Sidwell Junior - GPA concerns

[Anonymous]

I have kids at two Big3 schools and have found that a 3.8 or even 3.85 is totally doable for a smart, super diligent student.

A 3.95 is different territory. It means that the student excels equally in all subjects and never receives more than one A- a year. It's rare for a kid to be able to get As in all disciplines--usually you have the kids who get high As in math/science but A minuses in the humanities (or the other way around).

Plus a lot of this comes down to luck--teachers do not grade the same. There are teachers at these schools who don't give As. Or maybe they max out at giving two As per year. If you're not in the top 2 kids in the class, you get an A-. Goodbye to your 4.0 or 3.95 right there.

[Anonymous]

So many trolls in this thread. They are spreading misinformation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This class also had the Covid years and grading relaxed during those years or at least kids had a full year of online assessments (i.e things were wacky and kids could cheat, do things as a group, etc).

Cheating!?! Bite your tongue!

The real cheating is the number of kids faking ADHD type conditions and getting accommodations for school and standardized testing, a game that began in Middle School, presumably with payments to pliant psychologists. An alarmingly large number.

You’re not wrong. It’s a tricky game to play because accommodations end up on the transcript

Can anyone whose kids have accommendations confirm this? Sidwell's transcripts show the kids have accommendations, such as extended time?

No, they do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This class also had the Covid years and grading relaxed during those years or at least kids had a full year of online assessments (i.e things were wacky and kids could cheat, do things as a group, etc).

Cheating!?! Bite your tongue!

The real cheating is the number of kids faking ADHD type conditions and getting accommodations for school and standardized testing, a game that began in Middle School, presumably with payments to pliant psychologists. An alarmingly large number.

You’re not wrong. It’s a tricky game to play because accommodations end up on the transcript

Can anyone whose kids have accommendations confirm this? Sidwell's transcripts show the kids have accommendations, such as extended time?

No, they do not.

I agree as I know for fact that my DC's friends have been privately bragging to them about how they have managed to successfully game both the school (for years) and also SAT/ACT with this. These are definitely not kids who would want "accommodations "indicated on their transcript.

[Anonymous]

The letters can indicate this stuff. The school knows and finds ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have kids at two Big3 schools and have found that a 3.8 or even 3.85 is totally doable for a smart, super diligent student.

A 3.95 is different territory. It means that the student excels equally in all subjects and never receives more than one A- a year. It's rare for a kid to be able to get As in all disciplines--usually you have the kids who get high As in math/science but A minuses in the humanities (or the other way around).

Plus a lot of this comes down to luck--teachers do not grade the same. There are teachers at these schools who don't give As. Or maybe they max out at giving two As per year. If you're not in the top 2 kids in the class, you get an A-. Goodbye to your 4.0 or 3.95 right there.

All correct. But, do not underestimate the ability of wealthy parents to arrange things for their DCs (tutoring/paper writers etc) to make life easier. And there are a lot of ultra wealthy parents at Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The letters can indicate this stuff. The school knows and finds ways.

Are you from Sidwell CCO? How do you know the couselor's letter indicates a student has accomendations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP You should be worried if your kid is shooting for Ivy's/Stanford/Duke/MIT and even highly selective state schools.

We are at another big 3 and the party line is "All the colleges know how hard our school is and that no one gets all A's" Our kid took the most rigorous classes and had a similar GPA- bit higher and a 1540 SAT plus good ec's etc etc. Guess what - Rejected early at Ivy. Friend with similar stats rejected at Michigan. I know a dozen examples. Yes alums, athletes and URM are still getting in - but the regular "smart" kids who don't have the 4.0 Plus because our schools don't weight and now we don't have AP's are getting shut out.

Things are changing the colleges want the 4.8's and don't care that our schools don't give out 4.0's easily And our schools are too arrogant to acknowledge it. If this continues to play out with lackluster admissions something will hopefully change. Too Late for my kid.

Your kid would have been rejected whether there was grade deflation or not. You don't get it. The only Big 3 kids the T20 want are hooked kids.

I'm still holding out some hope in RD for my 3.85+ kid...but it definitely feels bleak so far.

What is the class rank of 3.85 at Sidwell?

Roughly 20/25

Really? A 3.85 is all As and A minuses. (My kid has this GPA)
Do 20-25 kids at Sidwell have this or better each year?

There are very few, if any straight A students in any given year, but there are a reasonable number of have all A's and A-'s.

Our kids had a 1 or 2 B+ and all A/A- otherwise and I always considered them top 25-30ish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The letters can indicate this stuff. The school knows and finds ways.

I hope this is true. The accommodations abuse has simply gone out of hand. Not much the school can do when faced with medical certification.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have kids at two Big3 schools and have found that a 3.8 or even 3.85 is totally doable for a smart, super diligent student.

A 3.95 is different territory. It means that the student excels equally in all subjects and never receives more than one A- a year. It's rare for a kid to be able to get As in all disciplines--usually you have the kids who get high As in math/science but A minuses in the humanities (or the other way around).

Plus a lot of this comes down to luck--teachers do not grade the same. There are teachers at these schools who don't give As. Or maybe they max out at giving two As per year. If you're not in the top 2 kids in the class, you get an A-. Goodbye to your 4.0 or 3.95 right there.

All correct. But, do not underestimate the ability of wealthy parents to arrange things for their DCs (tutoring/paper writers etc) to make life easier. And there are a lot of ultra wealthy parents at Sidwell.

Totally BS. With $55K tutiion, Sidwell probably has at least 50% wealthy parents by your standard. Are there 50% students in a grade having 3.95 GPA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP You should be worried if your kid is shooting for Ivy's/Stanford/Duke/MIT and even highly selective state schools.

We are at another big 3 and the party line is "All the colleges know how hard our school is and that no one gets all A's" Our kid took the most rigorous classes and had a similar GPA- bit higher and a 1540 SAT plus good ec's etc etc. Guess what - Rejected early at Ivy. Friend with similar stats rejected at Michigan. I know a dozen examples. Yes alums, athletes and URM are still getting in - but the regular "smart" kids who don't have the 4.0 Plus because our schools don't weight and now we don't have AP's are getting shut out.

Things are changing the colleges want the 4.8's and don't care that our schools don't give out 4.0's easily And our schools are too arrogant to acknowledge it. If this continues to play out with lackluster admissions something will hopefully change. Too Late for my kid.

Your kid would have been rejected whether there was grade deflation or not. You don't get it. The only Big 3 kids the T20 want are hooked kids.

I'm still holding out some hope in RD for my 3.85+ kid...but it definitely feels bleak so far.

What is the class rank of 3.85 at Sidwell?

Roughly 20/25

Really? A 3.85 is all As and A minuses. (My kid has this GPA)
Do 20-25 kids at Sidwell have this or better each year?

There are very few, if any straight A students in any given year, but there are a reasonable number of have all A's and A-'s.

Our kids had a 1 or 2 B+ and all A/A- otherwise and I always considered them top 25-30ish.

Of course the issue is whether you had mostly A Minuses and some As or mostly As and some A Minuses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP You should be worried if your kid is shooting for Ivy's/Stanford/Duke/MIT and even highly selective state schools.

We are at another big 3 and the party line is "All the colleges know how hard our school is and that no one gets all A's" Our kid took the most rigorous classes and had a similar GPA- bit higher and a 1540 SAT plus good ec's etc etc. Guess what - Rejected early at Ivy. Friend with similar stats rejected at Michigan. I know a dozen examples. Yes alums, athletes and URM are still getting in - but the regular "smart" kids who don't have the 4.0 Plus because our schools don't weight and now we don't have AP's are getting shut out.

Things are changing the colleges want the 4.8's and don't care that our schools don't give out 4.0's easily And our schools are too arrogant to acknowledge it. If this continues to play out with lackluster admissions something will hopefully change. Too Late for my kid.

Your kid would have been rejected whether there was grade deflation or not. You don't get it. The only Big 3 kids the T20 want are hooked kids.

I'm still holding out some hope in RD for my 3.85+ kid...but it definitely feels bleak so far.

What is the class rank of 3.85 at Sidwell?

Roughly 20/25

Do you work at Sidwell? I think you made this up. There should not be 20/25 kids above 3.85 if the median is 3.55/3.60.

Did not make it up. Make of it what you will.

How many then at 3.9-4.0?

Maybe 1-2 per year. Very rare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have kids at two Big3 schools and have found that a 3.8 or even 3.85 is totally doable for a smart, super diligent student.

A 3.95 is different territory. It means that the student excels equally in all subjects and never receives more than one A- a year. It's rare for a kid to be able to get As in all disciplines--usually you have the kids who get high As in math/science but A minuses in the humanities (or the other way around).

Plus a lot of this comes down to luck--teachers do not grade the same. There are teachers at these schools who don't give As. Or maybe they max out at giving two As per year. If you're not in the top 2 kids in the class, you get an A-. Goodbye to your 4.0 or 3.95 right there.

All correct. But, do not underestimate the ability of wealthy parents to arrange things for their DCs (tutoring/paper writers etc) to make life easier. And there are a lot of ultra wealthy parents at Sidwell.

Totally BS. With $55K tutiion, Sidwell probably has at least 50% wealthy parents by your standard. Are there 50% students in a grade having 3.95 GPA?

These are your assumptions/extrapolations (50 percent, 3.95 etc). The fact is that the ultra wealthy nudge their DCs outcomes upwards in all manner of ways (some more aggressively than others). This is not especially controversial news -- everyone in the school community is well aware.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP You should be worried if your kid is shooting for Ivy's/Stanford/Duke/MIT and even highly selective state schools.

We are at another big 3 and the party line is "All the colleges know how hard our school is and that no one gets all A's" Our kid took the most rigorous classes and had a similar GPA- bit higher and a 1540 SAT plus good ec's etc etc. Guess what - Rejected early at Ivy. Friend with similar stats rejected at Michigan. I know a dozen examples. Yes alums, athletes and URM are still getting in - but the regular "smart" kids who don't have the 4.0 Plus because our schools don't weight and now we don't have AP's are getting shut out.

Things are changing the colleges want the 4.8's and don't care that our schools don't give out 4.0's easily And our schools are too arrogant to acknowledge it. If this continues to play out with lackluster admissions something will hopefully change. Too Late for my kid.

Your kid would have been rejected whether there was grade deflation or not. You don't get it. The only Big 3 kids the T20 want are hooked kids.

I'm still holding out some hope in RD for my 3.85+ kid...but it definitely feels bleak so far.

What is the class rank of 3.85 at Sidwell?

Roughly 20/25

Do you work at Sidwell? I think you made this up. There should not be 20/25 kids above 3.85 if the median is 3.55/3.60.

Did not make it up. Make of it what you will.

How many then at 3.9-4.0?

Maybe 1-2 per year. Very rare.

Totally wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP You should be worried if your kid is shooting for Ivy's/Stanford/Duke/MIT and even highly selective state schools.

We are at another big 3 and the party line is "All the colleges know how hard our school is and that no one gets all A's" Our kid took the most rigorous classes and had a similar GPA- bit higher and a 1540 SAT plus good ec's etc etc. Guess what - Rejected early at Ivy. Friend with similar stats rejected at Michigan. I know a dozen examples. Yes alums, athletes and URM are still getting in - but the regular "smart" kids who don't have the 4.0 Plus because our schools don't weight and now we don't have AP's are getting shut out.

Things are changing the colleges want the 4.8's and don't care that our schools don't give out 4.0's easily And our schools are too arrogant to acknowledge it. If this continues to play out with lackluster admissions something will hopefully change. Too Late for my kid.

Your kid would have been rejected whether there was grade deflation or not. You don't get it. The only Big 3 kids the T20 want are hooked kids.

I'm still holding out some hope in RD for my 3.85+ kid...but it definitely feels bleak so far.

What is the class rank of 3.85 at Sidwell?

Roughly 20/25

Do you work at Sidwell? I think you made this up. There should not be 20/25 kids above 3.85 if the median is 3.55/3.60.

Did not make it up. Make of it what you will.

How many then at 3.9-4.0?

Maybe 1-2 per year. Very rare.

Totally wrong.

I understand that there is only one current 11th grade student with straight As (no A- or below). One, not 1-2, but rather only one. And that’s only halfway through junior year. So who knows if there will be any students with a 4.0 by the end of senior year.