Son Has Heart Set On Reed

jmgradon
Thu, 17 Apr 2014 01:39:12 +0000

My high school junior S really wants to go to Reed. He has visited and interviewed (which he thought went very well) and will probably apply early decision. He got a 2120 on his SAT (730 CR, 610 M, 780 W) and has gotten an 800 on SAT II World History. This will look good, of course. His problem is that he is one of those kids who studies harder outside of school then inside, except for courses he really likes. His weighted GPA–which is all his school calculates–is 3.46. Unweighted would probably be closer to 3.3. He goes to a top 50-100 ranked public high school in the Washington DC metro area (Fairfax County, VA) and has taken 4 AP courses. He got an A and a 5 in the one he did last year and is taking 3 more this year. He plans to take 3 more next year. He won District honors for playing the saxophone this year, is in concert band and has been in marching band since his freshman year. He is very interested in politics, reads books like “Stop This Depression Now” by Paul Krugman for fun, has read everything written by Hunter S. Thompson, is a serious “serious” movie buff, and is currently interested in going into political science and/or international relations. My question is, given his grades, does he really have a shot at Reed?