Straight As but can’t get into college

[Anonymous]

Not every student at your so-called top colleges has straight As. That's not how college admissions works. And not every straight A student goes to a top college, obviously.

[Anonymous]

OP - you need to fix the title of your post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In DMV what percent of High schoolers have 4.0s or greater (both public and private). I am guessing probably around 30% or more. So if there are 100k seniors in DMV that means close to 30k kids think they can get into a top school. Is this accurate thinking?

The valedictorian in DD's high school class went to nursing school, and not a top one. She wasn't all that smart, but she really, really cared about her GPA, and yes, she had a 4.0 when she graduated.

I don't know what a 4.0 means, really. Some intellectually incurious kids at my child's high school have a 4.0. They aren't going to top schools, which recognize grade inflation and kids who take less strenuous classes to keep their perfect gpa.

[Anonymous]

I never get these grade inflation posts.
My teen is in MCPS. She’s very smart, gets 95-99% on maps, same on cogat, works hard, and she doesn’t get all a’s. Who are these teachers giving out all a’s to everyone? She apparently does not get those teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DMV what percent of High schoolers have 4.0s or greater (both public and private). I am guessing probably around 30% or more. So if there are 100k seniors in DMV that means close to 30k kids think they can get into a top school. Is this accurate thinking?

The valedictorian in DD's high school class went to nursing school, and not a top one. She wasn't all that smart, but she really, really cared about her GPA, and yes, she had a 4.0 when she graduated.

I don't know what a 4.0 means, really. Some intellectually incurious kids at my child's high school have a 4.0. They aren't going to top schools, which recognize grade inflation and kids who take less strenuous classes to keep their perfect gpa.

Whereas I know some unprepped kids with 1500+ SAT scores in one sitting with unweighted 3.5/weighted 4.0 who blow your mind when you talk to them because they are just head an shoulders above in knowledge and thought process. That's why colleges will never rely on numbers alone.

[Anonymous]

At our FCPS high school, the regular level classes hand out As for just showing up, but the IB classes require insane amounts of work and even the top performers can’t get an A.

When the acceptances roll in, the straight A kids in the regular classes are appropriately placed at average universities and the A/B/and even occasional C kids in all IB classes are headed to the top schools who recognized their effort and achievement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DMV what percent of High schoolers have 4.0s or greater (both public and private). I am guessing probably around 30% or more. So if there are 100k seniors in DMV that means close to 30k kids think they can get into a top school. Is this accurate thinking?

The valedictorian in DD's high school class went to nursing school, and not a top one. She wasn't all that smart, but she really, really cared about her GPA, and yes, she had a 4.0 when she graduated.

I don't know what a 4.0 means, really. Some intellectually incurious kids at my child's high school have a 4.0. They aren't going to top schools, which recognize grade inflation and kids who take less strenuous classes to keep their perfect gpa.

Did you measure her IQ? I hate when parents bash children, it's so gross and inappropriate. Imagine your teen's friend talking about you - her dad has a beer belly, bad breath, and is not all that smart based on his job/house/car. Her mom has a FUPA and graduated from podunk U. OP, my first graduated with 4.0 (he had all A/A+ since middle school) and not a lot of kids were in that bucket. He was admitted to our state flagship U. Straight A (unweighted) kids will get into college, maybe not HYP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never get these grade inflation posts.
My teen is in MCPS. She’s very smart, gets 95-99% on maps, same on cogat, works hard, and she doesn’t get all a’s. Who are these teachers giving out all a’s to everyone? She apparently does not get those teachers.

+1 I don't get it either. My child is at a non-W MCPS HS. Also, 95+% percentile on standardized tests and hasn't got all A's since MS. Yes, he has had some teachers that grade easy and give full credit for completion, but in math, English, and Spanish, most of his teachers were fair or hard graders.

Also, college admissions outcomes for all A's students aren't much better than students with a few B's.

[Anonymous]

Just an example:

Harvard and Stanford Universities both received well above 57,000 applications.

They accepted around 2200.

I am sure the vast majority of all the 54,000 who were not accepted had all As.

There are hundreds of high quality colleges in this country and abroad, where kids can get a perfectly good education and go on to have successful lives. If only they had the parents supporting them and not making them feel like crap because they didn't get into an Ivy League school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never get these grade inflation posts.
My teen is in MCPS. She’s very smart, gets 95-99% on maps, same on cogat, works hard, and she doesn’t get all a’s. Who are these teachers giving out all a’s to everyone? She apparently does not get those teachers.

+1 I don't get it either. My child is at a non-W MCPS HS. Also, 95+% percentile on standardized tests and hasn't got all A's since MS. Yes, he has had some teachers that grade easy and give full credit for completion, but in math, English, and Spanish, most of his teachers were fair or hard graders.

Also, college admissions outcomes for all A's students aren't much better than students with a few B's.

Grade inflation, or lack thereof, varies widely by high school. Often even among teachers at the same high school.

Forgive this statement of the obvious, but the nut of the issue is that GPA is not a standardized metric in any way, though we toss around the numbers as if they are.

[Anonymous]

I don't get OP's post. Is she talking unweighted? FWIW, a 4.0 is only the 25th percentile (bottom) for incoming students last year at UVA. A 4.97 is the 75th percentile. Same at W&M. It is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DMV what percent of High schoolers have 4.0s or greater (both public and private). I am guessing probably around 30% or more. So if there are 100k seniors in DMV that means close to 30k kids think they can get into a top school. Is this accurate thinking?

Unweighted? No way.

There are very few kids with 4.0s unweighted. Look in Scattergrams and switch to unweighted. Only a handful at our very large W school. 4.0 weighted - that's another story and not considered high.

OP is imagining things. The percentage of kids with 4.0 unweighted is less than 10%. My kid’s graduating class from a magnet school had ~5% of students honored for a 4.0.

Kids with strong grades will get into colleges, even if they don’t have a 4.0. If a straight A student didn’t get accepted to the schools they applied to, then they ignored all advice on how to pick matches and safeties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get OP's post. Is she talking unweighted? FWIW, a 4.0 is only the 25th percentile (bottom) for incoming students last year at UVA. A 4.97 is the 75th percentile. Same at W&M. It is what it is.

UVA and W&M 75th percentile of accepted students is NOT 4.97. That's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get OP's post. Is she talking unweighted? FWIW, a 4.0 is only the 25th percentile (bottom) for incoming students last year at UVA. A 4.97 is the 75th percentile. Same at W&M. It is what it is.

UVA and W&M 75th percentile of accepted students is NOT 4.97. That's ridiculous.

The grade inflation at public high schools is laughable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get OP's post. Is she talking unweighted? FWIW, a 4.0 is only the 25th percentile (bottom) for incoming students last year at UVA. A 4.97 is the 75th percentile. Same at W&M. It is what it is.

UVA and W&M 75th percentile of accepted students is NOT 4.97. That's ridiculous.

Not the PP but just FYI, the average w GPA for all UVA admits/enrolled as of 2020 was 4.3. Nearly 90% admitted/enrolled had a GPA of at least 4.0.