Bs in all advanced classes, straight As in advanced CS, refuses regular for easy As — what’s the outlook here?

[Anonymous]

This is one of those situations where the parent think that the child is a strong applicant but in reality, the child isn't really that strong of an applicant. I was the same way when my oldest applied to college. I thought he was a pretty good student because he was National Honor Society. But he was only in the top 40 percent of his class.

Especially, when schools like UVA and VA Tech are much more difficult to get into now than they were when the parents were applying to college.

You have to look at your child in the context of both your high school and the applicant pool for a specific college. And a stem major usually means that stats needed are higher than the college as a whole.

I would think that Ohio State and Penn State are possible if OOS. Both schools are easier OOS. Pitt is also possible, but residency doesn't matter as much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a lot of those type of kids in my AP math classes. Hard working, good, B/B+ students. They typically end up at Mason or JMU. Sometimes an out of state flagship.

That sounds terrible, you can get into those schools without taking an AP classes, in fact mason accepts everyone. WOW so this is why we need to do something about admissions too many students for the spots

First, Mason doesn't accept everyone. I know of a girl who was waitlisted at Mason. She's going to NVCC for a year and then intends to go to JMU. She's a hard worker, but had a 3.0 (at best) in HS.

Second, my kid had a 4.1 gpa and only applied to Mason for CS. There are plenty of smart, accomplished kids at Mason in the College of Engineering and Computing. So, no -- it's not "terrible" to go to JMU or GMU.

Yes, GMU gives lots of kids a chance at a higher degree, and the courses will weed you out. It's similar to a lot of big-state-U's. They'll give you the opportunity, but many don't make it to the end in the Eng/CS degrees. That's o.k. There are other options as well for majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious what others think. My kid refuses to take regular-level classes, even in subjects that are clearly not his strength. Every year, he loads up on AP and DE courses across the board. He usually starts with low grades like Cs or even a D early on, then slowly pulls up to a B or B+ by the end. That’s the pattern. There’s no collapse or dramatic recovery, just a grind to stay afloat and finish with a decent grade. He took a regular class once, got an easy A, and decided he’s never doing that again. He says regular classes are for “dumb kids” and will not budge.

The one area where he excels without any issue is computer science. He takes the most advanced CS classes offered at his school, including AP CS A and dual enrollment CS, and consistently earns straight As. It is clearly where he’s strongest.

He is a junior now with a 1450 SAT. We’ve enrolled him in an SAT prep course that he attends three times a week to try to push that score higher before senior year. His target schools are UVA and Virginia Tech, and MIT is the dream.

Outside of computer science, his transcript is mostly Bs in the hardest available classes. AP U.S. History, AP Macroeconomics, AP Lang, DE Gov, AP Calc AB — all of them land in the B range. Meanwhile, I see so many posts on this forum about students getting perfect As in everything and having near-perfect GPAs.

So what’s the actual outlook for a kid like this? Does strong performance in advanced CS and solid but not stellar grades elsewhere hold up at schools like UVA or Virginia Tech? Or does it just look like overreaching without follow-through? I’m wondering if anyone has had a kid like this and knows how it played out.

I clicked on this thread because the subject line relates to one of my DCs. But, I'm now not convinced it's real. If kid is a Junior, it's pretty surprising he already has taken "AP U.S. History, AP Macroeconomics, AP Lang, DE Gov, AP Calc AB" - and knows his grades. In MCPS at least, you can't take AP Lang until 11th, and AP Calc AB would be pretty rare. And no one is taking DEs before 11th grade. Same with macro. He might be taking these this year, but something is off here. There is no way an 11th grade transcript has alll these courses already on it (completed).

[Anonymous]

If interested in CS what about Rose Hulman?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good lord! You all are brutal. Talk about pressure on these kids for flawless transcripts! It does appear that all of dcum has straight A perfect students who never make any mistakes.

I don’t think anyone was brutal. OP asked about chances at some schools, responders answered her question and suggested alternatives. Would it have been less brutal everyone said yes keep waiting your time doing SAT prep 3x/wk and aim for UVA/MIT??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U Pitt and Penn State should be in play

I have a kid like OP’s. What about Ohio State, NC State, Indiana, Purdue, for bigger schools? Are those out of reach? If $ isn’t a big concern, they seem like good choices.

Anecdotally, it seems that some schools “like” our highly ranked public school. It seems like at least some schools recognize that the quality of education is good, even if the gpa is a little lower than expected. Not T30 of course but a bit lower than that.

Purdue unrealistic if going for CS or engineering

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:U Pitt and Penn State should be in play

I have a kid like OP’s. What about Ohio State, NC State, Indiana, Purdue, for bigger schools? Are those out of reach? If $ isn’t a big concern, they seem like good choices.

Anecdotally, it seems that some schools “like” our highly ranked public school. It seems like at least some schools recognize that the quality of education is good, even if the gpa is a little lower than expected. Not T30 of course but a bit lower than that.

Purdue unrealistic if going for CS or engineering

Not even sure if NC State is sure thing.

[Anonymous]

OP, it sounds like he has an executive function need. He can’t buckle down until he’s panicked about a low grade. You need to pursue that prior to junior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If interested in CS what about Rose Hulman?

And RPI, RIT, NJIT, I would stick to STEM focused schools like that.

[Anonymous]

Something seems fishy about this post. Kid is only a junior now but has already taken "AP U.S. History, AP Macroeconomics, AP Lang, DE Gov, AP Calc AB" and received Bs? What school is this?

[Anonymous]

VCU
James Madison
George Mason

CC and transfer if GPA is high enough

he is not getting into any of the colleges on your list. If it were still the 1980s he would but not now. sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I respect your kid and desire to challenge themselves. They won’t be attending a top school, but will do very well at life.

Exactly. Not only is he learning more in harder classes, he's learning how to push himself when faced with a challenge. He'll do much better in work and life than kids who just took the easy A, and probably much better than many of the kids for whom everything comes easy and got As in hard classes without much struggle.

[Anonymous]

At the end of the day, your kid will better off for this.

The easy A classes are often mind-numbingly tedious and boring, and his peers would not have cared about learning. So good for him.

Apply to a state flagship and he will have every opportunity. He’s not a top student but it sounds like he’s not afraid of hard work. That will get him far!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I respect your kid and desire to challenge themselves. They won’t be attending a top school, but will do very well at life.

Yup, this. You should be proud!

[Anonymous]

My similar kid got accepted at VT, business not computer science though, but business is pretty competitive there too. He had mainly B+'s in 11th grade but all A's in 10th.