Which colleges are the B students going to from the top independent schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reason kids from Sidwell ( and a few other schools in DC that grade stringently) get into very competitive schools with Bs is that the colleges know about grade deflation at Sidwell. Competitive colleges and universities have a formula that they use to adjust grade point averages up or down and these are marked on the admissions folder prior to it being read by the admissions officer. Also the admissions officers themselves know what grades mean from these schools. There is another thread in which this process is described in some detail.

+1. It would probably be more informative to ask about admissions for the middle deciles or the lower half of the class distribution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Completely anecdotal from my DD's school over the past few years... assume $ isn't a factor because then it is a different game. This is reflective of a typical UMC unhooked student (did not include the student with Cs who is now at Stanford due to parental sway and boat loads of $$$$$ etc.

A student: Ivies, MIT, CalTech, Williams, Amherst etc.

A/B Student: Michigan, William & Mary, Pomona, Bowdoin, Ivy Specialty Schools(I.e. Cornell Human Ecology, Upenn Nursing etc.), Wellesley, Lehigh, UCLA etc.

B student: Bates, Colby, Hamilton, BC, BU, Oberlin, Mcallister, Carleton, Scripps, Pitzer, Spellman, GWU, Washington & Lee, UT Austin, Villanova, Wisconsin, USC etc.

B/C student: Pepperdine, SMU, College of Charleston, Elon, High Point, Clark, Conn College, Trinity, Dickinson, Denison Muhlenberg, Ithaca, Lewis and Clark, UDel, Drexel, American, Kenyon, Rollins, Random southern state schools (Ole Miss, University of South Carolina, UGA)

Wow! It's very impressive to me that a kid with a GPA in the 3.0-3.3 range would get into BC, Carleton, etc.

I think it would be very tough to get into Carleton on that

+1 Not without a serious hook.

Washington & Lee, too.

And there's no way Lehigh is more difficult to get into for the majority of kids than most of the schools on the "B student" list.

+2

I know several students who were rejected at W &L &/or Carleton but admitted at Lehigh & none for whom the reverse is true. My own DD was rejected from W & L & waitlisted at GW & Colby (she eventually got off the WL at Colby but not GW) but was offered an academic scholarship at Lehigh.

Davidson also belongs on the A/B list, too, IMO. A lot of excellent students from privates who are not quite HPY level seem to go there.

Remember that geographic diversity factors in here too. lehigh is much tougher to get into if you are from NY, PA, NJ or Conn. Those of us in MD, DC, VA have an advantage in admission. Don't confuse how much easier it is to get into with the stature of the university.

I lived in northern NJ until 2 years ago & Lehigh was still seen a safety school for students who might not get admitted to most of the schools on the "B student" list. It's possible it's harder to get into if you're coming from PA, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason kids from Sidwell ( and a few other schools in DC that grade stringently) get into very competitive schools with Bs is that the colleges know about grade deflation at Sidwell. Competitive colleges and universities have a formula that they use to adjust grade point averages up or down and these are marked on the admissions folder prior to it being read by the admissions officer. Also the admissions officers themselves know what grades mean from these schools. There is another thread in which this process is described in some detail.

+1. It would probably be more informative to ask about admissions for the middle deciles or the lower half of the class distribution.

+2 Although B students who attend a school like Sidwell with harsher grading standards would probably be admitted to most of the schools on the "B student" list (though I, too think Carleton & W & L need to trade places on these lists with Lehigh), B students from many schools -- both public & private --would be unlikely to get admitted to most of the schools on that list without a significant hook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a lot more to college admissions than just grades. There are some B students ( & a lot of A/B students) who are more desirable to colleges than many A students.

This!!! Test scores, geography, $, extracurriculars, sports, alumni connection, which high school, etc!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a lot more to college admissions than just grades. There are some B students ( & a lot of A/B students) who are more desirable to colleges than many A students.

This!!! Test scores, geography, $, extracurriculars, sports, alumni connection, which high school, etc!!!

I took OP's description of "A student" to be shorthand for all that stuff, at least the academic part. And assuming all other stuff being roughly equal. No doubt a stellar aspect in some other area, like athletics, can make a big difference, but for most kids the academics are the most important part.

[Anonymous]

I don't see UVA or Georgetown....where do they belong ?

[Anonymous]

Its spring break and the kiddies are waiting on their admissions letters! Children, go away and leave the forum to adults. We really don't want to feed your particular need to place every college on some sort of hierarchy. Parents love you no matter what, even if you go to a southern state school with a 50%+ acceptance rate.

[Anonymous]

Trinity a/b list

[Anonymous]

Trincoll has a 30% acceptance rate. Man have times changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see UVA or Georgetown....where do they belong ?

Quite selective. A bit below Ivies but not much. I'd say top 25% of the class type thing, but that's just a guesstimate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9:53, seems like an informed list. But is Lehigh really that high?

+1 Also I feel like Colby and Hamilton are becoming more popular and trying to get from the reputation as back-ups for prep school kids.

surprised Scripps is that low

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trinity a/b list

My B/C kid got in a couple of years ago, as did several of her similarly situated classmates.

[Anonymous]

Pomona (and I believe Claremont McKenna) had admission rates below 10% this year, down from just over 12% last year. Williams admitted 16.8% this year. Not sure about Amherst. But given these numbers, I question the relative placement of these four schools in the proposed break-out. Seems like the Claremont colleges are growing quickly in popularity, perhaps because of the California location and weather, the strong academics, and the fact that at least two of the other 5C colleges -- Pitzer and Harvey Mudd -- also have admission rates in the low teens.

[Anonymous]

For the California 5 colleges DC is geographic diversity... higher acceptance rate from East Coast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see UVA or Georgetown....where do they belong ?

Quite selective. A bit below Ivies but not much. I'd say top 25% of the class type thing, but that's just a guesstimate.

top 10%. Very selective, especially if out of state for UVA.