Bethesda Magazine List of Colleges

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UPenn alum who interviews- I haven’t met a single kid from Churchill who ever sent a thank you note. These kids take it as a given that they’ll get in and then surprise, they don’t. They all have the same magnificent extra curriculars which are clearly done just to get into college. It’s much harder to get in now than when I went there in the 90s.

I'll bet you enjoy doing the interviewing and thinking you're superior. You realize that the interview means nothing to the admissions committee and that it's just a big ego feed, right?

You totally missed my point. The interview means nothing. I’m saying that it’s hard to stand out and when it is between two kids with comparable applications, you never know what one little thing is going to push them over into the yes pile. It’s a shame, cause if they were applying from somewhere with less local competition they’d probably get in.

Funny, because the way it was written it sounded like you thought Churchill kids were ungrateful kids who were in no position to be uppity given that they were just padding their resumes and they should have written you a TY letter for the privilege of the interview. (and I get that writing a TY note is a good thing - my kid did do them for all the alum interviews he did)

[Anonymous]

I am not sure why people on this thread don't think the Bethesda list is very good. These are public high schools which have to accept all children. There is bound to be considerable variation in academic ability, interest and ability to pay. If there was a way to separate out the top half or top third of students in these schools and consider their success rates it might be more illuminating.

[Anonymous]

Craziest thing to be about the Bethesda list is 21 Naval Academy apps, 7 Air Force Academy apps, and zero West Point apps. Can that be right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Craziest thing to be about the Bethesda list is 21 Naval Academy apps, 7 Air Force Academy apps, and zero West Point apps. Can that be right?

Do you think that's high or low? If you think it's high, the military academies are excellent free educations, especially for STEM careers, and with at least Naval and Air Force, you'd come out an officer with less chance of being killed, and could go on to free medical school or law school after that if you play your cards right. Naval Academy is nearby, and Air Force is in Colorado (both locations have their appeal). If you think it's low, the explanation for that is that many people in this area don't want their children in the military, especially under this President, and especially with an undeclared war that's been going on for over 17 years. It's just too dangerous or too likely that you will be fighting for a cause that you don't believe in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Craziest thing to be about the Bethesda list is 21 Naval Academy apps, 7 Air Force Academy apps, and zero West Point apps. Can that be right?

Do you think that's high or low? If you think it's high, the military academies are excellent free educations, especially for STEM careers, and with at least Naval and Air Force, you'd come out an officer with less chance of being killed, and could go on to free medical school or law school after that if you play your cards right. Naval Academy is nearby, and Air Force is in Colorado (both locations have their appeal). If you think it's low, the explanation for that is that many people in this area don't want their children in the military, especially under this President, and especially with an undeclared war that's been going on for over 17 years. It's just too dangerous or too likely that you will be fighting for a cause that you don't believe in.

Plus, it's damn hard to get the recommendations from Senators etc. Don't they only have a certain # they can recommend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Craziest thing to be about the Bethesda list is 21 Naval Academy apps, 7 Air Force Academy apps, and zero West Point apps. Can that be right?

Do you think that's high or low? If you think it's high, the military academies are excellent free educations, especially for STEM careers, and with at least Naval and Air Force, you'd come out an officer with less chance of being killed, and could go on to free medical school or law school after that if you play your cards right. Naval Academy is nearby, and Air Force is in Colorado (both locations have their appeal). If you think it's low, the explanation for that is that many people in this area don't want their children in the military, especially under this President, and especially with an undeclared war that's been going on for over 17 years. It's just too dangerous or too likely that you will be fighting for a cause that you don't believe in.

Plus, it's damn hard to get the recommendations from Senators etc. Don't they only have a certain # they can recommend?

House members make recommendations for 4 of the 5 service academies (not senators). Nominations are required for the U.S. Military Academy (USMA), West Point, NY; the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA), Annapolis, MD; the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA), Colorado Springs, CO; and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), Kings Point, NY. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy (USCGA), New London, CT, does not require a congressional nomination for appointment.

A member of Congress may nominate up to ten individuals for each vacant academy slot allotted to his or her district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is on the same level as Georgetown, Wash U, and Cornell in Maryland. Pretty prestigious.

No, it takes higher GPAs and test scores to now get into UVA. The average incoming high school GPA at Georgetown is a 4.03; at Wash .Univ, a 4.11; at Cornell, a 4.04. The median (half higher, half lower) of the top 25% of UVA's entering class of 2017 was a 4.44, median was a 4.29 and bottom 25% at 4.14. Average ACT 33-35.

No. You cannot compare GPAs across different geographies and demographics (which are in play with these schools). For instance, the average weighted GPA at UNC Chapel Hill is 4.66, which is significantly higher than UVA, but also many Ivy League schools. It is also higher than UC Berkeley, but Berkeley has about 99% reported in the top 10%. There is no standard whatsoever for grading across high schools. (And most, particularly the better ones, do not report class rank.) This is why standardized tests still should matter (as they are the only thing that is standardized), but some schools are moving away from them for different reasons.

And that's why most schools also offer the number of students who were in the top 10% of their high school class. For UVA it is 94.6% - 96%. For UNC it is only 78%. You are wrong about reporting class rank. Every high school sends a class profile to college institutions with a breakdown of the rising senior class as to GPA. The first thing any college admissions reviewer does is check to see where the applicant falls across that year's class profile. So it the top student is a 4.03, then a 4.00 weighted might be a relatively strong student whereas a 4.4 student in a class with a top of 4.6 might not be as strong. This is why every college institution tells you the percentage of students that were in the top ten percent of their high school class. And an interesting twist is that the students at UVA who are not in the top ten percent of their high school class are the TJ students, who, because they are already cream of the crop, do just fine at UVA.

No. This has been covered before. Many high schools do not report and when the colleges report top 10%, they only use those for which a rank is provided and they report the percentage that report. You can see this on the UVA web site and on the CDS, which reports this. UVA is at about 40% with class rank reported. https://ias.virginia.edu/cds-2017-18. USNWR used to note the ones below a certain percentage reporting. You are conflating how a school might evaluate with how they report. (Also note UVA is very clear that the transcript is the focal point.)

But back to the original point, GPAs vary greatly by school and state so make a bad point for comparison. Class rank probably varies less, but it can be pretty misleading as well for several reasons. In California, the UC system was intended for top 10% of graduates, so the percentages are usually very high (As an example, UC Santa Barbara is 100% in top 10% if I recall correctly. Texas mandates acceptance of in-state students in top 10% at University of Texas (I think it has been moved to top 7% or so). A lot of the top privates have low percentages of students with class rank provided. It can be as low as 30% or so. If the school wanted to do it, they could maximize stats by requiring somewhat lower standardized test scores from a student in top 10% vs a non-reporting high school applicant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UPenn alum who interviews- I haven’t met a single kid from Churchill who ever sent a thank you note. These kids take it as a given that they’ll get in and then surprise, they don’t. They all have the same magnificent extra curriculars which are clearly done just to get into college. It’s much harder to get in now than when I went there in the 90s.

I'll bet you enjoy doing the interviewing and thinking you're superior. You realize that the interview means nothing to the admissions committee and that it's just a big ego feed, right?

You totally missed my point. The interview means nothing. I’m saying that it’s hard to stand out and when it is between two kids with comparable applications, you never know what one little thing is going to push them over into the yes pile. It’s a shame, cause if they were applying from somewhere with less local competition they’d probably get in.

Funny, because the way it was written it sounded like you thought Churchill kids were ungrateful kids who were in no position to be uppity given that they were just padding their resumes and they should have written you a TY letter for the privilege of the interview. (and I get that writing a TY note is a good thing - my kid did do them for all the alum interviews he did)

Not padded just not special since they all had done amazing things. Sucks to be from a school where so many of the kids apply to the same colleges. And yes, the kids from some of the other MOCO high schools which aren’t considered as good were much more gracious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Craziest thing to be about the Bethesda list is 21 Naval Academy apps, 7 Air Force Academy apps, and zero West Point apps. Can that be right?

Do you think that's high or low? If you think it's high, the military academies are excellent free educations, especially for STEM careers, and with at least Naval and Air Force, you'd come out an officer with less chance of being killed, and could go on to free medical school or law school after that if you play your cards right. Naval Academy is nearby, and Air Force is in Colorado (both locations have their appeal). If you think it's low, the explanation for that is that many people in this area don't want their children in the military, especially under this President, and especially with an undeclared war that's been going on for over 17 years. It's just too dangerous or too likely that you will be fighting for a cause that you don't believe in.

It's really the discrepancy between Annapolis (21 applications) and West Point (0) that's odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In-state North Carolina students are on an artificially high GPA scale of 10 points. An average OOS GPA of 3.55 is usually the figure given as a comparable since in-state students have artificially high GPAs. https://myfox8.com/2015/01/09/nc-adopts-new-grading-scale-for-high-school-students/. That explains why only 78% of the total student body hails from top ten percent of their classes whereas it is much higher for UVA and other schools.

Which shows there is no standard across geographies. According to Prepscholar and other sites, Harvard has a lower average GPA than UVA. Therefore it must be an easier admit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is on the same level as Georgetown, Wash U, and Cornell in Maryland. Pretty prestigious.

No, it takes higher GPAs and test scores to now get into UVA. The average incoming high school GPA at Georgetown is a 4.03; at Wash .Univ, a 4.11; at Cornell, a 4.04. The median (half higher, half lower) of the top 25% of UVA's entering class of 2017 was a 4.44, median was a 4.29 and bottom 25% at 4.14. Average ACT 33-35.

Wouldn't the median of the top 25% essentially be the 12.5%ile? Anyway, if you look at some sites Stanford GPA is listed as below the UVA (and W&M) GPA http://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/colleges/Stanford-SAT-scores-GPA. I wouldn't draw the conclusion you drew for Stanford, and I would be wary of doing it with WashU, GT, etc. as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is on the same level as Georgetown, Wash U, and Cornell in Maryland. Pretty prestigious.

No, it takes higher GPAs and test scores to now get into UVA. The average incoming high school GPA at Georgetown is a 4.03; at Wash .Univ, a 4.11; at Cornell, a 4.04. The median (half higher, half lower) of the top 25% of UVA's entering class of 2017 was a 4.44, median was a 4.29 and bottom 25% at 4.14. Average ACT 33-35.

No. You cannot compare GPAs across different geographies and demographics (which are in play with these schools). For instance, the average weighted GPA at UNC Chapel Hill is 4.66, which is significantly higher than UVA, but also many Ivy League schools. It is also higher than UC Berkeley, but Berkeley has about 99% reported in the top 10%. There is no standard whatsoever for grading across high schools. (And most, particularly the better ones, do not report class rank.) This is why standardized tests still should matter (as they are the only thing that is standardized), but some schools are moving away from them for different reasons.

And that's why most schools also offer the number of students who were in the top 10% of their high school class. For UVA it is 94.6% - 96%. For UNC it is only 78%. You are wrong about reporting class rank. Every high school sends a class profile to college institutions with a breakdown of the rising senior class as to GPA. The first thing any college admissions reviewer does is check to see where the applicant falls across that year's class profile. So it the top student is a 4.03, then a 4.00 weighted might be a relatively strong student whereas a 4.4 student in a class with a top of 4.6 might not be as strong. This is why every college institution tells you the percentage of students that were in the top ten percent of their high school class. And an interesting twist is that the students at UVA who are not in the top ten percent of their high school class are the TJ students, who, because they are already cream of the crop, do just fine at UVA.

I think you need to update your UVA data. This is directly from UVA website from July 23, 2018. Dean J's admissions blog responding to student's question about UVA taking only students in the top 10%:

"I think you're misinterpreting some data. The data says that last year, of the students who attended a school that ranked, 89% were in the top 10% of their class. However, 56% of the applicants came from schools that don't report rank, so the rank stat doesn't tell you about the majority of the incoming class."

Here's link:
http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com/2018/07/2018-2019-uva-application-essay-advice.html#disqus_thread

I am not a UVA hater but I'm so fed up with this one person (I think it's just one person) on DCUM who constantly quotes the same misinformation about top 10% at UVA.

[Anonymous]

Richmond-Times Dispatch. 93% of UVA class of 2022 was in top ten percent of class according to the University. https://www.richmond.com/news/local/education/nearly-offered-admission-to-uva-s-class-of/article_2c2695cc-60d8-5020-9e34-a39c98be8683.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Richmond-Times Dispatch. 93% of UVA class of 2022 was in top ten percent of class according to the University. https://www.richmond.com/news/local/education/nearly-offered-admission-to-uva-s-class-of/article_2c2695cc-60d8-5020-9e34-a39c98be8683.html

Two things. That was for accepted. Enrolled is usually a bit lower. And again, universities only report on students where a class rank is submitted. At UVA, as you can read in a prior post, the majority of students are not from high schools that provide class rank. At top privates, only about 30% of students have class rank provided.

[Anonymous]

I was surprised at how many more Bethesda kids seemed interested in SLACs than in Arlington.