Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You only need to look as far as the outcomes. NCS does not inflate grades. Some girls are at the top of the class and the range goes down from there. However, their 2016 college list they posted leads me to believe that even the girls at the bottom of the class are going to top universities.

Yes, being full pay and a legacy certainly helps with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I agree with the previous poster. The area I live in has ok public schools. When I hear of kids having 4.0s from there I think "not challenged." And I think that based on my on personal experience with HS in an inner city. I graduated 1st in my class - yes 1st and was NOT adequately prepared for my top 10 university. I struggled my first two years just getting up to speed. Thank God I didn't have low self-esteem because I kept at it. Because of this I am an advocate for private school if you don't live in an area with top public schools. So many public schools kids are not well prepared for college. I think getting into a good college is just half the battle. The real battle is are you prepared to excel once you are fully enrolled? For me, while I definitley would like for my kids to go to a top college what I really want is for them to do well at whatever college they choose -- and I think the private schools do a far better job of that especially when it comes to writing and critical thinking skills.

So,what would it take to convince you that a public school student is challenged? Are you not aware that it is the norm for AP students in public schools to have hours upon hours of homework? If that's not enough to be considered challenged then screw it.

NP here. Depends on the school. I don't need any persuasion to believe that a top student at TJ is plenty challenged. Some other schools, not so much. Same with private schools --- depends on the school.

Oh believe me, TJ is far from the only public school where students are challenged. Are most private school parents really this clueless?

Most are.

[Anonymous]

Op, in most cases state U's will be number-based. A certain GPA & SAT and you're in (or rely on HS counselors to hint where students are on the bell curve) Private colleges have the time and resources to pour over applications, the holistic evaluation. Which direction is your child likely to go? What do you hope for your child? I would hope your decision private vs public would be based on deeper thinking than this, since all people can do is generalize. Or did you just want to start a fight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:The simpleton brigade has invaded this thread. We should give up now because there is no way to have a rational conversation about grade inflation when the audience doesn't understand the concept of a curve or degree-of-difficulty.

Is that what you call public school families?

PP here, I am both a public and a private school family. If you are in either category and can't make the distinction between absolute and relative grades, then yes.

It's not nice to insult people. Your mom never taught you that?

She did. Believe me, its not her fault. I am just a blunt asshole. Back to the real conversation...

You said it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You only need to look as far as the outcomes. NCS does not inflate grades. Some girls are at the top of the class and the range goes down from there. However, their 2016 college list they posted leads me to believe that even the girls at the bottom of the class are going to top universities.

Is there a school in the world where this is not a true statement?

[Anonymous]

There is tendency in education to align gpa averages with perceived IQs, overtime and in a very general way. In a small private school, especially, this is the result. Why wouldn't these kids be B/A students? If the school was doing their job, less a few outliners, it's the expected result. It's the result parents should expect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't forget -- colleges keep track of how students from a particular high school have done at the college so they know that the 3.3 from a top private is well prepared and likely to be a 3.8 at college while the 4.6 public school,student may be a 3.2 at college. Not guaranteed but they have years of stats.

And who told you this? The Admissions Rep. at your kid's private?

No. I was not interesting in talking about college admissions in a Kindergarten admissions interview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The simpleton brigade has invaded this thread. We should give up now because there is no way to have a rational conversation about grade inflation when the audience doesn't understand the concept of a curve or degree-of-difficulty.

Is that what you call public school families?

PP here, I am both a public and a private school family. If you are in either category and can't make the distinction between absolute and relative grades, then yes.

It's not nice to insult people. Your mom never taught you that?

She did. Believe me, its not her fault. I am just a blunt asshole. Back to the real conversation...

You said it!

Good for you Captain Obvious!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Because the straight A student at my local public has SATs of 1800, but the straight A student at my private has SATs of 2400.

I've never heard of any straight A student at my public making less than 2100.

Grain of salt. How many public school students to yo think PP knows well enough to know both their grades and SAT scores?

Apparently enough private school parents know enough students' grades and SAT scores to feel confident that a private school B means more than a public school A.

+1

Good point! You should probably rely on the statements by parents of straight A public students that transferred to private and earned B/B+ grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Colleges just look at GPA. There is no effort to "put that into context" like you have been lead to believe. Learned that the hard way when DD started applying and the person who informed us was the college counselor at her big three. There are too many applications now and grades are so inflated that it can really be a disadvantage of coming from a private school. Still wouldn't have deterred us, as my DD is forever grateful for that experience. You really need to focus on grades the most. Sports are pointless unless you are collegiate level. Scores are very important, but edged out by grades.

. This is
Not true. I served on the admissions committee for a top 20 university and we knew exactly what each schools grade scale was. A kid with a 3.4 from a top private in NYC or Washington DC was viewed very differently from a kid with the same grade point from most publics. Some larger schools have an algorithm for each known high school that automatically adjusts gpa. Grades are very important but relative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, DCUM is my secret addiction these days (it's better than Ben and Jerry's!).

You're not making an apples to apples comparison. The average student at an academically strong DC private (with a typical A-/B+ gpa, not B/B+) is not a straight A student at most local public high schools. They're average because they perform at a level typical of most of their classmates. In a public school, they would be average among the subset of students who take a challenging AP/IP curriculum (typically weighted to well over 4.0 gpas) and end up at better state schools (UVA, Michigan) and good SLACs (Wesleyan, Colby).

Where the privates do well is among academically strong students, especially those interested in the humanities and social sciences. The A student at strong private will have written literally hundreds of pages more than their public school counterparts and be engaged in far deeper, small group discussions than what's usually possible at a very good public school with 2-4x as many students per class. There are teachers at private school who can write very personalized, detailed recs and say things like "the best writer/thinker in my class since [famous author/intellectual]" that make a difference. The advanced academic electives at StA/NCS/SFS/GDS/Maret/Potomac are a lot like college seminars on purpose. As a result, the strong students arrive on college campuses steeped in contemporary academic debates which are very difficult for high school students to navigate on their own. Some of it is just arty intellectual posing, but most of it is knowing a lot more than what's on the AP exams.

Then you need to add in the extra level of privilege the private school students possess. Almost all of the top students at my DC's school are legacy at elite schools. They're not super wealthy development cases, but their parents have PBK keys and multiple elite degrees. These are children born on the academic version of 3rd base. My DC's friends from families of modest means have parents who are academics and teachers and public servants and nonprofit types with lots of cultural and intellectual capital. They are adept at "intellectual achievement," so the odds are their children would "win the (college) game" no matter where they went to high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the straight A student at my local public has SATs of 1800, but the straight A student at my private has SATs of 2400.

I've never heard of any straight A student at my public making less than 2100.

Grain of salt. How many public school students to yo think PP knows well enough to know both their grades and SAT scores?

Apparently enough private school parents know enough students' grades and SAT scores to feel confident that a private school B means more than a public school A.

Well I have kids in both public and private so I feel I do know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You only need to look as far as the outcomes. NCS does not inflate grades. Some girls are at the top of the class and the range goes down from there. However, their 2016 college list they posted leads me to believe that even the girls at the bottom of the class are going to top universities.

Is there a school in the world where this is not a true statement?

Wow, thanks for pointing that out. You are so smart. I think the point is that girls at the bottom of the class at NCS are still going to top universities - whereas kids at the B range in public schools are not. But I think you already knew that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colleges just look at GPA. There is no effort to "put that into context" like you have been lead to believe. Learned that the hard way when DD started applying and the person who informed us was the college counselor at her big three. There are too many applications now and grades are so inflated that it can really be a disadvantage of coming from a private school. Still wouldn't have deterred us, as my DD is forever grateful for that experience. You really need to focus on grades the most. Sports are pointless unless you are collegiate level. Scores are very important, but edged out by grades.

. This is
Not true. I served on the admissions committee for a top 20 university and we knew exactly what each schools grade scale was. A kid with a 3.4 from a top private in NYC or Washington DC was viewed very differently from a kid with the same grade point from most publics. Some larger schools have an algorithm for each known high school that automatically adjusts gpa. Grades are very important but relative.

Helpful post. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, DCUM is my secret addiction these days (it's better than Ben and Jerry's!).

Then you need to add in the extra level of privilege the private school students possess. Almost all of the top students at my DC's school are legacy at elite schools. They're not super wealthy development cases, but their parents have PBK keys and multiple elite degrees. These are children born on the academic version of 3rd base. My DC's friends from families of modest means have parents who are academics and teachers and public servants and nonprofit types with lots of cultural and intellectual capital. They are adept at "intellectual achievement," so the odds are their children would "win the (college) game" no matter where they went to high school.

My Well-written points with lots of food points. Thanks!

I did a double-take, though, wondering what Pottery Barn Kids had to do with anything. My HSLAC did not have a Phi Beta Kappa chapter (deliberately--the school scorned external honor societies).

Thanks for the thoughtful post and for the laugh!