My D goes to a science, math, and technology focused school with very rigorous STEM courses. She got a C- in math her freshman year, a B- in math her sophomore year, a C in math her junior year, a B in AP Stat (elective junior year), and will probably get a B in AP Calc AB her senior year.
However, she got a 710 on the SAT in math, 1 750 on the SAT II Math II, and a 30 in the ACT math section. While these are not perfect scores, they are okay.
Will colleges be concerned that she did poorly all four years even if her GPA isn’t too effected by it (3.5/3.95). She wants to be an economics major which does require a bit of math.Specifically looking at Wellesley, Cornell, and William and Mary.
Her transcript will be evaluated in the context of her own school’s offerings. If it is an STEM-focused HS, then it is certain that the colleges know that. Don’t over-think this.
I agree that you shouldn’t over think it, but also realize she is looking at some pretty tough schools. I hope she has a safety or two that she would be happy at. If you are looking for merit money, you need to think about some schools where she is near the top of the freshman profile stats. Good luck.
I’ll echo the overthinking thing. A B in AP calc AB is a solid, decent grade. It looks like she has a good math base despite her grades. Her earlier grades just may not reflect her actual knowledge or understanding. That said, she’s looking at three tough schools. Are you in Virginia?
Look at schools where her 30 falls in the top 25% for a couple of low matches or almost safeties.
According to the William & Mary admissions, they do not take into consider intended major when admitting students. “all students are compared to each other regardless of which major they indicate. Since all students are admitted simply to W&M and not a particular school or major that’s not a factor in our review.”
Right now the list is very unbalanced and very risky.
Does her high school use Naviance? Do you have a copy of the school’s profile? Any class rank?
The pattern of math grades/classes isn’t showing a moderately strong math student even at a STEM high school – Calculus AB in senior year isn’t a common path for strong math students at a school that specializes in STEM. This might also be reflected in the difficulty of chosen curriculum question the counselor will have to answer on the school report.
But as @shawnspencer noted, W&M – and quite a few other colleges – don’t admit by major.
@shawnspencer – love the avatar, but curious about what it means. Dad, son & pineapple?
Actually, her GPA is affected those low grades. What rank is the 3.5? Is your hs a nationally-ranked one, such as TJ? What is your state of residence? What are the CR scores? (W&M and Wellesley are both liberal arts colleges, so they look at both test scores.)
To be honest, without knowing more about her, what her teachers will say about her, where her classmates tend to apply and who gets in where with what scores and grades… we are all just speculating. If you’ve got data from the last 5 years which shows that kids like your D regularly get into these schools with this profile- than add some likelies/matches and a rock solid safety and don’t worry about it. But if you are throwing out these schools without actual admissions data from your own HS- then I’d be concerned.
If her teachers are going to describe her as a kid who regularly reaches outside her comfort zone, takes on intellectual challenges with a lot of gusto, and despite not being wired as a “math genius” has met every challenge her STEM school has provided, then the grades and scores might be fine. If the teachers will allude to her being smart but lazy, or a kid who shuts down when she hits a speed bump, then you’re looking at an entirely different set of colleges.
So provide us with context and we can be helpful with some additional colleges…
@arabrab Both my avatar and my username are references to the show Psych. It’s about about a “psychic detective” and his partner that help solve crimes for the Santa Barbara police department. It’s a really good mix of mystery-comedy-drama; highly recommend. The pineapple is one of many running gags in the show
OP is not over thinking this…Bs and Cs in math for all 4 years will preclude her from top 20 schools.
D1 had high 700s (760-680) for all math standarized tests, A to A+ for most rigorous math and science courses, and she was WL at Cornell.
Your kid needs to be realistic with 3.5 GPA as to where to apply. She will need more realistic safeties. She should still apply to Cornell and Wellesley, but I would look at them as very high reaches.
To clarify she is looking at other schools, I was just particularly curious about these ones. She goes to one of the top high schools in the nation (not going to specify which for privacy reasons) that gets at least 50 kids into an Ivy League school each year. Although at other schools with perhaps a less rigorous math curriculum, it is not unheard of for students to have these grades in math classes and they are curved to a B- average and a good portion of the senior class takes Calc AB (and another third takes AP Stat senior year and another third takes BC). Calc AB is known to be easier than the initial math classes as it is not curved to a B-.
She has a 2220 SAT score (800 CR, 710 Math, 710 W) and a 33 ACT (forget breakdown but math was 30).
Most students from her school with 3.85+ weighted GPAs get into William and Mary (if that puts anything into perspective). On the Naviance chart I don’t remember seeing any red dots (indicating flat out rejection).
Both teachers she’s asking for recs think highly of her and think, instead of shutting down when hitting bump, tries to rise above it and has succeeded in that more and more as the year progressed. She has a strong upward trend in her grades and her counselor is going to talk about how she really turned her bad freshman year around and improved each year.
She is a legacy for the schools I listed as well. A donating legacy at that. This might effect her chances a bit, no?
Oldfort, my nephew is going to Cornell Engineering which has a lower acceptance rate (no hooks) and had a verrry similar GPA. Students from her school get into those schools with comparable numbers. Cornell and other institutions take more holistic views of students so numbers alone aren’t always the best predictors.
Congratulations on your D’s test scores. Obviously take what I say with a grain of salt…Your D’s math grades are consistently low. I do agree with other posters that as long as she is not going to be a STEM major, it probably not going to matter as much, but many top tier schools may still expect their students to still do well in subjects they are not going to major in, especially in A&S. For engineering majors, few Bs or even Cs in humanities may not be as important.
If you are not already aware, legacy status is use it or lose it during the ED round. If she is borderline admit for the legacy school, and she likes it well enough, I would have her apply ED, it would make a difference.
If you have been a donating alum, I would reach out to your alumni office to see if your D could get a private tour of the campus, on campus interview, etc. By doing so, your D’s file maybe put to a special pile.
What level of donating alum are you talking about? If you are of the “hundred bucks every now and then” legacy (which most legacies are) that’s a different ball of wax from “regularly make six-figure or greater gifts.”
You don’t actually need to be a big donor to have it matter. Many schools also like active alumni with consistent donations. But if you want to be a one time donor to buy your kid a seat, there is also a price tag, and some of those schools mentioned here probably could be bought for 6 figure. Often time the 6 figure plus donation can be done over few year period time.
Agreed. Having said that, if you are regularly making six figure donations, it doesn’t really matter if you (parent) went there too. A new science wing from a non-alum is the same as a new science wing from an alum. Their money is just as green.
So she’s in the middle third of her senior class as far as math track, and she’s getting Bs and Cs in math, which is average for her school’s curve. She’s average at math at her school. I guess it depends on whether the average math kid at her school gets admitted into the schools you listed.
What is she good at, academically? Is there some particular academic strength she is showing? I wonder why she is looking at economics, a math-heavy major, when math is her area of relative weakness.
