Hi! Thanks for reading this and any thoughts you have. Freshman year my son became ill for a couple of weeks then hospitalized for a couple of weeks and then had to move to partial online classes for the rest of the semester, GPA for the semester 2.8. Sophomore year-3.75( Honors and one AP) and so far this year 3.75 (Honors, 3 AP and a dual enrollment for Japanese). I think he’s about a 3.55 overall. ACT-35. EC are just what he’s interested in Concert/Pep/Marching Band (section leader) and a top state finalist in Japanese speech competition. Some PT work and volunteering. He’s interested in Economics or History and Japanese. He would like a large school but is willing to look at a small school in or near a city. His safety is Washington State University. The rumor on UW is that they want a 3.7, so it’s a reach. EFC looks okay at a lot of schools unless they just don’t meet need ,like NYU. He’s not an athletic type but is outgoing and makes friends easily and prefers diversity. Open to anywhere. Any thoughts on matches or reaches or fit? Thanks!
Is this 3.55 GPA UW or W? He also has another semester of junior year and assuming he’s not applying ED to a school, then he has two semesters left to boost his GPA. If he bumps it up to a 3.8/3.9 UW GPA for these next two semesters, then he should be up to around a 3.7 UW GPA, which is pretty good. To be honest with you, getting a job with a Japanese or a History degree would make it pretty tough to find a job that pays well. I would recommend looking into economics, because there is a very broad range of job opportunities in pretty much all fields of business that it could be applied to. I would definitely advise him to try and join some clubs and try and get some leadership opportunities to try and build a spike with the remainder of his high school career. Assuming this 3.55 is UW and that he can get it up to about a 3.7 UW and somewhere above a 4.0 W, there’s a lot of possibilities. I’ll let other people list colleges, because I don’t really feel I’m qualified to tell you what is good for your son and what is not. Hope this helped! 
Thank you! Yes, it’s unweighted. I guess I didn’t realize he was going to be able to include first semester of senior year. UW closes mid November, so I thought that was typical. Yes, I agree on the history. I just kind of let it ride since he’s a junior and hasn’t decided yet. So far, he tries out the idea of something that he’s interested in but then he goes back to economics. Thank you for the input on EC-
Good job to your son for bringing up his GPA so much.
Does he want to continue studying Japanese in college?
Yes, he definitely plans on continuing with the Japanese.
Are you in Washington State? Assuming that you are, the western Canadian schools will be not too far away, and will not care at all about his grades in grade 9. UBC is probably a mild reach, but Simon Fraser and U.Victoria are very good schools which are probably safeties. They are quite reasonably priced (significantly less than UBC for international students), but I don’t have any clue whether there is need based aid for international students.
Fantastic! I knew about UBC but didn’t know about Simon Fraser or U. Victoria. Thank you-
He’s got an upward trend so that’s very good. You’ll want his guidance counselor to explain the situation freshman year in his/her letter of recommendation. The 35 ACT is excellent and can be bolstered further with subject test scores and AP scores. It sounds like he’s taking a fairly rigorous program and doing well now. The Japanese is interesting, too. A lot will depend on whether you need FA - either need based or merit - as to where he ultimately applies. Do you have a geographic preference?
At this point, I would say he’s open to most areas, but the southeast is probably his least favorite area, too hot. I’ve saved well and while I can’t be full pay, I’ve been mostly comfortable with the calculators I’ve run. I haven’t looked at subject tests yet, thanks for the idea-
Lehigh in Pennsylvania? It has a very active marching band and the school meets 100% of demonstrated need. Since he’s not trying to get into engineering, he has a better chance of acceptance. Do you know his weighted GPA?
I think he would like to continue in band as he’s really enjoyed it, so I will add Lehigh. I don’t know his weighted, as his school doesn’t weigh. Thanks-
Big school, cold weather, not crazy expensive, not crazy GPA expectations, in or near a city, Japanese major – U Minnesota? Ohio State? UC Boulder?
U Minn also looks very strong for Economics as well. Thank you-
I don’t know about undergrad at the University of Minnesota, but my daughter strongly considered it for her Ph.D. in economics.