Posted on 04/03/2023 4:54:36 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
Many high school students are pushing back against the importance of test scores.
Awaiting responses from colleges on whether you were accepted or rejected can be quite stressful. That stress can quickly turn to disappointment when having been rejected from colleges that were high on your priority list.
For one high schooler, despite her high overall average when she sent out college applications, she was shocked to receive more rejections in the mail than she hadn't been anticipating.
In a TikTok video, the teenage girl, C'Lette, filmed all of the rejection letters she had received in the mail from schools that she didn't think wouldn't be accepting her, especially since she had a grade point average of 4.1.
"I was club president, in [National Honor Society], had my 'trauma' story, did nine AP classes, [and] did a NASA program," C'Lette wrote in overlay text as she recorded herself putting all of the rejection letters she had received into a trash bag......
"I did actually get into a school," she shared. "I didn't like it because it wasn't for my major." C'Lette noted that she had applied to schools under their STEM programs.
As a safety option, C'Lette had applied to other colleges, in the case that she had gotten rejected, but had been hoping it wouldn't come down to having to go to them. She explained that her SAT score had been 1100 out of 1600, and she had applied with test-optional for most of her applications.
(Excerpt) Read more at yourtango.com ...
I think we had grade-deflation at my high school 50+ years ago.
A - 95 to 100
B - 88 to 94
C - 80 to 87
D - 70 to 79
E - below 70 (yes E, guess they didn’t want to waste a letter by skipping to F)
I found it much easier to get an ‘A’ or ‘B’ in college than in my high school.
I don’t think it’s even as deep as that. Nearly four million kids graduated high school last year, and more of then ever are applying for college. There are, what- 20? 50 top schools? And of these kids are applying to 10 of them at a time. There’s no barrier if you’re getting reduced application fees.
So you get situations where schools want under represented minority female applicants, market to receive those applicants, and then get those applicants- ten or twenty thousand for under a thousand spots.
Add to that something called “yield protection”. Believe it or not, colleges are judged be how many of their accepted applicants actually attend. This leads to otherwise great students getting rejected on the assumption that they’re probably going to get accepted somewhere else and go there. There’s usually a computer algorithm involved here.
If you’ve got bright kids who want to go to competitive colleges, they better be pouring a ton of energy into “demonstrated interest” in addition to all the other BS they have to juggle.
The GPA score needs to be put in context. For example, a 4.1 GPA in a 6 point or 11 point GPA system doesn’t mean much:
“The District shall employ a uniform eleven-point weighted grading system”
My point was that an out of norm grading system needs to be explained. 4.1 out of 4 is mathematically out of norm and needs the 4.1 rationale be provided to ensure proper understanding.
Does anyone remember achievement tests? These were extra SAT exams on one subject above the primary verbal/math tests. I was applying to top STEM schools in the early 70’s and they all required two of these tests. I took math level 2 and chemistry. Good SAT scores weren’t enough to get you in, you needed to do well on these tests as well. I know sometime later the SAT was dumbed down but these seem to have disappeared.
I’m not going to make assumptions about her...
at 4.1 should should be able to get into any school other than the top tier based on academics... Unless she absolutely bombed her SATs or something.
Trust me, colleges are FULL of C students and have been for decades.
Only the absolute TOP tier schools are looking for perfect scores.
A 4.1 weighted GPA where honors courses are weighted at 5.0 and AP courses at 6.0-——is not terribly impressive.
She must be a white supremacist because she’s using whiteness standards. She should have applied to the schools using DEI.
You can take the SAT again.
With regard to GPA, the average could be deceiving. The GPA could include low grades in math and science, and if the lines up with a low score on the math portion of the GPA, the proper conclusion is that the student’s chance of success in STEM subjects is low.
Surely that’s difficult to do if there are few applicants from a given school.
I would think looking at SAT scores is a much better indicator.
1100 is unexceptional. I wonder - are the schools saying they don’t require SAT but they really do?
She needs to apply to a college she qualifies for with her SAT scores. Not everyone qualifies for the Ivy League.
He found out he only had one incorrect answer on the entire test.
Are you sure about that? One of the biggest problems I'm reading about at American universities is declining enrollments.
Probably losing international students.
There are still quite a few schools where they have a “College of Literature, Science, and Arts,” and there isn’t a separate STEM admission.
If she got only 1100 on her SAT’s with a 4.1 GPA, there is quite a bit of grade inflation.
In our local schools, an A in an AP class is worth 5 points.
This generation handles setbacks by recording themselves bemoaning the setback and posting it to social media.
I’ll give her a point for not being in a car while recording herself. That seems to be the preferred setting for social media pontificating.
“no black females “
I was a math major, I don’t recall every having a black female in any of my classes. Now it may be because I wasn’t looking (didn’t care).
And working over 30 years as an Engineer supporting DoD I only recall working with 5 black female engineers. However, black female logisticians were almost a majority.
> The school he attended was very small with only a handful of female students. (He said that none of them were the ones on the literature.)
So, how was his time at Michigan Tech...?
I went to school in the 70s. There was no such thing as AP classes, but I took calculus and a second year of biology. My GPA was under 4.0. Didn’t harm me. I had 1400 on the SAT and had top colleges send me info. But I wasn’t likely to get a scholarship at any of them and went to a state school instead.
And...I’ve had a wonderful life. Eventually went into the military instead of biology. I find the whole 4.1 GPA thing weird. You can’t GET 4.1 out of 4.0! Let your transcript stand on its own. Sounds like hers did not...
You might want to double check your source.
It looks like that's the 58th percentile.
The 85th percentile is closer to 1300.
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