Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole URM business has become such a racket.

Just like the legacy racket?

Much worse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do URM's that go to Hahvahd still say "Ax me a question?"

And preppy kids from Larchmont have a lockjaw accent and students from China have Chinese accents and white Southerners speak like Foghorn Leghorn. So?

Crawl back under your rock since you aren't a member of either the Sidwell or Harvard communities.

+1

Anonymous wrote:
"This whole URM business has become such a racket."

Not as big a racket as racism.

Anonymous wrote:This whole URM business has become such a racket.

Just like the legacy racket?

The easy Rosetta Stone between GPAs at different schools is the SAT. Given the huge number of applicants every year, for many years, I'd imagine most colleges have robust databases of scores and SATs, so the can easily translate how a B at Sidwell compares to an A at some other school.

Anonymous wrote:There was a recently deceased teacher at Sidwell who would call parents to let them know that their kid got an A on a particular English test each year on Shakespeare.

I think some well known writers and journalists got Cs from him when they were at Sidwell Friends.

There was a recently deceased teacher at Sidwell who would call parents to let them know that their kid got an A on a particular English test each year on Shakespeare.

I was PP. Here's more food for thought. Yes, I can appreciate it is hard for a parent to see a smart kid toil and come out with some Bs, but remember they are working hard for the grades they do earn. A kid who does the volume of work demanded at a good place like Sidwell will be well prepared if not over-prepared to excel with great grades in college. My GPA at Exeter was 3.2. My GPA at a selective college was 3.9 and I majored in Econ and studied less. It is more good than bad to be a 3.5 hard working student at Sidwell no matter.

Pp got it right About the apples to apples comparison. I was the poster that reports the headmasters statement @ grades. That said, it is hard not to get stressed when you see kids work really hard and come up short or medium short.

Grade deflation exists at most good preps, Sidwell included, but I wouldn't get too carried away. It is more important for colleges to look at Sidwell kids versus each other than saying something like "a B here is just like an A elsewhere". A "B" at Sidwell is just a B at Sidwell. Since that school doesn't do the silly inflators to have kids at a WGPA of a 4.7 or something like that doesn't mean that a "B" at Sidwell is undisputedly better than an "A" in an honors or AP course at say a Langley or an Oakton or a Whitman. There are great students in publics and their exceptional record shines too and no less bright. I think it is more like a 3.5 at Sidwell is quite good. Just like a 4.5 WGPA at a public is quite good. No two things are a direct compare with a wratchet.

I was the poster about the Sidwell headmaster. I'm sure he wasn't thinking about gds, but about "most schools."

I don't think a GDS C is an A at Sidwell, but Sidwell is definitely the toughest grading high school in the area. There are plenty of teachers at Sidwell who simply do not award grades of A, and many others award them sparingly. And yes, if you slack off in any way at all, you can easily get a C or D. I have heard that colleges bump Sidwell's grades to reflect that difficulty when they calculate GPAs -- a half points or more. So a 3.5 averages is easily seen as 4.0 and even higher if the grade is in an advanced class at Sidwell.

Anonymous wrote:At the beginning of the year, the high school headmaster told parents at the start of the school meeting that a Sidwell C would be an A at most other schools. I was like yeah, that has kinda sucked for my kids so far.

So an 'A' at GDS would be a 'C' at Sidwell?

At the beginning of the year, the high school headmaster told parents at the start of the school meeting that a Sidwell C would be an A at most other schools. I was like yeah, that has kinda sucked for my kids so far.

I don't think that's true. A 3.5 at Sidwell can have a shot at any of the top universities if the rest of the package is right. A lot depends on scores. Because Sidwell has such grade deflation, there are a lot of great students in the 3.4 - 3.6 GPA range. Scores become important distinguishing factors. A 3.5 with 2300 SATs would be urged to apply to top schools while a 3.5 with 2150 SATS generally would be discouraged unless there was a strong hook.