If "A" grades are being given out like candy at only some schools, one of three things will happen:

1. Parents will press their schools to give out "A"s like candy too, which, if successful won't really do anything for college admissions because there already aren't enough spots at so-called "elite" schools for 4.0 students. This will only increase the tendency of parents to claim that the admissions process is unfair or random; or

2. Colleges will figure that out and downgrade the 4.0s from some schools over others (which they already do to an extent for schools where they have substantial experience with their students).

3. The final possibility, which is too painful for some parents to admit, is that most colleges know full well that GPA isn't a fully accurate picture of an applicant. The supply of "good enough" students is really high and admissions departments don't have any special talent in differentiating the "best" of those "good enough" students, so they don't bother trying to drill down beyond the basics of course rigor, class ranks, teacher recs etc. That's why they long ago moved to seeking so much more information in the applications. It may seem random, but it's really more that they recognize that GPAs aren't really "objective" given the level of subjectivity at the teacher and school level, so it's just one of the factors.

Anonymous wrote:It's crazy to me how many kids there are on here with unweighted 4.0s. I feel like even last year it was rare. This year 10 replies out of 15 each time the results from another school come up are ALL unweighted 4.0s.
Many are MCPS--it makes sense with their wacky grading scale: you can get 69.5 (C) quarter 1, 79.5 (B) quarter 2, 79.5 (quarter 3) and 89.5 (quarter 4) and end up with an A or 4.0 for the year for the class.
THAT IS INSANE. Many districts are similar. You are a hair what is traditionally failing for a solid quarter (a 69.5) and you still get an A for the year.
And they don't have A minus grades. So an A is a 4.0

Plus retakes (in many classes), no penalty for late work, etc.

Does anyone who does the work, not end up with a 4.0? It really seems like you have to try to do poorly.

Has a 4.0 ceased (even unweighted) ceased to mean ANYTHING? It seems like this is really hurting the kids who are actually super smart. They are lost in the shuffle of so many kids getting "perfect" grades
for doing very average work.

At least try to troll better. You're not even good at trolling.
Not only you cannot compete against MCPS, you cannot even troll against MCPS.
What a sad life you have.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Between MCPS absolutely ridiculous grading scale and the fact that they are not allowed to administer final exams, it’s a wonder those kids are prepared for college. And it’s absurd that MCPS students are compared to students from schools that have strict grading scales, no test retakes, homework graded for accuracy and no weighting for honors/AP classes.

But amazingly, they are. Ask the ones in college now. At least the students hat took college-bound classes (AP/IB etc) feel that they are more than adequately prepared for their classes, even if they received As for an 89.5 in high school - or, horrors, a B for a 79.5.

That's the thing, and my DCs didn't even have the unweighted 4.0s, yet both are in college with an MCPS education, feeling better prepared than peers. Oldest was recruited to work in the campus writing center, she sees how younger students cope as they hit their research papers and portfolio requirements. Youngest is the only freshman in one of his math courses, covering material I didn't see until grad school.

This board is so obsessed with finding a number on a scrap of paper that settles things once and for all, but it can't be done.

Anonymous wrote:It's crazy to me how many kids there are on here with unweighted 4.0s. I feel like even last year it was rare. This year 10 replies out of 15 each time the results from another school come up are ALL unweighted 4.0s.
Many are MCPS--it makes sense with their wacky grading scale: you can get 69.5 (C) quarter 1, 79.5 (B) quarter 2, 79.5 (quarter 3) and 89.5 (quarter 4) and end up with an A or 4.0 for the year for the class.
THAT IS INSANE. Many districts are similar. You are a hair what is traditionally failing for a solid quarter (a 69.5) and you still get an A for the year.
And they don't have A minus grades. So an A is a 4.0

Plus retakes (in many classes), no penalty for late work, etc.

Does anyone who does the work, not end up with a 4.0? It really seems like you have to try to do poorly.

Has a 4.0 ceased (even unweighted) ceased to mean ANYTHING? It seems like this is really hurting the kids who are actually super smart. They are lost in the shuffle of so many kids getting "perfect" grades
for doing very average work.

Only about 6-10 4.0 unweighted GPA for TJ graduating class. About top 1% unlike 10-20% for other HSs.

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Anonymous wrote:We are in New England and our school does a straight 0-100 percentage. A 91 is a 91 and a 73 is a 73. Honors classes get a bump of some sort but it’s still a percentage and, really, most colleges just want unweighted. I can’t believe our kids have to compete for the same college spots as these kids who just get As, no matter the percentage.

It's insane. My district is like yours. My kid's GPA will be 89-90. Which I guess in the DC suburbs would be a 4.0+? The whole process is so corrupt and weird.

It doesn’t matter. Your kids are compared to their peers at their school with only that school’s grading scale.

It doesn’t matter to me. If my kid was being hurt by colleges devaluing 4.0s from MCPS schools because of perceived grade inflation, I’d care.

Yes this is a definite issue and what is going to make standardized testing even more crucial.

Well, this is another thing that I completely don't understand. GPAs are inflated and inconsistent. But standardized tests are optional/taboo/racist. Essays are bullshit. Extracurriculars can be faked/inflated. We've made such a mess of everything ... including our kids.

Require all test scores to be seen, no superscore. That cuts a lot of gaming out. Yes - some kids will prep more but it’s another variable for a full picture.

If a kid took the test 4+times that’s a red flag.

Nobody should take the sane standardized test more than twice. A good score first shot, all the better.

I think gpas are pretty worthless at a lot of publics. Our public school system which already allows countless retakes of tests and late assignments is now going to “standards based learning” metrics. So even wishy-washier. Lord help us.

+1 And the colleges already give some leeway on test scores for lower SES students.

Right now, college admissions seem like a lottery after a certain threshold. Some of the deferred/rejections I've been seeing don't make any sense.

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Anonymous wrote:We are in New England and our school does a straight 0-100 percentage. A 91 is a 91 and a 73 is a 73. Honors classes get a bump of some sort but it’s still a percentage and, really, most colleges just want unweighted. I can’t believe our kids have to compete for the same college spots as these kids who just get As, no matter the percentage.

It's insane. My district is like yours. My kid's GPA will be 89-90. Which I guess in the DC suburbs would be a 4.0+? The whole process is so corrupt and weird.

It doesn’t matter. Your kids are compared to their peers at their school with only that school’s grading scale.

It doesn’t matter to me. If my kid was being hurt by colleges devaluing 4.0s from MCPS schools because of perceived grade inflation, I’d care.

Yes this is a definite issue and what is going to make standardized testing even more crucial.

Well, this is another thing that I completely don't understand. GPAs are inflated and inconsistent. But standardized tests are optional/taboo/racist. Essays are bullshit. Extracurriculars can be faked/inflated. We've made such a mess of everything ... including our kids.

Require all test scores to be seen, no superscore. That cuts a lot of gaming out. Yes - some kids will prep more but it’s another variable for a full picture.

If a kid took the test 4+times that’s a red flag.

Nobody should take the sane standardized test more than twice. A good score first shot, all the better.

I think gpas are pretty worthless at a lot of publics. Our public school system which already allows countless retakes of tests and late assignments is now going to “standards based learning” metrics. So even wishy-washier. Lord help us.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:We are in New England and our school does a straight 0-100 percentage. A 91 is a 91 and a 73 is a 73. Honors classes get a bump of some sort but it’s still a percentage and, really, most colleges just want unweighted. I can’t believe our kids have to compete for the same college spots as these kids who just get As, no matter the percentage.

It's insane. My district is like yours. My kid's GPA will be 89-90. Which I guess in the DC suburbs would be a 4.0+? The whole process is so corrupt and weird.

It doesn’t matter. Your kids are compared to their peers at their school with only that school’s grading scale.

It doesn’t matter to me. If my kid was being hurt by colleges devaluing 4.0s from MCPS schools because of perceived grade inflation, I’d care.

Yes this is a definite issue and what is going to make standardized testing even more crucial.

+1 agree. It's the only think that is "standardized" across the schools.

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Anonymous wrote:Between MCPS absolutely ridiculous grading scale and the fact that they are not allowed to administer final exams, it’s a wonder those kids are prepared for college. And it’s absurd that MCPS students are compared to students from schools that have strict grading scales, no test retakes, homework graded for accuracy and no weighting for honors/AP classes.

But amazingly, they are. Ask the ones in college now. At least the students hat took college-bound classes (AP/IB etc) feel that they are more than adequately prepared for their classes, even if they received As for an 89.5 in high school - or, horrors, a B for a 79.5.

Do you know how many students are taking remedial courses in college? It’s something like 40%. I’d be pretty pissed if my kid got all As in HS and then needed to take remedial not for credit courses in college.

Not sure that there are any students that got all As in college-bound classes from MCPS schools taking "remedial courses" - but would love to hear your anecdotal data.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tons of kids do the work and don't get A's especially in AP's, but yes, many more kids are getting A's than they used to. But this trend has been going on for a couple of decades now.

It has massively accelerated over the past 2 years.

No evidence of this.

NP. In California. At the large local public my kid would have attended (in private instead), close to half the graduating class this year has an unweighted 4.0, largely because in remote learning, which went on for a very long time, everyone got As if they logged in. Parents I know are actually pretty mad about it because it has made UC admissions (which used to be a pretty known and reliable thing) essentially a lottery. I have a friend whose kid has a weighted 4.3 GPA and good ECs who was told by the college counselor that his only UC match was UC Merced. The rest were all reaches. None were safeties.

It seems unsustainable.

Anonymous wrote:When my kid graduated from RM there were 17 unweighted 4.0s. Probably too high but this thread makes it seem like half the class has straight As.

That was likely the norm at RM: 15-20 unweighted GPA 4.0 per year (out of about 450-500 graduating seniors including about 115 IB magnets) before the current grading system (of no semester final exam, etc.) was implemented. For comparison, any data or guesswork on the number of unweighted GPAs per year at RM in recent years?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Between MCPS absolutely ridiculous grading scale and the fact that they are not allowed to administer final exams, it’s a wonder those kids are prepared for college. And it’s absurd that MCPS students are compared to students from schools that have strict grading scales, no test retakes, homework graded for accuracy and no weighting for honors/AP classes.

But amazingly, they are. Ask the ones in college now. At least the students hat took college-bound classes (AP/IB etc) feel that they are more than adequately prepared for their classes, even if they received As for an 89.5 in high school - or, horrors, a B for a 79.5.

Do you know how many students are taking remedial courses in college? It’s something like 40%. I’d be pretty pissed if my kid got all As in HS and then needed to take remedial not for credit courses in college.

Anonymous wrote:Between MCPS absolutely ridiculous grading scale and the fact that they are not allowed to administer final exams, it’s a wonder those kids are prepared for college. And it’s absurd that MCPS students are compared to students from schools that have strict grading scales, no test retakes, homework graded for accuracy and no weighting for honors/AP classes.

But amazingly, they are. Ask the ones in college now. At least the students hat took college-bound classes (AP/IB etc) feel that they are more than adequately prepared for their classes, even if they received As for an 89.5 in high school - or, horrors, a B for a 79.5.

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Anonymous wrote:When my kid graduated from RM there were 17 unweighted 4.0s. Probably too high but this thread makes it seem like half the class has straight As.

At Blair SMAC a few years ago there were only around 15 students with a 4.0 and a SAT above 1550 (average SAT for 100 magnet students was 1530). Not that easy to get straight As every single semester.

Doesn’t matter, DC with 4.0 from magnet and 1550+ still got deferred everywhere.

Kind of depressing. Did they ED anywhere?

No ED due to financial considerations, accepted by safeties only (UMD and Pitt)

What deferrals do they have? And did they apply RD anywhere?

Deferred- UMichigan, Case western, UNC, Northeastern, UIUC
Yes RD to a few high reaches

UND does not defer, do you mean waitlisted?

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Anonymous wrote:For all the private school parents on this thread: you don’t seem to understand that the reason why public’s so weighted GPAs is because they offer a huge variety of levels for each class, at least large public’s do. I don’t live in the DMV anymore, but for example, my child’s high school offers everything pre-algebra to pre-calculus to 9th graders. For English, there are three levels offered in every grade.

My kid's private school offers 4 choices and different level for freshman math, for example. Algebra 1, geometry, Algebra 2, pre-calculus. Each of those courses offers three levels from on-grade level (flex), on-grade level, honors. So my kid was in honors Algebra 1 in 9th grade but ended up his senior year in on-grade level (flex) for pre-calc. Math was always his weakness except for standardized testing. You can't move in or out of a class or level during the school year though. Once you're in, you're in.

Catholic Diocesan schools are no better than publics.

At the very least, they don’t inflate grades. Just the opposite in many cases. My kid actually has to work hard for his grades. There are no retakes, no 50%. It’s sad that I need to pay tuition so I know exactly where he stands. An A in public school means you met the standard. Not in private school. It means you have exceeded the standard.