Straight As versus almost straight As

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can't answer this unless OP tells us
- Are straight As rare at this high school?
- Are the almost straight As in the most rigorous courses?

If this is in a grade-inflation school where half the class get straight As, then either way it doesn't matter. In fact, getting straight As is unheard of at some high schools, which often are the kind T10s like to accept from the most.

Abstract doesn't work for these questions. It matters who else applies from your high school and it depends what the particular school prioritizes. For example, our school had about 40 applications to Georgetown last year, and admitted 7. They all had 4.0. We know a student with 3.94 who was WL.

[Anonymous]

If even Stanford doesn’t care about A- (they flatten grades like the UCs), they don’t seem to be detrimental like some are claiming here.

The UC capped weighted GPA (maximum 8 honors points) is used for eligibility purposes. Berkeley, UCLA, and other schools in the system use the overall unweighted and uncapped weighted (no limit on honors points) GPAs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree that it matters. My kid looked at admission file from highly selective school and it said “2 B+” and mentioned it was a year with a life stressor. A-‘s were never mentioned and there were several.

Then, Scattergrams shows the admissions from our school were never given by ivies for the #1 top GPA applying.

My guess is the stories here are showing the holistic process. Saying it matters bc ur kid got in over others says nothing…bc we don’t know anything else about the kids’ whole package.

+100

I'm counting on the fact my kid with a B+ in AP Calc is going to get into her top choice top 20 school. I have no doubt at all and neither does her college counselor.

FWIW, her brother had one B and two A- in his senior year and got into his first choice (a top 20). But he also had a 36 on the ACT. It is a combination of factors that makes the determination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few more A minuses will really decrease the overall GPA and therefore the acceptances (from a top private--I don't know the public world).

My child had about half A minuses, half As and an overall GPA of 3.84. He did significantly worse in admissions than kids who had fewer A minuses and an overall 3.94.
My kid: into places like Michigan, UCLA, Emory, WashU. Denied at lower ivies, etc.
3.94 kids: HYP and other top 15s.

I'm not going to share specific extracurriculars but my kid's were really good. Applied as a humanities major, had a narrative, testing was over the threshold (35), etc. The GPA (more A minuses) was really a huge differentiator.

I agree with this, most top schools still rely primarily on gpas, within a range. Top ten percent of class, based in weighted gpa, is going to have a different range of acceptances than second tenth.

Yes. If you are applying from a top private, your results depend a LOT on who else is applying from your school and what their grades are. My kid applied with a 3.88 and didn't get in any of the top15 schools where the 3.95+ kids (yes, we're 10+ of them, even from a Big3 private) applied but did get into the one Ivy that no higher ranked kids applied to.

[Anonymous]

Unless your school is a grade inflater (where more than half get As in class) than it's very normal and not a problem to get some B+ or A- grades along the way.

And if the school doesn't inflate, you can still get into a top 25 school as long as the trajectory is upward and not suddenly downward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It matters for the most selective schools. Other schools, not as much. Really depends on what colleges you’re looking at.

His top choices are the big, popular state flagships - UVA, Chapel Hill, UCLA, Cal, Mich, Wisc.

Should get into all these with a B.

Pp here. Or at least the B won’t hinder his chances at these schools. Really depends on the rest of the app.

B will hurt a lot at UNC OOS or Cal. Probably not fatal at the rest.

+1

[Anonymous]

During the meeting with my DC’s college counselor (DC private), the number of A-s on the transcript were specially mentioned as a negative. I would say DC has about 50% A- and 50% A. This is for the semester grades. The final grades were usually A. All our listed on the transcript. But the counselor said the colleges don’t use the year end grade, only the two separate semester grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:During the meeting with my DC’s college counselor (DC private), the number of A-s on the transcript were specially mentioned as a negative. I would say DC has about 50% A- and 50% A. This is for the semester grades. The final grades were usually A. All our listed on the transcript. But the counselor said the colleges don’t use the year end grade, only the two separate semester grades.

Most top privates don’t have a single senior who graduates with a 4.0. Most have at most 5-6 with 3.9+. These schools routinely get unconnected 3.88/3.87 kids into Cornell Brown Penn Dartmouth, sometimes even HYPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It matters.
My child applied with equal As and A minuses (no Bs) and very strong extracurriculars and did much differently in top20 admissions than classmates who only had one or two A minuses.

You don’t know the reasons why one was accepted and one wasn’t. I assume you didn’t read his classmates school records or essay or any part of it. They aren’t looking for AI Robots who show perfection in all classes and tests.

[Anonymous]

I think there is also a difference bw half A- and a smattering of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It matters.
My child applied with equal As and A minuses (no Bs) and very strong extracurriculars and did much differently in top20 admissions than classmates who only had one or two A minuses.

You don’t know the reasons why one was accepted and one wasn’t. I assume you didn’t read his classmates school records or essay or any part of it. They aren’t looking for AI Robots who show perfection in all classes and tests.

hey, how nice of you to insult a kid. my child had outstanding extracurriculars-head of 3 main school clubs, sports captain, top internships, NMSF, etc. All the stuff. still did not overcome kids who had a higher GPA (fewer A minuses). if you are applying from a top private you are compared directly by GPA to classmates. I find that DCUM tends to vastly overestimate who can get in where from private school. the reality of our experience as well as what is supported by the data given out by college counseling (ie what it took to get in places the past 3 years) is very different from the DCUM advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:During the meeting with my DC’s college counselor (DC private), the number of A-s on the transcript were specially mentioned as a negative. I would say DC has about 50% A- and 50% A. This is for the semester grades. The final grades were usually A. All our listed on the transcript. But the counselor said the colleges don’t use the year end grade, only the two separate semester grades.

Most top privates don’t have a single senior who graduates with a 4.0. Most have at most 5-6 with 3.9+. These schools routinely get unconnected 3.88/3.87 kids into Cornell Brown Penn Dartmouth, sometimes even HYPS

Yes, I realize this. I had several of my kids at a big3. Notice I said “DC private” and not big3. This kid is not at a big3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It matters.
My child applied with equal As and A minuses (no Bs) and very strong extracurriculars and did much differently in top20 admissions than classmates who only had one or two A minuses.

You don’t know the reasons why one was accepted and one wasn’t. I assume you didn’t read his classmates school records or essay or any part of it. They aren’t looking for AI Robots who show perfection in all classes and tests.

hey, how nice of you to insult a kid. my child had outstanding extracurriculars-head of 3 main school clubs, sports captain, top internships, NMSF, etc. All the stuff. still did not overcome kids who had a higher GPA (fewer A minuses). if you are applying from a top private you are compared directly by GPA to classmates. I find that DCUM tends to vastly overestimate who can get in where from private school. the reality of our experience as well as what is supported by the data given out by college counseling (ie what it took to get in places the past 3 years) is very different from the DCUM advice.

NP: No one was insulting your kid. The fact that your kid was the head of 3 school clubs, a sports captain, had internships and NMSF STILL doesn't tell us what the others had. First, heads of school clubs and sports captain are throw aways. (Before you get upset, by "throwaways" I generally mean that schools will think "what else do you have for us?" Those are very normal activities that hundreds of thousands of kids have).

NMSF is NBD (because the SAT is the high stat they are looking for - your kid gets a high enough score, that's what they want in that kid's case...the award for it matters little). It is like saying my kid was an AP Scholar when you also already disclosed the AP scores. The college can already ascertain if scores are high enough for them or not. So the SAT score is great, but the actual NMSF award is nothing.

Second, your kid could be the most outstanding kid in the world but without knowing exactly what the other applicant had: first gen, compelling theme or story, different type of job, better essays, different ECs which the school desires, etc. - you can't simply say GPAs are the deciding factor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It matters.
My child applied with equal As and A minuses (no Bs) and very strong extracurriculars and did much differently in top20 admissions than classmates who only had one or two A minuses.

You don’t know the reasons why one was accepted and one wasn’t. I assume you didn’t read his classmates school records or essay or any part of it. They aren’t looking for AI Robots who show perfection in all classes and tests.

Dp, have had several family member and two kids go through the process in recent years at two different “top” privates. Unless a kids is hooked (and op’s isn’t), agree that grades, or more specifically where kid ranks in class based on grades(colleges can roughly figure out even when school doesn’t calculate) is almost always the determinative factor unless a kid has a truly extraordinary talent that has been recognized on a national level. Test scores merely signal that gpa is legit. Holistic review is just a smokescreen for taking kids that are hooked or otherwise an institutional priority with lower stats, at least at the most selective schools. This is true across the board among top schools and particularly at flagships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It matters.
My child applied with equal As and A minuses (no Bs) and very strong extracurriculars and did much differently in top20 admissions than classmates who only had one or two A minuses.

You don’t know the reasons why one was accepted and one wasn’t. I assume you didn’t read his classmates school records or essay or any part of it. They aren’t looking for AI Robots who show perfection in all classes and tests.

Dp, have had several family member and two kids go through the process in recent years at two different “top” privates. Unless a kids is hooked (and op’s isn’t), agree that grades, or more specifically where kid ranks in class based on grades(colleges can roughly figure out even when school doesn’t calculate) is almost always the determinative factor unless a kid has a truly extraordinary talent that has been recognized on a national level. Test scores merely signal that gpa is legit. Holistic review is just a smokescreen for taking kids that are hooked or otherwise an institutional priority with lower stats, at least at the most selective schools. This is true across the board among top schools and particularly at flagships.

100% not true in FCPS according to schoology.