<p>My D has low grades (2.8 / 3.3 with prior hs GPA of 4.3 weighted) at IMSA a very selective boarding prep school. ACT 30. She has had time mgmt probs but also has biochem, trig, org bio, etc. what can we shoot or hope for college-wise? She would eventually like to go to med school.</p>
<p>Best people who can tell you what you can shoot for are the college counselors at the selective boarding prep school. They will know how much a lower GPA from their selective school will be discounted by certain colleges. This is one of the services one should expect from a selective boarding school.</p>
<p>If your D still has more years at the school, she will have a chance to get higher and higher grades and show a good upward trend. That will help.</p>
<p>The grades would probably keep her out of the Ivies and selective Ivy-caliber schools. However, there are many, many other great universities/colleges that would love to have her. To be able to give you some suggestions, tell us a bit more: which part of the country you/she’d be interested in, big/small school preference, LAC or research univ, etc.</p>
<p>Does IMSA calculate grade point averages or rank? What year is she? You should talk to her school counselors to see where she fits in relative to her class. What were your expectations when she decided to attend IMSA?</p>
<p>She is a junior - no class rank or GPA. We just want a good value since she will be potentially eventually having grad/med school costs too. Southern, Midwest or eastern area of US best for us. Other countries also maybe an option, though I think cost would be too much. A smaller (1000 - 5000 enrollment) interesting liberal arts school is preferable with good links to transportation. We would like her to be welcomed and get some $$$ too for merit hopefully. Is this possible/likely?</p>
<p>U of Kansas, U of Colorado, U of Oklahoma, U of Mississippi, U of Scranton, U of Oregon.</p>
<p>I would think one of the State universities. I think the fact that she was at such a tough academic hs will serve her well grade wise at those schools where the majority of students are coming from average academic backgrounds.</p>
<p>illinois wesleyan? most of the state schools in illinois are much bigger than suggested by op.</p>
<p>is she planning on staying instate?</p>
<p>State universities are unlikely to give her $$$. I would focus on privates: Syracuse, Northeastern, Miami University, Fordham, Colgate, Temple.</p>
<p>Check out the book, Colleges That Change Lives - focuses on high quality smaller schools that are a bit off the radar. </p>
<p>Also, check out this thread on the Parents forum:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/767966-where-did-your-3-0-3-3-gpa-child-get.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/767966-where-did-your-3-0-3-3-gpa-child-get.html</a></p>
<p>Naviance is your friend! Also 96 percent of IMSA students are accepted to UIUC. She will be just fine as long adage doesn’t actually fail a class. Talk to your CAC!</p>
<p>My daughter goes to a public magnet where 1/6 of the senior class this year is NMF (including her). Her GPA in this crowd has landed her outside the top 25%. To be honest, colleges seem not to consider the competitiveness of the school, and award merit aid based pretty much on GPA and class rank. Students we know at less rigorous schools who have many fewer AP’s but a higher GPA and class rank are getting better merit awards. One college told her flat out that they use the same formula for every high school.</p>
<p>Our experience is that the merit awards will be few and far between if the GPA is low, no matter how tough the program. There are some schools that will look beyond grades if there is intense rigor and some spectacular essays.</p>
<p>Both my kids attended similar programs and their GPAs took a hit compared to the neighborhood school, but there was a world more opportunity. A sub-3.0 UW may well be an issue, so whatever she can do to help herself in that regard will be important. The 30 ACT is solid, depending where she wants to apply.</p>
<p>What does your D want to major in? Med school is a long way off… We might be able to offer better suggestions.</p>
<p>Update: Act 32.</p>
<p>University of Alabama-Birmingham and University of Alabama-Huntsville give good merit aid for your daughter’s ACT score. She needs to bring her GPA up to 3.0 though. How did she do on PSAT? If she is a good test taker, she may have possibly scored high enough to make National Merit Semi-Finalist. Illinois cutoff is 213 last year I think.</p>
<p>Also, use Naviance as IJustDrive recommends. It will give you a good idea where your daughter stands with respect to her peers at IMSA. Make sure you use the CAC, set up a meeting with them and have your daughter meet with them now to start the process.</p>
<p>Hi I’m thinking about whether or not to go to IMSA. What kind of school did ur D go to before attending IMSA? Was her high school private/public did it have advanced prog? Did she get good grades there? What it in a farmland-like area or intercity/suburb of a large city? I’m just wondering because I’d really like to go to IMSA, and I get good grades right now, but I’ve been reading about all these students who get good grades at their high schools, but then don’t do well at IMSA. I go to a large, public high school in all adv classes in the suburbs. Did your D like her experience at IMSA socially & academically? Sorry for all these questions</p>
<p>Kaystin, </p>
<p>It is likely your grades will go down if you go to IMSA. The work is much more challenging. But you will learn a lot more than you would at any public HS and you will be much better prepared for college once yoy get there. And if you do well at IMSA, you will have a good chance of getting into a great college. (My daughter is a senior there this year.)</p>
<p>I don’t see any root cause analysis of the poor grades - Without that, anything else is just speculation.</p>
<p>Is the student getting this grade because:</p>
<ol>
<li>Time management, read, more time on Facebook than PreCalc?</li>
<li>Puts in a lot of work but the classes are way over his/her head </li>
<li>Puts in a lot of work but the teachers are not very ‘average student’ friendly</li>
<li>Puts in a lot of work but there’s enough Einsteins in the class and that makes it hard</li>
<li>Puts in just enough work to get by with a B
: : : : : : :</li>
</ol>
<p>Once you have a root cause then you can worry about college choices.</p>
<p>The standards are much higher than at other high schools. Father of a 2007 grad whose daughter just graduated from Northwestern with a biology degree (and is starting a dual MD/PhD program) told me his daughter said that the science classes at IMSA were more challenging than those at Northwestern. Even the non-STEM courses are challenging and many require enormous amounts of reading and long research papers. </p>
<p>2% of kids graduate with 4.0 UWGPAs, in spite of the fact that the average ACT is over 31.</p>
<p>I think college admission officer do and will consider the difficulties of HS curriculums. HS outside of the USA, especially in Asia have much harder curriculums than those in the USA. For example, they teach math that is equivalent to some courses for college Math majors. Low grades are the norm, in some cases there is no one in the class got more than 80. I can believe that annasdad said, " the science classes at IMSA were more challenging than those at Northwestern"</p>
<p>I am sure the admission officers will take those exceptional schools into consideration.</p>
<p>Just give you an example, my nephew went to Mission SJ, an impacted Public HS, His stat is lowish 3.0 and 2100 SAT, was accepted by UCLA… We don’t know how he is going to fair in the private school sector cause he did not want to leave CA and not interested in private schools in CA either.</p>