<p>D finished her last final this past Thursday, so sheis taking weekend off and then will start studying for SAT IIs, and then the ACT. Her High School starts in Mid August. What is it about Junior Year that makes it such a trial?</p>
<p>We’re in the same boat with many of you. For the past 6 weeks, the insanity has not let up. Everyone told us Jr year would be crazy, and they weren’t kidding!</p>
<p>Couple random responses… Regarding the May 25 deadline for choosing the 2 schools to notify regarding the PSAT letter, I’ve asked 2 college Admis officers, and both said you’re welcome to send it, but it really doesn’t matter. We find out on our own next Sep who the SFs are, and as for demonstrating interest, it doesn’t. We view interest as coming for a visit.</p>
<p>For those of you who have the higher GPA/lower standardized test scores, take heart. Last summer (after daughter’s soph year), I went on a binge and read over a dozen books on the college admission process, choosing a college, the whole works. Although my daughter’s stats are all closely aligned, this quote from an Ivy admission counselor stuck with me: standardized tests tell us what you COULD do. GPA tells us what you DO do. When they’re not aligned, we care more about the latter.</p>
<p>Like the rest of you, we are exhausted! But ACTs are over and she’s thrilled with results, AP is over, Dual Credit exams are over (because they have to be taken on the CC’s schedule), piano and 1 of 2 voice recitals are over, Ensemble and Chorus year-end programs are over…all that remains are 4 finals next week, June 5 SATs, and a final voice recital that evening. Feels like a piece of cake!</p>
<p>
Every high school’s a academic environment is different. A 4.0 at many schools is essentially worthless as an indicator of the student’s ability to work. Standardized tests on the other hand provide a uniform metric to determine a student’s abilities in the context of his peers.</p>
<p>“…standardized tests tell us what you COULD do. GPA tells us what you DO do. When they’re not aligned, we care more about the latter.”</p>
<p>Interesting quote momo’sb. I wonder how many school hold true to this? S2 is simply worried that the initial ‘swipe’ at applications may be SAT scores above xyz…and now we evaluate further. I reminded him of the common data set where it shows what school value which information more highly. One of his ‘match’ schools was VT. They are in the ‘send us your numbers and we’ll get back with you’ camp. He far exceeded their criteria, so he need not worry about their methodology. His reach, and truly his top choice, takes a holistic approach (so they say over and over) and he falls within their SAT range. He just wanted to hit the 75% for comfort. His math was on the lower end of their range and he’s engineering so that’s his worry. He’ll be retaking them based on his ACT and Math2 scores. GPA, rank, LOR, and ECs are all where they need to be.</p>
<p>My post crossed with Jersey13’s. I would agree that all GPAs are not created equal. As for the SAT being an equalizer… I’m not sure that a single test is capable of this. There are many students that have much different scores on the ACT than the SAT. They are presented in different ways. In their case they are not more or less worth of consideration than their neighbor, the format of one test simply favored their abilities and testing style. If their were a third standard test format, I think we would find an entirely different subset of students that would rise, based on their individual testing skills.</p>
<p>
While they certainly aren’t perfect, they are a much better alternative to comparing GPA’s only.</p>
<p>^ Fair enough. While I don’t agree with your opinion entirely, I certainly respect it. And yes, I certainly agree that comparing GPA’s entirely would be as foolish (for lack of a better word) as looking only at SAT/ACT scores.
Good things to bring up J13, thanks.</p>
<p>Highest score for last 20 years at S’s prep school has been a 94 UW they don’t weight- that translates to a about a 3.7. So no one has a 4.0. Rank doesn’t help S much either as it is very competitive to get in. He is one of the high SAT lower GPA at least on his school’s scale. So how do you compare? No naviance, I have no idea how is aps will be looked at. His EC’s are self-interest stuff; so who knows.</p>
<p>All good points, and I was just quoting one admission officer whose comment was memorable. I do think grade inflation means standardized tests are essential. I also think some really strong students, with the rigorous courseload and GPAs to prove it aren’t necessarily great standardized test-takers. As an aside, on another thread some months ago, a poster commented that if you think the pressure on kids, teachers,and administrators regarding grades is intense now…just imagine how it would be if there were no standardized tests in play, and the grades were the sole (academic) measure taken into account for admission. What a mess that would be.</p>
<p>Ah yes, true. I am thankful that S has at least one half of the equation! The one thing that I have seen is that his SAT scores have showed him he can compete in the classroom and I’m seeing better grades and more studying. A little too late to get the gpa up much, but it’s positive non the less</p>
<p>I almost think it’s better to have an average student instead of worrying so much about GPA vs. SAT and getting into competitive schools. We do need merit aid so I look at schools where my son’s stats are in the 75% accepted range. His unweighted and weighted grades aren’t that much different and his SAT’s match up with his grades. I think son has a couple of reaches but the rest are mostly match/safeties as will be the ones he has left to visit. </p>
<p>I think it’s too late for much of an increase in GPA. I’m going to strongly encourage (read nag) son to get his applications in before the first quarter is done of senior year. At some point you have to say “It is what it is” and look for the schools that fit your student, NOT trying to mold your student to fit into some dream school.</p>
<p>kathiep- I agree with you! My d’s scores and gpa are pretty well aligned in the A-/B+ range. There are alot of schools out there where she will get good merit aid, we are limiting our applications to those schools. No sense on applying to a reach school where she won’t get any merit aid if accepted (given that we will not get much if any needs based aid).</p>
<p>Idinct - It is my understanding that the school profile is part of the package that is sent with all the other admissions info such as the app, scores, recs, etc. Hopefully your school does a good job of describing how they select students and how they are graded.</p>
<p>kathiep, I also agree with you! We need LuckyBoy to get some serious merit aid if he’s going out-of-state (he’s fine with in-state, down-the-street flagship btw) He doesn’t want an overly-competitive, stressed-out-student-bday school. Most of the schools on The Big List are safety/match schools where he would be in the top of the accepted group. Brown is still listed.</p>
<p>That’s where it stands for now. We’ll see what happens over the summer as he really digs into The Big List and we make more visits.</p>
<p>The goal is for the Common App to be all but done by the start of marching band camp (mid-Aug). He might want an English teacher to look over his essay(s) once school starts. It would be nice for some of the supplemental essays to be done, too, but I don’t expect that will happen!</p>
<p>Last week was really busy (in fun ways) with the exchange student and prom Friday night. We had a group American-Austrian dinner at the school last night. This is the last day at school for the Austrians. S has four more class days, then two finals next week :)</p>
<p>I wanted to offer that the schools we have visited have all been very clear that they are keenly aware of the different grading policies at different schools and take this into consideration. Our grading scale was changed fm 7pt to 10pt after S2’s sophomore year. They did not change the grades retro for the first two years. This is clearly marked on their transcript.
The county that boarders us to one side changed theirs to a 10pt scale, however their students scores were altered retro from their freshman year. The change in grading scale now reflects what the vast majority of public schools in our major metro are use.
The adcoms in our state our very aware of what school have used which scales, which schools have weighted honors and which do not weight their honors, etc.
We do hope that they honestly see that GPA and realize that not all are created equal…for our son’s sake as well as other students deserving of consideration.</p>
<p>^^
True
Colleges see the hs profile and know about the scale, etc<br>
% going to college </p>
<h1>of APs offered etc</h1>
<p>So our kiddo has asked teachers about recs for the end of the summer…</p>
<p>Finals are on the horizon</p>
<p>Does anyone like Spark notes for the SAT2s?</p>
<p>Just to restate that schools submit profiles with each transcript. This will then clear up any confusion regarding grade deflation/ rank, etc. If a school is well- known for rigorous grading, then that will be clear from the profile.</p>
<p>Was just informed by S’s guidance dept (webanair seminar) that this years common app will not be released til Aug 1.</p>
<p>Aug 1? Bleh, marching band camp starts the 16th! Well, a forced time period might be a good thing for a 17yo ;)</p>
<p>Drill team starts 4 hour a day summer practice on August 9th. I guess I can still try to persuade her to get a good start on the essay.</p>