Was Told By College Admissions Officer That Sidwell Secretly Ranks Students

[Anonymous]

you used to be able to use the code in naviance and see your rank, from any school

if you school gives you. GPA, there's a rank

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
All schools do that, OP, both public and private.

Are you a public parent? Maybe your school doesn't "rank" students but there's a huge difference between public, where GPA IS calculated and GPA IS weighted and a private where there is no official GPA and even the mocked up one isn't weighted. Being told GPA is not calculated or given to colleges but then having CCO and that there are no rankings - but then CCO chooses to "reveal" a rank for some students is not ok.

My, my.

The is a difference between schools that provide GPA, weighted or unweighted, and schools that don’t. Public/private, makes no difference.

But if you believe your school when they say they don’t rank, don’t provide GPAs and treat students equally when dealing with college AOs, you really have not been paying attention.

We have been paying attention - and so - when unhooked high rigor students as a large group are being passed over for hooked students and then you discover the CCO is secretly sending information for just some people - that's a problem.

Then sue Sidwell so all of this “secret” assistance is exposed. Perhaps it will help your child get into an Ivy too!

No thanks... done and gone. No need to go back.

If you’re “done and gone” why are you trolling this thread?!? Pick a hobby that doesn’t involve Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

So, with my largely unhooked kid in 7th at Sidwell who is probably going to stay, is there anything I can do? Or just set my expectations for him not to get into a top 20 school and call it a day?
Any hope that the new head of the upper school will change some of this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, with my largely unhooked kid in 7th at Sidwell who is probably going to stay, is there anything I can do? Or just set my expectations for him not to get into a top 20 school and call it a day?
Any hope that the new head of the upper school will change some of this?

Well, the advice would be to make sure he's doing very well academically and a top 10 student in his class. If your main goal is simply Ivy, then he might be better off enrolling at Jackson-Reed. A kid with a Sidwell education will almost-certainly coast to straight-A's at Jackson-Reed. That will make him at least competitive for Ivies come college time. He also won't be dueling against tons of legacy applicants for a few seats.

Beyond this, actually consider UChicago strongly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, with my largely unhooked kid in 7th at Sidwell who is probably going to stay, is there anything I can do? Or just set my expectations for him not to get into a top 20 school and call it a day?
Any hope that the new head of the upper school will change some of this?

Why should your kid have an expectation of getting into a top 20 school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, with my largely unhooked kid in 7th at Sidwell who is probably going to stay, is there anything I can do? Or just set my expectations for him not to get into a top 20 school and call it a day?
Any hope that the new head of the upper school will change some of this?

Why should your kid have an expectation of getting into a top 20 school?

Because his/her child attends one of the top schools in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, with my largely unhooked kid in 7th at Sidwell who is probably going to stay, is there anything I can do? Or just set my expectations for him not to get into a top 20 school and call it a day?
Any hope that the new head of the upper school will change some of this?

Why should your kid have an expectation of getting into a top 20 school?

Because his/her child attends one of the top schools in the country.

Because money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you used to be able to use the code in naviance and see your rank, from any school

if you school gives you. GPA, there's a rank

I’ve seen the code hack for Naviance. Is there a similar thing for Scoir? That’s what our school uses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, with my largely unhooked kid in 7th at Sidwell who is probably going to stay, is there anything I can do? Or just set my expectations for him not to get into a top 20 school and call it a day?
Any hope that the new head of the upper school will change some of this?

Why should your kid have an expectation of getting into a top 20 school?

Because his/her child attends one of the top schools in the country.

Whether true or not, that matters why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, with my largely unhooked kid in 7th at Sidwell who is probably going to stay, is there anything I can do? Or just set my expectations for him not to get into a top 20 school and call it a day?
Any hope that the new head of the upper school will change some of this?

Well, the advice would be to make sure he's doing very well academically and a top 10 student in his class. If your main goal is simply Ivy, then he might be better off enrolling at Jackson-Reed. A kid with a Sidwell education will almost-certainly coast to straight-A's at Jackson-Reed. That will make him at least competitive for Ivies come college time. He also won't be dueling against tons of legacy applicants for a few seats.

Beyond this, actually consider UChicago strongly.

Only in DC would UChicago be considered a consolation prize or concession. I'd rank it higher than most of the Ivys in many respects, as it is in most global rankings. And no, I'm not an alum, or in any way affiliated with the school. I wish I could have gone there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, with my largely unhooked kid in 7th at Sidwell who is probably going to stay, is there anything I can do? Or just set my expectations for him not to get into a top 20 school and call it a day?
Any hope that the new head of the upper school will change some of this?

Advice is to let your kid enjoy their highschool and middle school years. Seriously. ENJOY their highschool and take advantage of what is being offered. Expectations are always a good thing even with kids that have perfect 4.0 and 1600 SATs. We are at another Big 3 and the kids do well at college admissions. I am sure your child will as well. I stress though they are teens once. Let them have a balanced Highschool experience not obsessed with college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, with my largely unhooked kid in 7th at Sidwell who is probably going to stay, is there anything I can do? Or just set my expectations for him not to get into a top 20 school and call it a day?
Any hope that the new head of the upper school will change some of this?

Well, the advice would be to make sure he's doing very well academically and a top 10 student in his class. If your main goal is simply Ivy, then he might be better off enrolling at Jackson-Reed. A kid with a Sidwell education will almost-certainly coast to straight-A's at Jackson-Reed. That will make him at least competitive for Ivies come college time. He also won't be dueling against tons of legacy applicants for a few seats.

Beyond this, actually consider UChicago strongly.

Only in DC would UChicago be considered a consolation prize or concession. I'd rank it higher than most of the Ivys in many respects, as it is in most global rankings. And no, I'm not an alum, or in any way affiliated with the school. I wish I could have gone there.

It is ranked above a few Ivies. It think it may be a consolation prize because it has a reputation of not being a fun place to go to college plus it is in a pretty undesirable part of town. So that may be why. I do know kids that would have gotten in there that did not apply because of the reasons given.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, with my largely unhooked kid in 7th at Sidwell who is probably going to stay, is there anything I can do? Or just set my expectations for him not to get into a top 20 school and call it a day?
Any hope that the new head of the upper school will change some of this?

You absolutely shouldn't "expect" him to get into a Top 20 - he might, he might not. Especially if not in top 5 students. But this is based on the past 3 years - things could change in 5 years. I do think it used to be that top 20% GPA kids with rigor did get into T20 but colleges have made a big shift and they are also being flooded with applications.

[Anonymous]

Is UPenn still a T20?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
All schools do that, OP, both public and private.

Are you a public parent? Maybe your school doesn't "rank" students but there's a huge difference between public, where GPA IS calculated and GPA IS weighted and a private where there is no official GPA and even the mocked up one isn't weighted. Being told GPA is not calculated or given to colleges but then having CCO and that there are no rankings - but then CCO chooses to "reveal" a rank for some students is not ok.

My, my.

The is a difference between schools that provide GPA, weighted or unweighted, and schools that don’t. Public/private, makes no difference.

But if you believe your school when they say they don’t rank, don’t provide GPAs and treat students equally when dealing with college AOs, you really have not been paying attention.

We have been paying attention - and so - when unhooked high rigor students as a large group are being passed over for hooked students and then you discover the CCO is secretly sending information for just some people - that's a problem.

Then sue Sidwell so all of this “secret” assistance is exposed. Perhaps it will help your child get into an Ivy too!

No thanks... done and gone. No need to go back.

If you’re “done and gone” why are you trolling this thread?!? Pick a hobby that doesn’t involve Sidwell.

Because Sidwell should do better and I care about other families with students there.