He definitely should have taken a foreign language. Our senior took Latin all through high school, which I think made a difference in terms of overall rigor. Latin isn't easy and it's the root language for science, medicine, law, etc. Got no rejections. Average SAT score by NOVA standards (no private tutor or prep, timed standardized testing has never been kid's biggest strength) but a very high, competitive GPA weighted with 14 APs, DEs with all As and Bs but mostly As at a large, very diverse public high school. Kid applied to only a very targeted handful of in-state schools except UVA with a specific major and some work experience tailored to said major. Wasn't all that interested in UVA. UVA seems to prefer private school kids for the most part, anyway, so why waste money on the application fee, I guess.

Anonymous wrote:4.1 GPA means mostly Bs, maybe some As and Cs.

The results were consistent with what we know.

NP here. My FCPS child has a 4.2 weighted and she had a B+ and a B- in 2 APs and a B in an honors course. The rest were a combo of As and A- in AP, honors, and DE. Nary a C in the mix.

I think NOVA parents forget that students elsewhere all over Virginia are very aware they must compete hard for every spot at state universities against NOVA kids. We live in Appalachia (but used to live in NOVA) and the kids out here are working their butts off to take twelve or more AP and DE courses, going to state governor's schools (just like TJ, only they might commute two hours one way every day), doing high school and college summer school courses, multiple ECs, and have the same tiger moms as everywhere else who might roll up in their Range Rovers. Rural VA kids putting up 4.06s weighted, just like your kids, and in smaller towns, education is the big ticket that laser focuses the mind. Education is taken very seriously out here in rural VA and our kids are putting up the numbers and taking nothing for granted. They know exactly why and where they are applying.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In complete surprise.

Ds got into 2 safeties, waitlisted at 2 and rejected at all other public schools in VA and OOS.

The safeties are VcU and GMU.

Yes they are good schools too. But the results of the rest truly came as a surprise.

He had 12 aps, top rigor 1540 SAT lower gpa but to get rejected across the board…

He isn’t saying anything about it but I know it must sting and he didnt expect
it either.

I wish all of this wasn’t that hard.
I am just venting… surprise to me too.

What you've learned is that GMU and VCU were NOT his safeties. They were his matches. The results of the process are telling you this. If all the other publics came back with the same decision, the message is clear. Or it should be?

I don't think that's necessarily accurate. They very well could've been his safeties and likely were, meaning his stats were well above the ranges for those schools and he was a slam dunk. What everyone should learn from this is that you have to have true targets (matches, as you say) on your list. If all you have are safeties and reaches, you'd better be very excited about your safeties.

Anonymous wrote:The idea of using GPA as a screening is correct though the threshold is not a very high number, otherwise they will screen out many private high school students. The rule of thumb is that you are evaluated in the context of your own high school, not acrossing public and private schools. Once the initial screening is done, rigor is in play. Teacher recommendation is in play.

they adjust per high school.

Anonymous wrote:In complete surprise.

Ds got into 2 safeties, waitlisted at 2 and rejected at all other public schools in VA and OOS.

The safeties are VcU and GMU.

Yes they are good schools too. But the results of the rest truly came as a surprise.

He had 12 aps, top rigor 1540 SAT lower gpa but to get rejected across the board…

He isn’t saying anything about it but I know it must sting and he didnt expect
it either.

I wish all of this wasn’t that hard.
I am just venting… surprise to me too.

What you've learned is that GMU and VCU were NOT his safeties. They were his matches. The results of the process are telling you this. If all the other publics came back with the same decision, the message is clear. Or it should be?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a profile like this, aim for schools that want that SAT score in their stats. They will give you merit aid, even with the lower GPA.

My kids fit this profile, and we curated the list pretty darn well, I'd say. They had merit offers from every private college that accepted them (LACs below the top 15). We were correct in our assumption that the reach schools that don't typically award merit did not accept them at all due to the GPA. They had full pay WL offers at some of those schools (ranked 25-40), but in the end decided to go with the merit at smaller schools.

What are those 25-40 offers, if you don’t mind sharing? Thanks.

ED to WashU or Emory or Tufts or BC might work.

The idea of using GPA as a screening is correct though the threshold is not a very high number, otherwise they will screen out many private high school students. The rule of thumb is that you are evaluated in the context of your own high school, not acrossing public and private schools. Once the initial screening is done, rigor is in play. Teacher recommendation is in play.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having such a high SAT score with a relatively low GPA makes him look low effort.

I agree with this statement. It makes him look like a "good test taker" except that he likely didn't prepare for his tests in classes. Aren't there remedy pathways to correct low grades? I'm estimating that the OP's kid had a couple of Cs on his transcript to have a 3.58 gpa. I thought there's a way to fix these types of grades at nova high schools--am I wrong?

No, there is no way in public schools to travel back in time and magically fix a "C". Its not private school where the kids are coddled.

What imaginary private school "fixes" grades after the fact? LOL. Keep telling yourself that you have it harder on grading in public shcool. As if.

Rigor matters at my child’s school. Remember you are competing against your own hs peers first. If you have the extra rigor and someone else does not, often you are in and they are deferred. Especially don’t slack off senior year.

Anonymous wrote:With a profile like this, aim for schools that want that SAT score in their stats. They will give you merit aid, even with the lower GPA.

My kids fit this profile, and we curated the list pretty darn well, I'd say. They had merit offers from every private college that accepted them (LACs below the top 15). We were correct in our assumption that the reach schools that don't typically award merit did not accept them at all due to the GPA. They had full pay WL offers at some of those schools (ranked 25-40), but in the end decided to go with the merit at smaller schools.

What are those 25-40 offers, if you don’t mind sharing? Thanks.

With a profile like this, aim for schools that want that SAT score in their stats. They will give you merit aid, even with the lower GPA.

My kids fit this profile, and we curated the list pretty darn well, I'd say. They had merit offers from every private college that accepted them (LACs below the top 15). We were correct in our assumption that the reach schools that don't typically award merit did not accept them at all due to the GPA. They had full pay WL offers at some of those schools (ranked 25-40), but in the end decided to go with the merit at smaller schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This really reinforces the idea that GPA is the screen nowadays; SAT is relevant only as a plus factor once you make it through the GPA screen.

Which is so dumb given the variabiiltiy in rigor applied to assinging GPAs.

It is. But with common app they are getting ridiculous numbers of apps each year. I cant imagine they have enough time to look at each individual transcript, evaluate gpa in context of rigor, the specific grading scale, and class rank. So they just revert to gpa.

It punishes kids that take max rigor, and rewards kids that game gpa. We saw that a lot our high school. E.g. lots of kids taking regular physics and then ap environmental science.

OP's GPA is simply too low. Academic score is based on a combination of GPA and test score when offered. Test score certainly helps, but in his case, not enough.

I’m actually surprised he got deferred by UVA ED (instead of rejection) with his grades. Sorry for being blunt.