NCS college admissions if kid is not a legacy, URM, or athletic recruit

[Anonymous]

Also, is there a correlation between those girls who chose "free periods" in Upper School and those who have less than optimal college outcomes (according to them)? I was told by a college counselor at another school that today colleges want to see students taking as many of the hardest courses that are available to them. Free periods aren't that.

[Anonymous]

It’s so important to have a minority angle if you aren’t legacy.

Get involved in a local Latino group, if possible. Impossible to verify.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s so important to have a minority angle if you aren’t legacy.

Get involved in a local Latino group, if possible. Impossible to verify.

Most fun parent group or student group out there! Ole!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other adjustment needed is the idea that there is something special or essential about the rankings in USNWR.

Until people accept that hundreds of colleges have stellar students getting a stellar eduction from stellar professors and going on to have stellar careers, this anxiety producing nonsense about only 10-20 colleges being acceptable for strong students will not end.

If your top student is attending a school ranked 60, that school has a fantastic student who will go on to do great things -- likely better things than a hundred kids from Harvard. The workforce makes this obvious; look around you. On top of that, that top-ranked kid from your school might not even be the top student at that 60th ranked college. Yours isn't the only super bright kid attending those schools ranked in the 40-120 range. Do you really think there aren't any geniuses at 117-ranked RIT? There are.

T20 is probably a target that should go away, but there are not hundreds of stellar colleges. To take your "hundreds" literally, Ball State is 202 and Bellarmin University is 203 according to US news (there is a multiway tie for 196). Do you think any NCS student or parent sending their kid to NCS would think those are stellar schools?

You are forgetting the excellent options at small liberal arts and regional colleges, plus colleges abroad. I stand by hundreds of options.

It's not hundreds. It's actually about a hundred and that's being generious. Top 50 Universities, top 50 LACs. That's about it. I crack up when come on here talking about the thousands of colleges. If you come from a private in the DC area, that's just not true. It's hundreds of students competing for a small handful of the same schools. I will be disappointed if my kid winds up at College of Charleston or Elon, which unfortunately is what her counselor is going to recommend as matches (safe matches, but not even safeties). After attending a competitive school with bright, hardworking girls, can you imagine surrounding yourself with those who attend College of Charleston or Elon? It's a whole different world and would be a disappointment. There's no way that many of those girls are extremely disappointed.

Yes. The NCS college counselor recommend College of Charleston and Elon for my DD. 3.2 GPA and 34 ACT.

Would your daughter consider a university in England or elsewhere? Obviously not Oxford, but somewhere exciting and stimulating in another country? That might be a good option. (I don't say this to be nasty, but are there many girls with this sort of overall GPA, getting almost all B's?) When did your daughter start at NCS? Just Upper School or has she been there the whole time? I am really asking this in a positive spirit and don't mean any offense at all. Very curious as my DD will be starting this fall for 9th.

Curious as well. Seems like a big disconnect unless there is ADHD at play and test stakes were high and a hyperfocus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other adjustment needed is the idea that there is something special or essential about the rankings in USNWR.

Until people accept that hundreds of colleges have stellar students getting a stellar eduction from stellar professors and going on to have stellar careers, this anxiety producing nonsense about only 10-20 colleges being acceptable for strong students will not end.

If your top student is attending a school ranked 60, that school has a fantastic student who will go on to do great things -- likely better things than a hundred kids from Harvard. The workforce makes this obvious; look around you. On top of that, that top-ranked kid from your school might not even be the top student at that 60th ranked college. Yours isn't the only super bright kid attending those schools ranked in the 40-120 range. Do you really think there aren't any geniuses at 117-ranked RIT? There are.

T20 is probably a target that should go away, but there are not hundreds of stellar colleges. To take your "hundreds" literally, Ball State is 202 and Bellarmin University is 203 according to US news (there is a multiway tie for 196). Do you think any NCS student or parent sending their kid to NCS would think those are stellar schools?

You are forgetting the excellent options at small liberal arts and regional colleges, plus colleges abroad. I stand by hundreds of options.

It's not hundreds. It's actually about a hundred and that's being generious. Top 50 Universities, top 50 LACs. That's about it. I crack up when come on here talking about the thousands of colleges. If you come from a private in the DC area, that's just not true. It's hundreds of students competing for a small handful of the same schools. I will be disappointed if my kid winds up at College of Charleston or Elon, which unfortunately is what her counselor is going to recommend as matches (safe matches, but not even safeties). After attending a competitive school with bright, hardworking girls, can you imagine surrounding yourself with those who attend College of Charleston or Elon? It's a whole different world and would be a disappointment. There's no way that many of those girls are extremely disappointed.

Yes. The NCS college counselor recommend College of Charleston and Elon for my DD. 3.2 GPA and 34 ACT.

Would your daughter consider a university in England or elsewhere? Obviously not Oxford, but somewhere exciting and stimulating in another country? That might be a good option. (I don't say this to be nasty, but are there many girls with this sort of overall GPA, getting almost all B's?) When did your daughter start at NCS? Just Upper School or has she been there the whole time? I am really asking this in a positive spirit and don't mean any offense at all. Very curious as my DD will be starting this fall for 9th.

Curious as well. Seems like a big disconnect unless there is ADHD at play and test stakes were high and a hyperfocus.

You must be unfamiliar with NCS and obvilious to the rest of this thread. A 3.2 at NCS is not a cakewalk. It requires hard work. There is no disconnect. Just an average kid doing well at a tough school. That 3.2 is like a 4.5 at your local public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think this is just a ploy to get someone to withdraw from their contract before May 31st...?
If not, what does the newish HOS have to say about this? Perhaps a change is afoot?

No.

Kids are more realistic than DCUM on this topic.

If you don’t have a URM hook, top athlete hook, big donor/legacy hook, first Gen in America college hook, then you’re in a tough spot.

Lower your expectations or plan a transfer strategy. Knock off your prereqs at local college and then go have a blast at a top college next year for four years. The peer group, experience, reputation, alum base and career center will be worth it for decades.

Kids know that. Don’t play dumb that you don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other adjustment needed is the idea that there is something special or essential about the rankings in USNWR.

Until people accept that hundreds of colleges have stellar students getting a stellar eduction from stellar professors and going on to have stellar careers, this anxiety producing nonsense about only 10-20 colleges being acceptable for strong students will not end.

If your top student is attending a school ranked 60, that school has a fantastic student who will go on to do great things -- likely better things than a hundred kids from Harvard. The workforce makes this obvious; look around you. On top of that, that top-ranked kid from your school might not even be the top student at that 60th ranked college. Yours isn't the only super bright kid attending those schools ranked in the 40-120 range. Do you really think there aren't any geniuses at 117-ranked RIT? There are.

T20 is probably a target that should go away, but there are not hundreds of stellar colleges. To take your "hundreds" literally, Ball State is 202 and Bellarmin University is 203 according to US news (there is a multiway tie for 196). Do you think any NCS student or parent sending their kid to NCS would think those are stellar schools?

You are forgetting the excellent options at small liberal arts and regional colleges, plus colleges abroad. I stand by hundreds of options.

It's not hundreds. It's actually about a hundred and that's being generious. Top 50 Universities, top 50 LACs. That's about it. I crack up when come on here talking about the thousands of colleges. If you come from a private in the DC area, that's just not true. It's hundreds of students competing for a small handful of the same schools. I will be disappointed if my kid winds up at College of Charleston or Elon, which unfortunately is what her counselor is going to recommend as matches (safe matches, but not even safeties). After attending a competitive school with bright, hardworking girls, can you imagine surrounding yourself with those who attend College of Charleston or Elon? It's a whole different world and would be a disappointment. There's no way that many of those girls are extremely disappointed.

Yes. The NCS college counselor recommend College of Charleston and Elon for my DD. 3.2 GPA and 34 ACT.

Would your daughter consider a university in England or elsewhere? Obviously not Oxford, but somewhere exciting and stimulating in another country? That might be a good option. (I don't say this to be nasty, but are there many girls with this sort of overall GPA, getting almost all B's?) When did your daughter start at NCS? Just Upper School or has she been there the whole time? I am really asking this in a positive spirit and don't mean any offense at all. Very curious as my DD will be starting this fall for 9th.

Curious as well. Seems like a big disconnect unless there is ADHD at play and test stakes were high and a hyperfocus.

You must be unfamiliar with NCS and obvilious to the rest of this thread. A 3.2 at NCS is not a cakewalk. It requires hard work. There is no disconnect. Just an average kid doing well at a tough school. That 3.2 is like a 4.5 at your local public.

I get it. Thanks for the info. Lots of ways to skin a cat here, not just the Overworked, Grade Deflation school way. Enjoy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other adjustment needed is the idea that there is something special or essential about the rankings in USNWR.

Until people accept that hundreds of colleges have stellar students getting a stellar eduction from stellar professors and going on to have stellar careers, this anxiety producing nonsense about only 10-20 colleges being acceptable for strong students will not end.

If your top student is attending a school ranked 60, that school has a fantastic student who will go on to do great things -- likely better things than a hundred kids from Harvard. The workforce makes this obvious; look around you. On top of that, that top-ranked kid from your school might not even be the top student at that 60th ranked college. Yours isn't the only super bright kid attending those schools ranked in the 40-120 range. Do you really think there aren't any geniuses at 117-ranked RIT? There are.

T20 is probably a target that should go away, but there are not hundreds of stellar colleges. To take your "hundreds" literally, Ball State is 202 and Bellarmin University is 203 according to US news (there is a multiway tie for 196). Do you think any NCS student or parent sending their kid to NCS would think those are stellar schools?

You are forgetting the excellent options at small liberal arts and regional colleges, plus colleges abroad. I stand by hundreds of options.

It's not hundreds. It's actually about a hundred and that's being generious. Top 50 Universities, top 50 LACs. That's about it. I crack up when come on here talking about the thousands of colleges. If you come from a private in the DC area, that's just not true. It's hundreds of students competing for a small handful of the same schools. I will be disappointed if my kid winds up at College of Charleston or Elon, which unfortunately is what her counselor is going to recommend as matches (safe matches, but not even safeties). After attending a competitive school with bright, hardworking girls, can you imagine surrounding yourself with those who attend College of Charleston or Elon? It's a whole different world and would be a disappointment. There's no way that many of those girls are extremely disappointed.

Yes. The NCS college counselor recommend College of Charleston and Elon for my DD. 3.2 GPA and 34 ACT.

Would your daughter consider a university in England or elsewhere? Obviously not Oxford, but somewhere exciting and stimulating in another country? That might be a good option. (I don't say this to be nasty, but are there many girls with this sort of overall GPA, getting almost all B's?) When did your daughter start at NCS? Just Upper School or has she been there the whole time? I am really asking this in a positive spirit and don't mean any offense at all. Very curious as my DD will be starting this fall for 9th.

Curious as well. Seems like a big disconnect unless there is ADHD at play and test stakes were high and a hyperfocus.

You must be unfamiliar with NCS and obvilious to the rest of this thread. A 3.2 at NCS is not a cakewalk. It requires hard work. There is no disconnect. Just an average kid doing well at a tough school. That 3.2 is like a 4.5 at your local public.

Average kids get 34 on ACT? I always thought I was better than that…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other adjustment needed is the idea that there is something special or essential about the rankings in USNWR.

Until people accept that hundreds of colleges have stellar students getting a stellar eduction from stellar professors and going on to have stellar careers, this anxiety producing nonsense about only 10-20 colleges being acceptable for strong students will not end.

If your top student is attending a school ranked 60, that school has a fantastic student who will go on to do great things -- likely better things than a hundred kids from Harvard. The workforce makes this obvious; look around you. On top of that, that top-ranked kid from your school might not even be the top student at that 60th ranked college. Yours isn't the only super bright kid attending those schools ranked in the 40-120 range. Do you really think there aren't any geniuses at 117-ranked RIT? There are.

T20 is probably a target that should go away, but there are not hundreds of stellar colleges. To take your "hundreds" literally, Ball State is 202 and Bellarmin University is 203 according to US news (there is a multiway tie for 196). Do you think any NCS student or parent sending their kid to NCS would think those are stellar schools?

You are forgetting the excellent options at small liberal arts and regional colleges, plus colleges abroad. I stand by hundreds of options.

It's not hundreds. It's actually about a hundred and that's being generious. Top 50 Universities, top 50 LACs. That's about it. I crack up when come on here talking about the thousands of colleges. If you come from a private in the DC area, that's just not true. It's hundreds of students competing for a small handful of the same schools. I will be disappointed if my kid winds up at College of Charleston or Elon, which unfortunately is what her counselor is going to recommend as matches (safe matches, but not even safeties). After attending a competitive school with bright, hardworking girls, can you imagine surrounding yourself with those who attend College of Charleston or Elon? It's a whole different world and would be a disappointment. There's no way that many of those girls are extremely disappointed.

Yes. The NCS college counselor recommend College of Charleston and Elon for my DD. 3.2 GPA and 34 ACT.

Would your daughter consider a university in England or elsewhere? Obviously not Oxford, but somewhere exciting and stimulating in another country? That might be a good option. (I don't say this to be nasty, but are there many girls with this sort of overall GPA, getting almost all B's?) When did your daughter start at NCS? Just Upper School or has she been there the whole time? I am really asking this in a positive spirit and don't mean any offense at all. Very curious as my DD will be starting this fall for 9th.

Curious as well. Seems like a big disconnect unless there is ADHD at play and test stakes were high and a hyperfocus.

You must be unfamiliar with NCS and obvilious to the rest of this thread. A 3.2 at NCS is not a cakewalk. It requires hard work. There is no disconnect. Just an average kid doing well at a tough school. That 3.2 is like a 4.5 at your local public.

Average kids get 34 on ACT? I always thought I was better than that…

I think 34 is the median ACT at cathedral schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other adjustment needed is the idea that there is something special or essential about the rankings in USNWR.

Until people accept that hundreds of colleges have stellar students getting a stellar eduction from stellar professors and going on to have stellar careers, this anxiety producing nonsense about only 10-20 colleges being acceptable for strong students will not end.

If your top student is attending a school ranked 60, that school has a fantastic student who will go on to do great things -- likely better things than a hundred kids from Harvard. The workforce makes this obvious; look around you. On top of that, that top-ranked kid from your school might not even be the top student at that 60th ranked college. Yours isn't the only super bright kid attending those schools ranked in the 40-120 range. Do you really think there aren't any geniuses at 117-ranked RIT? There are.

T20 is probably a target that should go away, but there are not hundreds of stellar colleges. To take your "hundreds" literally, Ball State is 202 and Bellarmin University is 203 according to US news (there is a multiway tie for 196). Do you think any NCS student or parent sending their kid to NCS would think those are stellar schools?

You are forgetting the excellent options at small liberal arts and regional colleges, plus colleges abroad. I stand by hundreds of options.

It's not hundreds. It's actually about a hundred and that's being generious. Top 50 Universities, top 50 LACs. That's about it. I crack up when come on here talking about the thousands of colleges. If you come from a private in the DC area, that's just not true. It's hundreds of students competing for a small handful of the same schools. I will be disappointed if my kid winds up at College of Charleston or Elon, which unfortunately is what her counselor is going to recommend as matches (safe matches, but not even safeties). After attending a competitive school with bright, hardworking girls, can you imagine surrounding yourself with those who attend College of Charleston or Elon? It's a whole different world and would be a disappointment. There's no way that many of those girls are extremely disappointed.

Yes. The NCS college counselor recommend College of Charleston and Elon for my DD. 3.2 GPA and 34 ACT.

Would your daughter consider a university in England or elsewhere? Obviously not Oxford, but somewhere exciting and stimulating in another country? That might be a good option. (I don't say this to be nasty, but are there many girls with this sort of overall GPA, getting almost all B's?) When did your daughter start at NCS? Just Upper School or has she been there the whole time? I am really asking this in a positive spirit and don't mean any offense at all. Very curious as my DD will be starting this fall for 9th.

Curious as well. Seems like a big disconnect unless there is ADHD at play and test stakes were high and a hyperfocus.

You must be unfamiliar with NCS and obvilious to the rest of this thread. A 3.2 at NCS is not a cakewalk. It requires hard work. There is no disconnect. Just an average kid doing well at a tough school. That 3.2 is like a 4.5 at your local public.

I get it. Thanks for the info. Lots of ways to skin a cat here, not just the Overworked, Grade Deflation school way. Enjoy.

The above PP doesn't make sense to me. You say that the example is just an average kid at a tough school, and then equate a 3.2 with a 4.5, but an "average" kid doesn't get a 4.5 at any school... also, you are comparing a non weighted GPA with a weighted one...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other adjustment needed is the idea that there is something special or essential about the rankings in USNWR.

Until people accept that hundreds of colleges have stellar students getting a stellar eduction from stellar professors and going on to have stellar careers, this anxiety producing nonsense about only 10-20 colleges being acceptable for strong students will not end.

If your top student is attending a school ranked 60, that school has a fantastic student who will go on to do great things -- likely better things than a hundred kids from Harvard. The workforce makes this obvious; look around you. On top of that, that top-ranked kid from your school might not even be the top student at that 60th ranked college. Yours isn't the only super bright kid attending those schools ranked in the 40-120 range. Do you really think there aren't any geniuses at 117-ranked RIT? There are.

T20 is probably a target that should go away, but there are not hundreds of stellar colleges. To take your "hundreds" literally, Ball State is 202 and Bellarmin University is 203 according to US news (there is a multiway tie for 196). Do you think any NCS student or parent sending their kid to NCS would think those are stellar schools?

You are forgetting the excellent options at small liberal arts and regional colleges, plus colleges abroad. I stand by hundreds of options.

It's not hundreds. It's actually about a hundred and that's being generious. Top 50 Universities, top 50 LACs. That's about it. I crack up when come on here talking about the thousands of colleges. If you come from a private in the DC area, that's just not true. It's hundreds of students competing for a small handful of the same schools. I will be disappointed if my kid winds up at College of Charleston or Elon, which unfortunately is what her counselor is going to recommend as matches (safe matches, but not even safeties). After attending a competitive school with bright, hardworking girls, can you imagine surrounding yourself with those who attend College of Charleston or Elon? It's a whole different world and would be a disappointment. There's no way that many of those girls are extremely disappointed.

Yes. The NCS college counselor recommend College of Charleston and Elon for my DD. 3.2 GPA and 34 ACT.

Would your daughter consider a university in England or elsewhere? Obviously not Oxford, but somewhere exciting and stimulating in another country? That might be a good option. (I don't say this to be nasty, but are there many girls with this sort of overall GPA, getting almost all B's?) When did your daughter start at NCS? Just Upper School or has she been there the whole time? I am really asking this in a positive spirit and don't mean any offense at all. Very curious as my DD will be starting this fall for 9th.

Curious as well. Seems like a big disconnect unless there is ADHD at play and test stakes were high and a hyperfocus.

You must be unfamiliar with NCS and obvilious to the rest of this thread. A 3.2 at NCS is not a cakewalk. It requires hard work. There is no disconnect. Just an average kid doing well at a tough school. That 3.2 is like a 4.5 at your local public.

Average kids get 34 on ACT? I always thought I was better than that…

I think 34 is the median ACT at cathedral schools

They have the highest SATs in town, so it stands to reason that they’d take the biggest hit from test optional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other adjustment needed is the idea that there is something special or essential about the rankings in USNWR.

Until people accept that hundreds of colleges have stellar students getting a stellar eduction from stellar professors and going on to have stellar careers, this anxiety producing nonsense about only 10-20 colleges being acceptable for strong students will not end.

If your top student is attending a school ranked 60, that school has a fantastic student who will go on to do great things -- likely better things than a hundred kids from Harvard. The workforce makes this obvious; look around you. On top of that, that top-ranked kid from your school might not even be the top student at that 60th ranked college. Yours isn't the only super bright kid attending those schools ranked in the 40-120 range. Do you really think there aren't any geniuses at 117-ranked RIT? There are.

T20 is probably a target that should go away, but there are not hundreds of stellar colleges. To take your "hundreds" literally, Ball State is 202 and Bellarmin University is 203 according to US news (there is a multiway tie for 196). Do you think any NCS student or parent sending their kid to NCS would think those are stellar schools?

You are forgetting the excellent options at small liberal arts and regional colleges, plus colleges abroad. I stand by hundreds of options.

It's not hundreds. It's actually about a hundred and that's being generious. Top 50 Universities, top 50 LACs. That's about it. I crack up when come on here talking about the thousands of colleges. If you come from a private in the DC area, that's just not true. It's hundreds of students competing for a small handful of the same schools. I will be disappointed if my kid winds up at College of Charleston or Elon, which unfortunately is what her counselor is going to recommend as matches (safe matches, but not even safeties). After attending a competitive school with bright, hardworking girls, can you imagine surrounding yourself with those who attend College of Charleston or Elon? It's a whole different world and would be a disappointment. There's no way that many of those girls are extremely disappointed.

Yes. The NCS college counselor recommend College of Charleston and Elon for my DD. 3.2 GPA and 34 ACT.

Would your daughter consider a university in England or elsewhere? Obviously not Oxford, but somewhere exciting and stimulating in another country? That might be a good option. (I don't say this to be nasty, but are there many girls with this sort of overall GPA, getting almost all B's?) When did your daughter start at NCS? Just Upper School or has she been there the whole time? I am really asking this in a positive spirit and don't mean any offense at all. Very curious as my DD will be starting this fall for 9th.

Curious as well. Seems like a big disconnect unless there is ADHD at play and test stakes were high and a hyperfocus.

You must be unfamiliar with NCS and obvilious to the rest of this thread. A 3.2 at NCS is not a cakewalk. It requires hard work. There is no disconnect. Just an average kid doing well at a tough school. That 3.2 is like a 4.5 at your local public.

I get it. Thanks for the info. Lots of ways to skin a cat here, not just the Overworked, Grade Deflation school way. Enjoy.

The above PP doesn't make sense to me. You say that the example is just an average kid at a tough school, and then equate a 3.2 with a 4.5, but an "average" kid doesn't get a 4.5 at any school... also, you are comparing a non weighted GPA with a weighted one...

Right, that's the point. Public school weight, NCS doesn't. So you have to compare them. And yes, the average kid does get a 4.5 at public schools. Maybe that's a bit exaggerated, but a 4.0 is definitely not 10% of th class at public school.

[Anonymous]

Just slap up the data link.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other adjustment needed is the idea that there is something special or essential about the rankings in USNWR.

Until people accept that hundreds of colleges have stellar students getting a stellar eduction from stellar professors and going on to have stellar careers, this anxiety producing nonsense about only 10-20 colleges being acceptable for strong students will not end.

If your top student is attending a school ranked 60, that school has a fantastic student who will go on to do great things -- likely better things than a hundred kids from Harvard. The workforce makes this obvious; look around you. On top of that, that top-ranked kid from your school might not even be the top student at that 60th ranked college. Yours isn't the only super bright kid attending those schools ranked in the 40-120 range. Do you really think there aren't any geniuses at 117-ranked RIT? There are.

T20 is probably a target that should go away, but there are not hundreds of stellar colleges. To take your "hundreds" literally, Ball State is 202 and Bellarmin University is 203 according to US news (there is a multiway tie for 196). Do you think any NCS student or parent sending their kid to NCS would think those are stellar schools?

You are forgetting the excellent options at small liberal arts and regional colleges, plus colleges abroad. I stand by hundreds of options.

It's not hundreds. It's actually about a hundred and that's being generious. Top 50 Universities, top 50 LACs. That's about it. I crack up when come on here talking about the thousands of colleges. If you come from a private in the DC area, that's just not true. It's hundreds of students competing for a small handful of the same schools. I will be disappointed if my kid winds up at College of Charleston or Elon, which unfortunately is what her counselor is going to recommend as matches (safe matches, but not even safeties). After attending a competitive school with bright, hardworking girls, can you imagine surrounding yourself with those who attend College of Charleston or Elon? It's a whole different world and would be a disappointment. There's no way that many of those girls are extremely disappointed.

Yes. The NCS college counselor recommend College of Charleston and Elon for my DD. 3.2 GPA and 34 ACT.

Would your daughter consider a university in England or elsewhere? Obviously not Oxford, but somewhere exciting and stimulating in another country? That might be a good option. (I don't say this to be nasty, but are there many girls with this sort of overall GPA, getting almost all B's?) When did your daughter start at NCS? Just Upper School or has she been there the whole time? I am really asking this in a positive spirit and don't mean any offense at all. Very curious as my DD will be starting this fall for 9th.

Curious as well. Seems like a big disconnect unless there is ADHD at play and test stakes were high and a hyperfocus.

You must be unfamiliar with NCS and obvilious to the rest of this thread. A 3.2 at NCS is not a cakewalk. It requires hard work. There is no disconnect. Just an average kid doing well at a tough school. That 3.2 is like a 4.5 at your local public.

I get it. Thanks for the info. Lots of ways to skin a cat here, not just the Overworked, Grade Deflation school way. Enjoy.

The above PP doesn't make sense to me. You say that the example is just an average kid at a tough school, and then equate a 3.2 with a 4.5, but an "average" kid doesn't get a 4.5 at any school... also, you are comparing a non weighted GPA with a weighted one...

Right, that's the point. Public school weight, NCS doesn't. So you have to compare them. And yes, the average kid does get a 4.5 at public schools. Maybe that's a bit exaggerated, but a 4.0 is definitely not 10% of th class at public school.

But colleges look at the unweighted GPAs of pubic high school students as well as private school students, and they recalibrate the GPAs of all applicants using their own individual systems. So if a kid got a 4.5 W GPA in public that could easily be a 3.5ish UW (if they got Bs in lots of AP classes) So I think you are wrong about the "average" student having this GPA. First off, "average" students don't sign up for the hardest classes at any school, public or private, and I think that the difference between these GPAs gets smaller when you take this into account. If you are applying to UCs or Michigan,etc where they get so many applicants they can't manage a personalized approach then you are at a disadvantage, but at smaller schools the personalized rec letters that show the teachers actually knows these students would help NCS girls, in comparison to most public school students, even way above average ones who get form type rec letters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other adjustment needed is the idea that there is something special or essential about the rankings in USNWR.

Until people accept that hundreds of colleges have stellar students getting a stellar eduction from stellar professors and going on to have stellar careers, this anxiety producing nonsense about only 10-20 colleges being acceptable for strong students will not end.

If your top student is attending a school ranked 60, that school has a fantastic student who will go on to do great things -- likely better things than a hundred kids from Harvard. The workforce makes this obvious; look around you. On top of that, that top-ranked kid from your school might not even be the top student at that 60th ranked college. Yours isn't the only super bright kid attending those schools ranked in the 40-120 range. Do you really think there aren't any geniuses at 117-ranked RIT? There are.

T20 is probably a target that should go away, but there are not hundreds of stellar colleges. To take your "hundreds" literally, Ball State is 202 and Bellarmin University is 203 according to US news (there is a multiway tie for 196). Do you think any NCS student or parent sending their kid to NCS would think those are stellar schools?

You are forgetting the excellent options at small liberal arts and regional colleges, plus colleges abroad. I stand by hundreds of options.

It's not hundreds. It's actually about a hundred and that's being generious. Top 50 Universities, top 50 LACs. That's about it. I crack up when come on here talking about the thousands of colleges. If you come from a private in the DC area, that's just not true. It's hundreds of students competing for a small handful of the same schools. I will be disappointed if my kid winds up at College of Charleston or Elon, which unfortunately is what her counselor is going to recommend as matches (safe matches, but not even safeties). After attending a competitive school with bright, hardworking girls, can you imagine surrounding yourself with those who attend College of Charleston or Elon? It's a whole different world and would be a disappointment. There's no way that many of those girls are extremely disappointed.

Yes. The NCS college counselor recommend College of Charleston and Elon for my DD. 3.2 GPA and 34 ACT.

Would your daughter consider a university in England or elsewhere? Obviously not Oxford, but somewhere exciting and stimulating in another country? That might be a good option. (I don't say this to be nasty, but are there many girls with this sort of overall GPA, getting almost all B's?) When did your daughter start at NCS? Just Upper School or has she been there the whole time? I am really asking this in a positive spirit and don't mean any offense at all. Very curious as my DD will be starting this fall for 9th.

Curious as well. Seems like a big disconnect unless there is ADHD at play and test stakes were high and a hyperfocus.

You must be unfamiliar with NCS and obvilious to the rest of this thread. A 3.2 at NCS is not a cakewalk. It requires hard work. There is no disconnect. Just an average kid doing well at a tough school. That 3.2 is like a 4.5 at your local public.

Average kids get 34 on ACT? I always thought I was better than that…

I think 34 is the median ACT at cathedral schools

They have the highest SATs in town, so it stands to reason that they’d take the biggest hit from test optional.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-happens-if-sat-s...consider-adversity-11574773201

2019 Median Scores (from College Board, not Self reported)

TJ: 1520
Sidwell: 1480
St Albans: 1460
NCS: 1430
GDS: 1410
Maret: 1370
Holton: 1375
WIS: 1345



in NY:
Dalton: 1480
Trinity: 1520