I am the PP with the DD accepted to UVA and UNC. ACT was 31 composite (34 superscored), SAT was about 1290, with 790 W. Decent but not spectacular. Trust me, we are surprised but know she can do the work at either school. I only put this info out there to give other parents hope: it's more than just a numbers game.

His mom is right. 4.1 (maybe 3.5 unweighted) will be extremely tough for the most selective colleges. DD also has a 4.65 (weighted), and we know plenty of kids with this GPA who were turned down by ivies. For the most selective colleges, you generally need an unweighted GPA of 3.8-9 and SATs of 2100, although the low end of these ranges will be the lower 25% accepted at many schools.

But it seems like he needs to hear it from someone besides his mom and us biddies from DCUM. So yes, have him talk to his guidance counselor. And if you have this kind of relationship with him, help him go through Naviance. Naviance can be like cold water where the selective colleges are concerned. Bear in mind that there will always be some kid with a lowish GPA and stats below the average, but these will be the kids who were recruited for athletics or have compelling family stories (homelessness, taking care of siblings) that Naviance doesn't show.

Anonymous wrote:My DD with a 3.4 UW/3.8W GPA at a private school was just accepted to UNC and UVA, two of the most competitive public schools in the country. No hooks, not a recruited athlete, just a good (but not stellar) student with well-rounded ECs who has made some positive contributions to her school.
A 4.1 anywhere else in the country would have parents high-fiving each other; here it's "a weighted 4.1 isn't too good (e.g., my DS is at 4.65)."

Your friend and her son should be proud of a 4.1 average and he should work to keep up the good grades. He will have plenty of choices. Good luck to him.

PP's DD must have had excellent SAT/ACT scores to get into UVA and UNC with that GPA, especially OOS for UNC.

My DD with a 3.4 UW/3.8W GPA at a private school was just accepted to UNC and UVA, two of the most competitive public schools in the country. No hooks, not a recruited athlete, just a good (but not stellar) student with well-rounded ECs who has made some positive contributions to her school.

A 4.1 anywhere else in the country would have parents high-fiving each other; here it's "a weighted 4.1 isn't too good (e.g., my DS is at 4.65)."

Your friend and her son should be proud of a 4.1 average and he should work to keep up the good grades. He will have plenty of choices. Good luck to him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you know his unweighted GPA? That's the one most colleges will look at.

Also, do you know if he's generally taken the most challenging courses at his school? Colleges are big on this, too.

Does he have any "hooks," like first generation going to college or minority? Are his athletic skills good enough to get him recruited? Any of these can help.

I'll put in a third recommendation for spending a day visiting area colleges to see where he feels comfortable. Then go to one (or several) of the online college tools. I think the College Board (the SAT people) have one that he can use if he's already registered for the SATs. They're mostly free, and like a PP said, some college names kept popping up as good fits.

I dont know his unweighted GPA, but he's taking 5 APs if that helps. Also, APs are challenging.
His athletiv skills are good but not enough to be recruited
no hooks

His mom is beside herself because he refuses to apply to schools that are not considered MOST selective...she keeps telling him he won't get into those schools. They are visiting schools over break.

4.1 with mostly honors and APs means probably a 3.5 unweighted. That won't be near enough for the most selective colleges. He's taking APs but getting Bs. He probably overloaded the APs.

If they are visiting schools over break it sounds like they have it well in hand. In MCPS he's got access to Naviance which will tell him the stats of kids from his school who have been accepted to the colleges he is interested in, and also has a very good search function. Plus for each school you want to search it will tell you "overlap" schools - the other schools that kids who applied to that school also applied to. It can narrow down the pool pretty quickly. UMD may be a stretch if I am right about the GPA.

The point about aid was that some of the smaller schools will provide merit aid to students who add to their profile - high scores, geographic diversity, etc. That's not going to happen at the most selective schools of course. Most of them do financial aid (based on need) as opposed to merit aid.

It sounds like he needs to talk to his college counselor at school after his visits next week and see what they recommend.

Anonymous wrote:Do you know his unweighted GPA? That's the one most colleges will look at.

Also, do you know if he's generally taken the most challenging courses at his school? Colleges are big on this, too.

Does he have any "hooks," like first generation going to college or minority? Are his athletic skills good enough to get him recruited? Any of these can help.

I'll put in a third recommendation for spending a day visiting area colleges to see where he feels comfortable. Then go to one (or several) of the online college tools. I think the College Board (the SAT people) have one that he can use if he's already registered for the SATs. They're mostly free, and like a PP said, some college names kept popping up as good fits.

I dont know his unweighted GPA, but he's taking 5 APs if that helps. Also, APs are challenging.
His athletiv skills are good but not enough to be recruited
no hooks

His mom is beside herself because he refuses to apply to schools that are not considered MOST selective...she keeps telling him he won't get into those schools. They are visiting schools over break.

Do you know his unweighted GPA? That's the one most colleges will look at.

Also, do you know if he's generally taken the most challenging courses at his school? Colleges are big on this, too.

Does he have any "hooks," like first generation going to college or minority? Are his athletic skills good enough to get him recruited? Any of these can help.

I'll put in a third recommendation for spending a day visiting area colleges to see where he feels comfortable. Then go to one (or several) of the online college tools. I think the College Board (the SAT people) have one that he can use if he's already registered for the SATs. They're mostly free, and like a PP said, some college names kept popping up as good fits.

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PP - way too vague. Maybe take him for a few local visits to see how he likes the schools - go to UMD or UVA, Georgetown, GW, W&L, etc.. That might help him narrow his criteria a bit. He should use to search tools to see what pops up. We found that the same schools kept popping up again and again. Other questions he should consider - does he want to play his sport in college? Can he play at the D1 level or need to focus on D3? What kind of financial aid does he require, if any. If merit aid is a priority he'd have good luck with those stats at lower tier schools. If aid is not a factor then he can aim higher.

Also is the 4.1 weighted? What's the unweighted? What's the weighting scale? A weighted 4.1 in MCPS isn't too good (e.g., my DS is at 4.65). That could be a challenge at the more competitive schools.

Yes, this is his weighted GPA in an MCPS. so a 4.1 GPA is not great?? Are you also saying that asking for aid will reduce his chances of being accepted? I apologize for the "troll-like" questions, I truly have no idea about this stuff as my kids are nowhere near college-age. When I went to college, things were way different. thanks again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? Are you a troll?

Wow. Why would you think I'm a troll?
I asked a serious question. My friend has a ton going on in her life so thought I would act like a true friend and hel her out. Forget I asked

Because with the info you provided, you only knocked about 100 schools off the list of every-college-in-the-country. If you seriously want to be helpful, sit down with your friend's DS and help him figure out what he's looking for.

So that was a legit reason to call me a troll? thanks again for being "seriously helpful".

I asked a question that I thought someone on here would be able to answer in a NICE manner. perhaps all you had to say was - your search is too broad, you need to narrow it down- THAT would have been more constructive of a response.

thanks again.

Agree with PP - way too vague. Maybe take him for a few local visits to see how he likes the schools - go to UMD or UVA, Georgetown, GW, W&L, etc.. That might help him narrow his criteria a bit. He should use to search tools to see what pops up. We found that the same schools kept popping up again and again. Other questions he should consider - does he want to play his sport in college? Can he play at the D1 level or need to focus on D3? What kind of financial aid does he require, if any. If merit aid is a priority he'd have good luck with those stats at lower tier schools. If aid is not a factor then he can aim higher.

Also is the 4.1 weighted? What's the unweighted? What's the weighting scale? A weighted 4.1 in MCPS isn't too good (e.g., my DS is at 4.65). That could be a challenge at the more competitive schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? Are you a troll?

Wow. Why would you think I'm a troll?
I asked a serious question. My friend has a ton going on in her life so thought I would act like a true friend and hel her out. Forget I asked

Because with the info you provided, you only knocked about 100 schools off the list of every-college-in-the-country. If you seriously want to be helpful, sit down with your friend's DS and help him figure out what he's looking for.

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? Are you a troll?

Wow. Why would you think I'm a troll?
I asked a serious question. My friend has a ton going on in her life so thought I would act like a true friend and hel her out. Forget I asked

Tell him the meet with his college counselor. There are also tons of great search tools that he should have access to (college board, naviance, etc).

Seriously? Are you a troll?

He is:
High achiever
Athlete
Tons of APs
4.1 GPA
Hoping for 2200 SAT score
No extra curriculars except his sport
Not sure of what he wants to study
Open to public, private, size not so important.
No Texas, Deep South schools. NC schools ok I think.

Thanks