Is a public school A = private school A- (or B+)?
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Anonymous
You are totally missing the point (or being purposely obtuse). MOST public schools (which is the vast majority of kids applying to college) inflate grades - privates (and public magnets which are basically privates paid for by our taxes) don’t. Magnets make up a very small percentage of public schools… |
Anonymous
| Colleges prefer private or urban public schools over suburban public schools even if academic rigor of their applicant is a few notches below the other. |
Anonymous
| *rural as well |
Anonymous
Since I believe the point of education is to learn subjects to a mastery level, I'm super interested in what Arlington is doing. But I think we need to be clear that this is a district, not all public schools. Just because a school district in Virginia is trying doesn't mean "in the name of "equity", they're absolutely grade inflation in public". Also you don't need to put quotes around equity in that sentence. |
Anonymous
Why? |
Anonymous
Spoken like a public school parent who has no idea what privates are like. |
Anonymous
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College admissions office and staff are neither ignorant nor naive, with only rare exceptions.
For reasonably well-known private schools, say top-10 locally, most regional universities in this area and also the better national universities (a) will understand the differences in grading scales and grading practices from local publics && (b) will internally adjust. Internal adjustment is not necessarily a rigid mathematical formula. A smaller university in a different area or different country will look at the “School Profile” available from the school and use that to try to evaluate/compare. No comparison ever could be 100% perfect, but they will be close enough to be “reasonable”. For overseas colleges and universities, a student’s standardized test scores (E.g., actual earned scores from AP tests, standardized Achievement Tests, SAT/ACT, Cambridge Highers, and such like) usually will weight much more heavily than GPA. Most UK, European, and Canadian university admissions look primarily at those scores - for all US students, public or private - in lieu of direct GPA comparisons. These also usually will look at a student’s GPA, but do so in the context of the child’s school’s “School Profile”. Those school profiles usually indicate the scale (out of 4.0 or 5.0 or whatever), and usually also give an indication of median/mean GPA. Of course, one would not want to be in the bottom half of any school (even at a magnet like TJ). |
Anonymous
we don't have magnets in nyc so I'm lost on that point. but I'm trying to make things clear. most colleges are not at all selective, so this is moot. if you're talking selective colleges, then no, the vast majority aren't coming from public. It's usually more public than private, but not by a vast number. rigorous public schools don't inflate grades. I've never heard of retakes, but obviously this is something thats happening in Arlington. Can't imagine the resources that would require and most rigorous public schools don't have those resources. |
Anonymous
Anonymous
Yep. |
Anonymous
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It is pretty obvious to anyone that a GPA of x out of 5.0 is different from the same GPA on a 4.0 scale. Colleges do in fact adjust GPAs for this reason.
DCUM posters also put more weight on GPA or SAT/ACT than the top N universities do. Admissions is not just calculating numbers in some formula. |
Anonymous
It displays a fundamental misunderstanding of how colleges look at these schools too. A regional rep doesn't look at what another poster described as something like "the top 10 private schools in the area". They have a broader geography. A top 8 or 9 private high school here is simply not very prestigious. It's maybe a top 200 private school nationally. We don't even have a top 20 private high school here. AOs have stats on how kids do from x high school perform at their college - for schools on their radar. A regional rep isn't saying "here are my public school apps" and "here are my private school apps". They look at high schools as a group, but they have a list of high schools they've had good luck with in the past. In an area like ours, the top 10 schools would be 4 private, 2 religious, 4 public. And then they have thinner folders (not literally) from other schools with a few apps or many apps but just a few realistic apps or athletes, etc. When they then move back from the recruiting stage to the reviewing stage, those schools are placed within their larger geography. Where they may have 100 high school that are feeders. I think Northern Virginia peeps think we hold our own against other east coast cities, but eh. Anyway, I haven't had this job in awhile, but it's still mostly the same and I'm writing too much, but just to say, Regional AOs do not look at public vs private. They look at schools that do well at their college. And then stellar apps that jump out from schools not on their radar (which is harder to do). So yes, TJ and the top privates are looked at probably on the same day. Also, TJ etc obviously holds its own against a regional pool. I'm afraid people here overestimate how a number 8 or 9 private school here holds its own against a regional pool. |
Anonymous
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I don't know why we're even arguing. Colleges don't compare grading scales from DCPS to FCPS to NCS to St. Johns to Fairfax Christian. They're all different. The admissions people expect different things from top kids at different schools.
The top public kids will have likely have a 4.0 unweighted/4.5+ weighted. The top NCS kids will have a 3.8+ (unweighted) and will likely even have a B+ (or two) in the mix. The top SJC and Fairfax Christian kids will have something else (I'm not familiar with their grading so I can't even tell you what this is). These kids will get into similar schools with very different GPAs. End of story. No drama to be found here. They're all smart and capable and will do well in college. |
Anonymous
Correction, most affluent suburban public schools inflate grades just like some affluent independent schools. The vast majority of urban and rural public schools are not inflating grades. |
Anonymous
Um, have you heard of DCPS? Kids essentially get an A for breathing. You get an A even if you don't have a teacher in a class and do nothing for a year (my kid had this happen last year in an AP class--no teacher for 8 months, everyone given an A by default). It's downright difficult to not do well. Anyway, this is why statements that begin with "vast majority" are stupid. Schools are not a monolith. |