Parents of the HS Class of 2026

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
1970

You guys, I have to tell you something hilarious. D26 went to the first of five figure-drawing classes last night at a local arts center. She’s looking at applying to design programs, and the ones that require portfolios often want to see traditional observational drawing, and she has zero background in that.

Anyhow. The class is for ages 17 and up. I knew there would be live models. I assumed they would be nude. For whatever reason, it didn’t occur to me that they would be nude…and male.

This is all very normal in observational drawing, of course. But my sweet and nerdy 17-year-old D26 isn’t super worldly, and she’s new to drawing, and she was the youngest student in the class by like 10 years.

So for three hours, she sat and sketched a totally naked, totally buff man, with all sorts of details and shading and all the things on ALL the parts. She was sitting front and center, too.

DH and I asked to see her drawing – which was quite good for a total novice, if I can brag for a minute – but we also couldn’t stop giggling as if we were 12-year-old boys. (D26 was disgusted with us and said DUDE GROW UP ALREADY. And then we laughed some more.)

I would post it here, but, um, I probably shouldn’t. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

13 Likes
1971

Thank you for the info on UC GPA calculation. I do have a question about the community college courses. Let’s say a student does a 4 unit UC/CSU transferrable course at CC during summer, how’s that grade calculated into UC GPA?

1972

True. Students who self-reported ACT or SAT scores will also need to request that ACT or College Board send the official scores.

1973

A CC class that is UC transferable will be calculated into the UC GPA as 1 grade and 1 honors point. And the UC’s do calculate out the Fully weighted Uncapped GPA.

A CC class that is CSU transferable will be calculated into the CSU GPA as 2 grades and 2 honors points.

For the CSU GPA, it is capped at 8 Honors points and they do not calculate out a Fully weighted GPA so if the 8 semester Honors points are met with UC approved Honors, AP or IB then additional points from CC classes are not used but the CSU’s will note the additional rigor.

1 Like
1974

I tried the UC GPA calculator with only the A-G classes and got this:

Unweighted GPA: 4.00
Weighted GPA: 4.50
Weighted and Capped GPA: 4.33

Why do the UCs use 3 different GPAs?

1975

The UC Capped weighted is mainly used to determine UC Eligibility since the UC’s require a minimum 3.0 Capped weighted GPA for in-state applicants and a 3.4 for Non-residents. It was originally meant to level the playing field and help the UC’s take into account differences in what HS’s offer in terms of UC approved Honors, AP, IB and DE courses. The UC Capped weighted is the most common GPA listed on the UCOP website and used for their statistical analysis.

Since the UC Capped weighted GPA has the 8 honors point limitation, the UC’s will also look at the Unweighted and Weighted Uncapped GPA for HS rigor.

The GPA’s alone are not evaluated within a vacuum but within the context of the student’s HS and in conjunction with the other 12 areas of application review criteria used by the UC campuses.

UCLA and UC Berkeley tend to focus more on the Unweighted and Weighted Uncapped GPA vs the other campuses but the 3 GPA’s give admissions an overall better perspective of the student’s academic profile.

UC Application Review Criteria

1 Like
1976

Hey -slight topic shift. I’ve been on CC for a while -and asked for a bit of help in developing a school list. I THINK we are now approaching ‘final list’ – is is okay to ask again for feedback or do I wait a bit closer to summer?

Also -as far as the GPA calculations go - our school doesn’t use + or - --so my daughter with TWO 89s have those count as a B. Sigh.

2 Likes
1977

Oh, definitely let’s start feedback on college lists! Please share!

1978

Ugh. Before our school changed the system, D19 twice got scores between 89.5 and 89.8 that got counted as a B.

Two of the universities I went to never gave a grade like that, interestingly enough. Different scale but to shift the example to the US, you’d get 88 or 90 but never 89.

1 Like
1979

Ask away!

1980

Okay - the ‘almost there’ college list - feedback in welcome.

ACADEMICS
GPA:
unweighted 3.85, weighted 4.45
Will currently be test optional where ever possible because ACT is 26. Plans to retake.

Academic Notes:
Started part-time in special academic center starting freshman year (other part of high school was normal!)
For Junior and Senior year she is splitting her time between her Academic Center/Research and Community College. So she will have 8 community college classes complete at her high school graduation.
I realize this is unusual - but this is what she wanted to do.

Research
Attending special Academic Center since freshman year has allowed her to conduct independent research with PI at university since Junior Year
Independently (with PI approval) leading the other 3 high school students in her lab. She has taught them lab procedures and delegated tasks.
Won or placed in multiple research presentations/poster competitions including some at state and national level.

Extracurriculars:
Volunteering since freshman year at conservation/education focused location. 200+ hours with increasing responsibility each year.
Additional volunteering in STEM Education: Women in STEM and Girl Scouts events, Open House representative (for her Academic Center) 50+ hours
Selected to be on team from her Academic Center for national AI related challenge

Work
Work approximately 10 hours a week during school year, approximately 30 hours/week during summer. Typical ‘high school’ jobs: coffee shop, pool
This summer will be working with her PI in the research lab. (Offered paid spot for summer)

MAJOR: Likely biology, potential minor in something writing based; Pre-health of some sort (Pre-dental, pre-physician assistant, potentially pre-audiology but will need to do additional shadowing - NOT Pre-med) Could also end up in STEM research (career)

FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS - COA approximately $25-$28K. Biggest constraint but will qualify for SOME need based aid. SAI $28K so at 100% need met schools, hey -we are great! Some of the schools on the list have potential for large scholarships -but you can’t count on that obviously!

COLLEGE PARAMETERS
Location: US Coastal or Great Lakes, or International (English speaking). Avoiding red states for the most part, NO Southern States, No flyover states, NO SW states. Yes- the list below doesn’t perfectly adhere -but I’m trying.
Ideally good sized town or city (again -list isn’t perfect)
Plans to do study abroad
MUST HAVE: Really thrives in environment where she has close interactions with her instructors; does better academically with more written assignments - hence the prevalence of LAC on this list. Would probably get a similar experience in bigger school with strong honors program.
Personality: She likes to be busy - wants a nice balance of social and academics. Enjoys collaborative environments. Is always that person who is organizing social events. Diverse friend group – some academic kids (she likes to read and discuss books), some artsy theater kids (she loves musical theater), some civic/service minded people. I wouldn’t call her preppy or sporty.
Not looking for a big party or big sports school. Doesn’t mind Greek life on campus - but doesn’t think she would join. (I think she might like a sorority that is service oriented and less party oriented?)

COLLEGE LIST:

International:
Mount Allison University (Canada - basically their version of LAC) -CC Canada expert thinks this is a likely, but she likely needs a small scholarship
Acadia University (Canada -again their version of LAC) -CC Canada expert thinks this is a likely, but she likely needs a small scholarship
University of King’s College (Canada → Halifax - partners with Dalhousie for STEM)
Dalhousie University (Canada)

University of Limerick (Ireland) - she meets or exceeds the academic requirements and they like international students; However - the budget here is TIGHT - will need a small scholarship (which is not out of the realm of possibility).

Safety - meets price and admissions requirements
University of Kansas (would apply to Honors college)

Likely -Admission is likely; these were selected for chance for large scholarships
Miami University (Oxford, Ohio)
University of Rhode Island
Long Island University (Post)

EVERYTHING BELOW has had NPC run on the college website calculators - these WILL meet budget per those calculators (I know that will come up)

Target
Mount Holyoke
Union College
Dickinson College
Kenyon College

Maybe add: Brandeis University, St Olaf University, Clark?

Hard Target/Easier Reaches
Skidmore
Macalester College

Reaches
Scripps College
Washington and Lee

I welcome feedback. I would appreciate thoughts on whether to add the ‘maybe’ selection in the target category.
Side note: Her teacher who is her mentor (known her since freshman year) thinks her chances are very strong at Union where he went.

1 Like
1981

Your kid sounds great.
I don’t know anything about those colleges or pre-health, but tagging @AustenNut as always having valuable insight.

2 Likes
1982

CTCL colleges have several options that are not South, not Southwest, not red state. Look at CTCL Map – Colleges That Change Lives. Lots of them tend to have good merit scholarships. You’d have to check NPCs on their websites to confirm possible affordability, of course. These are all smaller colleges, LACs, very student focused, professors know your name, that sort of thing.

Some that show up on that map which you might want to check out:

  • Clark University (in MA)
  • Hampshire College
  • Bard College (in NY)
  • Juniata College (in PA)
  • Allegheny College (in PA)
  • Antioch College (OH)
  • Ohio Wesleyan University
  • Denison University (OH)
  • College of Wooster (OH)
  • Oberlin College (OH)
  • Hiram College (OH)
  • Kalamazoo College (Michigan)
  • Hope College (Michigan)
  • Wheaton College (IL)
  • Beloit College (Wisconsin)
  • Lawrence University (Wisconsin)
  • St Olaf College (Minnesota)
  • in Oregon, there’s Willamette University & Reed College
  • in WA, there’s Whitman College, University of Puget Sound, and Evergreen State College
3 Likes
1983

I have run a lot of calculators on these! So many — surprisingly many of these don’t make the money cutoff!

Puget Sound has been on and off the list so many times! Haha! Same with St Olaf. I thought about Hampshire — a lot — but they have significant financial issues.

3 Likes
1984

She is a delight. It’s been kind of fun seeing her oddball approach to high school - but it works for her.

3 Likes
1985

Not sure about how non-red the state of Iowa is these days, but maybe take a look at Grinnell College?

1986

We just toured University of Puget Sound–I was impressed!

2 Likes
1987

I think Grinnell would end up in the Reach category - something crazy low (well not single digits but pretty low) for admission last year.

2 Likes
1988

Not sure if CO counts as a “flyover state” and these days, it’s more purple politically than pure red or blue, but maybe Colorado College? Has 2145 undergrads. Their financial aid uses CSS profile.

1 Like
1989

Can you tell me what you liked about it? It goes on and off the list – do you think it would be a good fit for my kid?