Where Can A 91 GPA Student From St. Alban's Go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an STA parent, I can tell some of this info isn’t from people with direct experience at STA and I would ignore it. Also, college office is helpful, so rely on them once they start working with kids as second semester juniors.

My hunch is there has been some grade inflation due to COVID - not that the top grade is much higher but rather more guys are above a 90. My guess is 91 isn’t top 20% anymore. I think a boy would need closer to 93/94 to be competitive at Ivies, and then probably not HYPSM without something else. It also matters what classes he takes. STA doesn’t weight for AP or honors but most of the academic guys take them anyway. I would think you would need at least AP BC Calc, AP Physics C, and four years of language to be considered rigorous.

No, I don't agree with these.... Depends on the major that you are seeking.

I don't even have kids at StA but one of DC's college friends attended. At our DC's college counseling office, they would say that it is VERY rare for a kid to be admitted to a topy school, who was not enrolled in those classes. They are not interested in the major you are seeking but the work you can do now. It does happen, but super rarely. A couple kids got into Cornell, but were legacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But how many boys actually make it through AP BC? I know a ton who dropped down to AB (and many others who never attempted it). You have the outlier math kids but outside of that I'm not sure how many boys complete calc BC. It's notoriously difficult at STA.

In this senior class, there were at least 8-10 boys in BC Calc last year and a handful more are in it this year, I am pretty sure. And that isn’t counting the couple who are in Number Theory or whatever the heck is beyond HLAVC.

heating lighting air video conditioning?

Haha

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an STA parent, I can tell some of this info isn’t from people with direct experience at STA and I would ignore it. Also, college office is helpful, so rely on them once they start working with kids as second semester juniors.

My hunch is there has been some grade inflation due to COVID - not that the top grade is much higher but rather more guys are above a 90. My guess is 91 isn’t top 20% anymore. I think a boy would need closer to 93/94 to be competitive at Ivies, and then probably not HYPSM without something else. It also matters what classes he takes. STA doesn’t weight for AP or honors but most of the academic guys take them anyway. I would think you would need at least AP BC Calc, AP Physics C, and four years of language to be considered rigorous.

No, I don't agree with these.... Depends on the major that you are seeking.

I don't even have kids at StA but one of DC's college friends attended. At our DC's college counseling office, they would say that it is VERY rare for a kid to be admitted to a topy school, who was not enrolled in those classes. They are not interested in the major you are seeking but the work you can do now. It does happen, but super rarely. A couple kids got into Cornell, but were legacy.

They are not just interested in seeing you take the AP course - you have to perform well too. If it were that simple as to just sign up for an AP, boys would cram their schedules with as many APs as they could fit.

The difficulty is that boys know they have to take the most challenging course AND do very well in them for it to mean something good in the college app

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an STA parent, I can tell some of this info isn’t from people with direct experience at STA and I would ignore it. Also, college office is helpful, so rely on them once they start working with kids as second semester juniors.

My hunch is there has been some grade inflation due to COVID - not that the top grade is much higher but rather more guys are above a 90. My guess is 91 isn’t top 20% anymore. I think a boy would need closer to 93/94 to be competitive at Ivies, and then probably not HYPSM without something else. It also matters what classes he takes. STA doesn’t weight for AP or honors but most of the academic guys take them anyway. I would think you would need at least AP BC Calc, AP Physics C, and four years of language to be considered rigorous.

No, I don't agree with these.... Depends on the major that you are seeking.

I don't even have kids at StA but one of DC's college friends attended. At our DC's college counseling office, they would say that it is VERY rare for a kid to be admitted to a topy school, who was not enrolled in those classes. They are not interested in the major you are seeking but the work you can do now. It does happen, but super rarely. A couple kids got into Cornell, but were legacy.

If you didn't have kids there, how would you know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, my son has a 91 GPA at St. Alban's with a 1540 SAT score. Are Ivies or other top 20 schools realistic for him to aim for?

In your experience, where do kids with these grades from St. Alban's end up?

91 is incredible! My kid only has a 4.7!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an STA parent, I can tell some of this info isn’t from people with direct experience at STA and I would ignore it. Also, college office is helpful, so rely on them once they start working with kids as second semester juniors.

My hunch is there has been some grade inflation due to COVID - not that the top grade is much higher but rather more guys are above a 90. My guess is 91 isn’t top 20% anymore. I think a boy would need closer to 93/94 to be competitive at Ivies, and then probably not HYPSM without something else. It also matters what classes he takes. STA doesn’t weight for AP or honors but most of the academic guys take them anyway. I would think you would need at least AP BC Calc, AP Physics C, and four years of language to be considered rigorous.

No, I don't agree with these.... Depends on the major that you are seeking.

I don't even have kids at StA but one of DC's college friends attended. At our DC's college counseling office, they would say that it is VERY rare for a kid to be admitted to a topy school, who was not enrolled in those classes. They are not interested in the major you are seeking but the work you can do now. It does happen, but super rarely. A couple kids got into Cornell, but were legacy.

If you didn't have kids there, how would you know?

I clicked on this thread b/c DC has a college friend who attended StA. My reference is to what went on at DC's college counseling office, not StA. I cannot imagine that they are starkly different in their approaches. I know less than a handful of kids admitted to super selective schools who were not enrolled in the most rigorous classes. A few were legacy at Cornell and the other two had truly exceptional ECs, putting them into very different categories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, my son has a 91 GPA at St. Alban's with a 1540 SAT score. Are Ivies or other top 20 schools realistic for him to aim for?

In your experience, where do kids with these grades from St. Alban's end up?

91 is incredible! My kid only has a 4.7!

To OP and PP : what is a 91 on a 4 or 5 scale? And PP, is 4.7 on a 5 scale or is a weighted GPA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, my son has a 91 GPA at St. Alban's with a 1540 SAT score. Are Ivies or other top 20 schools realistic for him to aim for?

In your experience, where do kids with these grades from St. Alban's end up?

91 is incredible! My kid only has a 4.7!

To OP and PP : what is a 91 on a 4 or 5 scale? And PP, is 4.7 on a 5 scale or is a weighted GPA?

NP. 91 is out of 100 and equates to about a 3.8/3.7. A 4.7 is usually a weighted GPA, so out of 5.0.

[Anonymous]

This year, several of the Ivy and other top schools like Duke and UVA are legacy and donor admits. Wealthy families got their average STA seniors into top schools that they could not have achieved on their own without their parents. Other Ivy admits are athletic recruits. When you look at a school's matriculation list, it is very deceiving unless you know the back story on many of the top college admits. Very few are purely academic admits without legacy, donor money, or athletics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, your kid will make the cut for serious consideration to any school in the country. By he will be in the same boat as 20,000+ kids with the same stats and EC's.

Understand, these schools only have so many seats for the applicant pool, hence the low single digit admit rate.

Pick a good ED, pick a few EA's, make sure there are some actual safties your kid likes and would be thrilled to attend.

Why are there so many more kids in the US now with high stats (high GPA plus SAT/ACT)? Why is it more competitive versus five years ago, say?

Folks have more info. about the college application process and the costs and benefits of attending the most selective schools.

Also, super-scoring, grade inflation, SAT renorming, easier questions, larger population. Possibly also Asian immigration, but that counterbalances a decline in overall student quality.

[Anonymous]

Actually, what PP said regarding the most rigorous classes is consistent with advice provided by the college counseling office regardless of major.


There are plenty of boys in the last few years who did not take BC or Physics C and got into Ivys. If you are a humanities major, these courses are unnecessary.

The college counseling office definitely specifically advised the top students this year to take AP Physics C and AP Calc BC, even boys that seem to be more humanities focused. And like PPs said, there were not plenty of admits to Ivys this year who were not legacy or athletes.

[Anonymous]

What are the matriculation outcomes this year at STA? Have folks started posting on instragram?

[Anonymous]

This year, several of the Ivy and other top schools like Duke and UVA are legacy and donor admits. Wealthy families got their average STA seniors into top schools that they could not have achieved on their own without their parents. Other Ivy admits are athletic recruits. When you look at a school's matriculation list, it is very deceiving unless you know the back story on many of the top college admits. Very few are purely academic admits without legacy, donor money, or athletics.

+1
This is true. Knowing the hooks for the admits is key.

OP, based on this year's results, a 91 GPA from STA without a hook like legacy, etc. will not be enough to get into an Ivy. More than one boy this year with higher GPA, high test score and excellent ECs was not admitted to any Ivys. The good news is that there are so many fantastic schools that are not Ivy that your kid could target as reaches, like Northwestern, Vanderbilt, WashU, Georgetown, NYU, BC, etc. If your DS knows what he wants to study, focus on colleges that are strong in that area no matter the school's overall ranking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This year, several of the Ivy and other top schools like Duke and UVA are legacy and donor admits. Wealthy families got their average STA seniors into top schools that they could not have achieved on their own without their parents. Other Ivy admits are athletic recruits. When you look at a school's matriculation list, it is very deceiving unless you know the back story on many of the top college admits. Very few are purely academic admits without legacy, donor money, or athletics.

Where are some of the top non-hooked (not legacy or recruits) boys going this year?
My impression is that there are about 6-10 of them who are super smart (some in super advanced math classses, others outlying in other academic ways) but not hooked.
Curious where they are headed; my son is in form IV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year, several of the Ivy and other top schools like Duke and UVA are legacy and donor admits. Wealthy families got their average STA seniors into top schools that they could not have achieved on their own without their parents. Other Ivy admits are athletic recruits. When you look at a school's matriculation list, it is very deceiving unless you know the back story on many of the top college admits. Very few are purely academic admits without legacy, donor money, or athletics.

Where are some of the top non-hooked (not legacy or recruits) boys going this year?
My impression is that there are about 6-10 of them who are super smart (some in super advanced math classses, others outlying in other academic ways) but not hooked.
Curious where they are headed; my son is in form IV.

Have your son ask. He should already know them.