Sidwell Junior - GPA concerns

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What is the class rank of 3.85 at Sidwell?

Roughly 20/25

Really? A 3.85 is all As and A minuses. (My kid has this GPA)
Do 20-25 kids at Sidwell have this or better each year?

Yes they do. GPA numbers have crept up slightly over the last 5 years. It may have been 15-20 kids with 3.85 and above. Now it is more like 20-25 with those GPAs. Each year his slightly different, of course.

This must be super recent phenomena. Last year’s class was not this high.

Not true. Last years class was indeed this high.

[Anonymous]

Where is the OP who posts the entire school communications to post the entire DC transcript? Quiet now.

[Anonymous]

This class also had the Covid years and grading relaxed during those years or at least kids had a full year of online assessments (i.e things were wacky and kids could cheat, do things as a group, etc).

[Anonymous]

I will say it's interesting to learn that 25% of a Sidwell class (with a 3.85+) manages to go through 4 years without getting a B.

If that many are able to master the curriculum like this then lowering the grading bar just hurts these top kids and muddies the waters for their admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will say it's interesting to learn that 25% of a Sidwell class (with a 3.85+) manages to go through 4 years without getting a B.

If that many are able to master the curriculum like this then lowering the grading bar just hurts these top kids and muddies the waters for their admissions.

Strictly speaking: You could offset some B+ grades with A grades and still end up at 3.85. But, as such, yes: 3.85 is excellent. Of course, Sidwell is still being hurt a bit, in my view, not by lowering the bar, but by keeping it as high as it is. A 3.85 kid at Sidwell or similar schools in DC should be doing very well in admissions to the very top schools (HYPS). But, this is generally not the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This class also had the Covid years and grading relaxed during those years or at least kids had a full year of online assessments (i.e things were wacky and kids could cheat, do things as a group, etc).

Cheating!?! Bite your tongue!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This class also had the Covid years and grading relaxed during those years or at least kids had a full year of online assessments (i.e things were wacky and kids could cheat, do things as a group, etc).

Cheating!?! Bite your tongue!

The real cheating is the number of kids faking ADHD type conditions and getting accommodations for school and standardized testing, a game that began in Middle School, presumably with payments to pliant psychologists. An alarmingly large number.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will say it's interesting to learn that 25% of a Sidwell class (with a 3.85+) manages to go through 4 years without getting a B.

If that many are able to master the curriculum like this then lowering the grading bar just hurts these top kids and muddies the waters for their admissions.

Strictly speaking: You could offset some B+ grades with A grades and still end up at 3.85. But, as such, yes: 3.85 is excellent. Of course, Sidwell is still being hurt a bit, in my view, not by lowering the bar, but by keeping it as high as it is. A 3.85 kid at Sidwell or similar schools in DC should be doing very well in admissions to the very top schools (HYPS). But, this is generally not the case.

The top 25% of the class should be getting into these schools? I don't think so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will say it's interesting to learn that 25% of a Sidwell class (with a 3.85+) manages to go through 4 years without getting a B.

If that many are able to master the curriculum like this then lowering the grading bar just hurts these top kids and muddies the waters for their admissions.

Strictly speaking: You could offset some B+ grades with A grades and still end up at 3.85. But, as such, yes: 3.85 is excellent. Of course, Sidwell is still being hurt a bit, in my view, not by lowering the bar, but by keeping it as high as it is. A 3.85 kid at Sidwell or similar schools in DC should be doing very well in admissions to the very top schools (HYPS). But, this is generally not the case.

If you have 6 classes in a year and get 5 straight As and one B+ you already fall to a 3.83.

A
A
A
A
A
B+
=
3.83

And that means you never even had an A-. A 3.85 allows tiny room for any error

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This class also had the Covid years and grading relaxed during those years or at least kids had a full year of online assessments (i.e things were wacky and kids could cheat, do things as a group, etc).

Troll or wacky?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What is the class rank of 3.85 at Sidwell?

Roughly 20/25

Do you work at Sidwell? I think you made this up. There should not be 20/25 kids above 3.85 if the median is 3.55/3.60.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This class also had the Covid years and grading relaxed during those years or at least kids had a full year of online assessments (i.e things were wacky and kids could cheat, do things as a group, etc).

Cheating!?! Bite your tongue!

The real cheating is the number of kids faking ADHD type conditions and getting accommodations for school and standardized testing, a game that began in Middle School, presumably with payments to pliant psychologists. An alarmingly large number.

You’re not wrong. It’s a tricky game to play because accommodations end up on the transcript

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This class also had the Covid years and grading relaxed during those years or at least kids had a full year of online assessments (i.e things were wacky and kids could cheat, do things as a group, etc).

Cheating!?! Bite your tongue!

The real cheating is the number of kids faking ADHD type conditions and getting accommodations for school and standardized testing, a game that began in Middle School, presumably with payments to pliant psychologists. An alarmingly large number.

You’re not wrong. It’s a tricky game to play because accommodations end up on the transcript

So how many of the 20-25% have fake ADHD accommodations? Why does the school allow this?

[Anonymous]

Troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What is the class rank of 3.85 at Sidwell?

Roughly 20/25

Do you work at Sidwell? I think you made this up. There should not be 20/25 kids above 3.85 if the median is 3.55/3.60.

Did not make it up. Make of it what you will.