<p>As S2 likes to put it, the IB program he attended will not guarantee you admission to an Ivy, but it WILL prepare you to succeed academically at one! S loved IB, but it was tough. The workload is intense, it is a selective admit program so the competition is significant, and being a full diploma IB student senior year, on top of college apps and ECs, is not a lot of fun. That said, he has felt VERY prepared for college and is enjoying his classes without going nuts.</p>
<p>He felt that the GPA would be an issue at some schools, and he was likely correct. Some schools focused less on the GPA per se and more on the difficulty of his courseload and weighed that with his excellent test scores. The Naviance data from his school had him in territory where there just werenāt many students with that combination of test scores and GPA, so we knew that he needed to have a good mix of schools. </p>
<p>He wound up with four acceptances, two waitlists and two rejections, and withdrew three other apps after getting into one of his top choices EA. He got into his top two choices and the two that offered merit $$, so we were all thrilled with his results.</p>
<p>Full IB with bilingual diploma from an international school in Washington DC. 1370 SAT. 800 in Sat II in writing. I donāt know what his gpa was based on a 4.0 system since they were graded on a 7.0 system, but he was a B+ type student. Unusual ECs, e.g., co-founder of Amnesty International chapter; eight weeks spent in the Czech Republic studying with students from former communist countries in Eastern Europe and Asia in a program then sponsored by George Soros Foundation; officer in high school religious organization. </p>
<p>Accepted Toronto; UVA (in-state), UNC-Chapel Hill (OOS legacy from both parents), VT (in-state), and USC. Attended USC film school. Rejected by UCLA and William and Mary (in-state).</p>
<p>I posted here early on - back at #137 - so I thought Iād come back with an update, especially since my D had a pretty good WGPA without stellar standardized test scores.</p>
<p>D had a WGPA of 3.6, 26 ACT, top 10% of her class. Large public HS. Graduated in June 2010.</p>
<p>Accepted:</p>
<p>UConn
University of Rhode Island ($$)
SUNY Albany
SUNY Buffalo
American
University of Delaware
Towson University</p>
<p>Waitlisted:</p>
<p>SUNY Binghamton</p>
<p>Deferred (Accepted for Spring Semester):</p>
<p>University of Maryland</p>
<p>VERY HAPPILY ATTENDING UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE! And, she just missed Deanās List by less than .03 for the first semester!</p>
<p>My son (freshman in college) applied with a 3.4 UW and 3.7 W GPA, made 4.0 for his first semester. Talk about continuing that upward trend! Good luck to the 2011 kids.</p>
<p>So far Iāve gotten into Tulane with $22K/year and UMass-Amherst with a 3.5 GPA (in the hardest courses-- top East Coast public school that only offers 5 APs) and 2270 SAT. Letās see how things go with my RD schoolsā¦</p>
<p>My son has a 3.55 weighted with many AP and Honors courses from a highly rated boys jesuit high school; SATās 2190 and ACT 33; Strong ECs all 4 years - leads in musical theater, service, and sports all 4 years - but not a recruited athlete. Hispanic. So far he has been accepted into SMU (Business School Honors) and Santa Clara University (Business School); parents both legacy at Santa Clara. Waiting until April to hear from the rest.</p>
<p>Iām not sure if Iāve already posted on this thread or not, but I got into all three schools that I applied to: UVM, Tulane, and Brandeis (ED). Tulane offered me 15k, which I unforunately could not accept. I have a 3.45 UWGPA at a very difficult public high school (the best in the state actually, though I live in a VERY small state) and 2140 SATs (770 CR, 680 M, 690 W) and a very apparent love of history and politics.</p>
<p>Iām glad there is this thread, for those of us with kids in this range. I agree with one poster that wonders why grades of 33 to 3.6 are considered lackluster. I graduated highschool with the same GPA and am doing quite well as an adult. So much emphasis is put on grades and achievement, when it really all evens out later.</p>
<p>So, my son has 3.6 or so GPA (I really canāt keep up with all the weighted or unweighted stuff), and has SAT of 1700 or so. So far he has been accepted to UC Riverside, and still waiting on a few more CA schools.</p>
<p>D has a 3.6 and a 31 ACT (so a little lopsided), with an upward trend. Very clear split for humanities/social science vs. math/science.</p>
<p>She has been academically accepted into several ālikelyā schools so far, with some nice merit aid: UMinn-Twin Cities, URI, Goucher College, SUNY New Paltz, Adelphi U, Montclair State U. She is an arts major auditioning for programs, so her college list reflects that. Her remaining RD schools will increase in selectivity, so I will post any relevant results here to help the '12s and beyond.</p>
<p>I agree much emphasis on GPA and that HS GPA is not a predictor of future success. </p>
<p>I can tell you in my family the GPA focus is entirely due to merit money. The college options I had back when simply are not financial options for my son without a āsolidā GPA to score merit money. The expectations of my kidsā school is much different than I had or my husband had in elementary and high school. We managed classes, sports, jobs and still had time for socializing. My kids couldnāt juggle all that.</p>
<p>Nephew had acceptances at University of Louisville and University of Kentucky, but turned down both to sign a letter of intent to play baseball at a junior college where heāll get a full ride. A number of their players transfer after the two years and play ball at smaller D-I schools. This is his dream, so I hope the sports and academics work for him. Throws an 89 mph fast ball at this point but is training to get over 90.<br>
3.45 UW, 27 ACT, 3 APs (4 on Calc AB, taking Chem and Stat this year).</p>
<p>I am SO glad this thread came back alive!! It really was a VERY popular thread last year and I was right there rooting for Countingdown, Mathmom,pixeljig.etcā¦ It really gave some hope to some of us 11ās and 12erās. My S is a Junior this year and fits right in this thread. 3.4 GPA UW as of nowā¦ ended at 3.2 at the end of last year. 2100 SATās so far but is retaking in May. </p>
<p>One of the things that I found so interesting about this thread is that there are A LOT of high tests scores, lower GPA boys. When I went in to talk to our GC he said this is VERY common phenomenon. I think that boys just donāt have that " need to please" thing that girls have. They HATE busy work and will not do stuff just because someone tells them they have to. It has to make sense to them. For these boysā¦ especially the really bright ones, it is also hard sometimes to get their attention in class. For example my S has done MUCH better in his AP classes this year than his regular classes. He really needs a high level of stimulation. That is why a lot of them do better in college, and why HS GPA really has no correlation with success in college. </p>
<p>OTOHā¦ My S does realize that his inattention to homework and just not doing what needed to be done is going to hold him back at his reaches and probably matches. I think he is okay with that. He started his searchā¦ or should I say 'I" started his search based on some of his preferences and went from the bottom up. I wonāt let him visit or get excited about any of the āharder admitsā until he has found a few ā pretty sure" ones first. It seems to have worked and I actually think he has more of these schools than reaches. Of course he did say to me as we finished up the Dartmouth tour and I had to wipe the drool from his mouth, that he wished he had turned in his homework and all those B+'s were Aās. Oh well, I tried to tell himā¦</p>
<p>Anyway, here is to keeping this thread alive. Everyone who has a child in this category please post results if you can, I think a lot of people were pleasantly surprised with some of the results for this GPA range kids. </p>
<p>For all the 2012ā's out there, letās be there to support our kids search and the inevitable results that will follow.</p>
<p>I am so glad this thread is back on again!! :)</p>
<p>S2 is thinking of applying to CA schools as he wants warm weather. S1 also in CA.</p>
<p>S2 is leaning towards LMU, Santa Clara, Oxyā¦all matches, looking for 2 reaches. UT Austin is on the radar but we visited last year with S1 and it just seemed too big. He is interested in History, Maths, Physics and CS so far with the idea of getting teaching credentials. Not much of a writer.</p>
<p>Just posting 2011 acceptances to help other parents. Our midwestern S has a 3.43 GPA at a large, excellent public high school, 2070 SATs, not a lot of honors/AP courses, so-so extracurriculars. </p>
<p>Accepted:
Willamette University ($14,000 per year merit, wow!)
University of Minnesota
University of Oregon</p>
<p>Waitlisted
University of Wisconsin (hard to get into from our high school, apparently)</p>
<p>Waiting on:
Kalamazoo
Lawrence
Oxy (reach?? hard to know)
Colorado College (reach)
Macalester (super-reach, especially with a 40% increase in applications this year!)</p>
<p>Right now we are encouraging S to go where the money is, as we donāt qualify for FA . . . He is going out to Willamette for accepted students day next month. </p>
<p>greekdramaqueen- I have similar stats to your son 3.4uw/3.6w gpa, 31 act, and applied to so many of the same schools! Colorado College was my #1 but I didnāt get in E.D. Good luck to your son on all his schools!</p>
<p>thanks, starbodies. I would be surprised if our S gets into CC. he visited and didnāt really like the block system, so he wonāt care if heās denied. good luck with your applications, too!</p>