High GPA, no AP's

[Anonymous]

Jmu, ODU, Radford

College of Charlestown, a bunch of SEC schools, furman, Lynchburg

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess our experience is different from most of yours. My oldest got admitted into UVA, Tech and W&M. He went to a public school in Fairfax County and didn't take a single AP class. He took 2 honors classes total. He had straight As and a high SAT. He had normal extracurricular activities. He's not a star athlete by any means, although he has been in a particular sport he loves since he was 9. The only thing that I think made him stick out was his art. He is a gifted artist that has been shown in a galleries. He had a great time in high school, with lots of free time (the way it should be for a kid!). I'm not going to pressure my other two kids to take any AP classes either. They'll be fine if they get straight As on regular classes.

This is why he got in. He stood out in a way that is unique -- even Tech has to fill its art classes.

I don't know, there are a lot of talented kids out there, particularly in music in this area. My son is not studying art, he's well versed in most art media since he's been at it since he was very little. He will be majoring in computer science, but might change to architecture. My youngest is also artistically gifted. My middle child is the only one into sports. We are hoping for a scholarship, but he is not academic at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess our experience is different from most of yours. My oldest got admitted into UVA, Tech and W&M. He went to a public school in Fairfax County and didn't take a single AP class. He took 2 honors classes total. He had straight As and a high SAT. He had normal extracurricular activities. He's not a star athlete by any means, although he has been in a particular sport he loves since he was 9. The only thing that I think made him stick out was his art. He is a gifted artist that has been shown in a galleries. He had a great time in high school, with lots of free time (the way it should be for a kid!). I'm not going to pressure my other two kids to take any AP classes either. They'll be fine if they get straight As on regular classes.

Sorry but this is really hard to believe. Not saying you are a troll but just very hard to believe.

I guess I can't prove anything over this forum but it is our experience. I also feel like in DCUM everyone's kid is gifted, everyone's kid is in AAP, everyone's kid takes a 10 AP classes, everyone's kid goes to an Ivy. I just don't see it reflected in us or our friends. Most of my oldest son's friends didn't take more than a couple of honors/AP classes and I know two are going to UVA and one to Tech. None of them are musicians or artists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jmu, ODU, Radford

College of Charlestown, a bunch of SEC schools, furman, Lynchburg

Are you sure about JMU? I would consider it to be in a different league than those other schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3.8 is not high at all

Oh do shut up

+1

Well, but it really isn't.

It's not. And this kid will most likely fail any difficult courses that he/she signs up for freshman yeaf because he/she is not prepared for rigorous college classes. My friends kid is doing just that at UNCW, despite studying a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess our experience is different from most of yours. My oldest got admitted into UVA, Tech and W&M. He went to a public school in Fairfax County and didn't take a single AP class. He took 2 honors classes total. He had straight As and a high SAT. He had normal extracurricular activities. He's not a star athlete by any means, although he has been in a particular sport he loves since he was 9. The only thing that I think made him stick out was his art. He is a gifted artist that has been shown in a galleries. He had a great time in high school, with lots of free time (the way it should be for a kid!). I'm not going to pressure my other two kids to take any AP classes either. They'll be fine if they get straight As on regular classes.

Sorry but this is really hard to believe. Not saying you are a troll but just very hard to believe.

Yeah, there's no way those schools would take a student who never took an AP just because he was an artist. You'd still have to get through their liberal arts curriculum, full of students whose schedules were full of APs. An art school would take that student, but not a W&M, UVA, or VT. You can just go and do art at those schools.

Is your name is on the side of a building or are you a politician who put pressure on the school? Maybe that could do it for a no-AP kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jmu, ODU, Radford

College of Charlestown, a bunch of SEC schools, furman, Lynchburg

I'm not sure Furman should be on this list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they have the option to take APs or are they at a HS that does not have them? Does the student have a class rank?

This is a completely hypothetical question. Let's say kid has really good extracurriculars, SAT scores that are the norm for top colleges, and straight A's in non AP classes. School offered AP classes but student chose not to take them. What colleges would such a student be likely to get into?

This was my niece. She attended University of Tampa after being rejected or waitlisted every where else because she applied to colleges she wasn’t qualified for based on grades/classes taken. Also accepted at Eastern North Carolina and Elon for February admission. She was very successful at Tampa and now at vet school, which is crazy competitive to get into.

[Anonymous]

This is 100% WRONG. Those colleges might well take him if his art is being shown in important places. The question I have is would/will he really get into Comp Sci?

The poster indicates he got in to the school and that next he intends to be a Comp Sci major but my guess is that admission into Comp Sci is dependent on him doing well this year.

At least in my kid's HS, someone with only a couple of Honors classes would be overwhelmed by the difficulty of college.

We could also be talking to a troll in that the kid's artistic work is based in some type of computer art/design and while he has few even honors level classes, the Comp Sci department basically asked for him by name because he is famous in the proper circles.

"Yeah, there's no way those schools would take a student who never took an AP just because he was an artist. You'd still have to get through their liberal arts curriculum, full of students whose schedules were full of APs. An art school would take that student, but not a W&M, UVA, or VT. You can just go and do art at those schools."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess our experience is different from most of yours. My oldest got admitted into UVA, Tech and W&M. He went to a public school in Fairfax County and didn't take a single AP class. He took 2 honors classes total. He had straight As and a high SAT. He had normal extracurricular activities. He's not a star athlete by any means, although he has been in a particular sport he loves since he was 9. The only thing that I think made him stick out was his art. He is a gifted artist that has been shown in a galleries. He had a great time in high school, with lots of free time (the way it should be for a kid!). I'm not going to pressure my other two kids to take any AP classes either. They'll be fine if they get straight As on regular classes.

Sorry but this is really hard to believe. Not saying you are a troll but just very hard to believe.

Yeah, there's no way those schools would take a student who never took an AP just because he was an artist. You'd still have to get through their liberal arts curriculum, full of students whose schedules were full of APs. An art school would take that student, but not a W&M, UVA, or VT. You can just go and do art at those schools.

Is your name is on the side of a building or are you a politician who put pressure on the school? Maybe that could do it for a no-AP kid.

It's also possible that PP is referencing a past experience. The college wars have completely changed what was the landscape just five years ago. In the very short time my DC has been at UVA I've seen the ACT average go from 29-32 to 31-34. And the GPA average jumped from 4.16 to 4.34. I believe UVA experienced a 14% increase in applications last year as well (yes, I know applications are up everywhere). I doubt he would get in for 2018-19. Also the internationals (73 countries) and excellent OOS kids are also pushing up the competition. When Forbes listed UVA as no. 4 public university after the three military institutions (in other words, ahead of Berkeley, UCLA, Wisconsin, Michigan), @ a year ago, the no. of applicants surged. We were just very lucky.

[Anonymous]

Lucky parent ^^ back. I wanted to add that what may have made a difference for us --that would be important if you were applying for computer science -- is that the student has finished Calculus AB and BC with an "A" before applying to college. You will find this to be very important if you are applying to engineering or computer science. It's one reason why Va Tech. suggests putting off the ED application because they want to see the first term grades of senior years complete. Also, not said in this thread - DS took three of the SAT II subject matter tests and did well on them. If your child can score an 800 on any of the SAT II tests, that's a very good sign to the Admissions office. The various departments can tell you what SAT IIs they want to see, like Math I Math II and Chemistry or Physics for certain types of engineering.