are down the middle "average" for BYU admissions. Hard to believe that is where a 30 ACT is these days, but it is facts.

I understand that if he was that good, he could go get a 33 or 34 and be a shoo-in, regardless of grades.

Obviously, they are not.

But because 30 is "average" now...the GPA becomes a really issue especially in schools where they focus so much on weighted averages like they do in our school. They praised my son for getting a B in his IB classes, because very few got even that high. But it doesn't help you to get into BYU and it is hard to explain that to them.

How do you tell them that you don't care about getting an "advanced diploma" by having 4 years of foreign language and a certain number of IB classes, when nobody but the UVA or Univ of Maryland even knows what an advanced diploma means? My son will either be accepted or rejected by BYU long before the diplomas are awarded.

It is just another world out here.