How much of a difference does GPA make if you're not at the top
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Anonymous
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My freshmen really loves his extracurriculars. He is involved in music, theater, plays several sports, has a job and volunteers.
But it's clear that he can't do all those things and get straight A's, even though his course load is far from "most rigorous". The first quarter he got grades from B- to A, with an unweighted GPA around 3.5. He's in a peer group that puts a lot of pressure on themselves, and is wondering if he needs to cut back on extracurriculars to get higher grades so he can go to the "best" college, but I'm really not convinced that's the right path. I feel like he'll have lots of options, and that once you're not looking at the T50 (which I suspect he wouldn't be anyway) then I'm just not sure there's a huge difference in outcomes. What do other people think? |
Anonymous
| Depends what the goal is and what his GPA is? Public or Private? Weighted or Unweighted. Lot of variables. Obviously, the higher the grades, the better. |
Anonymous
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GPA matters. 3.5 unweighted is low.
He's too busy. He shouldn't have a job during the school year. Only summers. The next thing he should cut down is volunteering during the school year. He should also cut any activity he does not truly enjoy. |
Anonymous
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For our MCPS school, here's some schools where average accepted student GPA (unweighted) is between 3.4-3.6.
Catholic University George Mason University Ithaca College James Madison University Juniata College Loyola University Maryland New Jersey Institute of Technology Penn State (might include multiple campuses) St. Joseph's University (Philadelphia) St. Mary's College of Maryland Temple University University of North Carolina Wilmington |
Anonymous
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Meant to add:
University of Maryland, Baltimore County |
Anonymous
I think, other than the really huge schools (I don't see him at Penn State or JMU for example, and he's not going anywhere with "technology" in the name) that he'd be fine at any of those schools. How different would that be from a 3.7 list? I think that's what I'm trying to get at. |
Anonymous
The problem is he loves all the things he does. I'm curious why you think volunteering or working are less worthwhile than the other things. |
Anonymous
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3.7-3.8
Boston University Franklin and Marshall College Lehigh University George Washington University New York University Northeastern University Tulane University University of Maryland, College Park |
Anonymous
| I think you are correct. He sounds like he’s doing great. Having a kid love his activities and be passionate about them is priceless. As long as you and he are not attached to attending the top name brand colleges, that’s fine. He is going to do great in life. And he sounds HAPPY! What more could you ask for as a parent? |
Anonymous
OP - I totally agree with you. Working IS extremely worthwhile and unless you are the child of extreme wealth, at some point you're going to get a job. Working teaches so many things, some even assist with your academic learning. And some high school students HAVE to work in high school - they assist the family with paying bills. My oldest worked for a small, family owned retail business in high school. He took an accounting course his sophomore year in college. He called me after the fist class and said "mom, several of my classmates all said they thought the professor was talking in a foreign language - they didn't understand anything he was talking about. But I started thinking about what we do at work and it made total sense to me." If you haven't heard of the common data set, I would strongly encourage you to look through one. Most colleges have one - just google Common Data Set with the name of the school and if they have one, you'll find it. Section C lists what the college looks at when evaluating applications and what items in the application are extremely important versus not even considered. Employment is one item on the list - so you'll be able to tell if a school your DS is interested considers working in high school to be valuable. Also, when your DS fills out the Common Application, he can put employment as an activity and indicate how much time per week he spends working. And there is a way to put employment during the school year versus just during the summer. |
Anonymous
| GPA matters, and with TO, it matters more. Your child, like it or not, is competing against every other child at their high school for coveted spots in each university. Highest GPA is going to take the spot every single time. |
Anonymous
| A 3.5uw GPA won't keep from going to college, but it will change - narrow - the options available to him. I'd hate to tell a kid to stop doing things he loves, so that seems like a perfectly fine tradeoff. But it's also true that HS will get tougher as he goes and the workload heavier. So maybe it's worth talking about what's a reasonable balance between academics and extracurriculars. |
Anonymous
Disagree with this list unless the weighted GPA is above a 4.0 and includes multiple AP or IB courses (or unless at a very competitive private high school). |
Anonymous
I guess the question is whether he should be coveting those particular spots. Assuming the lists above are accurate and apply to him, is the difference between Ithaca and Franklin and Marshall or Penn State and UMD substantial enough that giving up things he loves, and that develop life long skills, worth it? |
Anonymous
| OP, you and your son seem happy. If either of you really wanted to change things, you would. I think you’re looking for reassurance more than a change of direction. |