happy to chime in with my college results in March!</p>
<p>I’m hoping to get some input/feedback here for my D.
She squarely falls into this category (although her few AP scores might put it up a notch, but she averages 3.5-3.6).</p>
<p>We are in California, and she is convinced that she wants to stay here. (For some reason, I could not convince either of my kids to apply out of state.) My S applied to all publics, but I’m wanting to see if my D may want to consider a smaller, private college.</p>
<p>With this GPA, and not so great SAT (1500), do you think there are some CA privates that might accept her, and potentially offer some aid?</p>
<p>She does have several years of solid activities (mission trip to Brazil, teaches kids at church for several years, has part-time job), but isn’t active in school clubs, etc.</p>
<p>She wants a school near the beach (!), and is interested in a chemistry major, eventually pursuing a teaching certificate.</p>
<p>We are already looking at Sonoma State, but I thought about U o Pacific, maybe U of Redlands. Not sure if these would even be accessible to her, and we could even afford.</p>
<p>Do you think that a UCSB or UCSC would be in reach, or maybe other privates?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m just hoping to revive this thread and see how others are doing with kids in this category.</p>
<p>Especially for Californians and West Coasters: where are people applying? Any acceptances yet?</p>
<p>Crizello, have you looked at Whittier? They are a formerly Quaker school with a 72% acceptance rate.</p>
<p>DS has around a 3.5 gpa and 1800 SAT
Has applied to
Whittier
Redlands
U of Pacific
Denver
LMU
Evansville
Belmont
MTSU</p>
<p>First 5 are in the west. He has been accepted by MTSU (his safety, auto-admit with a 3.2
gpa) Evansville (nice merit scholarship) and U of Pacific (lower merit scholarship, more expensive school). The rest are all EA or rolling so he should hear by December sometime</p>
<p>I am glad someone has posted on here again-- I have been looking at the 3.0 - 3.3 thread more lately, which is also very helpful</p>
<p>Parent of hs '12, college '16, coming back with update.</p>
<p>My son was lucky to get in to his first choice, University of Wisconsin, Madison with a 3.5 and a 29 ACT (30 superscore) as an OOS student. Then, as UW does Honors program by application, not on stats alone, he was admitted to Honors program. He is a classic late-bloomer, teachers always commented on his intelligence, but anxiety and just overall lack of interest in doing the work just for the sake of doing it wasn’t really there. Junior year he blossomed, and had 3.67 for the last 4 semesters of high school (As, with the ever present B in Math). </p>
<p>First semester – though nothing is final yet – he has 3 As and an AB. He has managed to navigate both the unlimited access to game system in his dorm room, the party life at UW, and has made mature decisions about when to study and when to take a break. Although still crossing our fingers, we are thrilled, delighted and impressed by how he had adapted to college life. </p>
<p>Hang in there parents, there is a world of possibility out there for kids who have not been turning in straight As since fall of their 9th grade.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if my daughter falls into the 3.3-3.6 GPA or the 3.0-3.3 GPA category. She has 3.0 GPA unweighted but a 3.4 GPA weighted. Of course we consider ourselves in the 3.4 category 
</p>
<p>She has a unique major she is looking for - film program but trying to find an emphasis on the business/production side of the industry. There are only a couple of schools that slice their film programs into niche emphasis. One of them is Chapman. That is her dream school and she has done everything (including getting admitted to their selective Summer Academy last summer). She applied EA and we will see what happens. Unfortunately for our kids in this category, even if she does get admitted I doubt if there will be any merit aid or financial aid that will make it affordable for us. But we told her to give it her best try and we will see what happens.</p>
<p>Applied Montana State Rolling - accepted with medium merit aid offer which makes cost very similar to a California CSU. They have an up and coming film program but not as much breadth and depth (or prestige) as the top 10 film programs in the US. If your child has an ACT at 28 they will qualify for the Western Tuition Exchange which makes Montana State REALLY affordable. Of course we missed it by one point!!</p>
<p>Applied University of Denver EA</p>
<p>Planning to apply to Emerson College (HMFR), Univ of British Columbia RD and Cal States that have film programs. Although her ACT and her creative ECs would be good for her dream schools of USC or UCLA, we know that her GPA will not get acceptance.</p>
<p>Montana State is looking really good to Mom :)</p>
<p>Just a note about Whittier… We keep getting emails from Whittier College inviting my daughter to apply. However, I cannot figure out what the true cost of Whittier would be in our GPA category. Does anyone know whether the merit/financial aid would even make this school affordable??</p>
<p>idahomom: congrats on all the acceptances already!</p>
<p>My D will probably apply to UoP, but we know that the financial aid package will probably make it out of reach for us if she were to be accepted.</p>
<p>So far she is focusing on schools within a 2-3 hour radius from home (we are in NorCal), so that eliminates anything in SoCal.</p>
<p>CSU Monterey Bay is interesting because it does have a large percent of residential students in the dorms (similar to Sonoma State) as compared to other CSUs. You might want to look at their offerings. Although I understand that the campus is not that ‘pretty’.</p>
<p>Crizello, has your daughter thought about Santa Clara University? It is very expensive, but with her mission trip and teaching at church, maybe they will want her enough to offer scholarship money. But it is not known as a generous school so maybe not. </p>
<p>UCSC is within her reach and the half dozen kids I know there are happy. I also know kids at Merced that like the newness and smaller size of it.</p>
<p>I was going to recommend Redlands it is generous with grants, but then I saw that she wants to stay in N. Cal. I get that, one of my N. Cal kids is applying to transfer colleges as she is not liking S Cal at all. Maybe it is best to dodge that bullet now rather than later.</p>
<p>It is a shame that there aren’t more small colleges in Northern California. Tons in Southern Cal and lots in Oregon, but we are lacking in the Bay Area.</p>
<p>Crizello, has your daughter looked at Mills?</p>
<p>Hi, coralbrook</p>
<p>My D is a freshman film production major at Chapman, (had a high GPA and SAT, though.) I wanted to say that there is LOTS of emphasis on the industry and so many guest speakers and visiting profs there. There is a very practical, job-oriented focus at Chapman. Also, with a talent-based major like film, she certainly does have a shot at getting in if her video essay is creative and unusual. She may be eligible for some merit aid too. Best of luck to her!</p>
<p>Thanks for suggestions about Santa Clara and Mills. It looks like it is not too late to check them out.</p>
<p>I tried to get her to consider Redlands, but it is too far away, as I have mentioned. I drove around the campus when I was down there for business and really liked it.</p>
<p>This week we are trying to finish up the UC app, then start worrying about the other privates, since their deadline is later in Jan (thankfully!)</p>