Admissions counseling help

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My child is at a rigorous prep boarding school. She is doing a lot of extra curriculars but her gpa is in the 7th decile. She is a junior. We haven’t met the child’s school Counselors to get recommendation on the process. However I would like to hear from the forum on

what can we do to compensate for low gpa
She has a 34 on act . Planning to take it again.

She is stellar extra curriculars where she spends 12+ hours or more every week. This takes time away from studying. Should she quit them and just focus on grades?

Any admissions counselors she can work with? I’m very anxious about this process since she is going to do it all by herself. I need someone to guide her along the way … how are the big ones
Like Solomon , crimson etc?

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Reminder to users that CC is not a referral service so please stick to general advice only. TIA.

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You likely can’t compensate for a low gpa.

But a low gpa at the school may not be a low gpa. You really need to talk to the school to see how someone like her fares in admission.

More importantly, you should figure out what type of college she’ll like - whether large, medium or small, rural or suburban or urban , etc so she can build a proper list.

Whether Harvard or Hofstra, there’ll be a school for her.

She should be who she is. She should do ECs she loves so hopefully her EC time is that. If they are causing grade issues (you said studying), then yes she should cut back. But avoid - not if she loves them. And how do you know they are impacting her grades. 12 hrs a week is solid but not a crazy amount. Are you just assuming ? What if they aren’t impacting grades?

She should take classes that challenge but don’t overwhelm her.

And she shouldn’t be pressured to take the ACT again.

That’s she’s a Junior, she’s likely not over taken it but a 34 or 35, it’s unlikely to make a difference. So if she takes it and does worse, no biggy. If there’s a section she faltered, hopefully she can improve that for superscoring schools.

My advice would be to ask her if the ECs are impacting grades. If so, ask her to make a choice. Let her guide the decision. Hopefully she doesn’t say yes to justify to you a performance you don’t like vs being truthful. She simply may not be or not desire to be a top student.

Ultimately your school is who you should talk to and find out where like students end up.

In the end, I don’t know her gpa - you didn’t share - but she might just be a solid student in a very strong school. Just because one goes to a private or overnight school doesn’t make them a star. She may not desire to be or perhaps there are other issues - too rigorous a curriculum for her, focus etc

Hopefully she’s enjoying her experience, learning responsibility in addition to academics.

Not sure what you are seeking for her school wise but I personally don’t see how a private counselor will change the narrative.

And I don’t know her stats or desires (or your budget) but other than asking her if she wants to cut back (if doing so might help her grades), assuming she’s not struggling academically, I don’t see why any other actions need to take place short of defining collegiate desires from a fit POV and then finding names that meet that criteria.

Good luck.

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Do you or does she know why there is such a discrepancy between the testing score and grades? Have you looked into that? Whatever it is, it will continue into college so now is a good time to look into that in my view. I hope she continues EC’s regardless. (And I don’t think 12+ hours/week is a sufficient explanation for the low grades- again my view.)

ps is she in the 7th percentile at her demanding private school or in the general population?

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Kids at rigorous prep boarding schools end up at good schools even with a low gpa. Your daughter will be ok!!

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We haven’t met the child’s school Counselors to get recommendation on the process.

I would start with them; a rigorous boarding school will have the closest-to-the-action resources, and also has an aligned interest in one of their students doing well (both in learning the material and, ultimately, in matriculating). I would recommend against using any sort of third-party counselor.

I’m very anxious about this process since she is going to do it all by herself.

No need for anxiety on that front; her school will have an office dedicated to helping her out, so she won’t be by herself on it. That being said, schools have usually reached out to parents by late sophomore or early junior year with a “here’s the general roadmap for what to expect; we’ll start in earnest at the beginning of the second semester of junior year” meeting, so if you haven’t seen something like that from the school, you might reach out to your main point of contact there to ask about it.

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The best advice would likely come from the guidance department at the rigorious boarding school. They will know your D and have the best sense of what colleges students with her profile would be competitive for in terms of admission.

In general, ECs will not compensate for sub-par academics. But if ECs bring your child joy, a sense of accomplishment, etc. I would not want to cut them out – but perhaps they can be scaled back if impacting grades. Again, I’d discuss with the guidance counselor.

Please know that there are hundreds and hundreds of wonderful colleges out there where your child can have a great four year experience and get anywhere she wants to go in life.

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One question, what does the 7th decile mean in terms of gpa at her school? My son at a large public was probably in the 7th decile his Sophomore year but graduated in the top half of his class and did get into some solid schools (top 100) and had a good SAT score. His grades improved as we worked with him in learning the material and choosing the right classes for him. And eventually he attended a college he not only wanted to attend but that was the perfect fit for him. A very good regional college that so often is not on the radar for many outside of its region. So, don’t give up hope and don’t panic or think your daughter will not go to college. She will…you both need to just reset your sights onto a college that is right for her but might not currently be her dream college.

A few suggestions come to mind. If my child was in the same situation, which he was, I would sit down with her to find out if she is understanding the material and to get extra help with her teachers to master her courses so she can understand what she is learning and to start doing better in her classwork. I would speak to each teacher to understand what can be done, especially if it’s at a private prep boarding school. If necessary, I’d probably try to get her help with the material and maybe consider a tutor. Hopefully her grades will naturally rise as a result. Again, I would speak to the school who has to have these academic assistance in place.

I wouldn’t worry about getting a college counselor but to try to help my child with learning the material first, then work with the prep school’s counselor.

12 hour weeks of extracurricular activities is a lot but definitely manageable and not unheard of. That comes down to two hours a day six days a week and is fairly common for kids now days especially if you play any sport or are involved in any other extracurricular activity such as Girl Scouts, service clubs, robotics, church, etc. I personally would not take what she enjoys away, I don’t think that’s the root of the problem. Now if she was doing 12 hour days of extracurricular, now that’s a likely the issue.

As for colleges, unfortunately, gpa and class ranking is the most important factor for most schools, along with course rigor. Look at the college’s CDS. However, as tsbna44 mentions, there’s a school for her. It may not be Harvard. It might not be Hofstra. But it will be the right school for her. Just make sure she takes the time to explore the different colleges that interests her, whether public or private, LAC or university, urban or suburban or rural. Her major and generally what career she would like to enter into. Also, if you have the means, consider visiting the schools to get a feel of the students and the environment. My son and I toured his small college and he fell in love with it. We had never heard of the school before and only knew about it when visiting the area and touring the school.

And then have her apply to her schools that are a healthy mix of reaches, targets, and definitely safeties. I would even suggest applying to some rolling admission colleges so that once she actually gets an acceptance somewhere, it will give her confidence knowing she will go to college next year to a place she wants to be at.

Unlike most in CC, I believe that if you can afford it, have your child apply to a wide variety of schools. The fact is, few 17 year olds know what they want to do with their lives or what college they want to attend, or where they want to live. So I am of the belief to give your child options. If you can afford it. If I had not done this, my child would have attended UC Riverside and not his 3500 student body college that he graduated from that was outside of the state.

So in summary, have her understand the material, naturally improve her grades and rank. Visit and think about the right schools for her. And have her apply to a healthy variety of colleges that are a mix of reaches, safeties and targets.

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Ime, the CC staff at rigorous BS is really good and you will get excellent guidance. Being in the middle of the pack at that kind of school is just fine, and having good test scores helps. It sounds like she in interesting and engaged, and her CC will help her find schools that want what she has and that she can be excited about.

My guess is that you will have your first meeting with the CC after the holidays, and you’ll feel much better. Also, while this site is excellent and you can learn quite a bit, you will almost certainly get better guidance for your situation from the CC at school. Every year, they have kids like yours – ones who are swimming along just fine in their fast-moving waters – and they place them well. It’s an institutional mandate for them.

I would not advise that your D change course if she is happily, authentically doing what she likes. Yes, she should keep pedal to the metal academically-- this year’s transcript will probably get the most attention from AOs – and she’ll be wanting recs from junior year teachers. There is the right college for every kid and no need for a kid, especially in an environment like hers – to try to mold herself into something else.

Also, an outside service is unlikely to understand her school and could complicate or compromise her relationship with the school CC. You already have a good resource , which you are paying for. Don’t mess with it!

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There seems to be a lot of mystique behind holistic admission decisions, but one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that the transcript (GPA and course rigor) is at the top of the hierarchy of criteria. However, that doesn’t mean your child should quit all the EC’s to obsess over the grades. If she has a good study-life balance and is generally happy, there is nothing to be anxious about (easier said than done). Her transcript (combined with the great ACT score) may be perfectly fine for the schools you are targeting.

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We meet them in January. The school is one of the top boarding schools. However, I am disappointed with the lack of direction until spring of junior year

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Apparently , the humanities teacher are not supposed to give a 6 (they grade on a scale of 1-6, 6 being the highest) she gets a 4 or. 5 on those subjects which brings her average down

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Edit to add- bit give away easy 6s . Only one or two in each class get a 6

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What is the student’s GPA - on a 4.0 scale?

If it’s a top school, I would trust their schedule.

I would say your focus now should be to determine what type of school would your student like - so as you can start taking visits - large, medium, small / urban, suburban, rural / weather / budget, etc.

Counseling in and of itself is nice and they’ll have ideas for your student - where similar end up - but in the end, counseling doesn’t change what your list should be if you do your homework and learn about different schools…or put the desires out here and you’ll get some names to research, etc.

Good luck

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This cadence is normal because the CC staff is supporting the current seniors through their application process. Advisors have been helping students be their best selves.

Odds are that the current juniors have been given guidance about the process and even some preliminary work to do, just not have not yet had one on one meetings with their assigned CC. You may want to plan to use spring break to visit schools even if you don’t know exactly which ones yet. Also remember that your D’s school is set up to be an all encompassing experience that prepares kids for college. She won’t be caught flat-footed on this!

I understand, especially if you are,talking to parents whose kids don’t go school with your D, that you feel anxious, but your D’s school has this covered. You may want to see if there is anything on their website for parents about the CC process - it might help you feel more at ease about how this will all unfold.

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Exactly this! I cannot emphasize enough how spot on @gardenstategal’s post is.

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First of all, please continue congratulating your DD on her 34 ACT. That’s an incredible achievement. Even if she takes it again, that’s a trophy that goes on the shelf that no one can ever take away from her.

So, we were in a similar situation at a comparable BS. Just going back through our email archive, the college counselors began informally speaking to junior students around the end of winter break and sent a notice out to the parents a few weeks after the new year. We had an informal morning sit-down with DD’s counselor (we brought fancy pastries and coffee) to discuss the beginning of the process.

At the very least, you will receive an idea of the where the school sees your daughter’s best prospects “at this stage” of her academic career. That will be a soft baseline. It’s okay to ask them if there are certain colleges “within her range” that the BS enjoys strong admissions ties. Around this time, your child is going to receive access to a college-related database (NAVIANCE, SCOIR, or whatever may have developed in the last 24 months, etc) that will show application outcomes from previous classes at her school going back 3-5 years. The landscape seems to change on a yearly basis now, but these will be helpful data points.

Now keep in mind, at many top 25 boarding schools, the college counseling offices may be staffed 4-6 deep, and some of those people may be jugging a host of other responsibilities throughout campus - coaching multiple sports, teaching multiple classes - so your milage may vary on their ultimate effectiveness in the role. I’m only saying this in the event that their advice or guidance doesn’t jibe with your gut. “Well, they’re the experts, I guess,” you may say. In most cases, yes, they do, but not all. So if something seems off, make sure that you have a group of at least 3-5 parents whom you know and trust to hear their experiences with the CC team, and if possible, the specific counselor that’s been assigned to your kid. I suppose the spirit of my point here is “Trust but verify.”

Also, to echo what someone else said in the thread, make sure that the final list of schools DD applies to includes multiple reaches/targets/likely acceptances. Ask her to find at least three schools - either domestic or abroad - that she finds somewhat appealing & knows that she’ll receive an acceptance.

With a 34 ACT, she should find some. :slight_smile:

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I’m just going to start by echoing that at our feederish HS, pretty much everyone ends up going to a good college, and the counseling process is very well-designed to achieve that outcome, including as to the timeline they set for different phases.

That being said, a question like whether the kid is overloading on ECs and maybe should cut back is kinda outside the scope of what that process is designed to address. And that is a difficult question. I do think it is important to do your reasonable best in your classes, not just for college but because that is the primary purpose of going to school, to get an education. I also think it is important to maintain a healthy balance of different activities because childhood development is happening across many different dimensions, and schoolwork only addresses some of them.

So what would be the best balance for your kid? And would achieving that require making some adjustments? Without being in the situation and really knowing your kid, we can’t say.

But I do think we can just emphasize that the college application part of all this is really secondary. Because if you focus on the question of what would be the healthiest balance for your kid, what would best help her thrive and develop along all the important dimensions during her time in high school, then she will also be well-prepared for a successful college application process.

Basically because at the fundamental level, those are the sorts of kids colleges want, because they are good bets to keep thriving at their own college. The rest is just a matter of choosing a suitable range of colleges for your list and then writing good applications that make it clear why you are the sort of kid they are looking for. And I am confident your college counseling process will give your daughter the help she needs to accomplish those tasks.

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The school doesn’t use a 4 point scale and until very recently have zero guidance on how to convert.

But every single university commonly mentioned on this site knows how to view this school’s grades.

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The calendar is typical of top boarding schools. Earlier than spring of junior year, the counseling office focuses on assisting the student in maximizing their high school experience. Until the student has a track record with academics, activities, and standardized testing, direction on university targets is premature.

Arguably, this school has the best college counseling office in the nation, with all sorts of data on past applicants. They are well-versed on guiding students to build an appropriate college list. And they can answer your questions better than anonymous people on the Internet, even if any of these people has experience with this particular school

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