is grade deflation really hurting college admissions this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NCS girls are well prepared to achieve success.
SLACs love NCS students. It is silly to get fixated on the ivy’s.
My daughter went to Colby after NCS and had a great experience

SLACS love families willing and able to pay 80k a year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NCS girls are well prepared to achieve success.
SLACs love NCS students. It is silly to get fixated on the ivy’s.
My daughter went to Colby after NCS and had a great experience

My NCS daughter doesn’t want a SLAC at all. This has turned out to be a problem. Despite what people on this thread claim, the big universities with 50,000 applicants don’t have time to figure out what a 3.2 GPA means at a rigorous school with no weighting, etc. They seem to have a GPA cut off. The high test scores NCS girls have used to help in this situation, but they aren’t given much weight these days. Some big universities used to routinely admit NCS girls with lower end GPAs (Wisconsin, Indiana, Georgia) but this has seemed to change in the last few admissions cycles since going TO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCS girls are well prepared to achieve success.
SLACs love NCS students. It is silly to get fixated on the ivy’s.
My daughter went to Colby after NCS and had a great experience

My NCS daughter doesn’t want a SLAC at all. This has turned out to be a problem. Despite what people on this thread claim, the big universities with 50,000 applicants don’t have time to figure out what a 3.2 GPA means at a rigorous school with no weighting, etc. They seem to have a GPA cut off. The high test scores NCS girls have used to help in this situation, but they aren’t given much weight these days. Some big universities used to routinely admit NCS girls with lower end GPAs (Wisconsin, Indiana, Georgia) but this has seemed to change in the last few admissions cycles since going TO.

PP here. I was wrong. Actually, Georgia wasn’t one of the schools, but Wisconsin and Indiana were.

[Anonymous]

the big three in OP's post is not sidwell. the seniors this year did very well with ED/EA, I think at least 10 into ivies

[Anonymous]

Sidwell parents are oddly insecure.

[Anonymous]

Helpful discussion as I'm deciding whether to send DS to public or private HS.

My nephews both graduated from JR in recent years and both were accepted at EVERY top state school they applied to (UCLA, UNC, Michigan, Wisconsin...). Several of their friends were accepted at ivies, no hooks (all UMCs not URMs). In addition to high GPAs (many AP classes) and solid test scores, my nephews joined non-competitive athletics -- crew, track, and football (bencher) -- and participated in after school activities like newspaper and yearbook all 4 years. They both think their extracurriculars put them over the top.

But across the river in NoVA, my friends' kids with over-4.0 GPAs, high test scores, athletics and extracurriculars did not fare so well when applying to VA and MD state schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Helpful discussion as I'm deciding whether to send DS to public or private HS.

My nephews both graduated from JR in recent years and both were accepted at EVERY top state school they applied to (UCLA, UNC, Michigan, Wisconsin...). Several of their friends were accepted at ivies, no hooks (all UMCs not URMs). In addition to high GPAs (many AP classes) and solid test scores, my nephews joined non-competitive athletics -- crew, track, and football (bencher) -- and participated in after school activities like newspaper and yearbook all 4 years. They both think their extracurriculars put them over the top.

But across the river in NoVA, my friends' kids with over-4.0 GPAs, high test scores, athletics and extracurriculars did not fare so well when applying to VA and MD state schools.

Results have not been as good in recent years--too many kids with top grades so it's random for all . I know a lot of UMC kids who were shut out from
top 50 schools. The Ivy spots in 20 and 21 went to all URM or crew kids (and crew were basically all Cornell). Still not bad but the golden years of being a white kid at JR and waltzing in to a top school have passed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Helpful discussion as I'm deciding whether to send DS to public or private HS.

My nephews both graduated from JR in recent years and both were accepted at EVERY top state school they applied to (UCLA, UNC, Michigan, Wisconsin...). Several of their friends were accepted at ivies, no hooks (all UMCs not URMs). In addition to high GPAs (many AP classes) and solid test scores, my nephews joined non-competitive athletics -- crew, track, and football (bencher) -- and participated in after school activities like newspaper and yearbook all 4 years. They both think their extracurriculars put them over the top.

But across the river in NoVA, my friends' kids with over-4.0 GPAs, high test scores, athletics and extracurriculars did not fare so well when applying to VA and MD state schools.

I suspect the high achieving VA kids would probably also be accepted to UCLA, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc. However, it is very difficult for these same kids to get into UVA from FCPS. There just isn’t a lot of space for all the top kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Helpful discussion as I'm deciding whether to send DS to public or private HS.

My nephews both graduated from JR in recent years and both were accepted at EVERY top state school they applied to (UCLA, UNC, Michigan, Wisconsin...). Several of their friends were accepted at ivies, no hooks (all UMCs not URMs). In addition to high GPAs (many AP classes) and solid test scores, my nephews joined non-competitive athletics -- crew, track, and football (bencher) -- and participated in after school activities like newspaper and yearbook all 4 years. They both think their extracurriculars put them over the top.

But across the river in NoVA, my friends' kids with over-4.0 GPAs, high test scores, athletics and extracurriculars did not fare so well when applying to VA and MD state schools.

What the hell is JR?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Helpful discussion as I'm deciding whether to send DS to public or private HS.

My nephews both graduated from JR in recent years and both were accepted at EVERY top state school they applied to (UCLA, UNC, Michigan, Wisconsin...). Several of their friends were accepted at ivies, no hooks (all UMCs not URMs). In addition to high GPAs (many AP classes) and solid test scores, my nephews joined non-competitive athletics -- crew, track, and football (bencher) -- and participated in after school activities like newspaper and yearbook all 4 years. They both think their extracurriculars put them over the top.

But across the river in NoVA, my friends' kids with over-4.0 GPAs, high test scores, athletics and extracurriculars did not fare so well when applying to VA and MD state schools.

What the hell is JR?

It is the new name for Wilson High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Is cum laude strictly gpa? My daughter (lower class man) seems to think it can be more "subjective”

Not “subjective” in that it IS based on GPA. But somewhat subjective as GPA used is not the same one colleges see on the HS transcript nor the one used to determine Flag Winner/Valedictorian.

Flag/Valedictorian = Highest GPA for courses taken at NCS/STA during Junior and Senior year
Cum Laude = Highest 20% GPA for courses taken at NCS/STA and some off campus courses during Sophomore and Junior year and 1st semester Senior year
GPA on transcript used for College Applications = GPA for courses taken at NCS/STA during Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior year. Senior year 1st quarter grades are provided. 1st and 2nd semester senior grades are sent at end of each term around late Jan and early June.

Does it take into account course rigor? In my daughter's grade there are girls in 7 different levels of math. (Each representing a step up in difficulty and the higher you get, the scarcer the As)

How do you have 7 different levels of math in a private school. Public, yes as kids have learning difficulties but this is doubtful. And I have a kid who started algebra in 6th. We only had 4-5 options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the big three in OP's post is not sidwell. the seniors this year did very well with ED/EA, I think at least 10 into ivies

Not what the kids are saying. Sure some placed in top schools but many times more deferred or rejected in ED/EA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we at a point where we need to seriously consider whether NCS deserves to be Big 3? Maybe it’s time for it to drop a few rungs and make way for the schools that are rising in prestige. Maybe replace it with Basis McLean?

Absolutely. You should get right on that. Please compile a ranking in prestige from 1-20 and present it to the forum so it can be fully debated and voted.

Mkay, how’s this:

1 Sidwell
2 BIM
3 STA
4 GDS
5 Holton
6 NCS
7 Maret
8 St Anselms
9 Georgetown Prep
10 Potomac School
11 Madeira
12 WIS
13 Landon
14 Episcopal
15 SAES
16 Stone Ridge
17 Bullis
18 Visi
19 Gonzaga
20 St John’s

What’s BIM?

Yes, what is BIM???

It’s the new Big 3 school according to Niche rankings (not DCUM). See related thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we at a point where we need to seriously consider whether NCS deserves to be Big 3? Maybe it’s time for it to drop a few rungs and make way for the schools that are rising in prestige. Maybe replace it with Basis McLean?

Absolutely. You should get right on that. Please compile a ranking in prestige from 1-20 and present it to the forum so it can be fully debated and voted.

Mkay, how’s this:

1 Sidwell
2 BIM
3 STA
4 GDS
5 Holton
6 NCS
7 Maret
8 St Anselms
9 Georgetown Prep
10 Potomac School
11 Madeira
12 WIS
13 Landon
14 Episcopal
15 SAES
16 Stone Ridge
17 Bullis
18 Visi
19 Gonzaga
20 St John’s

What’s BIM?

Yes, what is BIM???

It’s the new Big 3 school according to Niche rankings (not DCUM). See related thread.

Not Big3 but best in Virginia. Still behind STA/NCS, Sidwell and GDS. But coming up fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Helpful discussion as I'm deciding whether to send DS to public or private HS.

My nephews both graduated from JR in recent years and both were accepted at EVERY top state school they applied to (UCLA, UNC, Michigan, Wisconsin...). Several of their friends were accepted at ivies, no hooks (all UMCs not URMs). In addition to high GPAs (many AP classes) and solid test scores, my nephews joined non-competitive athletics -- crew, track, and football (bencher) -- and participated in after school activities like newspaper and yearbook all 4 years. They both think their extracurriculars put them over the top.

But across the river in NoVA, my friends' kids with over-4.0 GPAs, high test scores, athletics and extracurriculars did not fare so well when applying to VA and MD state schools.

Your nephews went to Wilson/JR and didn’t have any black friends that went to college? Odd.