Where is your kid applying ?

[Anonymous]

Pitt (already admitted), WM (in state), Vassar, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Bates, Carleton, St. Olaf, Oberlin, Kenyon

34 ACT (36 verbal, 32 STEM), 10APs, 4.1w GPA (has 2 B-s from COVID shutdown in 10th, all As and 1 B besides that in 10th through 12th, thus far).

Considering Vassar and Bates ED1, ED2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS must have a much different grading system than FCPS. Kids with those stats at my kid's FCPS school could get into a much wider variety of schools other than Ivies (according to Naviance).

Yes. MCPS weights honors classes the same as APs. There are some required classes that do not have an honors option (like PE, Tech, and usually fine arts). Language doesn’t offer honors until level 3. It is possible (but rare) to get a 4.8. Common (over 25%) to have over a 4.51, depending on the high school. I am not sure what 10% is (and it varies) but I imagine at our school it’s around 4.6/4.7.

I don’t know how to compare the grades but my MCPS child is applying to a couple of VA schools and I would love to know what the top 10% gpa in FCPS is.

I'm in nearby LCPS in VA and the weighting is .5 for honors and 1.0 for AP/DE. The top 10% of my kids graduating class this year was probably in the 4.25-4.3 range. My kid was top 6% and graduated with a 4.45. Obviously hard to compare to MCPS because of the weighting diff. For comparison, my other kid had around a 4.67 and was top 2%. (#7 of his class of 400)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pessimissm comes from the class of 2021 experience.

+1. I’m worried and would love some suggestions for what is realistic for my DS- 3.0 gpa at top private, 1420 sat, good not great ECs, full pay. We have realistic expectations- advice appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Community College. Because money matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pessimissm comes from the class of 2021 experience.

+1. I’m worried and would love some suggestions for what is realistic for my DS- 3.0 gpa at top private, 1420 sat, good not great ECs, full pay. We have realistic expectations- advice appreciated!

Your school college counselor will answer this question best. Scattergrams are helpful too, but they don’t show hooks so they can give you false hope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS must have a much different grading system than FCPS. Kids with those stats at my kid's FCPS school could get into a much wider variety of schools other than Ivies (according to Naviance).

Yes. MCPS weights honors classes the same as APs. There are some required classes that do not have an honors option (like PE, Tech, and usually fine arts). Language doesn’t offer honors until level 3. It is possible (but rare) to get a 4.8. Common (over 25%) to have over a 4.51, depending on the high school. I am not sure what 10% is (and it varies) but I imagine at our school it’s around 4.6/4.7.

I don’t know how to compare the grades but my MCPS child is applying to a couple of VA schools and I would love to know what the top 10% gpa in FCPS is.

To give you an idea:

An A (not an a-) in FCPS is a 98 and above.

An honors class is boosted .5. An AP class is boosted 1 for the gpa.

That info alone tells you FCPS’ weighted Gpas will be lower.

No honors level foreign languages. Only AP (a single year).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pitt (already admitted), WM (in state), Vassar, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Bates, Carleton, St. Olaf, Oberlin, Kenyon

34 ACT (36 verbal, 32 STEM), 10APs, 4.1w GPA (has 2 B-s from COVID shutdown in 10th, all As and 1 B besides that in 10th through 12th, thus far).

Considering Vassar and Bates ED1, ED2

OP here- I like your list. My kid wants socioeconomic diversity. Our high school has an overwhelming white majority. For that reason most SLACs are out, plus they prefer a bigger/medium sized college. Good luck to you and your kid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pessimissm comes from the class of 2021 experience.

+1. I’m worried and would love some suggestions for what is realistic for my DS- 3.0 gpa at top private, 1420 sat, good not great ECs, full pay. We have realistic expectations- advice appreciated!

Your school college counselor will answer this question best. Scattergrams are helpful too, but they don’t show hooks so they can give you false hope.

+1 If you are paying for a top private, you should be getting good college counseling and they are the best able to tell you what is realistic from your school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS must have a much different grading system than FCPS. Kids with those stats at my kid's FCPS school could get into a much wider variety of schools other than Ivies (according to Naviance).

Same with our W school in MCPS. I’m not sure people are really looking at the Scattergrams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS must have a much different grading system than FCPS. Kids with those stats at my kid's FCPS school could get into a much wider variety of schools other than Ivies (according to Naviance).

Yes. MCPS weights honors classes the same as APs. There are some required classes that do not have an honors option (like PE, Tech, and usually fine arts). Language doesn’t offer honors until level 3. It is possible (but rare) to get a 4.8. Common (over 25%) to have over a 4.51, depending on the high school. I am not sure what 10% is (and it varies) but I imagine at our school it’s around 4.6/4.7.

I don’t know how to compare the grades but my MCPS child is applying to a couple of VA schools and I would love to know what the top 10% gpa in FCPS is.

To give you an idea:

An A (not an a-) in FCPS is a 98 and above.

An honors class is boosted .5. An AP class is boosted 1 for the gpa.

That info alone tells you FCPS’ weighted Gpas will be lower.

No honors level foreign languages. Only AP (a single year).

MCPS does not use + or - grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pitt (already admitted), WM (in state), Vassar, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Bates, Carleton, St. Olaf, Oberlin, Kenyon

34 ACT (36 verbal, 32 STEM), 10APs, 4.1w GPA (has 2 B-s from COVID shutdown in 10th, all As and 1 B besides that in 10th through 12th, thus far).

Considering Vassar and Bates ED1, ED2

Good list, but curious why it doesn't include Grinnell.

[Anonymous]

OP, I think your list is great and since you've been through this process before with a higher-stats kid, you know more about what to expect than most of us.
It seems like your kid may be a STEM kid (based on UMBC and Va Tech interest).
The only observation I have is that a couple of people suggested Emory. If you have lots of $$ to blow and your kid is into public health or wants to be a doctor, I would say as an Emory alum that this is a good option. But I've never understood why people forget about GA Tech, which is much stronger than Emory for engineering, math-related, architecture and some niche STEM fields. It is much cheaper and in a closer location to potential Atlanta internships than Emory, and its grads make a lot more $ according to the comparisons I've seen. I don't know that you need one more school since your list looks good, but GA Tech is great, according to many friends and relatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pitt (already admitted), WM (in state), Vassar, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Bates, Carleton, St. Olaf, Oberlin, Kenyon

34 ACT (36 verbal, 32 STEM), 10APs, 4.1w GPA (has 2 B-s from COVID shutdown in 10th, all As and 1 B besides that in 10th through 12th, thus far).

Considering Vassar and Bates ED1, ED2

Good list, but curious why it doesn't include Grinnell.

This is my kid. Visited Grinnell with her older sister and just thinks it’s too remote. (I personally think it would be great). Wants less than an hour from a major city. Vassar is a train ride to NYC (more than an hour, but the train is a draw), Oberlin has Cleveland; St. Olaf and Carleton have the Twin Cities: Bowdoin and Bates have Portland. Etc. Os only applying to Kenyon because that’s where her sister goes.

Is also applying in IR and music, which isn’t as strong for Grinnell as STEM is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pitt (already admitted), WM (in state), Vassar, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Bates, Carleton, St. Olaf, Oberlin, Kenyon

34 ACT (36 verbal, 32 STEM), 10APs, 4.1w GPA (has 2 B-s from COVID shutdown in 10th, all As and 1 B besides that in 10th through 12th, thus far).

Considering Vassar and Bates ED1, ED2

Good list, but curious why it doesn't include Grinnell.

This is my kid. Visited Grinnell with her older sister and just thinks it’s too remote. (I personally think it would be great). Wants less than an hour from a major city. Vassar is a train ride to NYC (more than an hour, but the train is a draw), Oberlin has Cleveland; St. Olaf and Carleton have the Twin Cities: Bowdoin and Bates have Portland. Etc. Os only applying to Kenyon because that’s where her sister goes.

Is also applying in IR and music, which isn’t as strong for Grinnell as STEM is.

Ok. The academic reasons you cited make perfect sense. The isolation factor less so. Virtually all of the schools that you cited are pretty isolated, and Grinnell is better than most of them and also gives more merit aid. But maybe you don't care about that, and as you said the academic fit might not be as good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS must have a much different grading system than FCPS. Kids with those stats at my kid's FCPS school could get into a much wider variety of schools other than Ivies (according to Naviance).

Yes. MCPS weights honors classes the same as APs. There are some required classes that do not have an honors option (like PE, Tech, and usually fine arts). Language doesn’t offer honors until level 3. It is possible (but rare) to get a 4.8. Common (over 25%) to have over a 4.51, depending on the high school. I am not sure what 10% is (and it varies) but I imagine at our school it’s around 4.6/4.7.

I don’t know how to compare the grades but my MCPS child is applying to a couple of VA schools and I would love to know what the top 10% gpa in FCPS is.

To give you an idea:

An A (not an a-) in FCPS is a 98 and above.

An honors class is boosted .5. An AP class is boosted 1 for the gpa.

That info alone tells you FCPS’ weighted Gpas will be lower.

No honors level foreign languages. Only AP (a single year).

MCPS does not use + or - grades.

That helps even more. In mcps, you get a 4.0 added in for probably a 90-100. In FCPS, you get a 4.0 added in for a 98,99,100.