Reply to Questions about College Placement

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you're considering private HS because of college placement, you are doing it wrong.

At best, private schools can help your child thrive academically - whether that means more rigor, more support, smaller class sizes, new and different clubs and ECs, etc.

And if your child reaches their academic potential, you're in the same boat as every other public and private HS parent  - scrambling with an extremely dysfunctional and competitive college admissions landscape. [/quote]

OP here - to clarify, we are already in a Big 3 private in 7th grade.  We are weighing staying there vs moving to another private.   We are not considering public.[/quote]

If your goal is college placement, you need to be brutally honest with yourself and ask if your kid has what it takes to get in the top 10% of the class (preferably top 5%). Can they get a 3.9+ GPA or equivalent at Sidwell/GDS/NCS/STA? Do they have the work ethic or natural ability?

If not, then switch to an easier private with less competitive students. A 3.4-3.5 Big 3 student would almost-certainly get a 3.95+ UW at Burke, Field, SJC, etc. Top grades at a mediocre private will open far more college doors than being middle-of-the-pack in the elite private schools.[/quote]
OP look at school profiles to see:
1. what their average gpa is (some list it others do not)
2. do they weight grades? you want somewhere that weights APs and Honors (colleges are swamped with applications and can't look as closely as they used to) 
3. what gpa scale do they use? 
4. look at colleges kids are attending 
5. agree with pp in 8th grade you will select classes for 9th which is when grades start to matter and classes and rigor matter 
6. yes some schools make it easier on your kid and they end up at better schools - this is a hard pill to swallow and causes conflict with parent who love a school but feel deep down it is not serving their kid well [/quote]

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