Phillips Andover Overhauls Grading Scheme To Give Majority Of Students 4.0+ GPAs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everyone has straight A’s, then no one does.

But they balance it out with high act and sats then it does matter. Gpa matters whether you like it or not. Look at Instagram pages and where these kids are going. Schools known for having many kids with learning disabilities are sending the same number of kids to top colleges as top privates. It’s not rocket science.

Yeah, if you look at the matriculations for Field and Bullis, they are not any different than Sidwell or NCS. In 2024, high school rigor just does not matter. If so, then savvy families will put their kid in lower-tier high schools where they can get easy A's.

Changing up the school profile to help out the students is the smart thing to do, and it will encourage families to keep their kids in rigorous high schools. The old, "A 3.4 GPA means a lot for this high school" does not matter anymore. Colleges want to see straight-A's whether you go to Phillips Exeter or Dunbar. If that's the reality, then rigorous prep schools are engaging in malpractice by giving their kids deflated GPAs.

Yep. You literally can attend Field and have a pleasant high school experience filled with project-based learning and test retakes or NCS where you are sweating it out to hope you get the one 90% given in the class for your essay that would get an A in a senior level literature class at most top 20 colleges.

Hmm.

Which would you pick?

Yes, and then end up at Tulane, Indiana, or Syracuse while the Field kid gets to pick between Yale, Columbia, and UPenn.

Indiana as in Notre Dame?

Tulane and Syracuse are great schools.

Right? Indiana U. is solid, even if it’s not ND. Sister-in-law went to Syracuse for undergrad, got her PhD at UChicago. Undergrad is overrated. What you do with it is much more important. The East Coast/Ivy League snobbery is nauseating.

I am the poster above that said they are great schools and they are but I understand what previous poster is saying about having several kids and watching one who you know is a much better student and probably brighter who is working much harder not even have a chance of going to a school ranked as high as the other child who got to go to a much easier school with less work and got a higher GPA. As a parent it is hard to watch the unfairness of that situation.

It is happening this year to a few of my friends.

Yes, life is so unfair to kids going to $60k/yr schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everyone has straight A’s, then no one does.

But they balance it out with high act and sats then it does matter. Gpa matters whether you like it or not. Look at Instagram pages and where these kids are going. Schools known for having many kids with learning disabilities are sending the same number of kids to top colleges as top privates. It’s not rocket science.

Yeah, if you look at the matriculations for Field and Bullis, they are not any different than Sidwell or NCS. In 2024, high school rigor just does not matter. If so, then savvy families will put their kid in lower-tier high schools where they can get easy A's.

Changing up the school profile to help out the students is the smart thing to do, and it will encourage families to keep their kids in rigorous high schools. The old, "A 3.4 GPA means a lot for this high school" does not matter anymore. Colleges want to see straight-A's whether you go to Phillips Exeter or Dunbar. If that's the reality, then rigorous prep schools are engaging in malpractice by giving their kids deflated GPAs.

Yep. You literally can attend Field and have a pleasant high school experience filled with project-based learning and test retakes or NCS where you are sweating it out to hope you get the one 90% given in the class for your essay that would get an A in a senior level literature class at most top 20 colleges.

Hmm.

Which would you pick?

Yes, and then end up at Tulane, Indiana, or Syracuse while the Field kid gets to pick between Yale, Columbia, and UPenn.

Indiana as in Notre Dame?

Tulane and Syracuse are great schools.

Right? Indiana U. is solid, even if it’s not ND. Sister-in-law went to Syracuse for undergrad, got her PhD at UChicago. Undergrad is overrated. What you do with it is much more important. The East Coast/Ivy League snobbery is nauseating.

You might be shocked to learn that not everyone gets a PhD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everyone has straight A’s, then no one does.

But they balance it out with high act and sats then it does matter. Gpa matters whether you like it or not. Look at Instagram pages and where these kids are going. Schools known for having many kids with learning disabilities are sending the same number of kids to top colleges as top privates. It’s not rocket science.

Yeah, if you look at the matriculations for Field and Bullis, they are not any different than Sidwell or NCS. In 2024, high school rigor just does not matter. If so, then savvy families will put their kid in lower-tier high schools where they can get easy A's.

Changing up the school profile to help out the students is the smart thing to do, and it will encourage families to keep their kids in rigorous high schools. The old, "A 3.4 GPA means a lot for this high school" does not matter anymore. Colleges want to see straight-A's whether you go to Phillips Exeter or Dunbar. If that's the reality, then rigorous prep schools are engaging in malpractice by giving their kids deflated GPAs.

Field and Bullis’ college admissions results are nothing like Sidwell’s. Those schools are not close to Sidwell’s level.

For example, over a period of FOUR years (2020 to 2023), Sidwell sent at least 4 students to EVERY Ivy plus Stanford. In contrast, over a period of FIVE years (2019 to 2023), Bullis sent at least 4 students to only Cornell, Penn, Harvard, Yale and Stanford. Further, over a period of FIVE years (2019 to 2023), Field sent at least THREE students ONLY to Penn. over that same FIVE year period, ZERO students were admitted to Brown, Yale or Stanford.

Sidwell: https://www.sidwell.edu/academics/college-counseling/college-matriculation

Bullís: https://www.bullis.org/academics/college-counseling/college-matriculation

Field: https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/14oJLbZ6pp5BUOyimR9S69OEgsEQQq-328bmATE__VLM/mobilebasic

But Sidwell also has a survey this year that said most of the kids were depressed and unhappy? It’s on another thread so something is not right if that’s the case.

Most teens are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everyone has straight A’s, then no one does.

I don't think this really applies to Andover. Everyone knows that a student in the median of Andover can easily get through a T20 school. On the contrary, many of the public school valedictorians are showing up to elite campuses unable to do critical readings or write quality essays. Why do you think the elite schools are now rushing back to mandating SATs?

I would much rather have a median Andover/Exeter student on my campus than a "test-optional" public school kid in the top 5% of their class.

Did you forget that we head a pandemic thar shut down public facilities, including SAT, and then they reopened afterward?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everyone has straight A’s, then no one does.

But they balance it out with high act and sats then it does matter. Gpa matters whether you like it or not. Look at Instagram pages and where these kids are going. Schools known for having many kids with learning disabilities are sending the same number of kids to top colleges as top privates. It’s not rocket science.

Yeah, if you look at the matriculations for Field and Bullis, they are not any different than Sidwell or NCS. In 2024, high school rigor just does not matter. If so, then savvy families will put their kid in lower-tier high schools where they can get easy A's.

Changing up the school profile to help out the students is the smart thing to do, and it will encourage families to keep their kids in rigorous high schools. The old, "A 3.4 GPA means a lot for this high school" does not matter anymore. Colleges want to see straight-A's whether you go to Phillips Exeter or Dunbar. If that's the reality, then rigorous prep schools are engaging in malpractice by giving their kids deflated GPAs.

Yep. You literally can attend Field and have a pleasant high school experience filled with project-based learning and test retakes or NCS where you are sweating it out to hope you get the one 90% given in the class for your essay that would get an A in a senior level literature class at most top 20 colleges.

Hmm.

Which would you pick?

This narrative is getting so old and it is inaccurate. My daughter regularly gets over a 90 in every class at NCS. It's not easy, she works really hard, but she says that she knows other girls doing just as well or better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everyone has straight A’s, then no one does.

But they balance it out with high act and sats then it does matter. Gpa matters whether you like it or not. Look at Instagram pages and where these kids are going. Schools known for having many kids with learning disabilities are sending the same number of kids to top colleges as top privates. It’s not rocket science.

Yeah, if you look at the matriculations for Field and Bullis, they are not any different than Sidwell or NCS. In 2024, high school rigor just does not matter. If so, then savvy families will put their kid in lower-tier high schools where they can get easy A's.

Changing up the school profile to help out the students is the smart thing to do, and it will encourage families to keep their kids in rigorous high schools. The old, "A 3.4 GPA means a lot for this high school" does not matter anymore. Colleges want to see straight-A's whether you go to Phillips Exeter or Dunbar. If that's the reality, then rigorous prep schools are engaging in malpractice by giving their kids deflated GPAs.

Yep. You literally can attend Field and have a pleasant high school experience filled with project-based learning and test retakes or NCS where you are sweating it out to hope you get the one 90% given in the class for your essay that would get an A in a senior level literature class at most top 20 colleges.

Hmm.

Which would you pick?

This narrative is getting so old and it is inaccurate. My daughter regularly gets over a 90 in every class at NCS. It's not easy, she works really hard, but she says that she knows other girls doing just as well or better.

So NCS grade deflation is a myth?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If college admissions officers need a dumb gpa to tell them that, then we’re all in trouble.

It's the algorithm, not the officers. Kids get cut before anyone who matters sees their file.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everyone has straight A’s, then no one does.

But they balance it out with high act and sats then it does matter. Gpa matters whether you like it or not. Look at Instagram pages and where these kids are going. Schools known for having many kids with learning disabilities are sending the same number of kids to top colleges as top privates. It’s not rocket science.

Yeah, if you look at the matriculations for Field and Bullis, they are not any different than Sidwell or NCS. In 2024, high school rigor just does not matter. If so, then savvy families will put their kid in lower-tier high schools where they can get easy A's.

Changing up the school profile to help out the students is the smart thing to do, and it will encourage families to keep their kids in rigorous high schools. The old, "A 3.4 GPA means a lot for this high school" does not matter anymore. Colleges want to see straight-A's whether you go to Phillips Exeter or Dunbar. If that's the reality, then rigorous prep schools are engaging in malpractice by giving their kids deflated GPAs.

Yep. You literally can attend Field and have a pleasant high school experience filled with project-based learning and test retakes or NCS where you are sweating it out to hope you get the one 90% given in the class for your essay that would get an A in a senior level literature class at most top 20 colleges.

Hmm.

Which would you pick?

Yes, and then end up at Tulane, Indiana, or Syracuse while the Field kid gets to pick between Yale, Columbia, and UPenn.

Indiana as in Notre Dame?

Tulane and Syracuse are great schools.

Right? Indiana U. is solid, even if it’s not ND. Sister-in-law went to Syracuse for undergrad, got her PhD at UChicago. Undergrad is overrated. What you do with it is much more important. The East Coast/Ivy League snobbery is nauseating.

I am the poster above that said they are great schools and they are but I understand what previous poster is saying about having several kids and watching one who you know is a much better student and probably brighter who is working much harder not even have a chance of going to a school ranked as high as the other child who got to go to a much easier school with less work and got a higher GPA. As a parent it is hard to watch the unfairness of that situation.

It is happening this year to a few of my friends.

Yes, life is so unfair to kids going to $60k/yr schools.

The price tag of a school is irrelevant to this discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everyone has straight A’s, then no one does.

But they balance it out with high act and sats then it does matter. Gpa matters whether you like it or not. Look at Instagram pages and where these kids are going. Schools known for having many kids with learning disabilities are sending the same number of kids to top colleges as top privates. It’s not rocket science.

Yeah, if you look at the matriculations for Field and Bullis, they are not any different than Sidwell or NCS. In 2024, high school rigor just does not matter. If so, then savvy families will put their kid in lower-tier high schools where they can get easy A's.

Changing up the school profile to help out the students is the smart thing to do, and it will encourage families to keep their kids in rigorous high schools. The old, "A 3.4 GPA means a lot for this high school" does not matter anymore. Colleges want to see straight-A's whether you go to Phillips Exeter or Dunbar. If that's the reality, then rigorous prep schools are engaging in malpractice by giving their kids deflated GPAs.

Yep. You literally can attend Field and have a pleasant high school experience filled with project-based learning and test retakes or NCS where you are sweating it out to hope you get the one 90% given in the class for your essay that would get an A in a senior level literature class at most top 20 colleges.

Hmm.

Which would you pick?

This narrative is getting so old and it is inaccurate. My daughter regularly gets over a 90 in every class at NCS. It's not easy, she works really hard, but she says that she knows other girls doing just as well or better.

So NCS grade deflation is a myth?

Different poster here .
No. Average gpa is a 3.5. The fact that a few girls do well does not mean that there is not grade deflation.

My daughter has had a 90+ in all classes and she's worked insanely hard and has definitely had some luck too. College counseling says she is near the top of the grade and is recommending ivies and similar. But she wants a fun school. She is frankly miserable and done with the insanity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everyone has straight A’s, then no one does.

But they balance it out with high act and sats then it does matter. Gpa matters whether you like it or not. Look at Instagram pages and where these kids are going. Schools known for having many kids with learning disabilities are sending the same number of kids to top colleges as top privates. It’s not rocket science.

Yeah, if you look at the matriculations for Field and Bullis, they are not any different than Sidwell or NCS. In 2024, high school rigor just does not matter. If so, then savvy families will put their kid in lower-tier high schools where they can get easy A's.

Changing up the school profile to help out the students is the smart thing to do, and it will encourage families to keep their kids in rigorous high schools. The old, "A 3.4 GPA means a lot for this high school" does not matter anymore. Colleges want to see straight-A's whether you go to Phillips Exeter or Dunbar. If that's the reality, then rigorous prep schools are engaging in malpractice by giving their kids deflated GPAs.

Yep. You literally can attend Field and have a pleasant high school experience filled with project-based learning and test retakes or NCS where you are sweating it out to hope you get the one 90% given in the class for your essay that would get an A in a senior level literature class at most top 20 colleges.

Hmm.

Which would you pick?

Yes, and then end up at Tulane, Indiana, or Syracuse while the Field kid gets to pick between Yale, Columbia, and UPenn.

Indiana as in Notre Dame?

Tulane and Syracuse are great schools.

Right? Indiana U. is solid, even if it’s not ND. Sister-in-law went to Syracuse for undergrad, got her PhD at UChicago. Undergrad is overrated. What you do with it is much more important. The East Coast/Ivy League snobbery is nauseating.

I am the poster above that said they are great schools and they are but I understand what previous poster is saying about having several kids and watching one who you know is a much better student and probably brighter who is working much harder not even have a chance of going to a school ranked as high as the other child who got to go to a much easier school with less work and got a higher GPA. As a parent it is hard to watch the unfairness of that situation.

It is happening this year to a few of my friends.

Definitely happened this year.

[Anonymous]

I’m waiting for college admissions to go “grades optional” next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everyone has straight A’s, then no one does.

But they balance it out with high act and sats then it does matter. Gpa matters whether you like it or not. Look at Instagram pages and where these kids are going. Schools known for having many kids with learning disabilities are sending the same number of kids to top colleges as top privates. It’s not rocket science.

Yeah, if you look at the matriculations for Field and Bullis, they are not any different than Sidwell or NCS. In 2024, high school rigor just does not matter. If so, then savvy families will put their kid in lower-tier high schools where they can get easy A's.

Changing up the school profile to help out the students is the smart thing to do, and it will encourage families to keep their kids in rigorous high schools. The old, "A 3.4 GPA means a lot for this high school" does not matter anymore. Colleges want to see straight-A's whether you go to Phillips Exeter or Dunbar. If that's the reality, then rigorous prep schools are engaging in malpractice by giving their kids deflated GPAs.

Yep. You literally can attend Field and have a pleasant high school experience filled with project-based learning and test retakes or NCS where you are sweating it out to hope you get the one 90% given in the class for your essay that would get an A in a senior level literature class at most top 20 colleges.

Hmm.

Which would you pick?

This narrative is getting so old and it is inaccurate. My daughter regularly gets over a 90 in every class at NCS. It's not easy, she works really hard, but she says that she knows other girls doing just as well or better.

So NCS grade deflation is a myth?

Different poster here .
No. Average gpa is a 3.5. The fact that a few girls do well does not mean that there is not grade deflation.

My daughter has had a 90+ in all classes and she's worked insanely hard and has definitely had some luck too. College counseling says she is near the top of the grade and is recommending ivies and similar. But she wants a fun school. She is frankly miserable and done with the insanity.

some teachers are just absolutely harder graders. all the girls know this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everyone has straight A’s, then no one does.

But they balance it out with high act and sats then it does matter. Gpa matters whether you like it or not. Look at Instagram pages and where these kids are going. Schools known for having many kids with learning disabilities are sending the same number of kids to top colleges as top privates. It’s not rocket science.

Yeah, if you look at the matriculations for Field and Bullis, they are not any different than Sidwell or NCS. In 2024, high school rigor just does not matter. If so, then savvy families will put their kid in lower-tier high schools where they can get easy A's.

Changing up the school profile to help out the students is the smart thing to do, and it will encourage families to keep their kids in rigorous high schools. The old, "A 3.4 GPA means a lot for this high school" does not matter anymore. Colleges want to see straight-A's whether you go to Phillips Exeter or Dunbar. If that's the reality, then rigorous prep schools are engaging in malpractice by giving their kids deflated GPAs.

Yep. You literally can attend Field and have a pleasant high school experience filled with project-based learning and test retakes or NCS where you are sweating it out to hope you get the one 90% given in the class for your essay that would get an A in a senior level literature class at most top 20 colleges.

Hmm.

Which would you pick?

This narrative is getting so old and it is inaccurate. My daughter regularly gets over a 90 in every class at NCS. It's not easy, she works really hard, but she says that she knows other girls doing just as well or better.

So NCS grade deflation is a myth?

Different poster here .
No. Average gpa is a 3.5. The fact that a few girls do well does not mean that there is not grade deflation.

My daughter has had a 90+ in all classes and she's worked insanely hard and has definitely had some luck too. College counseling says she is near the top of the grade and is recommending ivies and similar. But she wants a fun school. She is frankly miserable and done with the insanity.

some teachers are just absolutely harder graders. all the girls know this.

Yes. 100% and there are girls who have been royalty screwed by this (not mine but ones I know). You don't get to choose your teachers and you can just end up with the ones who are harder graders (to the point that they don't give As while your classmates get easy As in another section. The school knows about it and they don't care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everyone has straight A’s, then no one does.

But they balance it out with high act and sats then it does matter. Gpa matters whether you like it or not. Look at Instagram pages and where these kids are going. Schools known for having many kids with learning disabilities are sending the same number of kids to top colleges as top privates. It’s not rocket science.

Yeah, if you look at the matriculations for Field and Bullis, they are not any different than Sidwell or NCS. In 2024, high school rigor just does not matter. If so, then savvy families will put their kid in lower-tier high schools where they can get easy A's.

Changing up the school profile to help out the students is the smart thing to do, and it will encourage families to keep their kids in rigorous high schools. The old, "A 3.4 GPA means a lot for this high school" does not matter anymore. Colleges want to see straight-A's whether you go to Phillips Exeter or Dunbar. If that's the reality, then rigorous prep schools are engaging in malpractice by giving their kids deflated GPAs.

Yep. You literally can attend Field and have a pleasant high school experience filled with project-based learning and test retakes or NCS where you are sweating it out to hope you get the one 90% given in the class for your essay that would get an A in a senior level literature class at most top 20 colleges.

Hmm.

Which would you pick?

This narrative is getting so old and it is inaccurate. My daughter regularly gets over a 90 in every class at NCS. It's not easy, she works really hard, but she says that she knows other girls doing just as well or better.

So NCS grade deflation is a myth?

Different poster here .
No. Average gpa is a 3.5. The fact that a few girls do well does not mean that there is not grade deflation.

My daughter has had a 90+ in all classes and she's worked insanely hard and has definitely had some luck too. College counseling says she is near the top of the grade and is recommending ivies and similar. But she wants a fun school. She is frankly miserable and done with the insanity.

If she is so burned out from the insane pressure cooker that is NCS that she doesn’t want Ivy and similar, what has all that hard work done for her? What was she working so hard to get?

What is the point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everyone has straight A’s, then no one does.

But they balance it out with high act and sats then it does matter. Gpa matters whether you like it or not. Look at Instagram pages and where these kids are going. Schools known for having many kids with learning disabilities are sending the same number of kids to top colleges as top privates. It’s not rocket science.

Yeah, if you look at the matriculations for Field and Bullis, they are not any different than Sidwell or NCS. In 2024, high school rigor just does not matter. If so, then savvy families will put their kid in lower-tier high schools where they can get easy A's.

Changing up the school profile to help out the students is the smart thing to do, and it will encourage families to keep their kids in rigorous high schools. The old, "A 3.4 GPA means a lot for this high school" does not matter anymore. Colleges want to see straight-A's whether you go to Phillips Exeter or Dunbar. If that's the reality, then rigorous prep schools are engaging in malpractice by giving their kids deflated GPAs.

Yep. You literally can attend Field and have a pleasant high school experience filled with project-based learning and test retakes or NCS where you are sweating it out to hope you get the one 90% given in the class for your essay that would get an A in a senior level literature class at most top 20 colleges.

Hmm.

Which would you pick?

This narrative is getting so old and it is inaccurate. My daughter regularly gets over a 90 in every class at NCS. It's not easy, she works really hard, but she says that she knows other girls doing just as well or better.

So NCS grade deflation is a myth?

Different poster here .
No. Average gpa is a 3.5. The fact that a few girls do well does not mean that there is not grade deflation.

My daughter has had a 90+ in all classes and she's worked insanely hard and has definitely had some luck too. College counseling says she is near the top of the grade and is recommending ivies and similar. But she wants a fun school. She is frankly miserable and done with the insanity.

Why is she working so hard? Is she a perfectionist?