Sidwell Junior - GPA concerns

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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.

How many then at 3.9-4.0?

Maybe 1-2 per year. Very rare.

Totally wrong.

I understand that there is only one current 11th grade student with straight As (no A- or below). One, not 1-2, but rather only one. And that’s only halfway through junior year. So who knows if there will be any students with a 4.0 by the end of senior year.

So, 4.0 is rare. But 3.9-4, much less so.

This focus on school GPAs is all very cute. Warms my heart to see such belief that we are operating in a meritocracy. It has nearly nothing to do with admissions at the very top schools, however. Questions you need to ask yourself: Are you URM. If your DC a top athlete? Do you cover the White House for CNN? And so on..

Bingo.

This has been one of my disappointments with Sidwell - is the administration's (and via admissions) penchant to seek families with fame and/or money. It is DC after all, but yuck. Then add that they don't want to hear anything of actual value from parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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.

How many then at 3.9-4.0?

Maybe 1-2 per year. Very rare.

Totally wrong.

I understand that there is only one current 11th grade student with straight As (no A- or below). One, not 1-2, but rather only one. And that’s only halfway through junior year. So who knows if there will be any students with a 4.0 by the end of senior year.

So, 4.0 is rare. But 3.9-4, much less so.

This focus on school GPAs is all very cute. Warms my heart to see such belief that we are operating in a meritocracy. It has nearly nothing to do with admissions at the very top schools, however. Questions you need to ask yourself: Are you URM. If your DC a top athlete? Do you cover the White House for CNN? And so on..

Bingo.

This has been one of my disappointments with Sidwell - is the administration's (and via admissions) penchant to seek families with fame and/or money. It is DC after all, but yuck. Then add that they don't want to hear anything of actual value from parents.

And HYPS inclination to admit VIPs and big donors over meritorious students.

[Anonymous]

Admissions into HYPS category schools is like a game of snakes and ladders: Your DC can dodge a dozen obstacles through HS and get within striking distance of the final desired outcome, only to be devoured by the Big Donor/Legacy etc etc snake that will bring you back to square one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Admissions into HYPS category schools is like a game of snakes and ladders: Your DC can dodge a dozen obstacles through HS and get within striking distance of the final desired outcome, only to be devoured by the Big Donor/Legacy etc etc snake that will bring you back to square one.

My kid is not even going to play this game. She's a 3.89 junior in highest level classes and will likely attempt to ED to a school in the 20-30s. The rest of her preliminary list is in the 20-70 range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Admissions into HYPS category schools is like a game of snakes and ladders: Your DC can dodge a dozen obstacles through HS and get within striking distance of the final desired outcome, only to be devoured by the Big Donor/Legacy etc etc snake that will bring you back to square one.

+1. If you have a top unhooked student (“unhooked” in this context includes those regular dime-a-dozen legacies), please do not send them to Sidwell or other privates where there are many VIPs, big donors.

[Anonymous]

Are the Sidwell Ivy admits this year (non-URM or athletic recruits) big donors? Anyone know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are the Sidwell Ivy admits this year (non-URM or athletic recruits) big donors? Anyone know?

URM + VIP + Major Donors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the Sidwell Ivy admits this year (non-URM or athletic recruits) big donors? Anyone know?

URM + VIP + Major Donors

How do you know if someone is a major donor? honest question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Admissions into HYPS category schools is like a game of snakes and ladders: Your DC can dodge a dozen obstacles through HS and get within striking distance of the final desired outcome, only to be devoured by the Big Donor/Legacy etc etc snake that will bring you back to square one.

My kid is not even going to play this game. She's a 3.89 junior in highest level classes and will likely attempt to ED to a school in the 20-30s. The rest of her preliminary list is in the 20-70 range.

Smart move. With luck, will land her ED and avoid the multiple applications drama altogether. Several strong/super strong Sidwell kids are taking this path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the Sidwell Ivy admits this year (non-URM or athletic recruits) big donors? Anyone know?

URM + VIP + Major Donors

How do you know if someone is a major donor? honest question?

Those who know, know..Sorry I can't elaborate..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Admissions into HYPS category schools is like a game of snakes and ladders: Your DC can dodge a dozen obstacles through HS and get within striking distance of the final desired outcome, only to be devoured by the Big Donor/Legacy etc etc snake that will bring you back to square one.

My kid is not even going to play this game. She's a 3.89 junior in highest level classes and will likely attempt to ED to a school in the 20-30s. The rest of her preliminary list is in the 20-70 range.

My Senior Dc went down this path..a little more heavily in the SLAC direction. Was more keen on small classes/teacher attention rather than Ivy/Big Univ glitter. Can get to that for grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the Sidwell Ivy admits this year (non-URM or athletic recruits) big donors? Anyone know?

URM + VIP + Major Donors

Pic will change a bit after RD results come out. But for now, yes, this is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the Sidwell Ivy admits this year (non-URM or athletic recruits) big donors? Anyone know?

URM + VIP + Major Donors

How do you know if someone is a major donor? honest question?

Those who know, know..Sorry I can't elaborate..

ok, i just spent too much time googling off the Sidwell instagram page.
So looks like HYP are all legacy and every one has a wikipedia page level parent but the degree of "fame" varies a lot--from household name to a reasonable standout in their field (but one of hundreds of such in DC). I guess they're all giving $$$? Interesting.

[Anonymous]

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.

PP here I do get it - this may be true now but the schools need to acknowledge and deal with this reality and they do not. The world has changed and our Big 3 still acts like if you are just a great student you have a shot at top 10-15 schools and its utter BS. The admissions counselors keep a poker face and are not honest or forthcoming with their advice. But I am sorry the grade deflation does not help.

[Anonymous]

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.

PP here I do get it - this may be true now but the schools need to acknowledge and deal with this reality and they do not. The world has changed and our Big 3 still acts like if you are just a great student you have a shot at top 10-15 schools and its utter BS. The admissions counselors keep a poker face and are not honest or forthcoming with their advice. But I am sorry the grade deflation does not help.

It is also true that school CCOs have much less of a connection to college AOs than they used to. AOs do not want to hear from top privates as much as they may have wanted to in the past. Too many competing priorities.