Do colleges take private school curriculum into consideration with grades?

[Anonymous]

start a new post with your kids stats from private and schools. then you'll get honest feedback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at top private school. She is an average student and works hard. Her grades (and those of many of her friends) are lower than their public school counterparts. I hear anecdotes from parents at our public school talk about how kids have no homework now and they don't even have to turn in assignments in a timely manner. These kids are getting straight As. Will college admissions people recognize this?

OP: The question in your topic is totally reasonable. And the answer is affirmative: AOs at elite private schools will be aware of your top private school's curriculum and will assess applicants accordingly.

As for the boldfaced portion above, it's hyperbolic nonsense and it's kind of embarrassing that you'd entertain it.

It's not nonsense. Some public schools truly are like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are at a small, rigorous private school (150 kids per year) in a large city that's not in DMV.

It's pretty sought after in our city to get into, 90% of applicants apparently get rejected. You pretty much have to be an A student in middle school with lots of ECs and passions to get in. So you can imagine it's hard to be in the top 10% or event top 25% of this student body.

The course load is very stimulating and difficult. The papers feel like my college papers (I went to Ivy undergrad). It is hard to get an A. They don't purchase AP curriculums from the College Board, but make their own versions that our in-state colleges treat as comparable to AP in terms of rigor.

We're very happy with the education and college prep our kids are getting but we realize it will be better to focus on colleges that know our HS well since they'll have the right context for our grading system (no inflation) and rigor.

I'd suggest you work with your college counselor to identify the list of colleges that are what your child is looking for, and that knows the rigor and depth of your school.

Is this supposed to be unique?

DC goes to a public school that posters here would describe as “AP hell.” The curriculum is rigorous with teachers with PhDs and requires many ap courses that go much further than ap content. Her class is only 100 of some of the brightest students in the city. Students come back from Yale and MIT and gush about their high school experience and how easy it is. This is true for almost any top high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at top private school. She is an average student and works hard. Her grades (and those of many of her friends) are lower than their public school counterparts. I hear anecdotes from parents at our public school talk about how kids have no homework now and they don't even have to turn in assignments in a timely manner. These kids are getting straight As. Will college admissions people recognize this?

OP: The question in your topic is totally reasonable. And the answer is affirmative: AOs at elite private schools will be aware of your top private school's curriculum and will assess applicants accordingly.

As for the boldfaced portion above, it's hyperbolic nonsense and it's kind of embarrassing that you'd entertain it.

It's not nonsense. Some public schools truly are like this.

Such as…? I could say the same about the unregulated private schools. One of DC’s peers went to a Chicago private high school with zero grades and “aptitude benchmarks.” They go to northwestern now and struggle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are at a small, rigorous private school (150 kids per year) in a large city that's not in DMV.

It's pretty sought after in our city to get into, 90% of applicants apparently get rejected. You pretty much have to be an A student in middle school with lots of ECs and passions to get in. So you can imagine it's hard to be in the top 10% or event top 25% of this student body.

The course load is very stimulating and difficult. The papers feel like my college papers (I went to Ivy undergrad). It is hard to get an A. They don't purchase AP curriculums from the College Board, but make their own versions that our in-state colleges treat as comparable to AP in terms of rigor.

We're very happy with the education and college prep our kids are getting but we realize it will be better to focus on colleges that know our HS well since they'll have the right context for our grading system (no inflation) and rigor.

I'd suggest you work with your college counselor to identify the list of colleges that are what your child is looking for, and that knows the rigor and depth of your school.[/quote]

Agree with this 100%. Our kid's private school sounds similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at top private school. She is an average student and works hard. Her grades (and those of many of her friends) are lower than their public school counterparts. I hear anecdotes from parents at our public school talk about how kids have no homework now and they don't even have to turn in assignments in a timely manner. These kids are getting straight As. Will college admissions people recognize this?

OP: The question in your topic is totally reasonable. And the answer is affirmative: AOs at elite private schools will be aware of your top private school's curriculum and will assess applicants accordingly.

As for the boldfaced portion above, it's hyperbolic nonsense and it's kind of embarrassing that you'd entertain it.

It's not nonsense. Some public schools truly are like this.

Do you speak from personal experience? Or are you repeating another paranoid shibboleth of the victimized elite?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are at a small, rigorous private school (150 kids per year) in a large city that's not in DMV.

It's pretty sought after in our city to get into, 90% of applicants apparently get rejected. You pretty much have to be an A student in middle school with lots of ECs and passions to get in. So you can imagine it's hard to be in the top 10% or event top 25% of this student body.

The course load is very stimulating and difficult. The papers feel like my college papers (I went to Ivy undergrad). It is hard to get an A. They don't purchase AP curriculums from the College Board, but make their own versions that our in-state colleges treat as comparable to AP in terms of rigor.

We're very happy with the education and college prep our kids are getting but we realize it will be better to focus on colleges that know our HS well since they'll have the right context for our grading system (no inflation) and rigor.

I'd suggest you work with your college counselor to identify the list of colleges that are what your child is looking for, and that knows the rigor and depth of your school.

Is this supposed to be unique?

DC goes to a public school that posters here would describe as “AP hell.” The curriculum is rigorous with teachers with PhDs and requires many ap courses that go much further than ap content. Her class is only 100 of some of the brightest students in the city. Students come back from Yale and MIT and gush about their high school experience and how easy it is. This is true for almost any top high school.

PP didn't say her private school was unique. PP just advised OP to work with their private CC to identify colleges familiar with their particular school's students, curriculum and rigor since it didn't follow the College Board's AP format. Nothing wrong with that advice and I would concur.

[Anonymous]

YOU ARE COMPETING AGAINST THE KIDS AT YOUR OWN SCHOOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are at a small, rigorous private school (150 kids per year) in a large city that's not in DMV.

It's pretty sought after in our city to get into, 90% of applicants apparently get rejected. You pretty much have to be an A student in middle school with lots of ECs and passions to get in. So you can imagine it's hard to be in the top 10% or event top 25% of this student body.

The course load is very stimulating and difficult. The papers feel like my college papers (I went to Ivy undergrad). It is hard to get an A. They don't purchase AP curriculums from the College Board, but make their own versions that our in-state colleges treat as comparable to AP in terms of rigor.

We're very happy with the education and college prep our kids are getting but we realize it will be better to focus on colleges that know our HS well since they'll have the right context for our grading system (no inflation) and rigor.

I'd suggest you work with your college counselor to identify the list of colleges that are what your child is looking for, and that knows the rigor and depth of your school.[/quote]

Some good advice here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bit of a contrarian response here - my two DCs are at what people on DCUM consider a top university and a top LAC. Both went to the same public, which would be considered middle of the road on DCUM. Both went TO. Both econ majors and both just under 4.0. They say they were better prepared for college since they weren’t coddled like their private/prep school friends, and public teacher quality/ curriculum was excellent, with a huge caveat - for the AP classes.

Coddled academically or some other way? Coddled how?

Private school kids are the ones who get to retest if they don’t like their grade. Their academic standards are much higher and I dare say they are coddled, at least academically, less than public school kids.

This is simply not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bit of a contrarian response here - my two DCs are at what people on DCUM consider a top university and a top LAC. Both went to the same public, which would be considered middle of the road on DCUM. Both went TO. Both econ majors and both just under 4.0. They say they were better prepared for college since they weren’t coddled like their private/prep school friends, and public teacher quality/ curriculum was excellent, with a huge caveat - for the AP classes.

Coddled academically or some other way? Coddled how?

Private school kids are the ones who get to retest if they don’t like their grade. Their academic standards are much higher and I dare say they are coddled, at least academically, less than public school kids.

This doesn’t even make logical sense. You say private school kids get retakes (not in any private I’m aware of, btw, but our neighbor’s kids in public do get retakes), but then you say private school kids are held to higher academic standards and public school kids are more coddled.

Which is it? Private school kids are coddled with retakes or private school kids are held to higher standards?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bit of a contrarian response here - my two DCs are at what people on DCUM consider a top university and a top LAC. Both went to the same public, which would be considered middle of the road on DCUM. Both went TO. Both econ majors and both just under 4.0. They say they were better prepared for college since they weren’t coddled like their private/prep school friends, and public teacher quality/ curriculum was excellent, with a huge caveat - for the AP classes.

Coddled academically or some other way? Coddled how?

Private school kids are the ones who get to retest if they don’t like their grade. Their academic standards are much higher and I dare say they are coddled, at least academically, less than public school kids.

OP here. I don't know of any private high school that lets kids retake grades. As for the "hyperbolic nonsense," there is one public high school in our city and the graduation rate is very low. There is also a lot of crime and violence. I am told by friends with kid there that colleges consider it an "inner city" school. Many friends have opted for this public v. private because they felt like from a strategic standpoint it would be easier for their kids to get into top colleges and from what I have seen they are right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bit of a contrarian response here - my two DCs are at what people on DCUM consider a top university and a top LAC. Both went to the same public, which would be considered middle of the road on DCUM. Both went TO. Both econ majors and both just under 4.0. They say they were better prepared for college since they weren’t coddled like their private/prep school friends, and public teacher quality/ curriculum was excellent, with a huge caveat - for the AP classes.

Coddled academically or some other way? Coddled how?

Private school kids are the ones who get to retest if they don’t like their grade. Their academic standards are much higher and I dare say they are coddled, at least academically, less than public school kids.

This is simply not true.

Not true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yes, colleges know but the kids getting into top colleges from NCS, Sidwell, etc are getting close to perfect grades despite going to NCS and Sidwell. There are a dozen or so who get very, very high grades each year and these are the kids going on to top colleges, unhooked.

If you're not getting straight As or very close to it you're out of running for the Ivy league or similar. I think most parents don't realize this until it's too late. There is a this layer of kids at these top privates who DO manage to grind out top grades in top rigor classes. They work like maniacs but they do it.

Exactly. It used to be that a B student from a top private school around here had as good a chance as an A student from a public. Not the case anymore for whatever reason. The good news is that your private school student will likely do VERY well in whatever college they attend, setting them up for success for whatever is next.

[Anonymous]

For out top NYC private, it was very clear by end-jr year who was in the running for HYP. This also needed to be filtered by hooks (big donor, recruited athlete) and that made the list for unhooked kids even shorter. The next grouping was the IvyPlus (U Chicago, the other Ivies, we didn't send to Stanford) College counselor gave a strong steer to where it was thought you should ED, or SCEA, but you were free to do what you wanted. No grade inflation, no retakes, nothing like that and the grade curve was terrible...but at least you kid of knew where you were performing and what was a reasonable mix of schools.