<p>Yay for rolling admissions!</p>
<p>Several of my daughter’s dance teachers went to Purchase and they loved it. It’s in a lovely suburban neighborhood, and it’s a not-too-difficult commute into the city. We were thinking of applying as a financial safety (in state), but the dance program is the conservatory type, and we don’t think that’s what she wants.</p>
<p>Thanks all for your replies re:Purchase. I feel reassured by you that it’s a sane option for DS who is at this moment revising his Personal Statement in order to try and get that particular application out within a week or so.</p>
<p>Good luck Calv1n! I can add that I think your son and Emmy’s daughter will find NYC meets their hopes–and any concerns you have. I was there several times this Summer and it is truly astounding how many young people are there at all hours and how safe everything seems, from the subway to the side streets.</p>
<p>My D’s going to need to get a lot of merit aid or a great campus job to be able to afford all of the shows she wants to see in NY, if she is lucky enough to get into Adelphi’s theater program!</p>
<p>New York’s safe enough, (my daughters have been getting about on their own since they were 14) as long as you use common sense. No roaming around the streets drunk at 2 am! That said, my sister just had her wallet pickpocketed out of her back pack, and she’s lived there almost her whole life.</p>
<p>That is a shame. However, as part of yur sound advice about using common sense, I tell my kids and their friends that I do not think there is a city in the world where you keep your wallet or ipod or phone behind you.</p>
<p>Several of you have Elon and American on your lists (both on S’s) and list them as a reach or big-reach). Why? Our hopes are that they are really in the mid-range (good shot), though admittedly near the top of that range. Using ************** and CC’s super match - and understanding that the “chances” websites give nothing more than encouragement - S gets really high % for each. FYI, he did have VERY high SAT scores</p>
<p>Oh, and, right now, he has a 3.3 gpa. He is shooting for all A’s this first quarter - we’ll see - and is all AP/IB/Honors for core classes. Our school has no reputation yet (that I’m aware of) as it just graduated its first class last year.</p>
<p>This thread has kids from all kinds of situations - lower grades, higher scores; lower grades, weaker scores; much lower grades in 9th, 10th, w/upward trend … or not. Some of these 3.X GPAs are weighted, unweighted, with or without APs/Honors. The purpose of this thread is for parents of students who don’t have the tippy-top stats, not looking at tippy-top schools, to have a chance to talk about that experience.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son - and keep talking to us. My D is a bit more like him, with a higher GPA, but not with the super high test scores. It just took her a couple of years to catch on, and at many schools she’ll be compared with kids who were super achievers from the get-go.</p>
<p>So for some kids, the schools you are talking about aren’t so sure of an acceptance. Also, not only do kids need to fall into a good acceptance range of stats (i.e. the middle 50% of accepted applicants) but the accept</p>
<p>klpawl, welcome! You spotted the difference–the"VERY high SATs". The predictions were for kids with scores more similar to their GPA’s.</p>
<p>Best of luck–and be mindful that if you want merit aid, aiming lower improves your chances.</p>
<p>Many folks on this thread will benefit from Holliesue’s excellent Campusvibe reports on Alfred and Alleghenny (sorry Albright did not make the cut!).</p>
<p>Recent reviews of RIT and F&M are also there.</p>
<p>EmmyBet - perfect post and that’s exactly how I see these B kids. Elon is on his list as a reach because while his GPA is in the range, his SAT score puts it as a reach.</p>
<p>Thanks, kathie - right now my post looks weird, so I can’t call it “perfect.” It kept changing this morning, because I think CC was glitching a bit. I had it saved in my “cut and paste,” so here it ALL is again:</p>
<p>"This thread has kids from all kinds of situations - lower grades, higher scores; lower grades, weaker scores; much lower grades in 9th, 10th, w/upward trend … or not. Some of these 3.X GPAs are weighted, unweighted, with or without APs/Honors. The purpose of this thread is for parents of students who don’t have the tippy-top stats, not looking at tippy-top schools, to have a chance to talk about that experience.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son - and keep talking to us. My D is a bit more like him, with a higher GPA, but not with the super high test scores. It just took her a couple of years to catch on, and at many schools she’ll be compared with kids who were super achievers from the get-go.</p>
<p>So for some kids, the schools you are talking about aren’t so sure of an acceptance. Also, not only do kids need to fall into a good acceptance range of stats (i.e. the middle 50% of accepted applicants) but the acceptance rates overall for the school have to be high. If the acceptance rate is below 50%, and many schools hover more like 25-30%, even if you have the right stats, there just might not be room for you. Most people can’t be really confident unless their stats put them very clearly in the top 25% of applicants, and many of the students on this thread aren’t in that top 25% for higher-tier schools, including ones like American.</p>
<p>I just found out that my D thought because she had the “right” GPA for one of her favorite schools that she was a pretty sure bet to get in - we had to talk about the fact that they only take about a third of their applicants, most of whom have similar stats to hers, so she can’t count on in (and shouldn’t consider it a personal insult if she’s rejected). </p>
<p>One reason this thread is so important is that so many schools do take kids with 3.X GPAs, but we’re never sure why, or how, or what will help us make that happen. For a 3.X kid with corresponding test scores, the whole top 100-200 schools are like a 4.0/high score kid trying for the top 25. You just don’t know how things will shake out."</p>
<p>And yabe, I had also wanted to point out that what a lot of us find so helpful in this thread are the suggestions for schools that drop selectivity a notch but provide much the same experience - meaning a greater chance of acceptance for these kids and also a higher probability of merit aid.</p>
<p>This is a very important thread. And there is room for all. Attempts to revive the “B+” thread, or the “3.3-3.6” thread don’t seem to be working, so I guess they’re not necessary. Anyone who feels their kid fits into this category is welcome - we just ask that they have some kind of “lower stat” concern, and fit in generally with the conversation. </p>
<p>Way back there was a “lopsided” thread that was really interesting, too. Maybe that will get revived as the year goes on, plus the “3.X and applying top schools.” All are important and helpful.</p>
<p>Also, as I learned on a visit at one school this past week, some schools will not take the gpa as reported by the HS. Our HS reports weighted gpa for ALL courses (excluding gym and including art/music courses). This school tells me they use UNweighted gpa for only core courses (excluding art/music/gym). That means my d’s gpa is lower for them than I thought! (and clearly within the range of this thread!)</p>
<p>Holliesue, that’s a great point. Many schools re-weight and recalculate grades. I decided years ago on son #2 not to try to figure out the reasoning behind the decisions. Case in point, West Chester University of PA should be a safety for my son. The average SAT score is under 600 per section and the avg. gpa is less then a 3.0. Their acceptance rate however, is just 49%. Penn State main campus acceptance rate is 51% and their avg. accepted SAT is about 50 points higher per section. To me that means that son should just apply to both because who knows what’s going to happen!</p>
<p>I can’t even begin to understand weighted GPAs. My D will have 5 APs when she’s done - clearly weighted - and two honors science classes - likely weighted. But what about her math sequence? At our HS, they start advancing kids from 8th grade, so she’s always been on the “fast track,” but the classes themselves aren’t taught at an “honors” level. But wouldn’t someone weight her grades because simply by being a year ahead, she’s “advanced”? And she was given some talented and gifted differentiation in English classes (because there are no honors classes until senior AP), but I can’t seen anyone weighting those grades, too complicated. </p>
<p>Her GPA over 3.3 is 100% because of tons of As in arts classes. We’re counting on the GC letter to explain everything, and then we’ll just take what we can get.</p>
<p>No science in this, I’m seeing. Put all of the GPA variations on top of whether or not schools superscore (or even care about) standardized test scores, and I’m all for taking whatever chances you want.</p>
<p>For parents on this thread, perhaps the most important lesson I learned was not to shoot for the most selective school which would admit my child, but for the school which was the best fit. Although US News does not give schools credit for having students who dress very casually, my son sure did.</p>
<p>Once you have a solid group of places you think are a good fit and a good chance for admission, I think parents should take all the chances they want and not listen to any formula of “no more than 4 reaches”, etc.</p>
<p>Our HS doesn’t ever weigh any classes. For these colleges that do re-weigh GPA, does that mean they weigh ANY AP course - or only certain ones?</p>
<p>For example, if a child took an AP course such as AP Music Theory (or AP Art History or AP Studio Art), does that get calculated equally as though it were “academic” type AP course? </p>
<p>I ask because some schools seem to only calculate GPA on academic courses and don’t even include electives such as music and art. - But “AP music and art” are different from standard electives such as band and should be included, right?</p>
<p>I’m really confused by the whole GPA process, because when schools talk about their middle GPA, how do we know what they include in that number?</p>
<p>Great responses! I feel like the person in the seminar who is told “that’s a good question.” Maybe we can’t really define a “reach” till the whole process is over.
Finding the ft is definitely the first step. when he says he likes (hopefully "really likes) a school, that’s the first clue that we should apply. Elon fit that bill. American didn’t jump out as easily - we’re still discussing that one.<br>
Once I wake up a little more I’ll digest more what you’ve said. Thanks again</p>