Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 18:38     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP, my kid was an upward trend kid. Never broke 3.5 and junior/senior grades were pulling a lot of weight relative to the first couple of years, SATs in low 1400s superscored. A few of our favorites were Wooster, Beloit, Puget Sound, and a great little college in Arkansas (seriously!) called Hendrix. Wooster, Beloit, and Hendrix seemed especially great for good kids who were later bloomers.


Is Hendrix woke? I've heard mixed things.


Define your terms. Too subjective a question.


Does the student body have a woke vibe?


Sorry, you are just using the same undefined term in a different sentence.

The word means different things to different people. You must know that.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 15:24     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
Anonymous wrote:Look at Oxford at Emory.

With a 2.7? Almost disrespectful
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 12:38     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
Anonymous wrote:Late blooming daughter at a middle-tier private. First two years of hs were rough. GPA end of sophomore year was a 2.7. She has since turned a corner. However, with only 2 years left, unsure of how much we can realistically expect it to climb, even with the increased effort. She is an athlete (track) and fast enough to run at a smaller, less academic D3, which she would like to do, and which we would like for her to do, as it brings her joy and gives her confidence. She’s spoken with some coaches, which motivates and excites her to continue working.

Lots of sports and volunteering. She’s a good kid. Just took a while to get her act together.

Unsure of where to go from here. Do we need to be looking for colleges with a 90% acceptance rate? There has to be a home for her somewhere, right? Surely she cannot be the only college applicant with an unimpressive gpa?

Do colleges differentiate between private and public school candidates? It seems like every school we research wants a 3.5 or higher. Is all hope lost?


Look at Juniata, Franklin Marshall, Conn College, Lewis & Clark, Chapman. If she's fast, take a look at Occidental. They have a wonderful track & xc coach that is beloved by the team. Oxy might be a bit of a reach, but with full coach support could work.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 12:21     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP, my kid was an upward trend kid. Never broke 3.5 and junior/senior grades were pulling a lot of weight relative to the first couple of years, SATs in low 1400s superscored. A few of our favorites were Wooster, Beloit, Puget Sound, and a great little college in Arkansas (seriously!) called Hendrix. Wooster, Beloit, and Hendrix seemed especially great for good kids who were later bloomers.


Is Hendrix woke? I've heard mixed things.


Define your terms. Too subjective a question.


Does the student body have a woke vibe?
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 12:19     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP - talk to your private's counselor first. Run these ideas by them.

1) double down on the Div 3 opportunities and focus there.
2) If in VA, consider the community college guarantee transfer program. It's perfect for someone who needs time to mature (don't know about track opportunities, though).
3) If in-state VA, your DD's scores fit the bottom 25th percentile of NSU (Norfolk State - 2.59); ODU 3.00; Radford 3.16 and VSU (Virginia State U. 2.63). I'm pulling these stats from the SCHEV site.
4) consider a gap year.


DP: A physically and mentally well kid who goes to private high school is not going to seriously consider community college. Really.


Exactly. The responses here are delusional. The whole private school system is SET UP to get these kids into colleges.
At the bottom of our private class, the kids go to Elon, College of Charleston. Sewanee, Dickinson, etc., are all easy admits.
If the kid needs $$$ it's different.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 11:47     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
Anonymous wrote:OP - talk to your private's counselor first. Run these ideas by them.

1) double down on the Div 3 opportunities and focus there.
2) If in VA, consider the community college guarantee transfer program. It's perfect for someone who needs time to mature (don't know about track opportunities, though).
3) If in-state VA, your DD's scores fit the bottom 25th percentile of NSU (Norfolk State - 2.59); ODU 3.00; Radford 3.16 and VSU (Virginia State U. 2.63). I'm pulling these stats from the SCHEV site.
4) consider a gap year.


DP: A physically and mentally well kid who goes to private high school is not going to seriously consider community college. Really.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 11:46     Subject: Re:Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
Anonymous wrote:Join the FB group called "College admission advice for awesomely average kids". You'll get far better answers there than here.


This. Plus, consult with the private school’s college counseling office and review your school’s particular admissions data points.

Some vary widely between general applications and your school’s individual pool (we have a liberal arts college that accepts under 30% overall but the acceptance rate for the applicant pool from our private school is more than double those rates, almost triple).
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 11:43     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP, my kid was an upward trend kid. Never broke 3.5 and junior/senior grades were pulling a lot of weight relative to the first couple of years, SATs in low 1400s superscored. A few of our favorites were Wooster, Beloit, Puget Sound, and a great little college in Arkansas (seriously!) called Hendrix. Wooster, Beloit, and Hendrix seemed especially great for good kids who were later bloomers.


Is Hendrix woke? I've heard mixed things.


Define your terms. Too subjective a question.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 11:15     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
She will be fine getting in any less academic D3. They need the money and she sounds like a great kid
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 11:13     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
Anonymous wrote:OP, my kid was an upward trend kid. Never broke 3.5 and junior/senior grades were pulling a lot of weight relative to the first couple of years, SATs in low 1400s superscored. A few of our favorites were Wooster, Beloit, Puget Sound, and a great little college in Arkansas (seriously!) called Hendrix. Wooster, Beloit, and Hendrix seemed especially great for good kids who were later bloomers.


Is Hendrix woke? I've heard mixed things.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 11:07     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
Anonymous wrote:OP, my kid was an upward trend kid. Never broke 3.5 and junior/senior grades were pulling a lot of weight relative to the first couple of years, SATs in low 1400s superscored. A few of our favorites were Wooster, Beloit, Puget Sound, and a great little college in Arkansas (seriously!) called Hendrix. Wooster, Beloit, and Hendrix seemed especially great for good kids who were later bloomers.


OP here; thank you so much for all of the kind and encouraging replies. They brought tears to my eyes. I was quite anxious to post. Thank you all for the thoughtful replies and suggestions. I feel slightly less helpless and overwhelmed.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 10:45     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
Look at Oxford at Emory.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 10:22     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
Anonymous wrote:I would look at D3 schools that are off the beaten path. Depauw is a nice option. Ranked fairly high and not super competitive. They meet full need too. Ohio Wesleyan would be good too. Also, Allegheny College.

I would also look at the list on reddit about ED. ED will be a huge boost for your child at a lot of these schools.


I have no direct connection to Allegheny, but all the people I know who are associated with Allegheny (alums, a professor, parents) have two things in common: they are thoughtful individuals, and they adore this school.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 10:17     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
I would look at D3 schools that are off the beaten path. Depauw is a nice option. Ranked fairly high and not super competitive. They meet full need too. Ohio Wesleyan would be good too. Also, Allegheny College.

I would also look at the list on reddit about ED. ED will be a huge boost for your child at a lot of these schools.
Anonymous
Post 11/05/2025 09:45     Subject: Late blooming, average student — where to go from here?
College of Charleston is a possible option. They have taken below 3.0 from my DC's Big3 in recent years.

You need to talk to your college counseling and look at your school's data.