Daughter’s friend committed to a top 20 school for her sport. She said her profile was heavily assessed and a certain ACT score had to be hit (high 20s) before they would be offered a spot on the team. She also stated they don’t need high ACT scores because a varsity sport is so time consuming. I didn’t say anything but it was hard not to as my daughter has spent as many hours doing her ECs and if she had a 29 on her ACT she wouldn’t be getting into the schools she wants to go to. So that excuse bothers me but I get why they can get admitted with lower stats. There are only so many stellar athletes with stellar academic stats. I’m not sure why a D1 athlete would even want to sit in the same classroom at an Ivy and share a grading curve with the brightest kids around the world but I guess that’s why they have “football physics!”
There are plenty of athletes in all three NCAA divisions who are top level academic students too.
@makemesmart 200% agree, which goes along with what I was saying about recruited athletes and admissions advantages. But, they have to keep their grades up-ish, and hope someone doesn’t come along that the coach likes better. And, they should stay off social media. 
DS is a student athlete, not D1/Ivy-worthy, and an avid musician. He has been working hard, in and out of school.
I know he is smart. Is he smarter than a math whiz or a debate champion? I don’t know and I would never do that kind of comparison. I know he has great time management skills and in spite of weekly 25+ hours of sport activities, he also plays two music instruments at conservatory level, participates/leads in several school clubs, has 4.5/5 GPA with very good standardized test scores, and sleeps 8-hr a day. I am pretty impressed. Whether the TT schools that he will apply to soon would be equally impressed, is a big unknown, but I know no matter where he ends up at, he will be a big contribution to that school and he will receive a great education in return.
Re: the earlier discussion about AP credit
If your student is considering med school, you may want to see @zipstermom ‘s post here…
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/22263059/#Comment_22263059
Apparently, med schools don’t like students to take college classes when they could get AP credit instead.
Just passing this along. Not relevant to me, so don’t know any more about it.
@momzilla2D That’s interesting. I haven’t read the thread, but that’s the opposite of what I have heard. Not relevant to me, either, but I like to keep on this stuff…will have to check it out.
A not-too-shabby source for the information, @momzilla2D. Doesn’t really support the theory put forth by the poster in your 2019 group, but, hey…: https://meded.hms.harvard.edu/admissions-prerequisite-courses?fbclid=IwAR1Z2YDVJOyjCm4gl5ghGPyn4_AZsrTf7M3-2gdxzH8qGahRG26jMoBizsY
Well, I wish I would have found this thread like…years ago…
I’d say I should go back to the beginning and read through it all, but I’ll probably be depressed by all the things we didn’t do and should have and now it’s too late.
I had dreams of DS applying at all these elite schools all over the country, but financial and academic reality has set in and we’ll most likely just be applying to a couple in-state schools. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities as the first choice and University of Minnesota - Duluth as the back-up safety school.
DS is smart as a whip, but lacks the motivation to take it the distance. He also struggled his first year of high school due to coming from a Montessori K-8th grade school. He wasn’t used to homework or tests of the traditional classroom and it took a year to get it figured out. We also didn’t do any AP classes. He’s in a small private school that doesn’t offer a lot of them, and I didn’t want to push it, especially since our school does not weight GPA. He was supposed to take AP Physics as a senior but they didn’t get enough kids interested, so will not be offering it. He will be in AP Calc, so that will be his only one.
He has a 3.7 GPA and scored a 31 on the ACT (34 science and 32 math), so he might be able to get into TC, we’ll see. Pretty much every other school in our state with the exception of Carlton is a safety or extreme safety for him.
@cshell2 don’t feel badly at all. It sounds like your DS has been doing great and is well on his way to a successful college experience. My D20 will most likely go to “just” a state school. It has the program that she wants, she will be able to save money for graduate school down the line and we can’t find any justification to look farther than that. She is a smart kid with great grades and test scores and I am sure could get accepted to some more prestigious and impressive schools but for her needs and wants we just don’t see the reason why besides the status of it which would just cost us a lot more money for no real value. Every family needs to look what is best for them without comparing to what others are doing. There are many ways to prepare yourself for a successful future whether that means going to an Ivy League college, a state college, vo-tech school or maybe not going on to any type of post high school education. I find this board can be very informative and useful but also can make me feel a bit anxious. There are some amazing high achieving kids on this board that are probably the top 5-10% of the all the kids applying to schools. Keep in mind the goals of your child and what your family can reasonably help with and be confident and proud in those choices!
Thank you! Anxious definitely describes how this board makes me feel, but I think I’ll stick around anyhow.
DS and I had a list of 20 or so schools from all over and we just couldn’t justify the added cost of out of state. Even the schools with reciprocity were way more expensive because we lost out on our state grant (I’m low income). I told him with what I have saved he can go to any state school and graduate debt free. He is fine with that. I’m the one feeling like I’m limiting him, but I’m getting over it.
@cshell2 See post #5643 – a great perspective offered by @makemesmart
It will all be okay in the end, and if it’s not okay it’s not the end.
I’m sure your son knows you are doing your very best – that is all we can expect from each other, no?
Haha, there’s always something to feel guilty about. There is nothing wrong with state schools. In fact, after just going thru the process with D19, we found that we prefer state schools. I wouldn’t rule out out-of-state public’s, though. Many offer merit scholarships that cover out-of-state tuition. For example, Ohio State (where my d will be attending next fall), publishes their criteria on their website. Look at the National Buckeye scholarship. Requires 29 ACT and top 25% rank in class. Seems like your son may qualify? eta: and more added on with higher scores and rankings.
http://undergrad.osu.edu/cost-and-aid/merit-based-scholarships
Oh man, and Ohio State has Aerospace, the major he really wants to take. I ran the Net Price Calculator and it gave him about 24K in grants and scholarships which brought the net price to 23K. This brings it to a price comparable to what Madison or Iowa State would be for us (which are still on our list), but just for comparisons sake, U of MN is about 11K net price and Duluth even less. I make about 40K/year and still have another son in grade school to worry about, so I struggle with if double is worth it even if it is a great deal/school.
@cshell2 Double the price is not worth it if UMinn has AE as well, which I thought they did? Go Gophers!
@cshell2 No, I agree. That is a big difference. Can’t imagine the education is twice as good, either. Just saying there may be some other out-of-state schools that could be affordable.
They do have Aerospace at MN and if he gets in we’re be thrilled. It’s just that the college of science and engineering is really hard to get into. His stats are on the bottom of admitted students.
@cshell2 I hear lots of things about Alabama-Huntsville be affordable, with Aero. But I know nothing about the school, and it’s pretty far for you guys.
We visited Alabama-Huntsville for S19. Their merit is on website but full tuition I believe is at around a 30 ACT? It is literally surrounded by aero companies and NASA. Huntsville is called Rocket City for a reason. Easy application so might be a great back-up if your DS is unable to gain admission to your in-state options. Just a thought.
Huntsville is on our list! As of last year they were still giving 100% tuition waivers to freshman with his stats…which is huge. That would come out to about the same price as MN. Hard to say if they’ll still have it. They’ve been scaling back and raising the criteria these past few years. I’m pretty sure he’ll still apply though.
However, I’m a little nervous about choosing a school based just on the major he currently wants. He could get in there and decides he hates AE and all engineering for that matter. I dont think he really knows what it entails at all.
@cshell2 - all important considerations. We specifically avoided schools that did not have a wide range for S19. He seems very set on mechanical engineering but wanted schools with a variety of stem majors in case he changed his mind. S20 does not have a set major yet so same situation - needs a large enough school to provide a variety of options.