mh24

My son has a 3.3 unweighted GPA. His school does not weight. He has taken 9 honors courses and two AP's His school restricts AP classes. You must compete to get into them.
(Highly competitive public School in Westchester County, NY)

PSAT 2300 (National Merit Semifinalist)
SAT 2200
ACT 33

He is very active in year-round athletics at his school and is Varsity Wrestling Captain this year.
He is also involved in a weekly religious education program in our parish which includes some limited volunteer work. I'm sure his recommendations are strong. His essay was good, very personal, and a fun read.

We have gone down and visited Clemson and my son loved it!
He would interested in the business program.

Does he have a chance to get in? Would he be a candidate for the honors program?
He is afraid that if he applies to the Honors College that he will be "separated" from the other freshman. How integrated are the honors students into the regular freshman experience?

Thanks in advance for any information offered.

Proud Mary

My S is in the Honors College at Clemson. The students are not separated from the main students in most ways. They have 1 or 2 classes each semester with other Honors students; the rest of their classes are with everyone else. They can choose to live in Holmes Hall, the Honors dorm, but are not required to live there. My S lives there and loves it. My S and his friends are involved in all sorts of activities. Some of his friends are Honors students but some are not.

pierre0913

What is your son's class rank? They usually like students ranked in the top 3% of their high school class though I'm sure that they will make exceptions for competitive schools. Other than that, I think your son has a good chance of getting into the Calhoun Honors students. I take many classes with students in the Honors classes so honors students would get the same freshman experience as everyone else.

mh24

Thank you Proud Mary. I'm happy that your son is loving Clemson!

mh24

Pierre...My son's school doesn't rank. If they did, I'm pretty sure that he would be in the top 10-15%, but definitely not the top 5%. It really is a highly competitive school. I think his GPA will be a sticking point for some schools, Calhoun included.

By the way, thanks for all of your posts throughout the Clemson board. They've all been very helpful.

wildwoodscott

My son was in the Calhoun Honors College at Clemson (graduated in '09). There is a separate application now for the Honors College. I would say that your son has more than the requisite academic qualifications for admission to the honors college. However, you might want to remind your son not to blow off the honors college application, especially the essays.

There are two reasons for this: 1) the honors college application is examined pretty thoroughly in determining who is admitted--Clemson is lowering significantly the number of students allowed in the honors college these days; 2) if your son applies by 12/15, his honors college application also serves as an application for the Clemson National Scholars program, which is a very, very sweet scholarship opportunity.

Mitch_L

Your S should definitely be admitted, but I am not sure about the Honors College. I believe that they have a pretty high GPA requirement. A 3.3 is low for honors, but they may alter his GPA to a weighted scale.

mh24

Thanks, Wildwoodscott. He has been spending a lot of time on the essays. Any tips on whether he should focus more on academic experiences or volunteer/service experiences as he writes his essays.? Thanks, again, for your help.

mh24

Thanks, Mitch. It's good to hear that he's a candidate for Clemson. Being from OOS we're concerned about his odds. As far as the Honors College and his GPA, if I weight it using a formula given to me from a parent in another school he's a 3.7, I have no idea whether her school's method is conservative or aggressive. However, it gives us some hope
Thanks, again.