Which student does better in admissions?

[Anonymous]

#2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The data I’ve seen show that GPA matters a lot - more than I would have thought. So A in your scenario.

Disagree from private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does some of this depend on the LOR from the college counselor at the private school? Can’t they sort of indicate, consciously or not, who the better student is?

Yeah, and the 3.9 kid is going to get those recs. The teacher isn't going to say "this kid got all As in English classes but they're really pretty mediocre whereas this A minus student is best of my career." Doesn't work like that.

Unless there was some sort of hardship that the A minus kid had. And aren’t some schools actually looking for the kids who are slightly less than perfect (it’s good to experience some failure in life so they don’t fall apart when they see a C on an exam or paper)?

No there are not schools looking for less than perfect kids. At least in top schools.

Disagree. Did anyone else see the Instagram post of the Harvard 1380 admit that had Covid and a breathing tube for a year, her essay was about this experience, she thinks why she got in with a 1380 (although TO).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At elite private high schools, does a strong student with 3.95+ unweighted GPA cum laude top of the class with some extracurricular school impact or a student with 3.8 with deep experience in a subject and has impact both inside and outside of school (awards) do better in college admissions?

It depends. If they both have max course rigor, they both have a decent shot at T25. IF neither have max rigor they will be shut out.
If they want ivy/T10 they need to have the max rigor and the 3.95 plus the great EC, impact/awards and or LOR validating they are tops. For good regional privates and publics. For nationally known feeders, including TJ, you do not have to be that perfect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've had two DC recent private school grads. GPA is king. I don't care if you're splitting atoms in your basement or brokering world peace. a close to perfect GPA wins every time. Wish it wasn't the case cause I example B type kids.

The grade inflation is crazy. Lookup the story about UC Sand Diego full of kids with 4.0GPA that can’t do middle school math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of wishful thinking on this thread. Or else, the private school in question is just a run of the mill place that charges tuition and isn’t special enough to be well known to all the AOs of the T20.

My kid graduated since covid from the latter type school with a 3.8, 1550 and no national accolades. He was, however, a favorite of his teachers and a true intellectual. He easily nabbed a spot at his dream school (t15, non ivy). But his friends *with even lower gpas* from the same graduating class DO currently attend Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU.

The 3 kids in the class i know with the highest gpa are at Harvard and Stanford unhooked. And Princeton, but hooked.

All “privates” =/=

So it would appear that you are joining us from NYC or somewhere else that has super elite privates where a 3.7 can get into "Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU." That really isn't applicable to the DMV. I had 2 kids at TWO different top DMV independent schools and neither one had a single kid get admitted to any Ivy with anything under a 3.8 last year. And the 3.8 kids cohort was like 1 or 2 kids max.

I'm glad that your super private (I'm not being sarcastic) can get these kids in but it's simply not the case around here.

Yes. In the DMV and in Virginia, 3.8uw is not the top 25% and is not getting into ivy or even chicago ED unless recruited athlete or big hook. The entire top 20% typically has 3.9uw or higher. Cum laude cutoffs are known. GPAs go up every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of wishful thinking on this thread. Or else, the private school in question is just a run of the mill place that charges tuition and isn’t special enough to be well known to all the AOs of the T20.

My kid graduated since covid from the latter type school with a 3.8, 1550 and no national accolades. He was, however, a favorite of his teachers and a true intellectual. He easily nabbed a spot at his dream school (t15, non ivy). But his friends *with even lower gpas* from the same graduating class DO currently attend Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU.

The 3 kids in the class i know with the highest gpa are at Harvard and Stanford unhooked. And Princeton, but hooked.

All “privates” =/=

Not following - why would lower gpa students get into ivies and ivy plus schools.

Why? Because it’s *not* only about GPA for unhooked students at select schools. Really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of wishful thinking on this thread. Or else, the private school in question is just a run of the mill place that charges tuition and isn’t special enough to be well known to all the AOs of the T20.

My kid graduated since covid from the latter type school with a 3.8, 1550 and no national accolades. He was, however, a favorite of his teachers and a true intellectual. He easily nabbed a spot at his dream school (t15, non ivy). But his friends *with even lower gpas* from the same graduating class DO currently attend Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU.

The 3 kids in the class i know with the highest gpa are at Harvard and Stanford unhooked. And Princeton, but hooked.

All “privates” =/=

I assume at your very "special" private, some kids are legacies. Op's hypothetical was about two unhooked kids.

Also, "easily nabbed?" Please, for all you know, your kid barely made it through the Committee, or wouldn't have made it without the more favorable acceptance rate of ED.

If you find this post obnoxious, you now know how the rest of the world view you.

You say obnoxious, I say stating facts. None of the ~10 kids I described are undergrad legacies at the schools where they landed. None are athletes, none are URM or development cases

You are right though that I have no idea how the admissions meeting went when my kid was admitted. All I know is it’s their dream school and they graduated with a 3.85 or so. Not a 4.8 or 4.0 uw

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of wishful thinking on this thread. Or else, the private school in question is just a run of the mill place that charges tuition and isn’t special enough to be well known to all the AOs of the T20.

My kid graduated since covid from the latter type school with a 3.8, 1550 and no national accolades. He was, however, a favorite of his teachers and a true intellectual. He easily nabbed a spot at his dream school (t15, non ivy). But his friends *with even lower gpas* from the same graduating class DO currently attend Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU.

The 3 kids in the class i know with the highest gpa are at Harvard and Stanford unhooked. And Princeton, but hooked.

All “privates” =/=

So it would appear that you are joining us from NYC or somewhere else that has super elite privates where a 3.7 can get into "Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU." That really isn't applicable to the DMV. I had 2 kids at TWO different top DMV independent schools and neither one had a single kid get admitted to any Ivy with anything under a 3.8 last year. And the 3.8 kids cohort was like 1 or 2 kids max.

I'm glad that your super private (I'm not being sarcastic) can get these kids in but it's simply not the case around here.

Yes. In the DMV and in Virginia, 3.8uw is not the top 25% and is not getting into ivy or even chicago ED unless recruited athlete or big hook. The entire top 20% typically has 3.9uw or higher. Cum laude cutoffs are known. GPAs go up every year.

Maybe at your DMV public. Not at the big3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The data I’ve seen show that GPA matters a lot - more than I would have thought. So A in your scenario.

Disagree from private

True at ours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of wishful thinking on this thread. Or else, the private school in question is just a run of the mill place that charges tuition and isn’t special enough to be well known to all the AOs of the T20.

My kid graduated since covid from the latter type school with a 3.8, 1550 and no national accolades. He was, however, a favorite of his teachers and a true intellectual. He easily nabbed a spot at his dream school (t15, non ivy). But his friends *with even lower gpas* from the same graduating class DO currently attend Ivies inc Yale, Columbia and Brown, Chicago, Northwestern and JHU.

The 3 kids in the class i know with the highest gpa are at Harvard and Stanford unhooked. And Princeton, but hooked.

All “privates” =/=

I assume at your very "special" private, some kids are legacies. Op's hypothetical was about two unhooked kids.

Also, "easily nabbed?" Please, for all you know, your kid barely made it through the Committee, or wouldn't have made it without the more favorable acceptance rate of ED.

If you find this post obnoxious, you now know how the rest of the world view you.

You say obnoxious, I say stating facts. None of the ~10 kids I described are undergrad legacies at the schools where they landed. None are athletes, none are URM or development cases

You are right though that I have no idea how the admissions meeting went when my kid was admitted. All I know is it’s their dream school and they graduated with a 3.85 or so. Not a 4.8 or 4.0 uw

I think Sidwell has been reading really well with admissions officers in recent years (their Instagram was the best of the DMV last year by far) and this is true if they have been routinely be getting in unhoooked 3.85 kids into the Ivies and Ivy adjacent school. I have kids at STA and NCS and it isn't happening at either of those schools. You basically have to be top 20% to have any shot at all and this is a 3.9 at NCS (and numeric equivalent at STA). I don't know anything about GDS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does some of this depend on the LOR from the college counselor at the private school? Can’t they sort of indicate, consciously or not, who the better student is?

Yeah, and the 3.9 kid is going to get those recs. The teacher isn't going to say "this kid got all As in English classes but they're really pretty mediocre whereas this A minus student is best of my career." Doesn't work like that.

Unless there was some sort of hardship that the A minus kid had. And aren’t some schools actually looking for the kids who are slightly less than perfect (it’s good to experience some failure in life so they don’t fall apart when they see a C on an exam or paper)?

No there are not schools looking for less than perfect kids. At least in top schools.

Disagree. Did anyone else see the Instagram post of the Harvard 1380 admit that had Covid and a breathing tube for a year, her essay was about this experience, she thinks why she got in with a 1380 (although TO).

Stupid example, Harvard didn’t know her test score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At elite private high schools, does a strong student with 3.95+ unweighted GPA cum laude top of the class with some extracurricular school impact or a student with 3.8 with deep experience in a subject and has impact both inside and outside of school (awards) do better in college admissions?

It depends. If they both have max course rigor, they both have a decent shot at T25. IF neither have max rigor they will be shut out.
If they want ivy/T10 they need to have the max rigor and the 3.95 plus the great EC, impact/awards and or LOR validating they are tops. For good regional privates and publics. For nationally known feeders, including TJ, you do not have to be that perfect.

At Harvard they would both get a 2 on the academic rating and things would move on from there. Small differences mean less than people want to believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At elite private high schools, does a strong student with 3.95+ unweighted GPA cum laude top of the class with some extracurricular school impact or a student with 3.8 with deep experience in a subject and has impact both inside and outside of school (awards) do better in college admissions?

It depends. If they both have max course rigor, they both have a decent shot at T25. IF neither have max rigor they will be shut out.
If they want ivy/T10 they need to have the max rigor and the 3.95 plus the great EC, impact/awards and or LOR validating they are tops. For good regional privates and publics. For nationally known feeders, including TJ, you do not have to be that perfect.

At Harvard they would both get a 2 on the academic rating and things would move on from there. Small differences mean less than people want to believe.

If they both get a 2 rating, then candidate #2 will have a stronger case when they look at EC's.