Encourage or not to encourage?

S

scanner78

5-Year Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Messages
3
Hi fellow adults,

My son has been passionate about service (ARMY) and the military since he was a small boy. His dream is WP. He's been in ROTC from the beginning and is now in leadership position. He's solid on community service/varsity athletics, etc. But his GPA is 3.5

Guess my question is whether or not I should lay off on encouraging WP if 3.5doesn't even make cut off. Still waiting on SAT/ACT score.

I don't want to give him false hope. And he's working on plan b and plan c. Just wanted your thoughts.

Thanks!
mom
 
It's said that West Point looks for very well rounded individuals, so I think if everything else is rock solid, then keep encouraging. A West Pointer about 5 years ago told me when I expressed interest that 'if you have the desire, then there's a place for you there.' In other words, if he wants to go he'll work as hard as possible to make up for it, or get it up. 3.5 isn't that bad!
 
scanner78 said:
Hi fellow adults,

My son has been passionate about service (ARMY) and the military since he was a small boy. His dream is WP. He's been in ROTC from the beginning and is now in leadership position. He's solid on community service/varsity athletics, etc. But his GPA is 3.5

Guess my question is whether or not I should lay off on encouraging WP if 3.5doesn't even make cut off. Still waiting on SAT/ACT score.

I don't want to give him false hope. And he's working on plan b and plan c. Just wanted your thoughts.

Thanks!
mom
Click to expand...

Encourage him. As stated above, USMA looks for well rounded individuals. His GPA alone won't cause him to be denied and your full support will greatly help him achieve his goal.
 
Plus, remember that WP will recalculate his GPA according to their formula.
 
Got first SAT back: 1935

I think I'm starting to feel bit better. I know he's going to want to re-take it for a higher score.
 
What was the breakdown - M + CR?

West Point does not look at GPA, per se. Every school calculates it differently. They look at class rank - how well you performed amongst your peers; and the classes you took, the level of those classes and how well you did.
Good Luck!

BTW - how was the score a 1935? all scores end in 0.
 
Just_A_Mom said:
What was the breakdown - M + CR?

West Point does not look at GPA, per se. Every school calculates it differently. They look at class rank - how well you performed amongst your peers; and the classes you took, the level of those classes and how well you did.
Good Luck!

BTW - how was the score a 1935? all scores end in 0.
Click to expand...

What if your school system does not rank? I've been told "top 5%", but officially they say they don't rank ??
 
They make an adjustment for that. Each school sends in a school profile and that helps. Also some schools will provide an approximate rank - i.e. top 10%, 10-20%, etc...
 
My school has NO ranking, nor does it weight GPA but WP does their own GPA anyway. I’m not worried about not being ranked, because I can’t imagine that the admission board would let something like that hurt me. I wonder though, does the admission board even look at rigor of the school versus another? Surely not all schools Honors or even AP classes are the same difficulty.

Note: They don’t tell us ranking, they may have it though
 
I have in hand the school profile of a very competitive private high school that does not rank.
The school profile is used to give colleges a snap shot of the rigorousness of the school.
Schools that don't rank are 'usually' very competitive and given the size and make-up of that school, slight variations may make significant differences in the rank of a student.

Here is what is included in this particular school's profile:
1) School Description - History, community that it is located in, basic tenets, campus facilities and accreditations.
2) Acceptance List - Colleges that offered admissions to the past 3 classes of graduates. This particular list includes 187 colleges with an average of 62 graduates/year over those 3 years.
3) Grade Distribution for current Senior class at the end of their Junior year - a chart of GPA and SAT/ACT scores.
4) Current Senior Class - Standardized Results their Junior year.
5) Standardized Test Scores of Graduating Seniors for the past 5 years.
Columns for each class include- class size, SAT Mid 50% for CR, M and Total, ACT Mean and Number of National Merit Finalists, Semi-Finalists and Commended Scholars.
6) Results of May 2010 AP Placement Exams.
A chart that shows how many scored a 1, a 2 etc. in each AP class offered. It also explains that each AP student is required to take AP tests (since not all schools do).
 
Encourage or not to .....

SCANNER78

I would definitely encourage him. This is a very hard process to get through. It looks like to me, that he has the makings of a good student. And the ability to handle the process to get him there and beyond. But remember, he must have a plan B. It looks like to me he wants to be among the Best and the Brightest in the country.

Good luck.

RGK
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top