Reply to Where do "B" average Big-3 students go to college?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's actually the reverse---the Big3 clout isn't working because they have grade deflation.  The next rung of schools is actually doing better this year because they have more reasonable grading---i.e. As are actually attainable to kids who do the work. Landon is a good example---they appear to be doing quite well this year because the academic standard is decent but not unattainable.  In contrast you have NCS who often gives the strongest students Bs.  They (by all reports) are having a horrible admissions year, especially at state schools. 
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This is extremely accurate. Lots of people right now at my Big 3 who suspect attending has significantly hampered their child's college oulook. The whole Big 3 grade deflation thing is starting to really hurt them[/quote]

How so if the school get the sheet that describes their grading?

It used to be that colleges just knew that a B at NCS was an A elsewhere.

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I tbink it's the mid-range and lower students who are hurt. The very top students are still  known by the top colleges that have taken the top students from the "big 5" and know the schools are their rigor well. The rest of the students, who are more frequently than before looking at big state schools or the "up and coming" (like Elon, no thank you) that just don't understand these schools as well and have way too many applications for holistic admissions. The top students would never even think about Boulder, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Penn State, but the students are great fits for these schools can't get in because of the grade deflation. I am one of those who wish I had never send my average kids to such an intense private.[/quote]
This. Sure, there's a School Profile describing the grading scale, but that does not indicate important differences in grading, i.e. how "hard" the grading is, how rigorous the work. No matter how much people (including college admission offices) treat grades as if they are some sort of standardized metric, they are not, even among students in the same high school. Clearly this issue - treating GPA as if it were a standardized metric (all while saying the context of the high school is considered) has been significantly exacerbated by test optional policies and ensuing upheaval in college admissions.

I don't have a kid at a Big 3, but more generally, it seems to me that more testing could be useful for students in the bottom half of the class at a hard-grading high school. With subject tests gone, that leaves AP exams, though the reputation is that colleges - of the sort being discussed in this thread - don't care much about those either.[/quote]

I think this board may vastly overstate the concept that these big state schools are familiar with private school rigor.  Yes, conceptually, of course.  But in terms of getting 75,0000+ applications, I don't think they really care and [b]a 3.7 at a rigorous private just does not draw the same attention that a more hum-drum 4.4 does at a public with weighting.[/b][/quote]

I get what you're saying, but that's where the college counselors at private schools come in. Some privates have multiple counselors who develop pretty decent relationships with a multitude of schools. They generally write better letters of recommendation for students and if necessary, a thorough write up of the academic rigor of their private high school. Not all privates have multiple counselors, and not all of the counselors are as thorough, or advocate as passionately for their students, as some of their colleagues do. But privates with robust, energetic, knowledgeable and caring college counseling services can really provide some additional value for their students (and their parents) that counselors at other schools just cannot replicate.

At least, that's what I tell myself as I spin all this through my head at night.

Of course, your mileage may vary. [/quote]

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