<p>^^^ Correcting myself! UT Dallas is part of the UT system (i.e. benefits, etc); it is not part of the UT CAP program.</p>
<p>i think third choice is texas tech for a lot of kids i have heard about. if my D has to go to texas tech (10 hours away), then she might as well look OOS as well, and hopefully find some merit money along the way!</p>
<p>lots of kids go to UT-san antonio when they are not accepted to UT. some transfer and some don't.</p>
<p>So far D falls into this category, of course she's just started her sophmore year and so far so good, so maybe she'll move up to an A- student. :)</p>
<p>So how important is freshman year anyway? I've learned from this thread that the UC schools drop that year. Is that common elsewhere?</p>
<p>Quick question about some earlier posts. Is the 20% class rank an important merit aid cutoff point? What if her school doesn't give out class rank? Their handbook says something about providing a cumulative gpa in place of class rank.</p>
<p>Also, just wanted to say that everyone here is a wealth of information! Fortunately I found this site when I did, so I have plenty of time to absorb all this info. Thank you!!!</p>
<p>Regarding the missing 78 students, this is what the principal said:</p>
<p>"Over the course of four years, an attrition rate of approximately 13% is not unusual. While I cannot tell you exactly where those 78 students have gone, I do not believe this is an unusual amount of students. Some graduate early, some don't graduate at all, and many move to other schools. In an area such as ours as close as it is to the airport, we do have some mobility that other districts do not have."</p>
<p>My sophomore daughter really wants to be in the top 10%. As of last year, she was in the top 11%. With that kind of attrition rate, she won't just have to move up one percentage point to graduate in the top 10%, but several.</p>
<p>So she is in the top 11% but she's a B+ student?</p>
<p>I'm not trying to be difficult about this, but the express purpose of the B+ student parents' thread was to have a place on CC where people who don't fret about 11% vs. 10% can go for help.</p>
<p>I'm smiling as I say this, but could we kind of keep that in mind as this thread progresses? </p>
<p>Here's the reason why: any student reading CC thinks that a 3.5 is "atrocious" (to use the words one student just used). This thread attempts to show them otherwise, but then folks get into a "OMG, my kid dropped below 10%, what will she do?" vibe. It can be demoralizing for a B+ er ( I know, I'm going through that with mine right now)</p>
<p>So, please, pretty please?</p>
<p>I joined this thread because of Son, a senior, the one who dropped from the top 16% to the top 21% with a static GPA, due to student attrition. Hopefully Daughter, in 10th grade, will remain an A student. But I don't think I'll tell her yet that it may be very hard to break into the top 10% due to student attrition.</p>
<p>A close friend of D2 really wants to go to UW-Madison. She has a 3.7 GPA (mostly honors/AP classes), 29 ACT, great ECs and was told by Admissions rep that she would not get accepted. It can be devastating to these kids. The rep said she had to bring her ACT score up or don't bother to apply. So sad....</p>
<p>^Wow. That sounds exactly like my friend. She has a 28 ACT and around a 3.8-3.9 gpa and is applying to UW-Madison OOS. She wasn't told that she wouldn't get accepted, but she hasn't got much support for her applications.</p>
<p>^^^She went for a campus visit and she and her mom met with the rep who reviews apps from our area. They were told she wouln't even get waitlisted. Told not to apply early but wait until she retook ACT. Maybe your friend's GPA could be the tipping over???</p>
<p>UW-Madison's admission policies much be pretty tough for OOS students. According to this document, it appears that both of the students list should have a pretty good shot. How discouraging. Are they going to retake their ACTs?</p>
<p>Which admissions rep told her this? A UW-Madison admissions rep? Have you been to the UW-Madison thread under the alphabetical list of colleges and looked at the link to the freshman expectations? (Here is is again: <a href="http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/images/UW_FreshmanExpectations.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/images/UW_FreshmanExpectations.pdf</a> )</p>
<p>While it is a holistic approach considering non academic factors such as leadership qualities, diversity of personal background, and potential for contribution to the Wisconsin community, you should look at the 'Likelihood of Admission' chart. A 29 ACT with a 3.7 GPA puts an applicant in the 80% likelihood category.</p>
<p>The best thing to do is apply now with much care and thought given to the essays, with a couple of teacher recommendations and a counselor recommendation.</p>
<p>Also, follow the link to the admission counselor for the applicant's school where you will find contact information; perhaps make a phone call or send an email. The profiles for the counselors give their thoughts on statements such as: "Best Advice for Applicants". For example, the gentleman assigned to Edina H.S. says, "Dont give up. Work hard on your application and see it through." Another admissions counselor assigned to some Minnesota High Schools says: "Be specific in your personal statement. Make sure you let us know everything you want us to know (while still being concise!). The personal statement is really the best way for us to get to know you beyond your grades and test scores." (Undergraduate</a> Admissions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: Meet Your Counselor )</p>
<p>That's so sad. That adcom was extremely discouraging for saying that. I don't think she has spoken to an adcom, but I would think that your daughter's friend and my friend would have a decent shot. Even if not with a huge scholarship, I would never imagine acceptance alone as that hard for such good scores and grade point averages.</p>
<p>I read somewhere that the average ACT score of freshman admitted to UW - Madison was around a 27 or 28.</p>
<p>Here is another interesting link to data for UW-Madison through 2008 for admitted and enrolled freshman by various categories.</p>
<p>Good advice Madison85!!! I will definitely pass it on to her.</p>
<p>She is retaking the ACT as suggested by Ad rep from Madison. She has wanted to attend Madison since she was a little girl. She really is a great kid who works hard in school at our uber-competitive HS and has competed on National level in her business related EC, all the while working part time. Hopefully it will work out for her!</p>
<p>She sounds like she would do great at UW-Madison!</p>
<p>Could the discussion of the 3.7 and 3.8 kids move over to the Wisconsin thread?</p>
<p>Really, folks, it's not a hard concept: this is meant to be the place for parents to talk about their B+ kids without "oh poor me" from kids with 3.7 and 3.8 and 29 ACT.</p>
<p>Perhaps someone can start an "A-, non-Ivy thread" or something.</p>
<p>So, stay on this thread if you have a 3.251 - 3.699 question/comment/concern and move elsewhere if you have 3.7 - 3.8 topics to discuss. Is that the concept?</p>
<p>Yep. </p>
<p>It's merely a request to honor a tiny little corner of CC that folks find helpful in our search for ways to assist our children.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for this thread! Here's a question we've been considering-- my son's struggling with Calculus, but doing great in English and languages. His GPA went down last year due to 2 C's in physics and pre-cal. Should he drop Cal with a WF or stick with it? He'd still be carrying 5 majors. Those 2 C's were tough to take, he'd never gotten C's before. Any suggestions?</p>