DBHS Junior Bulletin
College Information April 2018
Private Universities & Letters of Recommendation
Students that plan on applying to a private university next year (USC, Stanford, Pomona Pitzer, etc), MUST attend an informational meeting at lunch time on Tuesday, May 1st in the theater. The GLCs will be presenting all the information you will need in preparation of requesting a letter of recommendation (LOR) senior year. Information regarding Private School admissions and the Common Application will be discussed as well.
Researching Colleges
· Last month we provided a link to www.collegeboard.org, which is great for researching GPA’s and SAT ranges for students who actually got into different schools you’re considering. Each school’s College Board page also provides tons of information regarding setting, number of undergraduates, cost of attendance, etc.
· College Board also has a great tool for finding schools you possibly hadn’t considered previously. If you go to https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search, you’ll find a search engine that lets you narrow down the range of schools by location, major, type of school, and many other factors. You begin with over 3700 schools, but if you’re realistic about what’s really important to you, you can pare down that range dramatically and maybe find some new schools to consider.
· Another great research tool is www.unigo.com. This website provides much of the same information, but they also provide ratings from current students on subjects like food, housing, academics, class size, along with multiple reviews that provide insight into how students really feel about their school. Here’s a sampling of some of the student threads: What’s the one thing you wish someone had told you about freshman year? Is the stereotype of students at your school accurate? Describe your favorite campus traditions. What do you brag about most when you talk about your school?
GPA Concerns
When you’re researching potential universities to apply to, it’s a good idea to research GPA ranges for students that actually got into that school last year. A good place to see this information is www.collegeboard.org. For example, the information for Cal Poly Pomona is here - https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/california-state-polytechnic-university-pomona.
If you click on “Applying”, then click on “Academics & GPA,” you’ll find that 30% of the students who got in Cal Poly Pomona last year had over a 3.75, and 17% of the students who got in had under a 3.0. Take this information for what it is – a student with a 3.8 isn’t guaranteed admission, but she certainly has a better chance than someone with a 2.8. Looking at another school will tell you that over 80% of the students who were admitted to UC San Diego had over a 3.75, so someone with a 3.5 would just know that that particular school would be very tough for them to get in, based on GPA at least.
DBHS doesn’t weight our GPA’s, but that won’t hurt you at all. Every university to which you apply knows that we don’t weight the GPA, but they all weight your honors and AP classes themselves so they actually prefer that we don’t. Every year people tell us they heard that some universities don’t care about AP courses, but that’s incorrect. University admissions officers are smart people looking for other smart people, so of course they weight your tough classes because they want to see who is challenging themselves with rigorous work. They know students who have pushed themselves will do better in college, and they recognize that it takes more effort to earn a B in AP French than an A in French IV. And for those of you hoping that A in PE looks really good, sorry, but it isn’t factored into your academic GPA.
To calculate your GPA for the UC system, take all of your A-G approved academic grades from the summer before 10th grade to the summer after 11th grade, give 4 points for A’s, 3 points for B’s, 2 points for C’s, 1 point for D’s, and divide by the number of classes. For weighted GPA, give an extra point for all AP classes as well as English, French, Korean, Chinese, and Spanish III Honors (so an A in English III H would count as 5, a B would count for 4). You can do this – we’re always amazed that someone in AP Calculus can’t figure out their weighted GPA!
Class of 2019 GLCs
Academics, Athletics, Activities, Arts
Contact Mr. Gonzales or Mrs. Burns for questions!
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