What happens with the Big3 kids who have sub 3.0 GPAs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more to life than letter grades. My kid has learned a lot more about how to be a good student in private school than he ever did in public school. Showing up, handing in decent (not outstanding) work, and behaving himself should not earn him As but that's all it took in public school. My DS has a 3.2ish UW GPA in private school and he will be very well prepared for college wherever he goes.

Sounds like you are trying to justify money spent. That is not my experience in publics with my child. Going to T25 next year…

it was money well spent for my kid at a private. 3.6 GPA and going to an Ivy.

That 3.0 kid might have fallen through the cracks and not done work in a big public. The private might have been sitting on them and giving them extra help and there was nowhere for them to hide. They might have had more options for college because they wouldn’t have had close to a 3.0 in public. No way to know that, but many parents are paying for more than just college outcomes.

My kid graduated from one of these so-called Big 3s. In fact, they were thrilled to have my B- kid and nobody could have cared less that he wasn't getting better grades. They have to be able to have a large margin between the top of the class and the bottom. They offered no way to help him (he worked incredibly hard and, according to multiple neuropsych evals is smarter than 99% of the population on almost every scale--but has severe ADHD and massive executive function deficit), pigeon-holed him by his first semester freshman year. College counselor told him to apply to High Point. My genius kid was not going to High Point--got into Top 20 thanks to connections and is doing brilliantly. Now my younger is stuck at one of these privates going through the exact same thing. I know if they were at a public they would be given many more opportunities for re-takes and extra credits, which the private refuses to do. I believe that hard-working, middle of the pack kids have a much better chance at better colleges if they go to a strong public. I despise our private, but spouse will not listen to reason.

[Anonymous]

To Pp above, your DC would have fallen between the cracks at one of the gigantic publics, not sure that would have yielded better outcome or made school more enjoyable for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more to life than letter grades. My kid has learned a lot more about how to be a good student in private school than he ever did in public school. Showing up, handing in decent (not outstanding) work, and behaving himself should not earn him As but that's all it took in public school. My DS has a 3.2ish UW GPA in private school and he will be very well prepared for college wherever he goes.

Sounds like you are trying to justify money spent. That is not my experience in publics with my child. Going to T25 next year…

it was money well spent for my kid at a private. 3.6 GPA and going to an Ivy.

That 3.0 kid might have fallen through the cracks and not done work in a big public. The private might have been sitting on them and giving them extra help and there was nowhere for them to hide. They might have had more options for college because they wouldn’t have had close to a 3.0 in public. No way to know that, but many parents are paying for more than just college outcomes.

My kid graduated from one of these so-called Big 3s. In fact, they were thrilled to have my B- kid and nobody could have cared less that he wasn't getting better grades. They have to be able to have a large margin between the top of the class and the bottom. They offered no way to help him (he worked incredibly hard and, according to multiple neuropsych evals is smarter than 99% of the population on almost every scale--but has severe ADHD and massive executive function deficit), pigeon-holed him by his first semester freshman year. College counselor told him to apply to High Point. My genius kid was not going to High Point--got into Top 20 thanks to connections and is doing brilliantly. Now my younger is stuck at one of these privates going through the exact same thing. I know if they were at a public they would be given many more opportunities for re-takes and extra credits, which the private refuses to do. I believe that hard-working, middle of the pack kids have a much better chance at better colleges if they go to a strong public. I despise our private, but spouse will not listen to reason.

So your kid likely would have gone to the same school regardless of public or private because you had connections to get an under qualified student admitted. That may be the best answer for how do mediocre Big 3 kids end up in good schools. I feel bad for the financial aid kid getting the 2.9 who doesn't have similar connections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To Pp above, your DC would have fallen between the cracks at one of the gigantic publics, not sure that would have yielded better outcome or made school more enjoyable for your kid.

Our pk-12 is more than happy to let the kids who muddle along continue to muddle along year after year. It’s really lazy teaching and childhood development. The teacher conferences and report cards are vague as well. They are not getting “lots of attention” and scaffolding and growth not really even a small class size, any year. Private has been a disappointment. We hope to consolidate our children elsewhere once Covid issues are over. It’s been 5 too many years at a wash dc private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more to life than letter grades. My kid has learned a lot more about how to be a good student in private school than he ever did in public school. Showing up, handing in decent (not outstanding) work, and behaving himself should not earn him As but that's all it took in public school. My DS has a 3.2ish UW GPA in private school and he will be very well prepared for college wherever he goes.

Sounds like you are trying to justify money spent. That is not my experience in publics with my child. Going to T25 next year…

it was money well spent for my kid at a private. 3.6 GPA and going to an Ivy.

LOL. Big 3 posters insist that they don't send their kids to those schools for college admissions, but once they get into a top college it suddenly becomes "money well spent."

Hypocrites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more to life than letter grades. My kid has learned a lot more about how to be a good student in private school than he ever did in public school. Showing up, handing in decent (not outstanding) work, and behaving himself should not earn him As but that's all it took in public school. My DS has a 3.2ish UW GPA in private school and he will be very well prepared for college wherever he goes.

Sounds like you are trying to justify money spent. That is not my experience in publics with my child. Going to T25 next year…

it was money well spent for my kid at a private. 3.6 GPA and going to an Ivy.

LOL. Big 3 posters insist that they don't send their kids to those schools for college admissions, but once they get into a top college it suddenly becomes "money well spent."

Hypocrites.

You can't believe everything you read here so...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To Pp above, your DC would have fallen between the cracks at one of the gigantic publics, not sure that would have yielded better outcome or made school more enjoyable for your kid.

Our pk-12 is more than happy to let the kids who muddle along continue to muddle along year after year. It’s really lazy teaching and childhood development. The teacher conferences and report cards are vague as well. They are not getting “lots of attention” and scaffolding and growth not really even a small class size, any year. Private has been a disappointment. We hope to consolidate our children elsewhere once Covid issues are over. It’s been 5 too many years at a wash dc private.

Which grade? which school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more to life than letter grades. My kid has learned a lot more about how to be a good student in private school than he ever did in public school. Showing up, handing in decent (not outstanding) work, and behaving himself should not earn him As but that's all it took in public school. My DS has a 3.2ish UW GPA in private school and he will be very well prepared for college wherever he goes.

Sounds like you are trying to justify money spent. That is not my experience in publics with my child. Going to T25 next year…

it was money well spent for my kid at a private. 3.6 GPA and going to an Ivy.

LOL. Big 3 posters insist that they don't send their kids to those schools for college admissions, but once they get into a top college it suddenly becomes "money well spent."

Hypocrites.

Why are you still on this thread?

[Anonymous]

So, sub 3.0 is due to hard grading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more to life than letter grades. My kid has learned a lot more about how to be a good student in private school than he ever did in public school. Showing up, handing in decent (not outstanding) work, and behaving himself should not earn him As but that's all it took in public school. My DS has a 3.2ish UW GPA in private school and he will be very well prepared for college wherever he goes.

Sounds like you are trying to justify money spent. That is not my experience in publics with my child. Going to T25 next year…

it was money well spent for my kid at a private. 3.6 GPA and going to an Ivy.

LOL. Big 3 posters insist that they don't send their kids to those schools for college admissions, but once they get into a top college it suddenly becomes "money well spent."

Hypocrites.

They’re baiting you and it seems to have worked brilliantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, sub 3.0 is due to hard grading?

It's due to very high expectations, no opportunities for retakes or extra credit, as in public. In public, hard work alone almost always yields good grades. In these privates, the kids who don't absolutely excel are prohibited from moving into APs or honors classes and given no chances, whatsoever, to improve their position in their class. Something has to set the highest level students apart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, sub 3.0 is due to hard grading?

Basically. In MCPS they have quarterly and semester grades. Only the semester grades are official, but grading is closed out each quarter so the semester grading is not cumulative. They call quarters “Marking Periods” or MPs and your combined semester grade is the higher of your two MPs. So if you get a A in MP1 an a B in MP2, your first semester grade is A. It makes no sense but that’s how they do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, sub 3.0 is due to hard grading?

It's due to very high expectations, no opportunities for retakes or extra credit, as in public. In public, hard work alone almost always yields good grades. In these privates, the kids who don't absolutely excel are prohibited from moving into APs or honors classes and given no chances, whatsoever, to improve their position in their class. Something has to set the highest level students apart.

Not really the case at our big 3 private, there is no prohibition to move into honors classes. We don’t have APs anyway.
I don’t know which school you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, sub 3.0 is due to hard grading?

It's due to very high expectations, no opportunities for retakes or extra credit, as in public. In public, hard work alone almost always yields good grades. In these privates, the kids who don't absolutely excel are prohibited from moving into APs or honors classes and given no chances, whatsoever, to improve their position in their class. Something has to set the highest level students apart.

Not really the case at our big 3 private, there is no prohibition to move into honors classes. We don’t have APs anyway.
I don’t know which school you are talking about.

If it's due to high expectations, hard grading or whatnot, do these kids, at least, score respectable SAT scores? Like above 1450+?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, sub 3.0 is due to hard grading?

It's due to very high expectations, no opportunities for retakes or extra credit, as in public. In public, hard work alone almost always yields good grades. In these privates, the kids who don't absolutely excel are prohibited from moving into APs or honors classes and given no chances, whatsoever, to improve their position in their class. Something has to set the highest level students apart.

Not really the case at our big 3 private, there is no prohibition to move into honors classes. We don’t have APs anyway.
I don’t know which school you are talking about.

If it's due to high expectations, hard grading or whatnot, do these kids, at least, score respectable SAT scores? Like above 1450+?

The sub 3.0 kids? I bet they do.