Please Be Kind: 2.6 GPA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Radford blows nuts. STD rate is higher than the grad rate.

OP, you need to look at Rollins College in Florida. It is small and nurturing, and it devours kids like yours: students from elite private schools who graduate in the middle of the pack or below.

According to the GPA distribution from the school's most recent common data set, one fifth of incoming freshmen had below a 3.0 high school GPA, and another one-fifth had between a 3.0 and 3.25.

Your kid's SAT is also at or above their 75th percentile. I think your kid would be in like Flynn.

Rollins is gorgeous, though not particularly academically inclined. Not sure I would suggest it if you suspect your student has untapped potential and are hoping it will be realized in college.

I'm familiar with Rollings only because I have family in WP and it carries at least some name recognition, but would generally advise against blowing money on an uncompetitive private, no name college or university. Better to go to a CC to blow a much, much lower amount of money while figuring out what to pursue and earning grades to compensate for HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Radford blows nuts. STD rate is higher than the grad rate.

OP, you need to look at Rollins College in Florida. It is small and nurturing, and it devours kids like yours: students from elite private schools who graduate in the middle of the pack or below.

According to the GPA distribution from the school's most recent common data set, one fifth of incoming freshmen had below a 3.0 high school GPA, and another one-fifth had between a 3.0 and 3.25.

Your kid's SAT is also at or above their 75th percentile. I think your kid would be in like Flynn.

Rollins is gorgeous, though not particularly academically inclined. Not sure I would suggest it if you suspect your student has untapped potential and are hoping it will be realized in college.

I'm familiar with *Rollins only because I have family in WP and it carries at least some name recognition, but would generally advise against blowing money on an uncompetitive private, no name college or university. Better to go to a CC to blow a much, much lower amount of money while figuring out what to pursue and earning grades to compensate for HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Professor here. In this economic climate with Higher Ed in crisis you need to look at the financial health of the smaller colleges you’ll be applying to: many will be suffering. Also, Fall 21 is likely to be somewhat hybrid, so think about how that would affect your kid and their issues and look for schools that have handled the pandemic in a way that suits your child. Talk to admissions about mentor shop and orientation. Ask to connect with a department or two your kid is interested in. If they truly have no interest and are not ready to self motivate (this is harder with remote learning) of consider community college for a year. I realize it’s not desirable for you but it often positions kids like yours to succeed, whether that means they mature/acclimate OR they find an alternate vocational path, which also is honorable. MC and NOVA are excellent schools, and as a full pay family, surely you’d be able to put your kid in an apartment if that is important.

Look at St. Mary’s in MD, Marymount in Arlington, and McDaniel.

OP here. Thank you Professor. This is helpful.

Glad this was helpful, in spite of my iPhone-related typos! Happy to help if you have more questions. I teach at a school with lots of kids who came from less than stellar backgrounds who may not be the best fit for college. For every kid who coasts or is in over their head beyond repair, there is a kid who works REALLY hard and/or finds a major/passion/skill that allows them to excel. I live for these kids. Helping them grow into happy, functional, purposeful adults is the best reward there is in life. I hope your kid finds their match, but just realize it may take some time and research and patience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC has a 2.6 GPA (lower if you look at only core classes) at a (not big 3) DMV private. 1380 SAT. Applied EA to 10 colleges recommended by school counselor. Only one college has rolling admissions and it was on the “match” list. Wait listed. Very concerned DC won’t get in to college. Has anyone else been in a similar grade/SAT situation? If so, where did your child get accepted? Wondering whether DC should apply to a couple more safeties RD. DC needs a small nurturing college with good supports (tutoring, writing center, approachable professors). Thank you. Please no snarks. And please no suggestions for community college. Thank you.

My feeling is that, if you have the money to send your son to a four-year private college that would support him, and he likes the idea of going away to college, you should send him, even if that means sending him to “third-tier college,” because it’s a lot of fun to go to college and may be intellectually rewarding.

Maybe he’ll then go on to be poor. But at least maybe he’ll be a poor person who has fond memories of college.

And, if you have enough cash to send him to a four- year private school, maybe you can then also afford to send him to a career-oriented master’s program or certification program, for, for example, teaching, or plumbing. But, he’ll then have a chance to be a teacher or plumber who has some friends he made in the dorm freshman year, not a plumber who’s bitterly jealous of the kids who got to go away to school.

Here’s a list of schools with good support programs for students with various types of learning disabilities:

https://www.greatvaluecolleges.net/top-colleges-for-disabled-students/

Some are probably too big or too hard to get into, but one that seems interesting to me is Lesley University. It’s right there in Cambridge. Your son could take easy classes, get emotional support, and then maybe, possibly, find ways to hang out with students from other colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eckerd college in Florida comes highly recommended from families in similar situations

I'd be worried about that $50m endowment. Pretty weak. Beautiful location, though. And yes the OP's kid would almost certainly get in. But they've got a good shot at Rollins and Stetson as well, both of which are more solid choices when it comes to small colleges in Florida.

To the immediate PP- what is up with your hard-on for Rollins? It’s a great school for shiftless rich kids, yes. But I’ve never seen a bigger booster. Did you just graduate? Are you trying to get your resume noticed??

[Anonymous]

This is OP. Eckerd is the college that wait listed my son. That is why I am so concerned. We thought his SAT would compensate for the low GPA. But no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. We are full pay.

Apply to a SLAC in the 40-60 ranking range. Great schools. My guess is that you'll be pleasantly surprised at the number of acceptances.

[Anonymous]

Sewanee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. We are full pay.

Apply to a SLAC in the 40-60 ranking range. Great schools. My guess is that you'll be pleasantly surprised at the number of acceptances.

OP here. Eckerd is like #138 and that’s where he was wait listed. There’s nothing else going on here that I can see. Normal extracurriculars. Plays varsity lacrosse (again, not a big 3 private) and had a great essay.

[Anonymous]

Coe College
Luther College
Beloit
Milliken
Lots of small private universities in the Midwest would happily take him and they tend to be nurturing and supportive (esp Coe!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. Eckerd is the college that wait listed my son. That is why I am so concerned. We thought his SAT would compensate for the low GPA. But no.

Did his essay explain the disconnect between his GPA and SAT? If he didn’t address the why behind his GPA then his SAT actually works against him. It makes him look like a kid who was capable of a much higher gpa and was just too lazy to accomplish it. Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude but the colleges can’t know why he can achieve in one area and not in the other without a reasonable explanation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sewanee.

This is actually a great suggestion, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. Eckerd is the college that wait listed my son. That is why I am so concerned. We thought his SAT would compensate for the low GPA. But no.

It is well known that a strong SAT does not compensate for GPA but people don’t seem to understand this. I’m surprised your college counselor did not guide you better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sewanee.

This is actually a great suggestion, OP.

Not really. Their average GPA is a 3.7, which is higher than Eckerd, where OP’s kid was waitlisted.

[Anonymous]

My kid graduated from a Northern Virginia high school with a 2.0 and no, nothing wrong as a pp suggested that people who don't get good grades has something wrong with them. Some just don't like school.

Went to Nova, did the guaranteed admission to UVA and graduated on-time with a degree from UVA.

There are many paths to take in this world, don't let the people who tell you there is only one way.