Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth

[Anonymous]

There is no national standard for GPAs. GPA median/average varies from school to school. Between public and private. Between private and private. Between public and public. Each school has its own system.

Now, seeking opinions on what gpa is needed for admissions is pointless unless we know your high school, and have access to your school's naviance.

Even for standandized test, if you come here to ask what is the needed score for admissions, you will likely get 10 different answers (five will be made up stories).

Colleges publish gpa ranges for matriculated students. For private schools that don't provide gpa on their transcript, their gpa will not be included in the statistics. So the published gpa (often 4.0 or above) is derived from partial data.

In your case, you are from a small private high school. Typically they have better college results because the conselors can work with the kids individually. Follow their advices. It's a pure waste of time to discuss your case here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Least competitive” isn’t really a think when you’re taking about schools with acceptance rates like these. Need to go down the rankings list for that, even from a rigorous private.

Do all applicants apply with 4.0?
Sadly the school is a bit grade deflationary.

I would tend to say that less than As in jr year is going to be really tough to overcome. Look at the Naviance from your school though. That is where your answer will be, not on here.

Agree- if the B’s were freshman year but all A’s (maybe an A-) in Junior that is different than a downward trend.
Also matters whether student is top 10% of class and who else in the class is applying to the same schools. AP scores, if all 5’s could help too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:3.95uw sounds high for 3 B/B+?

Note - you know your high school. This thread can give you some guidance. At our private, 3.8uw with a 35, can work for Brown for a male.

This might help you?
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1255948.page

Thank you for the helpful information!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you're at a school like St Albans that has significant grade deflation, a few B+s unrelated to proposed major won't kill an AP to Duke or Brown with a 1550 SAT, good APs and solid extracurriculars and full pay.

If Spanish B , then ok

[Anonymous]

Some kids w/ 3.8 GPA got into all Brown and Duke last yr. Fl private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Least competitive” isn’t really a think when you’re taking about schools with acceptance rates like these. Need to go down the rankings list for that, even from a rigorous private.

Do all applicants apply with 4.0?
Sadly the school is a bit grade deflationary.

I would tend to say that less than As in jr year is going to be really tough to overcome. Look at the Naviance from your school though. That is where your answer will be, not on here.

Agree- if the B’s were freshman year but all A’s (maybe an A-) in Junior that is different than a downward trend.
Also matters whether student is top 10% of class and who else in the class is applying to the same schools. AP scores, if all 5’s could help too

At top private schools top 5-10% is for HYPSM. Top 10-20% is for T20. Top 25-30% is for....
At our top private (non-DMV), 50% of the class is admitted to a T25.

[Anonymous]

OP, please understand people posting about their schools, those students got in in-spite of their grades not because of them. They had an it factor in the whole package.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, please understand people posting about their schools, those students got in in-spite of their grades not because of them. They had an it factor in the whole package.

Also, many “nonDMV” posters are from parts of the country where the applicant pool is not as competitive, and/or they benefit from adding geographical diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, please understand people posting about their schools, those students got in in-spite of their grades not because of them. They had an it factor in the whole package.

Also, many “nonDMV” posters are from parts of the country where the applicant pool is not as competitive, and/or they benefit from adding geographical diversity.

Ha. Yes, the NYC metro area is not competitive. Nor is Chicago. Nor LA.
Who are you referring to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, please understand people posting about their schools, those students got in in-spite of their grades not because of them. They had an it factor in the whole package.

Also, many “nonDMV” posters are from parts of the country where the applicant pool is not as competitive, and/or they benefit from adding geographical diversity.

Ha. Yes, the NYC metro area is not competitive. Nor is Chicago. Nor LA.
Who are you referring to?

Chicago is definitely less competitive and another poster was from Florida. IL, CA and FL have a geographical diversity bump for east coast schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, please understand people posting about their schools, those students got in in-spite of their grades not because of them. They had an it factor in the whole package.

Also, many “nonDMV” posters are from parts of the country where the applicant pool is not as competitive, and/or they benefit from adding geographical diversity.

Ha. Yes, the NYC metro area is not competitive. Nor is Chicago. Nor LA.
Who are you referring to?

Who are you referring to, no one identified where exactly they were from only “nonDMV”

[Anonymous]

Mine did not get in with zero grades below A- so good luck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine did not get in with zero grades below A- so good luck

Same here. Zero grades below an A minus. 1550.
DC Big3. Did not get into Dartmouth, Duke or Brown. Outright denied at 2 of the 3.
Wasn't the only one with these stats who was denied from their class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, please understand people posting about their schools, those students got in in-spite of their grades not because of them. They had an it factor in the whole package.

Also, many “nonDMV” posters are from parts of the country where the applicant pool is not as competitive, and/or they benefit from adding geographical diversity.

Ha. Yes, the NYC metro area is not competitive. Nor is Chicago. Nor LA.
Who are you referring to?

Who are you referring to, no one identified where exactly they were from only “nonDMV”

It’s not much easier re: competition levels once you get to places like NYC, metro Atlanta, Chicago, Silicon Valley, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, etc. Some of those suburban areas rival the DMV in terms of competitiveness.

[Anonymous]

do you not have naviance scattergrams? There's really no way for people on this board to guess at chances. My feeling is that Dartmouth is the easiest of the three. But it's a gut feeling. (I think Duke is hardest.)