Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 11:40     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
This kid is a sophomore, right? Take a breath. A 3.3 isn’t awful. It’s not Harvard, but it’s not the end of the world. I wish patents would relax about this. I have one in college and one on the way, and our college process has been easy. Easy bc they applied to schools that were good fits. My older son had a more rigorous course load, but a 3.74 GPA overall and landed at a great Jesuit college that fits him beautifully. My younger son took a less rigorous course load and has a 3.91 avg. He will end up at a larger, more rah rah public school. Both fit each child.

There’s a college for everyone. The fear mongering, though, needs to stop. Maybe I’m just a parent who has realistic expectations or maybe I’m a parent who doesn’t need to keep up with the Joneses. I dunno
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 11:18     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
Anonymous wrote:Everyone in this area always recommends these small schools I’ve never heard of when a low or mid GPA or test score comes up, but I’d also look at the flagship state schools in the Midwest…Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and some schools in the south (although some of these southern schools seem to have been “discovered” more recently). They are quite easy to get into and offer such a fun college experience with lifelong friendships, great athletic fan bases and alumni networks, quaint college towns and an education that can compete anywhere. I know bc my husband and I are both graduates of these schools and went on to law school where we outperformed all of the fancy liberal arts students. We landed great jobs here in the DMV where we don’t understand the hand-wringing over college. There are hundreds of colleges and universities in this country, and a prestigious degree doesn’t matter or mean as much as you think.


+1

BI parent of a 2028 looking at the school's scatterplots. I would add Indiana except for business, and for non-flagships, Michigan State, Miami of Ohio and U of Pittsburgh. Raise it to a 3.5 and that opens up Penn State outside of engineering and architecture.

In addition to the Catholic schools, the southern universities are also very popular and some of them are a sea of green on BI's scatterplots for anything over a 3.0 (and some go below that). Schools like U of Kentucky, Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU, East Carolina. College of Charleston works for a 3.3.

No need to aim for small schools like Muhlenberg, unless that's what he wants of course.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 10:40     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid had a 3.3 and went to a top 20 university. Near perfect SAT and rigorous courseload helped.


You can’t have “rigorous” coursework and a 3.3


What are you talking about? He took all AP/honors classes and his school did not weight the GPA.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 10:36     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid had a 3.3 and went to a top 20 university. Near perfect SAT and rigorous courseload helped.


You can’t have “rigorous” coursework and a 3.3

I can’t figure out if you are claiming that rigorous coursework must result in a lower gpa because it’s so hard, or if you somehow think students who take rigorous courseloads are all straight A students. Neither makes sense.

Please explain what you actually meant?
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 10:22     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
Anonymous wrote:My DS just transferred to a Catholic high school from FCPS, and his Quarter 2 GPA is 3.3. He is currently taking no Honors or AP classes. Everybody else around him is higher. When it comes to college, how do these kinds of kids fare? He had a 3.6 in public, so this is worrying.


Next life start your DC in Kindergarten. There is no substitute. Public school systems are a complete failure the last 20 years. It’s a race to the bottom.

DS won’t be able to catch up, but should be able to hang on.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 10:22     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
Anonymous wrote:My kid had a 3.3 and went to a top 20 university. Near perfect SAT and rigorous courseload helped.


You can’t have “rigorous” coursework and a 3.3
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 10:14     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
Anonymous wrote:Yes, such a gpa for on-level courses is objectively bad. Top and second tier colleges are out. With intensive tutoring and extracurriculars that demonstrate commitment and achievement, he can claw his way to a third tier college. The problem is that since he’s not on any fast academic tracks, he will never be compared favorably to his peers. Clean up that gpa and try to do as many Honors classes as possible, even a few APs. He should really push himself in extracurriculars.



Terrible advice. If the kid is getting 3.3 in regular classes, he will likely be totally toast in honors/AP classes.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 09:46     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
Everyone in this area always recommends these small schools I’ve never heard of when a low or mid GPA or test score comes up, but I’d also look at the flagship state schools in the Midwest…Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and some schools in the south (although some of these southern schools seem to have been “discovered” more recently). They are quite easy to get into and offer such a fun college experience with lifelong friendships, great athletic fan bases and alumni networks, quaint college towns and an education that can compete anywhere. I know bc my husband and I are both graduates of these schools and went on to law school where we outperformed all of the fancy liberal arts students. We landed great jobs here in the DMV where we don’t understand the hand-wringing over college. There are hundreds of colleges and universities in this country, and a prestigious degree doesn’t matter or mean as much as you think.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 09:06     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
3.3 is ok but you need to be realistic about college placement if it stays in that range. Possibles could be a school like sewanee, muhlenberg, etc. is that fine with you? If so, don’t stress.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 20:44     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:NP. My friend who is an investment advisor sent her kids to an elite Catholic high school and then to Catholic higher education (non-DMV, not Notre Dame or Georgetown).

I trust her opinion fully. She felt that the smaller size of her kids' universities offered the best chance for them to master their disciplines and be highly-ranked in their classes (one engineer, one pre-med who will need faculty recs for med school). So far it's working well. The older boy has gotten some good engineering co-ops.

I'm mentioning this because OP is worried about GPA for college. And I want OP to know that right now her kid is likely already doing well enough to have options that will definitely accomplish the goals of college. And they obviously welcome Catholic high-school grads at Catholic universities.

OP, so that you can stay calm while your kid settles in, I suggest that you look into a few relevant universities and evaluate them for fit for your kid's likely future objectives.


I work with investment advisers. They aren't educational consultants.


I think the takeaway is there is a large network of Catholic and Jesuit colleges that happily take B students from Catholic high schools. So, one’s dear child will never be without perfectly good and nice college options to set them up for a happy, successful future.


Yes. This person got my point.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 20:43     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:NP. My friend who is an investment advisor sent her kids to an elite Catholic high school and then to Catholic higher education (non-DMV, not Notre Dame or Georgetown).

I trust her opinion fully. She felt that the smaller size of her kids' universities offered the best chance for them to master their disciplines and be highly-ranked in their classes (one engineer, one pre-med who will need faculty recs for med school). So far it's working well. The older boy has gotten some good engineering co-ops.

I'm mentioning this because OP is worried about GPA for college. And I want OP to know that right now her kid is likely already doing well enough to have options that will definitely accomplish the goals of college. And they obviously welcome Catholic high-school grads at Catholic universities.

OP, so that you can stay calm while your kid settles in, I suggest that you look into a few relevant universities and evaluate them for fit for your kid's likely future objectives.


I work with investment advisers. They aren't educational consultants.


My friend is really smart, an MBA, and works with HNW people, and has made this choice for her kids even though she herself went to an elite school because she thinks these universities have a good combo of affordability and student-centricity that will lead to student learning and high GPAs, internships, jobs and personalized grad school LORs. I'm impressed with her reasoning which is far more detailed than shared here.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 20:37     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
Anonymous wrote:My DS just transferred to a Catholic high school from FCPS, and his Quarter 2 GPA is 3.3. He is currently taking no Honors or AP classes. Everybody else around him is higher. When it comes to college, how do these kinds of kids fare? He had a 3.6 in public, so this is worrying.


A 3.6 GPA in FCPS is really low. Bottom 50% at most schools. Ask your counselor where a 3.3 puts him at your school. It may be about the same.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 20:24     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:NP. My friend who is an investment advisor sent her kids to an elite Catholic high school and then to Catholic higher education (non-DMV, not Notre Dame or Georgetown).

I trust her opinion fully. She felt that the smaller size of her kids' universities offered the best chance for them to master their disciplines and be highly-ranked in their classes (one engineer, one pre-med who will need faculty recs for med school). So far it's working well. The older boy has gotten some good engineering co-ops.

I'm mentioning this because OP is worried about GPA for college. And I want OP to know that right now her kid is likely already doing well enough to have options that will definitely accomplish the goals of college. And they obviously welcome Catholic high-school grads at Catholic universities.

OP, so that you can stay calm while your kid settles in, I suggest that you look into a few relevant universities and evaluate them for fit for your kid's likely future objectives.


I work with investment advisers. They aren't educational consultants.


I think the takeaway is there is a large network of Catholic and Jesuit colleges that happily take B students from Catholic high schools. So, one’s dear child will never be without perfectly good and nice college options to set them up for a happy, successful future.
Anonymous
Post 01/26/2026 16:16     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
Anonymous wrote:NP. My friend who is an investment advisor sent her kids to an elite Catholic high school and then to Catholic higher education (non-DMV, not Notre Dame or Georgetown).

I trust her opinion fully. She felt that the smaller size of her kids' universities offered the best chance for them to master their disciplines and be highly-ranked in their classes (one engineer, one pre-med who will need faculty recs for med school). So far it's working well. The older boy has gotten some good engineering co-ops.

I'm mentioning this because OP is worried about GPA for college. And I want OP to know that right now her kid is likely already doing well enough to have options that will definitely accomplish the goals of college. And they obviously welcome Catholic high-school grads at Catholic universities.

OP, so that you can stay calm while your kid settles in, I suggest that you look into a few relevant universities and evaluate them for fit for your kid's likely future objectives.


I work with investment advisers. They aren't educational consultants.
Anonymous
Post 01/24/2026 17:30     Subject: Worried for my DS academically, is this as bad as I think it is?
Anonymous wrote:Exactly 3.3 or something else?

3.387