is grade deflation really hurting college admissions this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Still not ringing a bell. Are you sure that isn’t some kind of typo? Doesn’t it mean something like the ratio of your weight to your height?

[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.

Who takes Niche seriously?!?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Who takes Niche seriously?!?!

np: I do. It's probably the most accurate of any ranking out there.

Holton parents can't handle that HA is in decline.

[Anonymous]

Nonsense

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Big 3 have been telling parents for the last 10 or so years that they have less and less pull with AOs. This is not the 1990s people, where sending your kid to a Big 3 meant it gave them a solid leg up in T10 admissions. TO has just complicated things more.

A lot of Big 3 parents are Genx and younger boomers (and immigrant parents) who despite being told these things by the school and other parents just refuse to believe it, because when our kids started in K, we didn't see this trend coming. I do think most of us have gotten this message, but, there are still some holdouts.

All schools send a profile along with the transcript so AOs know what a 3.7 at Sidwell vs. a 3.7 from an MCPS high school means. Admissions is just harder, too many kids, too few spots in top schools (and top schools are building a class that isn't going to pull as many kids from elite private schools).

+1. The bottom half of St. Paul’s class used to go to Yale, now they don’t. This isn’t just Big 3 - it’s all prestigious schools.

[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.

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

PP -- of course living in DC they have (black) school and neighborhood friends and yes they went to college. I know several of their neighborhood friends went to Duke, UNC, UCLA and several others earned sports scholarships for football, baseball and track.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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

PP -- of course living in DC they have (black) school and neighborhood friends and yes they went to college. I know several of their neighborhood friends went to Duke, UNC, UCLA and several others earned sports scholarships for football, baseball and track.

Not sure what you are talking about. This must have been 5+ years ago. No one gets into Duke from JR these days except for athletic recruits. UNC is very difficult to get into since they fill up with instate kids. A few top kids do get into the ivys but they are generally also legacy or sports recruits and/or latino or AA. It is not easy to get into good schools from JR but certainly doable. The landscape has changed significantly the last 2-3 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Big 3 have been telling parents for the last 10 or so years that they have less and less pull with AOs. This is not the 1990s people, where sending your kid to a Big 3 meant it gave them a solid leg up in T10 admissions. TO has just complicated things more.

A lot of Big 3 parents are Genx and younger boomers (and immigrant parents) who despite being told these things by the school and other parents just refuse to believe it, because when our kids started in K, we didn't see this trend coming. I do think most of us have gotten this message, but, there are still some holdouts.

All schools send a profile along with the transcript so AOs know what a 3.7 at Sidwell vs. a 3.7 from an MCPS high school means. Admissions is just harder, too many kids, too few spots in top schools (and top schools are building a class that isn't going to pull as many kids from elite private schools).

+1. The bottom half of St. Paul’s class used to go to Yale, now they don’t. This isn’t just Big 3 - it’s all prestigious schools.

I couldn't find it on Harvard's website, but it would be interesting to know how many high schools (public and private) are represented in the 1,950 or so admitted students each year, and how that has changed over time. My guess is that simple math would indicate that any high school would be very fortunate to have more than a handful of admits, and that most (probably including all the ones in DC) should expect one or two (or none). That's not a knock on any of the local private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Big 3 have been telling parents for the last 10 or so years that they have less and less pull with AOs. This is not the 1990s people, where sending your kid to a Big 3 meant it gave them a solid leg up in T10 admissions. TO has just complicated things more.

A lot of Big 3 parents are Genx and younger boomers (and immigrant parents) who despite being told these things by the school and other parents just refuse to believe it, because when our kids started in K, we didn't see this trend coming. I do think most of us have gotten this message, but, there are still some holdouts.

All schools send a profile along with the transcript so AOs know what a 3.7 at Sidwell vs. a 3.7 from an MCPS high school means. Admissions is just harder, too many kids, too few spots in top schools (and top schools are building a class that isn't going to pull as many kids from elite private schools).

+1. The bottom half of St. Paul’s class used to go to Yale, now they don’t. This isn’t just Big 3 - it’s all prestigious schools.

Where is St. Paul’s? In the DMV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Big 3 have been telling parents for the last 10 or so years that they have less and less pull with AOs. This is not the 1990s people, where sending your kid to a Big 3 meant it gave them a solid leg up in T10 admissions. TO has just complicated things more.

A lot of Big 3 parents are Genx and younger boomers (and immigrant parents) who despite being told these things by the school and other parents just refuse to believe it, because when our kids started in K, we didn't see this trend coming. I do think most of us have gotten this message, but, there are still some holdouts.

All schools send a profile along with the transcript so AOs know what a 3.7 at Sidwell vs. a 3.7 from an MCPS high school means. Admissions is just harder, too many kids, too few spots in top schools (and top schools are building a class that isn't going to pull as many kids from elite private schools).

+1. The bottom half of St. Paul’s class used to go to Yale, now they don’t. This isn’t just Big 3 - it’s all prestigious schools.

Where is St. Paul’s? In the DMV?

Assuming this is a serious question, the boarding school in NH.

[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

IG shows 5 in Ivies so far.

https://instagram.com/sidwellseniors2023?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

IG shows 5 in Ivies so far.

https://instagram.com/sidwellseniors2023?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

5 Ivies is impressive. Go Sidwell! I would be shocked if NCS does not have similar results as both schools are top of the heap

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Big 3 have been telling parents for the last 10 or so years that they have less and less pull with AOs. This is not the 1990s people, where sending your kid to a Big 3 meant it gave them a solid leg up in T10 admissions. TO has just complicated things more.

A lot of Big 3 parents are Genx and younger boomers (and immigrant parents) who despite being told these things by the school and other parents just refuse to believe it, because when our kids started in K, we didn't see this trend coming. I do think most of us have gotten this message, but, there are still some holdouts.

All schools send a profile along with the transcript so AOs know what a 3.7 at Sidwell vs. a 3.7 from an MCPS high school means. Admissions is just harder, too many kids, too few spots in top schools (and top schools are building a class that isn't going to pull as many kids from elite private schools).

+1. The bottom half of St. Paul’s class used to go to Yale, now they don’t. This isn’t just Big 3 - it’s all prestigious schools.

Where is St. Paul’s? In the DMV?

Yes, serious question. I’m not familiar with boarding schools and there is a St. Paul’s private school in Baltimore.

Assuming this is a serious question, the boarding school in NH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Big 3 have been telling parents for the last 10 or so years that they have less and less pull with AOs. This is not the 1990s people, where sending your kid to a Big 3 meant it gave them a solid leg up in T10 admissions. TO has just complicated things more.

A lot of Big 3 parents are Genx and younger boomers (and immigrant parents) who despite being told these things by the school and other parents just refuse to believe it, because when our kids started in K, we didn't see this trend coming. I do think most of us have gotten this message, but, there are still some holdouts.

All schools send a profile along with the transcript so AOs know what a 3.7 at Sidwell vs. a 3.7 from an MCPS high school means. Admissions is just harder, too many kids, too few spots in top schools (and top schools are building a class that isn't going to pull as many kids from elite private schools).

+1. The bottom half of St. Paul’s class used to go to Yale, now they don’t. This isn’t just Big 3 - it’s all prestigious schools.

Where is St. Paul’s? In the DMV?

Yes, serious question. I’m not familiar with boarding schools and there is a St. Paul’s private school in Baltimore.

Assuming this is a serious question, the boarding school in NH.

This St. Paul’s is part of the Saint Gottlesex group of schools, all of which likely are lamenting the good old days when they were a pipeline to the Ivies. Probably still are to extent any school could be today, due to legacies, reputation and exclusivity, but not like it was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Obviously, PP's kid got into an Ivy so the rest of you don't matter.