Anonymous
06/17/2026 08:44
Subject: Strong academics, not much else
Anonymous wrote:[mastodon]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!
You are behind. The 75th percentile of UVA’s entering class last year had a 4.5. Median had a 4.4 ….
That’s insane. Our high school doesn’t weigh honors or DE classes. The smartest kids end up taking DE classes in 11th and or 12 grade because they took all the AP available for that subject offered at school already. Pretty sure no one ends up with over a 4.5
Anonymous
06/17/2026 08:14
Subject: Strong academics, not much else
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for these suggestions!
34/1500 is my guess based on cold tests run through a prep company (probably will just self study)
No A+ boost; not sure, but DC is likely in top 5% academically
Reads a ton for fun, even Harvard Classics type stuff.
3hr locality for family reasons.
3 hours driving?!?
I think your kid could aim higher successfully, but if that’s the case just ED to UVA.
There are a lot of schools within 3 hours of the DMV.
Anonymous
06/17/2026 07:58
Subject: Strong academics, not much else
Anonymous wrote: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.
Depends on the high school and how they weight. At our DMV high school, the valedictorian often has a 4.5
I'm the PP and I have one college student and one rising senior in MCPS. 4.5wGPA is solid but not top tier. Obviously grading differs considerably across school systems and sectors (private vs public), but at least in MCPS a 4.5wGPA puts many of the schools mentioned recently on this thread mostly out of reach without some other compelling factor, including all the Ivies, Johns Hopkins, Wesleyan, Tufts, Swarthmore, Haverford, Georgetown, Hamilton.
OP should be studying Naviance or the equivalent for her kid's school very carefully.
MCPS has crazy high weighted GPAs because they bump 1.0 for honors. Most other school systems bump 0.5 for honors and 1.0 for APs, though I also know of privates that only bump 0.5 or even 0.0 for APs, and I’m sure there are other weighting systems too.
The main point is that OP is not in MCPS so all the MCPS people coming here to state that 4.5 is low in their mind or at their school are irrelevant.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 23:52
Subject: Strong academics, not much else
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.
Depends on the high school and how they weight. At our DMV high school, the valedictorian often has a 4.5
I'm the PP and I have one college student and one rising senior in MCPS. 4.5wGPA is solid but not top tier. Obviously grading differs considerably across school systems and sectors (private vs public), but at least in MCPS a 4.5wGPA puts many of the schools mentioned recently on this thread mostly out of reach without some other compelling factor, including all the Ivies, Johns Hopkins, Wesleyan, Tufts, Swarthmore, Haverford, Georgetown, Hamilton.
OP should be studying Naviance or the equivalent for her kid's school very carefully.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 23:41
Subject: Strong academics, not much else
Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for these suggestions!
34/1500 is my guess based on cold tests run through a prep company (probably will just self study)
No A+ boost; not sure, but DC is likely in top 5% academically
Reads a ton for fun, even Harvard Classics type stuff.
3hr locality for family reasons.
3 hours driving?!?
I think your kid could aim higher successfully, but if that’s the case just ED to UVA.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 23:14
Subject: Strong academics, not much else
[mastodon]
You are behind. The 75th percentile of UVA’s entering class last year had a 4.5. Median had a 4.4 ….
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!
You are behind. The 75th percentile of UVA’s entering class last year had a 4.5. Median had a 4.4 ….
Anonymous
06/16/2026 22:26
Subject: Strong academics, not much else
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.
Depends on the high school and how they weight. At our DMV high school, the valedictorian often has a 4.5
Anonymous
06/16/2026 21:09
Subject: Strong academics, not much else
OP here - thanks for these suggestions!
34/1500 is my guess based on cold tests run through a prep company (probably will just self study)
No A+ boost; not sure, but DC is likely in top 5% academically
Reads a ton for fun, even Harvard Classics type stuff.
3hr locality for family reasons.
34/1500 is my guess based on cold tests run through a prep company (probably will just self study)
No A+ boost; not sure, but DC is likely in top 5% academically
Reads a ton for fun, even Harvard Classics type stuff.
3hr locality for family reasons.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 21:00
Subject: Strong academics, not much else
He should look into liberal arts colleges. They’re desperate for literally any top students, at all. Consider Swarthmore, Haverford, and W&L (they’ll love the rigor).
Anonymous
06/16/2026 20:59
Subject: Strong academics, not much else
Anonymous wrote:Why can’t they be more than 3 hrs away? That seems extremely limiting
It's one way to narrow down all the options, and for some kids distance matters a lot.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 20:58
Subject: Re:Strong academics, not much else
Anonymous wrote: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.
If he’s reading a lot, is it possible that he’ll get over 1550 on the SAT verbal test?
Whether he doesn’t, maybe he could make Johns Hopkins a reach school.
Also, Penn, Temple and Haverford.
Maybe Johns Hopkins and Penn would be off-limits if he was a premed. But, if he can write and speak well and has interesting ideas, and he wants to major in an undersubscribed humanities major for the love of learning, maybe he could win the lottery at a lottery school.
Example: Is Princeton within a three-hour drive? If so, maybe that could be a reach.
I know people here will say that’s impossible, but how many of those folks have kids who read books for fun?
Depending on where in the DMV you are, Princeton could be 3- 4 hours.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 20:55
Subject: Strong academics, not much else
Anonymous wrote:Would absolutely get merit from Loyola Maryland
This is where my son goes. Not as high grades and applied TO but has enjoyed the core curriculum classes and not having to choose a major right away. He’d get great merit aid there.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 20:29
Subject: Re:Strong academics, not much else
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.
If he’s reading a lot, is it possible that he’ll get over 1550 on the SAT verbal test?
Whether he doesn’t, maybe he could make Johns Hopkins a reach school.
Also, Penn, Temple and Haverford.
Maybe Johns Hopkins and Penn would be off-limits if he was a premed. But, if he can write and speak well and has interesting ideas, and he wants to major in an undersubscribed humanities major for the love of learning, maybe he could win the lottery at a lottery school.
Example: Is Princeton within a three-hour drive? If so, maybe that could be a reach.
I know people here will say that’s impossible, but how many of those folks have kids who read books for fun?
Anonymous
06/16/2026 19:44
Subject: Strong academics, not much else
Why can’t they be more than 3 hrs away? That seems extremely limiting
Anonymous
06/16/2026 19:42
Subject: Strong academics, not much else
My similar kid who also had the 3hr drive limit has a list like this:
Georgetown
Villanova
William and Mary
Lehigh
Franklin and Marshall
Dickenson
Loyola MD
Penn and UVA are in distance, but not as great an option if you really want to explore many areas and choose a school/major later.
Too bad the open curriculum schools are farther afield. Wesleyen and Hamilton would be great for this kid.
Georgetown
Villanova
William and Mary
Lehigh
Franklin and Marshall
Dickenson
Loyola MD
Penn and UVA are in distance, but not as great an option if you really want to explore many areas and choose a school/major later.
Too bad the open curriculum schools are farther afield. Wesleyen and Hamilton would be great for this kid.