we didn’t realize the importance of High school grades and although my senior has a 3.7 GPA he has some cs and Ds. ACt of 34 ( 36 in science and math) and Physics and math 650 so on subject tests. Great letters of recommendation . Super bright. Unfortunately parents not bright enough/aware of the importance of grades- thought everything else would trump those pesky things. sometimes coming from another country has its disadvantages in not being aware of the general culture …(Ex. Be a straight A student!)
SP we need to know of a college that will look past those history grades and appreciate his Comp sci apps already designed. we are in NorCal near San Fran and could spend up to 30k a year. we are secular. any ideas please? hi;s a white male- no ethnic/gender advantages
Thanks
A 3.7 with some Cs and Ds? Must not be very many. Were they early? Where has he applied?
What is his residential status (if he is international, this might be a huge factor), and what schools are on the rejection list, have you just applied to reaches? How long was he in Cali high schools, what kind of rigour in high schools? Plenty of kids with a 3.7 gpa (UW) and an ACT of 34 would be accessing good schools but not top schools.
Where were the rejections from? Right now you will be stuck looking at places that have rolling admissions and will still take applications. Otherwise he may need to apply to start next spring or take a gap year. Community college is always a possibility to prove himself with As and then transfer out. It would help to know where “everywhere” is though to make specific suggestions.
With a 3.7 GPA and 34 on the ACT, this kid is flat-out guaranteed admissions and significant merit-based aid at a number of places, not to mention just guaranteed admission at a bunch of others. That he was “turned down everywhere” means that he either didn’t get decent advice about being sure to have some safeties on his list, or he didn’t listen when he got that advice.
So, have him read through the links in these threads:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1562918-updated-list-of-schools-with-auto-admit-guaranteed-admission-criteria.html#latest
Some of the places are still accepting applications for this fall.
Thank you all for chiming in- This is great! Regards high school grades there was a C In physics and a D in us history semester 2 and a D in “International technology in a global society” IB online course semester 1.
Anyway thank you for the link to schools with auto scholarships base on test scores and GPA. His counselor has kept pushing U New Mexico and now I know why- thought we didn’t really think NM was a great place to be? anyone know about it beyond its website? It’s not known for comp sci but should one go to an undergraduate school and come out with little debt or should one go to big name school and come out with loads of debt?
(I wish we’d known of same merit based guarantee offers) website earlier as Rochester Institute is on there but one had to apply before Feb 1st- is it worth asking them if there’s any money left do you think? also my son has GPA of 3.74 and they want 3.75…
We were advised to apply to safety school (such as UNM) but reckoned that since he didn’t really want to go to any of the safety schools why bother apply to them?- Oh dear.
So now we are told by school counselor that if he can get an interview with a Comp sco professor he may be able to prove himself better than he has on paper. I think this is a good idea as he does well in person and can talk the compsci language very well- it’s his passion. So we’re restricted to colleges that have rolling/late admission and are looking at Rochester Institute Tech, Stevens ( NJ), Drew- Columbia 3-2 years, (NJ/NY) Seton Hall (new Jersey), university of Maryland (Baltimore) so we’re faced with the idea of jetting to the east coast next week (his spring break) to rush around doing interviews at school with 40-60k price tags. is this madness? I guess it comes back to the question of great school= debt or lesser school with merit scholarship. Application deadline for many is today (March 31st).
He didn’t get into Rensaller, Cal Poly, UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, University Santa Clara and is wait listed at Stevens thought we don’t know where on the wait list.
We’re probably not going to do the Cmty college 2 yr and transfer since we’re told he would need all A’s to get chance of transfer and he doesn’t do well in subjects he doesn’t like so there’s a good chance the’d blow that completely. We’re probably not looking at year off either as a) he wants to go to college this fall like his friends b) he’s doing IB and if those results aren’t stellar it will be another thing for colleges to hold against him.
So I guess it does boil down to wherever will take him /good college high fees. or lesser ranked college with less debt.
Also is it crazy to send your child 3000 miles across the nation?
Thank you for your thoughts, they are very helpful
They will all be “lesser ranked” in the grand scheme of things since the ones he has a chance of being admitted to are not the top 10 in the nation/world. Go with what is affordable and with very high chance of admission, and do so quickly before time runs out. UNM is a fine college – it is a major research university. If he got in there and was offered a scholarship that would be awesome. Choosing a college 3000 miles away is not “crazy” but paying $60,000/year for college when it isn’t necessary or very easily affordable is. Good luck! Your son is clearly very smart and talented.
Sorry to hear about your son’s disappointing results. Is your son a US citizen or an international admit? This can make a big difference in admissions.
I agree that a geographically distant college is not necessarily a bad solution, but that going into serious debt for an undergraduate degree is. Remember the debt will legally fall on your shoulders, not his, so how much is too much really depends on your family’s financial situation.
After all the options are explored the gap year + reapply scenario may just turn out to be the best. For a bright but restless kid, some time away from school before settling down could be beneficial.
We CC old timers often cite the case of Andi’s son who was shut out of all his choices, took a productive gap year and ended up graduating from MIT!
Good luck and let us know how he does.
I would check with the colleges listed to see if there is even any room in computer science before you go. Many future comp science students have written apps so that will not necessarily be a deal maker. CS will have very strong applicants.
You need to clarify the visa status because international is a huge disadvantage that you cannot overlook. What about WUE unis? (google that).
You might want to check out UAH (University of Alabama Huntsville). Their scholarships for high-stats students are substantial and may still be available.
I would suggest a gap year and looking at scholarships. You can probably get significant money from RIT.
Also, you definitely don’t need straight A’s to transfer in to a UC from CC (though I’m not sure about for CS). Look in to the Transfer Admission Guarantee. 6 UCs participate in it (though not Cal or UCLA).
Purdue University has rolling admissions, although some specific majors might be closed. As a state school, it might be a little cheaper than the private ones you listed. Excellent tech school. Definitely worth looking at.
No. It happens all the time, and to all sorts of colleges. Students in Ohio go to Stanford, Texans attend Harvard, New Jersey students go to 'Bama, etc…
My D is a freshman at UNM, is doing well, and she likes being there. She has met several high caliber students who attend there from all over the world. I believe it’s too late to be considered for a scholarship, but the tuition is inexpensive compared to the other schools you’ve mentioned. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions.
It probably isn’t what you want, but if he is CA resident and didn’t get accepted to any UCs he applied to, he should get automatic entry into UC Merced. If that is ok with you, make some calls because I don’t know how the process works. I know its too late now, but where were safeties on your list - San Jose State? Sonoma State? Sac State?
We also looked into New Mexico Tech and thought it looked pretty good.
UC Merced and CSU HUmboldt are still taking applications.
If you’re international, he can still apply to SJSU and CPP.
Check out http://www.nmt.edu/ and https://www.mines.edu/
which are closer than Stevens. What about NJIT?
On May 3rd, there’ll be a list of colleges that still admit students.
Thank you! we will call UC Merced today! to ask if they’re still accepting Applications ( best to double check!) to ask if they have any comp Sci places left (Colorado school of mines told my son yesterday they had no compsci places left event though the deadline for accepting applicants is end of today!)
we are a domestic student/residency - not international,
I have benefited a lot from everyone’s messages here even if i have not addressed each one individually - THNAK YOU!
Last night my son write a letter trying to explain his grades to Stevens- bot thto the admissions office and to the den of admission. we’d had a letter from the dean back on Jan 15th saying “we’re so exited to have you apply please do so before blah blah for scholarship consideration” and an email from this west coast counselor in March “:
Thank you for submitting your supplemental materials your innovation and entrepreneurship is exactly what we’re looking for” and then he;'s on the wait list.sigh.
Hos school counselor thinks she can get him an interview at Rochester institute of Tech next week if we’re prepared to get on a plane and fly there- it seems like a long haul for along shot- should we do it? he dos well in person to person conversations and the counselor offered to coach him for the interview. would dashing across the country be smart or insane?
UNR and ASU are also typically open to late applicants.
I think OP’s son should attend Humboldt or one of the NACAC-list colleges before considering UNR though. ASU without Barrett isn’t really worth it - lots of online classes, huge lecture halls…
What you got from Stevens is promotional materials, pure marketing. It’s not even Stevens that sent it - but a third party contracted by Stevens (and lots of other universities) to send the brochures to any student who reached X on their SAT.
Well if you can be full pay at RIT and he can interview well, why not? I don’t see a downside (if you’re willing to spend the money for 4 years full pay at RIT, the cost of 1 or 2 plane tickets shouldn’t stop you, and he’ll be able to attend a college that fits with what he wants rather than take a gap year). However, I’m not sure that RIT interview is going to materialize. Do let us know.
Also: his school should allow him to “repair” or “replace” the class where he got a D. It’s a bit late for that but ask his counselor whether it’s still feasible and under what conditions. If he repaired the grade, it’d either be replaced with the new grade, or be averaged with the new grade. Most colleges would consider the second grade only. It’d really help him if he has to go through another round of applications.
Right now, colleges see a kid who got a D and didn’t even bother trying to “repair” it…
Where did you hear that UC Merced is still taking applications?
@MYOS1634