Good college for 3.2 student from Langley High

[Anonymous]

OP - you get 300 points added to something on your application to UCSD for Eagle Scout. More everywhere if you have palm fronds. (three medals above Eage).

[Anonymous]

DCUM really needs a better thread lock, IMO.

[Anonymous]

OP, here's the scattergram for GMU for what it's worth. If you are correct about the 1100, then you can see there's no point in even applying. The Naviance scattergram for Langley is much "worse" in that there are too many kids from Langley and NOVA competing for these slots so the Naviance from a year ago was at least a 3.5 with a 32% acceptance rate. I can't access those scattergrams anymore since we have graduated. I now realize someone reactivated an old thread so by now your son has settled somewhere. I hope he is doing great!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSAT/NMSQT

[Anonymous]

Try, try again.

http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/george-mason-university-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm

[Anonymous]

Cool , it's funny that gmu is better and all the rage to get into jmu back back in the 90s.

Crazy that all the work to go to jmu is now in the toilet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow I did not realize Tulane was Harvard on Bourbon Street. Drink a huricane and relax-- I am sure you learned how to do that at Tulane? I am also sure they were talking math and verbal for the sat not the essay too. In fact I think if you read a couple of posts back they said that the DC had not taken a prep cours yet and that was their 10th grade sat and that they were thinking 1200-1300 after prep. I would recommend if the child has any interest in the military to consider VMI. Great school that turns out real leaders. You do not have to serve in the military if you do not want to after you graduate.

Tulane has fallen on hard times since Katrina.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cool , it's funny that gmu is better and all the rage to get into jmu back back in the 90s.

Crazy that all the work to go to jmu is now in the toilet

No dog in this race (my kid got into both, and went to neither), but JMU is harder to get into than GMU. GMU gets tons of applications, including from kids that don't apply to JMU because they know it's tougher to get into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cool , it's funny that gmu is better and all the rage to get into jmu back back in the 90s.

Crazy that all the work to go to jmu is now in the toilet

No dog in this race (my kid got into both, and went to neither), but JMU is harder to get into than GMU. GMU gets tons of applications, including from kids that don't apply to JMU because they know it's tougher to get into.

Gmu has a lower acceptance rate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cool , it's funny that gmu is better and all the rage to get into jmu back back in the 90s.

Crazy that all the work to go to jmu is now in the toilet

No dog in this race (my kid got into both, and went to neither), but JMU is harder to get into than GMU. GMU gets tons of applications, including from kids that don't apply to JMU because they know it's tougher to get into.

Gmu has a lower acceptance rate

Because it gets applications from more marginal local candidates....which is pretty much universally understood among HS students around here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cool , it's funny that gmu is better and all the rage to get into jmu back back in the 90s.

Crazy that all the work to go to jmu is now in the toilet

No dog in this race (my kid got into both, and went to neither), but JMU is harder to get into than GMU. GMU gets tons of applications, including from kids that don't apply to JMU because they know it's tougher to get into.

Definitely not the case from Langley last year. That's all I can tell you - I can't access the Naviance scattergrams anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cool , it's funny that gmu is better and all the rage to get into jmu back back in the 90s.

Crazy that all the work to go to jmu is now in the toilet

No dog in this race (my kid got into both, and went to neither), but JMU is harder to get into than GMU. GMU gets tons of applications, including from kids that don't apply to JMU because they know it's tougher to get into.

Gmu has a lower acceptance rate

Because it gets applications from more marginal local candidates....which is pretty much universally understood among HS students around here.

But the point is not from LANGLEY. the Langley kids are competing against each other for these slots in UVA, W&M, JMU, GMU. So its the Naviance scattergram from Langley that counts towards being helpful, not overall stats. If I remember correctly, you need a 3.5 or better, AP courses, and 29-32 on ACTs. You can't look at a national scattergram and say "hey my kid has a good chance of getting in" if you at in a NOVA high school. There are too few slots available for NoVA kids. Some legislation has been introduced to allot another 1,000 seats to Va. candidates, but that's a drop in the bucket when you consider that's spread amongst 23 colleges all over the state. It also doesn't help the Langley and other NoVa high schools where the kids are competing against one another for the restricted slots. It's a lot easier to get into any VA school an an OOS than in-state, and certainly harder from McLean, Langley, etc.

[Anonymous]

Local community college to up those grades and then transfer to a good school. And also learn a trade PT in case there's no golden job waiting when DC graduates. Always be prepared.

[Anonymous]

Re: Impact of Eagle Scout on admissions: http://www.southflorida.com/careers/wsfl-careers-5collegeapplicanttips-041509,0,5248866.story

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At many schools your fate is essentially decided by the one admission’s office person that reads your application. That person will have their own opinion as to the value of being an Eagle Scout. As anyone not living under a rock knows, scouting has been controversial in recent years due to their exclusionary practices with regard to homosexuals. In my admittedly liberal social circle, scouting is not something we’d ever consider for our children. I know others, especially those in the evangelical movement, still embrace scouting. So my guess is that if the person making the decision is a social conservative the Eagle Scout award could be a BIG plus. If the person reviewing the application is a social liberal, the Eagle Scout award could be something of a minus. Obviously those in the admissions office aren’t going to tell you if they are liberal or conservative, but you can probably make an educated guess based on the type of school and its location.

It depends on ones liberal social circle. About half of the boys in my DCs UU Sunday school class have their Eagle. We try to work from within. We had some success this summer, but our work is not finished. The work never seems to be finished. See you on the Mall on Wednesday!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At many schools your fate is essentially decided by the one admission’s office person that reads your application. That person will have their own opinion as to the value of being an Eagle Scout. As anyone not living under a rock knows, scouting has been controversial in recent years due to their exclusionary practices with regard to homosexuals. In my admittedly liberal social circle, scouting is not something we’d ever consider for our children. I know others, especially those in the evangelical movement, still embrace scouting. So my guess is that if the person making the decision is a social conservative the Eagle Scout award could be a BIG plus. If the person reviewing the application is a social liberal, the Eagle Scout award could be something of a minus. Obviously those in the admissions office aren’t going to tell you if they are liberal or conservative, but you can probably make an educated guess based on the type of school and its location.

It depends on ones liberal social circle. About half of the boys in my DCs UU Sunday school class have their Eagle. We try to work from within. We had some success this summer, but our work is not finished. The work never seems to be finished. See you on the Mall on Wednesday!

I can't imagine an admissions officer penalizing an adolescent for the sins of boy scouts USA or his parents. After all, admissions wants diversity.