Low gpa strong SAT with strong math focus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of colleges should a student who has a gpa of 3.4 from a private school with 1550 SAT but strong math EC (multiple prestigious math camps and published research paper) and advanced math classes have a good shot at. She does not want to apply to LAC.

Rigorous HS curriculum? Full pay?

Pretty much anywhere except the most highly selective schools.

Yes, its a rigorous private and full pay. But she has a couple of Cs in language.

It just really depends what she wants and is looking for -- and also, it depends on your private and its track record

I might start with schools like USC, BU, NYU (has the new Courant school!), Wake, UVA, Tufts

Are you DC local. OP? At the Big3, a 3.4-3.5 will not get you into UVA. They want sky high GPAs even from the Cathedral schools & Sidwell. [b]The others could work if you did ED.

This. UVA’s 75th percentile has a 4.5; median is a 4.4; even bottom 25th percentile has a 4.2.

Those are weighted GPA’s. You can’t compare them to unweighted private school GPA’s.

My kids go to a private that doesn’t weight. The highest possible GPA is 4.0, and yet unhooked kids go to UVA every year.

I am not saying OP’s will get in, just that this comparison is irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of colleges should a student who has a gpa of 3.4 from a private school with 1550 SAT but strong math EC (multiple prestigious math camps and published research paper) and advanced math classes have a good shot at. She does not want to apply to LAC.

Rigorous HS curriculum? Full pay?

Pretty much anywhere except the most highly selective schools.

Yes, its a rigorous private and full pay. But she has a couple of Cs in language.

It just really depends what she wants and is looking for -- and also, it depends on your private and its track record

I might start with schools like USC, BU, NYU (has the new Courant school!), Wake, UVA, Tufts

Are you DC local. OP? At the Big3, a 3.4-3.5 will not get you into UVA. They want sky high GPAs even from the Cathedral schools & Sidwell. [b]The others could work if you did ED.

This. UVA’s 75th percentile has a 4.5; median is a 4.4; even bottom 25th percentile has a 4.2.

Those are weighted GPA’s. You can’t compare them to unweighted private school GPA’s.

My kids go to a private that doesn’t weight. The highest possible GPA is 4.0, and yet unhooked kids go to UVA every year.

I am not saying OP’s will get in, just that this comparison is irrelevant.

This is why I find GPA comparisons ridiculous. I don't know why colleges bother--I no longer bother looking at the data. Even MoCo, FFX County, and Arlington Co all weigh classes differently. For it to be somewhat useful, they should all only use UW GPAs and, even then you still need a lot more data to understand like average number of APs etc... which of course doesn't help with schools that don't offer APs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of colleges should a student who has a gpa of 3.4 from a private school with 1550 SAT but strong math EC (multiple prestigious math camps and published research paper) and advanced math classes have a good shot at. She does not want to apply to LAC.

Rigorous HS curriculum? Full pay?

Pretty much anywhere except the most highly selective schools.

Yes, its a rigorous private and full pay. But she has a couple of Cs in language.

It just really depends what she wants and is looking for -- and also, it depends on your private and its track record

I might start with schools like USC, BU, NYU (has the new Courant school!), Wake, UVA, Tufts

Are you DC local. OP? At the Big3, a 3.4-3.5 will not get you into UVA. They want sky high GPAs even from the Cathedral schools & Sidwell. [b]The others could work if you did ED.

This. UVA’s 75th percentile has a 4.5; median is a 4.4; even bottom 25th percentile has a 4.2.

Those are weighted GPA’s. You can’t compare them to unweighted private school GPA’s.

My kids go to a private that doesn’t weight. The highest possible GPA is 4.0, and yet unhooked kids go to UVA every year.

I am not saying OP’s will get in, just that this comparison is irrelevant.

Right. But those of us with kids at a Big3 are telling OP you need a high GPA for UVA—like 3.8 at NCS/STA or Sidwell. It used to be 3.6-3.7 for UVA from the Big3 if you were a legacy/URM, but those days are over.

[Anonymous]

This candidate is a bit of a puzzle: strong school, weak GPA, very strong in math. The only thing that seems certain is that even with the best advice there will be a lot of uncertainty and stress.

I’d like to suggest a safety: apply early in the fall to the University of Minnesota. Minnesota has rolling admissions and a 75% acceptance rate. The Niche scatterplot, for what it’s worth, shows high SAT-low GPA kids getting in. This year the supplement was 200 words on why this major, which sounds like it would be easy for this kid to knock out. The math department is well regarded (tied, in this year’s USNWR reputation score, with CMU and JHU), and it offers a BS degree that does not require foreign language. It’s also a big school (which she wants) in a fun city. And you will save so much in tuition that the new boots and jacket will be trivial expenditures.

Assuming she gets in, that will put a floor under her possible outcomes, relieving a lot of stress and letting her focus on her most preferred schools. If by chance she does not get in, then you will all have early notice to panic. Which sounds bad, but is actually much better than panicking after ED results come out in December, because it will give you time to get more applications in to EA schools before the November 1 deadline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of colleges should a student who has a gpa of 3.4 from a private school with 1550 SAT but strong math EC (multiple prestigious math camps and published research paper) and advanced math classes have a good shot at. She does not want to apply to LAC.

Rigorous HS curriculum? Full pay?

Pretty much anywhere except the most highly selective schools.

Yes, its a rigorous private and full pay. But she has a couple of Cs in language.

It just really depends what she wants and is looking for -- and also, it depends on your private and its track record

I might start with schools like USC, BU, NYU (has the new Courant school!), Wake, UVA, Tufts

Are you DC local. OP? At the Big3, a 3.4-3.5 will not get you into UVA. They want sky high GPAs even from the Cathedral schools & Sidwell. [b]The others could work if you did ED.

This. UVA’s 75th percentile has a 4.5; median is a 4.4; even bottom 25th percentile has a 4.2.

Those are weighted GPA’s. You can’t compare them to unweighted private school GPA’s.

My kids go to a private that doesn’t weight. The highest possible GPA is 4.0, and yet unhooked kids go to UVA every year.

I am not saying OP’s will get in, just that this comparison is irrelevant.

This is why I find GPA comparisons ridiculous. I don't know why colleges bother--I no longer bother looking at the data. Even MoCo, FFX County, and Arlington Co all weigh classes differently. For it to be somewhat useful, they should all only use UW GPAs and, even then you still need a lot more data to understand like average number of APs etc... which of course doesn't help with schools that don't offer APs.

Maybe but OP said that GPA is bottom half at the school. That translates universally. A bottom half GPA at a school is not likely to get into a t20, regardless of SAT

[Anonymous]

3.4? Did she get a “B” on her research paper? Makes it look “bought” if you ask me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of colleges should a student who has a gpa of 3.4 from a private school with 1550 SAT but strong math EC (multiple prestigious math camps and published research paper) and advanced math classes have a good shot at. She does not want to apply to LAC.

Rigorous HS curriculum? Full pay?

Pretty much anywhere except the most highly selective schools.

Yes, its a rigorous private and full pay. But she has a couple of Cs in language.

Yet another example from DCUM. Math is “hard,” humanities are “easy.” And yet…

[Anonymous]

OP, please consider Oxford and Cambridge. These schools will not care about your GPA. They will look at your AP scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, please consider Oxford and Cambridge. These schools will not care about your GPA. They will look at your AP scores.

If she has AP scores. Some of these private schools discourage them…

[Anonymous]

In general you should avoid public schools as they typically want a high GPA. I don’t know why UVA was mentioned so many times. It’s not the right fit. This is a mathy kid. She should look into stem oriented schools and programs.

[Anonymous]

Cs are tough, this is a hard one. Maybe best to go to an ASU for math/engineering? No way MIT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This candidate is a bit of a puzzle: strong school, weak GPA, very strong in math. The only thing that seems certain is that even with the best advice there will be a lot of uncertainty and stress.

I’d like to suggest a safety: apply early in the fall to the University of Minnesota. Minnesota has rolling admissions and a 75% acceptance rate. The Niche scatterplot, for what it’s worth, shows high SAT-low GPA kids getting in. This year the supplement was 200 words on why this major, which sounds like it would be easy for this kid to knock out. The math department is well regarded (tied, in this year’s USNWR reputation score, with CMU and JHU), and it offers a BS degree that does not require foreign language. It’s also a big school (which she wants) in a fun city. And you will save so much in tuition that the new boots and jacket will be trivial expenditures.

Assuming she gets in, that will put a floor under her possible outcomes, relieving a lot of stress and letting her focus on her most preferred schools. If by chance she does not get in, then you will all have early notice to panic. Which sounds bad, but is actually much better than panicking after ED results come out in December, because it will give you time to get more applications in to EA schools before the November 1 deadline.

THIS, this advice is spot on. I had a similar kid, but no Cs at all and from strong private, and I was prepared for stress, applied across the gamut, and the rolling safety was a godsend. Will she look at St. Olaf? Great for math and not super small LAC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:3.4? Did she get a “B” on her research paper? Makes it look “bought” if you ask me.

Those camps require raw talent to get in, and stay through. I wouldn't dismiss this case so causally.

[Anonymous]

EA to Pitt for early acceptance. I would also recommend looking at RIT and Rose Hulman

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3.4? Did she get a “B” on her research paper? Makes it look “bought” if you ask me.

Those camps require raw talent to get in, and stay through. I wouldn't dismiss this case so causally.

It's probably a language learning issue. My Cornell kid (posted earlier) had it. Thriving there.
Languages aren't everyone's jam.
If As in everything else at a STRONG private, a good CCO and IEC can figure out a story.