Where do low A- students from highly selective, rigorous, elite high schools get in?

[Anonymous]

Looking for more updated suggestions for this profile (3.8) from private selective HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking for more updated suggestions for this profile (3.8) from private selective HS.

How much do you think the landscape has changed in four months that you needed “updated suggestions”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking for more updated suggestions for this profile (3.8) from private selective HS.

A 3.8, UNweighted I presume based on the original post:
-This is 3rd or 4th decile GPAwise at the private schools and the public magnet in our area. For the public magnet, that makes them out of reach for UVA or W&M. For the privates, they would still have a chance at those, since those schools get kids in from below the 25% somewhat regularly.
-I have heard of some northeast boarding schools where 3.8UW is top 15% and those schools get 15% or more into Ivy/ivy-+, and OOS Uva and UNC happens deep into the middle of the class.
-Course rigor not just rank matters. College AOs see the transcript and know the courses the prep school offers based on information the school provides the colleges, so rigor is known and more important than GPA. No one here can tell you whether your student's courses are average or near the top. There are private school profiles that indicate the average APs is 6-7 total and the top 20% take 12+. Rigor is evaluated in context of the HS.
Real anecdote from '22: 3.75 unweighted, 5APs total, some honors. I do not know scores. The student was the bottom 20% of the prep school based on rank and rigor, parents were only informed when they asked directly after being steered toward colleges they thought beneath them (JMU, U of SC, Elon, Furman) only to find out the truth that they had zero chance at the instates(UVA, WM) or U of R, Colby, Haverford as they were no where near the middle of the pack. They expanded the search and found a great less-competitive SLAC and the kid is thriving.

You need to talk to the school counselor and find out what the relative rank is and how the student's rigor compares to peers and ask directly what are the most common colleges where students with profiles like yours end up.are admitted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GC thinks it is too early? What her grade?

11th

They said spring, so it should be soon. But it's disappointing because it doesn't leave much time for tours before the end of this school year.

Did the GC finally have a meeting with you or the student? I have never heard of a prep school, especially a "known big name" one, not doing preliminary meetings by the end of 10th at the latest, and usually the broad list making is done by middle of junior year. Tours are encouraged to start sophomore spring break for basic investigation, then fine tune list later. Something is not right. Maybe your school has given college likelies/targets/reaches but you are shopping for other advice here? Trust the school. They know. And they may not officially rank but they do track it, they do write at least a decile/estimate in the GC letter(unless bottom half then they say nothing).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking for more updated suggestions for this profile (3.8) from private selective HS.

A 3.8, UNweighted I presume based on the original post:
-This is 3rd or 4th decile GPAwise at the private schools and the public magnet in our area. For the public magnet, that makes them out of reach for UVA or W&M. For the privates, they would still have a chance at those, since those schools get kids in from below the 25% somewhat regularly.
-I have heard of some northeast boarding schools where 3.8UW is top 15% and those schools get 15% or more into Ivy/ivy-+, and OOS Uva and UNC happens deep into the middle of the class.
-Course rigor not just rank matters. College AOs see the transcript and know the courses the prep school offers based on information the school provides the colleges, so rigor is known and more important than GPA. No one here can tell you whether your student's courses are average or near the top. There are private school profiles that indicate the average APs is 6-7 total and the top 20% take 12+. Rigor is evaluated in context of the HS.
Real anecdote from '22: 3.75 unweighted, 5APs total, some honors. I do not know scores. The student was the bottom 20% of the prep school based on rank and rigor, parents were only informed when they asked directly after being steered toward colleges they thought beneath them (JMU, U of SC, Elon, Furman) only to find out the truth that they had zero chance at the instates(UVA, WM) or U of R, Colby, Haverford as they were no where near the middle of the pack. They expanded the search and found a great less-competitive SLAC and the kid is thriving.

You need to talk to the school counselor and find out what the relative rank is and how the student's rigor compares to peers and ask directly what are the most common colleges where students with profiles like yours end up.are admitted.

Average GPA at our private is a 3.5. Top GPA is a 3.95
A GPA of 3.8 is not 4th decile. It's easily within the second decile.


3.55 to 3.65 fourth 10th
3.65 to 3.75 third 10th
3.75 to 3.85 second 10th
3.85 to 3.95 top 10th

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking for more updated suggestions for this profile (3.8) from private selective HS.

A 3.8, UNweighted I presume based on the original post:
-This is 3rd or 4th decile GPAwise at the private schools and the public magnet in our area. For the public magnet, that makes them out of reach for UVA or W&M. For the privates, they would still have a chance at those, since those schools get kids in from below the 25% somewhat regularly.
-I have heard of some northeast boarding schools where 3.8UW is top 15% and those schools get 15% or more into Ivy/ivy-+, and OOS Uva and UNC happens deep into the middle of the class.
-Course rigor not just rank matters. College AOs see the transcript and know the courses the prep school offers based on information the school provides the colleges, so rigor is known and more important than GPA. No one here can tell you whether your student's courses are average or near the top. There are private school profiles that indicate the average APs is 6-7 total and the top 20% take 12+. Rigor is evaluated in context of the HS.
Real anecdote from '22: 3.75 unweighted, 5APs total, some honors. I do not know scores. The student was the bottom 20% of the prep school based on rank and rigor, parents were only informed when they asked directly after being steered toward colleges they thought beneath them (JMU, U of SC, Elon, Furman) only to find out the truth that they had zero chance at the instates(UVA, WM) or U of R, Colby, Haverford as they were no where near the middle of the pack. They expanded the search and found a great less-competitive SLAC and the kid is thriving.

You need to talk to the school counselor and find out what the relative rank is and how the student's rigor compares to peers and ask directly what are the most common colleges where students with profiles like yours end up.are admitted.

Average GPA at our private is a 3.5. Top GPA is a 3.95
A GPA of 3.8 is not 4th decile. It's easily within the second decile.


3.55 to 3.65 fourth 10th
3.65 to 3.75 third 10th
3.75 to 3.85 second 10th
3.85 to 3.95 top 10th

That was my point, it depends on the school. It is 3rd or 4th at the ones I know. 3.75 unweighted with minimal honors is bottom 20% at one. 3.8 is top10% at the boarding school. It depends. OP needs to find out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking for more updated suggestions for this profile (3.8) from private selective HS.

A 3.8, UNweighted I presume based on the original post:
-This is 3rd or 4th decile GPAwise at the private schools and the public magnet in our area. For the public magnet, that makes them out of reach for UVA or W&M. For the privates, they would still have a chance at those, since those schools get kids in from below the 25% somewhat regularly.
-I have heard of some northeast boarding schools where 3.8UW is top 15% and those schools get 15% or more into Ivy/ivy-+, and OOS Uva and UNC happens deep into the middle of the class.
-Course rigor not just rank matters. College AOs see the transcript and know the courses the prep school offers based on information the school provides the colleges, so rigor is known and more important than GPA. No one here can tell you whether your student's courses are average or near the top. There are private school profiles that indicate the average APs is 6-7 total and the top 20% take 12+. Rigor is evaluated in context of the HS.
Real anecdote from '22: 3.75 unweighted, 5APs total, some honors. I do not know scores. The student was the bottom 20% of the prep school based on rank and rigor, parents were only informed when they asked directly after being steered toward colleges they thought beneath them (JMU, U of SC, Elon, Furman) only to find out the truth that they had zero chance at the instates(UVA, WM) or U of R, Colby, Haverford as they were no where near the middle of the pack. They expanded the search and found a great less-competitive SLAC and the kid is thriving.

You need to talk to the school counselor and find out what the relative rank is and how the student's rigor compares to peers and ask directly what are the most common colleges where students with profiles like yours end up.are admitted.

Average GPA at our private is a 3.5. Top GPA is a 3.95
A GPA of 3.8 is not 4th decile. It's easily within the second decile.


3.55 to 3.65 fourth 10th
3.65 to 3.75 third 10th
3.75 to 3.85 second 10th
3.85 to 3.95 top 10th

That was my point, it depends on the school. It is 3rd or 4th at the ones I know. 3.75 unweighted with minimal honors is bottom 20% at one. 3.8 is top10% at the boarding school. It depends. OP needs to find out.

Its really high at ours too (think WashU; Emory; Georgetown admits)

[Anonymous]

UVA