Those highly competitive schools are not a sure thing for the very vast majority of applicants. When schools deny acceptance to 90% or more of applicants…that is surely NOT a sure thing for most.
The good news…there are many other really good colleges that kids can apply to. Sure…apply to a reach school or two…or three. But also have match and sure thing schools on the application list.
And when they look at the transcript and see, say, a bunch of 95s, they don’t convert that to A or B, no matter the school’s funky system. It’s 95/100. Excellent. No time to sit and ponder the scheme.
Grades over gpa, and unweighted. Cores and subjects related to the potential major. Rigor.
It’s not just about who might get a 4.0 in your hs. Thousands and thousands will apply with a 4.0 equivalent.
Class rank does matter though, a 4.0 at the 20th percentile does not mean the same thing as a 4.0 at the 2nd percentile.
D’s school does rank so that’s good to hear. What criteria do you guys use to do chance predictions? Is it just a parlor game?
Among all who apply to these colleges, how many have competitive scores and stats to qualify for holistic round? It looks like at least 50% Ivy applicants have higher GPA than 4.5 and SAT higher than 1580. and almost all are National Merit Scholars. In my little world, my D looked really accomplished but from this forum’s lense, she seems so average.
Does your school use naviance? For us it’s been a pretty good guide for comparing where kids from our high school get it with specific stats.
It does. I do need to learn to navigate it. Is there a “Naviance For Dummies” guide on this forum. I can use one.
Does your school have Naviance? That is a good place to start, however it doesn’t factor in everything ( activities etc). Additionally- our school posts SAT and ACT for the same student if both tests are taken. This can be misleading because you may think that a 29 ACT got the student accepted when in reality it may have been the 2300 ( old test) and you don’t know that it’s the same student.
It is impossible to predict acceptances to top schools because it is based on more than rank and scores. And- many of the applicants to such schools have perfect or near perfect grades and scores. The best advice is to apply to some of them and make sure to also have matches and safeties in the mix.
Look at the scatter grams for the schools you are interested in and see where your child sits. Are they in the range of other students accepted at that school, outliers? Naviance is a nice tool because you can see the actual students from your high school with the stats as your school calculates them, no need to try to convert to some other system. Obviously your child’s major will also impact where they get in if they’re looking at something very competitive and naviance does not show you that, but you can ballpark if your child is in range for particular schools or not.
Remember, those very competitive schools could fill their freshman classes three or four times over with students who,were denied acceptance. LOTS of very well qualified applicants who,do NOT get accepted to,colleges with acceptance rates hovering around 10%.
Like I said…cast a wide net.
D doesn’t want to waste her time, energy and money on applications to random tippy top schools. I really doubt she will apply to more than 6-8 schools.
Again, it’s not weighted gpa. Every hs has its own scheme, your 4.5 may not equate to another’s. So “4.5” means nothing in the grand scheme. One 4.5 may be another hs’s 4.2 and there some are, assuming their 4.5 means more, because it’s a higher number. Not.
Folks should get their heads out of the ‘high school thinking,’ what makes one top dawg in that one building. You don’t get into a top school because your hs loved you, but because the college sees what they want. So that’s the digging one needs to do.
And no, 50%, ime, do not have 1580. As one of the MIT reps recently said, anything 7xx (old SAT) shows you’re qualified to do the actual work there. What distinguishes candidates is then the meat. You think, you have stretched and it shows, you engaged in meaningful ways (not just x clubs, yyyy service hours,) you know “why this college?” and can write it sensibly, as they want to see. You understand what the big essay is meant to convey.
I avoid that forum.
For colleges with single digit acceptance rates? Yup, pretty much a parlor game!!
I don’t blame her for not wanting to waste her time applying to random, tippy top schools. There is no point to that and attending such a school is not necessary. She needs to do her research and choose wisely.
There are many things to consider: cost ( use the net price calculators), distance, major, urban/rural, size, etc. Are you looking for merit or financial aid? Are you prepared to be full pay? These are things to consider.
My advice is to narrow down at least two safety schools that are affordable and where your daughter will get in and be happy. Next I would find a few match schools- these are schools where your daughter stands a good chance of getting in but the acceptance is not guaranteed ( that’s how I see it but others may have more to say about match schools). Next- if she wants to throw in a reach or two that meets her criteria and looks interesting, it’s fine. If she does not want to throw in a reach, that’s fine too.
Keep in mind that for kids with a high rank and test scores, Ivy League and similar schools can look like academic matches on paper but they are reaches.
So…where is your kid planning to apply? All this brouhaha about what top schools want…and it’s not even germain to your kid’s college search?
My kids amazingly applied to colleges without ever seeing rankings. At all. They looked at information about the schools. My sonnwas a musician so the audition was key for him. My daughter had a list of criteria for colleges and researched schools based on her criteria. She applied to only three schools initially…and was accepted to,all,three before December.
We asked her to add a school near home…and she added a reach. To be honest…we should have just let it go,at her original three schools…which were very well thought out.
Your daughter needs that list of criteria for colleges. She can talk to her school counselor for information (they can access Naviance easily).
Get the finances sorted out first…if you have a budget for college…let her know what that is.
Don’t fret at all about weighted vs unweighted GPA because college admissions is not hinged to that. Its a small piece of the pie. As an example…my kid was 8th in a class of 200 with a weighted GPA of 3.6. Clearly…no grade inflation at her school. Only 1 person had an unweighted GPA of 4.0.
As in all things in life, if you’re set on a goal, there are intelligent ways to up your chances. But you won’t find them on chance threads, a bunch of hs kids predicting what they don’t know jack about, most of whom haven’t even submitted their own apps, seen their own results. Nor will you learn anything by assuming.
Here’s an example of how competitive admissions is at the top schools. Brown rejects over 80% of the high school valedictorians that apply.
And, other than for institutional needs, a lot of that is because, after stats, thin air.
Princeton and Stanford also show those figures.
Your daughter’s 4.5 is only meaningful at her school. We were told at one info session about a HS that uses an 11 point scale!
And… Kids get rejected from schools like Duke etc despite being #1 or #2 with an SAT ( old) above 2300.
Regarding rank - it’s true that I think it helped my kid that had masses of high B+s on his transcript that his rank turned out to be one away from top 5%. I was surprised.
But a lot of people worry about not being number one in the class and unless you are someplace like Texas, the exact rank is rarely going to matter. But the bands are important. I don’t think anyone got into Harvard from our large high school who wasn’t in the top 2 or 3 percentile.
D has done some research and visited few schools. She wants to attend a small campus but doesn’t care for smaller LACs. Her main focus is to have a solid and broad undergrad education until she finds something she would want to pursue in depth. She does well in all subjects but enjoys math and literature more than others.
D prefers urban setting and cooler climate. She definitely wants an active student body where she gets to be a part of fine arts scene, political activism and intramural sports. She doesn’t want an alt right conservative campus or ultra liberal enclave but an open minded and progressive community. D likes east coast and historic buildings.
Like any other average middle class family, finances are always an issue but not enough to be a deal breaker.