Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here,

Thank you all for the inputs.

I have just had the chance to read through all of the posts.
I will try to go through the answers and more insights.
The senior year 1 st semester grades the colleges got had 5As, 1 B in DE English and 1 C. He had 4 s in all the Stem AP exams and couple of others .. nothing below.

Now, we see we just applied to pretty much all reaches. As a pp pointed out thinking his SAT will compensate was very wrong, but we also did think his very high rigor with 12 APs in stem classes will help. We thought his essay wasn’t bad. He had passion in a sports, did it all 4 years with leadership and many awards. He picked 2 STEM teachers for his recommendation letters.
We kept looking at the 4.1 along with all these other elements and thought might be ok
( definitely not UVA where we knew he needed a 4.4 minimum. They deferred and gave us some hope that he might get in, in some of the others)


Personally I believe all of this is because of the uw gpa of 3.58; it has starkly stood out.

He has worked very hard and I hope he will get to go where he is meant to be.
We have also applied to Pitt.

PS
The 5 As in the 1st semester were also all AP classes including AP Statistics.

Sorry OP, really unfortunate that the counselor did not give feedback on the list. Question on the AP Stats, was that after taking AP Calc AB and BC? For Stem admissions AP Calc is the standard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having such a high SAT score with a relatively low GPA makes him look low effort.

I agree with this statement. It makes him look like a "good test taker" except that he likely didn't prepare for his tests in classes. Aren't there remedy pathways to correct low grades? I'm estimating that the OP's kid had a couple of Cs on his transcript to have a 3.58 gpa. I thought there's a way to fix these types of grades at nova high schools--am I wrong?

A 3.58uw is a mix of As and Bs. Sure, there could be a C in there, but 3.58 is a solid A/B student, which is pretty good in most places outside of NOVA, MCPS "W" schools and other wealthy pressure-cooker communities. As one PP said, 95% of schools would've accepted OP's kid, but he only applied to reach schools + two safeties. No targets.

And the bolded is exactly the problem and why kids/families are surprised. Solid A/B students are now getting rejected from schools that just a year ago or few years ago were targets. Not everyone can be a straight A student taking the highest rigor, while maintaining a job and three extracurricular activities and a notable research project. An admissions per was just the other day giving band activities low weight for extracurricular while acknowledging how time consuming it is and how much outside practice was required and noting that it takes a lot to stand out.

We have lost the plot. What are we asking from kids at this point? No wonder they are burned out and having mental health issues.

It has been this way since at least 2020 so it is unfortunately it is not new. I blame the high schools first due to grade inflation, though I understand that is a nationwide problem. Secondly, most of them wait until junior year to start counseling the students and trying to rein in expectations in terms of college lists. The main thing students (and parents) get from using an external consultant is cool hard truth. The cold hard truth is class rank, max rigor with A's, perhpas a B or two in 9th or 10th grade, but not junior year, EC's with impact (leadership, awards etc) is what it takes to have a shot at T30 and even with all of that it is just a chance as there are far more kids who have all of that than there are spots for them. The upside of this is that there are dozens of other colleges that are great where those students can and will thrive.

But there is a big difference between T30 and VCU, GMU level schools. How does a kid with a 4.0 and high SAT score only get into those schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here,

Thank you all for the inputs.

I have just had the chance to read through all of the posts.
I will try to go through the answers and more insights.
The senior year 1 st semester grades the colleges got had 5As, 1 B in DE English and 1 C. He had 4 s in all the Stem AP exams and couple of others .. nothing below.

Now, we see we just applied to pretty much all reaches. As a pp pointed out thinking his SAT will compensate was very wrong, but we also did think his very high rigor with 12 APs in stem classes will help. We thought his essay wasn’t bad. He had passion in a sports, did it all 4 years with leadership and many awards. He picked 2 STEM teachers for his recommendation letters.
We kept looking at the 4.1 along with all these other elements and thought might be ok
( definitely not UVA where we knew he needed a 4.4 minimum. They deferred and gave us some hope that he might get in, in some of the others)


Personally I believe all of this is because of the uw gpa of 3.58; it has starkly stood out.

He has worked very hard and I hope he will get to go where he is meant to be.
We have also applied to Pitt.

PS
The 5 As in the 1st semester were also all AP classes including AP Statistics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having such a high SAT score with a relatively low GPA makes him look low effort.

Agree this was the issue.

Anonymous wrote:Op here,

Thank you all for the inputs.

I have just had the chance to read through all of the posts.
I will try to go through the answers and more insights.
The senior year 1 st semester grades the colleges got had 5As, 1 B in DE English and 1 C. He had 4 s in all the Stem AP exams and couple of others .. nothing below.

Now, we see we just applied to pretty much all reaches. As a pp pointed out thinking his SAT will compensate was very wrong, but we also did think his very high rigor with 12 APs in stem classes will help. We thought his essay wasn’t bad. He had passion in a sports, did it all 4 years with leadership and many awards. He picked 2 STEM teachers for his recommendation letters.
We kept looking at the 4.1 along with all these other elements and thought might be ok
( definitely not UVA where we knew he needed a 4.4 minimum. They deferred and gave us some hope that he might get in, in some of the others)


Personally I believe all of this is because of the uw gpa of 3.58; it has starkly stood out.

He has worked very hard and I hope he will get to go where he is meant to be.
We have also applied to Pitt.

Anonymous wrote:Too bad the school counselor didn't sit down with him and review the list.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having such a high SAT score with a relatively low GPA makes him look low effort.

I agree with this statement. It makes him look like a "good test taker" except that he likely didn't prepare for his tests in classes. Aren't there remedy pathways to correct low grades? I'm estimating that the OP's kid had a couple of Cs on his transcript to have a 3.58 gpa. I thought there's a way to fix these types of grades at nova high schools--am I wrong?

A 3.58uw is a mix of As and Bs. Sure, there could be a C in there, but 3.58 is a solid A/B student, which is pretty good in most places outside of NOVA, MCPS "W" schools and other wealthy pressure-cooker communities. As one PP said, 95% of schools would've accepted OP's kid, but he only applied to reach schools + two safeties. No targets.

And the bolded is exactly the problem and why kids/families are surprised. Solid A/B students are now getting rejected from schools that just a year ago or few years ago were targets. Not everyone can be a straight A student taking the highest rigor, while maintaining a job and three extracurricular activities and a notable research project. An admissions per was just the other day giving band activities low weight for extracurricular while acknowledging how time consuming it is and how much outside practice was required and noting that it takes a lot to stand out.

We have lost the plot. What are we asking from kids at this point? No wonder they are burned out and having mental health issues.

Anonymous wrote:Op, I remember your previous posts. I really hope your son gets off the waitlist for VT. I just wanted to send a supportive message.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having such a high SAT score with a relatively low GPA makes him look low effort.

I agree with this statement. It makes him look like a "good test taker" except that he likely didn't prepare for his tests in classes. Aren't there remedy pathways to correct low grades? I'm estimating that the OP's kid had a couple of Cs on his transcript to have a 3.58 gpa. I thought there's a way to fix these types of grades at nova high schools--am I wrong?

A 3.58uw is a mix of As and Bs. Sure, there could be a C in there, but 3.58 is a solid A/B student, which is pretty good in most places outside of NOVA, MCPS "W" schools and other wealthy pressure-cooker communities. As one PP said, 95% of schools would've accepted OP's kid, but he only applied to reach schools + two safeties. No targets.

And the bolded is exactly the problem and why kids/families are surprised. Solid A/B students are now getting rejected from schools that just a year ago or few years ago were targets. Not everyone can be a straight A student taking the highest rigor, while maintaining a job and three extracurricular activities and a notable research project. An admissions per was just the other day giving band activities low weight for extracurricular while acknowledging how time consuming it is and how much outside practice was required and noting that it takes a lot to stand out.

We have lost the plot. What are we asking from kids at this point? No wonder they are burned out and having mental health issues.

It has been this way since at least 2020 so it is unfortunately it is not new. I blame the high schools first due to grade inflation, though I understand that is a nationwide problem. Secondly, most of them wait until junior year to start counseling the students and trying to rein in expectations in terms of college lists. The main thing students (and parents) get from using an external consultant is cool hard truth. The cold hard truth is class rank, max rigor with A's, perhpas a B or two in 9th or 10th grade, but not junior year, EC's with impact (leadership, awards etc) is what it takes to have a shot at T30 and even with all of that it is just a chance as there are far more kids who have all of that than there are spots for them. The upside of this is that there are dozens of other colleges that are great where those students can and will thrive.

But there is a big difference between T30 and VCU, GMU level schools. How does a kid with a 4.0 and high SAT score only get into those schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having such a high SAT score with a relatively low GPA makes him look low effort.

I agree with this statement. It makes him look like a "good test taker" except that he likely didn't prepare for his tests in classes. Aren't there remedy pathways to correct low grades? I'm estimating that the OP's kid had a couple of Cs on his transcript to have a 3.58 gpa. I thought there's a way to fix these types of grades at nova high schools--am I wrong?

A 3.58uw is a mix of As and Bs. Sure, there could be a C in there, but 3.58 is a solid A/B student, which is pretty good in most places outside of NOVA, MCPS "W" schools and other wealthy pressure-cooker communities. As one PP said, 95% of schools would've accepted OP's kid, but he only applied to reach schools + two safeties. No targets.

And the bolded is exactly the problem and why kids/families are surprised. Solid A/B students are now getting rejected from schools that just a year ago or few years ago were targets. Not everyone can be a straight A student taking the highest rigor, while maintaining a job and three extracurricular activities and a notable research project. An admissions per was just the other day giving band activities low weight for extracurricular while acknowledging how time consuming it is and how much outside practice was required and noting that it takes a lot to stand out.

We have lost the plot. What are we asking from kids at this point? No wonder they are burned out and having mental health issues.

It has been this way since at least 2020 so it is unfortunately it is not new. I blame the high schools first due to grade inflation, though I understand that is a nationwide problem. Secondly, most of them wait until junior year to start counseling the students and trying to rein in expectations in terms of college lists. The main thing students (and parents) get from using an external consultant is cool hard truth. The cold hard truth is class rank, max rigor with A's, perhpas a B or two in 9th or 10th grade, but not junior year, EC's with impact (leadership, awards etc) is what it takes to have a shot at T30 and even with all of that it is just a chance as there are far more kids who have all of that than there are spots for them. The upside of this is that there are dozens of other colleges that are great where those students can and will thrive.

But there is a big difference between T30 and VCU, GMU level schools. How does a kid with a 4.0 and high SAT score only get into those schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having such a high SAT score with a relatively low GPA makes him look low effort.

I agree with this statement. It makes him look like a "good test taker" except that he likely didn't prepare for his tests in classes. Aren't there remedy pathways to correct low grades? I'm estimating that the OP's kid had a couple of Cs on his transcript to have a 3.58 gpa. I thought there's a way to fix these types of grades at nova high schools--am I wrong?

A 3.58uw is a mix of As and Bs. Sure, there could be a C in there, but 3.58 is a solid A/B student, which is pretty good in most places outside of NOVA, MCPS "W" schools and other wealthy pressure-cooker communities. As one PP said, 95% of schools would've accepted OP's kid, but he only applied to reach schools + two safeties. No targets.

And the bolded is exactly the problem and why kids/families are surprised. Solid A/B students are now getting rejected from schools that just a year ago or few years ago were targets. Not everyone can be a straight A student taking the highest rigor, while maintaining a job and three extracurricular activities and a notable research project. An admissions per was just the other day giving band activities low weight for extracurricular while acknowledging how time consuming it is and how much outside practice was required and noting that it takes a lot to stand out.

We have lost the plot. What are we asking from kids at this point? No wonder they are burned out and having mental health issues.

It has been this way since at least 2020 so it is unfortunately it is not new. I blame the high schools first due to grade inflation, though I understand that is a nationwide problem. Secondly, most of them wait until junior year to start counseling the students and trying to rein in expectations in terms of college lists. The main thing students (and parents) get from using an external consultant is cool hard truth. The cold hard truth is class rank, max rigor with A's, perhpas a B or two in 9th or 10th grade, but not junior year, EC's with impact (leadership, awards etc) is what it takes to have a shot at T30 and even with all of that it is just a chance as there are far more kids who have all of that than there are spots for them. The upside of this is that there are dozens of other colleges that are great where those students can and will thrive.