Is B/B+ the average GPA at top privates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op just wanted to start an argument

I agree. IMHO ...

1. most public school students in the top 10% of the class are probably smart
2. most public schools students in magnet programs are probably very smart
3. most public school students in the top 10% of magnet programs are probably extremely smart
4. most students at top private schools are probably very smart
5. most students in the top 10% at top private schools are probably extremely smart

Trying to compare the students or the programs is pointless, because they're all inter-related. Judging the program quality by the academic skills of a small handful of students is a recipe for mismeasure. It would be sort of like saying that because Michael Phelps is the fastest swimmer, all people from the United States are faster swimmers than any other country. As another example, if Poolesville's program somehow magically recruited the top 3% of students from each of Sidwell/STA/NCS/Blair/TJ for the 2017-2020 class years, and thus suddenly found its SAT average and college results climbing through the roof, would we all suddenly agree that Poolesville's academic program was better than all those other schools? I doubt it.

If your child fits in any of the categories above, just assume he will be fine. Focus on your child's development, and not on how his school matches up to other schools on any of these other metrics.

Well written

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op just wanted to start an argument

I agree. IMHO ...

1. most public school students in the top 10% of the class are probably smart
2. most public schools students in magnet programs are probably very smart
3. most public school students in the top 10% of magnet programs are probably extremely smart
4. most students at top private schools are probably very smart
5. most students in the top 10% at top private schools are probably extremely smart

Trying to compare the students or the programs is pointless, because they're all inter-related. Judging the program quality by the academic skills of a small handful of students is a recipe for mismeasure. It would be sort of like saying that because Michael Phelps is the fastest swimmer, all people from the United States are faster swimmers than any other country. As another example, if Poolesville's program somehow magically recruited the top 3% of students from each of Sidwell/STA/NCS/Blair/TJ for the 2017-2020 class years, and thus suddenly found its SAT average and college results climbing through the roof, would we all suddenly agree that Poolesville's academic program was better than all those other schools? I doubt it.

If your child fits in any of the categories above, just assume he will be fine. Focus on your child's development, and not on how his school matches up to other schools on any of these other metrics.

top 10% of magnets = top 10% of top privates? i doubt that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:top 10% of magnets = top 10% of top privates? i doubt that.

*sigh*

You really missed the whole point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious to know why so many people think that there is grade deflation at privates. I have always heard the opposite, that grade inflation in private school is rampant. This is basically because private school parents won't stand for less than B's. It makes sense. I can certainly see how a lot of families might decide that it's not worth paying $40,000 a year if their kid is only making C's. I would guess that private schools know this and try very hard to keep this from happening.

For me, it's because (1) that was my own experience in a private high school, admittedly many years ago, where the class average was somewhere in the mid-80s, and anyone who got an average GPA in the 90s was likely in the top 10% of the class, (2) friends whose children are in private high schools now, who tell me in casual conversation that the average hovers around 90 now which is technically an A, but just barely, and (3) online reports I've seen from some private schools that show a bell-curve distribution, such as Andover where the average seems to hover around 4.9 on a 6-point scale (https://www.andover.edu/Academics/CollegeCounseling/Documents/PhillipsAcademySchoolProfile2015-2016.pdf).

For public school, my gut sense comes from (1) my own long-ago experience where average-intelligent friends from public schools got mostly As, and (2) a friend with children in local public high school now who tells me her "only moderately smart" children and their peers routinely get all A and A- grades, and that even one B would put them far behind the pack of most students.

Apparently Fairfax County has put a lot of thought into this whole grade thing - http://www.fairgrade.net/media/fairgrade/GradingPolicyInvestigationReport.pdf

I can assure you that the average students in public schools are not getting mostly A's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also have a B/B+ student with a 2250 SAT at a private. The one thing that I read in the past on DCUM and seems to be true is that some flagship public schools are off the table because of the grades (Georgia Tech, UVA out of state, the UC schools). UMD, our in state school, is a safety though. The other thing that has become evident is that the college counselors at DC's school seem to have especially strong relationships with certain schools. They seem to know, which schools will take those grades in context and admit DC, or even award merit aid.

Admission to UMD, maybe. Admission to college of your choice? Probably not. Certain colleges at UMD are very hard to get in - engineering, business, and other STEM majors.

You were correct. Admitted to UMCP but not directly to major of choice (engineering). I wasn't sure what DC's GPA was at the time I wrote this a few months ago but through the end of junior year it was a 3.21.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op just wanted to start an argument

OP here. Missed this last year, because I was on vacation and didn't realize the post had been revived.

I think most reasonable people can see from the thread that this issue is a question for many parents. I'm parent with kids in the lower grades of private school. I was also a top student at a public high school who went on to attend great colleges.

I was a little concerned that a lower HS GPA might disadvantage my kids, and this thread has reassured me that won't be the case.

Thanks to all the informative posters!

[Anonymous]

I don't think grades are inflated at Whitman, BCC, Walter J or Churchill. Do you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think grades are inflated at Whitman, BCC, Walter J or Churchill. Do you?

Who cares?

[Anonymous]

Grades don't matter as much as they used to, because seemingly everyone has mostly As and maybe a few Bs. What matters is 4s and 5s on APs, a top SAT score, leadership experience, and sustained community volunteering.

[Anonymous]

No, AP scores don't matter for admission (for placement and/or credits, yes -- for admissions, no).

[Anonymous]

Of course they matter for admission; just another way to show your academic prowess...

[Anonymous]

The most selective schools encourage students to self-report AP scores and either require or are glad to receive SAT IIs. These are ways that colleges can verify that a student's "A" means something objectively. Not a perfect system - some really smart kids don't do well on those tests (esp. SAT IIs) -- but I would bet much more often than not the kid who does well on both APs and SATIIs probably knows his/her stuff. .

[Anonymous]

Whitman, BCC and WJ are under the same forces as other schools and yes grades are inflated.

[Anonymous]

I was told that the average GPA at Sidwell, at least a few years ago, was a 3.25.

[Anonymous]

All As means jack shit if your AP and SAT scores suck. Every school is so inflated, 4.0s are a dime a dozen. So, admissions instinctively go to the AP scores and SAT performance to sniff out the truth.