There’s a lot of pressure at Sidwell for these kids to excel and that’s why you don’t see the bottom half of the class posting on instagram. It’s the kind of environment where most feel ashamed and embarrassed if they’re not attending a top 30 school next year. So you’ve got a bit of selection bias in the posts you’re seeing. The school’s results are still really good as always - although I’ve heard anecdotally from parents with seniors that this is a bit of a down year - but not as universally good as instagram posts would lead you to believe. "Most feel". Say what? How on earth do you believe that you know what *most* feel? What a bunch of horsesh!t. |
If you're not hooked or URM, I don't think Sidwell helps you at all in college matriculation. It might even hurt you. Don't be misled by instagram, you have no idea the circumstances. |
Others have summarized the landscape with way more nuance than you. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1275/1173827.page |
Lies! You have no connection to Sidwell, and it’s clear that you have no idea what you’re talking about. People love to lie on this school—jeez! |
There’s another person in the advanced math track who is attending Penn next year. |
The vast majority of Sidwell’s Ivy admits this year did NOT take Math IV. Most will graduate with Calculus 1 or 2. |
I think colleges don't know what the math I-IV track is and/or don't care. They don't need kids to come in doing theoretical math; the standard even for math majors and even in 2024 is Calculus. Beyond this they want interesting kids who stand out in different ways. |
💯 |
I completely agree! The last time I checked, even MIT doesn’t require calculus (although they strongly recommend it). |
JHU doesn't care because Bloomberg donated billions of dollars and told them not to care. |
Well, other private colleges will need to find a similarly situated billionaire benefactor if they don’t want to care either. |
Yes, especially SLACs. Amherst must have an anonymous billionaire sugar daddy (or sugar mama). |
Does Sidwell provide access to scattergrams? That would be a way to see if kids with below a 3.8 got into Top 30 schools last year. |
Why are you obsessed with the 3.8 data point? Offers of admission have so many more factors that are considered. |
Yes, SCOIR data is available to students/parents right before 11th grade. Sidwell only shows data for the 3 most recent graduating classes (2020 to 2023). The last time I looked, most of the Ivies admitted at least one Sidwell student with a GPA as low as 3.6 (during that 3 year period). One Harvard admit had a 3.1. I assume he/she was an extreme outlier. Most Sidwell Ivy admits have a 3.8 or higher. Based on that information, you shouldn’t be surprised that there are many Sidwell T30 admits with GPAs below a 3.8. That happens every year. |