<p>My son has a not so great GPA. When he was in middle school he didn’t really have a lot of friends because he was shy. On the first day of his 9th grade year I dropped him off and told him this was a clean slate for him to show people what a cool kid he was. He ended up making a lot of new friends but his grades were put on the back burner because he liked having friends. This is exactly what he told me. He has never been a disciplinary issue at school but all of his report cards said “Scott is a really good kid he just needs some more help” or “He’s a lot of fun to have in class he just needs to focus more on the work”. Most of the year he recieved C’s and a couple D’s. He told us that he needed help with his school work but was embarrassed because he didn’t get how to do it which was no excuse. At the end of the year he started going in for help which was a little too late so my wife and I sat him down and told him he was going to turn his school work around or he would be attending one of the local public high schools in our city. I didn’t feel the need to pay thousands of dollars a year just for him to not get the help he needed. He promised he would do try harder and he kept his promise. In his first semester of sophomore year he got a couple high C’s and Low B’s and in his second semester he maintained a B average. At the end of his sophomore year he saw that his GPA was 2.3 and that really discouraged him. We told him that colleges look at the whole package but he’s having a hard time believing us. This year we really see his full potential and what he could’ve been if he applied himself more in school. He is a junior this year and he has maintained a 3.3 - 3.6 GPA all year and made honor roll this quarter. When we went to his conference all his teachers said he was a very likable person, great to have in class, and that he does outstanding work. He even maintained a 101.56% in his American Literature class. We even had teachers offering to write him letters of recommendation for when he starts applying to colleges. One of those teachers being the dean of students which would be a really big recommendation for him to get. His school has a system that you have to have pre rec’s to get into honors and AP classes but they only have 4 or 5 AP classes just because the school is small. I think this was a great opportunity for him to not get in because now he doesn’t have to worry about biting off more than he can chew. He was put into a few basic math and science classes because of his low performance in 9th grade. The “basic” classes though are actually the same textbooks and material they are learning in the average level classes in the public school system so the school he is attending is accelerated. We are expected his GPA at the end of the semester to be around a 2.5 or 2.6 and even higher at the end of the year. He has already committed to himself he would not stop taking the ACT until he got a 26 or higher to increase his chances of getting in. He does not want to attend an Ivy League school he wants to attend a state school. Some schools on his list are LSU, Iowa, and Kansas State. Every school on his list though has a 70% acceptance rate or higher. Has his 9th grade year ruined his chances of getting in? We are trying to avoid the community college system as much as possible because it is weak. I attended the community college so I know first hand that there are constant budget cuts and it doesn’t provide a great education. He really is a great kid who is a talented athlete and active in his school. He dedicates a lot of his time to working in his clubs hoping to get a presidential position. He is also sure he wants to major in the business field. Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy thread. I will make sure Scott reads all of your answers because he doesn’t want to listen to me or his mom. This is also his account so feel free to message him if you would like to help him in any way possible. God Bless!</p>
<p>Well, it sounds like the GPA is on an upward trajectory, which is what colleges look for.</p>
<p>A 3.3 to 3.6 GPA is not a low GPA. It will get a student admitted to many, many colleges.</p>
<p>His GPA is around a 2.5
His quater gpa averaged a 3.3-3.6</p>
<p>You should check out the parents of 3.0 thread. There is a “regular”, and a west coast version. There is also a 3.3-3.6 parents thread.</p>
<p>My kid had about a 2.0 semester gpa end of first semester sophomore year, and a 4.0 semester gpa end of second semester junior year. He is now a sophomore in engineering, plenty of struggles, but SO different than he was at 14 or 15.</p>
<p>Shrinkrap where can I find this thread?</p>
<p>You might get more replies by posting on the Parent’s Forum rather than in the cafe. </p>
<p>However, to answer your question most state schools (at least in the midwest) list their guaranteed acceptance requirements on their website. For instance see below from the Kansas Univ site and note you don’t have to meet all 3 requirements:</p>
<p>Nonresidents
•24+ ACT/1090+ SAT or
•Rank in the top one-third of your high school class or
•2.5+ GPA in the Kansas Qualified Admissions curriculum</p>
<p>Iowa uses a Regents Admission Index and I believe they have a calculator on the website that figures it out based on numbers you input.</p>
<p>The bigger issue may be whether ot not you can afford out of state costs. What is your home state? In your original post you state you are looking at Kansas, Iowa, LSU. </p>
<p>There definitely is a good chance your son, even with his lower GPA, will have no problem being admitted and will have choices but the bigger issue may be whether or not those choices are affordable.</p>
<p>My own son was in the 3.0 category so I know that it can be stressful, especially when you see so many high stats kids on thsi site. Please do read the threads Shrinkrap has mentioned. It will help keep you sane.</p>
<p>Good Luck</p>
<p>This is the western one</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/907349-western-schools-3-0-3-3-kid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/907349-western-schools-3-0-3-3-kid.html</a></p>
<p>and here is the class of 2013
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/939937-3-0-3-3-gpa-parents-thread-2013-hs-graduation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/939937-3-0-3-3-gpa-parents-thread-2013-hs-graduation.html</a></p>
<p>We are from Nebraska and trust me he has Lincoln and Omaha on his list!
I think his full list is
LSU
Iowa
Iowa State
Kansas State
TCU (I know not a state school but looking just because he goes to a private school currently)
NE-Lincoln (home state)
NE-Omaha (home state/home city) </p>
<p>He is trying to stay away from Lincoln and Omaha though. He loves the huskers but he’s never really been interested in the schools. His first choice has been LSU for a couple years now and I don’t think he is going to change his mind. He shows me the campus videos all the time and he’s always looking information up about it and he’s really committed to doing anything he can to get there.
Nebraska has a company called Education Quest. Education Quest helps parents and students fill out their FAFSA applications. They also offer a program called scholarship quest that offers scholarships to Nebraska students only. I told him trying to get into schools out of state would be difficult because of the increase in tuitions but he is looking up scholarships to get since the site is so unknown. We learned about this site at a college fair. They said out of all the teenagers in Nebraska the site only averages about 1,000 students actually applying for hundreds of Nebraska based scholarships each year.</p>
<p>I understand kids wanting to go OOS. My own son is attending college in another state. The key for us was determining what I could afford to pay before getting too far ahead with the list of applications. It looks like your son wants a big school which is the opposite of what my own wanted so I can’t really point you to where I know you might get merit money (and yes I did find schools that would offer merit money to kids even below a 3.0 GPA)</p>
<p>Since you are from Nebraska you would qualify for the Midwest Student Exchange Program. Below is the link. Just be careful and check each school’s requirements for the discount. Not all majors/programs are covered and certain GPA or other qualifications may be required.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.mhec.org/MidwestStudentExchangeProgram[/url]”>http://www.mhec.org/MidwestStudentExchangeProgram</a></p>
<p>I did find when I was searching that Missouri schools were great options for OOS kids as far as price goes. Also, South Dakota schools are a great bargain. You and your son may not want to look at other schools at this time since it appears he has his list together but I thought I would throw those out for you to consider.</p>
<p>What about U Nebraska-Kearney?</p>
<p>If you have not visited a large campus you may want to do so. My own child thought at first that he would like a big rah-rah school and even considered LSU for a while. After a few visits he decided he much preferred a more rural location and a mid-size school with a walkable campus.</p>
<p>He said he didn’t like U-Kearney that well because they came to their school and in his words “they sucked”. I guess the whole presentation they had students who had come from the campus to talk to the kids instead of an actual recruitment person and they acted like they were being held at gun point. He’s not very into Kearney anymore.</p>
<p>That’s OK. You have to narrow the choices down somehow, in fact there is a whole thread on the Parent’s Forum devoted to why kids didn’t like some schools.</p>
<p>I see you posted on the Parent’s Forum. I hope you get a lot of good suggestions. The 3.0 threads were a big help to me during the process. I know they have gotten to be very long but if you have time to read them there is a lot of information available.</p>
<p>Shrinkrap linked the 2013 3.0 thread but there also was one for 2012 that you could search for also. Additionally, if you use the search function on the Parent’s Forum for the schools names you are interested in it may give you more threads to read.</p>
<p>I think he has just been looking for help in all the wrong places. He tried posting a couple of times in the What are my chances thread but he’s been discouraged because most of the time the kids told him he was community college material. He made this new account a couple of weeks ago hoping for some better information.</p>
<p>I will have to take a look at the threads though and I will show Scott these replies</p>
<p>I would definitely steer clear of the Chances threads. The replies are mostly from kids who quite frankly don’t usually know what they are talking about (chance me and I’ll chance you back is silly) and they can be cruel.</p>
<p>Your son already knows he isn’t going to the Ivy League. But, he will have choices availaible to him besides community college. Though please understand I am not knocking community college, It’s a great starting point for many kids.</p>
<p>The deciding factor is going to be your budget. It looks like he has a school on his list he could commute to if necessary (Neb-Omaha?) so that would save money if need be.</p>
<p>Try doing some visits while he is a junior at least to narrow down what he really wants. Big versus small or mid-size, city versus suburban or rural etc. If you’ve already done so that’s great but the reality can be different than campus tour videos.</p>
<p>One last suggestion is to do a lot of reading on the Financial Aid forum. Lots of good advice and ideas and quite a few helpful, knowledgable people.</p>
<p>"He tried posting a couple of times in the What are my chances thread but he’s been discouraged because most of the time the kids told him he was community college material. "</p>
<p>I have always felt that there were students who hung out on CC, and parents who hung out on CC, but rarely parents of students, or students of parents, who hung out on CC.</p>
<p>I would love to hear your son’s thoughts!</p>
<p>I don’t come on here very much when I do I’m on my son’s account. I’ve seen a bit in that thread and its a little brutal. My son believes this site a little too much and he let’s these kids run him down. Some of the comments he has gotten were
- Are you just lazy or?..
- You will never get into college unless you have a ATLEAST a 3.0 gpa. You’re community college material
- You’re pretty much screwed.
- Those are all really bad schools and still you will never get in.</p>
<p>My son is pretty impressionable on this site because he thinks everyone knows what they’re talking about since there are all these kids applying to schools like Yale and he’s applying to a public school. I mean University of Iowa is a great school with a great business program. This is also one of my son’s top choices. I could definately see him at 5 of the 7 schools he listed but it’s just so expensive. </p>
<p>We are both trying to stay away from the community college here. We have an awful community college and the education quality from the school is just getting weaker and weaker. I went to this college for 2 years and when I transferred from this school I really struggled to get on my feet.</p>