She sounds very smart. I would suggest Vanderbilt from my years of reading CC, it accepts kids with lower GPA like 3.2, not sure they applied ED or not. WSTUL and Reed also accepted students with much lower GPA.
Check out the gifted students websites. Boredom may play a role in her performance. My gifted son had less than a 4.0, with his poorest grades as a young (16) HS senior while getting 5âs on the AP exams. But his grades were still mostly Aâs. Those students often end up at their state flagship universities in the Honors program/college and do much better when challenged. You do not qualify as state residents anywhere so private colleges are likely your best bet. Students applying to some state flagships with high test scores and lower gpaâs often will not get accepted because schools worry about study habits and the skills needed to do college work despite innate ability.
Too late to redo HS but not too late to find some stimulating courses to challenge her. She needs to learn how to study and do the work to get the top grades to be successful in college. She also needs to be engaged in the college process. She needs to decide SHE, not parents, wants to be in college.
Procrastination is a problem for some gifted students- sometimes linked to fear of not doing a perfect job. Do research on traits of the gifted (there is some overlap with ADD, btw). Davidson Institute and Hoagies are two gifted sites to start with. Google gifted as well.
The tales I could tell about sonâs journey, sigh.
We considered Vanderbilt a reach for my B+ kid. But his SAT scores were a little lower. (Skyhigh CR though!) The international angle may well help here there though.
Classic gifted kid behavior. Do look at Hoagies et al.
As for colleges, I suggest you take a really good look at Sarah Lawrence. I think that their tutorial system, emphasis on arts and independent work, might suit her to a T. Also look at Bard and Hampshire. And Reed.
I think your D will do fine, as colleges can trust what a standardized test result means whereas grading differs across teachers and schools. Having a high GPA and low test scores may be worse for admission than your Dâs situation, because then they assume the classes were not rigorous enough. LACâs, and in your case artsy ones, would likely be better at assessing her than large universities, who base a lot on the GPA/SAT combo.
We visited Wesleyan (in CT) this fall and it strikes me as the kind of place that might love your D. Itâs very artsy, highly- ranked and recently went test-optional. Obviously you donât need test-optional per se, but that fact suggests they may be open to a more holistic assessment of your D.
I am glad to see specific school names. Since we are unlikely to arrange for campus visits, we will definitely take a closer look at each school mentioned here.
The fact that I am here to ask for advice on her behalf is also self-indicative. But she just told me, âI will definitely apply for Stanford and Columbia so I wonât regret.â LOL, but what can I say?
âAssuming cost isnât an issue, Iâd take a look at some of the Colleges That Change Lives (a great resource book), and some of the midwestern LACs. While her GPA is on the low side, her background is unusual and she is a URM for some midwestern schools.â
This is excellent advice. Youâre most likely to find receptive audiences at small, quirky schools.
If sheâs seriously interested in Writing, Bard is an excellent possibility as is Emerson (where I think her prospects are close to certain - they love high test scores, which many of their artsy applicants lack). One more possibility: if she has a respectable weighted GPA (which she probably does), UCSBâs College of Creative Studies is a unique school, and might be perfect for her.
What about RISD? Or another should where she can apply with an arts portfolio?
Also I believe students are able to submit arts supplements via the common app?
My older daughterâs âstatsâ: 34 ACT, 3.5 or so high school GPA (started at 4.0, fell over the years), did poorly in foreign language and math, excelled in writing and art. Getting up on time for school was a major issue. Organization was a huge issue. Among other places, she was accepted at Earlham, Drew, Bennington, UW-Madison, University of Minnesota; she ended up at and LOVED the University of Redlands, in Redlands, California.
When a student is being perceived as âlazy,â it could be laziness. But it could also be something else. There is no reason in the world not to check further into what else might be going on. The fact that our society likes to medicalize performance, medicate it or label it in no way changes the fact that if someone is processing information in a way that is holding them back academically, then it would be good to know what the issues are and what kinds of coping mechanisms and strategies exist. The alternative - being down on yourself or your kid for stupidity or a character flaw - is not the place to start. If after careful testing the specialist says, âyup, this kid is lazy (or dumb),â well at least you can adjust your expectations accordingly and love them for who they are. If not, you might actually be able to help your kid do something constructive.
I worked with a literacy organization and the number of adults with learning disability that were not identified in childhood is heart-breaking, as is the shaming they often suffered at the hands of ignorant adults and peers. And far too many kids are still not being diagnosed, with a tremendous societal and personal cost. Check out the level of undiagnosed learning disabilities you see in the prison population some time. We are not talking about those kinds of disabilities in this specific situation- but Iâll take medicalizing over shaming or ignoring any day.
Re:#31 - @Nâs Mom - The OPâs daughter has a solid B+ average (unweighted), taking a rigorous courseload in what I presume is a competitive, high-pressure school (given Chinaâs academic reputation). She is not doomed to fail. Her GPA might be too low for a handful of American colleges, but those are the same schools that will reject literally thousands of brilliant Asian kids with perfect GPAs. The vast majority of colleges will take one look at her SAT score and probably accept her without further examination. Letâs not confuse a bright kidâs decision to coast, rather than excel, in some of her classes with genuine learning disabilities. This girl did not earn a 2300+ SAT score by concealing her illiteracy out of shame. She has a bright future ahead of her, even if Harvard or Stanford might not be a part of it (at least at the undergraduate level).
I agree with the posters who recommend that you have your child looked at for executive functioning. My very bright daughter has a ld - She had a high SAT, lower GPA (3.2). She loves art, and will be attending RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology.) They have a great fine art school, graphics program, as well as lots of technology - there is a 3D packaging design major, 3D design, as well as Animation - they also have great resources, are a co-op school, and are highly competitive in some majors (game design and animation are highly competitive.) Their College of Imaging Arts and Sciences http://cias.rit.edu/ is one of the few schools we saw that has great arts + great resources + financial aid. (My daughter was admitted to 8 art schools, and RIT gave the best aid by far.) It is next to an airport, support services for LDâs, and connections in the business.
OP said: âShe writes and talks (about abstract issues) better than most of my graduate students; and she said sheâs working on a new art form. But you got me, all these wonât show up in her application.â
Why canât they show up on her application? It would appear that her essays should be stellar the way she is described. That can be an x-factor to get beyond her GPA to get into a more competitive college. Plus, if she applies to a school that allows an arts supplement even if she is not applying for an art major (many LACs allow this), she can put forth her art for evaluation. And if itâs good, it will help.
Perhaps consider a school like Colorado College that works on a block schedule, where you do an intensive, deep dive into one class at a time.
Iâd also be in the camp of having her evaluated for executive function and other learning disabilities or ADD. It is entirely common to see kids with inattentive ADD able to focus ok on subjects/project they like and not be successful at doing so in other areas. The executive functioning stuff is a whole other deal, and a lot harder to cope with in college. There are a handful of colleges that really do a good job supporting students with EF challenges. Most really donât.
Time can also be a tremendous gift for some students. A gap year can make a tremendous difference.
YesïŒshe has some XïŒfactorsïŒlike the potentials of strong essays, special recommendations, arts portfolio, and international experience (going to Chinese schools till 8th grade). On top of that, she even has some âhooks,â being a legacy at Stanford and a faculty child at Duke. All these open up a wide range of possibilities, but they confuse more than they help: she may need to apply for MORE schools with no ideas of where she may end up to. But this is precisely the problem we are having now: She would talk cheap like âI want to aim high,â but then show no interests of finding out school information. She has been asked by the school to come up a college list since February; now it has been way over-due. I figure if I did not make this post, she would approach college applications like a homework assignmentâŠ
Post #36, the college list is a combined effort in our household and my kids always do all her homework on time. Itâs not just your kid.
I keep a spreadsheet with admission rate and yield and dates and such. I mean my kids got help.
I believe you have a real liveâŠteenager. I sometimes had to prod mine along to get on the ball, and he eventually did it, got his list together, his apps done and ended up with plenty of options. However, it was not really self motivated on his part in our instance. There are thousands of other CCers who will tell you it should be on her or she should be medicated, but I would feel your way through it b/c only you know when and how hard to press your child. It is OK to help her along and make some decisions for her along the way - she may even thank you for it.
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She is super smart (SAT 2330 with virtually no preparation) but also unreasonably lazy (GPA around 3.3 unweighted, mainly because of the lack of participation and late homework).
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It wasnât just the simple discrepancy between high test scores and modest grades that led some of us to suggest testing for ADHD and EFD, it was the additional comments about âlazyâ and âlack of preparation,â and âlate homeworkâ. None of us are Dxâing herâŠweâre just suggesting that she be tested.