Which colleges are the B students going to from the top independent schools?

Anonymous
I think a 3.9 at Sidwell could hold up against almost anything. That's a good GPA.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If they give Cs, isn't that going affect college admission. There's a fine line between rigor and ruining college chances.


Colleges know SFS is a tough school. The most common grade is B, but kids get C's and even D's. The former college counselor said that kids in the middle of the class have GPAs in the [b]3.2 range[i]. I suspect colleges appreciate knowing that A's are truly earned at Sidwell.


How are they getting into decent colleges when other applicants' schools may grade easier and turbocharge grade averages by weighting AP courses more?


Each of the local independent schools prepare a School Profile that is sent to colleges. In that Profile, the grading policy is clearly described, and in some cases a distribution is provided that shows the percentage of grades given (A, B, C, D) by specific course. So, if A is the highest grade given and that equals a 4.0 on the grading scale and the college has some understanding of the rigor of the program and academic caliber of the students, then the comparison is pretty easy. Believe me, they know that a 3.9 GPA at places like Sidwell holds up pretty well against a 4.45 or 4.5 at other schools.


+1 that all schools--public and private, everywhere in the country--send School Profiles in with the transcripts to applicant's colleges. The school profile will also show, for example, whether the school offers zero APs, 3 APs or 15 APs.

The whole point of the School Profile is so admissions offices can tell (a) whether you're challenging yourself with the toughest classes, and doing well in them, and (b) what the toughest. The School Profile is intended to to not penalize kids from, say, rural high schools, or certain privates, that have very limited AP offerings.

Also, read 15:22 again.
- Most major colleges, and all the top colleges, have regional reps who are responsible for knowing the schools in their regions. They know which schools are known for rigor, and which aren't.
- Almost every school that weights grades (those 4.45s and 4.5s everybody is worried about) also provides colleges with unweighted grades (the 3.5s or 3.9s).
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