<p>NJ Paladin, Congratulations on your DD’s decision! </p>
<p>What is the area around the campus like (ie: can you walk or take a quick bus ride to get to a restaurant, mall, or movie theatre)? How far is the airport, and do they offer a bunch of flights daily to NJ? Is she going to need a car there? How large are their average freshman intro classes? What is the % of OOS students? It sounds like a school that is really worth checking out!</p>
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<p>Believe me, there are lots of Texans there. LSU’s out of state tuition is quite low compared to other schools. I also know a whole lot of kids who have or will major in music there.</p>
<p>NJ Paladin, I have 2 more questions:</p>
<p>What is the required gpa to keep a Tiger Scholarship?</p>
<p>Do you have concerns about the lowish graduation rate, and have you explored what the reasons are for those numbers? If so, what are the reasons?</p>
<p>i didnt see the requirements to keep the scholarship.</p>
<p>lsu is a good deal because it is fairly easy to earn a waiver of the OOS portion of tuition and their instate tuition is pretty low, as well.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Northeasternmom, for years LSU was open admissions for state residents. Today it is not difficult for state residents to get in, which means there are probably too many kids who are undermotivated or underprepared to make it through to graduation. Also, less than a quarter of the kids live on campus, making it a huge commuter school. For that 75% that lives off campus there are too many temptations to keep them focused and committed for four long years. 86% of LSU students are from Louisiana, one of the poorest states, which means underfunded public primary and secondary schools. The administration is trying to raise academic standards, hence the Tiger Scholarships, but that’s like bringing a knife to a gun fight. Personally, I don’t know why any good student from outside Louisiana would go there, not even for a full-ride scholarship. As a native New Jerseyan, I find it strange that a B+ kid from Jersey, who is not a recruited athlete, would go down there. </p>
<p>I gave a speech in Baton Rouge back in the '90s in front of 1,000 people in a crowded ballroom. There was a weird, detectable racial undertone to the whole experience. Very backwards compared to some other parts of the country. All the hotel bell “boys” and valet parkers were adult black men, and all the management staff, the people with the better jobs, were younger white people of both sexes. It made me very uncomfortable. The food was great, though, if that matters at all. Good local cuisine in the restaurants. More interesting food than anything I’ve ever had in Jersey.</p>
<p>Plainsman, thanks for the insight. It’s just that some people in NJ are trying to find more affordable options than Rutgers or other instate NJ schools. I am one of them. IMO, our instate tuition is pretty high, and programs keep getting cut because of poor state funding.</p>
<p>I just got our high school’s profile (the one that gets sent to the colleges) and it states that a 3.3 weighted average (our school only does weighted averages) is a B+. Are other schools different? I see people in here talking about GPAs of 3.5 unweighted (which I’m thinking would be much higher weighted)…those would be As if weighted to 4.0.</p>
<p>So back to the B+ issue…although my son has a 3.23 as of right now with relatively high scores (1430/2060 superscored, 1350/1980 not, 30 ACT composite) …trying to decide if it is worth spending $900 to go see a college counselor that comes highly recommended. What would I need this for? We’re looking at public schools but I think by reading CC I’ve gotten other ideas for schools…can a college counselor really help for this kind of situation?</p>
<p>Many colleges will consider unweighted grades over weighted (even if the school does not provide UW GPA, the college can and often does calculate its own internal academic GPA). So perhaps a 3.3 UW would be a better definition of B+?</p>
<p>NJ Paladin…congrats to your daughter!</p>
<p>Penn State was really considered a super reach school? She must have been admitted to a branch campus, though, or for summer, right? It’s funny, I never think of Penn State as being that hard to get into, and I went there!</p>
<p>ReadyToRoll, what would you expect to get from the college counselor? $900 seems like a lot of money. If I were spending that much, I’d want to have clear goals and understand what I was getting.</p>
<p>Sorry, you’re right, it IS 30. I guess reading this forum I’ve started to think of 30 as a really LOW score. Good luck to her on the merit aid search. My son had a slightly higher score (will also retake) but I’m not holding my breath. Probably because we live in Texas and unless you’re in the top 10 % of your graduating class your stats barely matter.</p>
<p>we are in texas, too. and, you are right, your stats don’t matter much in texas, but if you decide to go outside of texas, they matter a lot with regard to OOS tuition waivers and scholarships.</p>
<p>Re: weighted vs unweighted, there are a zillion CC threads on this issue. Bottom line, the colleges will recalculate your GPA based on their own standards, regardless of what your school says your GPA is.</p>
<p>The very top schools tend to take for granted that your kid is taking all honors/AP, and they go by UNweighted GPA. If your courseload isn’t challenging enough, you’ll probably be rejected regardless of your grades.</p>
<p>However, I am finding that the second tier (major publics, large privates) that I’m looking at with my B+ student DO weight GPA’s. I have specifically asked two of them, and they do it the same way: they only consider core academics - math, english, social studies, science, foreign language. They start with a 4.0 for an A, and add 0.5 for Honors and 1.0 for AP. They also add/subtract .3 for a +/- grade. Example: in a non-honors course, B- = 2.7, B = 3.0, B+ = 3.3. In an honors class, B- = 3.2, B=3.5, B+ - 3.8. In an AP Class, B- = 3.7, B=4.0, B+= 4.3. The two schools that told me they use this method were UMass and Northeastern. (Our hs uses this method because they said it’s the method all the Mass state colleges/univs use). </p>
<p>Providence College says they use two numbers: an unweighted academic GPA, and another number that they calculate on their own based on the difficulty of your courseload. </p>
<p>I just wish that on college websites, when they give their admitted student profile, that they would explain how they calculate GPA. Example: Lafayette College’s student profile states, “All GPAs reflected here represent unweighted GPAs that have been recalculated using actual grades in academic subjects during the first 3 years of high school.” Why can’t all schools do this, so when I look at a profile I know what I’m looking at?</p>
<p>^OTOH if your rank is figured on a weighted GPA the college is likely to judge you on that basis as they won’t be able to figure out what your rank might be under other methods.</p>
<p>mathmom: but they still unweight your GPA EVEN if rank is provided in many, if not all, cases.</p>
<p>Hi all,
I am not totally new here…lurk here everyday…but I think I have finally found my CC thread home…I hope so anyways…My D goes to a competitive HS in Texas. She does not take any AP’s (although she will take AP stats next year to fulfill a 4th year math requirment) She does however take honors English and honors History. She is in the top 25% of her class and has a 3.7 un-weighted GPA…here’s where I feel that I belong on this thread:
Her test scores are not really in line with her GPA. She took the ACT in April for the first time and got a 25. She has also taken the SAT and got a 1550/2400. Clearly the SAT is not her test. She will re-take the ACT in June and hopefully be able to raise her score a few points.<br>
The problem inTexas is the top 10% rule and if you want to go to a school with D1 sports, there are very few choices for in state…UT Austin would be her first choice as she is a legacy there but 91% of this year’s freshmen class is top 10%…that leaves very little room for non top 10%, OOS, or international…many refer to UT as a public IVY for that reason…Texas A&M is a great school but is also challenging to get in to and they don’t have her major. The third choice would be Texas Tech…
So my question is this…what happens to the kids that have an okay GPA but low test scores? I hope I am in the right place because you all seem to be much more down to earth than the “parents of the class of 2010” thread…</p>
<p>I did not quote the top 10% freshmen enrollment at UT correctly …it is 81% not 91%…that leaves 19% for OOS, International and non top 10%…</p>
<p>Hi SWTCAT!</p>
<p>We are in a similar situation. My son’s test scores are better then your daughter, but his grades are worse. I think we overloaded him with AP courses and it backfired. Our high school is excellent, but breaking into that top 10% is tough. </p>
<p>I’m NO expert, but I recommend you check into the CAP program at UT. Since you are alumni I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It sounds perfect for your daughter. I’ve heard really good things about the San Antonio campus. I’ve heard of kids who considered staying even tho they qualified for the main campus transfer.</p>
<p>My only caveat would be that the transfer is guaranteed (if you make the grades), but the choice of major is not. Incentive for good grades I guess…</p>
<p>Is your daughter a junior? Maybe over the summer (after all the test scores are in) we should start a thread for non-top10ers. It’s quite a club :-).</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>I will appreciate suggestions for a B+ student with unimpressive SATs looking for a small, supportive MidAtlantic school with good business courses and students who are neither cut throat competitors nor party animals.</p>
<p>yabe…how about Babson? (Is that Mid-Atlantic?)</p>