Sidwell Junior - GPA concerns

[Anonymous]

agreed. no one at TJ is a VIP. and they don't get any urm boost bc 75% of the school is asian. But what they do have are FGLI. They are the ones getting into multiple ivies. A school like sidwell doesn't have that, so legacy is the key here.

[Anonymous]

I am surprised that more people don't think about this. Spending 50+ on HS to only realize that the urms on scholarship are getting those choice college spots. Or that because you are at an exclusive school, 10 of the parents in your childs class went to HYP and so those kids will win the ties in admissions versus your child. A college can only take so many kids from 1 school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am surprised that more people don't think about this. Spending 50+ on HS to only realize that the urms on scholarship are getting those choice college spots. Or that because you are at an exclusive school, 10 of the parents in your childs class went to HYP and so those kids will win the ties in admissions versus your child. A college can only take so many kids from 1 school.

10 percent or more to HYP. And about 35-50 percent of the parents are legacies at Ivy's/Other top schools that favor legacies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am surprised that more people don't think about this. Spending 50+ on HS to only realize that the urms on scholarship are getting those choice college spots. Or that because you are at an exclusive school, 10 of the parents in your childs class went to HYP and so those kids will win the ties in admissions versus your child. A college can only take so many kids from 1 school.

People will realize that soon. A few years ago this is not an issue because each ivy took many kids from Sidwell including VIPs, big donors, URMs, athletes as well as top academic unhooked kids. Now due to TO and other factors, ivies limit their number of admits from schools like Sidwell and they prioritize VIPs/donors etc over top academic.

If privates do not do anything, in a few years, there will be less top academic unhooked kids attending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:agreed. no one at TJ is a VIP. and they don't get any urm boost bc 75% of the school is asian. But what they do have are FGLI. They are the ones getting into multiple ivies. A school like sidwell doesn't have that, so legacy is the key here.

I guarantee there are a lot of legacies at TJ these days. Not sure why anyone would think otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ivy admits at our Big3 school last year:

1. URM outside the top 20%
2. URM outside the top 20%
3. URM outside the top 20%
4. athlete outside the top 20%
5. athlete outside the top 20%
6. athlete outside the top 20%
7. legacy in the top 20%
8. legacy in the top 20%
9. legacy in the top 20%
10. legacy in the top 20%
11. legacy in the top 20%
12. legacy in the top 20%
13. top 20%

How do you know who is in the top 20%? I don’t know the grades of any other kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:agreed. no one at TJ is a VIP. and they don't get any urm boost bc 75% of the school is asian. But what they do have are FGLI. They are the ones getting into multiple ivies. A school like sidwell doesn't have that, so legacy is the key here.

I guarantee there are a lot of legacies at TJ these days. Not sure why anyone would think otherwise.

But no VIPs, big donors. Those are the ones got into HYPS at top privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ivy admits at our Big3 school last year:

1. URM outside the top 20%
2. URM outside the top 20%
3. URM outside the top 20%
4. athlete outside the top 20%
5. athlete outside the top 20%
6. athlete outside the top 20%
7. legacy in the top 20%
8. legacy in the top 20%
9. legacy in the top 20%
10. legacy in the top 20%
11. legacy in the top 20%
12. legacy in the top 20%
13. top 20%

How do you know who is in the top 20%? I don’t know the grades of any other kids.

When you list legacy do you mean someone who is a donor/big money legacy or a student who has a regular dime-a-dozen Ivy parent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ivy admits at our Big3 school last year:

1. URM outside the top 20%
2. URM outside the top 20%
3. URM outside the top 20%
4. athlete outside the top 20%
5. athlete outside the top 20%
6. athlete outside the top 20%
7. legacy in the top 20%
8. legacy in the top 20%
9. legacy in the top 20%
10. legacy in the top 20%
11. legacy in the top 20%
12. legacy in the top 20%
13. top 20%

How do you know who is in the top 20%? I don’t know the grades of any other kids.

The school publicly announces the names of the top 20% each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ivy admits at our Big3 school last year:

1. URM outside the top 20%
2. URM outside the top 20%
3. URM outside the top 20%
4. athlete outside the top 20%
5. athlete outside the top 20%
6. athlete outside the top 20%
7. legacy in the top 20%
8. legacy in the top 20%
9. legacy in the top 20%
10. legacy in the top 20%
11. legacy in the top 20%
12. legacy in the top 20%
13. top 20%

How do you know who is in the top 20%? I don’t know the grades of any other kids.

When you list legacy do you mean someone who is a donor/big money legacy or a student who has a regular dime-a-dozen Ivy parent?

A mixture. 1/2 were regular legacy and 1/2 were either big donor legacy, multiple (3+) generation legacy, or legacy with current roles at the Ivy university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ivy admits at our Big3 school last year:

1. URM outside the top 20%
2. URM outside the top 20%
3. URM outside the top 20%
4. athlete outside the top 20%
5. athlete outside the top 20%
6. athlete outside the top 20%
7. legacy in the top 20%
8. legacy in the top 20%
9. legacy in the top 20%
10. legacy in the top 20%
11. legacy in the top 20%
12. legacy in the top 20%
13. top 20%

How do you know who is in the top 20%? I don’t know the grades of any other kids.

The school publicly announces the names of the top 20% each year.

Not sure about your big 3 but Sidwell doesn’t announce it.

[Anonymous]

OP You should be worried if your kid is shooting for Ivy's/Stanford/Duke/MIT and even highly selective state schools.

We are at another big 3 and the party line is "All the colleges know how hard our school is and that no one gets all A's" Our kid took the most rigorous classes and had a similar GPA- bit higher and a 1540 SAT plus good ec's etc etc. Guess what - Rejected early at Ivy. Friend with similar stats rejected at Michigan. I know a dozen examples. Yes alums, athletes and URM are still getting in - but the regular "smart" kids who don't have the 4.0 Plus because our schools don't weight and now we don't have AP's are getting shut out.

Things are changing the colleges want the 4.8's and don't care that our schools don't give out 4.0's easily And our schools are too arrogant to acknowledge it. If this continues to play out with lackluster admissions something will hopefully change. Too Late for my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP You should be worried if your kid is shooting for Ivy's/Stanford/Duke/MIT and even highly selective state schools.

We are at another big 3 and the party line is "All the colleges know how hard our school is and that no one gets all A's" Our kid took the most rigorous classes and had a similar GPA- bit higher and a 1540 SAT plus good ec's etc etc. Guess what - Rejected early at Ivy. Friend with similar stats rejected at Michigan. I know a dozen examples. Yes alums, athletes and URM are still getting in - but the regular "smart" kids who don't have the 4.0 Plus because our schools don't weight and now we don't have AP's are getting shut out.

Things are changing the colleges want the 4.8's and don't care that our schools don't give out 4.0's easily And our schools are too arrogant to acknowledge it. If this continues to play out with lackluster admissions something will hopefully change. Too Late for my kid.

Yes, this. Happened in our house too, last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP You should be worried if your kid is shooting for Ivy's/Stanford/Duke/MIT and even highly selective state schools.

We are at another big 3 and the party line is "All the colleges know how hard our school is and that no one gets all A's" Our kid took the most rigorous classes and had a similar GPA- bit higher and a 1540 SAT plus good ec's etc etc. Guess what - Rejected early at Ivy. Friend with similar stats rejected at Michigan. I know a dozen examples. Yes alums, athletes and URM are still getting in - but the regular "smart" kids who don't have the 4.0 Plus because our schools don't weight and now we don't have AP's are getting shut out.

Things are changing the colleges want the 4.8's and don't care that our schools don't give out 4.0's easily And our schools are too arrogant to acknowledge it. If this continues to play out with lackluster admissions something will hopefully change. Too Late for my kid.

Your kid would have been rejected whether there was grade deflation or not. You don't get it. The only Big 3 kids the T20 want are hooked kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP You should be worried if your kid is shooting for Ivy's/Stanford/Duke/MIT and even highly selective state schools.

We are at another big 3 and the party line is "All the colleges know how hard our school is and that no one gets all A's" Our kid took the most rigorous classes and had a similar GPA- bit higher and a 1540 SAT plus good ec's etc etc. Guess what - Rejected early at Ivy. Friend with similar stats rejected at Michigan. I know a dozen examples. Yes alums, athletes and URM are still getting in - but the regular "smart" kids who don't have the 4.0 Plus because our schools don't weight and now we don't have AP's are getting shut out.

Things are changing the colleges want the 4.8's and don't care that our schools don't give out 4.0's easily And our schools are too arrogant to acknowledge it. If this continues to play out with lackluster admissions something will hopefully change. Too Late for my kid.

Your kid would have been rejected whether there was grade deflation or not. You don't get it. The only Big 3 kids the T20 want are hooked kids.

I'm still holding out some hope in RD for my 3.85+ kid...but it definitely feels bleak so far.