The normal kid

[Anonymous]

OP, just remember that there are far more normal kids than rockstars on college campuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3.0 GPA kid, 1 AP class, 23 ACT, is happy at McDaniel with good merit aid.

He looked at other small liberal arts schools with similar profiles but got into McDaniel early so he was one and done.

A little surprising someone with a 3.0/23 can get merit anywhere, but good on them.

It’s risky going to a small, little-known school unless the student really takes advantage and turns things around, including getting mostly A’s, doing research and getting internships. But most students at these schools are not like this, and tend to revert to their norm.

This absolutely not true. Ask the professionals and leaders around you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3.0 GPA kid, 1 AP class, 23 ACT, is happy at McDaniel with good merit aid.

He looked at other small liberal arts schools with similar profiles but got into McDaniel early so he was one and done.

A little surprising someone with a 3.0/23 can get merit anywhere, but good on them.

It’s risky going to a small, little-known school unless the student really takes advantage and turns things around, including getting mostly A’s, doing research and getting internships. But most students at these schools are not like this, and tend to revert to their norm.

Little-known to you and little-known to a grad school admissions office are not the same thing.

And the important thing is that a student does well in college. For a lot of kids, that means going to a smaller school over Big State U, even if it has more name recognition.

[Anonymous]

"Our 1290 SAT, 3.5 unweighted public school DC with only a couple APs got into 7 out of 7 engineering schools ranked from about #60 to just over #300.

Not URM but did have an EC that might have turned the heads of the #60 school.

My daughter has similar stats. I think she is shooting too high with her preferred schools in the top 100. She does have 5 APs and 4.2 weighted 3.65 uw gpa. Her verbal is 700, math is 600. She does not want a math centered major, so hopefully her 700v will push her over the top."

It's not about shooting high or low. It's about knowing what you want and doing what you need to do to get there.

Our 1290 son has been "shooting high" every year he has been in school. He was a late reader and had IEPs many years.

The #60ish school was a great fit for his strengths. He never would have gotten into #59 or #61.

His executive skills aren't great but he has known that for over 10 years and has developed skills to cope.

His leadership is off the charts but he will never miraculously end up with an A at the end of a semester even in his best subjects.

Teachers have often really respected these things and his recommendations were much more enthusiastically granted than would be expected for his GPA.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

Elon, Miami Ohio, Pitt, UDel, South Carolina

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3.0 GPA kid, 1 AP class, 23 ACT, is happy at McDaniel with good merit aid.

He looked at other small liberal arts schools with similar profiles but got into McDaniel early so he was one and done.

Bless you for sharing!! This is us exactly. I am continually puzzled at why a B average is not seen as "good enough" anymore!

Asian not Bsian

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something like 40-45% of kids fail out of college, and half that do finish take extra years to earn an easy BA. It’s quite predictable to access who is ready for university - e.g., college track courses, good AP scores, a “college ready” SAT/ACT score.

Outside of the top 50 universities, the rest of the colleges in the US are basically degree mills who admit anyone with a pulse and access to funding. Don’t conflate acceptance with actual capacity to succeed. They want money above all.

Not at all true about top 50.

[Anonymous]

Binghamton
Geneseo
Miami at Ohio
Townson (sp?)
Penn State
Cornell
Emory
U of FL

[Anonymous]

Uh, a mighty "Are you kidding?" on those last three.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I never took an AP class but went to a good high school and got As. Besides theater, no extracurriculars.

The secret was applying to the right college for me.

It was an "artsy" college and instead of an essay, I made a word collage in the space they had on the paper for you to type in your application. Yes, I'm an Old.

Not relevant. College has changed a lot.

Yeah, this hasn't happened in decades.

There are plenty of smaller liberal arts colleges and smaller regional public universities out there for "normal" students.

[Anonymous]

For example:
St. Mary's College, Maryland
Longwood in VA
Roanoke College
VCU
Mary Baldwin
Radford
Christopher Newport

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 40-45% of kids fail out of college, and half that do finish take extra years to earn an easy BA. It’s quite predictable to access who is ready for university - e.g., college track courses, good AP scores, a “college ready” SAT/ACT score.

Outside of the top 50 universities, the rest of the colleges in the US are basically degree mills who admit anyone with a pulse and access to funding. Don’t conflate acceptance with actual capacity to succeed. They want money above all.

This post seems unnecessarily mean.

Many of the "normal kids" described in this thread do try their best, but may not have the aptitude of the top students. It is still OK for them to go to college.

All decent jobs in this economy require at least a college degree. Some of the jobs are not really that taxing, or use skills that are not necessarily correlated with getting an A in math, and can be done by kids of average aptitude.

To have a chance for those jobs, these kids need a college degree. There is a place in this world for these no-name colleges that you so deride as degree mills.

We have the savings to be full pay at a college for our average student, and we plan to support him however he needs it to get a degree. After he graduates, he'll do a great job in the workplace for some employer because he's smart, funny, hard-working, responsible, and even good-looking.

Not just mean but factually wrong. Many colleges outside the top 50 universities, plus many more in the top LAC list, are far from auto-admits. But facts don’t deter dumb people so there’s no point in arguing.

And even many of the schools that admit a lot of people aren't particularly easy to graduate from.

[Anonymous]

Class of 2018 DS with <4.0 WGPA and 1360 SAT. Got into Pitt, Wisconsin (legacy), Sewanee, JMU, GMU, CNU - going to JMU and doing very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uh, a mighty "Are you kidding?" on those last three.

Ditto for the first two. I am not very familiar with the middle of this list, so can’t comment there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Binghamton
Geneseo
Miami at Ohio
Townson (sp?)
Penn State
Cornell
Emory
U of FL

No