3.75/1550 Big 3 rising Senior - College Options?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll bite. Here’s a selection of really nice schools, of different sizes and locations that could be of interest, depending on major and setting. Lots of very different schools.

Reach: Northwestern, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth
Target / Reach: Michigan, Rochester, Wash U, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Tufts
Target: Colby, Colgate, U Washington, Boston College, NYU
Safeties: Univ of Toronto, McGill, Wisconsin, Reed, Bates, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Tulane

Toronto, McGill, Bates, Tulane and Wisc are NOT safeties. I would say Bates and Tulane are likely with this profile, especially if full pay ED.

I would also encourage your high performing DS to include some highly ranking international schools as “likelies” since their admission is a bit more predictable ie the UK schools like Edinburg and St Andrew’s only care about your scores.

I’m the person who listed these. Okay, maybe Toronto and McGill are closer to Target. They rely much more on test scores and I think an early application from a student with strong test scores is very, very likely. I think international colleges are good choices for likelies for strong students because they are likely to adapt well, will have international experience upon graduating, have access to world-class opportunities and, in the case of McGill, may come out with a strong foreign language.

I do think Reed, Bates, Tulane, Dickinson, Gettysburg and Wisconsin are extremely likely. Bates is not need-blind so if the applicant is full pay, that helps.

I just went through this with my niece and friends who applied from a top NY school (not one of the top 3 in NY so probably pretty comparable to a top DC school). This student - especially if full pay - is likely to be helped by the test optional policies in place right now. Fewer kids are presenting scores and the kids from the top schools are expected to bring in top scores. The best strategy is to identify an ED1 and ED2 school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll bite. Here’s a selection of really nice schools, of different sizes and locations that could be of interest, depending on major and setting. Lots of very different schools.

Reach: Northwestern, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth
Target / Reach: Michigan, Rochester, Wash U, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Tufts
Target: Colby, Colgate, U Washington, Boston College, NYU
Safeties: Univ of Toronto, McGill, Wisconsin, Reed, Bates, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Tulane

My kid has a 3.9 at a Big3; can he/she move the target/reaches to target?

If they are maintaining straight As in junior senior year in rigorous courses I’d say you’d get into 3 of the 6 regular and probably 5 of the 6 if you ED. It’s all still such a crap shoot. The benefit for strong kids now is that they will have all their junior year grades with face to face in session school. I think the past seniors got screwed because grades were so wonky and inflated during remote learning.

I’m the person who listed the schools and I agree with this. If kid is dead set on one of the target/ reaches and you can afford the calculator, apply ED.

A 3.9 mid-1500s kid with rigorous curriculum and straight As junior and senior year from a top private school is a strong candidate. The reason to ED is to signal the seriousness of intent with the application. Colleges are getting tons of applications these days and when it’s a student with no ties to the school, it can be hard to know how serious the student is.

[Anonymous]

Even though the OP is using DC for privacy reasons I expect, whether she has a DS or a DD does matter when combined with the DC's intended major. A boy wanting to do creative writing or French lit will have better luck getting into a strong college than a girl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll bite. Here’s a selection of really nice schools, of different sizes and locations that could be of interest, depending on major and setting. Lots of very different schools.

Reach: Northwestern, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth
Target / Reach: Michigan, Rochester, Wash U, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Tufts
Target: Colby, Colgate, U Washington, Boston College, NYU
Safeties: Univ of Toronto, McGill, Wisconsin, Reed, Bates, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Tulane

Toronto, McGill, Bates, Tulane and Wisc are NOT safeties. I would say Bates and Tulane are likely with this profile, especially if full pay ED.

I would also encourage your high performing DS to include some highly ranking international schools as “likelies” since their admission is a bit more predictable ie the UK schools like Edinburg and St Andrew’s only care about your scores.

I’m the person who listed these. Okay, maybe Toronto and McGill are closer to Target. They rely much more on test scores and I think an early application from a student with strong test scores is very, very likely. I think international colleges are good choices for likelies for strong students because they are likely to adapt well, will have international experience upon graduating, have access to world-class opportunities and, in the case of McGill, may come out with a strong foreign language.

I do think Reed, Bates, Tulane, Dickinson, Gettysburg and Wisconsin are extremely likely. Bates is not need-blind so if the applicant is full pay, that helps.

I just went through this with my niece and friends who applied from a top NY school (not one of the top 3 in NY so probably pretty comparable to a top DC school). This student - especially if full pay - is likely to be helped by the test optional policies in place right now. Fewer kids are presenting scores and the kids from the top schools are expected to bring in top scores. The best strategy is to identify an ED1 and ED2 school.

Toronto has grade deflation and can be a pretty tough adjustment. The Canadian schools also do a lot less hand holding than many US schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll bite. Here’s a selection of really nice schools, of different sizes and locations that could be of interest, depending on major and setting. Lots of very different schools.

Reach: Northwestern, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth
Target / Reach: Michigan, Rochester, Wash U, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Tufts
Target: Colby, Colgate, U Washington, Boston College, NYU
Safeties: Univ of Toronto, McGill, Wisconsin, Reed, Bates, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Tulane

Toronto, McGill, Bates, Tulane and Wisc are NOT safeties. I would say Bates and Tulane are likely with this profile, especially if full pay ED.

I would also encourage your high performing DS to include some highly ranking international schools as “likelies” since their admission is a bit more predictable ie the UK schools like Edinburg and St Andrew’s only care about your scores.

I’m the person who listed these. Okay, maybe Toronto and McGill are closer to Target. They rely much more on test scores and I think an early application from a student with strong test scores is very, very likely. I think international colleges are good choices for likelies for strong students because they are likely to adapt well, will have international experience upon graduating, have access to world-class opportunities and, in the case of McGill, may come out with a strong foreign language.

I do think Reed, Bates, Tulane, Dickinson, Gettysburg and Wisconsin are extremely likely. Bates is not need-blind so if the applicant is full pay, that helps.

I just went through this with my niece and friends who applied from a top NY school (not one of the top 3 in NY so probably pretty comparable to a top DC school). This student - especially if full pay - is likely to be helped by the test optional policies in place right now. Fewer kids are presenting scores and the kids from the top schools are expected to bring in top scores. The best strategy is to identify an ED1 and ED2 school.

Toronto has grade deflation and can be a pretty tough adjustment. The Canadian schools also do a lot less hand holding than many US schools.

Totally agree on the Canadian schools..Excellent education but tough grading and zero hand holding. Sink or Swim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll bite. Here’s a selection of really nice schools, of different sizes and locations that could be of interest, depending on major and setting. Lots of very different schools.

Reach: Northwestern, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth
Target / Reach: Michigan, Rochester, Wash U, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Tufts
Target: Colby, Colgate, U Washington, Boston College, NYU
Safeties: Univ of Toronto, McGill, Wisconsin, Reed, Bates, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Tulane

My kid has a 3.9 at a Big3; can he/she move the target/reaches to target?

No.

It isn't about your kids stats, it is about the number of kids who have similar records who are applying to all of the same schools.

There are X times the number of kids applying for generally the same number of seats that existed 30 years ago.

so the 3.95 kid has the same options as the 3.75 kid?

I can't answer specifically the impact of the 0.20 differential, but it needs to be said that STA, NCS, GDS and Sidwell aren't identical when it comes time to assign grades.

Anecdotally, GDS kids who I know personally have all had higher GPAs than my Sidwell teen. As in, > 3.90. Their ACT/SATs were easily lower, even when superscored. One girl had a 4.0 at GDS and her mom acted like that wasn't a big deal, all you need to do is work hard! That sort of situation is a unicorn at Sidwell.

Doesn't this all depend on how hard the classes are you are taking? At my kids' top private, certain classes are WAY more rigorous (Multivariable Calc, Advanced Chem, Physics C, etc.). So a GPA alone doesn't mean all that much unless you know what classes the kid has taken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll bite. Here’s a selection of really nice schools, of different sizes and locations that could be of interest, depending on major and setting. Lots of very different schools.

Reach: Northwestern, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth
Target / Reach: Michigan, Rochester, Wash U, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Tufts
Target: Colby, Colgate, U Washington, Boston College, NYU
Safeties: Univ of Toronto, McGill, Wisconsin, Reed, Bates, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Tulane

My kid has a 3.9 at a Big3; can he/she move the target/reaches to target?

No.

It isn't about your kids stats, it is about the number of kids who have similar records who are applying to all of the same schools.

There are X times the number of kids applying for generally the same number of seats that existed 30 years ago.

so the 3.95 kid has the same options as the 3.75 kid?

I can't answer specifically the impact of the 0.20 differential, but it needs to be said that STA, NCS, GDS and Sidwell aren't identical when it comes time to assign grades.

Anecdotally, GDS kids who I know personally have all had higher GPAs than my Sidwell teen. As in, > 3.90. Their ACT/SATs were easily lower, even when superscored. One girl had a 4.0 at GDS and her mom acted like that wasn't a big deal, all you need to do is work hard! That sort of situation is a unicorn at Sidwell.

At the end of junior year my DC had all As at GDS except for 1 A- 1 B+ 1 B and was told they were in the top 5% of class, fwiw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll bite. Here’s a selection of really nice schools, of different sizes and locations that could be of interest, depending on major and setting. Lots of very different schools.

Reach: Northwestern, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth
Target / Reach: Michigan, Rochester, Wash U, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Tufts
Target: Colby, Colgate, U Washington, Boston College, NYU
Safeties: Univ of Toronto, McGill, Wisconsin, Reed, Bates, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Tulane

My kid has a 3.9 at a Big3; can he/she move the target/reaches to target?

No.

It isn't about your kids stats, it is about the number of kids who have similar records who are applying to all of the same schools.

There are X times the number of kids applying for generally the same number of seats that existed 30 years ago.

Semester grades or annual grades?

so the 3.95 kid has the same options as the 3.75 kid?

I can't answer specifically the impact of the 0.20 differential, but it needs to be said that STA, NCS, GDS and Sidwell aren't identical when it comes time to assign grades.

Anecdotally, GDS kids who I know personally have all had higher GPAs than my Sidwell teen. As in, > 3.90. Their ACT/SATs were easily lower, even when superscored. One girl had a 4.0 at GDS and her mom acted like that wasn't a big deal, all you need to do is work hard! That sort of situation is a unicorn at Sidwell.

At the end of junior year my DC had all As at GDS except for 1 A- 1 B+ 1 B and was told they were in the top 5% of class, fwiw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll bite. Here’s a selection of really nice schools, of different sizes and locations that could be of interest, depending on major and setting. Lots of very different schools.

Reach: Northwestern, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth
Target / Reach: Michigan, Rochester, Wash U, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Tufts
Target: Colby, Colgate, U Washington, Boston College, NYU
Safeties: Univ of Toronto, McGill, Wisconsin, Reed, Bates, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Tulane

My kid has a 3.9 at a Big3; can he/she move the target/reaches to target?

No.

It isn't about your kids stats, it is about the number of kids who have similar records who are applying to all of the same schools.

There are X times the number of kids applying for generally the same number of seats that existed 30 years ago.

so the 3.95 kid has the same options as the 3.75 kid?

I can't answer specifically the impact of the 0.20 differential, but it needs to be said that STA, NCS, GDS and Sidwell aren't identical when it comes time to assign grades.

Anecdotally, GDS kids who I know personally have all had higher GPAs than my Sidwell teen. As in, > 3.90. Their ACT/SATs were easily lower, even when superscored. One girl had a 4.0 at GDS and her mom acted like that wasn't a big deal, all you need to do is work hard! That sort of situation is a unicorn at Sidwell.

At the end of junior year my DC had all As at GDS except for 1 A- 1 B+ 1 B and was told they were in the top 5% of class, fwiw.

Semester Grades or Annual Grades?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll bite. Here’s a selection of really nice schools, of different sizes and locations that could be of interest, depending on major and setting. Lots of very different schools.

Reach: Northwestern, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth
Target / Reach: Michigan, Rochester, Wash U, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Tufts
Target: Colby, Colgate, U Washington, Boston College, NYU
Safeties: Univ of Toronto, McGill, Wisconsin, Reed, Bates, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Tulane

My kid has a 3.9 at a Big3; can he/she move the target/reaches to target?

No.

It isn't about your kids stats, it is about the number of kids who have similar records who are applying to all of the same schools.

There are X times the number of kids applying for generally the same number of seats that existed 30 years ago.

so the 3.95 kid has the same options as the 3.75 kid?

I can't answer specifically the impact of the 0.20 differential, but it needs to be said that STA, NCS, GDS and Sidwell aren't identical when it comes time to assign grades.

Anecdotally, GDS kids who I know personally have all had higher GPAs than my Sidwell teen. As in, > 3.90. Their ACT/SATs were easily lower, even when superscored. One girl had a 4.0 at GDS and her mom acted like that wasn't a big deal, all you need to do is work hard! That sort of situation is a unicorn at Sidwell.

Doesn't this all depend on how hard the classes are you are taking? At my kids' top private, certain classes are WAY more rigorous (Multivariable Calc, Advanced Chem, Physics C, etc.). So a GPA alone doesn't mean all that much unless you know what classes the kid has taken.

This is always a factor. There are plenty of threads on DCUM where people write x-number of APs, but they haven’t said if the APs are ‘easier’ or harder. Taking Calculus and whatever are the hardest courses across the curriculum counts way more than accumulating APs/ IBs in classes that are less challenging.

[Anonymous]

what is the Big3?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll bite. Here’s a selection of really nice schools, of different sizes and locations that could be of interest, depending on major and setting. Lots of very different schools.

Reach: Northwestern, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth
Target / Reach: Michigan, Rochester, Wash U, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Tufts
Target: Colby, Colgate, U Washington, Boston College, NYU
Safeties: Univ of Toronto, McGill, Wisconsin, Reed, Bates, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Tulane

My kid has a 3.9 at a Big3; can he/she move the target/reaches to target?

No.

It isn't about your kids stats, it is about the number of kids who have similar records who are applying to all of the same schools.

There are X times the number of kids applying for generally the same number of seats that existed 30 years ago.

so the 3.95 kid has the same options as the 3.75 kid?

I can't answer specifically the impact of the 0.20 differential, but it needs to be said that STA, NCS, GDS and Sidwell aren't identical when it comes time to assign grades.

Anecdotally, GDS kids who I know personally have all had higher GPAs than my Sidwell teen. As in, > 3.90. Their ACT/SATs were easily lower, even when superscored. One girl had a 4.0 at GDS and her mom acted like that wasn't a big deal, all you need to do is work hard! That sort of situation is a unicorn at Sidwell.

So your subtext is Sidwell is so much more uber than gds. Got it.

Seriously, you really think all the gds students have "easily" lower sats? That is some artogant uber mom weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll bite. Here’s a selection of really nice schools, of different sizes and locations that could be of interest, depending on major and setting. Lots of very different schools.

Reach: Northwestern, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth
Target / Reach: Michigan, Rochester, Wash U, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Tufts
Target: Colby, Colgate, U Washington, Boston College, NYU
Safeties: Univ of Toronto, McGill, Wisconsin, Reed, Bates, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Tulane

Toronto, McGill, Bates, Tulane and Wisc are NOT safeties. I would say Bates and Tulane are likely with this profile, especially if full pay ED.

I would also encourage your high performing DS to include some highly ranking international schools as “likelies” since their admission is a bit more predictable ie the UK schools like Edinburg and St Andrew’s only care about your scores.

I do think Reed, Bates, Tulane, Dickinson, Gettysburg and Wisconsin are extremely likely. Bates is not need-blind so if the applicant is full pay, that helps. .

Tulane and Bates aren’t extremely likely for anyone. Tulane just accepted 8% of its applicants and Bates accepted 13%. It’s simply a numbers game. There are too many well qualified candidates for too few spots. With acceptance rates like these, the final decisions on who makes the cut and who doesn’t become quite arbitrary. The president of the University of Chicago admitted as much a few years ago when he said, “If we replaced our entire freshman class with the next batch of applicants behind them, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll bite. Here’s a selection of really nice schools, of different sizes and locations that could be of interest, depending on major and setting. Lots of very different schools.

Reach: Northwestern, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth
Target / Reach: Michigan, Rochester, Wash U, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Tufts
Target: Colby, Colgate, U Washington, Boston College, NYU
Safeties: Univ of Toronto, McGill, Wisconsin, Reed, Bates, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Tulane

My kid has a 3.9 at a Big3; can he/she move the target/reaches to target?

No.

It isn't about your kids stats, it is about the number of kids who have similar records who are applying to all of the same schools.

There are X times the number of kids applying for generally the same number of seats that existed 30 years ago.

so the 3.95 kid has the same options as the 3.75 kid?

I can't answer specifically the impact of the 0.20 differential, but it needs to be said that STA, NCS, GDS and Sidwell aren't identical when it comes time to assign grades.

Anecdotally, GDS kids who I know personally have all had higher GPAs than my Sidwell teen. As in, > 3.90. Their ACT/SATs were easily lower, even when superscored. One girl had a 4.0 at GDS and her mom acted like that wasn't a big deal, all you need to do is work hard! That sort of situation is a unicorn at Sidwell.

Doesn't this all depend on how hard the classes are you are taking? At my kids' top private, certain classes are WAY more rigorous (Multivariable Calc, Advanced Chem, Physics C, etc.). So a GPA alone doesn't mean all that much unless you know what classes the kid has taken.

This is always a factor. There are plenty of threads on DCUM where people write x-number of APs, but they haven’t said if the APs are ‘easier’ or harder. Taking Calculus and whatever are the hardest courses across the curriculum counts way more than accumulating APs/ IBs in classes that are less challenging.

No, it doesn't. Sidwell and GDS don't weight classes. The CCO will include a form in college apps indicating whether the student chose the most rigorous courses that were actually available to them.**

But Susan isn't amassing a higher GPA than Bob at Sidwell because Susan took multivariable calc and Bob took Calc AB. An A- is an A-, points-wise

** a friendly reminder that 'rigor' determinations include context, such as whether an incoming 9th grader will or will not ever be eligible for certain math / science / language offerings based on the course offerings at their MS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll bite. Here’s a selection of really nice schools, of different sizes and locations that could be of interest, depending on major and setting. Lots of very different schools.

Reach: Northwestern, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth
Target / Reach: Michigan, Rochester, Wash U, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Tufts
Target: Colby, Colgate, U Washington, Boston College, NYU
Safeties: Univ of Toronto, McGill, Wisconsin, Reed, Bates, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Tulane

My kid has a 3.9 at a Big3; can he/she move the target/reaches to target?

If they are maintaining straight As in junior senior year in rigorous courses I’d say you’d get into 3 of the 6 regular and probably 5 of the 6 if you ED. It’s all still such a crap shoot. The benefit for strong kids now is that they will have all their junior year grades with face to face in session school. I think the past seniors got screwed because grades were so wonky and inflated during remote learning.

Thx. My kid has the 3.9 and change (3.95?) through junior year. We not a legacy/URM/recruit. Just smart and really driven. Would be thrilled with Michigan. Hard to know how high to aim.

3.95 at big 3: Mighican is basically a certainty.

God shot at Michigan. Chicago. Cornell if ED. Need test scores and good ECs.

Chicago if ED.

Don't waste an ED on Cornell unless you are legacy.

Chicago is harder to get into than cornell. It also doesn’t have back doors like the school of human ecology and ag.

Not for prep school kids who ED. STA sent something like 13 kids to Chicago this year, out of a class of 80.