Sidwell Junior - GPA concerns

[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.

what do you want them to do? Honest question. How are they going to "deal with the reality?"

They only thing the high schools are in control of is their grading. And inflating their grading (pushing more kids up into the 3.8+ range) would only make this problem worse. Then you'd have twice as many big donor kids who will be in play for the top schools. Right now you only have the the smart big donor kids.
The last thing you need to do is make grades at Sidwell, etc. irrelevant and give everyone As for attending.

There are kids with 3.85 grades+ now. They're not getting in without hooks. Inflating grades to expand this cohort is not going to help anyone.

[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's not Sidwell's fault!!!

The colleges DON'T WANT YOUR SMART KID unless he/she COMES WITH A HOOK---a big donation, athletic skill or racial diversity. That has nothing to do with Sidwell and neither can they change it.

[Anonymous]

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.

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.

what do you want them to do? Honest question. How are they going to "deal with the reality?"

They only thing the high schools are in control of is their grading. And inflating their grading (pushing more kids up into the 3.8+ range) would only make this problem worse. Then you'd have twice as many big donor kids who will be in play for the top schools. Right now you only have the the smart big donor kids.
The last thing you need to do is make grades at Sidwell, etc. irrelevant and give everyone As for attending.

There are kids with 3.85 grades+ now. They're not getting in without hooks. Inflating grades to expand this cohort is not going to help anyone.

I am not certain with the PP is actually trying to indicate...however, maybe they are asking that Sidwell gives the "scared straight" speech to parents before applying.

Basically, tell prospective parents that if they think admission to Sidwell is going to translate into admission to a Top 10 just based on good grades/merit, then they are sadly mistaken. That your completely unhooked, smart kid in any given year will always compete against legacy, athlete, big donor, URM whatever...and Harvard will probably only accept X kids each year, because that is what they always accept each year.

Just make it abundantly clear that your odds are terrible...so in 13, 7 or 4 years from now when you are upset at least they can say..."I told you so"

[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.

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.

what do you want them to do? Honest question. How are they going to "deal with the reality?"

They only thing the high schools are in control of is their grading. And inflating their grading (pushing more kids up into the 3.8+ range) would only make this problem worse. Then you'd have twice as many big donor kids who will be in play for the top schools. Right now you only have the the smart big donor kids.
The last thing you need to do is make grades at Sidwell, etc. irrelevant and give everyone As for attending.

There are kids with 3.85 grades+ now. They're not getting in without hooks. Inflating grades to expand this cohort is not going to help anyone.

I am not certain with the PP is actually trying to indicate...however, maybe they are asking that Sidwell gives the "scared straight" speech to parents before applying.

Basically, tell prospective parents that if they think admission to Sidwell is going to translate into admission to a Top 10 just based on good grades/merit, then they are sadly mistaken. That your completely unhooked, smart kid in any given year will always compete against legacy, athlete, big donor, URM whatever...and Harvard will probably only accept X kids each year, because that is what they always accept each year.

Just make it abundantly clear that your odds are terrible...so in 13, 7 or 4 years from now when you are upset at least they can say..."I told you so"

do you think that many parents actually believe attending Sidwell will help with college admissions?

[Anonymous]

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.

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's not Sidwell's fault!!!

The colleges DON'T WANT YOUR SMART KID unless he/she COMES WITH A HOOK---a big donation, athletic skill or racial diversity. That has nothing to do with Sidwell and neither can they change it.

I think they should be upfront from the beginning. Then kids aren’t killing themselves with the highest math or sweating an A- because they know it doesn’t matter for college admissions anyway. Take the classes that are interesting and do your best, and you’re not throwing Harvard out the window because it was never realistic to begin with.

[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.

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.

what do you want them to do? Honest question. How are they going to "deal with the reality?"

They only thing the high schools are in control of is their grading. And inflating their grading (pushing more kids up into the 3.8+ range) would only make this problem worse. Then you'd have twice as many big donor kids who will be in play for the top schools. Right now you only have the the smart big donor kids.
The last thing you need to do is make grades at Sidwell, etc. irrelevant and give everyone As for attending.

There are kids with 3.85 grades+ now. They're not getting in without hooks. Inflating grades to expand this cohort is not going to help anyone.

I am not certain with the PP is actually trying to indicate...however, maybe they are asking that Sidwell gives the "scared straight" speech to parents before applying.

Basically, tell prospective parents that if they think admission to Sidwell is going to translate into admission to a Top 10 just based on good grades/merit, then they are sadly mistaken. That your completely unhooked, smart kid in any given year will always compete against legacy, athlete, big donor, URM whatever...and Harvard will probably only accept X kids each year, because that is what they always accept each year.

Just make it abundantly clear that your odds are terrible...so in 13, 7 or 4 years from now when you are upset at least they can say..."I told you so"

do you think that many parents actually believe attending Sidwell will help with college admissions?

Twenty-seven pages of this thread alone says yes, yes, they do.

[Anonymous]

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.

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.

what do you want them to do? Honest question. How are they going to "deal with the reality?"

They only thing the high schools are in control of is their grading. And inflating their grading (pushing more kids up into the 3.8+ range) would only make this problem worse. Then you'd have twice as many big donor kids who will be in play for the top schools. Right now you only have the the smart big donor kids.
The last thing you need to do is make grades at Sidwell, etc. irrelevant and give everyone As for attending.

There are kids with 3.85 grades+ now. They're not getting in without hooks. Inflating grades to expand this cohort is not going to help anyone.

I am not certain with the PP is actually trying to indicate...however, maybe they are asking that Sidwell gives the "scared straight" speech to parents before applying.

Basically, tell prospective parents that if they think admission to Sidwell is going to translate into admission to a Top 10 just based on good grades/merit, then they are sadly mistaken. That your completely unhooked, smart kid in any given year will always compete against legacy, athlete, big donor, URM whatever...and Harvard will probably only accept X kids each year, because that is what they always accept each year.

Just make it abundantly clear that your odds are terrible...so in 13, 7 or 4 years from now when you are upset at least they can say..."I told you so"

do you think that many parents actually believe attending Sidwell will help with college admissions?

Twenty-seven pages of this thread alone says yes, yes, they do.

Most parents believe or at least hope that a student who does very well at Sidwell should do very well in college admissions. This used to be true even 5 years ago. Not true anymore. Expectations take time to adjust.

[Anonymous]

To summarize, It would appear that attending private school in the future will only help if you will be a recruited athlete. If URM, a double hook. For your average smart non minority type it won’t do much of anything else.

[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.

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's not Sidwell's fault!!!

The colleges DON'T WANT YOUR SMART KID unless he/she COMES WITH A HOOK---a big donation, athletic skill or racial diversity. That has nothing to do with Sidwell and neither can they change it.

I think they should be upfront from the beginning. Then kids aren’t killing themselves with the highest math or sweating an A- because they know it doesn’t matter for college admissions anyway. Take the classes that are interesting and do your best, and you’re not throwing Harvard out the window because it was never realistic to begin with.

At a place like Sidwell, this is not true. There ARE kids that are taking highest classes and sweating an A- for college. Even if they have no interest in Ivy. They've been told by all college admissions officers that they should be taking hardest courses and doing their best, whether it be an Ivy or a state school or a non-top10 SLAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To summarize, It would appear that attending private school in the future will only help if you will be a recruited athlete. If URM, a double hook. For your average smart non minority type it won’t do much of anything else.

But if you are an URM or recruited athlete or big donor legacy you would get into the Ivy from any high school.

So you can amend your statement to say that attending private school in the future WILL NOT HELP YOU.

[Anonymous]

My kid for one is stressed and working his %&%&* OFF. Sidwell promotes this. They know exactly how much homework is given and what the expectations are. What is the purpose? My kid went from a mostly a student to a stressed out B student and will probably go to a university with less anxiety-inducing stress than Sidwell. I would have preferred a lighter HS experience.

[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.

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's not Sidwell's fault!!!

The colleges DON'T WANT YOUR SMART KID unless he/she COMES WITH A HOOK---a big donation, athletic skill or racial diversity. That has nothing to do with Sidwell and neither can they change it.

I think they should be upfront from the beginning. Then kids aren’t killing themselves with the highest math or sweating an A- because they know it doesn’t matter for college admissions anyway. Take the classes that are interesting and do your best, and you’re not throwing Harvard out the window because it was never realistic to begin with.

What do you mean "they need to be upfront from the beginning"????

No one from Sidwell has ever represented that matriculating there will impact your path to a college. What they promise is a rigorous Quaker based College Prep education. Period. Fact is, most of the kids who graduate from there go on to very successful experiences in college and productive and/or fulfilling careers or avocations. No one has ever claimed that going to Sidwell, or a school like Sidwell does anything for chances to any given college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid for one is stressed and working his %&%&* OFF. Sidwell promotes this. They know exactly how much homework is given and what the expectations are. What is the purpose? My kid went from a mostly a student to a stressed out B student and will probably go to a university with less anxiety-inducing stress than Sidwell. I would have preferred a lighter HS experience.

Sidwell doesn't promote it. It is a rigorous school. Rigor has meaning as a word. They have never hidden behind it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid for one is stressed and working his %&%&* OFF. Sidwell promotes this. They know exactly how much homework is given and what the expectations are. What is the purpose? My kid went from a mostly a student to a stressed out B student and will probably go to a university with less anxiety-inducing stress than Sidwell. I would have preferred a lighter HS experience.

I think if your kid is working his a$$ off, is stressed out and getting B's then quite probably Sidwell is not the school for him. This is not meant to be mean as there are MANY kids who are in your son's position.

The kids who are a perfect fit for Sidwell are those who get As and really enjoy (or don't even notice) the workload--they are either very efficient or love academic work (of a combination of both). I have one of them. It would not be a good fit for my other two kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid for one is stressed and working his %&%&* OFF. Sidwell promotes this. They know exactly how much homework is given and what the expectations are. What is the purpose? My kid went from a mostly a student to a stressed out B student and will probably go to a university with less anxiety-inducing stress than Sidwell. I would have preferred a lighter HS experience.

Sidwell is definitely not for everyone. It also advantages almost no one in college admissions, for sure. The median student will end up with a far worse GPA than at a good public, with a far more stressed out HS experience than is appropriate. The only kids who are somewhat relaxed may the very top few (1/2 students) and those that do not care much about strong college outcomes. Those in the middle will have a "challenging" experience.