Any point apply to SCEA if GPA/score is less than perfect?

[Anonymous]

GPA is 3.85~3.9 with SAT>1530. Top rigor track from a private with no class rank but knowing that some classmates have GPA>3.9.

[Anonymous]

Ask your CCO and trust them. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Are others applying?
Undersubscribed major?
Niche?
Academic hook?
National level awards or uniqueness?

There’s so much more needed to make this assessment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ask your CCO and trust them. Seriously.

CCO said considered fits more important than stats, and let the school decides whether it is a good match. No game and don't worry about others. I just thought that why would a SCEA school choose a less than perfect student when they have yet to see tens of thousands of higher stat students? Perhaps it is better just use our ED card wisely.

[Anonymous]

Between T5 and T20, T5 care less about your stats. T20 other than T5, care more about stats.

[Anonymous]

My DC applied from a Big3 school this year and the SCEA schools as well as several other Ivies (Brown, Penn) definitely just took the highest GPA applicants. If there were 3.97s in the mix, they took them over the 3.89s every time. There was no "well the 3.89 has better extracurriculars" at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC applied from a Big3 school this year and the SCEA schools as well as several other Ivies (Brown, Penn) definitely just took the highest GPA applicants. If there were 3.97s in the mix, they took them over the 3.89s every time. There was no "well the 3.89 has better extracurriculars" at all.

NP - I’m curious how is this calculated? DC is at a private where no one has a 4.0. All the top kids have at least 2-3 A- or even a B+. Will it matter to top colleges if the A-was in freshman year. There are 5 kids all have the same top GPA but some A-/B+ come from 9th vs 11th, or do they just look at the reported GPA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GPA is 3.85~3.9 with SAT>1530. Top rigor track from a private with no class rank but knowing that some classmates have GPA>3.9.

Go ahead and apply. Top rigor at an academically strong selective private is very different than average private or public so if you know your school is strong and does reasonably well with these schools, go ahead. You'll regret not trying otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask your CCO and trust them. Seriously.

CCO said considered fits more important than stats, and let the school decides whether it is a good match. No game and don't worry about others. I just thought that why would a SCEA school choose a less than perfect student when they have yet to see tens of thousands of higher stat students? Perhaps it is better just use our ED card wisely.

That is pretty weak advice. The colleges are not comparing your kid to 10,000 kids whose apps they haven't seen, but they are comparing your kid to other kids from his high school. Your counselor should be able to guide you away from schools where your kid is likely to be overshadowed by classmates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask your CCO and trust them. Seriously.

CCO said considered fits more important than stats, and let the school decides whether it is a good match. No game and don't worry about others. I just thought that why would a SCEA school choose a less than perfect student when they have yet to see tens of thousands of higher stat students? Perhaps it is better just use our ED card wisely.

That is pretty weak advice. The colleges are not comparing your kid to 10,000 kids whose apps they haven't seen, but they are comparing your kid to other kids from his high school. Your counselor should be able to guide you away from schools where your kid is likely to be overshadowed by classmates.

+100 CCO also knows about hooks other classmates have at certain schools that you have no way of knowing about and steer you towards a better choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC applied from a Big3 school this year and the SCEA schools as well as several other Ivies (Brown, Penn) definitely just took the highest GPA applicants. If there were 3.97s in the mix, they took them over the 3.89s every time. There was no "well the 3.89 has better extracurriculars" at all.

NP - I’m curious how is this calculated? DC is at a private where no one has a 4.0. All the top kids have at least 2-3 A- or even a B+. Will it matter to top colleges if the A-was in freshman year. There are 5 kids all have the same top GPA but some A-/B+ come from 9th vs 11th, or do they just look at the reported GPA?

Poster you're replying to.
Are you sure that everyone has a handful of A minus and B+ grades? And how do you know that there are 5 kids?

At my DCs' Big3 there were no 4.0s but there were about 6-10 kids with a 3.95 or above. I don't know exactly and I'm not sure how anyone would. it's strange that you know there are 5 kids with the exact same GPA in the class. College counseling actually told you this?

That said, let's say that you are correct and there are 5 kids with the same top GPA and they are applying to the same colleges. Then they will likely be differentiated by the rest of their application--extracurriculars, rigor, etc. I don't think any college that views all grades 9-12 is going to care when an A minus was received vs.when a classmate received one.

My experience is again with a cohort of 6-10 kids with a 3.95 or above. When these kids applied, the kids with a 3.80 or 3.90 did not get into the same schools 100% of the time. The colleges always took the higher kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GPA is 3.85~3.9 with SAT>1530. Top rigor track from a private with no class rank but knowing that some classmates have GPA>3.9.

The first thing these SCEA schools look at is the rigor. GPA comes next. At our school every year it’s the highest rigor kids get accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GPA is 3.85~3.9 with SAT>1530. Top rigor track from a private with no class rank but knowing that some classmates have GPA>3.9.

The first thing these SCEA schools look at is the rigor. GPA comes next. At our school every year it’s the highest rigor kids get accepted.

Not true at our school. GPA meant far more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask your CCO and trust them. Seriously.

CCO said considered fits more important than stats, and let the school decides whether it is a good match. No game and don't worry about others. I just thought that why would a SCEA school choose a less than perfect student when they have yet to see tens of thousands of higher stat students? Perhaps it is better just use our ED card wisely.

That is pretty weak advice. The colleges are not comparing your kid to 10,000 kids whose apps they haven't seen, but they are comparing your kid to other kids from his high school. Your counselor should be able to guide you away from schools where your kid is likely to be overshadowed by classmates.

CCO said every year there are surprises as to who gets in and who does not. So there is no way to tell other than put the best package forward and applying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Between T5 and T20, T5 care less about your stats. T20 other than T5, care more about stats.

This is somewhat true. From our school Naviance - Harvard, Duke, and Georgetown are clearly the most stats-obsessed. Yale, Brown, and Penn much less so, once above a certain cutoff they look for fit. (Taking Princeton out of the equation bc they usually take a couple of Questbridge kids from our school which skews the info). Columbia falls in between.