4.6 GPA.. are you serious?

Thank you, JBB.

He is most definitely interested in Stanford, but with LHP's

The chance of the dance
is directly correlated to the the speed of the seed

(He's getting there, though!) Thanks again!

justbaseball,

Thanks for the info on the book. I wish I had known about it, oh, say 2 or 3 years ago, as one of my sons applied to a couple of highly selective schools this year....Bummer.

I think I will buy the book anyway, just in case....
It may even come in handy for my daughters!

By the way, I hope you get a commission on all the books you just sold!

Bum:

I know lots of schools that grade on that scale and lots that don't. But my point is that neither Stanford nor other top schools compare the grading scales between schools because they know they are different. I doubt the scale will hurt your son in any way and may, in fact, help him because it is tougher.

quote:

Originally posted by Bum:
It is a good school with a solid reputation, but I was concerned about him having a level playing field when competing for a top school. Many of the posters here feel it shouldn't be a problem, and he'll probably end up pitching for a local school he really likes, but I thought it to be an interesting question.

Bum - having gone through recruiting and the admissions process not too long ago with my daughter. I can certainly understand your concern. But I think the overwhelming majority of the people who've responded, agree; don't sweat it.

To put it in baseball terms, I think it's like a kid's batting average or ERA. Coaches know the difference between a kid hitting .650 in a lame league versus a kid hitting .350 in an elite league. They also know the stats are subjective at best.

In your case the colleges (coach/Admin) know the difference between Bum Jr. getting a 3.5 at Ultra Stingy Prep School where the average ACT is 28 versus little Jimmy getting a 4.4 at Acme Public school where the average ACT is 19.

quote:

Originally posted by justbaseball:

There's an interesting book titled, "Questions and Admissions," by Jean Fetter a former admissions dean at Stanford. Here is a link to it on Amazon.com:

Questions and Admissions

I'll second this suggestion. I bought a copy after Justbaseball suggested it to me and found it to be a GREAT read. Really gave me an appreciation for how all of this works - and what a challenging job it is to be on the admissions side of all of those applications.

08

Beezer is absolutely correct regarding the differences in high schools. Admissions offices not only recalculate weighted GPAs but they also weight them according to the high school's academic reputation and the difficulty of the coursework. They know exactly what your son's 3.7 is compared with all of the other applicants.

We just completed the application process for the final time with our daughter (she will be off to GW in the fall) and this time around our high school provided each family with access to a website where all of the applicants for the last 3 years from our school were tracked as to their admissions. See if your guidance office uses Family Connection (http://connection.naviance.com) it is a great tool.