Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:39     Subject: Re:Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I can't figure out how the unweighted is a 3.8 and the weighted is a 4.6. In our FCPS HS, a weighted 4.6 would be probably the top 1-3 students out of 525+ seniors, so how is unweighted a 3.8?

OP: Can you elaborate how the school weights grades? I know some give more weight for a 97-100, some weight classes up to a 6.0, etc.

Also, where does your kid fall with a 4.6 as far as other kids in the same school?


Agreed. Does she have good AP scores?

With no APs and test optional, this screams grade inflation. I would definitely invest in some good SAT prep.


AP Gov and AP U.S. History are 4s. The rest of her classes are IB as we're an IB school. She has taken a bunch of IB classes including IB Calc A/B her junior year, which is why she has a higher weighted GPA. We're at MCPS so we don't do class rank.


Will she graduate with the full IB diploma? That may help her chances. You said she is prepping for the SAT/ACT. Where are her practice scores at? I would sign her up for multiple tests in the fall so she can try and superscore to a 1500+/34.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:36     Subject: Re:Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
Anonymous wrote:I can't figure out how the unweighted is a 3.8 and the weighted is a 4.6. In our FCPS HS, a weighted 4.6 would be probably the top 1-3 students out of 525+ seniors, so how is unweighted a 3.8?

OP: Can you elaborate how the school weights grades? I know some give more weight for a 97-100, some weight classes up to a 6.0, etc.

Also, where does your kid fall with a 4.6 as far as other kids in the same school?


It’s MCPS. As has been discussed many times on this board, MCPS gives a full one point bump for honors classes, just as they do for APs. Similarly for IB HL vs SL. They don’t distinguish between honors and AP like many Virginia schools do.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:33     Subject: Re:Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here. I think she's narrowed down her list to these schools. Are these realistic for someone applying as a business major? We have a tutor to help her with SAT scores which is her biggest issue. Ohio State, IU Kelley, and UTK require SAT scores.

Reach: UVA, Vanderbilt (I know these are major reaches)
Target: Ohio State, UMD, IU (Kelley will be a reach as a direct admit), Penn State, Clemson, UTK, South Carolina, Virginia Tech
Safety: Michigan State, Miami of Ohio, Delaware



What are her ECs? Does he have strong accomplishments?
Vanderbilt HOD major in Peabody for ED - likely won't work as its a MAJOR reach, but shoot your shot? If she has leadership in community organizations (incl sports), she can spin her 10 ECs and the 1 supp to be responsive to HOD (she really needs to work her narrative though to stand out in the pool). Make sure you sign up for Pre-VU at Vanderbilt this month.
https://myappvu.vanderbilt.edu/portal/prevu

I'd suggest other schools too:

BU
BC
Villanova
Wisconsin
Iowa
Alabama
Auburn
Northeastern (make sure to show real interest)
Babson
Bentley
Richmond
Wake (make sure to show real interest)
Elon (make sure to show real interest)

If you are applying for business, she should have a few ECs that align with business. Does she have that?
Find niche majors in business schools to apply to (supply chain management, business analytics/data science, rick mgnt, real estate, or sports business).




OP here. Yes- DECA officer at her school and started a chapter of a fundraising organization there and is a finance officer for that.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:29     Subject: Re:Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I can't figure out how the unweighted is a 3.8 and the weighted is a 4.6. In our FCPS HS, a weighted 4.6 would be probably the top 1-3 students out of 525+ seniors, so how is unweighted a 3.8?

OP: Can you elaborate how the school weights grades? I know some give more weight for a 97-100, some weight classes up to a 6.0, etc.

Also, where does your kid fall with a 4.6 as far as other kids in the same school?


Agreed. Does she have good AP scores?

With no APs and test optional, this screams grade inflation. I would definitely invest in some good SAT prep.


AP Gov and AP U.S. History are 4s. The rest of her classes are IB as we're an IB school. She has taken a bunch of IB classes including IB Calc A/B her junior year, which is why she has a higher weighted GPA. We're at MCPS so we don't do class rank.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:29     Subject: Re:Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
Anonymous wrote:OP here. I think she's narrowed down her list to these schools. Are these realistic for someone applying as a business major? We have a tutor to help her with SAT scores which is her biggest issue. Ohio State, IU Kelley, and UTK require SAT scores.

Reach: UVA, Vanderbilt (I know these are major reaches)
Target: Ohio State, UMD, IU (Kelley will be a reach as a direct admit), Penn State, Clemson, UTK, South Carolina, Virginia Tech
Safety: Michigan State, Miami of Ohio, Delaware


B School in a lot of those colleges are LEP, so some of those targets could be a reach, like UMD and Penn State.

For UMD, it will also depend on what the home school is. Much harder to get into UMD LEP from a W school, and we don't live in a W cluster.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:28     Subject: Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:MCPS does not do +/-, so by my rough math, and depending on the number of courses (summer school for example) a 3.8 is at least 6 Bs for final semester grades.


OP here- Yes, she has 8 Bs for her final semester grades since 9th grade through the end of her junior year. The rest are As.


OP, your DD should absolutely apply to her reach schools if she wants to give it a shot! I want to give you a reality check. With those stats and TO she will get rejections from UVA, Vanderbilt, UMD, VT and Clemson. Maybe she will get lucky though. Does she have a lot of 5s on AP tests to submit in the testing section instead of the SAT/ACT? That might change things a bit.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:26     Subject: Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
Anonymous wrote:What state? Md I’m guessing from the weighted gpa.

What size school?
What’s your max budget?

My similar kid but in VA is considering:

JMU
UMW
U Tampa
College of Charleston
Pitt
Penn state
U Delaware
CNU
Loyola MD
Xavier
Dayton
U South Carolina
UTK
College of Charleston


I think you will be shocked at how much merit aid Xavier offers. My DC's COA was only $25k!
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:24     Subject: Re:Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Mine got into Ohio State with merit with slightly lower stats and test optional. Also accepted at South Carolina, Indiana, NC State and Syracuse.


Was this as a business major or other?

Also, pretty sure Syracuse is going to be no merit and more like $85k/year, not $60k or below.


My daughter had a 4.3 GPA, test optional, government major. She had great essays and a great hook (in my opinion) and was offered a $ 30,000 a year merit scholarship from Syracuse. However, her COA was still $ 60,000, so she's going to W&M in-state instead. I was shocked was offered that much off.

Best to you
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:24     Subject: Re:Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
Anonymous wrote:I can't figure out how the unweighted is a 3.8 and the weighted is a 4.6. In our FCPS HS, a weighted 4.6 would be probably the top 1-3 students out of 525+ seniors, so how is unweighted a 3.8?

OP: Can you elaborate how the school weights grades? I know some give more weight for a 97-100, some weight classes up to a 6.0, etc.

Also, where does your kid fall with a 4.6 as far as other kids in the same school?


Agreed. Does she have good AP scores?

With no APs and test optional, this screams grade inflation. I would definitely invest in some good SAT prep.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:18     Subject: Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
Anonymous wrote:MCPS does not do +/-, so by my rough math, and depending on the number of courses (summer school for example) a 3.8 is at least 6 Bs for final semester grades.


OP here- Yes, she has 8 Bs for her final semester grades since 9th grade through the end of her junior year. The rest are As.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:09     Subject: Re:Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
I can't figure out how the unweighted is a 3.8 and the weighted is a 4.6. In our FCPS HS, a weighted 4.6 would be probably the top 1-3 students out of 525+ seniors, so how is unweighted a 3.8?

OP: Can you elaborate how the school weights grades? I know some give more weight for a 97-100, some weight classes up to a 6.0, etc.

Also, where does your kid fall with a 4.6 as far as other kids in the same school?
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:09     Subject: Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
This is meaningless without SAT or ACT scores
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:08     Subject: Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
MCPS does not do +/-, so by my rough math, and depending on the number of courses (summer school for example) a 3.8 is at least 6 Bs for final semester grades.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:08     Subject: Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
May want to check out UConn as well as a low target.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 11:03     Subject: Where did your TO, 3.8 unweighted & 4.6 weighted GPA kid get accepted?
In our public school, 3.8 uw ranks about 50 percentile. No one with the stats goes to UVA.