2024 Washington DC area College commits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First, families shouldn't be sacrificing saving for college (or retirement) in favor of private school, unless the kid really does have needs that can't be met in public school.

Second, you don't know either. You specifically don't know what percent of full-pay kids at NCS/STA are full-pay now, but they're applying for FA at college. My hunch is that it's a very low percentage. You seem to think it's something like half of that 50+% figure somebody pulled out of their butt. I doubt it. For one thing, many families at these schools are really wealthy. For another thing, parents understand very well the admissions bump their kid gets by applying ED and full-pay, so they'll make it work if they can.

I'm not making any affirmative claim. It's presumptuous to say that private school families are more likely to be full pay than public school families in affluent suburbs though.

And there are plenty of posts in DCUM over the years suggesting that families make financial sacrifices to pay for private school. It's crazy that you don't see not having to pay private school tuition as making college more affordable.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:92 is not an A at Sidwell, it is the dreaded A-minus. A-minus=3.7 when GPA is calculated, so it hurts bad in college admissions. You need 93% for an A at Sidwell.

The top colleges all have local reps who understand this very well. They are paid to compare the rigor at one school to the rigor at another. Grade inflation/deflation isn't as important as some of you think it is.

Nope, more misinformation. I just listened to a podcast featuring Cornell University’s admissions director. He said that the admissions committee reviews applications in batches, by school. Students are only compared to other students at their school.

You inadvertently proved the point. Colleges are comparing kids within a school. They are not comparing a 92 at STA to a 92 at a different school because they know the rigor is different.

You get a D- for bad logic

I’m the PP, and I only posted once above. I responded to the post that said colleges compare the “rigor at one school to the rigor at another.”

You get an F for reading comprehension.

OK, wow. You don't understand that knowing SCHOOLS have different levels of rigor implies they compare KIDS within a school, not across schools?

You get a 0

You continue to struggle with reading comprehension. I can’t help you, so move along.

[Anonymous]

Prior poster at 11:33 is right. Almost every single kid getting into T20 schools is hooked. You can't see all of the hooks. Nobody has an all encompassing knowledge of legacy and other connections that families have. So many VIP parents are at Sidwell that admissions are massively affected by this factor. Private parents like to delude themselves that there is a big "Sidwell Advantage" in admissions, but in reality, the only advantages are family advantages of legacy, connections, total focus for years on college admission, and $ that the family would have anywhere. I am very confident that these Sidwell kids getting into T20s would do just as well at BCC. They would get a 4.5 GPA and have 12 APs.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell parent here. UNHOOKED Sidwell kids with a 3.7 GPA are definitely not getting into a T20 this year. This is absolute fact. This is in response to a wildly over-optimistic poster several posts ago. These colleges do not have time to try to tell if Potomac or STA or BCC or whatever school is easier or harder than another, at least for some schools, they just look at the number, and 3.7 looks worse than 3.9. How could the colleges possibly have such a granular understanding of grading at different high schools anyway?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prior poster at 11:33 is right. Almost every single kid getting into T20 schools is hooked. You can't see all of the hooks. Nobody has an all encompassing knowledge of legacy and other connections that families have. So many VIP parents are at Sidwell that admissions are massively affected by this factor. Private parents like to delude themselves that there is a big "Sidwell Advantage" in admissions, but in reality, the only advantages are family advantages of legacy, connections, total focus for years on college admission, and $ that the family would have anywhere. I am very confident that these Sidwell kids getting into T20s would do just as well at BCC. They would get a 4.5 GPA and have 12 APs.

Untrue. I know several students at Sidwell (recent graduates from the past 2 years) who attend T25 colleges and are not hooked. Many had strong high school grades, but definitely not 3.9+ GPAs (more like 3.7-3.8). Some of these students are children of immigrants, but not URM/legacies/sports recruits/VIPs. Their parents are educated, but hold regular professional UMC jobs.

One thing I do agree with is that these families had a total focus on college admissions for years, prior to applying to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell parent here. UNHOOKED Sidwell kids with a 3.7 GPA are definitely not getting into a T20 this year. This is absolute fact. This is in response to a wildly over-optimistic poster several posts ago. These colleges do not have time to try to tell if Potomac or STA or BCC or whatever school is easier or harder than another, at least for some schools, they just look at the number, and 3.7 looks worse than 3.9. How could the colleges possibly have such a granular understanding of grading at different high schools anyway?

I doubt you’re a Sidwell parent, but you’re certainly clueless. Per the Cornell admissions director, colleges compare students within a high school; not across high schools. The bar for course rigor, ECs, LORs, etc are set by fellow applicants from Sidwell, not applicants from STA, GDS, Whitman, etc…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell parent here. UNHOOKED Sidwell kids with a 3.7 GPA are definitely not getting into a T20 this year. This is absolute fact. This is in response to a wildly over-optimistic poster several posts ago. These colleges do not have time to try to tell if Potomac or STA or BCC or whatever school is easier or harder than another, at least for some schools, they just look at the number, and 3.7 looks worse than 3.9. How could the colleges possibly have such a granular understanding of grading at different high schools anyway?

I doubt you’re a Sidwell parent, but you’re certainly clueless. Per the Cornell admissions director, colleges compare students within a high school; not across high schools. The bar for course rigor, ECs, LORs, etc are set by fellow applicants from Sidwell, not applicants from STA, GDS, Whitman, etc…

That is at one college - Cornell. They do not speak for all colleges. Many of us have been doing tours and asking questions directly and are hearing otherwise and mostly hearing that they usually do not recalculate GPAs for one and for two they are more likely to compare kids from all schools in an area rather than just be up againt kids at one school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell parent here. UNHOOKED Sidwell kids with a 3.7 GPA are definitely not getting into a T20 this year. This is absolute fact. This is in response to a wildly over-optimistic poster several posts ago. These colleges do not have time to try to tell if Potomac or STA or BCC or whatever school is easier or harder than another, at least for some schools, they just look at the number, and 3.7 looks worse than 3.9. How could the colleges possibly have such a granular understanding of grading at different high schools anyway?

I doubt you’re a Sidwell parent, but you’re certainly clueless. Per the Cornell admissions director, colleges compare students within a high school; not across high schools. The bar for course rigor, ECs, LORs, etc are set by fellow applicants from Sidwell, not applicants from STA, GDS, Whitman, etc…

That is at one college - Cornell. They do not speak for all colleges. Many of us have been doing tours and asking questions directly and are hearing otherwise and mostly hearing that they usually do not recalculate GPAs for one and for two they are more likely to compare kids from all schools in an area rather than just be up againt kids at one school.

Also you realize some colleges only have a few kids if that applying from their school. Many schools in this area are small - less than 100 kids per grade.

[Anonymous]

Anybody who thinks an unhooked kid with a 3.7 is getting into a T20 college this year is nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anybody who thinks an unhooked kid with a 3.7 is getting into a T20 college this year is nuts.

plenty Big3 parents do. My kid is a junior and their friends with that GPA are touring all top20 schools. I can think of a half dozen kids like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anybody who thinks an unhooked kid with a 3.7 is getting into a T20 college this year is nuts.

“It always seems impossible until it's done."

-Nelson Mandela

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anybody who thinks an unhooked kid with a 3.7 is getting into a T20 college this year is nuts.

plenty Big3 parents do. My kid is a junior and their friends with that GPA are touring all top20 schools. I can think of a half dozen kids like this.

Why are you moving the goalposts? The discussion centers around T25 schools, not T20. It’s already been proven that Sidwell sent at least half of the c/o 2023 to T25 colleges. Do you think half of that graduating class had 3.7+ GPAs (hooked or unhooked)?

[Anonymous]

12:59 poster-half of kids at Sidwell probably have either a major hook or they are top 10-15% of class. The hooks are not always obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anybody who thinks an unhooked kid with a 3.7 is getting into a T20 college this year is nuts.

plenty Big3 parents do. My kid is a junior and their friends with that GPA are touring all top20 schools. I can think of a half dozen kids like this.

Why are you moving the goalposts? The discussion centers around T25 schools, not T20. It’s already been proven that Sidwell sent at least half of the c/o 2023 to T25 colleges. Do you think half of that graduating class had 3.7+ GPAs (hooked or unhooked)?

i don't know. my kid is at NCS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anybody who thinks an unhooked kid with a 3.7 is getting into a T20 college this year is nuts.

plenty Big3 parents do. My kid is a junior and their friends with that GPA are touring all top20 schools. I can think of a half dozen kids like this.

Why are you moving the goalposts? The discussion centers around T25 schools, not T20. It’s already been proven that Sidwell sent at least half of the c/o 2023 to T25 colleges. Do you think half of that graduating class had 3.7+ GPAs (hooked or unhooked)?

i don't know. my kid is at NCS.

My daughter is also at NCS and we will be touring a few schools that she is not even interested in that are in the same vicinity of the ones she is interested in just to get a perspective and I also think you learn a lot about what you like and don't like on every tour.