At a smaller school, and they spend time with your app, if a students grades are lower in 9th and settle higher by 11th/12th, then a lower GPA may not hurt as much.

My kid had that pattern, college counselor’s letter addressed it and a weighted GPA of 3.6 was sufficient to gain admission at several colleges that admit <20% of applicants. Test scores were similar to OP’s kid.

Also several UCs routinely toss out all 9th grade scores and recalculate GPAs.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Do you really not know the answer?

Original Poster here: Its not easy to make such a list. Why make such a comment? The SAT is high IVY HYPMS. The GPA is low top 25. So please have something to offer or move along.

DC is open to all college experiences.

I am not being snarky, but have DC read this book over the summer and start making their own list.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Colleges-2019-Universities/dp/1524757942

Theyve read all the guidebooks. Weve met with the college counselor. Its difficult when the GPA doesnt match the SAT. So Im asking the board - any other anecdotes of high SAT and great but not top 1% GPA - outcomes with Top 10 schools. Is that worth the time. Assume no other hooks.

My child with similar stats went big state U because of the free ride and personality match. Did not even try for competitive schools-went for scholarship money. We appreciated this and respect the smart decision to enter law school in a few years debt free.

My DC with 3.7 and 34 ACT from top private was rejected from UVA, UMCP and WL/rejected from Ohio State. It is really hard when you don't have the weighted GPA. They did get into all of the privates, even reaches and some big merit packages on the targets/safeties.

They could have gotten full ride at some OOS, but none they were interested in.

Looks like your problem was schools that admit by computer...

Hobart&William Smith

Anonymous wrote:I heard from one admissions person (not an elite school) that they are very cautious with kids who have strong test scores but lower grades. She said it means the kid can do better than they are. She said they try to find out what is holding the kid back (lack of motivation? effort? distractions?) I am not accusing your child of any of those things. Just saying this person said they considered that combination riskier than the alternative (i.e. high grades, low test scores). Because the latter kids has figured out some formula for succeeding academically.

UVA said this on our tour. DC decided not to apply with a weighted 4.0

Your child's selectionprocess will be very hard and inefficient if he/she does not pin something down (major, geographic, urban, size, something). Do they lack focus? Interest? Are you driving this train??

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really not know the answer?

Original Poster here: Its not easy to make such a list. Why make such a comment? The SAT is high IVY HYPMS. The GPA is low top 25. So please have something to offer or move along.

DC is open to all college experiences.

I am not being snarky, but have DC read this book over the summer and start making their own list.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Colleges-2019-Universities/dp/1524757942

Theyve read all the guidebooks. Weve met with the college counselor. Its difficult when the GPA doesnt match the SAT. So Im asking the board - any other anecdotes of high SAT and great but not top 1% GPA - outcomes with Top 10 schools. Is that worth the time. Assume no other hooks.

My child with similar stats went big state U because of the free ride and personality match. Did not even try for competitive schools-went for scholarship money. We appreciated this and respect the smart decision to enter law school in a few years debt free.

My DC with 3.7 and 34 ACT from top private was rejected from UVA, UMCP and WL/rejected from Ohio State. It is really hard when you don't have the weighted GPA. They did get into all of the privates, even reaches and some big merit packages on the targets/safeties.

They could have gotten full ride at some OOS, but none they were interested in.

Don't know about OSU, but UVA and UMCP recalculate GPAs to their own scale so the unweighting makes no difference.

And, OP, your DC's SAT won't get your kid into "Top 10" schools, unless you have a boy and are looking at SLACs. If you're full pay, look at schools like NYU, Wash U, USC, Tulane, Wake - they like full pay, DC private school kids.

Unfortunately the unweighted GPA for OP's kid is very low for UVA. UVA says flat out that they value GPA more than anything else, especially for in-state. Perhaps for out-of-state they will accept a lower GPA but the 3.65 quoted by OP would not attract UVA's attention.

There also is merit to the point made by a PP elsewhere that the wide gap between the SAT and the GPA would be problematic for many upper tier schools. I think OP and child need to spend some time with the guidance counselor and begin doing some assessments.

It is odd that the child hasn't expressed any preferences about the school. By the time most kids take the SATs they have a pretty good idea of urban v rural, big v small, geographic location, etc.

Michigan, Emory

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really not know the answer?

Original Poster here: Its not easy to make such a list. Why make such a comment? The SAT is high IVY HYPMS. The GPA is low top 25. So please have something to offer or move along.

DC is open to all college experiences.

I am not being snarky, but have DC read this book over the summer and start making their own list.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Colleges-2019-Universities/dp/1524757942

Theyve read all the guidebooks. Weve met with the college counselor. Its difficult when the GPA doesnt match the SAT. So Im asking the board - any other anecdotes of high SAT and great but not top 1% GPA - outcomes with Top 10 schools. Is that worth the time. Assume no other hooks.

My child with similar stats went big state U because of the free ride and personality match. Did not even try for competitive schools-went for scholarship money. We appreciated this and respect the smart decision to enter law school in a few years debt free.

My DC with 3.7 and 34 ACT from top private was rejected from UVA, UMCP and WL/rejected from Ohio State. It is really hard when you don't have the weighted GPA. They did get into all of the privates, even reaches and some big merit packages on the targets/safeties.

They could have gotten full ride at some OOS, but none they were interested in.

My kid with 1500 sat, 3.7 gpa and impressive ecs didn't get offered any big money at oos. I don't see anybody getting a full ride anywhere with the stats you are posting unless there is a serious hook.

I heard from one admissions person (not an elite school) that they are very cautious with kids who have strong test scores but lower grades. She said it means the kid can do better than they are. She said they try to find out what is holding the kid back (lack of motivation? effort? distractions?) I am not accusing your child of any of those things. Just saying this person said they considered that combination riskier than the alternative (i.e. high grades, low test scores). Because the latter kids has figured out some formula for succeeding academically.

HPYSM are probably out of reach. Consider ED for other top 20 schools or for very top SLACs like Amherst or Bowdoin. A 3.6-3.7 is solid at Top 3 private schools, but it's still rough if you have no other hooks. Full pay definitely helps.

Colgate, Hamilton, Colby

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really not know the answer?

Original Poster here: Its not easy to make such a list. Why make such a comment? The SAT is high IVY HYPMS. The GPA is low top 25. So please have something to offer or move along.

DC is open to all college experiences.

I am not being snarky, but have DC read this book over the summer and start making their own list.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Colleges-2019-Universities/dp/1524757942

Theyve read all the guidebooks. Weve met with the college counselor. Its difficult when the GPA doesnt match the SAT. So Im asking the board - any other anecdotes of high SAT and great but not top 1% GPA - outcomes with Top 10 schools. Is that worth the time. Assume no other hooks.

My child with similar stats went big state U because of the free ride and personality match. Did not even try for competitive schools-went for scholarship money. We appreciated this and respect the smart decision to enter law school in a few years debt free.

My DC with 3.7 and 34 ACT from top private was rejected from UVA, UMCP and WL/rejected from Ohio State. It is really hard when you don't have the weighted GPA. They did get into all of the privates, even reaches and some big merit packages on the targets/safeties.

They could have gotten full ride at some OOS, but none they were interested in.

Don't know about OSU, but UVA and UMCP recalculate GPAs to their own scale so the unweighting makes no difference.

And, OP, your DC's SAT won't get your kid into "Top 10" schools, unless you have a boy and are looking at SLACs. If you're full pay, look at schools like NYU, Wash U, USC, Tulane, Wake - they like full pay, DC private school kids.

I have seen full pay students with these stats get into tippy top schools ED as a full paying student. Amazingly money is the biggest hook for ED.

Now for RD, not as much. If he finds a good school, I would definitely ED.

Like another poster said, many huge state schools rely on public weighted GPA's and your son may not make the first cut. Males always have a better chance getting into SLAC's than Tech schools too.

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Anonymous wrote:"Aren't HPYS-type schools highly unlikely for this kid regardless? If the kid has no hooks and good, but not amazing ECs (as seems to be the case if club leadership positions are the primary ones) it is not clear to me why any top 10 school would be realistic even for a kid with good grades at a top HS. There are thousands of kids across the country with almost perfect SATs or ACTs."

Maybe, maybe not. One of the huge advantages of the Big 3 is that they have sent Dozens of students to HYPS.

That is an advantage because if the student has totally impressed two or three teachers of those dozens then their recs can really matter.

At a HS that has never sent a student to HYPS, teacher recs don't mean much because they have never seen future HYPS students.

Dozens over the past decade, maybe, but certainly not dozens per year. Not even close.

Yes, each year is about 6-10 kids each year. Definitely not dozens. Some do not matriculate either do to costs. Some will pick UVA instate (or DC tag) instead of full price Princeton, even if they can afford and more likely if they are going to medical or law school in the future.

Top 25% is a problem in the universe of top 20 schools. Usually to be competitive you have to be in the top 1% to 3% and 99th percentile in scores. Then you need EC's that will show "commitment" "leadership" and "care for the community"

If you don't have a race, geo, SES, first gen or gender (for some majors) hook its going to be difficult to crack the top 20 with a top 25% of class profile. Having said that, I would pick WashU, Emory, Tufts or Vandy and apply ED if possible. You can also try USC. These schools seem to value high scores. Good luck