And just to be super-granular, DS's college counselor, having been giving a list of schools that look very much like people have been offering (Thank you! You're amazing!) said "some of those schools have quirky admissions." Just looking for first-hand experiences, if possible.

Bucknell
Franklin and Marshall
Dickenson
Bard
Allegheny College
U. Denver
Kenyon
Lafayette

Again, I posted this precisely because small school and not a lot of data points. Yes, I am also concerned about the discrepancy between grades and ACT scores (composite 34). But to return to the original question, if folks have suggestions, they would be very welcome.

Anonymous wrote:I think you have to ask your specific school.

3.3 UW from public will get you into very different schools than 3.3 from some privates.
At by Big3 privates you would still be in the running for top 50 schools.

+1.

^^^ had, not has. Typo.

My full pay kid has similar stats last year. I’d suggest Skidmore and Bard. No Greek life, good humanities.

Anonymous wrote:Is he lazy? That's what a 3.3 and a 34 suggests to admissions officers.

Or ADHD. Or a learning disability. Or someone who went through a lot of emotional turmoil. Or someone who was young and still learning how to study and had signed up for too heavy of a school load in the first years.

Admissions officers are not as lazy of thinkers as you are and can imagine scenarios where a kid doesn't have a gpa that reflects test scores.

I think you have to ask your specific school.

3.3 UW from public will get you into very different schools than 3.3 from some privates.
At by Big3 privates you would still be in the running for top 50 schools.

Tons of options with that score and the gpa being from a private.

I think he will have a lot of options given that he is at a rigorous school, is a male humanities major and is an URM.

What state are you in?

Is he lazy? That's what a 3.3 and a 34 suggests to admissions officers.

Anonymous wrote:University of Pittsburgh.

That isn’t a liberal arts college.

University of Pittsburgh.

Sorry, I don't know what kind of brain fart I was having in my other post but the correct composite ACT is 34, not 36. So sorry -- handling some outside problems and I just wasn't thinking straight. Please respond to this post.

Our DS is a rising senior looking at smaller liberal arts schools, pretty much anywhere but south. He has some interesting ECs but nothing groundbreaking. He's a super-nice kid, but quiet. He's coming from a private school where his GPA puts him in the bottom half of the class - but it's a very rigorous school and he will have taken 10+ APs by graduation. The GPA average (approximately 3.3 UW, 3.8 W) is obviously not great, although the trend is noticeably upward. Thoughts about what is reasonable? We're spending a lot of time with Naviance but that only gets you so far without a lot of datapoints (especially recent ones) for smaller schools. I'm especially interested in experiences from the last 2-3 years, given how much the landscape seems to have changed. Likely humanities major, full-pay, URM. Prefer little or no Greek life, diverse student body. Thoughts on ED also welcome, although I am not sure he is ready to commit so soon after starting to look at schools in person. Thanks for any useful input.Our DS is a rising senior looking at smaller liberal arts schools, pretty much anywhere but south. He has some interesting ECs but nothing groundbreaking. He's a super-nice kid, but quiet. He's coming from a private school where his GPA puts him in the bottom half of the class - but it's a very rigorous school and he will have taken 10+ APs by graduation. The GPA average (approximately 3.3 UW, 3.8 W) is obviously not great, although the trend is noticeably upward. Thoughts about what is reasonable? We're spending a lot of time with Naviance but that only gets you so far without a lot of datapoints (especially recent ones) for smaller schools. I'm especially interested in experiences from the last 2-3 years, given how much the landscape seems to have changed. Likely humanities major, full-pay, URM. Prefer little or no Greek life, diverse student body. Thoughts on ED also welcome, although I am not sure he is ready to commit so soon after starting to look at schools in person. Thanks for any useful input.