Langley college decisions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like some Langley parents chasing their own tails on this thread. They are desperate to make the case that Langley is “better” than other schools but then claiming it’s harder to get into UVA and other schools coming from Langley.

Race to nowhere?

As a Langley parent, I would say this is somewhat true. My qualification would be that, in the end, students have the education they’ve earned. Wherever Langley students attend college, they are well prepared.

This is a really good point that people should consider. If a kid is theoretically at a disadvantage getting into certain colleges or universities because there might be more applicants from a school like Langley, but is better prepared to thrive at the school the kid ends up attending, don't they still enjoy the benefits of that solid HS education?

DP, and yes. I actually attended Langley myself, back in the day. While the college I attended was not DCUM's version of "exclusive/top," I still feel the education I received while in high school was far more valuable in the long run. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for this thread. We were considering sending our kids to private school instead of Langley. Dh wanted to keep them in public. He always says he doesn’t want to pay $40k per year for 3 kids for schools that have the same or worse college admissions than our local public.

Just remember that’s it’s harder to shine at Langley. You’re reading about the top 10% of the class. “Everyone” is in honor society and in a class of 400, leadership roles are harder to get. A weighted 4.0 puts you at 50% , which isn't persuasive in admissions. Some colleges seem to understand this and judge differently (OOS), some don’t (UVA.)

It’s a good school but IMO, there’s far too much emphasis on AP rigor for the sake of rigor, and not enough on learning. Though, to be fair, that’s a public school problem in general. If I could have afforded private for our DC, it would have been better for them: mentally and academically.

As a Langely parent I second this take. It's a double edged sword b/c on the one hand the there is a tide that supports strong academics, but on the other it skews the competition for UVA b/c despite what they say in their admissions meetings.

Future Langley parent here. Can you clarify what you mean by “skews the competition for UVA”?

My oldest is in 7th grade at Cooper. There are some extremely smart kids in his friend group and his friends are mostly from his base elementary school. I’m sure there are so many other extremely smart kids from all the other schools he just doesn’t know yet.

On the whole, UVA offers seats to only the top x% at Langley (5-10%, someone else might have a better lock on the number) and because Langley is full of hardworking, smart kids it drives the stats up so the average stats of an accepted student from Langley are quite a bit higher than in other areas or oos. Last I heard something around a 4.4 GPA and a 1520 SAT.

Are those stats unusual? Seem like the numbers needed for admittance from any NOVA HS.

Not unusual but the top 25% of the class might be extremely similar and UVA only takes the top 5-10%. So a lot of kids with UVA stats get rejected.

But there are schools in VA that may send no kids to UVA.



Is it a hard cut off at 10%? I don’t know how gpa and rank is calculated.

It’s less than 10% at Langley, and probably McLean too.

McLean is known to grade easier, but it is seen as more diverse by colleges.

If anyone believes for a second that Langley parents would allow LHS teachers to disadvantage their kids in the college admissions process relative to students at McLean or other schools, whether by grading harder or otherwise, I have a bridge to sell you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like some Langley parents chasing their own tails on this thread. They are desperate to make the case that Langley is “better” than other schools but then claiming it’s harder to get into UVA and other schools coming from Langley.

Race to nowhere?

Eh, it’s an anonymous board. You don’t know who is making which point.

I don’t think Langley’s education is different than any other FCPS school, it’s just a pretty intense student body when half the class graduates with honors and that can make rankings and admissions a little wonky.

I am from the Northeast and it doesn’t seem like Langley sends that many kids to the small liberal arts and smaller colleges in the Northeast like Wellesley, Williams, Swarthmore, Amherst, etc. maybe students just opt for VA publics over these types of schools.

DP. Honestly, I don't think there's that much interest in the SLACs you mention in this area. Seems like large publics are more in demand - and not just in VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for this thread. We were considering sending our kids to private school instead of Langley. Dh wanted to keep them in public. He always says he doesn’t want to pay $40k per year for 3 kids for schools that have the same or worse college admissions than our local public.

Just remember that’s it’s harder to shine at Langley. You’re reading about the top 10% of the class. “Everyone” is in honor society and in a class of 400, leadership roles are harder to get. A weighted 4.0 puts you at 50% , which isn't persuasive in admissions. Some colleges seem to understand this and judge differently (OOS), some don’t (UVA.)

It’s a good school but IMO, there’s far too much emphasis on AP rigor for the sake of rigor, and not enough on learning. Though, to be fair, that’s a public school problem in general. If I could have afforded private for our DC, it would have been better for them: mentally and academically.

As a Langely parent I second this take. It's a double edged sword b/c on the one hand the there is a tide that supports strong academics, but on the other it skews the competition for UVA b/c despite what they say in their admissions meetings.

Future Langley parent here. Can you clarify what you mean by “skews the competition for UVA”?

My oldest is in 7th grade at Cooper. There are some extremely smart kids in his friend group and his friends are mostly from his base elementary school. I’m sure there are so many other extremely smart kids from all the other schools he just doesn’t know yet.

On the whole, UVA offers seats to only the top x% at Langley (5-10%, someone else might have a better lock on the number) and because Langley is full of hardworking, smart kids it drives the stats up so the average stats of an accepted student from Langley are quite a bit higher than in other areas or oos. Last I heard something around a 4.4 GPA and a 1520 SAT.

Are those stats unusual? Seem like the numbers needed for admittance from any NOVA HS.

Not unusual but the top 25% of the class might be extremely similar and UVA only takes the top 5-10%. So a lot of kids with UVA stats get rejected.

But there are schools in VA that may send no kids to UVA.



Is it a hard cut off at 10%? I don’t know how gpa and rank is calculated.

It’s less than 10% at Langley, and probably McLean too.

McLean is known to grade easier, but it is seen as more diverse by colleges.

If anyone believes for a second that Langley parents would allow LHS teachers to disadvantage their kids in the college admissions process relative to students at McLean or other schools, whether by grading harder or otherwise, I have a bridge to sell you.

No one said that. Why on earth are you so defensive and why do you keep bringing up McLean on a thread about Langley?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like some Langley parents chasing their own tails on this thread. They are desperate to make the case that Langley is “better” than other schools but then claiming it’s harder to get into UVA and other schools coming from Langley.

Race to nowhere?

Eh, it’s an anonymous board. You don’t know who is making which point.

I don’t think Langley’s education is different than any other FCPS school, it’s just a pretty intense student body when half the class graduates with honors and that can make rankings and admissions a little wonky.

I watched some of the Langley graduation livestream yesterday and half the class definitely did not graduate with honors. I would ballpark it at less than 25% of the class. Is it a 4.0 weighted GPA?

According to my Langley senior, yes, half the class had a 4.0 or above. I’m sure this varies some from class to class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for this thread. We were considering sending our kids to private school instead of Langley. Dh wanted to keep them in public. He always says he doesn’t want to pay $40k per year for 3 kids for schools that have the same or worse college admissions than our local public.

Just remember that’s it’s harder to shine at Langley. You’re reading about the top 10% of the class. “Everyone” is in honor society and in a class of 400, leadership roles are harder to get. A weighted 4.0 puts you at 50% , which isn't persuasive in admissions. Some colleges seem to understand this and judge differently (OOS), some don’t (UVA.)

It’s a good school but IMO, there’s far too much emphasis on AP rigor for the sake of rigor, and not enough on learning. Though, to be fair, that’s a public school problem in general. If I could have afforded private for our DC, it would have been better for them: mentally and academically.

As a Langely parent I second this take. It's a double edged sword b/c on the one hand the there is a tide that supports strong academics, but on the other it skews the competition for UVA b/c despite what they say in their admissions meetings.

Future Langley parent here. Can you clarify what you mean by “skews the competition for UVA”?

My oldest is in 7th grade at Cooper. There are some extremely smart kids in his friend group and his friends are mostly from his base elementary school. I’m sure there are so many other extremely smart kids from all the other schools he just doesn’t know yet.

On the whole, UVA offers seats to only the top x% at Langley (5-10%, someone else might have a better lock on the number) and because Langley is full of hardworking, smart kids it drives the stats up so the average stats of an accepted student from Langley are quite a bit higher than in other areas or oos. Last I heard something around a 4.4 GPA and a 1520 SAT.

Are those stats unusual? Seem like the numbers needed for admittance from any NOVA HS.

Not unusual but the top 25% of the class might be extremely similar and UVA only takes the top 5-10%. So a lot of kids with UVA stats get rejected.

But there are schools in VA that may send no kids to UVA.



Is it a hard cut off at 10%? I don’t know how gpa and rank is calculated.

It’s less than 10% at Langley, and probably McLean too.

McLean is known to grade easier, but it is seen as more diverse by colleges.

If anyone believes for a second that Langley parents would allow LHS teachers to disadvantage their kids in the college admissions process relative to students at McLean or other schools, whether by grading harder or otherwise, I have a bridge to sell you.

No one said that. Why on earth are you so defensive and why do you keep bringing up McLean on a thread about Langley?

I didn't insert McLean into the conversation, but instead responded to a post asserting that "McLean is known to grade easier [than Langley]," which is just one of a number of posts in which Langley posters seem to be looking for ways to put down McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like some Langley parents chasing their own tails on this thread. They are desperate to make the case that Langley is “better” than other schools but then claiming it’s harder to get into UVA and other schools coming from Langley.

Race to nowhere?

Eh, it’s an anonymous board. You don’t know who is making which point.

I don’t think Langley’s education is different than any other FCPS school, it’s just a pretty intense student body when half the class graduates with honors and that can make rankings and admissions a little wonky.

I watched some of the Langley graduation livestream yesterday and half the class definitely did not graduate with honors. I would ballpark it at less than 25% of the class. Is it a 4.0 weighted GPA?

According to my Langley senior, yes, half the class had a 4.0 or above. I’m sure this varies some from class to class.

Your senior is correct - we noticed this at graduation yesterday. It's been like this for years now. I posted on another forum about how absurd it is, especially when kids who just barely missed that 4.0 cutoff aren't recognized. They should go back to awarding one valedictorian and one salutatorian and call it a day for everyone else.
DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for this thread. We were considering sending our kids to private school instead of Langley. Dh wanted to keep them in public. He always says he doesn’t want to pay $40k per year for 3 kids for schools that have the same or worse college admissions than our local public.

Just remember that’s it’s harder to shine at Langley. You’re reading about the top 10% of the class. “Everyone” is in honor society and in a class of 400, leadership roles are harder to get. A weighted 4.0 puts you at 50% , which isn't persuasive in admissions. Some colleges seem to understand this and judge differently (OOS), some don’t (UVA.)

It’s a good school but IMO, there’s far too much emphasis on AP rigor for the sake of rigor, and not enough on learning. Though, to be fair, that’s a public school problem in general. If I could have afforded private for our DC, it would have been better for them: mentally and academically.

As a Langely parent I second this take. It's a double edged sword b/c on the one hand the there is a tide that supports strong academics, but on the other it skews the competition for UVA b/c despite what they say in their admissions meetings.

Future Langley parent here. Can you clarify what you mean by “skews the competition for UVA”?

My oldest is in 7th grade at Cooper. There are some extremely smart kids in his friend group and his friends are mostly from his base elementary school. I’m sure there are so many other extremely smart kids from all the other schools he just doesn’t know yet.

On the whole, UVA offers seats to only the top x% at Langley (5-10%, someone else might have a better lock on the number) and because Langley is full of hardworking, smart kids it drives the stats up so the average stats of an accepted student from Langley are quite a bit higher than in other areas or oos. Last I heard something around a 4.4 GPA and a 1520 SAT.

Are those stats unusual? Seem like the numbers needed for admittance from any NOVA HS.

Not unusual but the top 25% of the class might be extremely similar and UVA only takes the top 5-10%. So a lot of kids with UVA stats get rejected.

But there are schools in VA that may send no kids to UVA.



Is it a hard cut off at 10%? I don’t know how gpa and rank is calculated.

It’s less than 10% at Langley, and probably McLean too.

McLean is known to grade easier, but it is seen as more diverse by colleges.

If anyone believes for a second that Langley parents would allow LHS teachers to disadvantage their kids in the college admissions process relative to students at McLean or other schools, whether by grading harder or otherwise, I have a bridge to sell you.

No one said that. Why on earth are you so defensive and why do you keep bringing up McLean on a thread about Langley?

I didn't insert McLean into the conversation, but instead responded to a post asserting that "McLean is known to grade easier [than Langley]," which is just one of a number of posts in which Langley posters seem to be looking for ways to put down McLean.

Funny you don't mention all the posts putting down Langley. As usual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like some Langley parents chasing their own tails on this thread. They are desperate to make the case that Langley is “better” than other schools but then claiming it’s harder to get into UVA and other schools coming from Langley.

Race to nowhere?

Eh, it’s an anonymous board. You don’t know who is making which point.

I don’t think Langley’s education is different than any other FCPS school, it’s just a pretty intense student body when half the class graduates with honors and that can make rankings and admissions a little wonky.

I watched some of the Langley graduation livestream yesterday and half the class definitely did not graduate with honors. I would ballpark it at less than 25% of the class. Is it a 4.0 weighted GPA?

According to my Langley senior, yes, half the class had a 4.0 or above. I’m sure this varies some from class to class.

Your senior is correct - we noticed this at graduation yesterday. It's been like this for years now. I posted on another forum about how absurd it is, especially when kids who just barely missed that 4.0 cutoff aren't recognized. They should go back to awarding one valedictorian and one salutatorian and call it a day for everyone else.
DP

That's not going to happen, nor should it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like some Langley parents chasing their own tails on this thread. They are desperate to make the case that Langley is “better” than other schools but then claiming it’s harder to get into UVA and other schools coming from Langley.

Race to nowhere?

Eh, it’s an anonymous board. You don’t know who is making which point.

I don’t think Langley’s education is different than any other FCPS school, it’s just a pretty intense student body when half the class graduates with honors and that can make rankings and admissions a little wonky.

I watched some of the Langley graduation livestream yesterday and half the class definitely did not graduate with honors. I would ballpark it at less than 25% of the class. Is it a 4.0 weighted GPA?

According to my Langley senior, yes, half the class had a 4.0 or above. I’m sure this varies some from class to class.

Your senior is correct - we noticed this at graduation yesterday. It's been like this for years now. I posted on another forum about how absurd it is, especially when kids who just barely missed that 4.0 cutoff aren't recognized. They should go back to awarding one valedictorian and one salutatorian and call it a day for everyone else.
DP

That's not going to happen, nor should it.

I disagree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like some Langley parents chasing their own tails on this thread. They are desperate to make the case that Langley is “better” than other schools but then claiming it’s harder to get into UVA and other schools coming from Langley.

Race to nowhere?

Eh, it’s an anonymous board. You don’t know who is making which point.

I don’t think Langley’s education is different than any other FCPS school, it’s just a pretty intense student body when half the class graduates with honors and that can make rankings and admissions a little wonky.

I watched some of the Langley graduation livestream yesterday and half the class definitely did not graduate with honors. I would ballpark it at less than 25% of the class. Is it a 4.0 weighted GPA?

According to my Langley senior, yes, half the class had a 4.0 or above. I’m sure this varies some from class to class.

Your senior is correct - we noticed this at graduation yesterday. It's been like this for years now. I posted on another forum about how absurd it is, especially when kids who just barely missed that 4.0 cutoff aren't recognized. They should go back to awarding one valedictorian and one salutatorian and call it a day for everyone else.
DP

This isn’t new in FCPS. When I was in high school, half were also recognized. The GPA was just lower - probably about 3.5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like some Langley parents chasing their own tails on this thread. They are desperate to make the case that Langley is “better” than other schools but then claiming it’s harder to get into UVA and other schools coming from Langley.

Race to nowhere?

Eh, it’s an anonymous board. You don’t know who is making which point.

I don’t think Langley’s education is different than any other FCPS school, it’s just a pretty intense student body when half the class graduates with honors and that can make rankings and admissions a little wonky.

I watched some of the Langley graduation livestream yesterday and half the class definitely did not graduate with honors. I would ballpark it at less than 25% of the class. Is it a 4.0 weighted GPA?

According to my Langley senior, yes, half the class had a 4.0 or above. I’m sure this varies some from class to class.

Your senior is correct - we noticed this at graduation yesterday. It's been like this for years now. I posted on another forum about how absurd it is, especially when kids who just barely missed that 4.0 cutoff aren't recognized. They should go back to awarding one valedictorian and one salutatorian and call it a day for everyone else.
DP

How do AP and honors classes get calculated? Is it a 5 for an A in an AP class and a 4 for a B?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like some Langley parents chasing their own tails on this thread. They are desperate to make the case that Langley is “better” than other schools but then claiming it’s harder to get into UVA and other schools coming from Langley.

Race to nowhere?

Eh, it’s an anonymous board. You don’t know who is making which point.

I don’t think Langley’s education is different than any other FCPS school, it’s just a pretty intense student body when half the class graduates with honors and that can make rankings and admissions a little wonky.

I watched some of the Langley graduation livestream yesterday and half the class definitely did not graduate with honors. I would ballpark it at less than 25% of the class. Is it a 4.0 weighted GPA?

According to my Langley senior, yes, half the class had a 4.0 or above. I’m sure this varies some from class to class.

Your senior is correct - we noticed this at graduation yesterday. It's been like this for years now. I posted on another forum about how absurd it is, especially when kids who just barely missed that 4.0 cutoff aren't recognized. They should go back to awarding one valedictorian and one salutatorian and call it a day for everyone else.
DP

How do AP and honors classes get calculated? Is it a 5 for an A in an AP class and a 4 for a B?

FCPS gives a .5 bump for an honors class and a 1.0 bump for an AP/IB class. But a particular college or university may decide to recalculate and use unweighted GPAs since not all schools will offer AP or IB classes, or the same number of AP or IB classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like some Langley parents chasing their own tails on this thread. They are desperate to make the case that Langley is “better” than other schools but then claiming it’s harder to get into UVA and other schools coming from Langley.

Race to nowhere?

Eh, it’s an anonymous board. You don’t know who is making which point.

I don’t think Langley’s education is different than any other FCPS school, it’s just a pretty intense student body when half the class graduates with honors and that can make rankings and admissions a little wonky.

I watched some of the Langley graduation livestream yesterday and half the class definitely did not graduate with honors. I would ballpark it at less than 25% of the class. Is it a 4.0 weighted GPA?

According to my Langley senior, yes, half the class had a 4.0 or above. I’m sure this varies some from class to class.

Your senior is correct - we noticed this at graduation yesterday. It's been like this for years now. I posted on another forum about how absurd it is, especially when kids who just barely missed that 4.0 cutoff aren't recognized. They should go back to awarding one valedictorian and one salutatorian and call it a day for everyone else.
DP

How do AP and honors classes get calculated? Is it a 5 for an A in an AP class and a 4 for a B?

FCPS gives a .5 bump for an honors class and a 1.0 bump for an AP/IB class. But a particular college or university may decide to recalculate and use unweighted GPAs since not all schools will offer AP or IB classes, or the same number of AP or IB classes.

Is there a class rank at Langley? How would one know if they were in the top 5% or 10% or 20%?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like some Langley parents chasing their own tails on this thread. They are desperate to make the case that Langley is “better” than other schools but then claiming it’s harder to get into UVA and other schools coming from Langley.

Race to nowhere?

Eh, it’s an anonymous board. You don’t know who is making which point.

I don’t think Langley’s education is different than any other FCPS school, it’s just a pretty intense student body when half the class graduates with honors and that can make rankings and admissions a little wonky.

I watched some of the Langley graduation livestream yesterday and half the class definitely did not graduate with honors. I would ballpark it at less than 25% of the class. Is it a 4.0 weighted GPA?

According to my Langley senior, yes, half the class had a 4.0 or above. I’m sure this varies some from class to class.

Your senior is correct - we noticed this at graduation yesterday. It's been like this for years now. I posted on another forum about how absurd it is, especially when kids who just barely missed that 4.0 cutoff aren't recognized. They should go back to awarding one valedictorian and one salutatorian and call it a day for everyone else.
DP

That's not going to happen, nor should it.

I disagree.

You know why it went away, right?