<p>UW-M told me that they only look at unweighted GPA but that they take into consideration weighted rank.
Lots of rejected kids this year at D's school that seemed to have the stats on paper. (D ended up not applying, so I can't give her a comparison story.)</p>
<p>sushi_error,</p>
<p>The answer to your question is that it depends on your school. Where do other kids from your school go? If you go to an elite prep school that has opted out of APs and you apply to a college/ univ familiar with your school, then you're probably fine. If you go to a school where the kids do really poorly, then you should do something to beef up your education. </p>
<p>Adcoms say they weigh you in comparison with your offerings so they won't rule you out because you have no APs but if you're in a weak school, you will want to do what you can to show that you're capable of the work: ace your SATs/ ACTs, take some outside classes, whatever.</p>
<p>One other thing... The one place it might hurt you is if you apply to a very numbers-based scholarship or big university where the AP courses are weighted.</p>
<p>@ Chartreuse: Yay for actuarial science! As a rising senior, I plan on going to school for actuarial science/finance. But because I'm in-state at U of Michigan so it's unlikely that I'll apply to UW-M. But a good school. Good luck!</p>
<p>2collegewego,</p>
<p>My school is really, really close to the Five Colleges in Western Mass. Overall, the school usually sends the majority of its students to top schools (i.e. NYU, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Brandeis, Tufts, etc). I just hope I do well on my SATs. I suck at math, so the math part is what worries me.</p>
<p>sushi, </p>
<p>Just practice and consider taking the ACTs; you may do better on one than the other. Remember that the math you're taking in school is probably harder than that on the SAT. You just have to learn how to handle the questions for the SAT.</p>
<p>Sushi, Talk to your guidance dept too, and see if they send something about the school with the transcripts. I found out that our school encloses a fact sheet with all the great things that make my kids' suburban public high school outstanding, so that the college has an opportunity to put a transcript into context if it isn't familiar with the school's program (for ex., top ranked school in a certain area, silver medalist, high ranking in state standardized testing, winners in various national competitions, 95%+ grads go to college, teacher awards, etc. I was amazed to see how great our school looked after the Guidance Dept. got through polishing it up and making it look nice. I believe it really helped my B+ students stand at for some schools that weren't strictly driven by numbers. All high schools may do something similar...and if you don't like the one the Guidance Dept. put together, maybe the parents assn can offer to help beef it up.</p>
<p>i went to a very competitve public high school in new jersey. all of our classes were "honor" classes. ten percent of the class goes onto to the ivies. i had around a 4.08 out of a possible 4.5 - which is good, but compared to some of my classmates who even exceeded the 4.5, let's just say the competition was intense. my test scores were absolutely terrible - i had a 1680 on the sats - a 640 writing (12 on the essay!), 560 verbal, and 480 math ... as i said, pretty terrible for CC standards, average for everyone else. so i decided to focus on sat optional schools and market myself to schools that were outside what my classmates were applying to. </p>
<p>i got accepted to ten colleges, eight with scholarships, and one waitlist. </p>
<p>drew university (presidential scholarship, 12,000)
allegheny college (trustee scholarship, 12,500)
ursinus college (ursinus college scholar, 16,000)
knox college (muelder scholar, 14,000)
hartwick college (president's scholarship 15,000 plus honors program)
elizabethtown college (12,500)
the college of wooster (15,500)
washington college (11,500)
the richard stockton college of new jersey (safety)
ramapo college of new jersey
bard college (waitlist, didn't pursue)</p>
<p>i am happily going to drew, my number one. even if you score poorly on the sat/act or do not have the best gpa, you can still have fantastic admission results. the key is to find places that fit. one size does not fit all. it takes a lot of research to piece a list together. hope everyone's search goes well.</p>
<p>Lasercat, great results!!!! Did you consider applying to Rutgers or TCNJ? It sounds like cost was important to you. Did you apply for all the scholarships or did they just consider you for them automatically when you applied?</p>
<p>lasercat--congratulations! Wondered what you were majoring in, if you wouldn't mind sharing? Son is an NJ resident & interested in comp sci. Couldn't tell if Drew had a good program or not...</p>
<p>Thanks, thanks, thanks for this thread!</p>
<p>My Fang Jr. is a rising senior, about 3.25 GPA (all at community college, where he is full time, because we're homeschoolers). SATs something like 2150. Marginal ECs except he competes nationally in his sport.</p>
<p>He's applying to
Bowdoin
Bates
Beloit
Macalester
Carleton
Kalamazoo</p>
<p>Later in the fall we'll visit Reed and Lewis & Clark. Although the location of those schools would be perfect, I have a feeling that Reed is too intense for him (plus, with Carleton and Bowdoin he already has enough reaches), and I've heard from several people that the students at L & C are uninteresting and unengaged.</p>
<p>I meant to say that the friends who've visited L&C said that the students seemed uninterestED and disengaged. But that was just an impression, and when we visit, my son may find that he has an entirely different opinion.</p>
<p>Just want to say that I love your screen name. It's very unexpected. ;)</p>
<p>Nobody expects... ;)</p>
<p>Great response, although, as expected, the A and A- people keep chiming in (I'm smiling as I write this)</p>
<p>Returning to B+ students...</p>
<p>Anyone have any luck at Penn State, Ohio State, UConn, Virginia as OOS B+ers?</p>
<p>Virginia is tough for any out of state student. I think it would be a huge reach for a B+ student.</p>
<p>Anyone have opinions/visit reports about Beloit, Kalamazoo or Lewis and Clark? Any reports on good info from a Colleges That Change Lives fair?</p>
<p>S16 and I went to one and loved it. We'd already visited a couple of the schools, so he was just trolling for new ones too far away for us to visit. He's a rising junior, so there's no real pressure right now. He went to about a dozen tables to touch base with places he's visited and is interested in or to explore ones that he's read/heard about.</p>
<p>One thing that was nicer than other college fairs is they have these preprinted CTCL cards with each of the 40 schools' names on them. You write down your info one time and then check the boxes of the schools from which you want info. The two women running the show -- one a CTCL employee and the other a rep from Eckerd -- did a great job of getting the kids involved and told the parents to let the kids take the lead, in a very gentle way. It was wonderful.</p>
<p>We didn't visit CF's colleges of interest, so I can't comment on that. But I felt like it was a very worthwhile, low-key evening, especially for rising juniors when the stakes don't feel as high. Oh, be forewarned that not every college, apparently, is at every event. There were about a half-dozen colleges not present when we went.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Anyone have any luck at Penn State, Ohio State, UConn, Virginia as OOS B+ers?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>D1 (now a college sophomore) was a B+ student in HS. She was accepted to Penn State-University Park: While Penn State is in-state for us, my understanding is that they don't give admissions preference to in-state students--it just costs less to attend there in-state. She also applied as an OOS student, and was accepted, with merit $, to Ohio State main campus. Of course, for both of these of these (rollling admissions) schools, applying early is critical.</p>
<p>MSU DAD- Don't forget MSU!!! My husband suggested it for our son (as I loved it) but traveling back and forth to New York is not easy. Would love to be in a direct flight path.</p>
<p>Penn State and Ohio State have great reputaions from all there and likely fit the B to B+ OOS requirements. (I do hear that housing and campus placement at Penn State is an issue which is why it is off my list.)</p>
<p>Another Big 10 not to be forgotten is Indiana. It is extremely popular with Long Islanders these days.</p>
<p>MSU, Penn State, Indiana and Ohio State are all likely similar with great college towns.</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang: D2 and I attended a COTCL fair earlier this year. Are you looking for reports about ANY of the COTCL schools, or just the schools that you referenced in your post?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Penn State, Indiana and Ohio State are all likely similar with great college towns.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Penn State and Ohio State are similar insofar as they are both huge state universities, but they are in very different settings. PSU-University Park, while having a huge campus with a number of nearby shops and restaurants in town is located in a relatively remote region of Pennsylvania. OTOH, Ohio State, while it does have a campus, is in a very urban setting, right in the middle of Columbus, the capital of Ohio.</p>