GDS college enrolmments

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys go back to 2024 and 2025 then complain. This is a nothing burger.

What is that supposed to mean? Sidwell’s college placement was better than GDS’ in 2025 as well. I haven’t bothered to look at 2024, so I don’t know how that year compares.

Nobody cares about Sidwell college or any other school. It is you and your grades that will get you to a top school or what not. DCUM Needs to enforce 18+ rule to participate in these discussions. Why are we discussing this nonsense to start with. Jeez!

Are you aware that this is a private school forum to discuss (**gasp**) private school topics? Sidwell and GDS are private schools so…please keep up or keep scrolling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's pretty bad and far behind Sidwell in the top 20, and Ivy admits, at least until now. Hope a few Ivy admits will post on IG.

You are complaining about this?? Take a look at Holton its even much much worse. I thought they had 11 or 12 National Merit Semifinalist. What happened to them? They only had 2 Cornell, 2 Brown, 1 UPenn and 1 MIT. No HYP, Columbia, Stanford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right?! Idk who is claiming that private schools inflate grades (and I'm not a Sidwell parent so how would I know over there), but historically private schools are not known for grade inflation. Instead, they rely on having a deeper relationship with the schools they regularly send applications to which enables the harsher grading to be seen in a more respectful light given how much public schools grade inflate. My husband (who went to public school) and I actually have a little inside joke that when I think something is failing he goes "awwww not by public school standards".

I think it is silly when people think the point of private school is to only get kids into the Ivy's, but maybe that is just me. I do think private schools undoubtedly grease the college admissions wheels for their students and judging a school based on how many students get into 8 singular schools in a given year is very short sighted. I know for myself, I didn't even apply to any Ivy League schools, not because they were "out of reach", but because I didn't want to go to school in the North Eastern climate and aimed for California and southern schools. One of my classmates did go unhooked to Harvard and not a perfect student, but I didn't really see it as all that special at the time... I think that truly was the best thing about private schools in hindsight, it made your aspirations feel achievable and approachable.

Historically, private schools are known for grade inflation, 3 times higher than public schools in fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right?! Idk who is claiming that private schools inflate grades (and I'm not a Sidwell parent so how would I know over there), but historically private schools are not known for grade inflation. Instead, they rely on having a deeper relationship with the schools they regularly send applications to which enables the harsher grading to be seen in a more respectful light given how much public schools grade inflate. My husband (who went to public school) and I actually have a little inside joke that when I think something is failing he goes "awwww not by public school standards".

I think it is silly when people think the point of private school is to only get kids into the Ivy's, but maybe that is just me. I do think private schools undoubtedly grease the college admissions wheels for their students and judging a school based on how many students get into 8 singular schools in a given year is very short sighted. I know for myself, I didn't even apply to any Ivy League schools, not because they were "out of reach", but because I didn't want to go to school in the North Eastern climate and aimed for California and southern schools. One of my classmates did go unhooked to Harvard and not a perfect student, but I didn't really see it as all that special at the time... I think that truly was the best thing about private schools in hindsight, it made your aspirations feel achievable and approachable.

Historically, private schools are known for grade inflation, 3 times higher than public schools in fact.

LOL! You are really wrong on that one. My husband and I were in the same year at school I went to private, he went to public. For me anything above 93% was an A for him, it was anything above a 90%. For him anything below 50% was failing, for me it was 70%... so pretty clear whose gpa was inflated when it came time to apply for colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right?! Idk who is claiming that private schools inflate grades (and I'm not a Sidwell parent so how would I know over there), but historically private schools are not known for grade inflation. Instead, they rely on having a deeper relationship with the schools they regularly send applications to which enables the harsher grading to be seen in a more respectful light given how much public schools grade inflate. My husband (who went to public school) and I actually have a little inside joke that when I think something is failing he goes "awwww not by public school standards".

I think it is silly when people think the point of private school is to only get kids into the Ivy's, but maybe that is just me. I do think private schools undoubtedly grease the college admissions wheels for their students and judging a school based on how many students get into 8 singular schools in a given year is very short sighted. I know for myself, I didn't even apply to any Ivy League schools, not because they were "out of reach", but because I didn't want to go to school in the North Eastern climate and aimed for California and southern schools. One of my classmates did go unhooked to Harvard and not a perfect student, but I didn't really see it as all that special at the time... I think that truly was the best thing about private schools in hindsight, it made your aspirations feel achievable and approachable.

Historically, private schools are known for grade inflation, 3 times higher than public schools in fact.

Adding a random number to your sentence doesn't make it any more true.

[Anonymous]

You don't need to be impressed by your kid's school's matriculations. Focus on your kid and, if you must, whether her peers are happy with their placements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remember, it all depends on who the parents are in the grade. When you have a less connected group the results dip.

SO so so true. Outsiders don’t see this on IG — but we parents know.

— former Sidwell parent whose kid was in a banger grade for bold name (often legacy) parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Being a legacy at an Ivy League school is NOT a real hook. I went to 3 different Ivy League schools and my kids will not have a leg up. You have to give at significant levels and be an alum for it to matter. I would say at least 500k to get a second glance on your app. Probably at least a million.

Bullshit. Just, bullshit. Esp Princeton

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has had remarkably strong college results last year and this year---but far the best of the Big3 school plus Maret. Last year they got almost 50% of the class into top25 schools (not even including liberal arts colleges). My own child was at one of the Cathedral schools and they had nowhere near this success. Clearly GDS is not having it this year.

I don't know if an exceptionally connected cohort at Sidwell, a strong reputation or grades that are slightly bumped up. My guess is that's a combo of all 3. On the last point, if you grade to a class average of a 3.7 you're going to have much better results across all kids than if you grade to a 3.5. Some of the other privates are still grading to something like a 3.5 (like it's still 1998). I imagine Sidwell has adjusted upwards as college results have become more difficult and this is why they're doing better across the board.

You imagined wrong. Of the big three schools, it’s GDS that is known to have the highest GPAs. This really helps for the ultra competitive state schools like Texas and California. UCLA laughed at my Sidwell kid’s 3.87. So he went to a higher ranked school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right?! Idk who is claiming that private schools inflate grades (and I'm not a Sidwell parent so how would I know over there), but historically private schools are not known for grade inflation. Instead, they rely on having a deeper relationship with the schools they regularly send applications to which enables the harsher grading to be seen in a more respectful light given how much public schools grade inflate. My husband (who went to public school) and I actually have a little inside joke that when I think something is failing he goes "awwww not by public school standards".

I think it is silly when people think the point of private school is to only get kids into the Ivy's, but maybe that is just me. I do think private schools undoubtedly grease the college admissions wheels for their students and judging a school based on how many students get into 8 singular schools in a given year is very short sighted. I know for myself, I didn't even apply to any Ivy League schools, not because they were "out of reach", but because I didn't want to go to school in the North Eastern climate and aimed for California and southern schools. One of my classmates did go unhooked to Harvard and not a perfect student, but I didn't really see it as all that special at the time... I think that truly was the best thing about private schools in hindsight, it made your aspirations feel achievable and approachable.

Historically, private schools are known for grade inflation, 3 times higher than public schools in fact.

Yeah, but we’re not talking about private schools in Oklahoma City or wherever you live. The Big3 grade deflate and always have. Plus, few to no APs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's pretty bad and far behind Sidwell in the top 20, and Ivy admits, at least until now. Hope a few Ivy admits will post on IG.

You are complaining about this?? Take a look at Holton its even much much worse. I thought they had 11 or 12 National Merit Semifinalist. What happened to them? They only had 2 Cornell, 2 Brown, 1 UPenn and 1 MIT. No HYP, Columbia, Stanford.

So what happened to Holton?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's pretty bad and far behind Sidwell in the top 20, and Ivy admits, at least until now. Hope a few Ivy admits will post on IG.

You are complaining about this?? Take a look at Holton its even much much worse. I thought they had 11 or 12 National Merit Semifinalist. What happened to them? They only had 2 Cornell, 2 Brown, 1 UPenn and 1 MIT. No HYP, Columbia, Stanford.

So what happened to Holton?

Holton’s college performance this year is in line with previous years. About 20 percent of the girls for to HYPSM, Duke, UChicago, Northwestern, JHU. Many of the top 10 girls (and NMSF) haven’t posted their results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's pretty bad and far behind Sidwell in the top 20, and Ivy admits, at least until now. Hope a few Ivy admits will post on IG.

You are complaining about this?? Take a look at Holton it’s even much much worse. I thought they had 11 or 12 National Merit Semifinalist. What happened to them? They only had 2 Cornell, 2 Brown, 1 UPenn and 1 MIT.No HYP, Columbia, Stanford.

So what happened to Holton?

Holton’s college performance this year is in line with previous years. About 20 percent of the girls for to HYPSM, Duke, UChicago, UPenn, Cornell, Dartmouth, Northwestern, JHU. Many of the top 10 girls (and NMSF) haven’t posted their results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's pretty bad and far behind Sidwell in the top 20, and Ivy admits, at least until now. Hope a few Ivy admits will post on IG.

You are complaining about this?? Take a look at Holton it’s even much much worse. I thought they had 11 or 12 National Merit Semifinalist. What happened to them? They only had 2 Cornell, 2 Brown, 1 UPenn and 1 MIT.No HYP, Columbia, Stanford.

So what happened to Holton?

Holton’s college performance this year is in line with previous years. About 20 percent of the girls for to HYPSM, Duke, UChicago, UPenn, Cornell, Dartmouth, Northwestern, JHU. Many of the top 10 girls (and NMSF) haven’t posted their results.

How do you know? Is it the reason why these girls haven't posted yet because they haven't decided?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's pretty bad and far behind Sidwell in the top 20, and Ivy admits, at least until now. Hope a few Ivy admits will post on IG.

Other than Sidwell, the college admissions outcomes are similar across the area's independent and private schools. The only difference is that the kids attend more diverse public high schools than GDS, Maret, and NCS.

Some public schools, such as Washington Latin, W Schools, and Blair, might even have better college outcomes than some single-sex schools like Stonebridge or Landon.

So, it seems that where one goes to school has little impact on college outcome for 1) VIP/legacy/high power family kid, 2) very talented and good students.