Anonymous wrote:From several threads this week, it seems GPA is more important than rigor at ivy league schools. Below a certain gpa, ivy league schools become impossible no matter the rigor.

Outside ivy leagues, is there any t20 school that is more willing to take a high rigor (multi variable and a bunch of other high level science courses) but rank outside top 10% ( but still top 20, 30%, etc). What if they have 1580-1600 scores to validate?

Or do you think this type should focus on state flagships instead?

Not at all true from our private or the neighboring private where we have access to SCOIR and know many kids and families. Ivies want both top rigor and top GPA unhooked, usually top3-5% especially if it is RD, minimally top10% plus all have to have very top rigor if unhooked. Hooked kids do not need top rigor for ivies, nor top rank. It is a different game for hooked kids. The only ivy that takes unhooked outside top10% rank is Cornell and those kids all have top rigor in all areas if they get in with a below 10% GPA. They also have been males.

Anonymous wrote:From several threads this week, it seems GPA is more important than rigor at ivy league schools. Below a certain gpa, ivy league schools become impossible no matter the rigor.

Outside ivy leagues, is there any t20 school that is more willing to take a high rigor (multi variable and a bunch of other high level science courses) but rank outside top 10% ( but still top 20, 30%, etc). What if they have 1580-1600 scores to validate?

Or do you think this type should focus on state flagships instead?

From our private, Duke values rigor more than GPA, for unhooked kids, as does Hopkins, Rice, WashU, for non-ivies. WashU and Rice take slightly lower GPA than Duke and Hopkins, as in lower second decile, barely in top 20%, vs just outside T10%. This is from a private school where that GPA is still well within the UVA -EA/RD acceptance range. UVA dips well into the 3rd decile for EA/RD as long as top rigor, UVA-ED sometimes goes to 4th decile for top rigor.
IF you are in-state UVA, your kid's GPA needs to be within the green-check area of Naviance for UVA to have a shot at T20, even with top rigor.

The bottom line is for any of these schools, if you are not in top 10% you better have something else very, very impressive (or satisfying an institutional need) in your application.

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest Rice, though I don't have personal experience so purely from my impression that they like high performance but not necessarily kids with a perfect record.

but...Texas

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest Rice, though I don't have personal experience so purely from my impression that they like high performance but not necessarily kids with a perfect record.

Rice wants high rigor and perfect record. And high test score (it is test recommended).

Rice does take some kids outside top 10%. More lenient that ivies.

According to their CDS,
89% within top 10%
96% within top 25%

There are 7% kids outside top 10% but within top 25%.
Plus there are 4% outside top 25% but within top 50%.

These are public school kids, many private school kids don't have ranking so are not included in this data.

Rice is a D1 school with athletic scholarships. Those are the kids outside of the 10%.

Anonymous wrote:sort by top 10%

https://toptieradmissions.com/average-gpa-and-class-rank-at-top-colleges/

cornell seems most forgiving

Johns Hopkins is the most ridiculous, 99% in top 10%.

sort by top 10%

https://toptieradmissions.com/average-gpa-and-class-rank-at-top-colleges/

cornell seems most forgiving

Top 10% doesn’t necessarily mean a perfect record.

And not every school values an A in Calc AB greater than a less perfect grade in a higher math course.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest Rice, though I don't have personal experience so purely from my impression that they like high performance but not necessarily kids with a perfect record.

Rice wants high rigor and perfect record. And high test score (it is test recommended).

Rice does take some kids outside top 10%. More lenient that ivies.

According to their CDS,
89% within top 10%
96% within top 25%

There are 7% kids outside top 10% but within top 25%.
Plus there are 4% outside top 25% but within top 50%.

These are public school kids, many private school kids don't have ranking so are not included in this data.

T20 and other top schools are not fooled by applicants who avoided more challenging classes like Calc BC and Physics. This also applies to applicants without an AP English class.

I don’t think this tactic of “take Calc AB instead of multivariable” applies to Bay Area applicants at least.

It also shows quite the opposite of “intellectual vitality” and curiosity by GPA protecting so severely.

This board has gotten so much dumber since my firstborn was a senior.

This year is the dumbest cohort of posters I’ve seen.

Anonymous wrote:From several threads this week, it seems GPA is more important than rigor at ivy league schools. Below a certain gpa, ivy league schools become impossible no matter the rigor.

Outside ivy leagues, is there any t20 school that is more willing to take a high rigor (multi variable and a bunch of other high level science courses) but rank outside top 10% ( but still top 20, 30%, etc). What if they have 1580-1600 scores to validate?

Or do you think this type should focus on state flagships instead?

Look at T20 CDS. 97+% of students are the in top 10% of their class.

Unless you are an institutional priority, T20 want High Rigor AND High Grades.

Because they have 5x-10x the number of students that have High Rigor AND High Grades than seats.

If you do not meet IP, and dont have both, they dont want to spend time evaluating your application.

It really depends on the specific people from the school that are also applying. If those other applicants have As in the same rigor classes, you probably lose.