Low GPA, decent SAT, What options

[Anonymous]

Agree OP has to give a lot more info...

Public/private
Rigor
Upward trend/downward trend/stable

Stable or upward trend with rigor at a private school is completely different from a downward trend with few/no APs at a public school.

Regardless, I would mostly ignore the SAT and focus on schools that fit the GPA. The SAT may be a plus to bring in merit aid or help make a moderate reach a bit less reachy but the most important element is the transcript -- specific classes, rigor, grades and trend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boston College

This is DS's ED choice and I know the scattergram well - there's less than a 10% chance a kid with a 3.5 or lower is accepted ED. I assume those accepted are recruited athletes or related to the pope or something special. I assume the chance is essentially zero at Georgetown.

No. You cannot compare a private to a public. Most privates do not have a GPA other than for parents to see. A 3.5
with hardest classes is good at a top private. You would not see this reflected in scattergram a because there is essentially no GPA.

I don't know what you're talking about. This is the best guess from our scattergram as well - my kid goes to a private with rigorous course load.
But we don't know if OP's kid goes to private or public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is similar to OP's kid - 3.25/3.75 GPA (UW/W) and 1500 SAT. rigorous schedule. 5 APs so far and another 6 senior year. No real upward trend in GPA over the years.

Any recommendations on schools?

What is your DS interested in?
Iwhat are the current schools considering?

Computing/adjacent (DS,IS, analytics, etc.). Applying to a slew of nearby publics - GMU, VCU, JMU, Tech, Del, UMBC, Pitt, etc. and Drexel, RPI and RIT. Not thinking of ED right now. Wondering if we should be applying to more privates. Hope to keep COA to about 50K/year.

this is a good list

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is similar to OP's kid - 3.25/3.75 GPA (UW/W) and 1500 SAT. rigorous schedule. 5 APs so far and another 6 senior year. No real upward trend in GPA over the years.

Any recommendations on schools?

What is your DS interested in?
Iwhat are the current schools considering?

Computing/adjacent (DS,IS, analytics, etc.). Applying to a slew of nearby publics - GMU, VCU, JMU, Tech, Del, UMBC, Pitt, etc. and Drexel, RPI and RIT. Not thinking of ED right now. Wondering if we should be applying to more privates. Hope to keep COA to about 50K/year.

If the math scores/grades are strong, he should apply to Tech's Computational Modeling & Data Analytics major, not Computer Science or BIT. It has a much higher acceptance rate (IMO because most applicants don't know it exists) but is very math/stats heavy so those scores/grades need to be there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is similar to OP's kid - 3.25/3.75 GPA (UW/W) and 1500 SAT. rigorous schedule. 5 APs so far and another 6 senior year. No real upward trend in GPA over the years.

Any recommendations on schools?

What is your DS interested in?
Iwhat are the current schools considering?

Computing/adjacent (DS,IS, analytics, etc.). Applying to a slew of nearby publics - GMU, VCU, JMU, Tech, Del, UMBC, Pitt, etc. and Drexel, RPI and RIT. Not thinking of ED right now. Wondering if we should be applying to more privates. Hope to keep COA to about 50K/year.

If the math scores/grades are strong, he should apply to Tech's Computational Modeling & Data Analytics major, not Computer Science or BIT. It has a much higher acceptance rate (IMO because most applicants don't know it exists) but is very math/stats heavy so those scores/grades need to be there.

Adding... my son is in that major at VT and another school to look at is Miami University (Ohio). He got merit $ there and liked the data science program.

[Anonymous]

Neo wrote:DD with low GPA ~3.5 and 1540 in SAT, what strategy, ED, RD options to consider?

Need more information.

What does your daughter want to study ? Any career in mind ?

State of residence ?

Any ECs (extracurricular activities such as sports, newspaper, volunteering, etc.) ?

Budget for college costs or will you qualify for financial aid ?

Does your daughter have any preferred schools ? Small schools only or into larger schools with big campus spirit, etc. ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree OP has to give a lot more info...

Public/private
Rigor
Upward trend/downward trend/stable

Stable or upward trend with rigor at a private school is completely different from a downward trend with few/no APs at a public school.

Regardless, I would mostly ignore the SAT and focus on schools that fit the GPA. The SAT may be a plus to bring in merit aid or help make a moderate reach a bit less reachy but the most important element is the transcript -- specific classes, rigor, grades and trend.

+1 the College Bound Kid podcast recently had a discussion about the kids/families who were most disillusioned/disappointed in the admissions process and one of those groups was those who overweighted the value of a high test score. It just doesn't make that much difference vs. the overall transcript. Focus on colleges that are a fit for the GPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she has a lot of rigor in her transcript, she is likely going to have a lot of choices - Georgetown, Boston College, a lot of SLACs,
What is she looking to study?

Adding to the chorus of these two schools being unlikely. Georgetown likes top, top grades. BC does too, but at least offers an ED option.

Schools that report lower GPAs include Tulane and Lehigh.

U Rochester.

Is U Rochester a possible admit for a kid like OPs, assuming the GPA is from a public school and weighted?

I was referring to unweighted. Weighted is a completely different consideration and difficult to compare as high schools weight things differently. So, I can't say.

Mediocre private high school 3.4uw/3.6w/1500 full pay admitted at U Rochester, TCU, Gonzaga, Santa Clara. Denied at Lehigh, Wake, Villanova.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is similar to OP's kid - 3.25/3.75 GPA (UW/W) and 1500 SAT. rigorous schedule. 5 APs so far and another 6 senior year. No real upward trend in GPA over the years.

Any recommendations on schools?

What is your DS interested in?
Iwhat are the current schools considering?

Computing/adjacent (DS,IS, analytics, etc.). Applying to a slew of nearby publics - GMU, VCU, JMU, Tech, Del, UMBC, Pitt, etc. and Drexel, RPI and RIT. Not thinking of ED right now. Wondering if we should be applying to more privates. Hope to keep COA to about 50K/year.

this is a good list

I agree. This is a smart and practical list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is similar to OP's kid - 3.25/3.75 GPA (UW/W) and 1500 SAT. rigorous schedule. 5 APs so far and another 6 senior year. No real upward trend in GPA over the years.

Any recommendations on schools?

What is your DS interested in?
Iwhat are the current schools considering?

Computing/adjacent (DS,IS, analytics, etc.). Applying to a slew of nearby publics - GMU, VCU, JMU, Tech, Del, UMBC, Pitt, etc. and Drexel, RPI and RIT. Not thinking of ED right now. Wondering if we should be applying to more privates. Hope to keep COA to about 50K/year.

this is a good list

I agree. This is a smart and practical list.

+1

And, to answer OP’s question: no, I don’t think you need to add more privates since you’re trying to keep costs under 50k. You have balanced choices. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is similar to OP's kid - 3.25/3.75 GPA (UW/W) and 1500 SAT. rigorous schedule. 5 APs so far and another 6 senior year. No real upward trend in GPA over the years.

Any recommendations on schools?

What is your DS interested in?
Iwhat are the current schools considering?

Computing/adjacent (DS,IS, analytics, etc.). Applying to a slew of nearby publics - GMU, VCU, JMU, Tech, Del, UMBC, Pitt, etc. and Drexel, RPI and RIT. Not thinking of ED right now. Wondering if we should be applying to more privates. Hope to keep COA to about 50K/year.

If the math scores/grades are strong, he should apply to Tech's Computational Modeling & Data Analytics major, not Computer Science or BIT. It has a much higher acceptance rate (IMO because most applicants don't know it exists) but is very math/stats heavy so those scores/grades need to be there.

Adding... my son is in that major at VT and another school to look at is Miami University (Ohio). He got merit $ there and liked the data science program.

Thanks for sharing! Where did Miami rank on his list? Did you guys visit? How was it? It's currently not on our list but don't mind adding if it's worth it.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if the 3.5 is weighted or unweighted. If it's unweighted, that is not low at all....

And a 1540 world is not a "decent" SAT score. It's an exceptional one. I don't know what's wrong with people....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if the 3.5 is weighted or unweighted. If it's unweighted, that is not low at all....

And a 1540 world is not a "decent" SAT score. It's an exceptional one. I don't know what's wrong with people....

Well OP didn’t provide any details or context so blame them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is similar to OP's kid - 3.25/3.75 GPA (UW/W) and 1500 SAT. rigorous schedule. 5 APs so far and another 6 senior year. No real upward trend in GPA over the years.

Any recommendations on schools?

What is your DS interested in?
Iwhat are the current schools considering?

Computing/adjacent (DS,IS, analytics, etc.). Applying to a slew of nearby publics - GMU, VCU, JMU, Tech, Del, UMBC, Pitt, etc. and Drexel, RPI and RIT. Not thinking of ED right now. Wondering if we should be applying to more privates. Hope to keep COA to about 50K/year.

If the math scores/grades are strong, he should apply to Tech's Computational Modeling & Data Analytics major, not Computer Science or BIT. It has a much higher acceptance rate (IMO because most applicants don't know it exists) but is very math/stats heavy so those scores/grades need to be there.

Adding... my son is in that major at VT and another school to look at is Miami University (Ohio). He got merit $ there and liked the data science program.

Thanks for sharing! Where did Miami rank on his list? Did you guys visit? How was it? It's currently not on our list but don't mind adding if it's worth it.

We ended up not visiting but would have if he'd not gotten into Virginia Tech. It would have been between Miami and UDel. We know a few Miami grads and current kids there who seem to really like it. He generally liked the big school/college town/sports schools and those all fit the bill. JMU was the in-state back up but they didn't seem to have a well developed data science program. I just looked at their site and they have added a data science option to the statistics major so it may be a better option now.

UDel doesn't have a data science or similar major but they do have a 4+1 MS in Data Science so he'd have likely majored in math and then done that. Miami has a major in "Data Science and Statistics."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is similar to OP's kid - 3.25/3.75 GPA (UW/W) and 1500 SAT. rigorous schedule. 5 APs so far and another 6 senior year. No real upward trend in GPA over the years.

Any recommendations on schools?

What is your DS interested in?
Iwhat are the current schools considering?

Computing/adjacent (DS,IS, analytics, etc.). Applying to a slew of nearby publics - GMU, VCU, JMU, Tech, Del, UMBC, Pitt, etc. and Drexel, RPI and RIT. Not thinking of ED right now. Wondering if we should be applying to more privates. Hope to keep COA to about 50K/year.

If the math scores/grades are strong, he should apply to Tech's Computational Modeling & Data Analytics major, not Computer Science or BIT. It has a much higher acceptance rate (IMO because most applicants don't know it exists) but is very math/stats heavy so those scores/grades need to be there.

Adding... my son is in that major at VT and another school to look at is Miami University (Ohio). He got merit $ there and liked the data science program.

Thanks for sharing! Where did Miami rank on his list? Did you guys visit? How was it? It's currently not on our list but don't mind adding if it's worth it.

We ended up not visiting but would have if he'd not gotten into Virginia Tech. It would have been between Miami and UDel. We know a few Miami grads and current kids there who seem to really like it. He generally liked the big school/college town/sports schools and those all fit the bill. JMU was the in-state back up but they didn't seem to have a well developed data science program. I just looked at their site and they have added a data science option to the statistics major so it may be a better option now.

UDel doesn't have a data science or similar major but they do have a 4+1 MS in Data Science so he'd have likely majored in math and then done that. Miami has a major in "Data Science and Statistics."

Thanks!