Strategy when grades are lower relative to test scores

ultimom
Fri, 27 Sep 2019 14:16:00 +0000

My son was in a similar situation. I think he was helped in admissions because he went to a nationally ranked high school. He is currently attending a very fine university but he did not get into the few elite schools he applied to. He also applied to engineering and CS programs that tend to have higher admissions standards. My son didn’t directly address his GPA in his essays. However, his Common App essay illustrated how he independently pursued an academically related interest. IMO it showed that he is intellectually curious as well as willing and capable of independently pursing an interest. His interest involved a cross over between arts and technology. I’m not sure what was in his recommendations, but his teachers and guidance counselor were aware that he wasn’t struggling to grasp material and that it was more of an issue of not putting in well timed extra effort or occasionally cutting it too close and turning in something late. I did speak with his guidance counselor about his academic style. The counselor he had for three years left and he had a new counselor senior year so I touched base with a quick phone call. This was the only time I had ever contacted a counselor or teacher in his high school career.