Bright son at a very, very competitive prep school (think just barely below boarding school level) Always a builder-maker-type kid. Moved him from public where he was top of class to private as a freshman so he could be challenged and “let his nerd out”. There has been some “If I’m not the smart(est) kid who am I?” angst, but he has found his passion: he designs and builds drones (complex, large, unique designs, taught himself all of the programs and electrical, does some fabrication on 3D printers). He spends a lot of time on these passions during free time both at school and at home (like up all night amounts of time) to the detriment of his grades. He wants to build things for a living, and we are trying to figure out schools that would be a good fit. He has documentation of his builds through the years, so schools that accept a portfolio (to help offset his GPA) might be a plus. He would love a school that has a curriculum that would allow him to spend a decent portion of his time focused on what he wants to do for a living… so maybe a flexible curriculum? Seems like the obvious engineering schools are out of reach from a GPA standpoint. His school offers some APs, but very few, they feel their curriculum is sufficiently challenging. We are in southern california, if that makes a difference. Any suggestions appreciated. Passionate, smart kid who has basically refused to jump on the admissions treadmill (we tried, believe me) and just did his own thing. Any hope? Also, thoughts on working on his GPA, applying after senior year and taking a gap year? (not my first preference). Thanks in advance.
3.3 GPA
1470 PSAT (99.xx% sounds like will qualify National Merit Recognition in CA)
NEW SAT scores not back for another week, but he said it was “incredibly easy”, assuming he’ll do as well as he did on PSAT (first sitting, no studying)
Boy Scout, 11 years of scouting
1 AP Computer Science (senior year)
11 years Soccer, 2 years JV and 2 years Varsity
decent amount of volunteer work (through scouts and another org)
Tech Club leader at school
Hobbies: archery, building & design
Freshman and Sophomore summer: Built drones
Junior year summer: 3 week, well-regarded engineering camp
Junior Year summer: internship at construction/engineering firm
Rose-Hulman, Michigan Tech, RPI, WPI. I don’t see a gap year as helping, as his weak point is clearly GPA, and gap years just don’t help with that particular issue.
@intparent Thanks a lot for your input. Yep, he has never wanted to cut back on his project work to focus more on school- his HS is way too challenging to not put in full effort- seriously brilliant and ambitious kids there. You think Rose-Hulman would overlook his GPA? Hard to get info on their actual stats. Feeling bummed that we could have let him stay in public for free where he would’ve had (MUCH) higher GPA and (MUCH) better choices, but at least he knows what he wants to do, I suppose.
Is he interested in some kind of engineering major?
Is 3.3 GPA unweighted? If so, what would his UC/CSU weighted GPA be?
For a California resident, UCM, maybe UCR, could be possibilities (but note that UCs heavily emphasize GPA over SAT/ACT scores). Plenty of CSUs (that are not as selective as CPSLO) also offer engineering majors.
@ucbalumnus, yes, unweighted. Yes, he is assuming mechanical engineering would fit with what he wants to do, but the whole industry is pretty new, so he isn’t 100% sure what would be best from a get-a-job perspective. I don’t know his UC/CSU GPA until the end of this semester, but def higher than 3.3, He’ll have 8 semesters of honors classes at a B or higher. He didn’t initially plan to consider UC/CSUs. Turns out that his private prep school does a better job of sending kids to good, highly selective, small liberal arts schools who know a lot about how challenging his high school’s program is. Not as great for big schools/engineering schools/UCs unless you have 3.8 or higher. I don’t think he’d be willing go to UCR or UCM.
edit: no cost constraints
UC/CSU GPA is usually around 0.3 to 0.4 higher than unweighted 10th-11th GPA for a student with at least 8 semesters of honors courses (as listed at https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/search/institution – note that not all high school designated honors courses count as honors for UC/CSU purposes).
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary can give you an idea of past frosh admission rates to various UC campuses based on HS GPA (UC/CSU weighted). But ME is a popular major, so assume that chances may be lower than overall campus stats would estimate. For 3.40-3.79 HS GPA, that site reports the following 2015 admission rates:
80% UCM
64% UCR
47% UCSC (but no ME; has EE, CPE, CS)
16% UCI
13% UCSB
11% UCD
CSUs calculate an eligibility index based on GPA * 800 + SATCR + SATM. CPSLO adds additional factors into its MCA formula. Then admission is by major at each campus. SJSU shows its past thresholds at http://info.sjsu.edu/static/admission/impaction.html .
With a 3.3 UW GPA, how many semester C’s does he have? He may make NMSF, but he might not make National Merit Finalist if the breakdown of his grades is an issue.
What kind of colleges would he like? Quiet? Rah rah? City? Rural? Big? Small?
Santa Clara University engineering program will dump him straight into his natural habitat of Silicon Valley. But Purdue and Rose-Hulman are great suggestions too. If he has National Merit and a resume of accomplishments in his field already it will be a big help.
Also, look into whether there are LACs he could get into with 3-2 engineering programs. The catch there is that he would be spending 3 years not doing hardcore engineering (except as independent research and for fun). So he’d have to be up for that but if he is, it could open up the door to some top-drawer engineering schools.
University of Dayton. They have a good relationship with the Air Force Research Labs which are very into drones right now (lots of internship possibilities). Very Good engineering program overall.
Thanks, @ucbalumnus. Good info for sure. Anyone have any thoughts on non-UC/CSUs? Will smaller privates be more willing to take into account his HS’s degree of difficulty and his outside interests? Any that would accept a portfolio? UC/CSU’s are totally by the numbers, so don’t seem like they will “get him” in the same way. I think he would def. lean away from a UC or CSU, since he clearly can’t get into one he’d want to attend… UCB or UCLA
Try to use EA or rolling admissions as much as you can. This way you will know early how his application is being received and plan accordingly. A candidate like your son can have unpredictable results. Does he have any SAT II tests? They might be helpful. Also can he reach out to some universities and talk to some professor ahead? Maybe he can make some connections this way or get some direction. Is he looking particularly for small schools or big state schools are ok too?
For a student who is not so grade/GPA focused, that may not be a good idea, since admission to transfer to the “2” school may be competitive or have grade/GPA requirements substantially higher than passing the classes and remaining in good academic standing.
Generally, grades and test scores increase in importance in the midrange of selectivity.
Does he prefer a smaller school? If so, there are smaller schools lots of engineering like (leaving out the super-selective ones like Caltech and Harvey Mudd):
Colorado School of Mines
Illinois Institute of Technology
Lawrence Technological University
Louisiana Tech University
Michigan Technological University
Milwaukee School of Engineering
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Rose Hulman Institute of Technology
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology
University of Alabama - Huntsville
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
My son had unweighted 3.3 (weighted 4.19) with 2280 SAT’s and was accepted to RPI, WPI, BU Engineering, Wake Forest, and U Rochester. He was obsessed with robotics, and his grades suffered. One thing that I think helped him is he wrote his essays over the summer, and so put a lot of thought into them. Also, he prepared very thoroughly for his interviews, studying the school’s website in order to show he was interested. It can be done, despite the unimpressive GPA.
@Otterma Yep, a 3/2 or a 4/1 is what his counselor is suggesting (they have long-standing relationships with some LACs that offer them and those schools understand the HS’s profile/degree of difficulty well), he would potentially face stiff competition from his own class of high achievers at his HS for those spots, unless the LACs are looking to fill a spot with a “maker” type specifically. He would be probably be more excited to end up somewhere where he’s “working in his field” so to speak, but I do think a LAC 4/1 or 3/2 is something to think about, for sure.
@mom2collegekids He has had no C’s ever, just B’s, B+ and A’s. His school really does not inflate grades (some privates inflate a lot). Lots of good LACs know this and it works out fine for LAC-type kids, typically. It seems to hurt the engineering-type students more, since the stronger engineering schools still want a high GPA (supply and demand, I suppose). I’m assuming he will only make NM semi, not finalist. I think he’d like medium/small in size best and a decent male/female ratio, he’s open to different types of campuses, but really likes a natural environment. Would probably go more urban/larger though for a better program. Doesn’t care about sports programs/Rah Rah. Test scores indicate he probably could have had mostly or all A’s, but he spends inordinate amount of time designing and building projects. Still wondering about any engineering schools out there that might accept a portfolio…