Andover matriculation

[Anonymous]

Not surpised University of Virginia is the number one destination for Andover students who go to a public school. It is pretty surprising no one wanted to go to Virginia Tech.

[Anonymous]

What's up with University of St. Andrews? What does this school have to recommend it over non-Oxbridge Russell Group schools like Edinburgh, Durham, etc. other than that Prince William went there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's up with University of St. Andrews? What does this school have to recommend it over non-Oxbridge Russell Group schools like Edinburgh, Durham, etc. other than that Prince William went there?

I thought I read on DCUM that they make an extra effort to recruit Americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These 14 schools are 40% of Andover's class. I'm not surprised that UVA makes the list of most chosen. It's the only public school that is attended to any significant degreem, and while it is public, it is the one that most closely resembles a private school in terms of selectivity, size, feel, atmosphere, etc. So not surprising Wisconsin, Michigan, UCLA, etc. are not on the list.

University of Chicago 21
Harvard University 12
Yale University 12
Stanford University 11
Boston University 10
Brown University 10
Northeastern University 10
Columbia University 8
Georgetown University 8
New York University 8
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 7
Northwestern University 7
University of Pennsylvania 7
University of Virginia 7

Michigan is on the 3 year list under “10-19 students,” so don’t get too excited. UCLA and Berkeley are on the 3 year list under “5-9 students.”

Michigan, UCLA, and Berkeley are much larger than UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These 14 schools are 40% of Andover's class. I'm not surprised that UVA makes the list of most chosen. It's the only public school that is attended to any significant degreem, and while it is public, it is the one that most closely resembles a private school in terms of selectivity, size, feel, atmosphere, etc. So not surprising Wisconsin, Michigan, UCLA, etc. are not on the list.

University of Chicago 21
Harvard University 12
Yale University 12
Stanford University 11
Boston University 10
Brown University 10
Northeastern University 10
Columbia University 8
Georgetown University 8
New York University 8
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 7
Northwestern University 7
University of Pennsylvania 7
University of Virginia 7

Michigan is on the 3 year list under “10-19 students,” so don’t get too excited. UCLA and Berkeley are on the 3 year list under “5-9 students.”

Michigan, UCLA, and Berkeley are much larger than UVA.

Not to mention that UVA is on that same list - for “20-29” students. The only public school that high on the list

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:https://d2e3a5v56wj8r4.cloudfront.net/files/SchoolProfile2023-2024.pdf

Was surprised Virginia Tech wasn't anywhere and that SMU and Tulane were on the 3 year list.

Only 1 to Cal Tech and none to Harvey Mudd is more disappointing than none to Virginia Tech. The students looking at STEM aren’t focused on SMU or Tulane …Virgina Tech is likely a safety for the 7 going to MIT

There are geographic reasons at play. There is a definite bias towards east coast schools, except for Stanford and UChicago. Very few to Berkeley, UCLA, etc.

So why no Virginia Tech & UMD?

Coddled private school kids tend to not thrive at large universities.

Andover is the opposite of a school that coddles. The unofficial motto is “sink or swim.”

I remember literally collapsing on the floor of the library after finals during my upper (junior) year, from pure exhaustion.

I also remember my European History teacher telling us in the fall that all of us would get no more than a 3 (equivalent of a C) that term. I was never so happy to finally earn a 5 that spring (equivalent to an A).

My English teacher told us “The only way anyone will get a 6 (equivalent to an A+) on a paper in my class is if I read it and wish I had written it.”

Oh, Andover grad, you were doing so well until now. Your problem: the link on this thread to the college matriculation list also shows the grading scale and grade distribution for the Andover class of 2023, and according to it the average GPA of the class was well over a 4.0 on the standard 4.0 scale - and, even on Andover 6.0 scale 6.0 being absolutely perfect the average is a 5.5. So you have been caught in your exaggeration.

Would it make you feel better for someone to tell you that Andover is an overrated school that coddles rich kids? Go ahead and believe it. It won’t make it true, but I’m sure it’ll help you feel somehow vindicated.

It's obviously an excellent school but the poster did reference some data that suggests Andover does in fact hand out a lot of high grades. Most schools do these days, even the top ones.

Yes I did. According to the school profile, the average GPA of the graduating class of 2023 was around 5.45 on the Andover scale, which Andover says converts to over a 4.0 on the standard 4.0 scale.

Yes, grade inflation is an issue at Andover, as it is at all schools in this country.

That doesn’t mean it’s an easy school to be at. All it means is that the differentiation is essentially within a 5.0-6.0 band.

A college can still look at that distribution and figure out if a kid did well, compared to their peers. Being in the top 10% (5.7-6 GPA) is still going to be hard.

You realize that your post doesn’t make any sense, right? We are not talking about whether a school is hard or not, we are talking about a school’s grading system and whether grades are inflated. The Andover poster insinuated - falsely - that the school is stingy about giving out 5s, which she herself said is the equivalent of an A, when according to the school’s own profile over 80 percent of the graduating class of 2023 had a GPA of 5 or above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not surpised University of Virginia is the number one destination for Andover students who go to a public school. It is pretty surprising no one wanted to go to Virginia Tech.

That is not surprising at all.

It’s not a “hot” destination at any private HS outside the DMV.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:https://d2e3a5v56wj8r4.cloudfront.net/files/SchoolProfile2023-2024.pdf

Was surprised Virginia Tech wasn't anywhere and that SMU and Tulane were on the 3 year list.

Only 1 to Cal Tech and none to Harvey Mudd is more disappointing than none to Virginia Tech. The students looking at STEM aren’t focused on SMU or Tulane …Virgina Tech is likely a safety for the 7 going to MIT

There are geographic reasons at play. There is a definite bias towards east coast schools, except for Stanford and UChicago. Very few to Berkeley, UCLA, etc.

So why no Virginia Tech & UMD?

Coddled private school kids tend to not thrive at large universities.

Andover is the opposite of a school that coddles. The unofficial motto is “sink or swim.”

I remember literally collapsing on the floor of the library after finals during my upper (junior) year, from pure exhaustion.

I also remember my European History teacher telling us in the fall that all of us would get no more than a 3 (equivalent of a C) that term. I was never so happy to finally earn a 5 that spring (equivalent to an A).

My English teacher told us “The only way anyone will get a 6 (equivalent to an A+) on a paper in my class is if I read it and wish I had written it.”

Oh, Andover grad, you were doing so well until now. Your problem: the link on this thread to the college matriculation list also shows the grading scale and grade distribution for the Andover class of 2023, and according to it the average GPA of the class was well over a 4.0 on the standard 4.0 scale - and, even on Andover 6.0 scale 6.0 being absolutely perfect the average is a 5.5. So you have been caught in your exaggeration.

Would it make you feel better for someone to tell you that Andover is an overrated school that coddles rich kids? Go ahead and believe it. It won’t make it true, but I’m sure it’ll help you feel somehow vindicated.

It's obviously an excellent school but the poster did reference some data that suggests Andover does in fact hand out a lot of high grades. Most schools do these days, even the top ones.

Yes I did. According to the school profile, the average GPA of the graduating class of 2023 was around 5.45 on the Andover scale, which Andover says converts to over a 4.0 on the standard 4.0 scale.

Yes, grade inflation is an issue at Andover, as it is at all schools in this country.

That doesn’t mean it’s an easy school to be at. All it means is that the differentiation is essentially within a 5.0-6.0 band.

A college can still look at that distribution and figure out if a kid did well, compared to their peers. Being in the top 10% (5.7-6 GPA) is still going to be hard.

You realize that your post doesn’t make any sense, right? We are not talking about whether a school is hard or not, we are talking about a school’s grading system and whether grades are inflated. The Andover poster insinuated - falsely - that the school is stingy about giving out 5s, which she herself said is the equivalent of an A, when according to the school’s own profile over 80 percent of the graduating class of 2023 had a GPA of 5 or above.

I’m that poster.

What I was actually responding to was the poster who claimed Andover students are coddled.

I was speaking to my experience with grading and teaching style.

Maybe it’s not like that anymore, but it certainly was when I was in school there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not surpised University of Virginia is the number one destination for Andover students who go to a public school. It is pretty surprising no one wanted to go to Virginia Tech.

That is not surprising at all.

It’s not a “hot” destination at any private HS outside the DMV.

Blacksburg is just extremely out of the way. VT is probably the highest-ranked school that’s basically unreachable if you don’t live within driving distance. People complain about Wisconsin, but Blacksburg’s regional airport is much smaller than Madison’s, and Madison is closer to Milwaukee and Chicago than Blacksburg is to anything.

[Anonymous]

Princeton!!!???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Princeton!!!???

Yes? What was the question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Princeton!!!???

Yes? What was the question?

“Why do so many Andover students choose Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Brown, and Chicago over Princeton?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Princeton!!!???

Yes? What was the question?

“Why do so many Andover students choose Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Brown, and Chicago over Princeton?”

I don’t know that you can say that’s the case without knowing who got into Princeton and chose one of those other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Princeton!!!???

Yes? What was the question?

“Why do so many Andover students choose Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Brown, and Chicago over Princeton?”

I don’t know that you can say that’s the case without knowing who got into Princeton and chose one of those other schools.

Some of it is regional. I went to a different New England boarding school and was shocked when I moved to the DMV to see so many kids going to Princeton instead of Harvard/Yale. Transportation is much easier now than before WWII, but tradition and legacy status lock the old families into the old pathways.

[Anonymous]

The pipeline to UChicago is impressive.