Where do A students from top local privates go?

[Anonymous]

Yes. Also ACT 34. Not superscored.

[Anonymous]

I was a 3.8 at top private with 1450 SAT and legacy at Yale. I got rejected and this was 30 years ago in simpler times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seiously, got a kid with 3.8 UW in a challenging schedule, 33 ACT, and good academic ECs that was rejected from ivy ED. Accepted EA to a private. Aiming higher but RD round is brutal so little nervous. Full pay…do they really care? Not legacy, URM, or athlete. Diverse in terms of middle eastern but had to check white.

Is the 33 super scored? He could try for Emory, still a Reach though.
Where did he get in EA?

No not super scored. He applied to Emory. Naviance looks good. Don’t want to specify but EA to a top 40 US news.

My guess is that the EA is Tulane. My DS with very similar stats got $30k annual merit award from Tulane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Glad the UK doesn't use them. If you get 5 on all the APS and ace the standardized test, why should anyone care if your gym teacher gave you a B in 10th grade or if you bombed one semester of history in 9th grade? If you know it all, it really doesn't matter that you made mistakes while learning the material along the way.

The statement “GPAs are pointless” is incredibly untrue and dangerous to believe.

Every admission officer on the planet will tell you your 4-year performance, in the context of your course rigor and HS quality is the primary academic principle on which you are judged."

This exchange is interesting.

Both sides are completely correct, in some cases. Choosing between the two is where ad coms earn their pay.

Lots of things are true in some cases. As is "put all your money on one spin of black 17". Doesn't make it any less damaging.

Wow! What school did you gain such wisdom at?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Glad the UK doesn't use them. If you get 5 on all the APS and ace the standardized test, why should anyone care if your gym teacher gave you a B in 10th grade or if you bombed one semester of history in 9th grade? If you know it all, it really doesn't matter that you made mistakes while learning the material along the way.

The statement “GPAs are pointless” is incredibly untrue and dangerous to believe.

Every admission officer on the planet will tell you your 4-year performance, in the context of your course rigor and HS quality is the primary academic principle on which you are judged."

This exchange is interesting.

Both sides are completely correct, in some cases. Choosing between the two is where ad coms earn their pay.

Lots of things are true in some cases. As is "put all your money on one spin of black 17". Doesn't make it any less damaging.

Wow! What school did you gain such wisdom at?

Sorry I pointed out the truth for your useless statement. I do not wish anyone to believe "GPAs are pointless" because it's untrue virtually every time. If you are carving out the Zion Williamson's of the world that is about as useful as "My brother in law's cousin won big in vegas playing black 17 so you should too!"

This is a process where useful advice is critical and bad advice is dangerous, like yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you weighed his GPA like kids from MCPS do, what would it be?

Not sure. School doesn’t weight. Took near max APs and honors classes. Counselor said curriculum very strong.

Go back and weight all honors and APs to see the grade bump. If he got a 3.0 in an honors/AP course, bump it up to a 4.0. That’s what I would do since you are trying to compare apples and oranges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seiously, got a kid with 3.8 UW in a challenging schedule, 33 ACT, and good academic ECs that was rejected from ivy ED. Accepted EA to a private. Aiming higher but RD round is brutal so little nervous. Full pay…do they really care? Not legacy, URM, or athlete. Diverse in terms of middle eastern but had to check white.

While Naviance is your best source since the 3.8 is UW, SCHEV indicates that UVA might be a bit of a stretch. The entering had a 75% median percentile WGPA of 4.49, median was 4.35 and bottom 25% was 4.21. Your kid's ACT is middle of the pack. Top 75 percentile median was a 34; median a 33; and bottom 25% a 30. Next year will be higher stats. Also RD is much more difficult. https://research.schev.edu//enrollment/B10_FreshmenProfile.asp

UVA warns applicants again and again to take the SCHEV numbers with a grain of salt. Not all schools, especially privates, weigh grades. A kid with a 3.8 UW with a "challenging schedule" would have well over a 4.0 weighted. And a 33 ACT is a very competitive score for an in state applicanr. I do not consider the OP's kid to be a stretch admit. The kid has a good chance of admission.

33 ACT is low for all of the schools OP posted. Might have a chance at UVA, but I would still call it a stretch with a 33 ACT, even in state. 3.8 GPA isn't bad, but hey, my 3.9 student with a 36 ACT did not get in the UVA engineering school...but he is from MD and applied from a private school with many VA residents. Odds were against him. He's fine though...got into a reach which was his first choice.

Bottom line, I hope the OPs kid had some safeties on his list. Assuming OP only listed reach schools.

He's from out of state. Different story completely. A 33 is NOT low for a VA resident. It just plain isn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a 3.8 at top private with 1450 SAT and legacy at Yale. I got rejected and this was 30 years ago in simpler times.

Wow. You remember your stats from 30 years ago? Now THAT is pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a 3.8 at top private with 1450 SAT and legacy at Yale. I got rejected and this was 30 years ago in simpler times.

Wow. You remember your stats from 30 years ago? Now THAT is pathetic.

Disagree completely. People took either the SAT or ACT once or twice, max. How hard would i be to remember that number? I remember my SAT and GPA from high school. You had no responsibilites to remember anything else. Not surprising in the least. Maybe a problem that YOU can't remember yours...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a 3.8 at top private with 1450 SAT and legacy at Yale. I got rejected and this was 30 years ago in simpler times.

Wow. You remember your stats from 30 years ago? Now THAT is pathetic.

Disagree completely. People took either the SAT or ACT once or twice, max. How hard would i be to remember that number? I remember my SAT and GPA from high school. You had no responsibilites to remember anything else. Not surprising in the least. Maybe a problem that YOU can't remember yours...

Um, no. Remembering all your high school stats 30 years later is only typical of a "top private legacy at Yale." Most of us have lived a fuller life.

[Anonymous]

obviously not

[Anonymous]

Much of the information being passed on here is pretty basic. That's not a criticism as it may be very helpful to OP. But it does lead to the question of what "top private" managed expectations so poorly. In our experience, with a DC with better scores than OP, the school consistently tied to lower the targets so as to avoid disappointment (i.e., every parent think their kid has a great shot at an Ivy). Here, that information appears lacking in the first instance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Much of the information being passed on here is pretty basic. That's not a criticism as it may be very helpful to OP. But it does lead to the question of what "top private" managed expectations so poorly. In our experience, with a DC with better scores than OP, the school consistently tied to lower the targets so as to avoid disappointment (i.e., every parent think their kid has a great shot at an Ivy). Here, that information appears lacking in the first instance.

Preach!

[Anonymous]

I think your kid will get into UVA. Hard to say about other schools since we don’t know how strong recommendations, extracurriculars or essays were.
Should have applied ED to Cornell. Will be tough in regular pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think your kid will get into UVA. Hard to say about other schools since we don’t know how strong recommendations, extracurriculars or essays were.
Should have applied ED to Cornell. Will be tough in regular pool.

OP. Yeah it was Dartmouth or Cornell. Chose Dartmouth because we had a couple of angles. Recs should be strong and ECs very good. No idea on essays. We think they are good LOL. If we get UVA we are happy because half price of privates. Naviance also looks good for W&M, GW, Wake, Davidson, Emory, Tufts, UVA, Gtown, and Hopkins. Cornell doesn’t look impossible. Vandy and Northwestern looks bad as do Brown, Yale, and Penn. We have an EA with merit in the bag already.