Where do the B+ - high SAT students go

[Anonymous]

Apply widely. Apply to 10 schools. She'll have choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the B+ for UW? How does one even determine whether weighted gpa is A or B?

Honestly in the CDS for any of the strong schools, you know the score is weighted because the average reported GPA is over 4.0. If a "good" school has 3.65 or something like that you know they are reporting unweighted (often because they have a lot of private school applicants, so you see this more at private LACs).

[Anonymous]

Tulane, SMU, UMiami, lower-tier NESCACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tulane, SMU, UMiami, lower-tier NESCACs.

Did I read in this thread or another one - Tulane has an admit rate of ~9.5%. That pretty much rules out the B+ student.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the HS. Tulane was exactly where several B+ students were accepted from my DS's school. Course rigor matters, as does demonstrated interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the HS. Tulane was exactly where several B+ students were accepted from my DS's school. Course rigor matters, as does demonstrated interest.

Well def that, but that's a much smaller sliver. Think full pay is also a thumb on the scale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tulane, SMU, UMiami, lower-tier NESCACs.

Did I read in this thread or another one - Tulane has an admit rate of ~9.5%. That pretty much rules out the B+ student.

More like 13%. But point is the same. But there are a lot of B+ students there--it doesn't seem to be purely a scores-based meritocracy. Its review process for need and merit awards is need-blind, but you can click a box that says you don't want to be considered for aid to indicate your full-pay status.

[Anonymous]

Following. Kid is at Sidwell. I’d celebrate kid’s 3.8(uw) all day over a 4.54(w) from Moco or any local public except TJ to demonstrate the actual value-add of HS .... but this does not help at all when top schools over-value those 4.54s.

How does Michigan or UCLA not know that so many 4.7s are the product of unlimited test retakes, super scoring in HS, creatively averaged quarter grades to blur achievement gaps, etc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Following. Kid is at Sidwell. I’d celebrate kid’s 3.8(uw) all day over a 4.54(w) from Moco or any local public except TJ to demonstrate the actual value-add of HS .... but this does not help at all when top schools over-value those 4.54s.

How does Michigan or UCLA not know that so many 4.7s are the product of unlimited test retakes, super scoring in HS, creatively averaged quarter grades to blur achievement gaps, etc?

I notice private school parents have all these myths about public school grading. At least in our FCPS schools, the quarter grades are percentages calculated like anything else, there aren't test re-takes unless you fail and you are then limited to a C on the retake even if you score 100 percent. The retake policy is to prevent kids from failing/dropping out of school, not to help those who are gunning for selective schools. Super-scoring is a word for SATs that is open to all private and public schools at the college that accept it. The weighting policy on APs is transparent, reported on school profiles and colleges rescore according to their preferences. Personally I think private schools started dropping APs when parents noticed their kids weren't getting higher exam scores than public school kids and started questioning the value. I went to private schools, I think they offer a great education, but you're really confused if you think public schools have some big advantage in college admissions. Of course you're free to stop paying gazillionK a year and send your kid to one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Following. Kid is at Sidwell. I’d celebrate kid’s 3.8(uw) all day over a 4.54(w) from Moco or any local public except TJ to demonstrate the actual value-add of HS .... but this does not help at all when top schools over-value those 4.54s.

How does Michigan or UCLA not know that so many 4.7s are the product of unlimited test retakes, super scoring in HS, creatively averaged quarter grades to blur achievement gaps, etc?

I think the colleges recalculate the GPA so all the fluff courses get dropped. Band, photography, art history and shop ...all of them are discarded. As for SATs, if you have money to send to Sidwell, then colleges expect that your kid can easily get 1550 in SAT.

Kid is in STEM magnet in MCPS. Probably will get celebrated because of perfect stats and ECs. No hooks thankfully, so will get in because of himself and not because he is Asian-American male.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Following. Kid is at Sidwell. I’d celebrate kid’s 3.8(uw) all day over a 4.54(w) from Moco or any local public except TJ to demonstrate the actual value-add of HS .... but this does not help at all when top schools over-value those 4.54s.

How does Michigan or UCLA not know that so many 4.7s are the product of unlimited test retakes, super scoring in HS, creatively averaged quarter grades to blur achievement gaps, etc?

I notice private school parents have all these myths about public school grading. At least in our FCPS schools, the quarter grades are percentages calculated like anything else, there aren't test re-takes unless you fail and you are then limited to a C on the retake even if you score 100 percent. The retake policy is to prevent kids from failing/dropping out of school, not to help those who are gunning for selective schools. Super-scoring is a word for SATs that is open to all private and public schools at the college that accept it. The weighting policy on APs is transparent, reported on school profiles and colleges rescore according to their preferences. Personally I think private schools started dropping APs when parents noticed their kids weren't getting higher exam scores than public school kids and started questioning the value. I went to private schools, I think they offer a great education, but you're really confused if you think public schools have some big advantage in college admissions. Of course you're free to stop paying gazillionK a year and send your kid to one.

This. Also if you don’t like a $45k/yr private high school don’t send your kid there, easy fix. I wouldn’t be surprised if after Varsity Blues, BLM, and COVID, adcoms prefer kids from big public high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Following. Kid is at Sidwell. I’d celebrate kid’s 3.8(uw) all day over a 4.54(w) from Moco or any local public except TJ to demonstrate the actual value-add of HS .... but this does not help at all when top schools over-value those 4.54s.

How does Michigan or UCLA not know that so many 4.7s are the product of unlimited test retakes, super scoring in HS, creatively averaged quarter grades to blur achievement gaps, etc?

You don’t seem to be “celebrating” it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Following. Kid is at Sidwell. I’d celebrate kid’s 3.8(uw) all day over a 4.54(w) from Moco or any local public except TJ to demonstrate the actual value-add of HS .... but this does not help at all when top schools over-value those 4.54s.

How does Michigan or UCLA not know that so many 4.7s are the product of unlimited test retakes, super scoring in HS, creatively averaged quarter grades to blur achievement gaps, etc?

I think the colleges recalculate the GPA so all the fluff courses get dropped. Band, photography, art history and shop ...all of them are discarded. As for SATs, if you have money to send to Sidwell, then colleges expect that your kid can easily get 1550 in SAT.

Kid is in STEM magnet in MCPS. Probably will get celebrated because of perfect stats and ECs. No hooks thankfully, so will get in because of himself and not because he is Asian-American male.

You are 1) racist and 2) don’t seem to understand that it’s HARDER for Asians to get in…bc they get better test scores and grades (look at the MoCo magnets, you idiot)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Following. Kid is at Sidwell. I’d celebrate kid’s 3.8(uw) all day over a 4.54(w) from Moco or any local public except TJ to demonstrate the actual value-add of HS .... but this does not help at all when top schools over-value those 4.54s.

How does Michigan or UCLA not know that so many 4.7s are the product of unlimited test retakes, super scoring in HS, creatively averaged quarter grades to blur achievement gaps, etc?

I notice private school parents have all these myths about public school grading. At least in our FCPS schools, the quarter grades are percentages calculated like anything else, there aren't test re-takes unless you fail and you are then limited to a C on the retake even if you score 100 percent. The retake policy is to prevent kids from failing/dropping out of school, not to help those who are gunning for selective schools. Super-scoring is a word for SATs that is open to all private and public schools at the college that accept it. The weighting policy on APs is transparent, reported on school profiles and colleges rescore according to their preferences. Personally I think private schools started dropping APs when parents noticed their kids weren't getting higher exam scores than public school kids and started questioning the value. I went to private schools, I think they offer a great education, but you're really confused if you think public schools have some big advantage in college admissions. Of course you're free to stop paying gazillionK a year and send your kid to one.

Well said. So sick of the private school parents constantly making these false claims about public schools. It just screams insecurity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Following. Kid is at Sidwell. I’d celebrate kid’s 3.8(uw) all day over a 4.54(w) from Moco or any local public except TJ to demonstrate the actual value-add of HS .... but this does not help at all when top schools over-value those 4.54s.

How does Michigan or UCLA not know that so many 4.7s are the product of unlimited test retakes, super scoring in HS, creatively averaged quarter grades to blur achievement gaps, etc?

I notice private school parents have all these myths about public school grading. At least in our FCPS schools, the quarter grades are percentages calculated like anything else, there aren't test re-takes unless you fail and you are then limited to a C on the retake even if you score 100 percent. The retake policy is to prevent kids from failing/dropping out of school, not to help those who are gunning for selective schools. Super-scoring is a word for SATs that is open to all private and public schools at the college that accept it. The weighting policy on APs is transparent, reported on school profiles and colleges rescore according to their preferences. Personally I think private schools started dropping APs when parents noticed their kids weren't getting higher exam scores than public school kids and started questioning the value. I went to private schools, I think they offer a great education, but you're really confused if you think public schools have some big advantage in college admissions. Of course you're free to stop paying gazillionK a year and send your kid to one.

Well said. So sick of the private school parents constantly making these false claims about public schools. It just screams insecurity.

FCPS grading and testing is much stricter than MoCo and Loudoun. The latter two have a combo of more grade bumps, more retakes, fewer timed tests, fewer finals etc. Fortunately ad coms know all this and adjust accordingly.