Why is it difficult to get As in private school? DC worked really hard, and all assignments are good, still got a B+

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And this is why high schools send school profiles to colleges so they can see what the average GPA is for students at that particular school.

I prefer private school grading because there is almost always room for improvement. In public schools, meeting the standard gets you an A so there's no motivation to work harder than that. That's why the GPAs are so much higher in public schools. The students met the standard and got an A but their work is not what many would consider A work. Meeting the standard used to be a B or C years ago.

This is SUCH a cope & a completely delusional take.

It doesn't matter at ALL. You are delusional if you think they take that into consideration. ALL schools care about is inflating their OWN numbers for college board reportings. They will 100 percent always accept the student with a 4.5 GPA from some rando public school over the student with a 3.4 GPA from a rigorous private school. It's ALL about the numbers. Same goes for law school. No one cares how "rigorous" your school is

This is true. I recently spoke with the former admissions director from Brown. They told me that in the past decade they've shifted emphasis away from the SAT and onto GPA for "equity" reasons. Kids at "elite" private high schools are given no breaks because they are perceived as "privileged." Your 3.4 GPA kid at NCS/STA stands no chance against the 4.5 GPA kid from the local public school, even though your kid could probably run circles around them academically.

What about 3.7, 3.8?

Any T50 school requires high school ranking in the top 25%.
Any T30 school requires high school ranking in the top 10%.
Any T10 school requires high school ranking in the top 2%.
If 3.7, 3.8 places a student in the top 50%, you are not looking good.
Nowadays private high schools have insane grade inflation, so 3.7, 3.8 barely gets you in the top 25% (more like top 50%).
Plan your college application accordingly.

However, when private schools give no gpa or ranking data to colleges - they don’t know who is in top 25%, 10%, 2% (and aren’t likely to assume you are if school has grade deflation)

They don't give out ranking directly, but it's all implicitly conveyed in the recommendation letter. Who goes to ivies, who goes to T20, who goes to T50, etc.

huh. Well if this is true then it's done by academics and not in a "who's who" kind of way. We have a top student and we're nobodies. Our kid gets aid. We're white.
The school is recommending that he apply to top 10 schools.

We're surrounded by parents who feel that their kids should apply to Ivies but they don't have the grades. The school is not going to write "best kid ever, needs to go to Harvard, Cornell, etc" if the kid has a 3.6.

I don't think anyone gets a 3.6 at private hs. Grade inflation is everywhere. Every kid gets a gpa 3.8 - 4.0. Colleges can't tell the difference but relying on counselor recommendation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And this is why high schools send school profiles to colleges so they can see what the average GPA is for students at that particular school.

I prefer private school grading because there is almost always room for improvement. In public schools, meeting the standard gets you an A so there's no motivation to work harder than that. That's why the GPAs are so much higher in public schools. The students met the standard and got an A but their work is not what many would consider A work. Meeting the standard used to be a B or C years ago.

This is SUCH a cope & a completely delusional take.

It doesn't matter at ALL. You are delusional if you think they take that into consideration. ALL schools care about is inflating their OWN numbers for college board reportings. They will 100 percent always accept the student with a 4.5 GPA from some rando public school over the student with a 3.4 GPA from a rigorous private school. It's ALL about the numbers. Same goes for law school. No one cares how "rigorous" your school is

This is true. I recently spoke with the former admissions director from Brown. They told me that in the past decade they've shifted emphasis away from the SAT and onto GPA for "equity" reasons. Kids at "elite" private high schools are given no breaks because they are perceived as "privileged." Your 3.4 GPA kid at NCS/STA stands no chance against the 4.5 GPA kid from the local public school, even though your kid could probably run circles around them academically.

What about 3.7, 3.8?

Any T50 school requires high school ranking in the top 25%.
Any T30 school requires high school ranking in the top 10%.
Any T10 school requires high school ranking in the top 2%.
If 3.7, 3.8 places a student in the top 50%, you are not looking good.
Nowadays private high schools have insane grade inflation, so 3.7, 3.8 barely gets you in the top 25% (more like top 50%).
Plan your college application accordingly.

However, when private schools give no gpa or ranking data to colleges - they don’t know who is in top 25%, 10%, 2% (and aren’t likely to assume you are if school has grade deflation)

They don't give out ranking directly, but it's all implicitly conveyed in the recommendation letter. Who goes to ivies, who goes to T20, who goes to T50, etc.

huh. Well if this is true then it's done by academics and not in a "who's who" kind of way. We have a top student and we're nobodies. Our kid gets aid. We're white.
The school is recommending that he apply to top 10 schools.

We're surrounded by parents who feel that their kids should apply to Ivies but they don't have the grades. The school is not going to write "best kid ever, needs to go to Harvard, Cornell, etc" if the kid has a 3.6.

I don't think anyone gets a 3.6 at private hs. Grade inflation is everywhere. Every kid gets a gpa 3.8 - 4.0. Colleges can't tell the difference but relying on counselor recommendation.

Clearly not true. Not every kid is on the dean’s list/president’s list/whatever version of honor roll your HS has.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And this is why high schools send school profiles to colleges so they can see what the average GPA is for students at that particular school.

I prefer private school grading because there is almost always room for improvement. In public schools, meeting the standard gets you an A so there's no motivation to work harder than that. That's why the GPAs are so much higher in public schools. The students met the standard and got an A but their work is not what many would consider A work. Meeting the standard used to be a B or C years ago.

This is SUCH a cope & a completely delusional take.

It doesn't matter at ALL. You are delusional if you think they take that into consideration. ALL schools care about is inflating their OWN numbers for college board reportings. They will 100 percent always accept the student with a 4.5 GPA from some rando public school over the student with a 3.4 GPA from a rigorous private school. It's ALL about the numbers. Same goes for law school. No one cares how "rigorous" your school is

This is true. I recently spoke with the former admissions director from Brown. They told me that in the past decade they've shifted emphasis away from the SAT and onto GPA for "equity" reasons. Kids at "elite" private high schools are given no breaks because they are perceived as "privileged." Your 3.4 GPA kid at NCS/STA stands no chance against the 4.5 GPA kid from the local public school, even though your kid could probably run circles around them academically.

What about 3.7, 3.8?

Any T50 school requires high school ranking in the top 25%.
Any T30 school requires high school ranking in the top 10%.
Any T10 school requires high school ranking in the top 2%.
If 3.7, 3.8 places a student in the top 50%, you are not looking good.
Nowadays private high schools have insane grade inflation, so 3.7, 3.8 barely gets you in the top 25% (more like top 50%).
Plan your college application accordingly.

However, when private schools give no gpa or ranking data to colleges - they don’t know who is in top 25%, 10%, 2% (and aren’t likely to assume you are if school has grade deflation)

They don't give out ranking directly, but it's all implicitly conveyed in the recommendation letter. Who goes to ivies, who goes to T20, who goes to T50, etc.

huh. Well if this is true then it's done by academics and not in a "who's who" kind of way. We have a top student and we're nobodies. Our kid gets aid. We're white.
The school is recommending that he apply to top 10 schools.

We're surrounded by parents who feel that their kids should apply to Ivies but they don't have the grades. The school is not going to write "best kid ever, needs to go to Harvard, Cornell, etc" if the kid has a 3.6.

I don't think anyone gets a 3.6 at private hs. Grade inflation is everywhere. Every kid gets a gpa 3.8 - 4.0. Colleges can't tell the difference but relying on counselor recommendation.

Uh, tell that to the 50% of kids at our DC private with a 3.5 or lower.

[Anonymous]

Agree with others that kids get 3.6 and lower at our big 3. DC had high 3.8's and had high grades compared to classmates. Some had equal but lower rigor. But TBH - if you have a hook and take lower rigor but high GPA - then you will leap over the high gpa-rigor with no hook. College counselors do not fight for the unhooked. They write generic letters saying the record will stand for itself - but it won't if recommendations for others with lower rigor are more specific and flushed out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And this is why high schools send school profiles to colleges so they can see what the average GPA is for students at that particular school.

I prefer private school grading because there is almost always room for improvement. In public schools, meeting the standard gets you an A so there's no motivation to work harder than that. That's why the GPAs are so much higher in public schools. The students met the standard and got an A but their work is not what many would consider A work. Meeting the standard used to be a B or C years ago.

This is SUCH a cope & a completely delusional take.

It doesn't matter at ALL. You are delusional if you think they take that into consideration. ALL schools care about is inflating their OWN numbers for college board reportings. They will 100 percent always accept the student with a 4.5 GPA from some rando public school over the student with a 3.4 GPA from a rigorous private school. It's ALL about the numbers. Same goes for law school. No one cares how "rigorous" your school is

This is true. I recently spoke with the former admissions director from Brown. They told me that in the past decade they've shifted emphasis away from the SAT and onto GPA for "equity" reasons. Kids at "elite" private high schools are given no breaks because they are perceived as "privileged." Your 3.4 GPA kid at NCS/STA stands no chance against the 4.5 GPA kid from the local public school, even though your kid could probably run circles around them academically.

What about 3.7, 3.8?

Any T50 school requires high school ranking in the top 25%.
Any T30 school requires high school ranking in the top 10%.
Any T10 school requires high school ranking in the top 2%.
If 3.7, 3.8 places a student in the top 50%, you are not looking good.
Nowadays private high schools have insane grade inflation, so 3.7, 3.8 barely gets you in the top 25% (more like top 50%).
Plan your college application accordingly.

However, when private schools give no gpa or ranking data to colleges - they don’t know who is in top 25%, 10%, 2% (and aren’t likely to assume you are if school has grade deflation)

They don't give out ranking directly, but it's all implicitly conveyed in the recommendation letter. Who goes to ivies, who goes to T20, who goes to T50, etc.

huh. Well if this is true then it's done by academics and not in a "who's who" kind of way. We have a top student and we're nobodies. Our kid gets aid. We're white.
The school is recommending that he apply to top 10 schools.

We're surrounded by parents who feel that their kids should apply to Ivies but they don't have the grades. The school is not going to write "best kid ever, needs to go to Harvard, Cornell, etc" if the kid has a 3.6.

I don't think anyone gets a 3.6 at private hs. Grade inflation is everywhere. Every kid gets a gpa 3.8 - 4.0. Colleges can't tell the difference but relying on counselor recommendation.

Uh, tell that to the 50% of kids at our DC private with a 3.5 or lower.

This is clearly out of date. Nowadays, a 3.5 gpa limits your kid's outcome to a very small number of T50 (think Tulane), due to gpa inflation everywhere. This is not the case in their matriculation, apparently their matriculation is very strong. They don't have 50% students matriculate to Tulane.
Which big 3 your DC goes to?