Colleges for the slow-to-mature kids
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Anonymous
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I see a lot of posters complain about how their kids are "bad at taking tests" and therefore have a low SAT/ACT score but decent GPA. Colleges are now allowing test optional applications to address this (thanks to Corona mostly). Great for those parents/kids!
What about kids who didn't do well in 9th and 10th grades academically but got their acts together in 11th/12th? Say they end up with a weighted GPA in the 3.7-4.0 range but end up with a 1550+ in the SATs in junior/senior year. Basically, a good trajectory. Assuming these are male, White or Asian kids that want to do Engineering/CS with no legacy/hooks/sports. Are they pretty much fuc*ed? Will any "top school" touch them? Would like to hear about schools that really look into the application and select such kids as well as personal experiences. Not interested in "you can get a great education at any school" posts, please. |
Anonymous
| Sounds like my kid. Did not get into VaTech. Got in at GMU and VCU will probably get in at NC State, Penn State. |
Anonymous
| It depends on whether they are coming from private v. public and if this occurred during distance learning. Public schools handed out easy As during DL so there's no excuse for low grades then. |
Anonymous
| community colleges |
Anonymous
| Just here to say I wish schools only looked at 11th and 12th for gpa. It’s insane to expect consistent perfection, ambition, and long-term planning from kids from 14/15 -17/18 without intense parental control. Wonder why helicopter parents became a thing? I don’t. Colleges reward premature frontal lobe development and controlling parenting (even parents doing some of the kids work) |
Anonymous
Except 12th is hard with many apps due before 1st semester grades are in |
Anonymous
Do parents really do this? Lol! I don't think my kid would want me attempting his precalc or physics especially since I never took those classes. |
Anonymous
Correct. I have current 9th grade b/g twins. My daughter is 100% self-motivated and is cranking out 3 hours of homework a night and A's in a top private school where As are rare. My son? Well, let's just say he has a fraction of his sister's motivation. I have no doubt it will kick in at some point. It did for his father and my brother. Both ended up being extremely successful but were somewhat of an unmotivated mess at 14/15. In the meantime, i'm spending 2 hours a night prodding my son. Doing some of the work. Etc. etc. His friends have (often full time) tutors and parents who are also spending hours prodding. It's not that the boys can't do the work, it's that they don't have the drive to do it. Yes, there are a few self-motivated boys. For sure. But many other bright ones who simply haven't come into their own yet. College really should throw out freshman year grades. I honestly don't think they are representative of much for many kids (far more representative of their parents) . |
Anonymous
| UMCP, UMBC, vA tech |
Anonymous
Yes. absolutely. I am one of them as are many of my friends. We don't do the work independently (as in our kid is not in the next room while we're cranking out physics problems) but we do sit at the table/desk and assist as needed. Many nights. High school pre-calc and physics, etc are pretty easy for many parents who are doctors or STEM workers and there are a lot of us around this area. |
Anonymous
Top schools have their pick of qualified applicants so why on earth would they chose some late bloomer versus an independently motivated high achiever through all of high school? There’s a school for everyone but try and have some realistic perspective. |
Anonymous
Yes. Especially last year with virtual learning. And not just parents. I even heard about someone (friend of a friend) having their kid's foreign language tutor "sitting with" the student during a vritual test. Basically if a kid is a current senior who had low freshmen/sophmore grade but "thrived" junior year with virtual learning, I'm going to assume there was some form of cheating involved. That's why it's important that OP's kid ALSO did well on the SAT. In that case, i would NOT assume cheating. |
Anonymous
What is the unweighted GPA? My son sounds like yours - he had to swallow his pride and go to a much lower ranked school (below 100) because of freshman and sophomore year grades in a DC private, despite 4.0s junior and most of senior year, until Covid hit. The good news is he is top of his class at his college and is enjoying himself so much that I think he has given up on transferring. I hear your frustration, though. Colleges will claim they want resilient kids and independent thinkers, yet they reward helicoptering. That said, I feel good about the lessons my son has learned, all on his own. |
Anonymous
| My kid got into Purdue with a similar profile. He was also admitted to UMCP but not a direct admit to the engineering school. |
Anonymous
The bolded is so true! |