<p>Brilliant kid. 2400 SAT, 5 SAT2 800s, 7 AP 5s.</p>
<p>Top math/physics/chem awards - in the top 5 in the state.
Lots of comp/sci awards.
Great writer - voracious reader.</p>
<p>Grades? run the gamut - As to Cs. gpa around 2.9 (3.2 w) in top high school. Actually puts the kid around the middle of the pack in a small high school prep school.</p>
<p>wants to major in comp/sci, but doesn't want a "trade school" program.</p>
<p>Where would you suggest for this kid?</p>
<p>RPI in Troy, NY. My ex b/f was similar and it served him well. He was a C/S major too.</p>
<p>Does he need money for college or can his parents pay full freight?</p>
<p>I’m not sure - it’s a kid from my son’s school and his mom has no ideas other than the state U.</p>
<p>He could try applying to the University of Maryland at College Park. They seem to value high test scores more than high GPAs, and they have a good computer science department.</p>
<p>But that GPA is really low.</p>
<p>He can try applying to top schools. They’ll take into account that he went to an extremely rigorous prep school.</p>
<p>Did he get top grades in math and science? That may make a difference.</p>
<p>If his prep school is academically rigorous and well-known…and judging by his test scores…he could also do what several kids at my NYC public magnet with similar/lower equivalent scores and much lower HS GPAs(1.x- mid-2.x) did. Attend the local/state university for 1-2 years, ace all of the courses, try taking as many advanced courses as they can, and then “transfer up”. </p>
<p>In their cases, they all ended up at schools like Cornell, Reed, CMU, Columbia…and continued to pull 3.5+ each semester to graduate with 3.5+ cumulative GPAs. They found their college experiences to be much easier than our high school even given the fact nearly all were STEM majors.</p>
<p>I was thinking of Reed until I saw Comp Sci.</p>
<p>public UG (nobody needs Elite college for Comp. Sc. anyway). Frankly, I got my first Computer job after CC and various employers paid for the rest of my education all the way thru MBA.<br>
Low GPA is indication that he will need to change his attitude in college no matter where he goes. He will have to work much harder than he had in HS. Hopefully he is smart enough to make this adjustment. Everybody adjust, even straight A kids who have been working very hard in HS. Smarts do no carry anybody, unless you are Steven Jobs…etc., but these did not have to go to college to begin with and they come to this conclusion and dropped out.
My kid was also at very regorous tiny prep. HS, very well know in our region. She has always been opposite, not very good standardized test taker, but very top student. She mentioned that adjustment in college was huge, she went to state public UG.</p>
<p>What is the State?</p>
<p>NJ, so it’s a state U with a decent program. </p>
<p>Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using CC</p>
<p>Northwestern U. They care more about test scores than grades. </p>
<p>Source: the kid sleeping behind me in Economics</p>
<p>Schools that don’t care as much about grades will still care about a 2.9 GPA, unless all those Cs are in PE and Art. I think a state U with a decent program is probably exactly what he needs. (This is assuming that his prep school doesn’t have huge grade deflation.)</p>
<p>Are there circumstances that could explain the low gpa? Is there an upward trend? What does the forecast look like for senior year?</p>
<p>There is grade deflation, or maybe just not inflation. I don’t think they’ve graduated a kid with a 4.0 ever, and they consistently send kids to harvard, princeton, mit, but with 3.7s, not 2.9s.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using CC</p>
<p>In NJ, there are schools like Rutgers, NJIT, Rowan, and TCNJ.</p>
<p>A 3.0 GPA and his test scores would get big scholarships at UA Birmingham and Huntsville (full ride at the latter). Perhaps it is worth checking how GPA is calculated at these schools to see if the GPA that they use will be 3.0 or higher for the student.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.uah.edu/images/admissions/Financial%20Aid/Documents/scholarship.pdf[/url]”>http://www.uah.edu/images/admissions/Financial%20Aid/Documents/scholarship.pdf</a>
[UAHuntsville</a> | The University of Alabama in Huntsville](<a href=“http://www.uah.edu/uah/landing/prospective/apprequirements.php]UAHuntsville”>http://www.uah.edu/uah/landing/prospective/apprequirements.php)</p>
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<p>If he can afford it, he should apply to multiple levels of schools rather than settle for state U. </p>
<p>I was at a presentation for how they select students at Tufts and they did not seem to have any issues picking someone with 3.0 GPA given there are other great attributes.</p>
<p>He can always go to UK schools. They don’t care what his GPA is or how well he is doing in the school (they dont even want a transcript). All they need is a counselor’s letter in the application, the APs, the SATs. For all we know, Oxford or Cambridge will accept him.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>I guess my point is, is there some story behind the gpa besides a hard school? Since you say kids go to Harvard with a 3.7, then that might be the bar for selective schools…unless there’s a story behind it. </p>
<p>I know of someone who had a 2400 SAT and many national awards but had a couple of low grades. There were stories behind the bad grades. I don’t know if this person got into any Ivies but I do know this person is attending Stanford.</p>
<p>I would say make sure they apply to a wide variety of schools, including top schools, and work hard on the application to explain any unusual circumstances.</p>
<p>NwU, Harvard,…etc. for CS seem to be overdoing it. Anyway, GPA might block acceptance. And another consideration, why to go all the way to Chicago…from NJ? In regard to stories, everybody is looking for people who are able to perform ander ANY circumstances, and I have seen many 14+ y o who do just that…In addition, GPA below 3 is not couple of bad grades, more so when the person has perfect standardized test scores. Apparently ability is there…as well as there is no much showing for desire to complete all work required in each class. I am not trying to be harsh, I am trying to follow the logic of any adcom, which we were told at the time when D. applied. Most said that they value hard work that showing in great GPAs over test scores.<br>
But again, if UGs might make much difference for some majors, I do not believe that CS is one of them.</p>