<p>Interesting. I just looked up on D's naviance. Conn accepted everyone over a weighted 3.0 average. U Mass-Amherst accepted over 3. weighted and SATs over 1500 (out of 2400). NH had so few data points that I could not make any inferences. </p>
<p>D is not interested in any of these. Too bad since they are decent schools and they look fairly safe for her.</p>
<p>You guys are making me feel soooo much better...thanks! My son was voted "best sense of humor" in his class and was asked to coach the Junior girls in their annual football game versus the senior girls. He really truly is a leader at his school and so much fun to be around. But...the colleges that we are looking at (the big public schools)...I'm just not sure they even look at that stuff...I feel like it's mostly about the numbers.</p>
<p>Yes, I do harbor this secret fear that my son won't get into any school he really wants to go to (and he wants to go to a big "rah rah" school). But that's <strong>my</strong> issue right now...not his! He has full confidence that it will all work out!</p>
<p>ReadyToRoll brings ups a good point-- most schools claim to "look beyond the numbers," but how much do they really? Are there any schools that really stand out for looking past scores and grades (within reason) to all the other positives a student might offer? Or is it just wishful thinking?</p>
<p>I don't have an answer to the question about looking past the numbers. But I was sure curious about that myself. My D has respectable, but by no means dazzling, numbers. But she has a really shining personality that makes people really take to her (I don't mean popular kid, but the kind of person you want want on your team whatever your team is). So when we were looking at schools, we made sure that she had interviews everywhere. Some schools didn't require them, but we knew that spending some time with her would make her stand out from someone who was going to have a harder time shining thru. What I don't know is whether it made a difference. She applied to her #1 school ED (which was a good match IMO) and was accepted. Like Ready to Roll's S, she felt sure it was going to all work out -- sounds like they would get along well.
:-)</p>
<p>Yes there are schools that look beyond the numbers. The test optional schools (listing at Fairtest.org) are a good place to start. St. Johns (the Annapolis and NM ones) do too. The state universities tend to be more numbers driven - the good thing though about that is that it makes acceptances a little easier to predict!</p>
<p>Okay...regarding Naviance...am I the only one that looks at the graph and sees that one outlier...the kid with the 3.7 GPA and the 2000 SATs that didn't get into the state school? There seem to be one or two in every graph for every state school. I can't help but wonder why that kid (or two) didn't get in! (It's easier to understand the kid with the 2.5 and the 1500/2400 that <em>did</em>get in...because that may be a sports thing.) It makes me very nervous!</p>
<p>I think those kids probably withdrew their apps when the got accepted EA to Princeton.</p>
<p>Those students may have applied ED and withdrawn other apps after being accepted.</p>
<p>I don't think the big state schools look at much besides the numbers. It is the smaller schools that do (or in some cases say they do). Naviance is actually really helpful in seeing these patterns. With some schools, you can see that they weight grades/SATs very clearly, while for others, the acceptance pattern is pretty random in their range.</p>
<p>And, there are certainly schools in Naviance where the median is 3.0 and 1550 out of 2400. Endicott (mentioned above), Eckerd (median below 3), Emmanuel, Framingham State (2.5), University of Maine (brrr), Merrimack, Quinnipiac, Roanoke, St. Michael's (a little higher), ... . Colleges tend to have higher expectations from our high school, which is thought to be one of the stronger ones in Massachusetts. We're still working on child one, who is much more in the elite school category, but number two will be here unless her performance improves (though to be fair, she's at a very strong private school which doesn't have grade inflation, so her grades may understate her performance a little bit).</p>
<p>RTR, for my son's safety schools, we worry that that he might be the outlier you are looking at. They will look at him and say, "he's not going to come here so let's reject him." [At one, which is actually a reasonable fit for some of his interests and learning style, he's .8 higher on weighted GPA and close to 200 SAT points higher than the strongest applicant they have accepted from his school over the last three years. It wouldn't be my first choice for him, but there are reasons why it might be pretty good for him.]. He spent a lot of time coming up with credible explanations for why he'd want to go to his safeties so that he isn't that outlier.</p>
<p>Another thought: for boys, there are some schools that are teetering at 60/40 or higher female to male ratios. They definitely will want males. Probably not great football teams or rah-rah spirit, but there might be compensation. One of my son's safeties is a former womens college with a 70/30 ratio. According to students quoted on ***** and some other sites, half the 30% of the males are probably gay. So, if your son is a straight male who doesn't drool on his shoes and would like a girlfriend as opposed to playing the field, according to these websites, he probably would have to barricade the doors to get his work done.</p>
<p>I can't say I've read every single post but this thread reminded me of a blog I saw awhile back. It talks about how one student went from B+ to Harvard or something. Maybe an worthwhile read for exactly the "B+" parents on this board.</p>
<p>sevan9</p>
<p>University of South Carolina stated specifically in their information session that they only consider GPA and SAT/ACT scores.</p>
<p>However, they do require completion of specific high school courses, so it is important to make sure you've got that covered.</p>
<p>In response to Ready to Roll - some of the outliers on state schools - the kids one would expect to get in but do not - are the very late applicants into a rolling admissions school. If there is rolling admissions, apply early !!!</p>
<p>sevan9, this (from your site) pretty much goes against the advice submitted recently on CC:
"Do work in foreign countries. This is not easy as a high school student, but get your parents help to make this happen. Whether its a corporate job or volunteer and nonprofit work, it will help your college application</p>
<p>4) Avoid hourly wage jobs like flipping burgers. </p>
<p>Seems like some of your advice is rather dated.</p>
<p>I need some suggestions. My D was rejected by Cal Poly Pomona, and we haven't received any letters from the UC yet. UC is our in-state system. She attends a private, very competitive HS, and has a ugpa 3.43, wgpa 3.83, AP in science, math, english, (she took all AP allowed in her HS), plenty of community service, EC activities, leadership. At this point, we're preparing for the worse scenario, so I need some suggestions. If she doesn't get accepted to any UC, how hard is to start at CSU or CC and then try to transfer to a UC?
would she have better options for transferings if she attends a CSU or a CC?
Your suggestions/opinions would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>jesterbouy, for cal poly she selected a business major, and for UC she applied as undecided. We're planning for the worse now. She applied to private out of state, if she's accepted, she'll be able to attend only with enough merit $. I wonder if it she'd be able to attend CSU and CC at the same time and still be considered a CC student? somehow I feel uncomfortable about a CC, but it may not be any other option.</p>
<p>I hope your daughter gets good news from UCs. But if she doesn't, she can get an excellent education at a good California CC. If she works hard and gets good grades, she will be able to transfer to a UC. At the CC my son and I go to, he as a homeschooling high schooler and I for fun, we meet many students who transfer to UCs. One of his friends transferred to UCSC last year, and another will be transferring somewhere this fall (for this particular student, I think it will be anywhere she wants, as she's bright and hardworking).</p>
<p>Living at home for the first two years and going to CC might not be what your daughter envisioned. It's different. But it works for a lot of kids, and it's certainly <em>way cheaper</em>.</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang, thanks for your feedback. I'm glad is working out for your son. What UC does he wants to transfer to? My concern with CC is the wide diversity of academic backgrounds. Some have very good academic backgrouns and some have really bad academic backgrounds. The quality of teachers is also a concern. Some are very good and some are bad. So I have my doubts about CC. But, wee don't have many options to work with :/</p>
<p>Though some homeschoolers in our area go to CC and then transfer to other colleges as juniors, others apply as freshmen, and that is what Fang Jr is doing. Though by the spring he will have two years of college credit, he is counting those classes as his high school. </p>
<p>He will be starting as a freshman at Kalamazoo College this fall. Kalamazoo, by the way, is an excellent, though unknown, choice for a B+ student who wants strong academics in a small, personal LAC.</p>
<p>It is certainly true that there is a wide diversity of academic backgrounds at CC. Taking Honors classes, when available, is one way to avoid the less well prepared students; taking more advanced classes is another. At least in my area, there is a surprisingly large number of very qualified students, many of them Asian-American students who weren't accepted to UCLA or Berkeley as freshman and who plan to try again as juniors.</p>
<p>I have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of teachers. Most of the teachers we have had have been excellent-- community college teachers are hired to teach, so there is not the issue of a superstar researcher who can't teach, or an incomprehensible foreign grad student. We have found or heard about a few duds, but we've mostly been able to avoid them. One great advantage of a community college is the smaller class size. Instead of taking Intro to Macroeconomics in a class of 300, my son was in a class of 25.</p>
<p>So if your daughter chooses community college, she will have made a fine choice.</p>
<p>Putting other options aside, if she wished to ultimately go to a UC a cc is the way to go. Starting at a CS school is not a good idea. Some of the cc's have a good set-up to get on track right away so the student is prepared and the classes they take are transferable. Many have a very high transfer rate (Santa Monica College, Santa Barbara CC, etc). In fact, at Santa Barbara CC you can live in a dorm right by UCSB and there is a program designed for an easy transfer in. I believe the same exists at Cuesta CC in SLO to transfer into Cal Poly SLO. Not sure where you live, but a good talk with her gc should help.</p>
<p>Thanks Cardinal Fang for the tips about CC. Your son seems to have a good plan. Good luck to him.
crzymom and jesterbouy thanks for the heads up. We still need to know if D will be accepted to any UC. If not, CC may be the way to go. Although I'm not completely convince about a CC, I'm open to the idea. I let my D decide what she wants to do.</p>