Where Can My Above-Average STA Son Expect To Get Into College?

[Anonymous]

My son is in the 4th decile at St. Albans. He has no legacy or hooks. Where can he expect to gain admission to college? Does he have a shot at a T20?

[Anonymous]

Depends on so much other than class rank even aside from legacy and obvious hooks like sports.

[Anonymous]

Nope.

Should be looking at T100.

[Anonymous]

Are any of the T20 a good fit for him?

[Anonymous]

What’s the GPA at that decile?

[Anonymous]

Hard to say in a vacuum, without knowing more about your son, but it sounds like your son definitely has potential to be one of the forgotten and overlooked in college admissions. Being from St. Albans could actually work against him. No matter how great a private high school school might be, elite college like the Ivies and NESCACs will only take so many kids from one school. Once they pore through the students from the top decile or two, along with racial minorities, athletes, legacies, and super wealthy (and all the same from NCS), they may decide that they have enough kids from the Cathedral schools and your son will not get a look. Plus, going to an elite school like St. Albans can almost be perceived as a "privileged" stigma in the crazy world that the top college seem to be nowadays. He might have been better off going to a public and being top of his class, or working to hone his skill in a sport that would catch the attention of a college coach. Report back in a couple of years and let us know!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is in the 4th decile at St. Albans. He has no legacy or hooks. Where can he expect to gain admission to college? Does he have a shot at a T20?

College counseling will be able to help him create a good list. Just ask them where kids like him have been admitted in recent years.

[Anonymous]

What is the 4th decile? What is his GPA—that’s important

[Anonymous]

4th decile is a very obnoxious way to describe someone in the 40th percentile of the class. Unhook and GPA is like somewhere between 3.3 and 3.5 my guess? If you are full pay ED wisely and you have a shot at a relatively stronger school that needs to fill fully pay seats.

I’d say the highest he could shoot would be the tufts, wake forest, bates, BC, BU level. Is he going to do standardized tests?

[Anonymous]

No shot at top20.

My son is in the second decile (unhooked) and given his GPA and all the Naviance data we've seen he has a possible but by no means secure shot at top20 universities. Probably secure chance at top30-40.

Your kid would have a shot at top 30-40. Secure chance at a school ranked above 40.
(not saying he can pick his school but will likely get into one of them)

Liberal arts colleges are different--your kid would probably have a ok chance at schools ranked outside of the top 10.

It's hard to say without knowing GPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:4th decile is a very obnoxious way to describe someone in the 40th percentile of the class. Unhook and GPA is like somewhere between 3.3 and 3.5 my guess? If you are full pay ED wisely and you have a shot at a relatively stronger school that needs to fill fully pay seats.

I’d say the highest he could shoot would be the tufts, wake forest, bates, BC, BU level. Is he going to do standardized tests?

You're interpreting this incorrectly. OP's son is around the 60% percentile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4th decile is a very obnoxious way to describe someone in the 40th percentile of the class. Unhook and GPA is like somewhere between 3.3 and 3.5 my guess? If you are full pay ED wisely and you have a shot at a relatively stronger school that needs to fill fully pay seats.

I’d say the highest he could shoot would be the tufts, wake forest, bates, BC, BU level. Is he going to do standardized tests?

You're interpreting this incorrectly. OP's son is around the 60% percentile.

Sorry you’re correct. I meant bottom of the top 40% of the class. And this I would say is a good list for that range ED full pay. Need to aim between 50-30 with a GPA in the high B range and no hooks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is in the 4th decile at St. Albans. He has no legacy or hooks. Where can he expect to gain admission to college? Does he have a shot at a T20?

The world needs ditchdiggers too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:4th decile is a very obnoxious way to describe someone in the 40th percentile of the class. Unhook and GPA is like somewhere between 3.3 and 3.5 my guess? If you are full pay ED wisely and you have a shot at a relatively stronger school that needs to fill fully pay seats.

I’d say the highest he could shoot would be the tufts, wake forest, bates, BC, BU level. Is he going to do standardized tests?

Any of the schools you named would be extremely unlikely under a 3.5! Maybe Bates, but the others are extremely competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4th decile is a very obnoxious way to describe someone in the 40th percentile of the class. Unhook and GPA is like somewhere between 3.3 and 3.5 my guess? If you are full pay ED wisely and you have a shot at a relatively stronger school that needs to fill fully pay seats.

I’d say the highest he could shoot would be the tufts, wake forest, bates, BC, BU level. Is he going to do standardized tests?

Any of the schools you named would be extremely unlikely under a 3.5! Maybe Bates, but the others are extremely competitive.

STA does not give GPAs on a 4.0 scale so your comment doesn't really apply. Boys in the 60% percentile of the class would be competitive for any of these schools based on recent STA admissions.