NCS Reception

[Anonymous]

Also after hearing where the B students from this year's class went I think this whole story was made up. Students with C averages are going places like SMU, Sewanee and Skidmore... not terrible and certainly better than University of South Carolina.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also after hearing where the B students from this year's class went I think this whole story was made up. Students with C averages are going places like SMU, Sewanee and Skidmore... not terrible and certainly better than University of South Carolina.

Yes, NCS posted their 2016 college admissions on their FB page. I think this story was made up as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shocking and horrifying

I don't find this shocking or horrifying but rather a reality check that I will keep in mind as DC heads to another Big 3 for middle school next year. My DH has basically said: You're going there to make good grades. Bring home Bs and Cs and it's Hello Wilson.

Yikes. What about a love of learning and the benefit of having small classes? I went to public and the writing and speaking skills of friends that had gone to private school were paramount - especially DC privates.

[Anonymous]

The story was not made up. 2310 and 800. Wait listed at a big mediocre state school like South Carolina. Might as well have gone to a shitty high school in the boonies as the NCS grades didn't do anything to open any kind of competitive doors. Not knocking it for everybody - this year's college list is amazing - but for us, it clearly was a poor decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The story was not made up. 2310 and 800. Wait listed at a big mediocre state school like South Carolina. Might as well have gone to a shitty high school in the boonies as the NCS grades didn't do anything to open any kind of competitive doors. Not knocking it for everybody - this year's college list is amazing - but for us, it clearly was a poor decision.

Assuming the story is true, it appears to be a significant outlier from the typical experience. Hard to know without asking the poster to reveal a lot of personal information why the very odd result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shocking and horrifying

I don't find this shocking or horrifying but rather a reality check that I will keep in mind as DC heads to another Big 3 for middle school next year. My DH has basically said: You're going there to make good grades. Bring home Bs and Cs and it's Hello Wilson.

Yikes. What about a love of learning and the benefit of having small classes? I went to public and the writing and speaking skills of friends that had gone to private school were paramount - especially DC privates.

I am with the PP. I am not paying $80,000/year for my kids to bring home Bs and Cs, and I've made that perfectly very clear to my kids. If the grades slip, it's public school for them. We struggle to send our kids to private, so they are required to give 100% effort and nothing less. I guess if we were rich my attitude might be different. But we're not. I completely understand where OP is coming from here.

[Anonymous]

Should have been firmer like pp. always seemed things were getting better and thought that the NCS brand would ultimately be far more useful than it was. 2310 and 800 did nothing without grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shocking and horrifying

I don't find this shocking or horrifying but rather a reality check that I will keep in mind as DC heads to another Big 3 for middle school next year. My DH has basically said: You're going there to make good grades. Bring home Bs and Cs and it's Hello Wilson.

Yikes. What about a love of learning and the benefit of having small classes? I went to public and the writing and speaking skills of friends that had gone to private school were paramount - especially DC privates.

I am with the PP. I am not paying $80,000/year for my kids to bring home Bs and Cs, and I've made that perfectly very clear to my kids. If the grades slip, it's public school for them. We struggle to send our kids to private, so they are required to give 100% effort and nothing less. I guess if we were rich my attitude might be different. But we're not. I completely understand where OP is coming from here.

But these schools are rigorous. What if your DC is giving 100% and still brings in Bs and Cs? Do you really think they would do better at public? They wouldn't. If you can afford it, you continue to provide the best environment you can and set them up for success in college. It is quite safe to say that NCS prepares students for the rigors of college and life far better than public.

[Anonymous]

Here's the thing about a 2310 and bad grades - it screams smart kid who doesn't work hard in school.

If her 2310 was higher than her classmates' scores, but their grades were better, then why?

Also, no college is going to take 50 kids from one school. So if 50 kids from her class are applying to the same college, they're going to take the ones that had similar test scores but higher grades.

Did NCS give you access to Naviance? It would be interesting to know if her admissions results where comparable to other graduates with the "under achiever" profile.

[Anonymous]

My DD graduated from NCS and I can tell you that this story is complete bullshit. 2310 and 800 and waitlisted at Univ. of SC?
Given that she's out of state and would've paid full freight they would've personally picked her up and driven her to orientation.

Now if the girl in question is one of those pseudo social climbing miscreants from GDS or Sidwell I could see it but not NCS.

[Anonymous]

Once again, I'm telling you it's true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once again, I'm telling you it's true.

Who knows what else is on the kid's record (drugs,etc.) High scores and average grades will not get you into a top college regardless where you go to HS. IME, the college admissions from NCS, STA, Sidwell are excellent and a larger percentage get into top schools than any public school in the area, including the very exceptional TJ. Does not mean everyone should go to the big 3, and if you can get into a top college without paying the high tuition of the big 3, then you should, I would have. The scores and exceptional college admissions at the big 3 tell me that the peer group is excellent and homogeneous.

[Anonymous]

Homogenous with exceptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once again, I'm telling you it's true.

Here's the problem - the facts presented are such an aberration it's quite hard to believe. You've reported what appear to be excellent test scores, but no specific description of grades. E.g., was the middle-pack GPA a result of lots of As freshman year, but declining grades as she went up? You've reported nothing about the colleges applied to other than the example of WL at a school comparable to the University of South Carolina. What other schools? If the selection was HYP and USC then maybe it blew up in your face. Nothing about extracurriculars. Nothing about other background issues.

I can believe its true, but I'm not believing this is an otherwise "normal" case that led to these results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once again, I'm telling you it's true.

Here's the problem - the facts presented are such an aberration it's quite hard to believe. You've reported what appear to be excellent test scores, but no specific description of grades. E.g., was the middle-pack GPA a result of lots of As freshman year, but declining grades as she went up? You've reported nothing about the colleges applied to other than the example of WL at a school comparable to the University of South Carolina. What other schools? If the selection was HYP and USC then maybe it blew up in your face. Nothing about extracurriculars. Nothing about other background issues.

I can believe its true, but I'm not believing this is an otherwise "normal" case that led to these results.

+1. No NCS connections here, but the result combined with the facts presented so far appears so preposterous as to be the result of hidden aggravating factors that OP has heretofore declined to disclose.