"Not a Meritocracy"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school, especially one built on a set of values, like a Friends school, is just a completely different environment than a STEM and score obsessed public magnet. Believe it or not, many people do not just send their kids to these schools for a "competitive edge."

Unfortunately, if the only world you know is the TJ-type one, you just are living in a different reality. I went from SFS to UVa and was shocked by all of the NoVa kids who seemed caught up in scores and rankings. My high school experience was really different and much more values based. We didn't have class rank or anything like that. If you can't accept that and think every parent (and student) is just focused on "winning," you definitely belong at the public magnet.

o

What quaker values does a school charging 50k a year to educate a city's elite still retain? The competitive student body present in TJ is mirrored in SFS, it's just quieter. Maybe OP's kid missed the memo that the name on the diploma isn't enough anymore, but other kids working their butts off to be at the top of the class didn't

No. Not at all. OP here. I simply asked how seniors at other schools are doing and whether they see kids with money and status at their schools doing extraordinarily well relative to classmates. Others have turned this bizarro string into public v. private and other b.s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Is it MCPS where you get an 82 one semester and a 92 the next and they end up with an A for the year? That’s the crazy grade inflation I’m talking about.

Indeed, but as a PP stated, just look at their AP test scores.

Everyone games the system to their advantage. Kids will put in the minimal effort to get the A, but when it counts like the AP test scores, they will show their ability.

Lots of public school kids get majority 5s on APs and 1500+ SAT scores. No amount of grade inflation is going to help with the AP test scores.

I don’t care about AP scores. The colleges are screening by GPAs which are artificially inflated.

Yes, but they are well aware of the various grading schemes. Give them a little credit!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is the reason that wealthy Asians do not want to send their kids to top private HS in DMV.

They would rather get the same disappointing college admission results from TJ. At least it's cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Is it MCPS where you get an 82 one semester and a 92 the next and they end up with an A for the year? That’s the crazy grade inflation I’m talking about.

Indeed, but as a PP stated, just look at their AP test scores.

Everyone games the system to their advantage. Kids will put in the minimal effort to get the A, but when it counts like the AP test scores, they will show their ability.

Lots of public school kids get majority 5s on APs and 1500+ SAT scores. No amount of grade inflation is going to help with the AP test scores.

I don’t care about AP scores. The colleges are screening by GPAs which are artificially inflated.

AP scores validate or discredit a GPA. They are the one objective measure of course rigor that colleges have. Schools can talk about how rigorous their classes are until they are blue in the face, but a kid with and A and a 5 in a similarly titled class from a no name public school is going to be viewed as having done well in a rigorous class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is the reason that wealthy Asians do not want to send their kids to top private HS in DMV.

They would rather get the same disappointing college admission results from TJ. At least it's cheaper.

Disappointing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Is it MCPS where you get an 82 one semester and a 92 the next and they end up with an A for the year? That’s the crazy grade inflation I’m talking about.

One semester with 2 quizzes worth 20 points.
Another semester with 3 quizzes each worth 20 points

But you want them want each semester to be weighed equally...

Give me a break. Then give equal amount of work for each semester since (kicker) they are for the same length of time.

You too can scroll through several years of ParentVue data like I am. It isn't always an equal amount of work. And that isn't really the issue. Succinctly - there is no slam dunk argument there. We can can all see that there is grade inflation on a macro scale. GPAs across the board are too high. It may be time to start using scales again. If everyone scores over 90% then maybe 90% is not an "A"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is the reason that wealthy Asians do not want to send their kids to top private HS in DMV.

They would rather get the same disappointing college admission results from TJ. At least it's cheaper.

Disappointing?

Plenty of TJ parents will tell you that their kids would have been better off at their base school (from a college admission perspective).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Is it MCPS where you get an 82 one semester and a 92 the next and they end up with an A for the year? That’s the crazy grade inflation I’m talking about.

Indeed, but as a PP stated, just look at their AP test scores.

Everyone games the system to their advantage. Kids will put in the minimal effort to get the A, but when it counts like the AP test scores, they will show their ability.

Lots of public school kids get majority 5s on APs and 1500+ SAT scores. No amount of grade inflation is going to help with the AP test scores.

I don’t care about AP scores. The colleges are screening by GPAs which are artificially inflated.

More reason for colleges to go back to using standardized tests. Grading is subjective anyways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Is it MCPS where you get an 82 one semester and a 92 the next and they end up with an A for the year? That’s the crazy grade inflation I’m talking about.

Indeed, but as a PP stated, just look at their AP test scores.

Everyone games the system to their advantage. Kids will put in the minimal effort to get the A, but when it counts like the AP test scores, they will show their ability.

Lots of public school kids get majority 5s on APs and 1500+ SAT scores. No amount of grade inflation is going to help with the AP test scores.

I don’t care about AP scores. The colleges are screening by GPAs which are artificially inflated.

AP scores validate or discredit a GPA. They are the one objective measure of course rigor that colleges have. Schools can talk about how rigorous their classes are until they are blue in the face, but a kid with and A and a 5 in a similarly titled class from a no name public school is going to be viewed as having done well in a rigorous class.

There are many schools that don't do AP for many unique and valid reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Np. You paid $50k a year to get your kid into a good college. Indeed you are outraged that you are not getting this expected outcome. But classmate larlo’s parents paid an extra $50million to some T20 get their kid into a super great college. And you somehow think that is unfair? You have no moral ground to stand on. You are a hypocrite. You tried to buy your kid a leg up on the public school kids and you lost. You think public school kid parents should similarly resent you for buying your kids way into a better school? I’m sure in that case your argument would be ‘well we all want to give our kids the best opportunities."

OP is worried about her child getting into college. Are parents of private school kids not allowed to say that their child has worked hard, Did she say that kids at public schools don't work hard? [b]No she did not. Does slamming her make you feel better? Sad.[/b]

OP isn’t worried about her child getting into *a* college. There are thousands of colleges.

And yes, she did say public school kids do “minimal work.”

OP here. I most definitely did not say that.

Here’s the quote but I don’t know who wrote it:

“ But is it hard to see your kid work herself to the bone for four years and get deferred from Wisconsin when her neighbor down the street -- an equally smart, engaging and accomplished kid -- who did minimal work at Wilson gets in.”

Plus Wisconsin is extremely competitive. What's wrong with IU or Michigan State? Many state flagships are no longer safeties for anyone.

Private school parents did not pay beaucoup bucks just so that their larlo ends up at IU or Michigan State.

Specifically, what is wrong with IU or Michigan State?

nothing for the mere mortals, but it's not good enough after spending $50K year for several years in K-12.

"not good enough" is not specific

IU and Mich State are not "good enough".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is the reason that wealthy Asians do not want to send their kids to top private HS in DMV.

They would rather get the same disappointing college admission results from TJ. At least it's cheaper.

Disappointing?

Plenty of TJ parents will tell you that their kids would have been better off at their base school (from a college admission perspective).

But their kid would not have been the same applicant. They wouldn’t have had access to the same resumé-building opportunities i.e. scientific research.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Is it MCPS where you get an 82 one semester and a 92 the next and they end up with an A for the year? That’s the crazy grade inflation I’m talking about.

Indeed, but as a PP stated, just look at their AP test scores.

Everyone games the system to their advantage. Kids will put in the minimal effort to get the A, but when it counts like the AP test scores, they will show their ability.

Lots of public school kids get majority 5s on APs and 1500+ SAT scores. No amount of grade inflation is going to help with the AP test scores.

I don’t care about AP scores. The colleges are screening by GPAs which are artificially inflated.

AP scores validate or discredit a GPA. They are the one objective measure of course rigor that colleges have. Schools can talk about how rigorous their classes are until they are blue in the face, but a kid with and A and a 5 in a similarly titled class from a no name public school is going to be viewed as having done well in a rigorous class.

There are many schools that don't do AP for many unique and valid reasons.

And tother dropped it because they don't like being compared to other schools. If you're Andover or Harvard Westlake, you can do what you want. If you aren't don't be surprised if it doesn't go your way

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is the reason that wealthy Asians do not want to send their kids to top private HS in DMV.

Sorry buddy, but there are PLENTY of wealthy Asians in the top DMV private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is the reason that wealthy Asians do not want to send their kids to top private HS in DMV.

They would rather get the same disappointing college admission results from TJ. At least it's cheaper.

Disappointing?

Plenty of TJ parents will tell you that their kids would have been better off at their base school (from a college admission perspective).

But their kid would not have been the same applicant. They wouldn’t have had access to the same resumé-building opportunities i.e. scientific research.

I think the point is that you compete most against other kids applying from your school vs. kids from other schools. A kid that was accepted at TJ and stayed at their base school will likely be only 1 of maybe 5 NMSF and 1550+ SAT scorers at their base school, while at TJ you literally have 150 other kids that did as well. Also, you may be one of only 3-5 kids applying to MIT from your base school, while again you are 1 of 75+ applying from TJ.

Sure, you may not have research opportunities dropped in your lap like at TJ, but if staying at your base school was due to an analysis like the above, you can definitely seek out similar opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Alll I know is everytime my kid's public school Blair goes up against these big 3 privates in academics they destroy them.

The best academic schools in metro DC aren't the NCS/Sidwell/GDS, they are Blair, TJ and AOS.

Private school parents have a really hard time accepting this fact. There may be some privates that are tougher than some publics, but on balance, public schools are where the smartest kids are. Dual NIH parents with 3 kids are sending their kids to RMIB, not Sidwell.

Who says your kids are all that smart?