Sidwell, 3.93 1570 Junior - T10 prospects?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure thing:
ED to UChicago, Vandy, or Bowdoin/Middlebury kinda thing. Would get into any.

Sure thing:
RD to any 10 schools from this list: top 10s, ND, Georgetown, Williams, Rice, USC, Michigan. Will get into min 2 of these. Probably more.

Chicago, Bowdoin, Middlebury go far lower than a 3.93 from Sidwell or similar.
Even in 2024.

That’s what makes it a sure thing, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does the school college counselor say?

The counselor is not going to be useful.....they will only make sure you have reasonable safety schools and will say the obvious that there could be a chance at T10 but it's unpredictable. (This is assuming this person has no hooks.)

But DCUM will be useful?

Seriously, what are you paying for?

Honestly, I learned infinitely more about college landscape from DCUM than I ever learned from Sidwell CCO - We learned zero from them. So - I definitely didn't pay Sidwell for college counseling advice. I paid them for a great education. That's about it. Not much more.

Sidwell CCO is totally useless.

I’d bet the feeling is mutual. They are just fine

What a nasty comment. CCOs shouldn't let their personal feelings get in the way of their job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does the school college counselor say?

The counselor is not going to be useful.....they will only make sure you have reasonable safety schools and will say the obvious that there could be a chance at T10 but it's unpredictable. (This is assuming this person has no hooks.)

But DCUM will be useful?

Seriously, what are you paying for?

Honestly, I learned infinitely more about college landscape from DCUM than I ever learned from Sidwell CCO - We learned zero from them. So - I definitely didn't pay Sidwell for college counseling advice. I paid them for a great education. That's about it. Not much more.

Sidwell CCO is totally useless.

I’d bet the feeling is mutual. They are just fine

Yes. Earning salaries while not doing much. I am sure the CCO is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will never understand why the parents of kids attending one of the nation’s most elite prep schools and paying tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege have to come to this website and seek anonymous advice about their children’s college admissions prospects. What are you paying for? Doesn’t Sidwell have a guidance department? It’s just so odd.

Agree with what the other PP answered and will add that the parent community is oddly hush hush about these things....and the school doesn't wish to hear anything (or it becomes clear they won't be changing anything)...so people are left to let it out here.

It really is sad. Unfortunate. I wish they would genuinely invest on changing the culture for the kids, improve relationship with parents, encourage more mentoring among teachers, and take a stab at improving other aspects where there is clear room for improvement.
Perhaps there could be some hope that some of this can slowly be desired and accomplished by the new leadership in HS.

And parents know their kid’s biggest competition is other SFS students so they don’t talk about it except to their private college consultants. Weird, I agree.

NP. Sidwell CCO (like much of the rest of Sidwell admin) has mastered the art of being superficially pleasant while being vague to the point of utter uselessness. Our kid is already in ED at their top choice. But I would give zero credit to the CCO.

This is such a perfect description.

I'd also add that it becomes clear after the fact (when parents are suddenly willing to speak) that CCO support is a vastly different experience for certain students/families. I can't really identify clear categories for this group - I'm not trying to be vague - but every once in a while you'd have a conversation with someone and think - hmm - is this the same CCO that worked (or didn't) with our family/child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell parents don't complain because they are terrified of pissing off the CCO, which could lead to a less than stellar counselor's letter for their DC. A less than stellar letter would directly decrease admission chances to college.

Overall, unhooked kids are better off for college admissions to go to MCPS to get a sky high GPA and tons of AP classes.

Confirm this.

Sidwell parent with one DC in college and another in HS.

Why is your 2nd kid still at Sidwell then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell parents don't complain because they are terrified of pissing off the CCO, which could lead to a less than stellar counselor's letter for their DC. A less than stellar letter would directly decrease admission chances to college.

Overall, unhooked kids are better off for college admissions to go to MCPS to get a sky high GPA and tons of AP classes.

Also confirm - and we had a legitimate problem where we did have to call or an application would have not met deadline (100% their fault). We then had another situation later, that despite talking through with the CCO and them coming up with a best-practices plan, they didn't follow through. The whole time is walking on eggshells if you actually need something that only they can do - because they assume from the start you are a pain. Not to mention, they don't know your kid at all. (which is no different than public school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To PP above whose kid “stepped down”, there must be a hook of some kind. Only kids I’ve ever seen get into T10 without highest rigor box checked were hooked. VIPs in particular have the strongest hook.

You don't "get it" - taking Math I/II and Calc 1/2 - gets the same designation of rigor from Sidwell CCO on transcript and in letters. Even though Math III/IV is much harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell parents don't complain because they are terrified of pissing off the CCO, which could lead to a less than stellar counselor's letter for their DC. A less than stellar letter would directly decrease admission chances to college.

Overall, unhooked kids are better off for college admissions to go to MCPS to get a sky high GPA and tons of AP classes.

Confirm this.

Sidwell parent with one DC in college and another in HS.

Why is your 2nd kid still at Sidwell then?

Good question that we have asked ourselves many times. Too deep into HS for DC2 before we found out. But other circumstances too. Hard to change schools once in HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d say Top 40 likely but without stellar ECs more like Tufts than Yale. Definitely consider Cornell as it’s probably the most likely.

Only if an alum. Don't burn ED on Cornell otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:T10 used to take more of a chance on interesting kids with less than 4.0 GPAs. My feeling is that they don't bother anymore with top privates. The kids all look (or make themselves) interesting. So, stats are mostly all that matter unless you can fake an interest in an exotic major (commonly used strategy)

I didn't think the .07 shy of a 4.0 is the concern here, it's the lack of rigor in STEM (important for all T10 admits regardless of major) and the lack of state or national recognition in ECs.

As a fellow Sidwell family - I read top-rigor but not Math III to mean they took the 1A science courses, Math I, Math II, Calc I, Calc 2. There's no "choice of rigor" in English/History/language beyond taking the course. There's one level. So if you follow the take 4 years of all five subject areas - the only way to have rigor is via science/math.

They might be more advanced in a language, actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d say Top 40 likely but without stellar ECs more like Tufts than Yale. Definitely consider Cornell as it’s probably the most likely.

Only if an alum. Don't burn ED on Cornell otherwise.

+2 It is tough out there for the unhooked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe not HPSM but could be competitive for Columbia, Duke, Yale, Penn

+1 they have a shooter's chance at the second group but would probably avoid the first group

Do you two posters really think this person would have a better or different shot at Princeton than Yale? If so, I'd be interested in hearing your explanations. The other schools in the second group make sense to me, especially given the ED options.

Sidwell traditionally sends more kids to Yale than Princeton, though there have been a surprising number of acceptances there in recent years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, not taking Math III and Math IV is going to knock this student down a tier in the rigor assessment, even if the kid is not going to major in STEM. T10 schools know the Sidwell math curriculum well. There will be kids who did do Math III and Math IV and got As and have overall GPAs above 3.95, usually 3 - 5 kids in a grade of 125. Remember you are competing directly against kids from your own school (Sidwell). T10 ED or EA will be challenging with this profile, IMO.

Disagree. If they end up in AB/BC Calc with that strong GPA, they won't be knocked down at all.

[Anonymous]

Yale has a lower acceptance rate than Princeton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the non Sidwell parents of the world...what is Math III/IV?

Theoretical math sequence.

NP. So my DC’s very similar to OP’s but IS taking the theoretical math sequence… does my kid have a better shot at T10 due to the “increased” rigor?

Probably better to cast it as different rather than better.

Face it, pre-COVID anyhow, a 3.9+ at Sidwell was very very rare....maybe 1 or possibly 2 4.0's in a grade, and 3.9 would be top ten. 3.8 would be like top 30 and so on.

So a 3.93 is likely a top 5/10 in the grade and should put this kid with that 5% chance at any school in the country. Of course, once you get past the first tranche of review, it is a total crapshoot, and they should plan accordingly in terms of programs, size, setting, geography etc that interest them and focus more on that and less on "T10" or "Ivy" or whatever.

A kid who is interest in Brown should have zero interest in Columbia or Chicago. A kid interested in Dartmouth should have a different opinion of Columbia or Penn. They need to think about what kind of experience they want to have and hone.