Well, if you are "getting nervous" because Princeton might be out of reach, you are approaching the process wrong. Most applicants will be rejected from highly selective colleges. Do the math. Your kid has to find a range that he/she can imagine being their new home for the next few years. Make that your goal, not achieving perfection to ensure admission to at T20. That is the wrong goal. You want a place that will take you kid. Where your kid will be happy and finish growing to adulthood, while receiving a strong education. |
Yeah, you just can't build your whole outlook around one college. |
4 x B+ Freshman Year (Only A in History)
1 B+ (English), 1 B (Math) Sophomore Year A's and A-'s for the rest, coming out of a 'top' local private. DC attended a T10. |
any A-s? if you don't mind sharing, what was overall GPA when apps were submitted? |
I get so tired of the "in publics everyone should get an A b/c of retakes" nonsense. Our school does allow retakes, but only up to an 80. That isn't going to get you an A. Maybe it's helping a kid not get a C. |
GPA on the common data set is useless since there’s no clarity about weighted vs. unweighted. Many schools don’t even complete that section. If Princeton is using weighted GPA for its report, likely many of the 68% are going to have had Bs in rigorous classes. |
URM or other hook? that's important context. |
The issue here is that these are sometimes in conflict. If Kid X has all-As in regular classes and Kid Y has 2Bs and 1 B- in AP or IB classes, will Kid X be looked at more favorably because of the As? Or will admissions overlook the B or B- that Kid Y has when they see that it’s in a “rigorous” course. I know maybe we *shouldn’t* compare—but since we’re told that admissions considers students compared to how they perform against other students at they’re own school, I am curious to know the heirarchy in this scenario. Seriously. It’s obviously “better” to get As in the tough test courses if you can. But if a student takes the toughest courses and gets a B-, would the student have been “better off” take the regular course and getting an A —-in the eyes of admissions, that is? |
Depends on public or private high school |
There is no conflict for admission to the top schools. They want to see the highest GPA in the most rigorous courses offered by the high school. They (AO) can tell this from the profile sent by the high school. Hence, UVA takes mostly from the top 6% of the class in the most rigorous courses offered by the high school with a GPA of 4.51. So the very top kids. Statistically you get more leniency if URM or first generation. Talk to your high school counselor. |
UVA pretty much said it's not an either/or for all As and rigor. It's an AND for them. |
Princeton is using unweighted GPA as are all other top schools on the common data set. I originally listed Princeton bc it was the one I looked at - but if 68% of kids are entering with 4.0s then I'm pretty sure it's similar at other highly selective schools. |
Coming out of top private is a huge hook. |
This. People have no idea what the retake policies actually are. It doesn’t mean all As. |
Is there a way to know what recommenders wrote? |