<p>[Crime</a> Time: Cheerleader daughter breaks silence on Texas murder plot](<a href=“http://blogs.star-telegram.com/crime_time/2012/02/cheerleader-daughter-breaks-silence-on-texas-murder-plot.html]Crime”>http://blogs.star-telegram.com/crime_time/2012/02/cheerleader-daughter-breaks-silence-on-texas-murder-plot.html) Here ya go</p>
<p>You wouldn’t believe how many programs and internships have a minimum GPA of 3.0. Guess what my son’s GPA is? Yup 2.99. He also was one away from top 5%.</p>
<p>I was one A- away from graduating summa cum laude from college. Silly me.</p>
<p>Anyway, I do understand how frustrating just missing is!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes that’s obviously true. But this thread is supposed about “Mom” and her feelings/needs. </p>
<p>So please stay on topic! ;-)</p>
<p>11th is still pretty good imo.</p>
<p>Hugs, OP. Of course we want our children recognized for their accomplishments, and to have such a near miss is disappointing to us, even if it’s not that big a deal for them. They won’t understand until they have kids of their own, but your fellow parents do. :)</p>
<p>I also have a #11. She was in the Top 5% of her class and missed being a Valedictorian by one B+ (same in middle school). She was perfectly happy to be a Salutatorian, and actually I was glad for her, too. In the big picture I really don’t think it made a difference in which colleges she was accepted to. I knew kids in her class who had a lower ranking and GPA who actually got into more selective schools. So, I’m sure it comes down to more than just the numbers. The essays and various questions on the application will definitely have a bearing. Not to mention extra-curriculars and sports. And, of course the test scores.</p>
<p>"I suspect all that matters to these kids is getting into the college of their choice. 10 v. 11 isnt gonna drive that. " Exactly! Colleges care about top 10%, not top ten.</p>
<p>I get that you would love for your DD’s hard work to be recognized at the end of the year, but the real prize is that SHE recognizes that her hard work has benefitted her, not whether a bunch of people in the school gym see it.</p>
<p>Glido, you are right. Her hard work will pay off. I haven’t said anything to D about it and she’s her usual self. </p>
<p>And the texas cheerleader story is scary/terrifying.</p>
<p>linnylu, it was a good choice to come HERE to vent. If its not a big deal to your daughter, don’t let her know its a big deal to you.</p>
<p>Proud mom of a #11 and a #13 here. Yep, I think it’s much harder on the parent than the child, although both were slightly wistful about being that close. The determining factor at our school seems to be the music programs, where choral groups and band groups are considered honors level classes. That little boost made all the difference for making the top 10.</p>
<p>MaineLonghorn–our school weights class ranks so if you don’t take AP/honors classes you can’t get into the top 10, or even really the top 50% or so. I think that is much more “fair” when it REALLY matters for scholarships, etc. if you are top 10% in your class.</p>
<p>linnylu-it is hard on the parents to watch these kids put forth so much effort to “just” miss out. In the grand scheme of things, no, not a huge issue to be 11th, but if she is up for some scholarships or whatever that have a top 10 requirement, yes, it is a big deal. Congrats to your DD.</p>
<p>Our high school doesn’t weight and it is infuriating! They also don’t give awards for anything other than straight As. DS mostly took the hardest classes offered and only had 2 Bs in the hardest math path (starting in 7th grade), all the rest As. His weighted GPA would put him at the top of the class but he is barely in the top 10% unweighted (he was ELC under the new calculation and 100 points above the cutoff for statewide context). I am glad the UCs weight, at least!
It chaps my hide that someone taking an easier path gets the recognition while his classload was so much harder and he gets nada. That being said, it sure made his college apps look better with all those APs!</p>
<p>Our school weights, and our D is #14 and they call the top 10 separately so she will probably miss out despite all A’s again this year (so far) with 4 AP’s to add to her GPA.</p>
<p>The good news is anyone with a 4.0 or above, which is usually about the top 9%, gets a different color and an asterisk next to their name in the program. </p>
<p>I’m with you though. Being 14 bothers me and that is a lot farther away than 11.</p>
<p>Our school does recognize the top 10% as well as the top 10. They are pretty good about acknowledging academic achievements on various levels. The only “academic” achievement we are still trying to figure out is National Honor Society. We know a few kids in there that have never taken an advanced class in anything, don’t volunteer their time in the community, etc. We still can’t figure out how they got in. We do know that the adviser has a strong preference for girls vs boys in NHS and there is a disproportionate number of girls to boys (3/4 to 1/4).</p>
<p>OP, Many, many HS’s dont rank students at all!! If you look at the Common Data Set information for most top colleges, you’ll see that they report around 50% of applicants were unranked. Your DS is well within the top decile of students at his school . Relax. This will not make any difference when it comes time to apply to college.
Grades, test scores, LOR’s and EC’s are FAR more important than “rank” .</p>
<p>menloparkmom-but it can make a big difference when it comes to applying for scholarships…</p>
<p>^^ Oh really? can you direct us to college websites that ask about rank when considering scholarships eligibility? grades, test scores, LORS are what colleges look at.
I have not seen colleges request ranking information for that purpose.
But please, enlighten us with facts to back up your assertion.</p>
<p>Look at the “President’s” scholarship or any similar scholarship for any school that offers something like that and they most of them have some classification of ACT/SAT score, GPA and/or class rank.</p>
<p>[University-Wide</a> Scholarships](<a href=“http://admissions.tc.umn.edu/costsaid/schol_campus.html]University-Wide”>University-Wide Academic Scholarships | Office of Admissions)</p>
<p>one college does not equal most. What I have seen is colleges are looking for students who score at the % of nationwide test scores, not individual HS’ rank. As I said earlier, Colleges wont know in 50% of the cases where a student actually ranks because 50 % of HSs dont rank their students. HS rank is not even mentioned in the information published by many top colleges regarding eligibility for scholarships consideration.</p>
<p>Presidential
Trustee
• Full tuition
(approx. $42,000)
• approx. 100 awards
• Half tuition
(approx. $21,000)
• approx. 200 awards
Candidates are selected by USC faculty and staff from an extremely competitive international pool. Applicants pursue the most demanding curriculum and achieve at the highest level.
Average SAT and ACT scores are in the top 1–2 percent of all students nationwide. In addition to academic criteria, candidates’ talent, involvement and leadership are considered.</p>
<p>mncollegemom, i realize you’re kind of new around CC and new at the college admissions game, too, it appears. But rest assured that it would be very unusual for a deserving student to be shut out of a scholarship merely because his HS doesn’t rank its students. There are ways around that. Ask any good GC. </p>
<p>Maybe if you step back a bit and just read the posts on CC instead of feeling the need to post in every thread, you might learn something. You are getting into tangles with long-time posters who have more wisdom, knowledge and experience than you and it’s beginning to annoy folks.</p>