Yeah, Lyons is an A-lister - Redrum - 08-04-2010
Room would be made for him even if the decision pushed into January. Â But we\'ll know sooner. Â If admissions is Door #1, Â than filling out the application and taking retests (if a bump is needed) Â is Door Zero. Â Â If he takes the time to fill out the app and visit, Â then we know that we have traction. Â If not, Â well....
Re: A guy who likes us -
Farm93 - 08-04-2010
A lot here looks solid. Â Clearly he is not at a super demanding HS since he is sporting a 5.0 GPA and yet only has that 22 ACT score (according to recruiting sites).
The academics should be fine. Â A 23 or 24 ACT would be nice, but he is clearly doing all he can at the HS he attends. Â The story implies he is already taking the best courses at the HS and has this 5.0 GPA. Â So door #1 should open.
But the real good news from the recruiting standpoint is the course work at the community college. Â Why would any 4-5 star athlete go through that trouble in HS, as a junior no less, to then attend USF? Ole Miss? South Carolina? Â or even Florida State?
I would guess the options are staying local, jumping into the big time football programs or picking the best of both world types.
Miami, Florida, Auburn, Michigan, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt & Stanford would be my guess at his top 7.
Re: A guy who likes us -
washingtonismoney - 08-04-2010
Farm93, his high school might well be very demanding...he might just not be a very good test-taker. These things are pretty common--I went to a pretty good high school and knew quite a few very smart kids who didn\'t do badly on standardized testing. I view standardized testing as an elaborate crock.
Re: A guy who likes us - Pastor - 08-04-2010
So then WM$, you must also consider things like the combines for football players as a crock, since they are doing standardized testing as well? Â Why is it bad to measure everyone by the same metric especially when that metric has been shown to be the most highly correlated factor with later performance?
Re: A guy who likes us -
washingtonismoney - 08-04-2010
Combines are pretty bad too--certainly we all can recall great workout wonders who never did much of anything in the NFL (granted, most players don\'t do much of anything in the NFL, but the rate is higher among workout wonders. OTOH, many great NFL players are anti-workout-wonders, if that makes sense--Jerry Rice ran a 4.7 40.)
I view standardized testing in exactly the same way: it\'s certainly nice to have a 4.3 40 or a 1500 SAT, and it says something about the tested individual, but what it says is much less than it\'s used for.
Re: A guy who likes us -
Farm93 - 08-04-2010
Quote:Farm93, his high school might well be very demanding...he might just not be a very good test-taker. These things are pretty common--I went to a pretty good high school and knew quite a few very smart kids who didn\'t do badly on standardized testing. I view standardized testing as an elaborate crock.
Doubt it. No Child Left Behind has forced almost every student to become pretty comfortable with oval filling. The more likely causes are that grade inflation epidemic and/or weak competition. (To be sure I checked the greatschools.net site and Dillard is not exactly Florida\'s best HS.)
But let\'s say you are also right and he is a terrible standardized test taker. That is even better because those bigger schools LOVE the ovals. If he has an oval-phobia then Vanderbilt and Stanford should quickly rise to the top.
And if he has some documented oval-phobia then his 22 will be more than enough to get through door #1. :)
Re: A guy who likes us - Pastor - 08-04-2010
Let me point out that the SAT and ACT are very different tests. Â The SAT tries (they stopped admitting this a while ago when ETS came under all the \'cultural\' issues attack) to measure potential or in the bad word, aptitude. Â The ACT measures crystalized knowledge (specific things like when did Columbus sail the ocean blue?). Â The results of the tests often are quite different. Â That this great kid took the ACT and did less than one would expect from his grades suggest that something is wrong. Â After all, didn\'t he get that 5.0 by largely taking (class) standardized tests?
That athletes get breaks from HS teachers is not uncommon. Â That\'s why standardized tests are an important part (but only a part) of the selection criteria.
Let me also note that studies done by ETS show that the SAT has been the strongest predictor of later academic performance. Â Combine that with grade history and it is really pretty good. Â But then it should be because they are testing what people largely do in college (and that too may be culturally biased).