Don't worry. Since none of the privates in DC rank or weight, the Ivies line up all the applications from each school and look at GPA and strength of schedule. Recommendations are the huge difference maker so listen carefully and read between the lines on what the teachers and college counselor are saying. If a student skates through on easy classes, that will hurt more than a couple of A- or B+ grades. But, they won't compare weighted GPAs from a public school student to unweighted scores from a private.

Anonymous wrote:
Has he done or will he do any of his activities at a state and/or national level of recognition? Has he done something unique? Please tell more.

Anonymous wrote:My son does competitive chorus and lots of plays and artsy things - not a real athlete! But very involved with school in lots of ways. Also expect him to make National Merit semi-finalist cut-off (if the number doesn't go up again!)

Was the SAT score north of 2300+. If not, get in line.

Has he done or will he do any of his activities at a state and/or national level of recognition? Has he done something unique? Please tell more.

Anonymous wrote:My son does competitive chorus and lots of plays and artsy things - not a real athlete! But very involved with school in lots of ways. Also expect him to make National Merit semi-finalist cut-off (if the number doesn't go up again!)

What drives me crazy is that at all of these parents college nights, my child's school brings in people to tell parents that every application gets read, and that colleges are looking for well-rounded kids. That part is true, so long as your kid also has good grades, but there is no way that a school that gets 35k+ applications will go through every one of them in a few months time. Most colleges only have a few people in their admissions office, and couldn't possibly handle the volume. There should be more openness about the index system colleges use.

My son does competitive chorus and lots of plays and artsy things - not a real athlete! But very involved with school in lots of ways. Also expect him to make National Merit semi-finalist cut-off (if the number doesn't go up again!)

OP here - thanks for the great comments and insight. Our child's school has a new college counselor heading the office and she doesn't seem to have a lot of connections. Georgetown only took 1 kid in this year's graduating class EA, and parents were shocked. I wasn't sure if it was because of the rank/GPA situation. A PP is right - none of the DC Independents that I know of rank or calculate GPAs

Mine got into Princeton and it's a lot harder for girls to do that than boys nowadays since boys aren't doing as well grade wise and SAT wise. You should be fine OP. What activities is your son doing?

I agree with all of the PPs, with a caveat: colleges can report weighted GPAs to US News for ranking purposes. So they do help. Hate to ask, but do you need financial aid? If not, apply ED or EA.

Anonymous wrote:I think I am correct in saying none of the big 3 weight their grades.

Admissions officers look at an applicants weighted and unweighted GPA, with an emphasis on the unweighted to place applicants on an even playing field (they will also look at the strength of your classes).

I think I am correct in saying none of the big 3 weight their grades.

Anonymous wrote:I went to a big 3 (15 years ago) and took hard classes and had a good but not great GPA. I got into an Ivy (applied early) and my understanding is that the colleges know private schools, particularly the big 3, so well that they know classes down to the teachers. The college counselors also have a big role in making sure the schools know how hard a kids schedule is if that info would be helpful.

I worked in the admissions office of my elite private college. The admissions officers know the schools they deal with extremely well and know who weights and who doesn't and how to evaluate grades coming out different schools.

Anonymous wrote:+1. Unweighted grades are the death knell

Oh, boloney. We've had 2 kids apply to college from a "Big 3" that doesn't weight grades or compute class rank. ITA with the PP who suggested that the key here is whether the school counselors are doing an effective job of conveying to colleges how rigorous the curriculum is. Our kids' school does an OK job of that, 'tho they could probably do better; even so, we do not feel our kids suffered any adverse consequences. The greatest impact might be on the kids who are just below that top-10-15%, but, even then, I would certainly not characterize the impact as a death knell.

I went to a big 3 (15 years ago) and took hard classes and had a good but not great GPA. I got into an Ivy (applied early) and my understanding is that the colleges know private schools, particularly the big 3, so well that they know classes down to the teachers. The college counselors also have a big role in making sure the schools know how hard a kids schedule is if that info would be helpful.

+1. Unweighted grades are the death knell

I'm a parent of a current junior with a fabulous SAT score taking the hardest courses possible in a Big 3 school, but while my child's GPA is enough for top 10-15% of class, we are really concerned that the 4.0 grading scale and reusal to compute GPA and class rank is a liability applying to a top school ED. Any parents who can comment on similar situations you went through with your kids applying to schools? Thanks!