Is GPA the most important?
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Anonymous
It's toxic to point out that sharing information about other people's children is a bad thing? Wild. Sharing your own/your kids' experiences here is great. Speaking confidently about the experience of multiple kids whose transcripts you have not seen, and are none of your business, is toxic. You have it backward. |
Anonymous
Huh? |
Anonymous
DP. You sound like a deranged miserable middle class striver mom. |
Anonymous
| It is the TJ backlash. |
Anonymous
What was the major? |
Anonymous
Nonsense |
Anonymous
NP do colleges look at senior year (1st semester), junior then sophomore and freshman year transcripts in that order? Asking bc my DC has straight As in 11th and 10th but a couple B+ in 9th. Wondering about chances at T20. Other top kids (classmates) who had straight As in 9th now typically have 1-2 A- in 11th, but their GPA is still higher than my DC who is doing better in 11th in most rigorous course load. Who will be viewed as the stronger applicant academically? |
Anonymous
If you apply before the year ends (ea, rolling, ed), they are looking at jr year and below. Very few exclude freshman year grades |
Anonymous
CMU. MIT and CMU - Rejected. U.Mich, GTech and UMD - Accepted. My kid's own ranking was MIT, UMD & GTech. If he had not got UMD and G.Tech he would have applied to more schools in RD. He was not really keen on U.Mich and CMU (Dad made him apply). No shade on U.Mich...it is just that it was too cold and gloomy outside of Ann Arbor. CMU - a great school but our son did not want to go to a school that was all very nerdy and not diverse in gender/race/majors (why would I pay $400K and not be even able to date?). He had his tribe, career, research opportunities, internship ecosystem, network, social life in place at UMD even before he stepped on the campus. He was not coming from a small town with no other kid smarter than him, who would be just so thrilled to find his tribe in a big college. His entire HS program was populated with brainiacs and they were choosing UMD if they did not get into their first choice. Even when he was choosing schools, he was doing deep dives and comparing courses, program structure, internships, employment space, industries, professors, their work, publications. He kept evaluating what opportunities a college could give him that UMD couldn't. Though, truth be told, he would have done well regardless of where he went. He is an old soul and super smart. |
Anonymous
Yes |
Anonymous
No. Many colleges, including UVA, do not recalculate GPA and the AOs are pretty well versed in the rigor of the school they are evaluating. |
Anonymous
My hunch is that most AOs care way more about 10th and 11th than 9th. Stanford doesn't look at 9th at all. Some schools (Penn I think) care only about grades in core classes and not electives. If the B+ is in a subject that's not your kid's major area (e.g. B+ in math for a humanities major), that may have less of an impact. If your school ranks then the comparison will be obvious. If it doesn't, but both applicants are really strong academically, it will be about everything else in their application. |
Anonymous
Yes an upward trend is often very important and favorable. But which calsses is each taking and where are those Bs? It's the whole package though, not just the GPA. |
Anonymous
| Short answer: top schools unweight GPA. what was the unweighted one? |
Anonymous
Every kid from our pvt high school that got into Ivy+ were well liked kids who added a lot to the community. Not just "volunteered at xyz", but at their actual high school. Tutors, Peer Counselors, etc. All of them had good personalities and were funny and happy. The recs, I think are huge missing piece. Two hypothetical examples of LORs for to students. Student #1 4.0 UW SAT 1580; Student #2 3.8UW SAT 1520: "Student #1 is a very good student. They are always well prepared for class. They consistently are among the top performers in the entire school. Grades are very important to them, and they make sure that they always work hard to ensure that their grades are the best in the class. Indeed, they have the highest grades of any student that I have taught, and I have taught this class for 10 years. They are intensely focused on academic succes, and will work tirelessly to achieve their goals" "Student #2 was one of my favorite students of all time. In addition to being one of my best students, I always looked forward to hearing them speak in class and their participation was always welcomed by the other students. Their questions were always very good, and sometimes wound up challenging the way I thought about the material that I presented. When I think of student #2, I think about her great smile and her funny quips that made the class enjoyable for other students. She was never disruptive, but always had a great sense of humor that lightened up a class that had an intense workload sometimes. During study halls, I would often see student #2 helping her other classmates work through difficult homework assignments. She was a valued member of our community, she had great school spirit and she will be missed greatly. Obviously her grades speak for themselves, and I don't doubt that she will be successful at the most academically rigorous colleges in the country." Who do you want in your student body at Yale? |