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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reality of college admissions is brutal. But recognizing that reality is a kindness. OP, it sounds like you’re just starting out researching options and I encourage you to use Naviance and CDS reports as your guide. If you have a good school counselor, use them. But if not, Naviance will be your best tool. Or SCOIR if that’s your school’s platform.

That said, my UMD alum husband couldn’t believe that his 4.7, 10 AP, 1450 SAT daughter might get rejected from his alma mater. Naviance showed that possibility and he refused to believe it. The numbers don’t lie. Rejected.

I assume you are in MCPS? It makes me actively angry how much UMD discriminates against MCPS kids. Your kid was an excellent student and probably much more qualified than many admitted. But they don’t want it to be overrun with McPS kids so even though it’s mostly our tax dollars supporting the university, we get shafted. A lot of states have guaranteed admission for kids with the top qualifications. Maryland instead drives them out of state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much have things changed, really?

My kid who is now in their 30s (wow), was applying to colleges in the late 2000s from a highly regarded NOVA public. 1970 on the 2400 scored SAT, which would translate to 1360 today according to the charts. 10 APs, including AP Spanish (with 5s on both the AP literature and language exams), but no AP Calc, Physics or Chem (instead Econ, Stats, and Environmental Science). AP test scores ranged from a 2 to mostly 3s and 4s and a couple of 5s beyond the Spanish APs (5 in English I think).

Weighted GPA was just over a 4.0. Consistently 1 B for every 2 or 3 As in all advanced classes. No Cs.

One excellent recommendation that we know of (Spanish teacher). Average player on one average varsity sport (non-recruited, not even close) and some volunteer work but not much. No other ECs. Full pay.

Notre Dame (legacy): deny

UVA: waitlist
W&M: waitlist
Boston College: waitlist

Wisconsin: admitted
VT: admitted
JMU: admitted

Final result: admitted off UVA wait-list just before graduation and attended.

Are posters really suggesting that these results would be all that different today?

Did he accept another college first since waitlist is at the end of the year?

Yes. Wisconsin.

[Anonymous]

A lot of the school recs here seem on target. Your school's Scoir or Naviance scattergram info. is your best bet for determining chances. Your DS's current school and financial aid considerations are also huge factors. B's don't hold the same weight from school to school, as long as the college knows your school well enough. Again, your school's Scoir info. will help you sort through these questions.

Also, as mentioned, Comp. Sci. is wildly competitive. Good luck!

[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

GMU is good, JMU NO for anything math related, if you want to be a teacher or work in sales then yes
he could get into vtech if he got As in math
if he is serious lookinto NOVA with direct admit to Vtech

[Anonymous]

If he's not willing to take a few on-grade-level classes in HS among other college-bound students, instead of all AP classes -- he will not be willing to consider NOVA.
np here

[Anonymous]

There are trolls here who suggest community college in literally every thread seeking recommendations, no matter how off topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are trolls here who suggest community college in literally every thread seeking recommendations, no matter how off topic.

I am not a troll and I am learning that community college or branch campus to flagship is not unreasonable/is a valid hack if you just care about the final degree and want to minimize spending.

For the schools I graduated from, I think the degree-granting branch campuses are a better hack.

[Anonymous]

For the schools I graduated from

The specifics that are being discussed are different

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reality of college admissions is brutal. But recognizing that reality is a kindness. OP, it sounds like you’re just starting out researching options and I encourage you to use Naviance and CDS reports as your guide. If you have a good school counselor, use them. But if not, Naviance will be your best tool. Or SCOIR if that’s your school’s platform.

That said, my UMD alum husband couldn’t believe that his 4.7, 10 AP, 1450 SAT daughter might get rejected from his alma mater. Naviance showed that possibility and he refused to believe it. The numbers don’t lie. Rejected.

I assume you are in MCPS? It makes me actively angry how much UMD discriminates against MCPS kids. Your kid was an excellent student and probably much more qualified than many admitted. But they don’t want it to be overrun with McPS kids so even though it’s mostly our tax dollars supporting the university, we get shafted. A lot of states have guaranteed admission for kids with the top qualifications. Maryland instead drives them out of state.

Yes, MCPS “W” school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

GMU is good, JMU NO for anything math related, if you want to be a teacher or work in sales then yes
he could get into vtech if he got As in math
if he is serious lookinto NOVA with direct admit to Vtech

JMU is a great school and has many excellent majors. You just sound very ignorant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are trolls here who suggest community college in literally every thread seeking recommendations, no matter how off topic.

I am not a troll and I am learning that community college or branch campus to flagship is not unreasonable/is a valid hack if you just care about the final degree and want to minimize spending.

For the schools I graduated from, I think the degree-granting branch campuses are a better hack.

+1. I suggested CC as an option as well, for practical reasons - he is competing against a sea of straight A students as a 12th grader. As a more mature (literally) CC student who is focused on doing well, he is a strong candidate for transfer.

I have an acquaintance who is a top lecturer in the UK now in his specialist subject. He started out at Santa Monica CC and transferred to UCLA where he went on to finish a PhD and has only been a success ever since.

[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.

AP CS A and DE CS are very easy relative to what the top, say, 1% of students are in terms of CS. Have him check out https://usaco.guide/, https://www.fast.ai/, Introduction to Statistical Learning with Python: https://www.statlearning.com/, https://justinmath.com/books/#introduction-to-algorithms-and-machine-learning, the "zero to hero" playlist by Andrej Karpathy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much have things changed, really?

My kid who is now in their 30s (wow), was applying to colleges in the late 2000s from a highly regarded NOVA public. 1970 on the 2400 scored SAT, which would translate to 1360 today according to the charts. 10 APs, including AP Spanish (with 5s on both the AP literature and language exams), but no AP Calc, Physics or Chem (instead Econ, Stats, and Environmental Science). AP test scores ranged from a 2 to mostly 3s and 4s and a couple of 5s beyond the Spanish APs (5 in English I think).

Weighted GPA was just over a 4.0. Consistently 1 B for every 2 or 3 As in all advanced classes. No Cs.

One excellent recommendation that we know of (Spanish teacher). Average player on one average varsity sport (non-recruited, not even close) and some volunteer work but not much. No other ECs. Full pay.

Notre Dame (legacy): deny

UVA: waitlist
W&M: waitlist
Boston College: waitlist

Wisconsin: admitted
VT: admitted
JMU: admitted

Final result: admitted off UVA wait-list just before graduation and attended.

Are posters really suggesting that these results would be all that different today?

Yes, a 1360 is very low for all of these schools besides JMU. Deny from all except JMU and VT. Maybe wait-list at VT. Deny from VT if applying for a competitive major like CS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will things get better with all the crackdowns on undocumented immigrants and foreign students?

No, undocumented students are generally not top students and foreign students have an even harder standard to meet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much have things changed, really?

My kid who is now in their 30s (wow), was applying to colleges in the late 2000s from a highly regarded NOVA public. 1970 on the 2400 scored SAT, which would translate to 1360 today according to the charts. 10 APs, including AP Spanish (with 5s on both the AP literature and language exams), but no AP Calc, Physics or Chem (instead Econ, Stats, and Environmental Science). AP test scores ranged from a 2 to mostly 3s and 4s and a couple of 5s beyond the Spanish APs (5 in English I think).

Weighted GPA was just over a 4.0. Consistently 1 B for every 2 or 3 As in all advanced classes. No Cs.

One excellent recommendation that we know of (Spanish teacher). Average player on one average varsity sport (non-recruited, not even close) and some volunteer work but not much. No other ECs. Full pay.

Notre Dame (legacy): deny

UVA: waitlist
W&M: waitlist
Boston College: waitlist

Wisconsin: admitted
VT: admitted
JMU: admitted

Final result: admitted off UVA wait-list just before graduation and attended.

Are posters really suggesting that these results would be all that different today?

Yes, a 1360 is very low for all of these schools besides JMU. Deny from all except JMU and VT. Maybe wait-list at VT. Deny from VT if applying for a competitive major like CS.

100% agree. There's no way those stats would get even close to getting into UVA now, unless as a recruited athlete.