If you were my kid- and of course you are not- I’d be encouraging you to find a college (not another year of HS) where you can continue to thrive, blow the cover off the ball, have the supports in place to be successful, and continue your education and maturation in a college environment. There are lots and lots of colleges that would be thrilled to have you- warts and all. Go find a few.
You may decide that I banking is boring and not for you. You may fall in love with something else. You may decide that working as a policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank, or working for the SEC to insure that EVERYONE (including investment banks) play by the same rules. You may fall in love with Cyber Security and become a crypto expert.
So I am leery of choosing a college path based on a HS kid’s understanding of what a professional path looks like. I’d be encouraging you to explore college, find one that fits, and continue your education. There are probably companies that don’t exist today which might be perfect for you 5 years from now. That’s what getting an education is all about- learning the skills to meet the challenges which don’t even exist at this moment in time.
More on my career interests: I’m not really dead set on banking, it’s more just a good stepping stone that I can use to get into a top MBA program. Although, I have heard terrible stories about working as a junior banker so maybe it’s not the right place for me. There are a lot of different career paths I am interested in such as tech, specifically product management, which seems really cool. Consulting or corporate finance could be an option too.
Good job A mix of As and Bs is a good goal. Go see your teachers, see what you need to do to keep the As and bring the B’s up (if that’s possible, if not, keeping the As matters more).
If your grades are ~4As 3Bs or up to 5As/2Bs throughout this year and first quarter/semester of PG year, then your options are wide open. Not Harvard of course, but UNC Wilmington, URI, Pace, UMaine drop down from match to safety, and you can aim for Pitt, Miami-Ohio, UMN-TC, SUNY Buffalo, Colorado Boulder, UDel, UVermont, UUtah, Elon, UDenver, RIT, Drexel, Drake, Beloit, Hobart, St Joe’s (Philly), Ithaca, Fordham, Lake Forest, Allegheny, Kalamazoo, with possible reaches such as Dickinson, St Lawrence, St Olaf, Muhlenberg, Providence, Fairfield, UScranton, Bentley, Southwestern, Bradley, Trinity U (TX).
Happy for you that you’ve turned it around for school! That’s fantastic! I bet it feels great.
I still think that it’s probably a better idea for you to plan for moving on to college next year, rather than a post-grad year. The reason that I say this is that you’re of an age to go to college next year, and I have a feeling that you would be happier with the independent environment of college, rather than doing a PG year of high school.
Assuming money’s no object, you should take a look at this thread from last year, regarding applying for college with a less than stellar high school record. S21--not an easy path, happy to get some input at this stage - #36 by Cheeringsection. But I think that your best opportunity to wind up going to school with students of similar ability is to start at a public college in your state, Maryland, from which you could transfer to U Md. There will be plenty of kids as bright as you at U Md. Do extremely well there, and there’s no reason that you wouldn’t be able to get into a prestigious MBA program, if that’s what you want.
I don’t know if a fantastic senior year, plus a fantastic PG year, plus a stellar SAT would get you into, say, Fordham, rather than a school that accepts 75% or more of applicants this year. Better to start college next year at a school you can get into, and then transfer if you do extremely well and still want to transfer.
Those are definitely better than my previous options. Out of those schools I am already applying to Elon, Denver, Fairfield, and St. Lawrence. I am also considering Pitt, CU Boulder(might be too much of a “party school” where I’d get too distracted, UDel(same reason as Boulder), and RIT.
I am in complete agreement with others that you are being unrealistic about college. Good test scores do not mean you are a good student, and it takes a good student to follow through towards (high school graduation and) college graduation.
You are being honest about some of the faults that have gotten you into the academic situation you are in, but you are not being honest with yourself about what type of college you should attend, and what the value of any college education is.
One stand out piece of information you share in this thread is that you feel a lot of pressure and criticism from a parent, and therefore you don’t mind moving away. College in itself can be pressure filled, and college at your desired level will most definitely be pressure filled. You may also lack discipline enough to go to college at a great distant, but in contrast, it may allow you enough space to grow into your responsibilities.
A second stand out piece of information you have shared is your inability to do well in a large-classroom/public setting…and then in a smaller/private setting (albeit you stated it was online?). Look at your experiences in both settings; you will have to be able to be successful at one or the other. You may find lecture-hall courses with hundreds of students to be absolute failures, and you may feel too pressured with a small teacher-to-student ratio and individualized attention at a smaller school. You have time to work on your success in a school environment, now. It sounds like you have already set some goals for yourself. Kudos.
I understand you think community college is beneath you, but I think it (and work to pay for it yourself) is the best fit for you, bright or not.
As the mom of three boys (one in college, one applying to college, and one near applying to college) I wish you all the best. I also know that there is no perfect path to your future. Take that to heart. Education is a gift and it does not have to be elite education.
What I am getting from this thread is that the OP wants to get away from home and is thinking about how to be financially independent post college (some kind of business).
Those goals are achievable for OP. Glad that the college list is developing!
I would say that is my goal. Additionally my grades are not quite as dire as I previously thought. According to my counselor, I will be submitting 2 different transcripts to colleges: one from 3 years of public school and another from the one year of private school. The public school one has a GPA of 3.5 with a relatively difficult coarse load and the private school one has a 2.0 because only the core classes transferred. My current list of schools is:
Bucknell
Colorado College(Big reach)
Syracuse
W&L(Big reach, might not even apply)
Maryland
SMU
Lafayette
Georgia
Penn State
Pitt
Towson
Loyola Maryland
UMBC
Additionally, I’m looking into doing a PG year to improve my selection.
Are there any other schools I should apply to? Do you have any advice for me? How much will a PG year help improve my chances at more selective schools? What PG programs could I realistically get into?
Agreed - we had doctors, pro athletes, realtors, people that worked at barnes & noble.
it’s a great goal - mba - but it’s too early - you haven’t even started college.
The key to an MBA is work experience.
It could be tour guide, it could be food taster, it could be dog groomer - just has to be something.
But you’re at least 6 years away - 4 years school and at least two years work experience - and by then, who knows, you might be off to something bigger and better than B school. In fact, most of the cool companies today laugh at the MBA…as an unnecessary. The old stodgy ones like I work for still like them.
There are many students in your situation this year and it sounds like you are realizing it instead of sticking your head in the sand. That is the first step.
If you really want to play lacrosse at the college level and get recruited your 5th year a PG makes sense if:
Your current coaches think you have a shot at playing at the college level and are recommending this will help you. You will be that much bigger and the college can still redshirt you a year giving you an extra year of college (can work on masters level classes).
You understand the time commitment to play at the college level and get course work done.
You use this year and next year to improve your skills in the classroom and on the field. Take the work you do with the person your parents are hiring to help you with executive functioning skills seriously and let them know what you are struggling with so they can make additional references if needed.
Your parents can afford it and 4 years of college. (Some invest in this 5th year thinking it will guarantee a full athletic scholarship. That rarely happens.)
Have you had any recruiters talk to you?
Also, your comment about always being at the top of your class. That was in middle school and elementary school from what you have told us. High school does less hand-holding and then Covid happened. College does even less handholding and grades are not weighted. It is ok to be a B or B+ student in college. And for most of the schools on your list getting your GPA up to an unweighted 3.3 to 3.7 range will help.
Work on test scores, too. A 1380 is great. Getting to a 1500 from there is possible given what you have shared, but it will take the same amount of self discipline. It is a little easier than lifting a GPA as much as you need to. Superscoring will at least help get you over 1450. It is worth taking the ACT as well, just to see where you land. A 1380 is equivalent to 30 and you may surprise yourself and get a 32 or 33 on the ACT. Colleges do not care which one you submit.
Some colleges to add to your list with rising GPA and test scores that have Lacrosse and business with a supportive learning environment:
Clark
Colby
Quinnipiac
U Richmond
And this is outside of your comfort zone right now, but the US Naval Academy in Annapolis is a great opportunity and if you could get your grades up they could be interested with the lacrosse. A lot of structure and not a lot of down time to get distracted. It is also free, not that it sounds like you need that.
Thank you for the response. I’m not really at the elite level to play D1. I don’t play club lax and I only started playing lacrosse when I was a freshman. I would have played sophomore year but the season was cancelled due to covid. However, I learned the game very quickly. The 2021 season I played on the varsity team in the MIAA but my season was held back by academic stress and poor fitness. This year I’m playing on a good public school team. I could play D3, but I’m also not sure if I could balance grades, sports, clubs, and everything else. Would schools be interested in me for a PG year despite me being not being a top level player?
If that is the case I am not sure you need to do this PG year, but it sounds like you want that option and it may work well to give you some time to develop you skills on the field and managing course work.
It is worth talking to some of the coaches at the schools about pathways to D3.
I know a lot of college athletes who found the structure helpful as it forces you to get the course work done. I know that was true for me.
Hey, just commiserating. My story is a lot like yours, although I did a little better on standardized tests than you have so far. Just want to tell you not to lose hope, that things can work out for you. This was several decades ago, but I was accepted to a school ranked around #40-60 based mostly on my test scores, and eventually went to law school and a top business school.
From my own experience, I agree a million percent with two things mentioned above: first, that you need the right skills to succeed in school, and they are skills you have to focus on developing. I personally felt I was starting to develop them during my final two years of grad school, which caused me to struggle for many years prior to that despite the fact that I kept advancing. Learn those skills. Make friends with the kids who have those skills, figure out what they do, and emulate them.
The second thing is that there is DEFINITELY something to the hyperfocus idea, and I’ve personally learned how to turn it on when I’m given a project with a ridiculously short deadline. Learn how to harness it.
So don’t give up hope. Your path may be different from other people’s, but you can still succeed.
So as what you should do. If you think that a year spent at a job with a set schedule will help you develop some of those skills, it might be a good idea. Why not try something like the peace corps? It wouldn’t be a boring desk job and can help propel you forward.
As for schools, I suspect that you’d do better at a smaller school with smaller classes, where you’re less likely to fall through the cracks if you need help. With your grades, you should look at schools where your test score is above the 75th percentile of accepted students–you can find that information by looking up the “common data set” of individual schools on their sites. Maybe 10-15% higher than the 75th percentile. So if you can pull off a 1500, some schools that I think (in my limited guesswork) may work might include Allegheny College or Alfred University, for example. If you can’t bring up your scores, that would probably be a hard sell, though, and you’d have to look at some others.
An I the only one that thinks the OP is aiming way too high? All of these schools seem like reaches to me. Maybe UMBC is a safety, I’m not familiar with it, but the rest are all reaches as far as I can see even with a good test score.
I also think you are way overestimating your chances at LAX. D3 lacrosse is no joke, especially in the mid-Atlantic. One or two years of playing, and not playing well because of lack of fitness is not going to get you recruited.
Not trying to be harsh but I think you really need to reevaluate your list. There are schools out there that would be good for you and that you can get accepted to but I don’t think they are on your list. Junior year is critical for college acceptances and you have a 2.0. How will that get you into a school like Bucknell or Lafayette? Their average GPA’s are around a 3.6 and that’s for kids who take mostly AP’s and honors. Again, just trying to make you take a realistic look at your options.
I also don’t get how your GPA would include 3 years of public school and went from a 3.1 in your first post to a 3.5 in your most recent post. Are you just estimating that you will end up with a 3.5 based on your current grades? If so, that’s not realistic as colleges will only see your first term grades when you apply (assuming you apply RD and not EA). Someone upthread mentioned a college counselor and although it’s late in the game, it seems like it would be a worthwhile idea.
My These were schools the counselor at my school said I could realistically get into, but I’m dubious as to how reliable this information actually is. She also said a 1400 would get me into UMD lol. I do agree that my grades are not very competitive for a lot of schools. This is why I think a PG year might be the best option. It took me a little while to get it figured out academically but I believe I am ready for college. I just need an extra year to prove that. Additionally, my priority is academic success, not playing college lacrosse. Though, a few D3 coaches have shown interest in me.
I also think the list looks too reachy, but that’s probably because I’m really confused about your GPA for public school. No one here is going to be able to make good recommendations if they don’t have your correct GPA. Can you clarify for us what you had for freshman and sophomore years? Was it actually 3.5 for both those years and you mistakenly thought it was 3.1? Your GPA matters a little bit more than your SAT score, so simply getting a 1400 isn’t going to get you into UMD if you have a 3.25 average. (Less than 10% of accepted students have below a 3.5 GPA, and I’d bet that a lot of those below 3.5 are recruited athletes.) Even with 3.5s both freshman and sophomore year, and a 4.0 senior year, your overall GPA is not going to be 3.5 because you can’t pretend that your 2.0 junior year didn’t happen. Colleges are going to see that transcript. It sounds like the best-case scenario is you have freshman-senior stats of 3.5/3.5/2.0/4.0 and graduate with a 3.25, but the second semester of senior year will be too late to help with applications so what colleges see will be lower than that. If you can clarify your actual GPAs for the first three years, it will help people give you the best advice.
On a side note, one of my husband’s friends got his BS from Frostburg State and his master’s from UMD, and now earns over 500K/year as a mechanical engineer. Other friends, a married couple with Harvard BS/Harvard PhD and MIT BS/MIT PhD, earn far, far less. They are all doing jobs they love and are happy with their lives. Satisfaction in life isn’t always about where you go to school, but whether you achieve your own definition of success.
Ok, sorry for the miscommunication. I saw my transcript today and my unweighted gpa for the first year was a 3.1 UW, taking mostly honors and GT classes. Sophomore year I had a 3.4 UW, taking high level classes again, and with multiple extracurricular leadership roles. I was bored in school so I decided to transfer. Which was a good idea, but I chose the wrong school. How the schedule worked was that I took 9 classes at once with a weird 10 day schedule that made no sense. Also, its important to note the grade deflation. At public school, you get As just by doing your work. At the private school, you need to study constantly just to get a B.
College know that and pretty much every kid there with a GPA >3.0 gets into UMD . I didn’t even mention how I was told explicitly that they wanted me back for this year. I could go on and on about how poorly run the school was but it doesn’t matter. I’m focused on what I can do now to succeed. As I said before, a PG year will allow me to improve my college selection and help me get into the school that is the right fit for me. Another advantage to a PG year is so I am more ready for college work and environment so I can excel when I get there. Hopefully that clears up any confusion.
Look for a PG day school you can commute to and BS’s with a good track record wrt D3 record (you need to look up many and apply to a f3w). That will likely give you three things: study skills you may be missing, better grades thus better GPA, and more time to show your lacrosse ability.
