At top private HS, how much does lower humanities grades hurt?

[Anonymous]

DC is a junior at a top private in NYC (Horace Mann/Collegiate/Dalton/Brearly equiv). All As in STEM classes, but gets B to A- in English/History. Overall GPA is about 3.8. SAT is 1560 (800M). will be applying as math or cs major. No legacy. URM.

Any chance at Ivys with this type of profile?

[Anonymous]

In March, NYC private school counselors will begin college counseling for junior. You will get much much better advice from your school counselors. But I think B from Horace Mann/Collegiate/Dalton/Brearly is not a bad grade. Relax.

[Anonymous]

What do you expect us to say? That your kid has a 10% less likelihood of getting into an Ivy because he got a B in a humanities class? Hire a college counselor if you want someone to throw generalizations at you.

[Anonymous]

OP: want to add: finished Calc BC in 10th grade. Will finish Multivar calc and Linear Alg by graduation. Not sure if this makes any difference

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you expect us to say? That your kid has a 10% less likelihood of getting into an Ivy because he got a B in a humanities class? Hire a college counselor if you want someone to throw generalizations at you.

OP: Just want to set expectations for ourselves. If it's not possible, then fine. If there's a shot, DC will def give it a try. that's all

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind chance at Ivies even for the applicants with straight A's across all subject areas- i.e. very low.
Whether student is or isn't in the top 10% of their class at Horace Mann likely matters more than a couple of grades.

[Anonymous]

I mean, are other kids in his school going to be applying to the same schools with the same major & they don't have a humanities slump & have the same rigor in STEM?

[Anonymous]

Honestly, it doesn’t matter. it matters more if that aligns with his intended major. But even still. They aren’t looking for robots. That said he’s competing with kids who are 3.9 and up! I really wouldn’t worry that much. Just let him pick the school he wants to and let the chips fall where they may!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you expect us to say? That your kid has a 10% less likelihood of getting into an Ivy because he got a B in a humanities class? Hire a college counselor if you want someone to throw generalizations at you.

OP: Just want to set expectations for ourselves. If it's not possible, then fine. If there's a shot, DC will def give it a try. that's all

Class rank/percentage matters. The CDS data for all of of Ivy+ schools shows that about 90% of their admits were in the top decile in their high school. Horace Mann is a feeder so they might take a few just below but much higher chance if at the top of class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, it doesn’t matter. it matters more if that aligns with his intended major. But even still. They aren’t looking for robots. That said he’s competing with kids who are 3.9 and up! I really wouldn’t worry that much. Just let him pick the school he wants to and let the chips fall where they may!

How did you conclude he is a robot?

[Anonymous]

I'd think an ED to WashU or similar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you expect us to say? That your kid has a 10% less likelihood of getting into an Ivy because he got a B in a humanities class? Hire a college counselor if you want someone to throw generalizations at you.

OP: Just want to set expectations for ourselves. If it's not possible, then fine. If there's a shot, DC will def give it a try. that's all

Did you ask your private school for information about how your child ranks relative to their peers? Did you talk to your school's college counselor about where they think your child is likely to be admitted?

[Anonymous]

OP, is attending an Ivy League school your goal, or your kid's?

It matters because he would be able to articulate the why in B

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: want to add: finished Calc BC in 10th grade. Will finish Multivar calc and Linear Alg by graduation. Not sure if this makes any difference

It matters if he is one of 5 people that took multivariable, versus 50 people.
Honestly, he sounds like a CMU CS or Engineering kid to me, should be a shoo-in. Cornell is highly likely if he wants engineering.
Penn likes near perfect transcript so may be more difficult but it always depends on your high school.

Talk to your school counselor in March, they will quickly figure it out for your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, are other kids in his school going to be applying to the same schools with the same major & they don't have a humanities slump & have the same rigor in STEM?

This. He will be compared first and foremost to other applicants from his high school. If they're applying to the same schools with no B's then they'll look better. We have no way of advising you.
From our "top" DC private, 3.8's are the gray area. An Ivy admit is possible but it depends entirely on who else is applying and also what the rest of your application looks like. You can get an Ivy admit or strike out at that GPA.