Where did the B students at the top independent schools end up going to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's pretty funny. Mine had top grades at Holton and the college counselor wanted her to go to "Villa NoWhere"...i.e. Villonova. She ended up at top Ivy. Your kid must be a legacy or you must give a lot of money to Holton.

Are you saying that people that give more money get better placements for their kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Yes, I am the parent to a C student in high school at a top private. DS was admitted many years ago as a younger sibling. Smart kid but he has difficulty producing the amount of writing required by the school, even in science courses. I'm hoping that it will get easier as he matures. The C's definitely will impact his college choices but DS is happy and in the long-term learning to be a proficient and quick writer should be an asset. "

I think my younger sibling DC is going to have problems producing the volume of writing required in older sibling's high school. If you had it to do over again, would you have applied to other high schools for the younger sib? If so, any idea where would have been a better fit?

Yes, I wish that we would have applied to other high schools. DS is in a progressive school and he should have been moved to something with more structure, and fewer big projects. If you really think it might be a problem it might be worth having a psych-ed done, especially if the school is recommending it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's pretty funny. Mine had top grades at Holton and the college counselor wanted her to go to "Villa NoWhere"...i.e. Villonova. She ended up at top Ivy. Your kid must be a legacy or you must give a lot of money to Holton.

Are you saying that people that give more money get better placements for their kids?

Why are you surprised?
It happens everywhere, starting from high schools (especially the so called accelerated charter schools) to colleges to universities.
It's called ... fundraising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Title says it all. Where did the B students at your top private end up going?

Curious to know if the school gives anything below C's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's pretty funny. Mine had top grades at Holton and the college counselor wanted her to go to "Villa NoWhere"...i.e. Villonova. She ended up at top Ivy. Your kid must be a legacy or you must give a lot of money to Holton.

Are you saying that people that give more money get better placements for their kids?

Why are you surprised?
It happens everywhere, starting from high schools (especially the so called accelerated charter schools) to colleges to universities.
It's called ... fundraising.

Fundraising is one thing, but donations linked to preferential treatment in college counseling is quite another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's pretty funny. Mine had top grades at Holton and the college counselor wanted her to go to "Villa NoWhere"...i.e. Villonova. She ended up at top Ivy. Your kid must be a legacy or you must give a lot of money to Holton.

Are you saying that people that give more money get better placements for their kids?

Why are you surprised?
It happens everywhere, starting from high schools (especially the so called accelerated charter schools) to colleges to universities.
It's called ... fundraising.

Correct of my 3 kids, two will go to ivy (I am pretty confident based on their activities/academic history). One will not so I am already donating a little to my college (top 50 and private) through athletics to have some added influence there.

It is all connections, hooks, and money. Paying full boat at one of the 7 schools considered big 3. For HS, every school we had a connection or hook we got in. For those we didn't, we didn't. And our kids' SSATs, academics, etc were relatively strong.

This is Washington after all. If you can buy a congressional seat, you can't buy high school or college placement? Don't be naive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's pretty funny. Mine had top grades at Holton and the college counselor wanted her to go to "Villa NoWhere"...i.e. Villonova. She ended up at top Ivy. Your kid must be a legacy or you must give a lot of money to Holton.

Are you saying that people that give more money get better placements for their kids?

Why are you surprised?
It happens everywhere, starting from high schools (especially the so called accelerated charter schools) to colleges to universities.
It's called ... fundraising.

Correct of my 3 kids, two will go to ivy (I am pretty confident based on their activities/academic history). One will not so I am already donating a little to my college (top 50 and private) through athletics to have some added influence there.

It is all connections, hooks, and money. Paying full boat at one of the 7 schools considered big 3. For HS, every school we had a connection or hook we got in. For those we didn't, we didn't. And our kids' SSATs, academics, etc were relatively strong.

This is Washington after all. If you can buy a congressional seat, you can't buy high school or college placement? Don't be naive.

Seriously? You are a piece of work. There are many schools out there better than an ivy. But hey, some people are just into names above all else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's pretty funny. Mine had top grades at Holton and the college counselor wanted her to go to "Villa NoWhere"...i.e. Villonova. She ended up at top Ivy. Your kid must be a legacy or you must give a lot of money to Holton.

Are you saying that people that give more money get better placements for their kids?

Why are you surprised?
It happens everywhere, starting from high schools (especially the so called accelerated charter schools) to colleges to universities.
It's called ... fundraising.

Correct of my 3 kids, two will go to ivy (I am pretty confident based on their activities/academic history). One will not so I am already donating a little to my college (top 50 and private) through athletics to have some added influence there.

It is all connections, hooks, and money. Paying full boat at one of the 7 schools considered big 3. For HS, every school we had a connection or hook we got in. For those we didn't, we didn't. And our kids' SSATs, academics, etc were relatively strong.

This is Washington after all. If you can buy a congressional seat, you can't buy high school or college placement? Don't be naive.

Seriously? You are a piece of work. There are many schools out there better than an ivy. But hey, some people are just into names above all else.

[Anonymous]

Tulane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's pretty funny. Mine had top grades at Holton and the college counselor wanted her to go to "Villa NoWhere"...i.e. Villonova. She ended up at top Ivy. Your kid must be a legacy or you must give a lot of money to Holton.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a B+ student at Holton with good scores and her counselor (supported by Naviance) seems to indicate she could get into a lot of great places, especially if she applies ED. She's looking at places like Bowdoin, Kenyon, Grinnell (Bowdoin would have to be ED) and counselor says she has a good shot at all. As people have said, there is a wide range of "B" but she has mostly A- or B+ in her classes and several honors/AP. She's not interested in Ivy League or most of the top schools but I'm confident she will get into several good schools given her background and the reputation of Holton.

Interesting. I think that college counselors at independent schools have a policy of setting very low expectations at the first meeting with parents --- in our case the first kid, who ended up at an Ivy, was being sold on a small third rate college in Florida, and the second kid, who ended up in a top ten school, was asked to look at a non-flagship Southern state school. I think that they do this to deflect blame in case of mishaps, but also to force parents and kids to focus on safeties and match schools. It is very easy to get caught up thinking about far reaches and not enough time planning out the full list. In my experience, once they see that a family has been sufficiently stunned, they become much more helpful and on-point.

This was our experience, except that we simply ignored their advice. Kids were accepted at schools the counselors said would be impossible. By the third time around it was just so tiresome to play this game. Why do they assume that parents are completely clueless and want to force their kids to apply to schools where they'd be unhappy? Wouldn't it be more efficient to try to work cooperatively with parents?

Agree on this. On the second child and they are again setting bar pretty low. Okay we get it nothing's a given and safeties are important but geez...

[Anonymous]

"Yes, I wish that we would have applied to other high schools. DS is in a progressive school and he should have been moved to something with more structure, and fewer big projects. If you really think it might be a problem it might be worth having a psych-ed done, especially if the school is recommending it."

Thank you. I appreciate that you replied. I will keep this is mind going forward. Good luck to your DCs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's pretty funny. Mine had top grades at Holton and the college counselor wanted her to go to "Villa NoWhere"...i.e. Villonova. She ended up at top Ivy. Your kid must be a legacy or you must give a lot of money to Holton.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a B+ student at Holton with good scores and her counselor (supported by Naviance) seems to indicate she could get into a lot of great places, especially if she applies ED. She's looking at places like Bowdoin, Kenyon, Grinnell (Bowdoin would have to be ED) and counselor says she has a good shot at all. As people have said, there is a wide range of "B" but she has mostly A- or B+ in her classes and several honors/AP. She's not interested in Ivy League or most of the top schools but I'm confident she will get into several good schools given her background and the reputation of Holton.

Interesting. I think that college counselors at independent schools have a policy of setting very low expectations at the first meeting with parents --- in our case the first kid, who ended up at an Ivy, was being sold on a small third rate college in Florida, and the second kid, who ended up in a top ten school, was asked to look at a non-flagship Southern state school. I think that they do this to deflect blame in case of mishaps, but also to force parents and kids to focus on safeties and match schools. It is very easy to get caught up thinking about far reaches and not enough time planning out the full list. In my experience, once they see that a family has been sufficiently stunned, they become much more helpful and on-point.

This was our experience, except that we simply ignored their advice. Kids were accepted at schools the counselors said would be impossible. By the third time around it was just so tiresome to play this game. Why do they assume that parents are completely clueless and want to force their kids to apply to schools where they'd be unhappy? Wouldn't it be more efficient to try to work cooperatively with parents?

Agree on this. On the second child and they are again setting bar pretty low. Okay we get it nothing's a given and safeties are important but geez...

Exactly. That and the endless lectures on "fit" being the most important factor, but there's never any discussion about where your kid would "fit". In fact, counselor has suggested some schools that would be totally ridiculous in this regard (e.g., schools with major Greek scene for kid who leans crunchy and whose teachers always note her inclusive manner and abilty to make friends from all groups.) We left the meeting thinking that she confused our kid with another one. Oh, well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You might have a shot at Michigan, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Temple, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Wellesly, Maryland, GW, AU, Colby, Bowdoin.

Michigan accepts lots of Sidwell kids with B averages.

NYU is a possibility. Fordham, Rutgers,

Some even super selectives might accept depending on circumstances. UVA, Barnard, Weslyan

No way UVA. There average GPA for acceptance is 3.68 to 3.89 and that includes instate students from every county. Acceptance GPA much higher for out-ot-state or NOVA counties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's pretty funny. Mine had top grades at Holton and the college counselor wanted her to go to "Villa NoWhere"...i.e. Villonova. She ended up at top Ivy. Your kid must be a legacy or you must give a lot of money to Holton.

Are you saying that people that give more money get better placements for their kids?

I have heard this before about Holton! Was your child on FA? Some parents have complained that college counseling is different for kids on FA. I would like to believe this is not true, because if it is, that is disgusting.

[Anonymous]

A 3.0 from Sidwell is equivalent to a higher GPA somewhere else. Not equivalent to a 4.0, but maybe a 3.5?