We have been looking closely at UMass for a particular highly ranked program and the only potential issue I see is with my child's continued interest in a lesser taught foreign language.
The Five college interchange looks good on paper but there seem to be few advanced language courses available at those institutions.

Anonymous wrote:I have seen alot of posters mention Pitt. Has that become a very popular school?? Can someone tell me what makes it so desirable? Sorry to derail!

Pitt is also popular because it’s one of the few schools that has rolling admissions beginning in late summer. You can apply very early and get an answer. Knowing that you’ve been accepted somewhere can be a great stress reliever in this process.

DS -

Unweighted 3.9, Weighted over 4.0 but not sure of the exact number. SAT 1400

Applied early to UMASS due to the fact that they were one of the top schools in his major and was his top school and got in with a 15K scholarship. Decided to accept and not apply anywhere else. We have ties to MA and lots of family around and he seems quite happy with his decision.

My boys were definitely the least stressful re: college apps.

Anonymous wrote:3.7 GPA and 1390 SAT.
Denied from UMD, Clemson and Tulane.
It's not easy out there.

No, it's not. When my DD was applying, she had a 4.0 unweighted and a 33 ACT and was rejected from Rice, BC and Vanderbilt. She did get into Emory but at their Oxford campus, which she took, but in retrospect, she feels she would have been better off at a less 'prestigious' school.

My DD is graduating from Emory this year. I encourage y'all to pick a smallish school. My DD could not step out of her declared major and take a business course or a computer course because they were being 'reserved' for those in that major. Very inflexible due to size of student body and therefore not at all worth the money. In my opinion, she got an inadequate education. Furthermore, the amount of courses in things like Women's Studies and other pablum, and the way they steered students into those courses, was surprising to me. We are encouraging her to take certification courses in project management, etc, after graduation to better prepare her for real world business issues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have seen alot of posters mention Pitt. Has that become a very popular school?? Can someone tell me what makes it so desirable? Sorry to derail!

It is a great school with a lot of excellent, well-regarded programs in a friendly, safe neighborhood located in a city known for its livability and easy access to cultural and sporting events.

Yes, it is becoming increasingly popular.

It is a serious contender for my DC, who received enough merit aid to make it cost about the same as our in-state public flagship.

Pitt does a great job with their open houses and really showcases the city and all it has to offer. It has a reputation as offering lots of merit aid but it sounds like as they have been getting more popular, the merit aid is not as plentiful as it once was. My DS loved the school and location and was definitely interested but only got about $8000 in merit aid with a 1480 SAT. Definitely more expensive than our in-state flagship.

Anonymous wrote:I have seen alot of posters mention Pitt. Has that become a very popular school?? Can someone tell me what makes it so desirable? Sorry to derail!

It is a great school with a lot of excellent, well-regarded programs in a friendly, safe neighborhood located in a city known for its livability and easy access to cultural and sporting events.

Yes, it is becoming increasingly popular.

It is a serious contender for my DC, who received enough merit aid to make it cost about the same as our in-state public flagship.

Anonymous wrote:any chance we can get back to stats and where kids are getting in for those of us gearing up for next year applications, etc....(not telling people what to write or not write, but the stats and where folks have gotten in in this area are useful.

GPA, SAT/ACT, hooks and where has your kid gotten in? thanks

People here won't do it because they think they are somehow outing their kid. You will have better luck on college confidential.

any chance we can get back to stats and where kids are getting in for those of us gearing up for next year applications, etc....(not telling people what to write or not write, but the stats and where folks have gotten in in this area are useful.

GPA, SAT/ACT, hooks and where has your kid gotten in? thanks

Anonymous wrote:In at Clemson, U of S. Carolina, Marist, Tulane, Northeastern, Alabama.

Rejected from Lehigh, Colby and Trinity.

I’m guessing this was last year?
Regular decision isn’t out yet and several of these schools don’t have early action

Anonymous wrote:In at Clemson, U of S. Carolina, Marist, Tulane, Northeastern, Alabama.

Rejected from Lehigh, Colby and Trinity.

Can you please share GPA and SAT so we have some context?

In at Clemson, U of S. Carolina, Marist, Tulane, Northeastern, Alabama.

Rejected from Lehigh, Colby and Trinity.

I have seen alot of posters mention Pitt. Has that become a very popular school?? Can someone tell me what makes it so desirable? Sorry to derail!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s just recalculating. It is not the same thing as using the high school’s weighting.

Exactly. They don’t use the high school weighting. They use their own.

Well I have yet to see any student under a 4.0 get into UMCP this year on college confidential unless their weighted was above 4.0. I highly doubt the kids admitted here are smarter than these top schools with lower GPA averages. Something doesn’t add up here.

Looking at average GPA here:

UMCP 4.3

Penn 3.9
Brown 4.0
UC Berkeley 3.8
Harvard 4.1
UMich 3.8
MIT 4.1
Wisc 3.8
Notre Dame 4.0
BU 3.6
Georgetown 4.0
USC 3.7
Williams 4.0
UVA 4.1

If you’re using College Confidential as your data source you’re doing it wrong.

This data may come from Common Data Sets, though, which comes directly from the colleges. What I've seen is publics like UNC Chapel Hill may have higher GPAs than any top private. (UNC-CH also has higher GPAs than UVA and W&M, BTW.) This may just mean those states have grade inflation at the high school level.

Colleges are permitted to submit GPA data in their common data set as they see fit. Some reports contain unweighted, while others have weighted, recalculated, or no GPA data at all. The UMCP average GPA is obviously weighted and is pretty worthless considering all of the MCPS kids with ridiculously inflated GPAs in the mix.

Agree and I think that is the whole point of the issue here. How can kids in non-weighted schools even compete. I know kids in top college prep schools with great unweighted GPA's getting into ivy's, but getting rejected from UVA and UMCP. That is fine for the families that can afford top private colleges. But for a family on financial aid at Sidwell (with no AP's offered, but obvious high rigor) as a Maryland resident, may only be able to afford UMCP. 25-30% of the kids at those type of schools are on financial aid. Where do they end up I wonder?

Just because your kid went to Sidwell doesn't mean that they are as qualified as the kids getting into schools that your kid isn't.

Anonymous wrote:This thread scares me. 15 years ago, my stats were 3.4 GPA and 1290 SAT. I got into VT, UVA, JMU and College of Charleston.

I cannot believe how hard it is on kids these days. My poor 3 year old is going to need perfect grades and SAT scores to go to my alma mater!

Google grade inflation.