I had a high SAT/unweighted B+ student with the most rigorous course load in all subjects and math beyond the APs. There were really only about 30 universities that were completely a no-go -- the top 20 National Universities (and yes, UVA but not UMCP where DC was accepted) and some of the liberal arts schools like the Claremont Schools.

FWIW, the high school grades were predictive of college grades but so was the course rigor. DC takes courses like Quantum Computing that most students probably can't handle.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re generally better off with higher grades than SATs. The reverse signals laziness. UVA for example will not take a B+ student with a 1500.

think OP was pretty clear about the intent of her question: what are the options for a B+/high SAT score student? But way to go with the grade shame.

No I think OP was thinking the results of a couple hours’ test would make up for 3 years of Bs. And it won’t.

Is the B+ for UW? How does one even determine whether weighted gpa is A or B?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Note the schools whose Common Data Sets list scores but not average GPAs. There are a lot.

Not the OP, but is there any way that info is aggregated w/o having to hunt and peck for each school's CDS?

I would go through the ranking of schools with highest SAT scores and see which of the ones with an average score of 1400 or higher are ranked in the 20-40 range in USNWR research universities and National Liberal Arts Colleges (and that of course fit with DC's interests). Then of those check the CDS for average GPA. The issue of course is that schools report GPA in widely different ways--some weighted, some not, some rescored etc. For instance, Oberlin puts unweighted because a lot of private school students apply whereas many other schools use weighted.

Anonymous wrote:You’re generally better off with higher grades than SATs. The reverse signals laziness. UVA for example will not take a B+ student with a 1500.

think OP was pretty clear about the intent of her question: what are the options for a B+/high SAT score student? But way to go with the grade shame.

Anonymous wrote:Note the schools whose Common Data Sets list scores but not average GPAs. There are a lot.

Not the OP, but is there any way that info is aggregated w/o having to hunt and peck for each school's CDS?

Anonymous wrote:You’re generally better off with higher grades than SATs. The reverse signals laziness. UVA for example will not take a B+ student with a 1500.

That doesn’t address OP’s question.

You’re generally better off with higher grades than SATs. The reverse signals laziness. UVA for example will not take a B+ student with a 1500.

Note the schools whose Common Data Sets list scores but not average GPAs. There are a lot.

Look at colleges ranked by highest SAT scores: https://www.collegesimply.com/colleges/rank/colleges/highest-sat-scores/? The schools at the very top will want everything, but there are very good schools with average scores in the 1400s that focus on maintaining that high average. There are other schools that go SAT optional, but have very high average scores because the only students who admit them have very high scores. So actually both of those kinds of schools can be interested in a student with good but not excellent grades but a very high SAT score.

There are literally hundreds of colleges that aren't those ultra competitive ones that everyone fawns over here. Grades and classes count more than SAT for sure.

High SAT is obviously a plus. But the GPA is probably more important. And if they are very divergent, you may need to explain why.

It is not that complicated unless you are only focused on ranking over all else.

Figure out the kind of school your kid would thrive at, what setting,what major. Then, if her GPA is not stellar, just let go of the thought that she will land at a top 20. There are hundreds and hundreds of other schools that will take her...so,chill.

Has she met with the counselor yet? They may not share through Naviance, but they do have the data and should help her a list.

Which private? Course rigor?

So much conflicting information. Does GPA determine everything now? Does a high (1500+) SAT help anymore or is that not considered important? My DDs list of schools would be very different if we based it only on GPA (or only on SAT). Completely confused. Naviance is not helpful b/c her independent school (VA) doesn't share that info. Any suggestions.