2024 Washington DC area College commits

[Anonymous]

Any predictions for RD? I think this year folks might be disappointed-but maybe lots of WL movement to come.

[Anonymous]

No predictions, only prayers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at instagram does not give an accurate picture of admissions since most kids getting into the T25 schools are HOOKED. The kids that get left out are the UNHOOKED. The UNHOOKED basically need a 3.8 UW minimum to get in at T25. T10 schools probably require at least a 3.9 to take an UNHOOKED kit. Also, the colleges don't care what high school your kid went to.

I know for a fact this isn’t the case at my children’s “Big 3.” I know at least a half dozen T25 admits, who posted on Instagram already, who aren’t hooked (and they certainly don’t all have >3.8 GPA).

Btw, NCS sounds like a nightmare. What’s the upside, besides the rigorously hard classes that over prepare you for college?

I define T25 as one of the top 25 National Universities listed in US News and World Report. I define hooked kids as recruited athletes, URM, legacy, resident of Virginia getting into UVA, VIP parent, and 1st generation college. Are you saying you personally know 6 such kids with a GPA <3.8 who got into a T25 college? If so, I bet these kids certainly didn't have <3.75.

[Anonymous]

You all need to disavow yourselves of the notion the URM matters anymore. The SC decisions is real. Athletes - yes. 1st Gen - yes. But Big3 black kids are not getting a bump without the aforementioned, permitted preferences.

[Anonymous]

PP again - the IG pages support my statement. Not many black kids seem to have gotten in to top schools ED. It does seem to be a departure from previous cycles. I’m not presenting an opinion, just a factual observation. So to use this blanket “URM” label is becoming insulting. We are in the same boat (as we should be - maybe) but continuing to push this narrative that “URM” have a baked-in advantage is not accurate and it is harmful to the psyche of these students and their families.

[Anonymous]

National Cathedral School
https://www.instagram.com/cathedral2024/?igsh=MXU2MnAyczJqd3BucA%3D%3D

Sidwell Friends School (SFS)
https://www.instagram.com/sidwellseniors2024

Maret
https://www.instagram.com/maretfrogs2024

Georgetown Day school (GDS)
https://www.instagram.com/gdsseniors2024

Holton Arms
https://www.instagram.com/holtonarms2024

Landon
https://www.instagram.com/landonseniors24

Potomac School
https://www.instagram.com/pmacdecisions2024/

Georgetown Visitation ("Visitation"/ "Visi")
https://www.instagram.com/v1s1collegedecisions2024/

Madeira
https://www.instagram.com/madeiradecisions24/

Washington International School ("WIS")
https://www.instagram.com/wisclassof2024/

Flint Hill
https://www.instagram.com/flinthilldecisions24

Edmund Burke
https://www.instagram.com/burkeseniors/

Field
https://www.instagram.com/fieldgrads.2024/

Bullis School
https://www.instagram.com/bullisseniors24/

Sandy Springs Friends School (SSFS)
https://www.instagram.com/ssfs24seniors

St. Stephens and St. Agnes School (DC)
https://www.instagram.com/sssasdecisions2024/

St. Andrews Episcopal School (SAES)
https://www.instagram.com/saes24decisions

Connelly School of the Holy Child (Holy Child)
https://www.instagram.com/hcseniors24

The Academy of the Holy Cross ("Holy Cross")
https://www.instagram.com/ahc_seniors24/

St. John’s College (high)
https://www.instagram.com/sjc2024seniors

Stone Ridge
https://www.instagram.com/srseniors24/

Waldorf (Note Waldorf Schools use one page for nation-wide)
https://www.instagram.com/waldorfdecisions24/?igsh=azNkaWkzM2treHNy

DeMatha
https://www.instagram.com/dematha24seniors/

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Walt Whitman (Bethesda):
https://www.instagram.com/vikingdestinations2024/

Winston Churchill (Potomac):
https://www.instagram.com/beyondthebulldog2024/

Walter Johnson High School ("WJ")
https://www.instagram.com/wherethewildcatsgo24/

Thomas S. Wootton High School ("Wootton")
https://www.instagram.com/peaceoutpatriots24/

Bethesda Chevy Chase High School ("BCC")
https://www.instagram.com/bccdecisions_2024/

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Northern Virginia nationally recognized pubilc:

Thomas Jefferson (Fairfax County)
https://www.instagram.com/tj2023destinations (last year)
https://www.instagram.com/tj2024destinations

*****************************
Additional school(s) for informational context:

Dalton School (prestigious NYC school) added for perspective:
https://www.instagram.com/daltonseniors23/

Key School (Annapolis, MD):
https://www.instagram.com/keyclassof2024/

[Anonymous]

Why would anyone from Visi want to go to Georgetown? You are not even leaving the neighborhood. Talk about depressing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would anyone from Visi want to go to Georgetown? You are not even leaving the neighborhood. Talk about depressing

It is an excellent school. Plus there are advantages in going to college in the city in which you'll likely live. Plus, at the risk of stating the obvious, it is prestigious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You all need to disavow yourselves of the notion the URM matters anymore. The SC decisions is real. Athletes - yes. 1st Gen - yes. But Big3 black kids are not getting a bump without the aforementioned, permitted preferences.

Honest question, I don’t have a senior yet, how would the school know that an applicant is an URM? Only if they write their essay about it?

[Anonymous]

Yep, the Supreme Court held that schools may still consider "an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep, the Supreme Court held that schools may still consider "an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise."

Yes I know, but there’s no box to check. So either the student has to write about their race, whether it’s what they want to write about or not, or the race is unknown. So URM is no longer a catch-all becuase it is largely unknown. My black child did not talk about race in their personal statement because it is not the most important aspect of who they are. I think he may have alluded to it in some supplementals, if a keen reader noticed. But the point is, these assumptions about a leg up for URM’s are no longer applicable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP again - the IG pages support my statement. Not many black kids seem to have gotten in to top schools ED. It does seem to be a departure from previous cycles. I’m not presenting an opinion, just a factual observation. So to use this blanket “URM” label is becoming insulting. We are in the same boat (as we should be - maybe) but continuing to push this narrative that “URM” have a baked-in advantage is not accurate and it is harmful to the psyche of these students and their families.

The IG pages are not all the students. I know at Bullis there is one AA girl going to Hopkins and another going to UPenn.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Maret has less work and grade deflation than NCS or Sidwell (average GPA is around 3.7 vs 3.5 at NCS)

Is this confirmed as true? That is much higher as 3.7 is the cut off for many colleges. Friends who worked in admissions for colleges even admit this.

No, it’s not true. However, this is DCUM where people lie about everything to try to make a point. Maret’s mean (average) GPA for graduating seniors has ranged from 3.59 (2021) to 3.70 (2023). The average GPA for the c/o 2024 is a 3.64.

So, the answer is 3.64, which is historically more typical for Maret.

https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1697637161/maret/cvhkhz1fyj0cei6s4emr/Maret-Profile-2023_2024.pdf

Ok, so the average GPA for the last Maret graduating class (2023) was a 3.7 and I posted it was a 3.7 and yet I'm lying to make a point?
OK.

No, the average and most recent Maret GPA (c/o 2024) is a 3.64. You made it sound like a 3.70 is typical. It is not.

3.64 is still high

It’s high-ish, but there’s a noticeable difference between a 3.64 and a 3.70. I’m also not sure that a 3.64 is much higher than Sidwell’s average. However, it’s hard to tell since Sidwell doesn’t rank or calculate GPAs until junior year. Any Sidwell parents, with facts (not opinions) care to chime in?

It's all much higher than NCS. They have told us that the average is 3.5.
Sigh.
This can't be good.

Have you talked to NCS? Complaining here will do absolutely nothing! I’m starting to think you’re not really an Ncs parent because you should not really care what the entire grade’s gpa is but rather at this point you should know what your own daughters GPA is no? What matters is your daughters gpa. If it is a 3.5 then yes I would be worried.

That's a good point. My daughter's GPA is not a 3.5 but I have a younger daughter who does not do as well in school and I guess I worry that the school would allow teachers to get an average GPA of 3.5.
Yes, the junior class has been told that the classes' average GPA is a 3.5.

What does school say when you express these concerns???? You realize posting here does nothing??????

My older daughter is a junior. What's done is done. We (and everyone we know) did not realize the reality of deflated grades and college admissions until this year.
We always just figured it would "work out" and that colleges understood (and cared) about the rigor. My junior has decent grades (well above the average for the class) so she'll be ok. She's not going to HYP but she'll have options.

My younger daughter is in middle school. We like the middle school--it is kind and gentle and well run. We're going to move her before high school. My experience with NCS is that the administration is not receptive to any feedback
(probably because they get so much) and they are fully supportive about NCS' identity as a school with very difficult grading. The HOS said herself at a recent parent association meeting (to paraphrase) "our identity is to be a very rigorous schools with very hard grading".

Things won't change until they have a large percentage of a class fail to matriculate at competitive colleges. Maybe that will be this year, maybe next year, maybe never. Who knows. Admission results are always very cloudy at a school like this because there are plenty of hooked kids whose applications don't follow the "rules".... I.e. they have a sub 3.5 GPA but the parents have a connection somewhere so they call in a favor and the kid gets one admit WAY beyond their pay grade or those of their classmates (I.e. a top 50 admit with a 3.3 GPA). So for stats purposes NCS looks like a success for this student although ultimately it was a due to a favor called in by the parents in the 11th hour.

We had 2 girls graduate from NCS and currently in college, so recent experience. We decided to send our younger DC to a non-big3 school after going through the college process and dealing with applying to colleges with 3.4 GPAs from NCS. The grading is ridiculous. For example, college kid just called and said they got a score of 100 on an essay. Not one point off. Four years of english at NCS and only received an A the year they were taking it at STA. Every other year it was a B+ (usually an 88). So she is obviously well prepared for college, but the grading wears the girls down. They work so, so hard and my girls both said they never really felt smart until they went to college. I wanted something healthier for DC#3.

Where did your daughters get in with a 3.4? Not specific school but type or range?

I don’t want to out them, but I will say that being a legacy helped with their admissions. The range is exactly the type of school listed in this thread. Think Syracuse, Wake, Tulane, Bucknell, Denison, etc.

[Anonymous]

Thank the good lord some schools still value legacy-not many anymore but at least a few!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret has less work and grade deflation than NCS or Sidwell (average GPA is around 3.7 vs 3.5 at NCS)

Is this confirmed as true? That is much higher as 3.7 is the cut off for many colleges. Friends who worked in admissions for colleges even admit this.

No, it’s not true. However, this is DCUM where people lie about everything to try to make a point. Maret’s mean (average) GPA for graduating seniors has ranged from 3.59 (2021) to 3.70 (2023). The average GPA for the c/o 2024 is a 3.64.

So, the answer is 3.64, which is historically more typical for Maret.

https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1697637161/maret/cvhkhz1fyj0cei6s4emr/Maret-Profile-2023_2024.pdf

Ok, so the average GPA for the last Maret graduating class (2023) was a 3.7 and I posted it was a 3.7 and yet I'm lying to make a point?
OK.

No, the average and most recent Maret GPA (c/o 2024) is a 3.64. You made it sound like a 3.70 is typical. It is not.

3.64 is still high

It’s high-ish, but there’s a noticeable difference between a 3.64 and a 3.70. I’m also not sure that a 3.64 is much higher than Sidwell’s average. However, it’s hard to tell since Sidwell doesn’t rank or calculate GPAs until junior year. Any Sidwell parents, with facts (not opinions) care to chime in?

It's all much higher than NCS. They have told us that the average is 3.5.
Sigh.
This can't be good.

Have you talked to NCS? Complaining here will do absolutely nothing! I’m starting to think you’re not really an Ncs parent because you should not really care what the entire grade’s gpa is but rather at this point you should know what your own daughters GPA is no? What matters is your daughters gpa. If it is a 3.5 then yes I would be worried.

That's a good point. My daughter's GPA is not a 3.5 but I have a younger daughter who does not do as well in school and I guess I worry that the school would allow teachers to get an average GPA of 3.5.
Yes, the junior class has been told that the classes' average GPA is a 3.5.

What does school say when you express these concerns???? You realize posting here does nothing??????

My older daughter is a junior. What's done is done. We (and everyone we know) did not realize the reality of deflated grades and college admissions until this year.
We always just figured it would "work out" and that colleges understood (and cared) about the rigor. My junior has decent grades (well above the average for the class) so she'll be ok. She's not going to HYP but she'll have options.

My younger daughter is in middle school. We like the middle school--it is kind and gentle and well run. We're going to move her before high school. My experience with NCS is that the administration is not receptive to any feedback
(probably because they get so much) and they are fully supportive about NCS' identity as a school with very difficult grading. The HOS said herself at a recent parent association meeting (to paraphrase) "our identity is to be a very rigorous schools with very hard grading".

Things won't change until they have a large percentage of a class fail to matriculate at competitive colleges. Maybe that will be this year, maybe next year, maybe never. Who knows. Admission results are always very cloudy at a school like this because there are plenty of hooked kids whose applications don't follow the "rules".... I.e. they have a sub 3.5 GPA but the parents have a connection somewhere so they call in a favor and the kid gets one admit WAY beyond their pay grade or those of their classmates (I.e. a top 50 admit with a 3.3 GPA). So for stats purposes NCS looks like a success for this student although ultimately it was a due to a favor called in by the parents in the 11th hour.

We had 2 girls graduate from NCS and currently in college, so recent experience. We decided to send our younger DC to a non-big3 school after going through the college process and dealing with applying to colleges with 3.4 GPAs from NCS. The grading is ridiculous. For example, college kid just called and said they got a score of 100 on an essay. Not one point off. Four years of english at NCS and only received an A the year they were taking it at STA. Every other year it was a B+ (usually an 88). So she is obviously well prepared for college, but the grading wears the girls down. They work so, so hard and my girls both said they never really felt smart until they went to college. I wanted something healthier for DC#3.

Where did your daughters get in with a 3.4? Not specific school but type or range?

I don’t want to out them, but I will say that being a legacy helped with their admissions. The range is exactly the type of school listed in this thread. Think Syracuse, Wake, Tulane, Bucknell, Denison, etc.

Wake is NOT a 3.4. Try a nothing less than a 3.8 in the past 3 years--even with ED.
I just wanted to clarify this as it's on my kid's list and some people think it's super easy but it's only an option for very top girls at NCS (or anywhere) these days.