Lopsided student at Pomona, USC, UCLA, UCD, Brandais, or Knox?

<p>How do selective schools view students who have strong SAT scores (2160 with an 800 in W and 790 in CR)(Two subject tests, 760 on both), but weaker grades in subjects not related to intended major? In this case, there are some C’s in math and a low math SAT score. Who knows if there’s a learning disability, but this student’s grades are very strong in humanities (lots of APs) and weak in math and science. (Bs and Cs) Intended major is linguistics. Lots of strong EC in music and performing arts.</p>

<p>Does this student have any realistic shot at the above schools? Weighed gpa is 3.96; not sure of u/w, but I’d guess between 3.4 and 3.6.</p>

<p>knox is probably the school most likely to be a fit for you.
you should also look at schools like hendrix college and university of evansville.</p>

<p>I would say definitely no for Pomona - GPA is king there, is my understanding from the admissions office. They are much less apt to look for well-rounded students than other schools. They also have so many high scoring math and science kids that the threshold is higher overall. Just my opinion.</p>

<p>I’ll look into the other schools recommended by zoebroward. </p>

<p>Student also applied to Cal State Long Beach and San Jose State but I was hoping the high SATs and SAT II, many AP classes/good test scores, and strong ECs would offset the weak math and chem (AP chem was a C; all other science grades are As and Bs). I will share the realities with student.</p>

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<p>That is not the impression I have of Pomona. I think that they, like many elite LACs, favor high CR scores over high math scores.</p>

<p>On the other hand, I have the impression that Pomona is a more difficult admit for CA residents.</p>

<p>I really think that there is a lot of ground between the super-selectives and Knox. I would look at some more idiosyncratic schools, like Reed, depending on the student’s interests.</p>

<p>The Ivies and similar schools are the ones that want students to not only be very strong across the board academically, but to have mega ECs in addition. There are excellent schools that are not looking for superhumans.</p>

<p>You need to add some safety schools.</p>

<p>The safety schools are San Jose State and Ohio State Univ.</p>

<p>The major will be linguistics. I think they’ve looked at a number of schools; the list stands at 9 schools right now, the original six listed in the thread topic as well as San Jose State, Ohio State, and CSULB.</p>

<p>I hadn’t heard that Pomona didn’t favor California residents.</p>

<p>It seems that most people are saying this student doesn’t have much of a chance at the reach schools, yes? Would awesome essays, great LORs, and demonstrated interest do anything?</p>

<p>Having lower grades outside your major is not necessarily a showstopper. Having that math issue and so-so stats in humanities would be a problem. To some extent, though, it also depends on what those math classes were, how rigorous.
You want to craft a solid application-
It can help if the GC touts how great this kid is, how strong the gpa would have been, if not for that C. And if LoRs are enthusiastic. And, etc.
Also, did you see how comm svc factors in, for Pomona freshmen? Is that covered?</p>

<p>I can’t speak for the state schools.</p>

<p>Based on the Naviance data from my kid’s school–and assuming the 3.96 is the UC GPA-- I’d say she has a decent shot at Davis and USC and not a great shot at UCLA or Pomona. Don’t know abt the others.</p>

<p>nottelling,</p>

<p>That’s encouraging. I believe the 3.96 W is the UC scale.</p>

<p>I think she would be absolutely thrilled with USC and UC Davis is a fine school, as well. She’ll be submitting arts supplements in both instrumental and voice.</p>

<p>Looking at the grades, she has almost all As in other classes except for B’s in AP Euro during sophomore year. Test score was 4 or 5.</p>

<p>Math and chemistry grades:</p>

<p>Freshman Geometry BB
Sophomore Alg II CB
Junior Math Analysis CC<br>
Junior AP Chem CC
Senior AP Calc AB (struggling with this as of a month or two ago; don’t know where it stands, though)</p>

<p>As you can see, student struggles with grades in math but is still taking a rigorous load, IMO.</p>

<p>Linguistics (combined as it is at a place like Pomona with cognitive science) is extremely quantitative these days. This wasn’t true 20 years ago, but it is now. </p>

<p>I didn’t see any languages. Serious work in linguistics usually requires at least two languages.</p>

<p>Surely the student is at least taking Spanish. The OP didn’t list every class, just math and science.</p>

<p>Not all linguistics programs are highly quantitative, although some certainly are.</p>

<p>BTW, if I were the parents I would strongly consider a math tutor. As we all know, math is cuumulative, and it seems fairly clear that this student’s understanding of math started going off the rails back in ALgebra II.</p>

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<p>Please don’t assume anything you read here reflects reality.</p>

<p>sorghum,</p>

<p>Well, when my son applied to schools last fall, I was very much of the mind that he shouldn’t expect to get in anywhere. I just didn’t want him to be attached to any one school and be overly disappointed should he not get in. In these highly competitive times, students must be prepared to attend their safeties and even their ultimate college fallback, community college.</p>

<p>Yes, the student has taken three years of Spanish, skipping Spanish III and jumping into Spanish IV. The student also attended Chinese school on the weekends for a while as well as a summer linguistics program</p>

<p>Student’s brother’s a math whiz and math major; I assume he’s tried to help her, but I’ll ask. The parents are/were in the scientific profession, as well.</p>

<p>I can assume that the family has looked at the various linguistics programs and have seen how quantitative they are but I will ask them.</p>

<p>I appreciate the feedback, all.</p>

<p>I concur, sorghum. The kid has super scores in CR and W, and a mediocre score in M. The kid has excellent grades in everything but science and math, and despite that weakness an excellent weighted GPA and a very respectable unweighted one. The kid has consistently challenged herself, even in areas where she does not excel. She even has two excellent SATIIs and a fine AP result. This is a kid that lots of schools are gong to want. I think that the list, as presented here, is oddly put together and much too short. If the family is open to schools outside CA, and LACs, it is very strange to pick only Pomona, Knox, and Brandeis as the alternatives. It is hard to imagine the criteria that resulted in those choices.</p>

<p>Look at a school like BU. the student’s math score is 20 pts below their 25th percentile, but her CR and W scores are 120 pts <em>above</em> their 75th percentile. Her GPA is fine for them. </p>

<p>At Pomona, her CR and W scores make her competitive. Her weakness in math is a problem they have to overlook. She still has a chance, because of her strengths elsewhere, although it is a reach. (I really feel that sakacar completely misrepresents Pomona admissions. Maybe s/he is confusing it with Harvey Mudd.) </p>

<p>I don’t know much about UC admissions, except that it is very numbers-driven which makes it bad for this student. This student would be welcomed with open arms by LOTS of good LACs. Knox is a safety for her, IMHO, or at most a low match. If she’s considering Knox, why not Earlham or College of Wooster, moth safety/matches for her. How about Macalester, probably a high match.</p>

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<p>Better yet! She has really deminstrated academic and intellectual initiative.</p>

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<p>Oy. She’s the petunia in the onoin patch in that family. :slight_smile: Having a SIBLING “try to help you” with math is not the same thing as working in a concentrated and consistent way with an expert tutor who can diagnose where things went wrong, conceptually or otherwise, and help her fix the problem(s).</p>

<p>UC Santa Cruz is known for having a good linguistics department and is easier to get into than the other UCs you mentioned.</p>

<p>Consolation,</p>

<p>Yes, you described the student very well. :-)</p>

<p>I did email a list of other schools to consider including Boston Univ. I also asked about Scripps and Wellesley (yes, student is a girl), but I’m guessing this super social butterfly would rather be at a school with boys… </p>

<p>Her vocabulary is exquisite; she’s super smart. I’ll encourage one more look at other schools before submitting more apps. (though UCs are due shortly).</p>

<p>Consolation,</p>

<p>Would it be beneficial for her to explain the grades the way that you have described? There’s a place on the UC application (and possibly somewhere on the Common App) to further explain grades/coursework. I feel the same way as you: though she’s struggled with math, she hasn’t shied away from taking a rigorous course load in that as well as the sciences.</p>

<p>I would assume that her GC would be talking about her that way, at least if the GC is competent. I’m not familiar with the UC application, but that sounds like a good idea. </p>

<p>I think this student will do best at schools where they do holistic admissions.</p>

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<p>Absent a learning disability, not sure what there is to explain that is not obvious. Thus, I would not mention it on the UC app. UCLA does read essays, so make sure that they ‘sing’.</p>

<p>btw: the Claremonts like demonstrated interest, so visit. But not sure it’s worth the cost, since Pomona’s bottom quartile math score is 690. Instead, consider Scripps or Pitzer. (Plenty of boys in the other Claremonts.)</p>

<p>How low is the math score? My younger son got into a number of schools with similar verbal score, lower writing scores, and a math score that put him in the top of the bottom 25% of the universities he applied to. He was almost in the top 5% of his class. Had B’s not C’s in a fair number of math and science courses. Was in BC Calc as a senior. For him the magic number was schools with about a 20% acceptance rate, I’d guess with slightly lower grades your daughter should be looking at schools slightly less selective than that. </p>

<p>I think Brandeis would be a reach, but not so out of reach it would be silly to apply.</p>