Your kid sounds like mine. Mine is at a Wash U/Emory/Tufts-type school. they also liked William and Mary and American for options closer to home.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks!

Waiting for July AP results.
Haven’t taken standardized tests yet, but with coaching, will likely end up around 34/1500.
DC is not catholic, but not opposed to a catholic university.

What are you basing this on? his PSAT 10?

If you think he needs coaching to be 34/1500, that's around 98th%ile with coaching--so at baseline he is 95%ile?. If that's the case aim WM, UVA, Georgetown, W&L. The middle 50% are 95-98%ile meaning he has a great chance of being average or above.

He will be in over his head at any ivy/T15 where the majority are higher: those are for students who test minimum 98%ile UNprepped, ideally 99+%ile with no prep. Our college counseling dean at the private school based the initial list of "matches" for rigor fit based on the unprepped PSAT 10 percentiles converted to SAT based on the same percentile. Our fist was a junior in 2018-19 pre-TO but the method was tried and true and it did not mean you could not reach, it just meant the parents realized when the reach was likely out of the typical academic range thus the "fit" might be way off--might struggle and be below average which for many is not the right environment. They met w all juniors in fall and reviewed the PSAT 10 and ACT10 and also the7th grade standardized CAT/CTP testing to give an understanding of where your kid was in relation to average students at colleges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does he need more motivation in life - Like needs to be surrounded by peers who are more driven? ED to BC

OP here - thanks!

Boston is too far

Good because 4.5wGPA won't get anyone into BC even ED.

Does he want big or small, urban or not, warm/cold/indifferent to weather? Full pay or chasing merit? Is Greek life a pro or a con? What prospective major?

We can give better input with more details. I had a 4.5wGPA kid and we found the a great school for him, ED also helped to hit a high target.

Good lord, where does your kid go to high school that the grade inflation is so over the top? My kid had a 4.4 and was top 5% of her class, headed to her first choice T20, and here you are talking about a 4.5 as if it’s some massive handicap!

Some schools give 1 point for A, 0.5 for honors; some give additional 0.33 for A+. Thus 5.33 is the A+ in AP. The top 10% at these schools ofen have above 4.9. A 4.5W at these places would be below the top quarter. Middle of the class is arouond 4.2W.

Other schools with 0.5 for honors and AP, even with a 0.33 A+ boost, 4.5 W is top 5%. With no A+ boost of course a 4.5W would be evey single class honors or AP and all A.

TLDR, IT DEPENDS. The OP should ask the counselor

Anonymous wrote:Look at ED to Northwestern/Amherst/Brown or similar.

If he's a deep philosophical kid, apply philosophy & physics:

https://www.brown.edu/undergraduate-programs/physics-and-philosophy-ab

Get a summer job.
Fiddle around with a hobby.
Add an EC or 2 if you can.

Look at successful profiles:
https://www.reddit.com/r/collegeresults/comments/18lsq3m/queer_stoner_with_no_ecs_but_cracked_academics/
https://www.reddit.com/r/collegeresults/comments/1pryk03/accepted_uchicago_ed/
https://www.reddit.com/r/collegeresults/comments/1d4k2xy/lazy_student_results/

This. Also Wesleyan.

Look at ED to Northwestern/Amherst/Brown or similar.

If he's a deep philosophical kid, apply philosophy & physics:

https://www.brown.edu/undergraduate-programs/physics-and-philosophy-ab

Get a summer job.
Fiddle around with a hobby.
Add an EC or 2 if you can.

Look at successful profiles:
https://www.reddit.com/r/collegeresults/comments/18lsq3m/queer_stoner_with_no_ecs_but_cracked_academics/
https://www.reddit.com/r/collegeresults/comments/1pryk03/accepted_uchicago_ed/
https://www.reddit.com/r/collegeresults/comments/1d4k2xy/lazy_student_results/

W&M, Mary Washington as a safety. JMU/GMU if he wants big universities. Tons of private schools in Pennsylvania — Susquehanna, F&M, Dickinson. Lehigh for a mid-size.

Would absolutely get merit from Loyola Maryland

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks!

These are all useful questions.

So far, DC seems interested in going deeper in whatever he happens to be studying. Asked which class he enjoys most, he lists 5. I can’t discern a leading interest either.

Of the schools he’s learned about, he consistently points out the ones that don’t require declaring a major until the end of sophomore year.

Have him take a look at St. John’s College in Annapolis. He may enjoy their Great Books approach to education.

Just came to say that my DS is very similar. Also at a DC catholic high school. He is in the top 5% of his class academically but not much drive outside just doing the class work he is assigned. Keep the suggestions coming!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does he need more motivation in life - Like needs to be surrounded by peers who are more driven? ED to BC

OP here - thanks!

Boston is too far

Good because 4.5wGPA won't get anyone into BC even ED.

Does he want big or small, urban or not, warm/cold/indifferent to weather? Full pay or chasing merit? Is Greek life a pro or a con? What prospective major?

We can give better input with more details. I had a 4.5wGPA kid and we found the a great school for him, ED also helped to hit a high target.

3hr locality to DMV
Chasing merit
Greek life is a con
Not engineering

My DC from an MCPS magnet 4.0/4.92 1580 SAT got merit aid at UMD. They didn't have any strong ECs. They didn't have much drive/ambition in HS. They are super smart (graduated college summa cum laude headed to graduate school) but was too immature in HS to think about the future. FFW in college, they found their drive and got really amazing internships.

I think a lot of boys, if left to their own devices, don't have much ambition when they are in HS. I tried not to push too hard in HS. As an aside, DC recently told me that I should've pushed them more. 🙄 Just can't win.

Not wanting to declare major early says Liberal Arts - rather than a specialist direct admission degree such as Architecture, Engineering, or Nursing.

OP here - thanks all!

Especially appreciate PP pointing to schools with open curriculum.

Consider William & Mary, especially if you are Virginia residents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does he need more motivation in life - Like needs to be surrounded by peers who are more driven? ED to BC

OP here - thanks!

Boston is too far

Good because 4.5wGPA won't get anyone into BC even ED.

Does he want big or small, urban or not, warm/cold/indifferent to weather? Full pay or chasing merit? Is Greek life a pro or a con? What prospective major?

We can give better input with more details. I had a 4.5wGPA kid and we found the a great school for him, ED also helped to hit a high target.

Good lord, where does your kid go to high school that the grade inflation is so over the top? My kid had a 4.4 and was top 5% of her class, headed to her first choice T20, and here you are talking about a 4.5 as if it’s some massive handicap!

+1

4.5 is just about the max you ever see from DC's Catholic high school, it would be the top 1 maybe 2 kids in a class (not percent).

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks!

These are all useful questions.

So far, DC seems interested in going deeper in whatever he happens to be studying. Asked which class he enjoys most, he lists 5. I can’t discern a leading interest either.

Of the schools he’s learned about, he consistently points out the ones that don’t require declaring a major until the end of sophomore year.

He might do well with an open curriculum. Ask him to research several schools that are known for their open curricula (ex Brown, Amherst, Hamilton, etc) and pick two to compare and contrast. Then think of how he would pitch himself to his favorite of the pair in terms of what they value.